Empire of the Odd

No really! I am not making this up!

We think our destiny is to journey to Mars and beyond. Yet as we build our spacecraft, we’re about to be broadsided – from a different direction – by the most explosive event in history.

Sometime in the future science will be able to create realities that we can’t even begin to imagine. As we evolve, we’ll be able to construct other information systems that correspond to other realities, universes based on logic completely different from ours and not based on space and time.

[[[MORE]]]

I run across this statement quite often. “Science,’ they say, “should stay out of the paranormal stuff. Science and the paranormal are not compatible and one should leave the other alone.

Here is a rather typical example of this kind of thing from a “passionate advocate” of the paranormal.

“The major reason I dislike Scientists interfering with the Paranormal, is the Fear that they have of these things that may yet be unknown. Fear produces negative energies and therefore, negative outcomes. The Scientists should stick to the conventional stuff that they are comfortable with, like Gadgets and Gizmos. Leave those of us that know what we are doing with the Paranormal to our Craft and we will leave them to theirs. Science really has very little to no place in the Paranormal and the Paranormal really has little to no place in Science. Science cannot possibly comprehend what goes on with the Paranormal.”

Outside of the obvious misunderstanding of what science is all about, this writer cites “fear of the unknown” as the reason science does not work in the realms paranormal. “Fear,” According to her, is the reason that no one can produce a ghost or a paranormal event on demand to a skeptic is because a skeptical person “fears the unknown” and would give off bad “vibes” which in turn prevents the paranormal event from occurring.

If that idea does not have you reaching for the extra-strength Tylenol, it should!

Other than being farcical this to my mind could be proof of this writer’s belief in the the power of skepticism! Apparently; skepticism itself is a paranormal activity! Skepticism according to this writer  mysteriously produces “negative rays.” Rays that cannot be measured in any way but their effect can be felt in the non-production of paranormal events. Although how in the heck you prove that an event which cannot be reproduced and quantified in some way didn’t happen is beyond me (I’ll take three Tylenols now if you  please.)

If this sounds reasonable than you may have just joined the ranks of the woo-woo, I imagine that you don’t feel at all comfortable with science, other than using the fruits of it each and every day.  I can’t imagine what it must feel like to be using all of those gizmos created by  pesky scientists !

This is not at all reasonable, it’s quite mad actually, because skeptics don’t produce “rays” that dampen paranormal activity. You can’t dampen or nullify something that does not exist.  Yes, I said that! Magic, UFOS, Bigfoot etc- etc and so fourth are either not paranormal or they do not exist. They ether exist in the real world or they don’t exist. We might not understand how they work – now. That does not mean we will never understand them using the scientific process as our guide.

All of this has happened before, many times as a matter of fact.

Magnetism and electricity were well known to antiquity but, although people saw electricity (as lighting or static) the process by which it came about was not well understood. It was to them, a paranormal activity, one controlled by the gods, spirits or “fluids” traveling through some mysterious either. It was not until the very early 19th century that the scientific principles of electricity were worked out and not until the 20th century that reasons why electricity works were discovered.

Electricity is no longer a paranormal activity, it is a normal phenomena that billions of people use every day.

How could this happen, when Scientists are so “afraid of the unknown” that they will “give off negative energy” and therefor have negative results? The answer?

If the idea cannot be falsified or confirmed, therefore it is not valid.

Science cannot comprehend what goes on with the paranormal? If Science were like a person I might agree with that statement, but “Science” is not a person and has no personality, it cannot love or hate, it is completely impartial and that if this were not so – it would not BE science. Not only can Science handle the paranormal, it’s the only thing that can.

And if it works! If you can read these words, thank a scientist and a whole lot of cleaver engineers.

I submit that not only does science work very well with paranormal subjects, it’s virtually the only thing that does  work. Electricity is only ONE paranormal phenomena tamed by science, Mechanical Engineering is another, Medicine, Mental Health, Agriculture, Geology and Mining, Astronomy, Chemistry Static Engineering and Construction, Materials Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Pharmacology  Education, Biology, Cosmology, Aviation and even Archeology. All of these things were once in the realm of the paranormal. All were once the subject of religion and superstition. Science has changed the paranormal, it makes the “paranormal” normal, even ordinary.

Science is not about gadgets and gizmos, really science isn’t “anything.” It’s only a process, a way of action perhaps a philosophy (perhaps not.)  It’s  a systematic method that produces only one thing.

That “thing” is the truth.

Science is a filtration system, a sieve for ideas. Science (when used properly) dictates a method by which falsehoods are filtered out of ideas. What is left is the truth and this truth is criticized and interrogated until no possible alternative exists. Then this “idea” becomes a “fact.” A fact that can be reproduced in the real world, confirmed or refuted by anyone. Facts that are not handed down from some mountain top or penned by some guru. These are facts anyone can check out for themselves.

Science is not the realm of some weedy fellow in a tweed coat. It does not reside in an ivory tower. It was not handed down by God or deduced miraculous by some ancient race, etched into stone tablets. Science is for everyone and it is the ONLY way that truth can be derived from ideas.

Look around you, find some artifact in your home that was not produced by science and engineering. It would be tough. Nearly everything we touch was developed by applied science and and refined by someone using the scientific process. Even the water you drink was pumped to you courtesy of Geologists, Metallurgists, Surveyors, Biologists,  Chemists, Construction Engineers, and scores of technicians, all working together to bring you a single drop of clean water. There is no witchcraft here, no religious ritual, no divining  rods or spells. Why? Because those things don’t work.They don’t (reliably) return results. Science and engineering do bring results. The proof is as simple as drinking a glass of water.

So what good is science?

Science created our world. Science has unlocked many mysteries, it has explained many a paranormal event. Science and only science can solve puzzles that confound us. Nothing else can do that. We can take comfort in religion or learn philosophy at the feet of a guru, these things feel nice but they don’t really enlighten us to anything.  In fact they mostly confuse and confound things.

Perhaps we would be better without science you say. Perhaps the Bushmen of Africa or the Yammamno of South America are better off than we are. They certainly think so. You are welcome to join them! Let me know how it works out!

The Odd Emperor

Blogs / Bad Astronomy
« A marvelous night for a Moon (and Mars) dance
Last Shuttle night launch on February 7 »
Give space a chance
submit to reddit . .

For criminy’s sake. What is it with people and all the rending of garments over the impending doom of NASA?

First:

1) The reports of Spirit’s death are greatly exaggerated.

spiritOK, yes, Spirit is now stuck. It looks like even if it survives the Martian winter it may no longer be able to traverse the Red Planet’s landscape. But that doesn’t mean it’s dead. Instead of a rover, it’s now a stationary platform capable of doing a lot of science on the cheap (since most of the cost was getting it there).

If you’d rather not have a lander sitting on the surface of Mars doing science that we simply cannot do from millions of kilometers away on Earth, then fine. But astronomers and scientists and science journalists should know better. Stop saying it’s dead.

[[[MORE]]]

This really is the most disgusting thing I’ve seen recently about the Church of Scientology: Their reaction to the Haiti earthquake.

The actions of the Church of Scientology are despicable, in the extreme.

The Church of Scientology provides no money towards the victims in Haiti.  None.  Not one penny.  The church supplies no food, no water, no medicine, no building materials, no personnel, no expertise, nothing for Haiti.

But they claim, in their press releases, that their Volunteer Ministers are “a major relief agency” helping in Haiti.  If they do nothing, how can they claim this?

John Travolta supplied an airplane, not the church.  Individual Scientologists volunteered to go using their own money.  As usual, the Church of Scientology did nothing.

Along with a few untrained Scientology “Volunteer Ministers”, Travolta offered a lift to health-care workers from the Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad and from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Those other non-Scientology groups were sending trained medical personnel and the Scientologists were completely untrained.  And yet, in a most disgusting bit of lying, the Church of Scientology is actually claiming they sent the medical personnel!

[[[MORE]]]

For our good friends from the church of L Ron, it’s not so much a tragedy as an opportunity.

Marina Hyde
The Guardian, Friday 22 January 2010

John Travolta and Kelly Preston with Scientology volunteers in New Orleans after Hurrican Katrina Photograph: PAUL J.RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images

Psychopath, conman, liar, fantasist, fraudster, bully, tax evader, megalomaniac – it’s fair to say L Ron Hubbard’s death was a blow to global humanitarianism. Happily, there is a silver lining to the cloud that has hung over Earth since the founder of Scientology shed his corporeal form in 1986. That silver- lining is the high profile, expansionist figures who represent his organisation today – and the good news is that they’re turning their thoughts to Haiti.

Were an idiot like you to itemise the myriad things that this most wretched of disaster zones currently lacked, chances are you’d omit “militant Scientologists who claim post-traumatic stress is a conspiracy created by the evil psychiatric profession, and who believe the correct response to extreme shock is to touch sufferers with one finger, before attempting to convert them to the ways of Hubbard”.

[[[MORE]]]

…and if it doesn’t, maybe we’ll reschedule it for 2016.

By MATT SEDENSKY
Associated Press Writer

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — More than 1,000 unreleased recordings of lectures by L. Ron Hubbard and reams of corresponding writings have been unveiled in the culmination of a 25-year project to locate, restore and transcribe lost pieces of the Scientology founder’s work.

Though sure to be derided by the church’s many critics, its followers say the materials amount to an opportunity to deepen understanding of the religion and to release the last known unpublished Hubbard works dealing with Scientology and Dianetics.

“It would be like discovering that Buddha, unbeknownst to anybody, had sat down and wrote down the entirety of his discoveries and it could be verified that he wrote it,” said Tommy Davis, the church’s top spokesman.

The new materials were announced in a New Year’s celebration at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles that was broadcast to churches around the world last week and include 1,020 lectures and hundreds of corresponding booklets from courses and other sessions with Scientology ministers from 1953 to 1961. They include discussions of how Hubbard arrived at the principles of Dianetics and his research on everything from decision-making to personal responsibility.

[[[MORE]]]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: The SubGenius Foundation, Inc. 1-216-320-9528
Fax: (216) 320-9528
stang@subgenius.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio, January 5, 2010: The Church of the SubGenius has announced that the end of the world will take place on Monday, July 5, 2010. In preparation for the fulfillment of this doomsday prophecy, the Church is requesting that all of its members participate in a bizarre religious ceremony taking place in upstate New York, during the final weekend before the arrival of the apocalypse.

Since its inception in 1953, Church founder J.R. “Bob” Dobbs has predicted that a fleet of flying saucers will arrive at the beginning of July to destroy the worldwide Conspiracy against the Church of the SubGenius, while all ordained SubGenius ministers will be rescued by escape vessels piloted by the Alien Sex Goddesses, also known as the Xists.

[[[MORE]]]

Well the passing of 2009 is coming fast, with this passing it is traditional for people here on Earth to reflect on the things that occurred in the outgoing year. Your current year in the Gregorian it is around 2010 years after some obscure event – give or take about three years on either side.  (your monks never really agreed on the exact date.) Your  current Islamic Year is 1429 AH. The date in the Jewish calendar is Tevet 15, 5770

On my home planet of Marcab which is the 12th planet orbiting the star you know as Eta Ursae Majoris ( UMa / Ursae Majoris) Alkaid,  and sometimes Benetnasch.  We celebrate a new year only once every 567 Earth years which makes our astronomical calendars rather cumbersome. Needless to say we went to a completely non-planetary motion standard.

Whatever you call the year or whenever you come from (originally,) I hope you have a happy and productive new year.

Last year was a time for reorganization at the Odd Empire.  We have some new faces and some surprising old ones. We noted with great sadness the passing of Mac Tonnies,  Mac; Mac represented a more balanced view into the paranormal than most of his contemporaries. He’s EXACLY what the Odd Empire WAS NOT designed for –which is why we never riffed him. Mac, wherever you are; I didn’t agree with you all the time but I respected your opinion as you respected mine. It’s a pity that more people can’t think like you and voice their opinions with a consistently civil and cheerful outlook on life. RIP dude! You were one of the good guys!

Now, onto the future, things to look out for at the Odd Empire;

We have our Wiki site up and running and we are actively soliciting contributors. The subject of the Odd Empire (in case you don’t already know) is riffing self important web page authors who think they know everything and pointing out some of their more obvious mistakes.  Not only web pages, but podcasts, wiki pages and videos are all fair game. Also religious organizations, insane self published book authors, pseudo scientists, pro-conspiracy nutjobs, ghost hunters, Bigfoot –or cripzoologists, cerealologists, UFOlogists, paranormalists and of course, Scientologists.

That’s not to say there is anything wrong with these people. We just like to point out to the world that they don’t really know Jack about what they are writing about. (I can safely say that because I keep Jack locked up here at the Odd Empire. )

So There it is! 2010 will be a significant year just like 2009 was. Remember –
“Merda taurorum animas conturbit” e – “Exegi monumentum aere perennius”

“Res ipsa Loquitur”