Last night as we were laying in bed about to turn the lights out, I swear that out of the corner of my eye, that there was a little girl standing by the bedroom door and holding on to the doorknob as if just playfully hiding behind the door.
Anyway, as soon as I said there was a little girl in the room, my wife melissa started describing the girl... accurately!
Anyway, the girl's description is that she was small like a 4 or 5 year old. Had long hair that was put into either a pony tail or pigtails (can't remember exactly). The most prominent feature was her dress. It was a older style dress white and red plaid all over it. It had a cute little white apron like look to the front. The sleeves were puffy as well.
We don't know who she was, so I asked my spirit guide/angel/ringing sound in my ears, the following questions.
Is she a family member?
Yes
Is she a family member that's passed away.
No
Is she a family member that's yet to be born?
No
Just to reiterate, I "talk" with this "guide" through ringing in my ears. Sometimes, I don't hear anything at all, while other times it's a certain ringing in the ear. It's similar to tinnitus, but it's intelligent. I worked out that since the ringing is mostly in my left ear that a ring in that ear is a yes, and a ring in my right ear is a no.
And it seems like there is a concerted effort to say no, as something appears to move through my vision prior to a "no" ringing.
Anyway, now you know as much as we figured out. Pretty creepy, huh?
Anyway, about the guide/angel/whatever, he (seems like a man) seems fairly content to just provide information on an as-needed basis. Which either means that he's some kind of supervisor making sure I don't screw up, he's supposed to be helpful and I am not getting all of the necessary information, or he's got some kind of intent which hasn't manifest at this point.
I think the latter is completely untrue. Lots of ringing in the right ear when I mention that.
I don't think malevolence is intended, but when I am just not getting the message, the intensity goes up in my left ear to the point where I will receive a headache. And when i finally figure out what he's getting at, it immediately goes away.
When I think about the ear ringing (which I only figured out a month ago), I can go all the way back to grade school when the ringing was manifesting.
What happened, is that during the ear tests, I would get this ringing sound that would obscure the beeps coming through the headphones. It would cause me to not do well during the test. Sometimes the ringing would stop and I would be fully able to hear the beeps.
Those that know me, can attest that I listen to music differently. I can pick out the different instruments much more easily. However, words are a problem. To me lyrics in a song are like conversations at a crowded party. I can't really make them out very well.
Maybe that's why all of the communication with the "guide" is in these ringing tones?
(edit 6/21/10) just watching an episode of red dwarf (season 5, episode 4: Quarantine), they mentioned that the kind of dress we saw was a "gingham" dress. Gingham is a type of fabric made from two colors of thread creating a crosshatch/checkerboard pattern on the cloth. The introduction of the cloth was in the 17th century and is still used today.
I didn't know about the gingham dress.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Tolerate this!
I would say I have a pretty open mind. By that, I can say that as someone who grew up as an evangelical christian, that I have no problem with someone who decides to follow some other religion or tradition.
My problem is this. These people have chosen their way of life, it shows a lack of respect to the individual to say that they are or are not living life in the way one person would perceive as correct.
Basically a fundamentalist behavior is that if someone doesn't believe what the fundamentalist believes then they are relegated to some punishment as part of the fundamentalist's belief. Whether that is "the eternal damnation of hell" or as the target of a suicide bomber's jihad. While we perceive these to be true from within our faiths, we are subject to the more serious problem of coexistence. The behavior is one of exclusion. We would rather choose to condemn and reject rather than embrace and fellowship.
To me, this denotes the major problem within the world today.
I have found that no matter the person, no matter their beliefs, no matter what color, nationality, linguistic skills or even gender, that the person is potentially someone who you can benefit learning from.
However, if you can't see that, then there may not be help for you. I mean, why would someone who claims a singular exclusivity on heaven want to commune with others? By separation on earth that means communion with humanity in heaven!?! To me that's a paradox.
I mean, if you have so much of a problem with other people here and now, why would you think you'll get along with them better when you're dead?
Assuming that even if there is a singly true faith and that only those enter heaven, the one thing intolerance does is show that despite the devotion and piety, the reflection of one's soul fails completely to show the compassion and happiness within.
And to that, I say it must be stopped. It can't start with me, I don't have the problem. I am completely tolerant and pleased with the people that do not agree with me. I only attempt to assist if someone has a issue with resolving their beliefs. You gotta believe in something.
No, really. You HAVE to BELIEVE in SOMETHING!!!
And when you're done figuring it out, tell someone. Tell me, if you want. I like a good story. Or a bad one. I've read a few of those as well.
My problem is this. These people have chosen their way of life, it shows a lack of respect to the individual to say that they are or are not living life in the way one person would perceive as correct.
Basically a fundamentalist behavior is that if someone doesn't believe what the fundamentalist believes then they are relegated to some punishment as part of the fundamentalist's belief. Whether that is "the eternal damnation of hell" or as the target of a suicide bomber's jihad. While we perceive these to be true from within our faiths, we are subject to the more serious problem of coexistence. The behavior is one of exclusion. We would rather choose to condemn and reject rather than embrace and fellowship.
To me, this denotes the major problem within the world today.
I have found that no matter the person, no matter their beliefs, no matter what color, nationality, linguistic skills or even gender, that the person is potentially someone who you can benefit learning from.
However, if you can't see that, then there may not be help for you. I mean, why would someone who claims a singular exclusivity on heaven want to commune with others? By separation on earth that means communion with humanity in heaven!?! To me that's a paradox.
I mean, if you have so much of a problem with other people here and now, why would you think you'll get along with them better when you're dead?
Assuming that even if there is a singly true faith and that only those enter heaven, the one thing intolerance does is show that despite the devotion and piety, the reflection of one's soul fails completely to show the compassion and happiness within.
And to that, I say it must be stopped. It can't start with me, I don't have the problem. I am completely tolerant and pleased with the people that do not agree with me. I only attempt to assist if someone has a issue with resolving their beliefs. You gotta believe in something.
No, really. You HAVE to BELIEVE in SOMETHING!!!
And when you're done figuring it out, tell someone. Tell me, if you want. I like a good story. Or a bad one. I've read a few of those as well.
A library, a book and a throne
This is a dream-like vision I had on the morning of April 15, 2010:
I was kind of in and out of sleep this morning, so as I drifted, I ended up at a huge building that I have seen before in my dreams. It's a museum of sorts, anyway they have records of everything ever. They asked me if I wanted to look up something and I couldn't think of anything at first, but then I remembered the ceiling fan incident and had them look it up. The ceiling fan just broke, is what I was told and the angel that James saw was one of the guardian angels, I believe the words spoken were "archangel michael". Anyway, the message they gave him at that moment is "I am always with you." Further in the record, it says that he has the ability to hear the angels speak, but hasn't paid attention or noticed. I asked who else had that ability, and my mom has it.
After that, they took me to see the book of life. To put it into scale, imagine a book that is as big as a house when opened up. Seraphim angels with their wings fly to and fro around the book bringing names to a scribe. The scribe was the most disturbing part as he was barely flesh upon bones. They must have him doing it as a punishment from hell or something as he is tasked to write everyone's names in the book. He is also missing his legs and is wearing a very worn cloak over the top part of his body. Thousands upon thousands of names adorn every page, and from the looks of it, they were on one of the last pages. The book looks leather and gold bound and like I said, just massive. I was able to inquire if a name was in the book, and was given the confirmation that the names I gave were in fact in the book.
(note, the book of life was represented as something other than the library's records, this was a unique experience as some say that "akashic records" are the book of life. I guess there's a slight difference in that one's a book while the other is a library. Semantics, I guess. I do wonder if the images were presented in the manner they were, is that is the only way I could understand them.)
After that, I was taken to a huge amphitheater. There in the seats of the amphitheater were representatives of every known creature I could think of and some that I didn't. Crazy enough, some looked more like something out of the muppet show than anything else. At the apex of the amphitheater was a throne built out of many, many galaxies. I was told that this is where God sits and views creation.
My alarm clock went off about at that point, so I woke up soon after that.
I was kind of in and out of sleep this morning, so as I drifted, I ended up at a huge building that I have seen before in my dreams. It's a museum of sorts, anyway they have records of everything ever. They asked me if I wanted to look up something and I couldn't think of anything at first, but then I remembered the ceiling fan incident and had them look it up. The ceiling fan just broke, is what I was told and the angel that James saw was one of the guardian angels, I believe the words spoken were "archangel michael". Anyway, the message they gave him at that moment is "I am always with you." Further in the record, it says that he has the ability to hear the angels speak, but hasn't paid attention or noticed. I asked who else had that ability, and my mom has it.
After that, they took me to see the book of life. To put it into scale, imagine a book that is as big as a house when opened up. Seraphim angels with their wings fly to and fro around the book bringing names to a scribe. The scribe was the most disturbing part as he was barely flesh upon bones. They must have him doing it as a punishment from hell or something as he is tasked to write everyone's names in the book. He is also missing his legs and is wearing a very worn cloak over the top part of his body. Thousands upon thousands of names adorn every page, and from the looks of it, they were on one of the last pages. The book looks leather and gold bound and like I said, just massive. I was able to inquire if a name was in the book, and was given the confirmation that the names I gave were in fact in the book.
(note, the book of life was represented as something other than the library's records, this was a unique experience as some say that "akashic records" are the book of life. I guess there's a slight difference in that one's a book while the other is a library. Semantics, I guess. I do wonder if the images were presented in the manner they were, is that is the only way I could understand them.)
After that, I was taken to a huge amphitheater. There in the seats of the amphitheater were representatives of every known creature I could think of and some that I didn't. Crazy enough, some looked more like something out of the muppet show than anything else. At the apex of the amphitheater was a throne built out of many, many galaxies. I was told that this is where God sits and views creation.
My alarm clock went off about at that point, so I woke up soon after that.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Way overtired.
Lately I have found myself not getting enough sleep. So today I am probably about as tired as I could possibly be.
Not even caffeine in a souped up energy drink is helping.
I confess, I do like the occasional energy drink, but it's not something that I have often. I like the sensation of messing up my internal vibration.
I know caffeine has the ability to increase heart rate and blood flow, but it's not comprehensive, so in the overall run, it's not really that effective for long term awake-ness.
Lately it's just a matter of not going to bed in good enough time. That's just bad planning on some regard. Anyway, at least it is not attributable to the inaudible voices in the night.
On the other hand, I get the impression lately that the earplugs aren't as effective in keeping out the inaudible voices. In this excessively tired state I am still waken up at odd periods throughout the night.
As I write, I am currently reading the book of isaiah. I suppose if it's God speaking to me, there's not a whole lot I can do about it. Who wants to be the one that tells God to stop talking?
I sure don't want to. What if what you're supposed to hear is important? Anyway, at this point, thinking about it makes me even more tired than I already am.
Not even caffeine in a souped up energy drink is helping.
I confess, I do like the occasional energy drink, but it's not something that I have often. I like the sensation of messing up my internal vibration.
I know caffeine has the ability to increase heart rate and blood flow, but it's not comprehensive, so in the overall run, it's not really that effective for long term awake-ness.
Lately it's just a matter of not going to bed in good enough time. That's just bad planning on some regard. Anyway, at least it is not attributable to the inaudible voices in the night.
On the other hand, I get the impression lately that the earplugs aren't as effective in keeping out the inaudible voices. In this excessively tired state I am still waken up at odd periods throughout the night.
As I write, I am currently reading the book of isaiah. I suppose if it's God speaking to me, there's not a whole lot I can do about it. Who wants to be the one that tells God to stop talking?
I sure don't want to. What if what you're supposed to hear is important? Anyway, at this point, thinking about it makes me even more tired than I already am.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Jabberwocky
I was in junior high school (grades 7-9) when I memorized this poem by Lewis Carroll.
Over 20 years later, I still remember most of the poem, but I always get tripped up about half way through. Recently the poem has been the center concept behind a couple of movies. Most recently the Tim Burton "Alice in Wonderland" was one to utilize this tale, but perhaps my favorite adaptation of the poem was the movie "the last mimsy".
'All Mimsy were the borogroves' is the line. What does it mean? Well, the movie combined time travel and human advancement in a way that brought in the innocence of children while countering it with an adult's misunderstanding and hardening of a willingness to accept something new like a child would. Maybe that's what Carroll tried to get us to do. By that I mean try something new and unexpected.
Alas, that's not what carroll meant. Mimsy is actually a reference to being miserable and flimsy. Hence the word mimsy or possibly miserimsy. The borogroves refers to a type of bird. A miserable and flimsy bird.
This is two ways to look at dreams and aspirations. On the one hand, they are new and exciting, while another way is to see them as depressing and a waste of time. When properly defined, the stanza refers to a kind of mediocrity. It's the feeling that life begins to become stale.
Carroll's intent was to write a poem badly, but even bad poems have their own sense about them. That stale existence of the first and last stanza combined with a determination as to how to write badly has now become a refocusing and innovation. Anyone who has ever tried reading the "coney island of the mind" could tell you that a meaningless poem is never truly meaningless.
The only difference between "coney island of the mind" and "jabberwocky", is that you don't need music for reciting "jabberwocky".
Seriously.
To that regard, the poem reads:
Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Over 20 years later, I still remember most of the poem, but I always get tripped up about half way through. Recently the poem has been the center concept behind a couple of movies. Most recently the Tim Burton "Alice in Wonderland" was one to utilize this tale, but perhaps my favorite adaptation of the poem was the movie "the last mimsy".
'All Mimsy were the borogroves' is the line. What does it mean? Well, the movie combined time travel and human advancement in a way that brought in the innocence of children while countering it with an adult's misunderstanding and hardening of a willingness to accept something new like a child would. Maybe that's what Carroll tried to get us to do. By that I mean try something new and unexpected.
Alas, that's not what carroll meant. Mimsy is actually a reference to being miserable and flimsy. Hence the word mimsy or possibly miserimsy. The borogroves refers to a type of bird. A miserable and flimsy bird.
This is two ways to look at dreams and aspirations. On the one hand, they are new and exciting, while another way is to see them as depressing and a waste of time. When properly defined, the stanza refers to a kind of mediocrity. It's the feeling that life begins to become stale.
Carroll's intent was to write a poem badly, but even bad poems have their own sense about them. That stale existence of the first and last stanza combined with a determination as to how to write badly has now become a refocusing and innovation. Anyone who has ever tried reading the "coney island of the mind" could tell you that a meaningless poem is never truly meaningless.
The only difference between "coney island of the mind" and "jabberwocky", is that you don't need music for reciting "jabberwocky".
Seriously.
To that regard, the poem reads:
Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Now for something I know I really like.
I'm paraphrasing Rocky and Bullwinkle there.
Of all the stuff I've watched, a couple of shows stand out as the ones that I think are fun to watch and are the ones I turn to time and time again.
Torchwood - As I am typing this, I have an episode of torchwood playing in another window right next to this one. I like this show more than Dr. Who even though they were run by the same guy for the past couple of years. It moves fast and usually involves one of those twists and turns that you'd expect from an M. Knight Shamalayan film. The theme music to the show is pretty cool too.
Fringe/X-Files/Millennium - To me it is the "let's try to figure it out" mindset that these shows sit upon. They're fun, especially when I think they got it right. Of the 3 fringe is probably the most impressive, while yet it is the most singly focused. Fringe's focus is science. X-files was the paranormal. Millennium was the dark side of humanity.
Farscape - I just started watching this and I am overall impressed with a show that flows well from episode to episode. A sci-fi show in the vein of startrek and babylon 5, it's all from the perspective of the human character on the show. Basically it's US on a journey. I think that's what people want in a good story.
Babylon 5 - In it's 5 year run, it's not a series of stories. From the beginning it all flows into a single story and ends with year 5 completing the story. I guess I am not surprised they tried to continue the story after that, but if you ignore them, the simple 5 year run is about as good as you can get.
Futurama - I can't get enough of this show. I can watch the same episodes over and over and over. Of all of the cartoon shows created, this one combines whimsy with the ability to not insult your intelligence. At some point in the show each character shines. For example, volume 3 is the best zoidberg episodes, with the exception of the one that actually features the crazy lobster.
Honorable Mention:
House - I was really enjoying this show until it started to get a little stale. It used to be mostly about a sardonic genius figuring out medical mysteries. Basically a medical version of sherlock holmes. (holmes, house, get it?) Anyway, the show has slowly moved toward the main characters instead of the patients. The way the show seems to be heading, they might not be in a hospital at some point. I still watch it, but I am slowly becoming less and less interested.
Of all the stuff I've watched, a couple of shows stand out as the ones that I think are fun to watch and are the ones I turn to time and time again.
Torchwood - As I am typing this, I have an episode of torchwood playing in another window right next to this one. I like this show more than Dr. Who even though they were run by the same guy for the past couple of years. It moves fast and usually involves one of those twists and turns that you'd expect from an M. Knight Shamalayan film. The theme music to the show is pretty cool too.
Fringe/X-Files/Millennium - To me it is the "let's try to figure it out" mindset that these shows sit upon. They're fun, especially when I think they got it right. Of the 3 fringe is probably the most impressive, while yet it is the most singly focused. Fringe's focus is science. X-files was the paranormal. Millennium was the dark side of humanity.
Farscape - I just started watching this and I am overall impressed with a show that flows well from episode to episode. A sci-fi show in the vein of startrek and babylon 5, it's all from the perspective of the human character on the show. Basically it's US on a journey. I think that's what people want in a good story.
Babylon 5 - In it's 5 year run, it's not a series of stories. From the beginning it all flows into a single story and ends with year 5 completing the story. I guess I am not surprised they tried to continue the story after that, but if you ignore them, the simple 5 year run is about as good as you can get.
Futurama - I can't get enough of this show. I can watch the same episodes over and over and over. Of all of the cartoon shows created, this one combines whimsy with the ability to not insult your intelligence. At some point in the show each character shines. For example, volume 3 is the best zoidberg episodes, with the exception of the one that actually features the crazy lobster.
Honorable Mention:
House - I was really enjoying this show until it started to get a little stale. It used to be mostly about a sardonic genius figuring out medical mysteries. Basically a medical version of sherlock holmes. (holmes, house, get it?) Anyway, the show has slowly moved toward the main characters instead of the patients. The way the show seems to be heading, they might not be in a hospital at some point. I still watch it, but I am slowly becoming less and less interested.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
random stuff and EVP classifications
Edit: I am augmenting this entry due to something I noticed on the Ghost Hunters episode from 4/7/2010.
I posted more stuff from the lemp mansion recording on that thread. I apologize if I seem to be harping on the subject.
I was trying to see what the concepts behind EVP classification were and why they were classed as A, B and C. It turns out that Raymond Cass came up with that somewhere in the 70s. I guess. Anyway, in looking at those classifications and then comparing it to the audio I am painfully going through. (okay, so i am bored with listening to me and my wife sleep) I figure that the 3 classifications can be expanded to at least 5.
Cass has his classified as:
A - Easily Heard
B - Fairly loud and clear and sometimes audible with headphones
and
C - Soft and indecipherable
This fails to take into account more recent technology and techniques, so I propose a new set of classifications:
A - Easily understood without any audio manipulation. Also the audio in question shows up on a audio/frequency display.
B - Easily understood without any audio manipulation but does not appear on an audio/frequency display.
C - Somewhat understood, but easily understood after audio manipulation.
D - Somewhat understood after audio manipulation or a result of signal artifacts. (robotic sounding no matter how clear is a result of audio artifacting and should not be considered anything above a C in my book)
E - Not completely understandable but still present in the audio after audio manipulation.
F - Barely able for trained ear to hear. (or after listening to audio for hours)
Edit: I have made a change to classify the difference between a class A and the new class B. Everything else has been shifted by one letter. There could be an argument for class B being switched with class A. The reason for that order, is that in a true class A EVP, you should be able to look at the graphic representation of an audio clip and see that there is something there. Class B would mean that you can easily hear it, but can't see the audio visually. A spectral analysis would be in order at that point. However, I do not have enough pieces of evidence of class A and B EVP's to make a definitive analysis about the results from spectral analysis. I would be ever so happy to entertain such clips for further study. (end edit.)
I base this on the grading system from grade school through college. Frankly, if you're getting a E or F, yeah it's probably an EVP, but who really wants to hear it.
I did get a chance to hear some class A EVP's and those are really nice. Pretty much all of my lemp mansion audio is C- through F. I am not completely proud of the quality, but I wasn't about to sacrifice comfort for a disembodied voice.
I tried audacity again for the first time in awhile to see if it was any help in working with the lemp mansion recordings I have, and to be honest, I freaking hate the thing. It wouldn't pull in the audio from the recorder (apparently WMV is a premium format, so it's only available in the beta software). The equalizer in the software was pretty useless, as all it had were presets. I stopped trying to get the darned thing to work before I had successfully chomped off my arm.
Don't get me wrong, cakewalk has its issues as well.
So in the past year, I started documenting anything and everything that strikes me. It's all a part of this idea that I have that I'm not really driving right now, but instead riding. Perhaps a surfer would be a good analogy here (or not, I have no idea), as the wave takes me from one location to another.
Do I have a clue where I am headed? At this point, I am saying no, because really. I have no clue. If I did know, then I wouldn't be spewing these random thoughts onto a blog. On one hand I wish I did know where I was headed, and on the other, I really don't want to know.
Maybe it's more like a roller coaster. Lots of twists and turns, perhaps a loop, but at the end you still end up safe where you need to be.
I know this much, it feels like I am riding backwards. I can't see where I am going any more than I can see the wind. Yeah I can tell which direction it blows, but if it swirls, then I have no clue.
It works though. It's a really fun ride. I can say that I enjoy the experience very much, even though it takes me in directions I did not see myself going. So why fight it?
It's just as simple as the release of floating on water. I am better off by not fighting against it. It's kind of like living in Ecclesiastes 3.
I posted more stuff from the lemp mansion recording on that thread. I apologize if I seem to be harping on the subject.
I was trying to see what the concepts behind EVP classification were and why they were classed as A, B and C. It turns out that Raymond Cass came up with that somewhere in the 70s. I guess. Anyway, in looking at those classifications and then comparing it to the audio I am painfully going through. (okay, so i am bored with listening to me and my wife sleep) I figure that the 3 classifications can be expanded to at least 5.
Cass has his classified as:
A - Easily Heard
B - Fairly loud and clear and sometimes audible with headphones
and
C - Soft and indecipherable
This fails to take into account more recent technology and techniques, so I propose a new set of classifications:
A - Easily understood without any audio manipulation. Also the audio in question shows up on a audio/frequency display.
B - Easily understood without any audio manipulation but does not appear on an audio/frequency display.
C - Somewhat understood, but easily understood after audio manipulation.
D - Somewhat understood after audio manipulation or a result of signal artifacts. (robotic sounding no matter how clear is a result of audio artifacting and should not be considered anything above a C in my book)
E - Not completely understandable but still present in the audio after audio manipulation.
F - Barely able for trained ear to hear. (or after listening to audio for hours)
Edit: I have made a change to classify the difference between a class A and the new class B. Everything else has been shifted by one letter. There could be an argument for class B being switched with class A. The reason for that order, is that in a true class A EVP, you should be able to look at the graphic representation of an audio clip and see that there is something there. Class B would mean that you can easily hear it, but can't see the audio visually. A spectral analysis would be in order at that point. However, I do not have enough pieces of evidence of class A and B EVP's to make a definitive analysis about the results from spectral analysis. I would be ever so happy to entertain such clips for further study. (end edit.)
I base this on the grading system from grade school through college. Frankly, if you're getting a E or F, yeah it's probably an EVP, but who really wants to hear it.
I did get a chance to hear some class A EVP's and those are really nice. Pretty much all of my lemp mansion audio is C- through F. I am not completely proud of the quality, but I wasn't about to sacrifice comfort for a disembodied voice.
I tried audacity again for the first time in awhile to see if it was any help in working with the lemp mansion recordings I have, and to be honest, I freaking hate the thing. It wouldn't pull in the audio from the recorder (apparently WMV is a premium format, so it's only available in the beta software). The equalizer in the software was pretty useless, as all it had were presets. I stopped trying to get the darned thing to work before I had successfully chomped off my arm.
Don't get me wrong, cakewalk has its issues as well.
So in the past year, I started documenting anything and everything that strikes me. It's all a part of this idea that I have that I'm not really driving right now, but instead riding. Perhaps a surfer would be a good analogy here (or not, I have no idea), as the wave takes me from one location to another.
Do I have a clue where I am headed? At this point, I am saying no, because really. I have no clue. If I did know, then I wouldn't be spewing these random thoughts onto a blog. On one hand I wish I did know where I was headed, and on the other, I really don't want to know.
Maybe it's more like a roller coaster. Lots of twists and turns, perhaps a loop, but at the end you still end up safe where you need to be.
I know this much, it feels like I am riding backwards. I can't see where I am going any more than I can see the wind. Yeah I can tell which direction it blows, but if it swirls, then I have no clue.
It works though. It's a really fun ride. I can say that I enjoy the experience very much, even though it takes me in directions I did not see myself going. So why fight it?
It's just as simple as the release of floating on water. I am better off by not fighting against it. It's kind of like living in Ecclesiastes 3.
My take on the reality ghost shows
I like watching paranormal shows. It begs the question as to what reality truly is. I know people try to explain it or rationalize it away, but that's a really poor way to face the world in general. One should not be fully accepting or fully skeptical. We should always have a mind for discerning. Take each piece of evidence given and weigh it on its own merit. I think doing so would create a more harmonious view of the world as a whole.
I am sure I am missing one or two, but I think when you see what I think of these, you'll pretty much figure out how I feel about the genre in general.
Anyway, here I go:
Celebrity Ghost Stories - Fascinating stories, but for an hour long show, I think we only have 15 minutes of actual story being told. Reality tv has really cheapened a show's content. How many times can you show the same clip on one show? Is 5 times too many? I guess not.
Destination Truth - Basically this show is what happens if you give a paranormal fan with a voice for radio and face for television whatever he wants. Ghost hunting in the radioactive wasteland of chernobyl? Sure! Looking for a mermaid off of the coast of israel? Sure! Helicopter searches for the jersey devil? Okay. If they find anything, sometimes it's a surprise. Not for a second do I think they have a chance in actually seeing anything, but I guess they're pretty lucky. I wouldn't call it a thorough investigation, that would just be impossible by any means. As for finding the truth? I don't think that's possible either.
Extreme Paranormal - The ghostman and demonhunter show on tv. The podcast is fun and sometimes informative (i'm kidding, it's not informative), but the whole show came of as some kind of ghost adventures meets jackass. Perhaps innovative in trying to investigate an underwater ghost town, it falls flat as you can't really see anything. I've never seen anyone try harder to be stupid about something, but here it was.
Ghost Adventures - 3 guys locked overnight with just a set of cameras and whatever equipment they could carry. Sounds like an incomplete investigation. However, they are picking up some of the more interesting ghost related phenomena on camera. I only wish that they didn't feature themselves and it's really insulting to the level that goes. It leaves me at times saying "really?" And if you want to know where they got all of that weird equipment? Digitaldowsing.com Now you know.
Ghost Hunters - The big ratings boomer for SyFy. When your primary focus is to debunk rather than capture and establish, the idea that they are hunters seems to go out the door. The editing on the show doesn't represent the actual investigation, but even at that, sometimes I wonder if they are even "trying" to find ghosts or if they just happen to catch stuff by accident.
Ghost Hunters International/Ghost Hunters Academy - Different name, same show. They aren't finding much on any of them.
Ghost Lab - I will give a hand to the klinge brothers for their differing techniques, but I am a bit put off by what they end up with. I mean, they went to lemp mansion, and I went to lemp mansion. They got a dog barking/yelping, and I got that and more. And I am not part of any professional team! I just turned a recorder in my room and went to sleep. I'll try to calm down, but I would expect more from a group of professionals. I don't expect the TAPS team to find anything because of their approach, but come on! This is the 2nd show on ghosts and they are coming away with NOTHING!!! Okay, next to nothing. I so badly want to see Ghost Hunters take on Lemp, because I know that they couldn't possibly do better with a location once called one of the 10 most haunted locations in the US.
A Haunting - The show dramatized the most extreme cases of haunting on the discovery channel. Eventually one of the episodes was made into the movie "A Haunting in Connecticut". Perhaps my favorite show of the lot, I felt that it kept it as true as possible to the actual events, and presented many different aspects about haunting while not trying to insult your intelligence. I wish they were only still making this show.
The Haunted - Pets getting haunted. Apparently Animal Planet is getting in on the paranormal bandwagon. Boring as can be tho.
Most Haunted - If monty python did a ghost hunting sketch, it would be expanded upon by this crew. Most of their "vigils" are sounds of knocks and whistles combined with the "actors" (as I don't know what else to call them) getting startled and waving the camera wildly about. Toward the end they hold a seance and have a table shake wildly about before trying to use a ouija board to get some kind of idea if anything's there. To me, the show is a comedy in three acts. First is the seriousness of the location combined with random "paranormal" experiences. Second is these "vigils", which you might as well call them sketches, as it's goofy as it can get, and then you follow it up with a group goofyness. When it's all done and they try to get Dr. Okeefe to explain what went on, you're left with the idea that "they really don't know what they are doing".
Paranormal Cops - Forensics meets ghost hunting. Sounds great in theory and it turns out to be a very informative reveal when it's done. On the other hand, you can see their equipment is about as cheap as one can find. I really think the ghost meter (which can be picked up for $20) should not be a part of any serious investigation. You should give those out for people to use on "haunted house tours". The best meter for the price is the Ramsey tri-field. $74 with assembly required, it's so sensitive it'll show the magnetism of the earth! It's on my wish list. I do like their use of a report, but I could easily see a dossier for my results from lemp.
NOTE: Here's a brilliant idea to all of the shows, how about a DVD containing all of the collected materials, the poignant clips and whatever in regards to what you found!!! Okay, that may be the computer programmer in me, because that's pretty easy for me to pull off.
Paranormal State - I like this show and I hate it at the same time. On the one hand, they really are trying to help, the only problem is that sometimes it just feels like a bunch of high school/college kids doing it. It is similar to what they did with shows like "scariest places on earth" and "mtv's fear". They rely too heavily on the psychic figuring out the problems and basically resolving the issues for them. Lately they started blindfolding the psychics. I feel the show is turning a corner and heading down a road that leads to boring. There was the tremendously hyped "darkness falls" where ryan tries to refocus his group, but I think the whole episode failed for two reasons. The group never refocused and ryan was just way to cryptic. Once a season the show turns into some kind of cryptozoology field trip and the credibility is left there. Mothman? Jersey devil? Next you'll be looking for bigfoot. Honestly, we get that stuff with Destination Truth and it's not that good there either.
Let me just say in conclusion, for a professional ghost hunter, providing evidence shouldn't be a potshot kind of affair. There's plenty of techniques and getting the right one to work at the right time? That's where the professional comes in.
If you want to impress me with the paranormal, feature what is found than the people that it's about. I know for me, I would rather impress someone with what I do and how I do it rather than who I am.
I am sure I am missing one or two, but I think when you see what I think of these, you'll pretty much figure out how I feel about the genre in general.
Anyway, here I go:
Celebrity Ghost Stories - Fascinating stories, but for an hour long show, I think we only have 15 minutes of actual story being told. Reality tv has really cheapened a show's content. How many times can you show the same clip on one show? Is 5 times too many? I guess not.
Destination Truth - Basically this show is what happens if you give a paranormal fan with a voice for radio and face for television whatever he wants. Ghost hunting in the radioactive wasteland of chernobyl? Sure! Looking for a mermaid off of the coast of israel? Sure! Helicopter searches for the jersey devil? Okay. If they find anything, sometimes it's a surprise. Not for a second do I think they have a chance in actually seeing anything, but I guess they're pretty lucky. I wouldn't call it a thorough investigation, that would just be impossible by any means. As for finding the truth? I don't think that's possible either.
Extreme Paranormal - The ghostman and demonhunter show on tv. The podcast is fun and sometimes informative (i'm kidding, it's not informative), but the whole show came of as some kind of ghost adventures meets jackass. Perhaps innovative in trying to investigate an underwater ghost town, it falls flat as you can't really see anything. I've never seen anyone try harder to be stupid about something, but here it was.
Ghost Adventures - 3 guys locked overnight with just a set of cameras and whatever equipment they could carry. Sounds like an incomplete investigation. However, they are picking up some of the more interesting ghost related phenomena on camera. I only wish that they didn't feature themselves and it's really insulting to the level that goes. It leaves me at times saying "really?" And if you want to know where they got all of that weird equipment? Digitaldowsing.com Now you know.
Ghost Hunters - The big ratings boomer for SyFy. When your primary focus is to debunk rather than capture and establish, the idea that they are hunters seems to go out the door. The editing on the show doesn't represent the actual investigation, but even at that, sometimes I wonder if they are even "trying" to find ghosts or if they just happen to catch stuff by accident.
Ghost Hunters International/Ghost Hunters Academy - Different name, same show. They aren't finding much on any of them.
Ghost Lab - I will give a hand to the klinge brothers for their differing techniques, but I am a bit put off by what they end up with. I mean, they went to lemp mansion, and I went to lemp mansion. They got a dog barking/yelping, and I got that and more. And I am not part of any professional team! I just turned a recorder in my room and went to sleep. I'll try to calm down, but I would expect more from a group of professionals. I don't expect the TAPS team to find anything because of their approach, but come on! This is the 2nd show on ghosts and they are coming away with NOTHING!!! Okay, next to nothing. I so badly want to see Ghost Hunters take on Lemp, because I know that they couldn't possibly do better with a location once called one of the 10 most haunted locations in the US.
A Haunting - The show dramatized the most extreme cases of haunting on the discovery channel. Eventually one of the episodes was made into the movie "A Haunting in Connecticut". Perhaps my favorite show of the lot, I felt that it kept it as true as possible to the actual events, and presented many different aspects about haunting while not trying to insult your intelligence. I wish they were only still making this show.
The Haunted - Pets getting haunted. Apparently Animal Planet is getting in on the paranormal bandwagon. Boring as can be tho.
Most Haunted - If monty python did a ghost hunting sketch, it would be expanded upon by this crew. Most of their "vigils" are sounds of knocks and whistles combined with the "actors" (as I don't know what else to call them) getting startled and waving the camera wildly about. Toward the end they hold a seance and have a table shake wildly about before trying to use a ouija board to get some kind of idea if anything's there. To me, the show is a comedy in three acts. First is the seriousness of the location combined with random "paranormal" experiences. Second is these "vigils", which you might as well call them sketches, as it's goofy as it can get, and then you follow it up with a group goofyness. When it's all done and they try to get Dr. Okeefe to explain what went on, you're left with the idea that "they really don't know what they are doing".
Paranormal Cops - Forensics meets ghost hunting. Sounds great in theory and it turns out to be a very informative reveal when it's done. On the other hand, you can see their equipment is about as cheap as one can find. I really think the ghost meter (which can be picked up for $20) should not be a part of any serious investigation. You should give those out for people to use on "haunted house tours". The best meter for the price is the Ramsey tri-field. $74 with assembly required, it's so sensitive it'll show the magnetism of the earth! It's on my wish list. I do like their use of a report, but I could easily see a dossier for my results from lemp.
NOTE: Here's a brilliant idea to all of the shows, how about a DVD containing all of the collected materials, the poignant clips and whatever in regards to what you found!!! Okay, that may be the computer programmer in me, because that's pretty easy for me to pull off.
Paranormal State - I like this show and I hate it at the same time. On the one hand, they really are trying to help, the only problem is that sometimes it just feels like a bunch of high school/college kids doing it. It is similar to what they did with shows like "scariest places on earth" and "mtv's fear". They rely too heavily on the psychic figuring out the problems and basically resolving the issues for them. Lately they started blindfolding the psychics. I feel the show is turning a corner and heading down a road that leads to boring. There was the tremendously hyped "darkness falls" where ryan tries to refocus his group, but I think the whole episode failed for two reasons. The group never refocused and ryan was just way to cryptic. Once a season the show turns into some kind of cryptozoology field trip and the credibility is left there. Mothman? Jersey devil? Next you'll be looking for bigfoot. Honestly, we get that stuff with Destination Truth and it's not that good there either.
Let me just say in conclusion, for a professional ghost hunter, providing evidence shouldn't be a potshot kind of affair. There's plenty of techniques and getting the right one to work at the right time? That's where the professional comes in.
If you want to impress me with the paranormal, feature what is found than the people that it's about. I know for me, I would rather impress someone with what I do and how I do it rather than who I am.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Childhood fears and the unlearning process.
As one gets older the things that seem to scare us become more and more tamed and really not that scary. I remember the tense scene from Charlie and the Chocolate factory giving me nightmares. Agustus Galoop was stuck in the pipe and the intensity was more than my psyche could bear. Nowadays it is more humorous and watching Gene Wilder's portrayal of Wonka during that scene is a creepy joy.
Another scene that gave me endless nightmares was from some movie that we saw at church about the tribuation (mark of the beast). Fairly benign in most of the movie, the protagonist is taken to a guillotine and killed in that fashion. This whole thing scared me for many years, as I always felt that during the night that someone was going to come up and chop my head off. So I slept many many years with the blanket completely over my head. (as if that was any help)
Anyway, I got the opportunity to relive a bit of that childhood fear just recently. In this case, it's seeing the unexpected in the room during the middle of the night. As you may have read in previous entries that I have taken to wearing earplugs in order to eliminate something that I am hearing inaudibly. It works most of the time, except in this case, it wasn't audio that woke me. I was a little over gorged from eating and was suffering from some tummy complaints while at the same time I was becoming dehydrated. As you know I consider hydration to be one of the main factors of a proper sleep.
I was going in and out of sleep when I finally opened my eyes, and what I could see was that on the other side of the bed it appeared that someone was standing there looking at me. Well, I am not sure it was me, but I could see the person. Head completely off to one side (almost sideways) and was wearing what I could tell was a red flannel shirt. Mind you I don't have excellent vision and I didn't have my glasses on at the time, but I am fairly sure I was seeing something. I reverted back to that childhood fear and closed my eyes, but to my steeled reaction, the face was still there.
I am going to pause here, because I should mention something. I have noticed that there is some kind of dimensionality to vision. It's kind of a layering that we can ascribe scientifically. The reason why we have two eyes is for depth perception, but in some animals the placement of the eyes is something where depth perception is not the primary goal. Some lizards see in opposite directions. Personally I don't think our brains could handle the input in that fashion.
With depth perception we take two images from similar but not the same viewpoint and by combining them, we get depth or an idea of how close or far away an object seems to be.
Now if we combine the pineal gland (or as some call it the 3rd eye) in the process. Considering that the pineal is capable of receiving light based information (via the rods and cones contained in the gland), then it is possible that the 3rd level of layering can exist in between the layers of our existing eyes.
However, it is possible to close your eyes and still see through the pineal. Some scientists think that dreams may originate from this location.
Now I only speak from a scientific perspective here, because there are reports of astral travel or OBE that claim to produce memories and experiences while the spirit body is outside the corporeal body. I'll leave that alone.
SO back to seeing the face. I have my eyes fully closed, but because I didn't close all 3 eyes (pineal is a tough one to open and close) I still saw the face looking at me. (a bit clearer too as I don't wear corrective lenses for my pineal gland)
I had seen the face before. It's a bit stern as it looks at me, as the impression that I get is that I could be better than I am. At first I thought it was the spirit guide/angel/whatever that is around me, but the demeanor was such that it was non sequitur (did not follow).
So after rolling over I did feel something touch my leg and ankle. I can succinctly describe the sensation as a sudden and very light tingling. It is not even remotely close to the tingling of numbness or having your limb fall asleep on you.
I got up soon after that and went to the bathroom. First to get a drink of water and second to shock myself away from it. The childhood fear reared its ugly head and showed me something that I should unlearn.
Fear is irrational. It's a failure to process the information correctly. It's a reaction to what is unknown that flies in the face of understanding. Especially when it comes to understanding ones self.
Lately I am finding that I am understanding less and less of myself. I am going to call it a learning process, as I have nothing else to call it at this time.
Needless to say, I didn't see the figure again. I didn't know who it was. Until...
Morning came and I asked my wife if she knew anyone who wore flannel. She said her dad did. He died quite a while ago from a head injury while riding a bike. Anyway, we went about this morning and found a picture of him. When I saw the picture, a chill went down my spine and goose pimples started to form.
I've seen the pictures before, but I didn't remember the face that well. Anyway, the face was dead on. (sorry, bad pun) And while I didn't see a picture of the red flannel shirt (which I can't understand how I could see red flannel in the dark of night), I was told that my sister-in-law still has that shirt.
I am chilled. I should be able to deal with the childhood fear, but instead my primal reaction is to cower and pull back. It's almost as if I want to pull the blanket over my head again.
I need to unlearn this fear. That is for certain.
To close, I see learning as a cycle. First we learn so that we can know. Then we know so that we can share. And finally, we share so that we can learn.
That is why I share this information. It's a part of Nosce Te Impsum (to know one's self).
Another scene that gave me endless nightmares was from some movie that we saw at church about the tribuation (mark of the beast). Fairly benign in most of the movie, the protagonist is taken to a guillotine and killed in that fashion. This whole thing scared me for many years, as I always felt that during the night that someone was going to come up and chop my head off. So I slept many many years with the blanket completely over my head. (as if that was any help)
Anyway, I got the opportunity to relive a bit of that childhood fear just recently. In this case, it's seeing the unexpected in the room during the middle of the night. As you may have read in previous entries that I have taken to wearing earplugs in order to eliminate something that I am hearing inaudibly. It works most of the time, except in this case, it wasn't audio that woke me. I was a little over gorged from eating and was suffering from some tummy complaints while at the same time I was becoming dehydrated. As you know I consider hydration to be one of the main factors of a proper sleep.
I was going in and out of sleep when I finally opened my eyes, and what I could see was that on the other side of the bed it appeared that someone was standing there looking at me. Well, I am not sure it was me, but I could see the person. Head completely off to one side (almost sideways) and was wearing what I could tell was a red flannel shirt. Mind you I don't have excellent vision and I didn't have my glasses on at the time, but I am fairly sure I was seeing something. I reverted back to that childhood fear and closed my eyes, but to my steeled reaction, the face was still there.
I am going to pause here, because I should mention something. I have noticed that there is some kind of dimensionality to vision. It's kind of a layering that we can ascribe scientifically. The reason why we have two eyes is for depth perception, but in some animals the placement of the eyes is something where depth perception is not the primary goal. Some lizards see in opposite directions. Personally I don't think our brains could handle the input in that fashion.
With depth perception we take two images from similar but not the same viewpoint and by combining them, we get depth or an idea of how close or far away an object seems to be.
Now if we combine the pineal gland (or as some call it the 3rd eye) in the process. Considering that the pineal is capable of receiving light based information (via the rods and cones contained in the gland), then it is possible that the 3rd level of layering can exist in between the layers of our existing eyes.
However, it is possible to close your eyes and still see through the pineal. Some scientists think that dreams may originate from this location.
Now I only speak from a scientific perspective here, because there are reports of astral travel or OBE that claim to produce memories and experiences while the spirit body is outside the corporeal body. I'll leave that alone.
SO back to seeing the face. I have my eyes fully closed, but because I didn't close all 3 eyes (pineal is a tough one to open and close) I still saw the face looking at me. (a bit clearer too as I don't wear corrective lenses for my pineal gland)
I had seen the face before. It's a bit stern as it looks at me, as the impression that I get is that I could be better than I am. At first I thought it was the spirit guide/angel/whatever that is around me, but the demeanor was such that it was non sequitur (did not follow).
So after rolling over I did feel something touch my leg and ankle. I can succinctly describe the sensation as a sudden and very light tingling. It is not even remotely close to the tingling of numbness or having your limb fall asleep on you.
I got up soon after that and went to the bathroom. First to get a drink of water and second to shock myself away from it. The childhood fear reared its ugly head and showed me something that I should unlearn.
Fear is irrational. It's a failure to process the information correctly. It's a reaction to what is unknown that flies in the face of understanding. Especially when it comes to understanding ones self.
Lately I am finding that I am understanding less and less of myself. I am going to call it a learning process, as I have nothing else to call it at this time.
Needless to say, I didn't see the figure again. I didn't know who it was. Until...
Morning came and I asked my wife if she knew anyone who wore flannel. She said her dad did. He died quite a while ago from a head injury while riding a bike. Anyway, we went about this morning and found a picture of him. When I saw the picture, a chill went down my spine and goose pimples started to form.
I've seen the pictures before, but I didn't remember the face that well. Anyway, the face was dead on. (sorry, bad pun) And while I didn't see a picture of the red flannel shirt (which I can't understand how I could see red flannel in the dark of night), I was told that my sister-in-law still has that shirt.
I am chilled. I should be able to deal with the childhood fear, but instead my primal reaction is to cower and pull back. It's almost as if I want to pull the blanket over my head again.
I need to unlearn this fear. That is for certain.
To close, I see learning as a cycle. First we learn so that we can know. Then we know so that we can share. And finally, we share so that we can learn.
That is why I share this information. It's a part of Nosce Te Impsum (to know one's self).
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