Well, this is a Ghost Game made in flash that I found out that people were playing it, so I decided to put it here also for those who like this type of games. Have fun!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Ghost Hunting Tools - Part III
In the previous parts, we talked about random number generators, energetic sensors, and EVPs, so I guess it is time to talk about Thermal Cameras.
In ghost hauntings, there are several cases that people describe irregular temperature variations, like feeling very cold to the point of being able to see they're own breath, so it is not the fear reaction, but the temperature going really down.
Since lighter variations are most common than more extreme variations, and lighter variations being more harder to 'feel', and since 'feeling' is not a good idea since it can be only the body's response to fear, a thermal camera is a very good tool!
Thermal cameras are able to make a image where certain color corresponds to certain temperature (in a color fade) so we can literally see the temperature distribution of anything at all, and since every 'body' emits temperature, there is the possibility of capturing a ghost on the thermal camera, or simply finding weird temperature variations of some parts of a room per example, and if there is not a logical explanation for it (water pipes passing nearby or something) it may represent a paranormal manifestation on that spot.
I've hear people that use digital cameras and say that they have a 'special software' that 'converts' the image into a thermal image, well... this is TOTALLY fake, the sensors that create the image are totally different! Probably what they do is exchange the color scheme to the same color scheme of the thermal cameras, but that gives a totally different 'reading'.
In ghost hauntings, there are several cases that people describe irregular temperature variations, like feeling very cold to the point of being able to see they're own breath, so it is not the fear reaction, but the temperature going really down.
Since lighter variations are most common than more extreme variations, and lighter variations being more harder to 'feel', and since 'feeling' is not a good idea since it can be only the body's response to fear, a thermal camera is a very good tool!
Thermal cameras are able to make a image where certain color corresponds to certain temperature (in a color fade) so we can literally see the temperature distribution of anything at all, and since every 'body' emits temperature, there is the possibility of capturing a ghost on the thermal camera, or simply finding weird temperature variations of some parts of a room per example, and if there is not a logical explanation for it (water pipes passing nearby or something) it may represent a paranormal manifestation on that spot.
I've hear people that use digital cameras and say that they have a 'special software' that 'converts' the image into a thermal image, well... this is TOTALLY fake, the sensors that create the image are totally different! Probably what they do is exchange the color scheme to the same color scheme of the thermal cameras, but that gives a totally different 'reading'.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Ghost Hunting Tools - Part II
Ok, part II... EVPs
There is a lot to say about EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena), basically it consists on recording audio on some place that may have manifested paranormal activity, but isolating the ambient sounds as much as possible (people, cars, etc), then, stop and playing again what was recorded but with the volume way higher, so even the most lowest sound could be heard, and sometimes there seems to be messages of some people already dead.
In the old times, old magnetic tape recorders where used, it was recommended to use a virgin tape, so there would be better sound quality and lower interferences from something previously recorded. Later, when digital recorders started to appear, they also were used to record EVPs, and there began to appear even 'better' techniques to record EVPs with Digital Equipment.
One of the new methods to record EVPs with Digital Equipment was turning a TV, radio, or something on in a way that it would produce static noise (known as White Noise), this was because of a theory that said spirits needed some sort of energy in order to manipulate it, so, to produce sound, they would need sound already to manipulate it, some of this 'concept' is also belived to be used on the Ouija Board, so it made sense, but it had a few problems, one is that the Pareidolia effect (when the human mind tries to make sense of something random in this case) was the biggest origins of the supposed EVPs, basically, giving a tape of this kind to 10 separated people for EVP analysis, there would basically be 10 different phrases/words in 10 different parts of the tape.. or by the other hand, when this 10 people would came to the same conclusion, the same phrase/word on the same part of the tape, it was probably of a second possible problem of this kind of EVPs, that is because when they tunned th TV or Radio to play static, actually, it may had captured sound from an emitting station for a few seconds with very weak quality... so, we may assume that White Noise is a bad idea right? Well, not yet, since there is a even newer method, that works much better, and with less problems!
This new-age method already requires a computer, basically, the white noise is not generated anymore by a TV or radio where there is the possibility to cross with some station, but it is generated with as much variations as possibly by a computer formula for a second or two, and that pattern repeats it self for as long as we want, so there is no way of any external interference, and even the Pareidolia effect is much less interfering since if our brain doesnt make sense of the white noise on the first seconds, it wount do any at all after that, because we are repeating over and over again those same seconds. And if this isn't "cool" enough, nor problem-solver enough, there is even a step two, that is using the computer software to remove again the white noise from our recording and only leaving the parts of the sound that were modified, in this way, we are absolutely sure that those sounds where created by external phenomena, even if it is only the remaining of a bird singing some dozens of meters away, but in this way we have all of the analyze reduced by 80% / 90%, and without any of the already referred problems, so a much better analyze may be given to the really interesting parts.
Also, in any of the methods, to reduce the Pareidolia effect, the investigator that make the recording / analyze, should not be informed of details of the supposed "hunting" spirit that they may be after, otherwise, even if not self-conciuous, the investigator may instead of analyze, may try to find the information on the recordings, even where it actually doesn't exist, and he may skip and misunderstand some real messages. The investigator should only be informed of details of the supposed spirit or owner of the place, or whatever , after the analyze, then he may re-analyze again and compare. Also yet, the questions asked during the recording, must be simple as possible, and without any concrete details. Never assume the origin of something without having all the possible informations first.
I'll discuss here some other tools on the next post...
There is a lot to say about EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena), basically it consists on recording audio on some place that may have manifested paranormal activity, but isolating the ambient sounds as much as possible (people, cars, etc), then, stop and playing again what was recorded but with the volume way higher, so even the most lowest sound could be heard, and sometimes there seems to be messages of some people already dead.
In the old times, old magnetic tape recorders where used, it was recommended to use a virgin tape, so there would be better sound quality and lower interferences from something previously recorded. Later, when digital recorders started to appear, they also were used to record EVPs, and there began to appear even 'better' techniques to record EVPs with Digital Equipment.
One of the new methods to record EVPs with Digital Equipment was turning a TV, radio, or something on in a way that it would produce static noise (known as White Noise), this was because of a theory that said spirits needed some sort of energy in order to manipulate it, so, to produce sound, they would need sound already to manipulate it, some of this 'concept' is also belived to be used on the Ouija Board, so it made sense, but it had a few problems, one is that the Pareidolia effect (when the human mind tries to make sense of something random in this case) was the biggest origins of the supposed EVPs, basically, giving a tape of this kind to 10 separated people for EVP analysis, there would basically be 10 different phrases/words in 10 different parts of the tape.. or by the other hand, when this 10 people would came to the same conclusion, the same phrase/word on the same part of the tape, it was probably of a second possible problem of this kind of EVPs, that is because when they tunned th TV or Radio to play static, actually, it may had captured sound from an emitting station for a few seconds with very weak quality... so, we may assume that White Noise is a bad idea right? Well, not yet, since there is a even newer method, that works much better, and with less problems!
This new-age method already requires a computer, basically, the white noise is not generated anymore by a TV or radio where there is the possibility to cross with some station, but it is generated with as much variations as possibly by a computer formula for a second or two, and that pattern repeats it self for as long as we want, so there is no way of any external interference, and even the Pareidolia effect is much less interfering since if our brain doesnt make sense of the white noise on the first seconds, it wount do any at all after that, because we are repeating over and over again those same seconds. And if this isn't "cool" enough, nor problem-solver enough, there is even a step two, that is using the computer software to remove again the white noise from our recording and only leaving the parts of the sound that were modified, in this way, we are absolutely sure that those sounds where created by external phenomena, even if it is only the remaining of a bird singing some dozens of meters away, but in this way we have all of the analyze reduced by 80% / 90%, and without any of the already referred problems, so a much better analyze may be given to the really interesting parts.
Also, in any of the methods, to reduce the Pareidolia effect, the investigator that make the recording / analyze, should not be informed of details of the supposed "hunting" spirit that they may be after, otherwise, even if not self-conciuous, the investigator may instead of analyze, may try to find the information on the recordings, even where it actually doesn't exist, and he may skip and misunderstand some real messages. The investigator should only be informed of details of the supposed spirit or owner of the place, or whatever , after the analyze, then he may re-analyze again and compare. Also yet, the questions asked during the recording, must be simple as possible, and without any concrete details. Never assume the origin of something without having all the possible informations first.
I'll discuss here some other tools on the next post...
Monday, November 9, 2009
Ghost Hunting Tools - Part I
A long time, no posting... I've been very busy lately, but finally got some free time to write here.
This time I'm going to talk about some ghost hunting tools some researchers use, I remembered to write about this when watching a video of a supposed group of Brazilian 'ghost hunters', in particular because of a device they used, a random number generator.
Well, it is not the first time I see someone trying to hunt ghosts with a random number generator, but when does this stupid concept ends? I get totally stupefied when watching someone with a laptop on one hand, and on the other a 'random number generator' and they 'scan' buildings with this, how does some self-proclaimed researcher/hunter does such stupid things? Do at least they know what they are actually doing?
In theory, a hardware based random number generator, as the name says, generate random numbers, then, when connected to a PC, it can analyse the random numbers and tries to get patterns of "non-randomness", and some people believe that when the random number generator starts to loss the "randomness" is because a ghost or spirit is nearby, well... only people that don't know anything at all about electronics can believe such thing!
In hardware level (electronics / informatics) there is NO SUCH THING as RANDOM, the random functions that you use even on your PC with everyday programs are not random at all, they only calculate a "hash" of the current time (in milliseconds), so it looks random, but it is just a mathematical function using the time as argument.
There are also other types of random algorithms, but they all end in not being random at all, there is no such thing as random in electronics. So, the own concept of waving a "random number generator" in the air scanning for ghosts is a complete lack of knowledge of what they are doing, the own concept of 'having' a random number generator connected to a laptop is stupid because the laptop can generate random numbers as do the device! Actually, the device is only a Microcontroller/Processor generating random numbers using a clock-chip as 'food' for the mathematical process.
The only argument that could be used to help defending the random number generator device as a ghost hunting tool, is that is "normal" that paranormal events to have interference with electronics, but if that would interfere with the random numbers, it would have to interfere with the communication with the laptop also, because for that a loose of synchronization of the main oscillator of the processor would be needed, and that would cause a communication failure or lock up.
Even in the middle of such a stupid thing, there lies something that could really be used on ghost hunting, and it can also be used with random numbers, by only doing a 'small' change on the device (that would require to remake the device from scratch actually) that is to feed the mathematical function not with the clock, but with energetic impulses in the air, or other external phenomena. I made such device about 6 / 7 years ago, it ended up being really weird, it was so sensitive that a slightest move of someone nearby a radius of 5 / 6 meters would interfere with it, sometimes even breathing would interfere! But I didn't use random number at all, but yes sound modulation, so it could be leaved on a room, and it would emit constant noise and you could detect when something not-normal was happening only by hearing. I didn't even named this device, but it is very very useful. I already though about making a new version of the device that would also give the opportunity of some ghost to interact with it in a way that would give it the opportunity to 'speak'.
So, in resume, Random number generators are NOT a ghost hunting tool, no matter what some people may think. And energetic impulses in the air are a good thing that can be exploited in the detection, and who knows even communication, with ghosts.
Next time I'm going to talk about some other tools and methods.
This time I'm going to talk about some ghost hunting tools some researchers use, I remembered to write about this when watching a video of a supposed group of Brazilian 'ghost hunters', in particular because of a device they used, a random number generator.
Well, it is not the first time I see someone trying to hunt ghosts with a random number generator, but when does this stupid concept ends? I get totally stupefied when watching someone with a laptop on one hand, and on the other a 'random number generator' and they 'scan' buildings with this, how does some self-proclaimed researcher/hunter does such stupid things? Do at least they know what they are actually doing?
In theory, a hardware based random number generator, as the name says, generate random numbers, then, when connected to a PC, it can analyse the random numbers and tries to get patterns of "non-randomness", and some people believe that when the random number generator starts to loss the "randomness" is because a ghost or spirit is nearby, well... only people that don't know anything at all about electronics can believe such thing!
In hardware level (electronics / informatics) there is NO SUCH THING as RANDOM, the random functions that you use even on your PC with everyday programs are not random at all, they only calculate a "hash" of the current time (in milliseconds), so it looks random, but it is just a mathematical function using the time as argument.
There are also other types of random algorithms, but they all end in not being random at all, there is no such thing as random in electronics. So, the own concept of waving a "random number generator" in the air scanning for ghosts is a complete lack of knowledge of what they are doing, the own concept of 'having' a random number generator connected to a laptop is stupid because the laptop can generate random numbers as do the device! Actually, the device is only a Microcontroller/Processor generating random numbers using a clock-chip as 'food' for the mathematical process.
The only argument that could be used to help defending the random number generator device as a ghost hunting tool, is that is "normal" that paranormal events to have interference with electronics, but if that would interfere with the random numbers, it would have to interfere with the communication with the laptop also, because for that a loose of synchronization of the main oscillator of the processor would be needed, and that would cause a communication failure or lock up.
Even in the middle of such a stupid thing, there lies something that could really be used on ghost hunting, and it can also be used with random numbers, by only doing a 'small' change on the device (that would require to remake the device from scratch actually) that is to feed the mathematical function not with the clock, but with energetic impulses in the air, or other external phenomena. I made such device about 6 / 7 years ago, it ended up being really weird, it was so sensitive that a slightest move of someone nearby a radius of 5 / 6 meters would interfere with it, sometimes even breathing would interfere! But I didn't use random number at all, but yes sound modulation, so it could be leaved on a room, and it would emit constant noise and you could detect when something not-normal was happening only by hearing. I didn't even named this device, but it is very very useful. I already though about making a new version of the device that would also give the opportunity of some ghost to interact with it in a way that would give it the opportunity to 'speak'.
So, in resume, Random number generators are NOT a ghost hunting tool, no matter what some people may think. And energetic impulses in the air are a good thing that can be exploited in the detection, and who knows even communication, with ghosts.
Next time I'm going to talk about some other tools and methods.
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