http://www.dbskeptic.com Skepticism. Critical thinking. Podcast. Community. Sat, 14 Aug 2010 01:54:54 +0000 en-us hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Digital Bits Skeptic brings skepticism and critical thinking to a world of new age, religion and credulous pop culture. Andy Kaiser clean Andy Kaiser skeptic@dbskeptic.com skeptic@dbskeptic.com (Andy Kaiser) 2009 Skepticism and critical thinking in a world of new age, religion and credulous pop culture skeptic, skepticism, critical thinking, new age, religion, pop culture, skeptical articles, critical thinking articles, philosophy http://www.dbskeptic.com/images/dbskeptic-logo-144.jpg http://www.dbskeptic.com/category/ghosts/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/04/12/trading-my-fingers-for-aliens/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/04/12/trading-my-fingers-for-aliens/#comments Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:56:25 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/?p=940 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/04/12/trading-my-fingers-for-aliens/feed/ 17 Nick Farrantello By Nick Farrantello Article ID: 1316 - I don't believe in anything. UFOs, Bigfoot, ESP, the Loch Ness Monster, ghosts, you name it.  In my mind it's all a bunch of hooey.  Despite that, I still consider myself very open-minded. By Nick Farrantello Article ID: 1316 I don't believe in anything. UFOs, Bigfoot, ESP, the Loch Ness Monster, ghosts, you name it.  In my mind it's all a bunch of hooey.  Despite that, I still consider myself very open-minded.   The reason for this is nothing revolutionary.  It's a reason that other skeptics cite as to why they too are open-minded.  Simply put, I want there to be flying saucers.  Are you kidding?  Alien visitors from another planet, how awesome would that be?   I want there to be a Loch Ness Monster.  The idea of some animal surviving from the age of the dinosaurs would be fascinating.  I want there to be ghosts.  Who in their right mind wouldn't want there to be an afterlife?  ESP?  Bring it on.  Mindreading would be the bomb. Now, in the spirit of complete disclosure, Bigfoot doesn't do anything for me.  If there really is some big, hairy, naked guy running around in the woods of Montana, I'd just as soon not know about it. To make it absolutely clear, as to how much I would love it if there where aliens, I want to state here and now:  I would sacrifice digits if that would prove the existence of aliens. I am serious. I am willing to give up to four toes (or two fingers) if that loss would somehow help prove the existence of aliens.  Or three fingers if it would help determine that the aliens built the pyramids.  Now, I am not sure what would initiate such an exchange.  Maybe if I found some proof of aliens, and I wanted to share it with the entire world, but at the last minute, government agents discover me. As I make a run for it, I get my hand caught in the screen door.  No, that's just clumsy. Maybe something involving me escaping from a Russian submarine.  ...Yeah, that sounds better. It doesn't matter.  I'll even take the clumsy way.  The point is, I really want there to be aliens. That is why I am open-minded.  And that is why I think other skeptics are open-minded.  Many have the exact same desire I do. Not the thing about the fingers - I believe I'm the only one to say that - the part about them wanting supernatural things to be true. That I have heard from many others. Carl Sagan expressed this in many of his books.  I've heard Steve Novella, the head of the New England Skeptical Society, say it on his podcast.   Even James Randi, the King of all Skeptics, has said stuff like this.   They want ESP and flying saucers and ghosts and yes - God knows why - they even want there to be a Bigfoot. If you read skeptic literature, you've probably heard this appeal to impartiality before.  But here's an angle on this subject that you might not have heard.  I'll state it in the form of a challenge.  Show me one person on the other side of these issues that has said the same thing. I don't mean, show me a believer who thinks it would be cool if aliens existed.  That's a dime a million.  I'm saying, show me one UFO advocate who has said, "To be honest, I don't really like the idea of UFOs."  Show me one biologist who has said, "The Loch Ness Monster?  I assure you the evidence for its existence is most definitely there; but frankly, the entire subject rather bores me.  I have asked my university to approve my grant to study the mealy bug instead, those little creatures, now they really are something."  Show me one cryptozoologist who has said, "Yes, unfortunately, I captured Bigfoot but I'm not looking forward to all that re-classifying.  It's just so much paperwork." I know you're thinking this comparison isn't fair.  Scientists wouldn't be looking for paranormal stuff if they weren't interested in it.  But think about all those physicists in the turn of the century that we've read about who really hated quantum physics.  It's messy, anti-intuitive and almost impossible to understand. But - reluctantly - they accepted it. My examples are written for laughs, but consider the following:  Is there a scientist who is a steadfast atheist, searching for ghosts? Andy Kaiser clean 7:40 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/12/12/photo-evidence-of-ectoplasm-and-ghost-orbs-explained/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/12/12/photo-evidence-of-ectoplasm-and-ghost-orbs-explained/#comments Wed, 12 Dec 2007 22:39:21 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/12/12/photo-evidence-of-ectoplasm-and-ghost-orbs-explained/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/12/12/photo-evidence-of-ectoplasm-and-ghost-orbs-explained/feed/ 12 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/12/02/photo-evidence-of-ectoplasm-and-ghost-orbs/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/12/02/photo-evidence-of-ectoplasm-and-ghost-orbs/#comments Sun, 02 Dec 2007 07:27:12 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/12/02/photo-evidence-of-ectoplasm-and-ghost-orbs/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/12/02/photo-evidence-of-ectoplasm-and-ghost-orbs/feed/ 11 Andy Kaiser By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 118 - So there I was. Just minding my own business. Thinking about whether I should have a granola bar or a cup of soup. On one hand, the soup would be tastier - I had just purchased a cream-of-something-or-other, By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 118 So there I was. Just minding my own business. Thinking about whether I should have a granola bar or a cup of soup. On one hand, the soup would be tastier - I had just purchased a cream-of-something-or-other, and wanted to give it a taste. On the other hand, a granola bar would match the instant gratification our society prides itself on. A tough choice: quality or pride. Which to pick? I was deep in such ponderous thought, when I felt a little funny. Felt like something was in my mouth. I felt it, pushing around. Like a mouthful of irritated cotton candy. Then I made a mistake. I opened my mouth. It came out. It came out of my mouth and flowed into the air, hissing in front of my face. There was no smell. Just the loud, angry hissing. The brown cloud was thick, and it roiled in front of my face. I didn't know what it was. But I knew - I KNEW - that it was alive. I also felt two other "beings" there with me. I felt like I was being judged, or watched. I also knew that I didn't have much time. I was terrified that this ectoplasm had vomited its way out of my mouth. My hands were shaking, and my heart was hammering. And then I saw my camera on the counter. I fumbled for it, and still shaking and terrified, I took this picture of myself. This photo evidence of ectoplasm and ghost orbs is hard to ignore. How can you ignore it, when it's right there in front of my face? You can clearly see the blob of ectoplasm hovering just after it forced its way out of my mouth. There are the other two ghosts as well, one orb brightly shining on the upper left, and a small blue orb on the right. This photo evidence was completely untouched, except for necessary resizing and cropping. The millisecond the camera flash went off, the ectoplasm vanished. It disappeared, and left nothing behind except - oddly - a faint musty smell. Any sense of ghost presences also vanished. I now carry a video camera with me at all times. I know that the ectoplasm will come back. The ghost orbs will be back, too, and I want to get the orbs and ectoplasm on video evidence. I'll use this photo and video evidence to prove that ghosts, orbs and ectoplasm are real. It will happen. I know it will, just like I knew the ectoplasm was alive. It'll all come back, and then I'll have further proof of what happened to me. I saw a ghost. A blob of ectoplasm worked its way out of my mouth and hovered in front of my face. Forget the naysayers. I saw it, I know it's true. Andy Kaiser clean http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/10/16/whats-the-harm-in-believing-reasons-for-skeptical-thought-and-critical-thinking/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/10/16/whats-the-harm-in-believing-reasons-for-skeptical-thought-and-critical-thinking/#comments Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:53:21 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/10/16/whats-the-harm-in-believing-reasons-for-skeptical-thought-and-critical-thinking/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/10/16/whats-the-harm-in-believing-reasons-for-skeptical-thought-and-critical-thinking/feed/ 2