Listen to this awesome podcast (embedded at the end of this post) from the guys at HowStuffWorks discussing ghost hunter equipment in a real life, I-actually-understand-electronics-and-science way. Oooooh, this made me sooooo freakin’ happy.

Here is a text article to go along with it:  Ghost Detecting Equipment

I found this goodness via Ryan Johnson’s article on Skepticblog. Let me quote from him quoting them:

I propose a new Internet Law aimed specifically at the claims of paranormal believers.

Lou’s Law: One cannot invoke Quantum Mechanics in an argument or explanation unless one can show at least a basic, layman’s understanding of Quantum Mechanics. For example, one might explain what Planck’s Constant describes or the idea behind the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle or even list the “flavors” of Quarks.

This comes from hearing Quantum Mechanics mentioned in The Secret, bizarre explanations of how Astrology works, and a host of other paranormal crap. Specifically, I came across it again in reading this interesting article on the paranormal radio/phone called Frank’s Box.

This is a really great video explaining skeptical thinking. It’s kinda dry, but the info is spot on:

I was listening to The Conspiracy Skeptic Podcast today. The host was talking about Moon Landing deniers and made the point that they are so blinded by their own misconceptions that they refuse to accept any evidence that doesn’t fit their own narrow world view. The basic question is “What would convince you to change your mind?”.  The host then went on to list a few things that he would consider evidence enough for him to believe that the moon landing was a hoax.  You can listen to the episode mp3 here in which he picks apart some claims made in the Phil Plait/Joe Rogan debate on the moon landing.

I came across this interesting article called, “Creating a Monster” on the randi.org page.  It briefly discusses the fact that different cultures view common supernatural beings or myths in different ways. The example given is that the traditional Japanese style of ghost has no legs. In the Western world, we have traditionally depicted ghosts with legs. These cultural norms then shape our perceptions. So if someone has an event occur in which they assume they have seen a ghost, they are most likely to report the look of the ghost to match their cultural expectations.

This is another excellent podcast from Brian Dunning on Skeptoid.com on the tools used and misused by ghost hunters. I recommend you go listen to it! Here is my favorite paragraph from the transcription of the podcast:

“If ghosts did exist and were detectable, you can bet that there would be huge industries behind it. I can’t think of anything that would attract more venture capital dollars from Silicon Valley. However, no rigorous research has ever shown that ghosts can be reliably detected with hardware. It’s easy to disbelieve me, but it’s much harder to disbelieve the lack of interest from greedy corporate America.”

Some time ago, I had a number of friends in my  house. I was doing their FX make-up for a party. The oldest person (other than me) was 27, the rest were all 16 to 18 in age.

With that many people in the house, it was sorta chaotic and loud. I was doing the makeup in my dining room which is converted into my studio. The dining room opens onto the kitchen and the front room. The door to the basement is in the kitchen. The basement stairs are directly under the stairs that lead from the first floor to the second floor in the front room. I hope that all makes sense because it’s important to the story.

The entire text of this journal is copied from here: http://journals.aol.ca/plittle/AuroraWalkingVacation/entries/2004/09/22/critical-thinking-revisited/497 Sadly, this blog appears to be offline, but I’m keeping the url as a credit to the author. If anyone knows where the blog moved to, I’ll update the link.  Original journal post follows:

Let’s have another little discussion about scientific method, and critical thinking, shall we?

I like broccoli. That is a statement of opinion. I’m entitled to it. Your opinion on the taste of broccoli may or may not differ from mine. That is your right.