1) Start by picking your Favourite number
2) Multiply by 3, then
3) Add 3, then again Multiply by 3
4) You’ll get a 2 or 3 digit number….
5) Add those digits together. If you end up with another two digit number add those digits together until you have one digit.
Now Scroll down…
With your number in mind check the list below to find which fortuitous path I have divined from the universe for you:
1. Become a lecturer on the quantum physics science tour
2. Start a New World Religion and recruit Sylvia Brown
3. Read War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, then send him a written critique
4. Quit your job and become a faith healer for your local homeless shelter
5. Stay on your current path; you are righteous and wholesome
6. Start a Sherlock Holmes re-enactment society in your basement.
7. Announce your candidacy for the office of the President
8. Invent and apply for a patent on a free-energy device
9. Send the value of your last three paycheques to Paranormal People
10. Drool in the corner for an hour every day
11. Become a Scientologist
12. Start a religious-military cult and populate it with those who got #10
Okay, you can stop picking other numbers, the Universe has spoken. I’ll be expecting payment before the 1st of the month.
Have I made my point, or should we go on?
This has been a lesson in the virtues of critical thinking. I suspect that the vast majority of you got a chuckle out of the above math magic, and then quickly decided it must be some sort of a scam (others may already be looking for accepted payment methods), and I also suspect that the point of the above test is not lost in the humour of it all.
It would seem, from the vast array of tom-foolery going on the in the western marketplace, that the people of America (the Continent) are entirely the most gullible people on the planet. There are exceptions of course (so cool your jets on that strongly worded email for a minute), but occasionally there comes a product that is so fantastic, so wondrous, so ridiculously fake, that we can’t help but open our hearts and our wallets as we clamber over one another to get a piece of material happiness.
In the paranormal world especially; we enthusiasts, hobbyists, researchers and investigators are inundated with a catalogue of products that are touted to offer us exclusive insights into the ethereal world of ghosts, ghouls and goblins. In a perfect world, these products would be constructed based on science, based on proven methodologies and on commercial accountability. They would be backed by fiscally responsible and morally dependable companies, and they would be marketed with transparency and honesty.
Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. Of the untold numbers of products and devices that the paranormal community is bombarded with, there are some that stick out as being…worthy of some scrutiny. In recent years such devices as the K2 Meter and the notorious Ovilus I have dragged the paranormal research community through the proverbial mud.
Whether we’re talking about an overly sensitive and poorly designed EMF meter, or in the case of the Ovilus, a pre-programmed random word generator, the consequences are the same in every instance. Flocks of would-be ghost hunters swarm various online retailers in hopes of purchasing one of these devices that’s purported to change the metaphysical world forever. Invariably, these devices are debunked by learned men and women in the field, but not before a host of lesser informed people wastes their time and money on the product, and worse yet, not before so-called evidence of paranormal activity is showcased with a thank you nod to these ridiculous pieces of electronic crap.
Now, however, we have a new technological enemy; one that is combined with a trusted name, a financial giant and with a long standing history of general consumer popularity…the I-phone.
I should say, right of the bat that it isn’t the I-phone itself that’s the problem. In-and-of-itself it truly is a technological marvel, providing instant and easy connectivity between people and information; a perfect tool for today’s culture and society. No, it isn’t the I-phone itself, it’s actually an I-Phone app that I’m questioning today.
Ghost Radar, developed by none other than Spud Pickle.[1]
As outlined on the Spud Pickle website for this particular application, Ghost Radar measures quantum flux (quantum fluctuation) in the atmosphere and translates that into any one of a variety of display modes, from a cartoony graphic radar screen, to a numerical value.
I had to give my head a shake when I first read the above on their website. I mean, the I-phone seems like a pretty sophisticated device, but I don’t recall hearing that it could measure quantum flux. After all, it’s only a cell phone, albeit, a cell phone on steroids.
By the developers own admission, the I-phone itself doesn’t have the necessary equipment on board to actually measure quantum flux. Among its many capabilities, the I-phone and the I-pod touch carry a host of electronic gizmos that make them work as a cell phone, mp3 player, mobile computer etc (respectively). Such as Wi-Fi transceivers, touch sensors, gyroscopes, accelerometers, speakers and microphones, some of which are designed to allow the device to be aware of its physical environment, and to display its various media according to its attitude or movement.
It does not, however, house any type of laser micrometer; its chronometer is not accurate to within one millionth of a second (as would be required for quantum measurement), it doesn’t have the hard memory necessary to house the highly complex calculations and mathematical theories needed to quantify any such fluctuation, and simply put it doesn’t have the ability to see quantum particles, nor does it even have the basic ability to detect electromagnetic frequencies (EMF).
Right off the bat, the I-phone fails as a ghost hunting device, just from a look at its hardware; but what really does this software do? Is it anything more than a glorified random output generator? All indications are that the answer is ‘no’, it is nothing more than a cleverly programmed cell phone application that generates seemingly non-random display results.
On the Spud Pickle website you’ll also find a host of user testimonials, most of which are nondescript kudos to the developer for making such a ‘cool app’, but some are more detailed pseudo-analyses touting unbelievable results. And I warn you, beware what you believe from some anonymous tribute to a questionable device. This application is not capable of doing what the developer claims, however, just as any analog or digital recording device can be manipulated by ambient energies to provide mysterious EVP’s, so too can the I-phone be manipulated by the same energies, though this is not a technological market cornered by Apple, nor is it the exclusive domain of the Spud Pickle application developer.
On an aside from the above, Digital Dowsing, the makers of the infamous Ovilus I (the “I” being an indication of a generational product), have terminated production of the Ovilus I and have since replaced that product with their own I-phone app: I-Ovilus.
Now, while I’m personally pained by their lack of creativity with the naming of their application, I want to point out that this transmutation of their original abomination is no less ridiculous, and in fact, since the I-phone contains none of the measurement hardware contained in the original Ovilus, the I-Ovilus is in fact even more useless than its namesake.
The moral here, besides the obvious, is that in our pursuit of an understanding of this strange and beautiful world around us, there are no easy answers. There is no button to push, no machine to rely on and no computer to tell us the answer. This remains a burgeoning field of academic study and lain before us is a long and winding path of hard work and experimentation. If anything, the popularity of the above devices and applications is a simple testament of the divide between those in the paranormal community who seek truth, and those who seek notoriety, and even yet, those who seek only cheap thrills.
Authors Edit: January 26, 2010
In the three months since this article was posted, I must say that I am astounded by the lack of critical examination, of even my own assessment of the Ghost Radar application.
In the above article, I played a trick on you. I laid out the hardware requirements that such a device would need in order to measure “Quantum Flux” But it seems, either the reader is ignorant of just what quantum flux is, or is not concerned with the truth behind such idiotic gizmos.
Quantum Flux is an idea, rooted in the science of physics, that pertains to a measurement of magnetic fluctuation. Quantum, a fancy way to say the resulting measurement, is simply a study of magnetic fluctuations within superconductors. It is not related to paranormal phenomenon whatsoever.
There are those, however, who have speculated and theorized about there being an energy, which they have called quanta (not to be confused with Einstein’s labeling of light matter as quanta), that is responsible for a connectivity between all matter, living or otherwise. It is, with a certain auspicious amount of ambiguity, this quanta that the Spud Pickle developers claim is measured by the Ghost Radar app.
How though? How does one measure an energy that no one has ever been able to prove exists. In fact, the current state of quantum physics suggests that such an energy does not exist. It should be said that these people mentioned above, whom believe this energy exists, are not physicists, they are not physcial scientists and they are not well schooled in the various theories of quantum physics.
If such an energy exists, it remains laughable that the makers of the Ghost Radar I-phone app gained some miraculous understanding of a purely theoretical and fantastic idea of universal connectivity, there-by allowing them to program the application to measure this energy. An energy that no one can prove even exists. But for arguments sake, if we take for granted the idea that they did achieve this feat of physics mastery, are we supposed to now believe they found that the best way to proceed with this ground breaking research and knowledge was to make it into an i-phone app?
I suppose the Nobel Prize is much overrated these days.
I’ll suggest now, that if you don’t see the flaw in this situation, then you deserve to get caught in their scam and lose your hard earned money.
[1] See: http://www.spudpickles.com/GhostRadar
If you’re going to comment about the limitatons of the iPhone’s hardware capabilities, please inform yourself before trying to pass off your pseudo scientific analysis as accurate.
The ONLY way to generate TRUE random numbers is via quantum interaction. Quantum flux in this context has nothing to do specifically with magnetism but refers to the smallest possible variations of a field (electical, gravitationnal, magnetic, whatever) inherent to the nature of energy. An imperfect physical analogy would be the variations in brownian motion once you removed all external stimuli other than the thernal energy required for brownian motion to exist.
Any source of white noise (a microphone, an antenna .. etc) can give you a way to measure quantum flux. Of course TRUE white noise is very difficult to produce and i suspect this app tries to approximate it by stripping out any identifiable signal via software before feeding the pseudo-random signal to the word generator.
That’s all
Thank you for your comment Mr. Mohid, however as you should be aware (judging by the relatively coherent nature of your post), quantum flux is a nonsense term adopted by many of the faces of junk science.
I suspect that you know, as related to these devices, that “random” is only meant to describe the effect of clever computer programming that makes outputs appear random. I don’t think anyone believed that I was speaking of truly random results.
You are correct that this idea of Quantum Flux does not exclusively relate to magnetism, since magnetic fields are simply variations of electric fields etc. The classical meaning of this now defunct term, relates to the measurement of (various types) of EM fields (including magnetism) within superconductors.
If you want to hold me to a literal definition of the term, it would be: “the precise measurement of field fluctuations”. And I suppose, in the strictest technological sense, considering the basic purpose of a cellular telephone, the I-phone would be capable of detecting and using such fluctuations, as defined so broadly, to provide seemingly random outputs. So, I’m caught. The I-phone can measure and provide outputs based on a more-than generalised definition of Quantum Flux.
However, there is no value other than frequency and amplitude available in the measurement of fields, thus assigning a specific and repeatable word value to various measurements of any signal fluctuation, is entirely arbitrary to begin with. Meaning, when these “designers” programmed the ‘app’ to provide a specific word output for any field value, they are not interpreting anything supernatural (quantum flux included). In fact, all they are doing is replacing the empirical value of the field measurement with a word (or any other arbitrary output).
So, if we allow these broadened definitions of Quantum Flux, which I personally do not, then I suppose the issue could be construed to say, through some seriously convoluted word play, that what they claim is true; but only in the sense that the phone can provide a crude measure of various EM fields in its environment. Not that the outputs of such measurement with this application are related in anyway to ghosts, or any other such supernatural idea.
The above, to anyone not educated in electronics, electrical theory, or the like, will make no sense whatsoever, hence my simplified and (admittedly) very slightly misleading description in the article itself. For those who may be confused, my assessment stands: the I-phone app – Ghost Radar – is not capable of doing what its designers claim.
The part where you are getting stuck is on the meaning of flux. In the broadest sense it is a measure of varaition over TIME. In an EM context it’s the variation(integration) of a vector for a finite surface. A frequency/amplitude pair is just a single vector, it completely neglects the extra dimention of time. To make an analogy. Suppose you have someone flip a coin, over and over. Over thousands of flips he will average about 50% of one type (heads) and 50% of the other. The more tosses he does, the closer that average will converge to 1 for 1. So you can say that the “quantum flux” for tossing a coin over and over is 1:1. Say over a hundered tosses, at some point he got 10 heads in a row. For that 10 toss window the flux is 10:1 , a signficant deviation from 1:1. It’s this deviation from the 1:1 mean over time that this app is measuring. Now suppose you had a grid of one hundered people tossing a coin over and over. If you could do this measument of every individual coin tosser your could map this disturbance in space. How exactly this app does this, I don’t know. I suppose any WiFi antenna with MIMO capability would be able to spacialize a specific reading. Perhaps the accelerometer on the iPhone has more than one sensor wich would allow spatialisation in the same way human ears can spatialise sounds…. honestly I don’t know. I’m not intimate enough with the insides of that device to rule it out and my grasp of meterial physics isn’t deep enough to rule out what’s possible to deduce or infer from the available sensors, either singly or used in combination. But I know enough to say that I can’t rule it out ;)
Thank you, truly, for your input. Besides myself, I’m sure there are some readers out there who appreciate a more technical assessment. While at the same time, I’m equally sure there are many reader now scratching their heads, wondering just what you’re talking about.
Of course, you know, the Spud Pickle designers were counting on that very divide for the success of their product.
Thanks again, I hope you continue to visit the site.
PS, Spud (aka Jack Jones) does have degrees in physics as well as comp eng. So it would be safe to assume he knows a lot more then I do :)
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jackwjones
On a different note, this type of discussion does sadden me.
I’m not going to adress the merits of GR as it relates to the paranormal. I don’t think there’s any meaningful way to adress the existance of the paranormal in the same way a 17th century scientist can’t come to any meaningful conclusion about the existance of microwaves. The tools just didn’t exist yet to let them tackle that question.
What I do find unfortunate is how the scientific method gets thrown out the door by skeptics when they are conftonted with a phenomenon they can’t explain.
To return to my crude example about coin tossers. We have an understanding about how tossing a coin should behave. When we observe a coin tossing behavior that doesn’t fit in with what we expect it should be doing, it triggers one of three reactions.
1) You dismiss the phenomenon as invalid and move on
2) You make up a theory as to why this is happening
3) You tear the phenomon apart to try to explain it
All too oftern skeptics fall back on option #1 and rob us all at a chance learn something new. Wether a phenomenon is genuine or not is never an excuse to come to a conclusion without taking a second look.
What does this have to do with GR? Probably nothing, but to come back to the coin tosser example. If I started flipping a coin and kept getting heads over and over again I would sure as hell would want to know why.
I ‘m not certain if this was intended as an accusation or a starting point for further discussion. In either event, I feel compelled to point out that I am not, or rather I do not fit the popular definition of a Sceptic.
You are correct, scepticism should embody the scientific method, especially in discussions of a paranormal nature. A Sceptical view should lead to greater understanding, not the current small-mindedness that seems to come from the fashionable Sceptic Clubs and groups of the internet age. I think you’re pingeonhole-ing a great many people who, while they may not be classically trained or educated in physics etc, are seeking answers. Products like Ghost Radar do not serve to increase our understanding of any real phenomenon, and its technical specifications, while interesting, are not really pertinent to the determination I have come to regarding its worth.
Does Jack Jones, in all his wisdom, possess a heretofore unheard of understanding of the ways in which ghosts manipulate their environment via EM fields? No, he doesn’t, and there’s a very specific reason for that answer. He doesn’t have this understanding because ghosts (or whatever entity labelled in whatever manner) are completely undefined. No one, scientifically minded or not, can define what a ghost is without the use of an unjustified authority argument, and such a lack of understanding is the top reason (and possibly the only relevant reason) why devices like the Ovilus I and Spud Pickles Ghost Radar I-phone app are nothing more than toys. Or for the more conspiratorial among us, snake oil disguised as high technology.
Again, I greatly appreciate your input, and as I want to believe that your comment was not meant as an accusation of any kind, I hope that you don’t find my response to be overly defensive.
No insult was intended.
I just want to add that a phenomena exists independently of any rationale provided by a third party.
The aurora borealis is significant in and of itself regardless if anyone told you that it was caused by ghosts. You can’t discard something because you didn’t like the explanation that came with it.
I guess the only reason I’m bringing this up is because if GR was a genuine random number generator (which is what it would be if it does what it says it does) that truly did use a quantum phenomenon as a source, (quantum phenomenon are unique as they can’t be fully controlled) … then having it output anything other than random crap would be genuinely unexpected.
But… that’s as far as I’m willing to investigate the matter.
ps: If you’re willing to dig, this type of experiment has been tried before.
The first time i used it, it said “don” “sorry” “pond” “accident” “i” “am ” “here” That was a very specific “fake random generation” When i was young I almost drowned in my grandfathers pond when we were walking and i slipped and fell in. he died a year later. how is that fake?
You’re making some broad and unfounded assumptions Red. First, you’re assuming that the makers of the app programmed it with the complete English dictionary, which is unlikely. Even if they did, that’s still a finite number of words, and since you clearly are unfamiliar with the law of large numbers and statistical probabilities, it’s actually quite likely that the device could generate words that appear meaningful, even on the first attempt.
Second, you are mistaken about the depth of the meaning, the app isn’t telling you to think of your childhood events, you are connecting those events with these results all on your own. The words it “generated” are just words, they are completely without context and can therefore be correlated with virtually any event in nearly anyone’s life. If a random number generator offered you a truly random 10 digit sequence, there is a 1 in 9999999999 chance that the provided number will be your current phone number. Those odds are significantly better than your odds of winning the lottery.
Clearly you were looking to prove me wrong, and if you’d like to believe that you have, feel free. The event you mention seems to be unresolved for you emotionally; I recommend sitting down with someone in an effort to put it to rest.
Here’s some quick math
The odds of winning the 6/49 lotto. (49 balls in a drum numbered 1-49, pull out six for the number)
49 * 48 * 47 *46 * 45 * 44 = one in 10,068,347,520
Odds of guessing a specific xxx-yyy-xxxx type phone number = roughly one in 9,999,999,999 ( less than that since some combinations are not allowed)
given 26 letters in the english alphabet
Using the built-in unix dictionary for reference, there are about 800 three letter words in english.
Odds of a random number being one of the three letter English words
( 26 ^ 3) / 800 = one in 21.97
Odds of a random number being one of the four letter English words (about 2194 of them)
(26 ^ 4) / 2194 = one in 208.28
Odds of a random number being one of the five letter English words ( about 3169 of them)
(26 ^ 5) / 3169 = one in 3749.25
Odds of a random number being one of the eight letter English words ( about 3621 of them)
(26 ^ 8) / 3621 = one in 57,671,103
To have the odds of have three SPECIFIC, three letter english words in a row, you would multiply the values
21.97 x 21.97 x 21.97 = one in 10604
To have the odds of getting any three letter English words in a row (I think) you add the odds together
21.97 + 21.97 + 21.97 = one in 65.91
Not sure about the adding part, but you see how that goes.
If I had to figure out the odds of getting three English words in a row of type subject-verb-complement … it would be really complicated :)
I’m pretty sure GR has a dictionary built-in because it needs to guess which number is a word and which one is not.
I’m sure someone who uses stats on a daily basis could clean up some issues with my match but I’m confident you get the idea.
Thank you Mr. Mohid, this of course is assuming GR has a complete dictionary. It could very well be equipped with a large number of “buzz” words, that were deemed by the engineer to have special significance for the app.
I’ll be honest, I have been working in the field of paranormal investigation for 20+ years, and I remain unconvinced of the usefulness of almost all of the technology we use in investigations. For instance, the holy grail of investigation is an EMF detector. I have been to many sites that are haunted and many that are not. I have been involved in situations where activity is constant, and many inwhich there is no activity. EMF detectors have not indicated the presence of spirits in any cases I have had, and they have gone of at odd times in nonhaunted locations.
Similarly, I have seen very little convicing evidence from cameras, and video recorders. I have been impressed with some EVPs, but I do not know the situation inwhich the evp was taken, so I can not say that there was no pollution, intentional or otherwise. I agree that we are being inundated with a lot of new technology, that really doesn’t make sense, particularly since it is being developed to “prove” something that we do not understand. If we knew the composition of ghosts, or could predict their mannerisms, then we could develop tools to detect them. I think all investigators need to rely on their own observations, and not overly rely on equipment that may or may not work, or may only work sometimes.
Who, exactly, decided that a “spirit”…”Ghost”…”Intelligent Energy”…Whatever you may refer to it as, is unable to manipulate any piece of electrical equipment? Who, exactly, decided it was strength in equipment that determines wheather or not paranormal activity exists in a specific area? Why is it the “equipment” is to be stronger than that of an unknown entity we actually know less about than technology? I believe we (referring to intelligent man/women kind) would be slightly ignorant to believe (if you believe) it is the equipment doing the work in the instance of suspected interaction with intelligent energy. I am a believer in the “Paranormal” – meaning the “Not Normal”…I believe (if you were to assign a generally familiar numeric value) 9 out of 10 “paranormal” claims could be explained (not proven). I truly know nothing about the scientific aspect of creating or identifying any piece of equipment to be of value to the paranormal world…I have only a high school diploma, but carry the intelligence to know that to underestimate technology is one thing…Techology is “controllable” as we create and evolve it…but to underestimate a potentially intelligent energy we cannot see with our eyes, and honestly know nothing about is more absurd than any of the above conversations. If an energy is strong enough; and truly intelligent, why would it not be able to accurately manipulate anything…especially a piece of equipment that literally operates upon energy…? We can debate science and tecihnology all day; but who has the answers for the truly intelligent, unseen forms that have tried communicating with people out to disprove every aspect of their potential existence? I believe this app, along with any other pieces of possible “investigative tools” could be used as a communication mechanism for any true intelligent energy that may exist; and it would honestly fall upon that of the user to determine weather or not there is any “meaning” behind the activity. Thank you for reading :)
How about looking at this from a different perspective? Perhaps the Ghost Radar app is a vehicle that “ghosts” can tap into to communicate, if they want? I used it for the second time, at 5 AM this morning when I heard some strange noise in my bedroom. I’ve heard them before, and they are not explainable. I turned on the app and within seconds, it threw out “special… younger… girl… French… southern… funny”. At that moment, due to playing a song called Behind the Wheel by Depeche Mode over and over again right before bed, I had that song playing in the back of my mind. The song starts with “My little girl…”. Depeche is a French word. Sounds a little “funny” – sort of like “special”. De-pesh… spesh. Not sure where “southern” comes in, but… that’s pretty coincidental, no? I understand I can make anything fit to anything, but… there is a limit to what is going on in your life and around you at any given moment. If it said “cheeseburger… water… balloon”, I would be hard pressed to put that into my life.
If you want to be scientific about it, once you have a phenomenon that is interesting you need to formulate a theory to explain it, at least in part.
Until that happens there isn’t anything to debate.
You can state “I saw X fall from the sky”, once it’s been established the process moves on to “So why did X fall from the sky ?”
So them you make a theory “Someone dropped it from an airplane”
And then you try to shoot that theory down.
If the theory gets shot down you make another one, and the process repeats until you have something that can’t be shot down.
Doesn’t mean your theory is good, it just means that no one can find a way to shoot it down… yet.
Ultimately our ability to shoot down a theory is constrained by the technological limitations of what we can measure at a certain point in time.
I have used this app on my android. There have been 3 instances that I can’t explain. I turned it on when i went out last week and first word it said was “city”. It just so happens that I went out to the city that night. And, I have to point out that I am married with a kid, I never get the chance to go out. Another time, I had just got out of the shower and dried off, went in to dress and I forgot I left the GR app on and as soon as I got to the phone, it said “dried”. Another time, I was falling asleep in the living room. I have a pet fish in my bedroom and I had my GR app going on my phone. It said, “pet” “angry” “seen”. Turns out, I didn’t feed the fish yet and was falling asleep. When the beta fish isn’t fed, he always flares his gills forward. A beta fish is also called a japanese fighting fish..the males are very aggressive and have an attitude, lol. The last instance I can recall, I was watching TV and it said, “Japan” “handle” “disaster” and so I decided to turn CNN on to see if there was something going on related to Japan..that is when I discovered the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear issue. Makes you wonder. My personal feeling is that the device is being manipulated by entities surrounding you and they relate what they want to through the energy of the electronic device.
Not once did this ever respond with an intelligent answer to any of my questions. I listened to it for 3 days, and wrote down each word it said. Then after 3 days, I put these words in order by how many times they were generated. What a waste of money.
If I had unlimited resources I would try and leverage existing technologies to make something that would actually provide useful information.
Some say EVP’s are interesting. I’d make a device with two or more microphones that would let you find out where the noise came from (spatially).
* Did more than one mike pick up the sound? If so, that’s significant.
* You could isolate the background noise from the other mikes to cleanup the EVP signal.
* What if we use microphones that were FAR more sensitive then the human ear, do we pick up anything interesting?
All of this can be done with twenty year old tech. I bet you could build something like this with off the shelf parts, usb microphones and custom software from a decent programmer. Maybe even a bright high-school kid.
If i was filthy rich I’d look into making an emf detector on steroids that would let me spatialise EMF readings to some extent. It might even be possible to make something that you gives you a realtime view of all the emf sources in a field of view. That way you could see the shape of the source of your readings, see it move and maybe find stuff you weren’t even looking for. Like radar, but passive.
Something like this would probably require half a dozen PhD’s, a few million bucks and the resources of a multinational company.
Rob, have you read my article regarding the function of sound waves and common microphones?
If not, you might find it interesting.
Good article
I have to wonder if the EVP phenomenon is actually recording sound at all or if the recording medium itself is being directly tampered with.
You can have visual impressions that don’t require light (hallucinations/dreams) so I could conceive of auditory impressions that don’t involve sound.
I must admit, while using the ghost radar I wonder if it is just an app with a radar for effects and words that are spontaneously announced, but I’ve had some pretty interesting interactions. I live in an old, really, really, old, part of town and when I asked the ghost who made their presence known if they were from Old Colorado City, they said “remain”. It made me a little sad. My ghosts, call themselves “Mark” and “John” and said the word “fellow”, I think they’re friends. Their dots on the radar are always behind me and they say stuff like “family” “unit” “shoulder” “hold”, they seem to be really nice guys.
Further more, after reading all of the intellectual banter above between the two yahoo’s up there (: I believe in my device, but with a healthy dose of skepticism. I am a Junior in college and really, when it comes to rhetoric it is so hard to prove anything exists, even our physical word. So go ahead and do what you’re going to do and believe what you want to believe, our brains are only experiencing a billionth of our reality anyways. AND That’s why you will here of a million scientific theories and never a million scientific facts.
It seems ludicrous that a paranormal website that wants to be taken seriously is getting involved in malefic discussion of an iPhone app that is ->Intended For Entertainment Only<- . I think its time to get over yourselves, boys.
are the words “for entertainment purposes” entirely lost on you?
I know there has to be some kind of a trick here, but for the life of me I cannot figure it out. A nurse I work with had this on his phone. We went into the report room to check it out as he said it showed a lot of activity in there the other night. While he and I sat there chatting the app started saying different unimportant words. Then all of a sudden it said “Jonathon.” That’s my son’s name, and it spelled it the way I spell it. That was shortly followed by “principal.” My son’s wife happens to be a middle school principal. It really spooked me out. Surely there has to be some logical explanation for this. Could my co-worker have manipulated something?
I am a paranormal investigator and have been for years. I did buy this app for entertainment only. I would never think of taking this on an investigation. I believe when you purchase it, it does say entertaiment purposes. My team has caught Shadow people on film. We have gotten many clear EVP’s. I can understand skeptism in that catagory as well, however, we do not run around all the time like they show on TV. I keep the groups to no more than 3 people to control the enviroment. Generally speaking. I don’t think we will ever know much about spirits in our lifetime. When I discuss the paranormal, I always start out with “In theory”
Indeed I am skeptical of a device that does throw out random words… it truly is like the Astronomy section of the newspaper – “you might have a bad day today, but things should be fine in a few days.” And suppose you kicked your toe in the corner of the couch… coincidence? The only thing not coincidental is the cash raked in by the writers. Suppose 1 in 1000 people buys the app and it gets something semi-decodable, like “eat”, “left”, “clean” and you happened to have a clean fork on the left of the table you’re sitting at – now we’ve got a testimonial. That person will say how awesome the app is – another 1000 people buy it, we have our second testimonial and it keeps going – you generally tell an average of 9 people that you like something. Can you see how the testimonials rack up?
Guys, GR is real! I totally used it for the first time a few hours ago in my creepy apartment (of which recovered from a major fire before I moved there). Immediately I got a ton of blips all around me saying IN ORDER: “YOU” “WILL” “DIE”
Well, if I don’t post anything tomorrow, you’ll know why!
Here’s how I feel. I find the concept of the paranormal more than fascinating. I’d LOVE to have hard proof even if I’m the only person who sees it. Time is wasted fighting to prove something to the world. If it’s real, in time, it will reveal itself. That being said, my father told me about this app during a discussion about the paranormal and how cool it would be to know that ghosts exist and i downloaded it just for fun cause I work nights in the army (if you’ve been there, you know it can be boring). When I first got it, I was getting off shift and some friends and I spent about an hour “breaking” the app. Finding out how easy it was to disprove it. It said it measures vibrations so we took a rifle, a big container, set the phone on it and beat it with a rifle (your tax dollars at work). It picked up the direction the vibration was coming of being that I set the phone up parallel to a crease in the box and the blip appeared in the direction the box was being hit from. So that was neat, but it also says that if you’re fat enough to shake a surface when you walk, you’re paranormal and it just wants people to look at you and go “WOOOOOW.” Then the comical side appeared and when a sergeant of mine walked up who is kinda crazy it blipped in his direction and said “nuts.” and I nodded in total agreement. Though funny, it’s also true, I just don’t think it proves anything. It also blipped in the direction of a blackhawk helicopter and said “Tie” so I checked it out and there was a blade tie down on the helicopter. Disproved because I’m pretty sure unless that ghost was a helicopter mechanic while he was alive, he doesn’t know what a blade tie down is. It blipped in the direction of some hazmat containers and said “tag” so I checked that out. Sure enough, there was a red tag sitting in a hazmat bucket that wasn’t supposed to be there and I disproved it because I don’t think that app knows what the heck a red tag is or if it should or should not be there. so I was very skeptical about it’s ability to determine paranormal activity. So then the next night came and I turned the app on at the start of my shift, turned on a movie and started working. about 10pm, in the middle of a report i was typing, the app said “duty.” Well I was ON DUTY, but so were thousands of other people in the army. no proof there. Shortly after (about 10 minutes) I was eating some skittles, forgot my basic motor skills, and choked on them. after recovering from my dramatic experience, it said “Throat” and I was thinking maybe it heard me caughing? Before I finished the thought though it said “Exist” (recall the reason I downloaded the app) and then “mill” right after that. The mill part is what got me. The Mill is my church group that I haven’t been able to go to for the past 4 weeks cause I’ve been in a training exercise. My pastor leaves soon as well and I really want to see him before he heads out. So to be honest, I’m testing it again tonight and so far, it hasn’t done anything credible. my sergeant was yelling at it trying to get the “ghost to talk” (which was comical) and kept messing with the settings so an accurate reading (provided it works) was out of the question. It did tell me “Education” “Important” “Generally” and that only further proves that it may be programed to say inspirational messages but also I’m trying to get some school done while I’m in the army sooo…I dunno. I believe that from a scientific stand point, it’s being torn apart because of what it is: an app for smart phones. However, I do believe equally, if not more, that the paranormal can control a device. like one of you crazy smart guys said, energy cannot be destroyed, only manipulated or w/e. if everything has energy in it due to chemical reactions and what not, why can’t that be manipulated by a being of pure energy? I look at proving it like trying to have the most simple connect-the-dots puzzle ever. you want 1 or 2 lines for it to be something believable. if you have to draw a whole spider web (or a whole sebastion the crab from the lil mermaid) just to connect the paranormal phrase to something then it’s not very believable on the account of you tried too hard. If the paranormal require energy to be able to exist, why would it waste it on some meaningless phrase? if it’s going to say something, it’ll be important and significant and relative to the person(s) it’s speaking to and that probably has to do with it’s purpose wherever it is. These are just my thoughts on the paranormal. as for the app, i don’t see why it can’t be manipulated by a ghost or spirit.
I agree with Melinda (March 22, 2011) “We can debate science and technology all day; but who has the answers for the truly intelligent, unseen forms that have tried communicating with people out to disprove every aspect of their potential existence?…” I am so tired of all the “scientific” evidence of this and that trying to prove that it “is or isn’t”. There are many things we don’t understand (and never will) Science believes everything has to have a “scientific explanation” – wrong again! For some things there are no explanations – they just are as they were created. I just recently got this APP and thought also that it was probably a random generator of some sort but would be fun anyway. However, the first time I used it my sister and I were in the kitchen discussing her reading of the Books of Enoch; my phone was in the dining room and it gave three words – Wise- Understanding- Knowledge. So, according to you – those were just random words that just happen to fit? I don’t think so. There have been many times the words generated fit exactly with the situation or circumstance. I just want to mention a testimony of another user, the APP spelled her name, Kacee, what odds of random generation would your mathematical mind give that? True, some word groups I don’t understand the meaning of but that doesn’t mean that there “isn’t? a meaning. Don’t judge because it doesn’t fit “your scientific knowledge” All things are possible.
so much for all the technical, scientific, intelligent conversations stated herein. at the end of the day you are all sure that you dont know everything. for a small price you get be entertained, amused and awed.. nevermind if its real or fake, bogus or not… big deal… move on, cause life is short. have fun and enjoy your life.
you are wrong about physics! there are new theories that basically prove some of einsteins calculations wrong!!!!!!!!
I completely believe in ghosts, for my own personal reasons. I downloaded this app 3 days ago. I didnt believe it could detect ghosts.. and for me, using an app like this is a like mailing a letter, when i could just pick up a phone..
at any rate, i got it because people were spending their money on it, believing it worked.. They believe so much that they get 3 words in an day, that just might apply to them and find a way to make it work, and sucking other people in to the scam. I HATE to see people scammed,
So, i downloaded the full version. True, there have been some minor coincidences.. like today, picking up my son at school.. it said brick structure, bus. HOWEVER, i have the last few days worth of logs that make no sense,
now, after looking at the logs, and marking the “coincidences” i have decided it works several ways. one is i believe it has a crawler… lol which cracks me up becuase it loves to say “spider”. so, while it has a wifi connection… it crawls for words.. offline, it uses what it has.. and more rapidly…
why i say rapidly, is at home on my wi fi, i get very little.. or on anyone elses wi fi.. it times itsself. i have timed it at 15 minutes for 3 to 7 words.. on hour for 10 to 15. so, basically, connected to a wifi.. on the itouch..
so, while it is on wifi, it uses it resources to crawl for words.. todays mobile devices are mobile computers, and they have to wait for cpu time.. so, the app uses that to crawl…
when it doesnt have a wifi connection. it goes nuts, but is very repeititous… and all the words are linked some what.. ie “write” “sheet” “paper”. that is becuase it’s time isnt devoted to crawling but output… when it talks more the random words coincidently meet at times.
two, it has limited use of the camera, and motion of the phone.. hence it saying clock when i first downloaded it, and was standing next to.. a clock!
people think this isnt possible with a cell phone.. heads up people programming is no longer like your old tandy with hundreds of lines of code. it’s actually pretty simple to do.
I do believe that spirits can mess with electronics, but the ghost radar is an entertaining scam. :) maybe a lone spirit has the energy to say ONE word.. are you really going to be able to find THAT word in 20 ? :)
I cant prove it has a crawler or how it works, but from the patterns i have seen it makes sense.
anyway, hope this helps.. :)
J.