February 9th, 2012 / No Comments » / by KWright
Lady Gaga ‘terrified’ by ghost that haunts her on tourUpdated 09:40am on 3 Nov 2010 Lady Gaga believes she is being haunted by an “annoying” ghost named Ryan. The ‘Bad Romance’ hitmaker thinks she is being followed everywhere she tours across the world by the spectre, who has “terrified” her with his constant presence.
February 5th, 2012 / No Comments » / by KWright
Unraveling the mystery of consciousness – CNN.comBy Antonio Damasio, Special to CNN updated 10:05 AM EST, Sun February 5, 2012 Editor’s note: Antonio Damasio, author of “Self Comes to Mind”, published by Pantheon/Vintage, is a professor of neuroscience and director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California.
January 18th, 2012 / 44 Comments » / by KWright
As you may your may not have heard, there has been a recent influx of “Strange sounds around the world”, “Earth groaning”, and other phrases describing basically similar events which “witnesses” video tape and share. All are comprised of loud machine-ish, or even trumpet-like, sounds that seem to permeate an area from above and / or from underground. An example, and pretty complete list of the more popular videos sprouting up, is found here (and also one of my “suspected” actual viral marketing sties” -
It has come to my attention that “Jay Man”, and his StrangeSoundsintheSky.com web site, are no longer suspect, at least in my eyes, of being involved with the creation of the “Sounds” hoaxes. I will leave the following original entry in for continuity and future researchers. Any reference to this site and it’s admin being involved in the creation or perpetuation of the “phenomena”, I, personally, am convinced the site has nothing to do with the events, other than simply amassing, posting, and critiquing theses videos also. The registration date, and other things detailed below, mistakenly threw suspicion, but, alas, it just ain’t so. As we have found after technical examinations of the captures in question, the majority are of such low amateur quality, folks are starting to realize that no big-production-anything could be involved. The other “coincidence” of the movie “Red State” being released about the time as these videos started showing up is further evidence that it’s all just a bunch of one, or a few, hoaxers that copy-cat-ers sank their felines into, and rode it for all it’s worth.
http://strangesoundsinthesky.com/ – the domain of which was registered (privately, I might add) 10/4/11, about the same time as this “phenomenon” started spreading.
The more I watched, the more similar I noticed the sounds seemed. Some where varried, but had the same base machine/trumpeting hollow-earthy reverberating sound. Which, was very suspect after about a day of “finding” the different videos. But, if they were blatantly faked…the first question that came to mind was…why? Then…who?
After milling it over, my neural-synapses made a quantum leap and, just like a particular smell reminds you of an exact feeling, one thing popped into mind – the Cloverfield movie heavy viral marketing strategy that preceded the movie itself. So, putting the two together in a nifty Google search, I found that at least one individual who performed a little CSI on the videos vs. sound contained in them, and came up with an interesting fact: all were faked, most very badly. Many more individuals have put together the “strange sound” phenomenon and J.J. Abrams’s love of viral marketing, and right now, that appears to coalesce into the reigning theory – Most, if not all, of these videos are probably viral marketing for the yet-unnamed Cloverfield sequel. In any event, the most popular videos have been proven to contain fake audio overlays…many are just natural sounds (animals, even a cymbal) slowed down with delay or reverberation effects added.
It should also be noted, and highly suspect, that there have been no actual reports to local, state, or federal authorities, nor any direct reports or coverage of these supposedly very public and should-be-heard-by-everyone events. The only witnesses, it appears, is the videographer(s), and, contrary to what may be stated in some of the videos, no one else has reported, or even seems to react, to the sounds in these videos.
Contrast this to the Phoenix Lights event that happened on one day, March 13, 1997, and by comparison on scale alone, has been documented several ways, appearing on countless TV shows and specials. (A show recently debunked the lights as military flares dropped behind, and disappearing behind, the mountain in the background). Yet, with all these “sound events” happening over widespread, very populated areas, and world-wide, I might add, there exists absolutely no additional coverage at all by anyone other than one videographer in each region. With all the instant recording devices and how they have changed the reporting landscape, it’s very improbable there are not copious, multiple views of the same event being shared all over the net. Remember the Reno air show tragedy? An accident that happened in a split second, and there were no less then 7 different angles I’ve seen, and who knows how many just didn’t make the airwaves.
UPDATE
A little more proof of the hoax…listen to the video here at :48 then at 10:34 then at 111:52 (sound slowed down a little) then at 3:38. Four different “locations”. Same sound, even down to the unintentional ”local” sound (bird or kid screeching…actually, I have an idea of what the recoding is, I’ll hold that and see if it pans out) in the foreground, from some of the fore-runner videos of this whole perpetuated junk.
Have a look as the excellent triage a nice reddit user performed on the videos related to these world-side “sound events”:
GroovyTrouserEmperor comments on What the hell are these noises being heard Worldwide?So, I looked at these videos from an audio-guys standpoint, and most of them seem pretty fishy. I downloaded the videos, extracted the sound and anal…
Obviously, many people think there is something similar to these videos actually occuring, if we take some of the posters below at face value.
Without evidence, it’s very hard to call one way or the other. There is no way to know, individually, if any are trained observers, misinterpreting natural events, or, even reporting events that actually occur(ed) ( I would think of a natural, yet somewhat rare condition).
With that, I should shout the obvious out - if there are non-hoax events happening in reality, we need these documented and reported. Seeing that they tend to last quite a while, it shouldn’t be beyond the scope of reality to have enough time to actually have an authority respond. This would be the first step to having an official “Yes, there is some unexplained noise event occuring”, which, in turn, would interest local and other scientists who are interested in studying, or, if it’s a known phenomenon, have it officially explained. Ok, don’t start with the “swamp gas” remarks. 
Some futher “corrections in navigation”, the inital thought and research on infomation at the time before this post did heavily lean toward a viral marketing explanation towards a certain movie. I’m less certain about the movie, but it is either intentional, viral marketing, or just a really popular copy-cat hoax that propagated. On the Internet, we all know that’s not impossible. So, remains to be seen.
There still remains a very noticible lack of real news / media attention. Do date, I don’t have any known professionally covered reports. A couple of “buts” have been routinely given as answers to that question, “but”, they are either explained, now, or not what they seem. The most prevelent answer is the very publicly brodcated Tampa Bay Rays Baseball game “howl” on Aug 23, 2011, that has been put fourth as documented, non-hoaxed evidence. This instance has been explained, related to what we had originally though and posted above. The game was posponed 20 minutes due to bad weather, with heavy percipitation, strong wind, and lightning. A bad thunderstorm. That, naturally, lent an explanation..howling wind around and through a large baseball dome. Close, but no cigar there. In reality, it was due to the sound system taking a hit with lightning, which cause some massive feedback through a certain set of speakers, the result sounding very much like a haunting howl. I admit, althogh it sounded much different than the hoax videos, the sound did get my attention. As it should…it was an actual event being captured on audio, with real reactions by those involved.
You can read the story and official expanation here -
http://www.sportsgrid.com/mlb/tropicana-field-is-haunted-by-g-g-g-g-ghoooooosts/
The second prevailing defense against my asserting that there have been no real news entities giving attention given to the matter; everyone is giving the link to “Costa Rica News Site”. (http://www.costaricanewssite.com/). The story “they” ran is here – http://www.costaricanewssite.com/strange-sound-heard-throughout-costa-rica
The important issue here is, costaricanewssite.com is NOT a News outlet. Far from it. Check their “About” page. This is a site done by an individual that lives in Costa Rica, and originally put the site up to *sell his house*. He gives the story, and he soon started aggregating news that he chose as content. So, it’s an individual with a *zine / newspaper style page, publishing what they want. And, he has all rights to do so. But, it’s a non-match for the criteria we need of an established, credible, news source (if that really even exists anyway) giving attention to the matter, preferably without an X-files backing soundtrack. 
)
One last note, I do not approve any posts that are out-and-out combative, overly negative, or especially if vulgarity is used. Go over to LiveLeak if you get off on that junk. Cussing me out and calling me an idiot will never see the light of day. Keep in mind, also, the only point of this post is to call out the videos in question as hoaxes (which we and many others have already proven). So, if, after all the evidence and proof that these particular files are indeed falsified, you still feel compelled to defend them as bona fide, then we are all aware who really deserves that label. Debate is welcome. Rude is not. Go getcha a domain and some WordPress if you feel that strongly about it and exercise your right. ’Nuff said.
January 14th, 2012 / No Comments » / by KWright
NASA – Study Shows Our Galaxy Has at Least 100 Billion PlanetsStudy Shows Our Galaxy Has at Least 100 Billion Planets Our Milky Way galaxy contains a minimum of 100 billion planets, according to a detailed statistical study based on the detection of three planets located outside our solar system, called exoplanets.
January 14th, 2012 / No Comments » / by KWright
The Paranormal Dimension: Neve Campbell Says She’s Seen a GhostActress Neve Campbell says she’s seen a ghost. Scream 4 actress Neve Campbell has said her former house in Los Angeles was haunted and she used to see a woman who had been murdered in the home. The 37-year-old told British Live magazine: ‘I know that ghosts exist because I’ve seen one.
January 4th, 2012 / No Comments » / by KWright
October 30th, 2011 / 1 Comment » / by KWright
After watching, then consider the double slit experiment, and realize that matter actually can differentiate on whether it is being observed or not. Which, of course, ties right into the whole idea presented in this video. The implications upon not only our own reality (or lack thereof) and the paranormal / spiritual world become self evident.
Enjoy.
October 22nd, 2011 / No Comments » / by KWright
Quantum levitation, via the Meissner effect, is one idea I’ve been tossing around as a possibility of how energy-based consciousness may interact with matter (our material world).
I’ll be doing my own explorations and reports in the not too distant future, based on magnetic (natural or electrical based) fields and superconducting materials. Initially evolved from a discussion on the state of spiritual consciousness, that it may exist at close to super-conductive temperatures, and may most readily interact with magnetic / EM fields in the “large matter (frozen energy)” reality we inhabit due to the Meissner effect. Opens up possible answer to other explanations observed in the paranormal field (cold spots and temperature anomalies), but, a lot to be explored.
October 12th, 2011 / 1 Comment » / by KWright
When I try explaining this to non-physics folks, I usually get glazed over stares. Finally, I found out about Mr. Quantum’s nifty video on the subject.
Enjoy.
More lay-person-ish, but more in depth here -
October 10th, 2011 / No Comments » / by KWright
Are our thoughts made of the distributed kind of electromagnetic field that permeates space and carries the broadcast signal to the TV or radio.
Professor Johnjoe McFadden from the School of Biomedical and Life Sciences at the University of Surrey in the UK believes our conscious mind could be an electromagnetic field.
“The theory solves many previously intractable problems of consciousness and could have profound implications for our concepts of mind, free will, spirituality, the design of artificial intelligence, and even life and death,” he said.
Most people consider “mind” to be all the conscious things that we are aware of. But much, if not most, mental activity goes on without awareness. Actions such as walking, changing gear in your car or peddling a bicycle can become as automatic as breathing.
The biggest puzzle in neuroscience is how the brain activity that we’re aware of (consciousness) differs from the brain activity driving all of those unconscious actions.
When we see an object, signals from our retina travel along nerves as waves of electrically charged ions. When they reach the nerve terminus, the signal jumps to the next nerve via chemical neurotransmitters. The receiving nerve decides whether or not it will fire, based on the number of firing votes it receives from its upstream nerves.
In this way, electrical signals are processed in our brain before being transmitted to our body. But where, in all this movement of ions and chemicals, is consciousness? Scientists can find no region or structure in the brain that specializes in conscious thinking. Consciousness remains a mystery.
“Consciousness is what makes us ‘human,’ Professor McFadden said. “Language, creativity, emotions, spirituality, logical deduction, mental arithmetic, our sense of fairness, truth, ethics, are all inconceivable without consciousness.” But what’s it made of?
One of the fundamental questions of consciousness, known as the binding problem, can be explained by looking at a tree. Most people, when asked how many leaves they see, will answer “thousands.” But neurobiology tells us that the information (all the leaves) is dissected and scattered among millions of widely separated neurones.
Scientists are trying to explain where in the brain all those leaves are stuck together to form the conscious impression of a whole tree. How does our brain bind information to generate consciousness?
What Professor McFadden realized was that every time a nerve fires, the electrical activity sends a signal to the brain’s electromagnetic (em) field. But unlike solitary nerve signals, information that reaches the brain’s em field is automatically bound together with all the other signals in the brain. The brain’s em field does the binding that is characteristic of consciousness.
What Professor McFadden and, independently, the New Zealand-based neurobiologist Sue Pockett, have proposed is that the brain’s em field isconsciousness.
The brain’s electromagnetic field is not just an information sink; it can influence our actions, pushing some neurons towards firing and others away from firing. This influence, Professor McFadden proposes, is the physical manifestation of our conscious will.
The theory explains many of the peculiar features of consciousness, such as its involvement in the learning process.
Anyone learning to drive a car will have experienced how the first (very conscious) fumblings are transformed through constant practice into automatic actions.
The neural networks driving those first uncertain fumblings are precisely where we would expect to find nerves in the undecided state when a small nudge from the brain’s em field can topple them towards or away from firing. The field will “fine tune” the neural pathway towards the desired goal.
But neurons are connected so that when they fire together, they wire together, to form stronger connections. After practice, the influence of the field will become dispensable. The activity will be learnt and may thereafter be performed unconsciously.
One of the objections to an electromagnetic field theory of consciousness is, if our minds are electromagnetic, then why don’t we pass out when we walk under an electrical cable or any other source of external electromagnetic fields? The answer is that our skin, skull and cerebrospinal fluid shield us from external electric fields.
“The conscious electromagnetic information field is, at present, still a theory. But if true, there are many fascinating implications for the concept of free will, the nature of creativity or spirituality, consciousness in animals and even the significance of life and death.
“The theory explains why conscious actions feel so different from unconscious ones - it is because they plug into the vast pool of information held in the brain’s electromagnetic field,” Professor McFadden concluded.
The University of Surrey is one of the UK’s leading professional, scientific and technological universities with a world class research profile and a reputation for excellence in teaching and research.
(Reference: The paper “Synchronous firing and its influence on the brain’s electromagnetic field: evidence for an electromagnetic field theory of consciousness” by Johnjoe McFadden is published in the current edition of the Journal of Consciousness Studies, along with a commentary by Dr. Susan Pockett.)
