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Sharon Hill: Weird Word Salad: The Terminology of the Unexplained

2013-05-19T20:27:13Z

Paranormal investigators say they look for evidence of paranormal activity. That phrase always confounded me. I don't quite get it. What does it mean when someone says they have evidence of "paranormal activity"? And, how do you know it's not normal activity that you just couldn't ferret out?

There is a problem with how the word paranormal is used because it is often utilized in a way that is perhaps not consistent with the original intent.

Language evolves. Let me take a shot at unpacking some of these definitions about unexplained phenomena. See if it makes sense.

"Paranormal" and other terms for strange goings-on have changed over time. The word paranormal was coined around 1920. It means "beside, above or beyond normal." Therefore, it's anything that isn't "normal" -- or, more precisely, it is used as a label for any phenomenon that appears to defy scientific understanding. Ok, right there is a tripping point. Whose scientific understanding? The observer who is calling it "paranormal"? If so, that is problematic as a theoretical physicist sees things a lot differently than a dentist or a police officer. So, it appears too subjective to be precise. Each person may have their own idea of what constitutes "paranormal activity".

The term "paranormal" used to just mean extrasensory perception and psychic power but, since the 1970s in particular -- thanks to TV shows and proliferation of the subject in popular culture -- the term expanded in scope to include all mysterious phenomena seemingly shunned by standard scientific study. It was a convenient way to bring many similarly peculiar topics under one heading for ease of marketing. So today, it can include everything that sounds mysterious: UFOs, hauntings, monster sightings, strange disappearances, anomalous natural phenomena, coincidences, as well as psychic powers.

Not everyone agrees that fields of study such as UFOlogy or cryptozoology (Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster and the like) should be considered paranormal but, if we think about the fact that after all this time, we have yet to document what these things actually are, that is beyond normal. Therefore, paranormal (arguably).

What appears as paranormal could essentially one day become normal. This has happened before with meteorites and still mysterious but likely explainable earthquakes lights and ball lightning. Or, we might not have developed the right technology or made the philosophical breakthrough yet to provide an explanation for some seemingly paranormal events. Perhaps we may find an instrument that can measure whatever it is that results in "hauntings" of a particular type. (Notice that I didn't say an instrument that detects ghosts -- an important distinction.)

Contrasted with paranormal is "supernatural." To say something is supernatural is to conclude that the phenomenon operates outside the existing laws of nature. We would call such phenomena miraculous, a result of religious, occult (or magical) forces that are outside of human doings. These forces don't adhere to boundaries of nature, which are waived. Perhaps the entity decides not to be detectable, for example. When that happens, we can't test it, capture it or measure it. We just broke science. Our understanding stops if the explanation allows for supernatural entities to suspend natural laws on a whim. We end up with a form of "[Insert entity name here] did it." Game over.

Paranormal events can appear to be supernatural but that in no way is proof that they are. Some unaccounted for natural explanation can be the cause. There is really no way to have excluded all natural possibilities in an investigation. We just may not have all the information. So to say something is the result of "paranormal" or "supernatural" activity is faulty logic. It can appear to be but you can't say that it is for sure.

If you look at older anomalistic literature, you'll find the word "preternatural" -- a perfectly cromulent word -- in place of paranormal. It's not used as much anymore but it denotes a situation where the phenomenon appears outside the bounds of what we consider normal. It's not supernatural, just extraordinary.

An even better word to use for weird natural phenomena -- like strange falls from the sky (frogs, fish, colored rain), mystery sounds and lights, odd weather phenomena, etc. (things that might also be called Fortean) -- would be paranatural. Events seem beyond natural because they are rare, unusual and we can't quite pinpoint how they happened, but we need not revoke natural laws to have them occur. It's similar to preternatural but sounds more modern.

Sorry about the word salad in this post but terminology is rather important for effective communication in order to avoid being misunderstood. These various words reflect the degree to which you want to go beyond observable, experimentally derived evidence. They get progressively LESS likely to be the correct designation: Paranatural -> paranormal/preternatural -> supernatural (which we can't actually "prove").

Pedantry over. We now resume normal communication.

Just When You Thought Eurovision Couldn't Get Any Weirder

2013-05-19T20:04:02Z

Meet Cezar. He's one of the most talented contratenors in the world. He is also hilarious.

PHOTOS: Baby Lemur Twins Pal Around

2013-05-19T18:57:58Z

Some of our favorite animal stories from the last week include:

An adorable corgi anthem
Good news about sea turtles
Some amazing animal shots from National Geographic’s traveler photo contest
A puffin egg-drop caught on camera

Click here to read more about what’s happening in the animal kingdom, and check out the newest and best animal photos below:

WATCH: Tan Mom Releases Music Video

2013-05-19T17:09:37Z

Not to be outdone by Octomom, "Tan Mom" Patricia Krentcil has launched her own music career, releasing her first single earlier this month.

In its lyrics, Krentcil takes on some of her fellow tabloid-fixtures, bragging, "I'm sexier than the Teen Mom / I am cool, I'm the cool one / I'm hotter than the Octomom."

And now TMZ has obtained the video for her pop song, aptly titled "It's Tan Mom." (We prefer Chelsea Handler's tribute to the track, recently performed by her show's staffers.)

The New Jersey mother found herself at the center of a media firestorm in 2012 when she faced child endangerment charges for allegedly placing her 5-year-old daughter in a tanning booth; while she was later cleared of the charges, she brought attention to the condition known as "tanorexia."

Watch at your own risk.

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LOOK: Dolphins Make Rare Underwater Find

2013-05-19T15:12:07Z

This is dolphin-itely a great find.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Navy dolphins have discovered a Howell torpedo, a rare weapon that was cutting edge technology when it was used in the late 19th century.

Bottlenose dolphins made the find off the coast of Coronado, Calif., while "being trained by the Navy to find undersea objects, including mines, that not even billion-dollar technology can detect," the paper reports. Only 50 were ever manufactured.

According to the Naval War College Museum, the weapon "had a range of 400 -700 yards, a speed of 25 knots, and a warhead filled with 100 pounds of gun cotton."

The outstanding abilities of dolphins in this realm have been well reported.

Frontline previously documented how the Navy used dolphins as guards in the Vietnam war and employed their services in other international conflicts.

ABC reported that the navy has also utilized killer whales, sea lions and other marine mammals "in operations around the world."

Bicycle Hearse Is Your Last Ride

2013-05-19T14:03:13Z

EUGENE, Ore. -- An Oregon funeral home in Eugene offers natural burials where the ride to the person's final resting place is on the back of a three-wheeled bicycle.

Sunset Hills Cemetery and Funeral Home director Wade Lind says he got the idea from bikers and designed the pedal-powered hearse himself. It has an electric motor to give him a little help hauling the casket.

KVAL reports (http://bit.ly/10VwlL1) Lind has bicycled five bodies so far and there's a waiting list for the service. The ride and a bamboo casket that looks like a basket costs about $3,500.

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Information from: KVAL-TV, http://www.kval.com/

Minister In Trouble After 'Liking' Exposed Teen Pic

2013-05-19T14:01:59Z

SYDNEY — An Australian politician says he has learned a valuable lesson in social networking after he "liked" a Facebook photo without realizing that it showed a teenage prankster exposing himself.

Western Australia Minister for Education Peter Collier said he clicked the "like" button under what he thought was an innocent photo of the then-16-year-old in late 2011. Collier apologized Thursday and said he had no idea that the teen, who was otherwise fully clothed and posing alongside an older man, was playing a prank commonly known as "sneaky nuts."

"At first glance it appeared to be a harmless picture," Collier said in a statement. "It was a silly mistake on my part. I only became aware of the actual content of the photo when shown by a journalist today. This obviously highlights the pitfalls of social media. I apologize if I caused any offense."

The stunt was popularized by Australian comedian Chris Lilley's TV show "Angry Boys," in which a character revels in ruining group photos by secretly exposing himself. The prank has been a headache for some educators: Last year, administrators at a Catholic school in Canada scrambled to place stickers over a photo printed in all 1,300 class yearbooks of a student subtly exposing his genitals.

The Australia incident did not attract attention until late last month, when the teen bragged on Twitter about fooling Collier, whom he was friends with on Facebook.

How These Bees Might Save Lives

2013-05-19T12:54:42Z

ZAGREB, Croatia -- Mirjana Filipovic is still haunted by the land mine blast that killed her boyfriend and blew off her left leg while on a fishing trip nearly a decade ago. It happened in a field that was supposedly de-mined.

Now, unlikely heroes may be coming to the rescue to prevent similar tragedies: sugar-craving honeybees. Croatian researchers are training them to find unexploded mines littering their country and the rest of the Balkans.

When Croatia joins the European Union on July 1, in addition to the beauty of its aquamarine Adriatic sea, deep blue mountain lakes and lush green forests, it will also bring numerous un-cleared minefields to the bloc's territory. About 750 square kilometers (466 square miles) are still suspected to be filled with mines from the Balkan wars in the 1990s.

Nikola Kezic, an expert on the behavior of honeybees, sat quietly together with a group of young researchers on a recent day in a large net tent filled with the buzzing insects on a grass field lined with acacia trees. The professor at Zagreb University outlined the idea for the experiment: Bees have a perfect sense of smell that can quickly detect the scent of the explosives. They are being trained to identify their food with the scent of TNT.

"Our basic conclusion is that the bees can clearly detect this target, and we are very satisfied," said Kezic, who leads a part of a larger multimillion-euro program, called "Tiramisu," sponsored by the EU to detect land mines on the continent.

Several feeding points were set up on the ground around the tent, but only a few have TNT particles in them. The method of training the bees by authenticating the scent of explosives with the food they eat appears to work: bees gather mainly at the pots containing a sugar solution mixed with TNT, and not the ones that have a different smell.

Kezic said the feeding points containing the TNT traces offer "a sugar solution as a reward, so they can find the food in the middle."

"It is not a problem for a bee to learn the smell of an explosive, which it can then search," Kezic said. "You can train a bee, but training their colony of thousands becomes a problem."

Croatian officials estimate that since the beginning of the Balkan wars in 1991, about 2,500 people have died from land mine explosions. During the four-year war, around 90,000 land mines were placed across the entire country, mostly at random and without any plan or existing maps.

Dijana Plestina, the head of the Croatian government's de-mining bureau, said the suspected devices represent a large obstacle for the country's population and industry, including agriculture and tourism. In the nearly two decades since the end of the war, land mines have taken the lives of 316 people, including 66 de-miners, she said.

"While this exists, we are living in a kind of terror, at least for the people who are living in areas suspected to have mines," she said. "And of course, that is unacceptable. We will not be a country in peace until this problem is solved."

In 2004, Filipovic and her boyfriend were on a fishing trip that took them to a river between Croatia and Bosnia.

"As we were returning hand-in-hand, my boyfriend stepped on a mine," the 41-year-old Filipovic said. "It was an awful, deafening explosion ... thousands of shrapnel parts went flying, hundreds ending up in my body. He was found dead several meters away, while I remained in a pool of blood sitting on the ground."

She sued the Croatian government, saying the area wasn't clearly marked as a former minefield.

"At first I thought I was asleep," she recalled. "Then I heard the voice of my father. I opened my eyes, and saw nothing. I thought I lost my eyes."

The government admitted guilt in the case for failing to keep the minefield sign, but the court has yet to determine financial compensation.

It may be a while before the honeybees hit real minefields, Kezic said. First, they will conduct controlled tests, with real mines but which are marked.

Kezic said American researchers have in the past experimented with mine-searching bees, but TNT – the most common explosive used in the Balkan wars – wasn't part of their experiment because its smell evaporates quickly, and only small traces remain after time. Rats and dogs are also used to detect explosives worldwide, but unlike bees, they could set off blasts on the minefields because of their weight.

Even after the de-miners have done their job in an area, some land mines are missed and remain in the soil, and they are most often the cause of deadly explosions. Once the experiment with bees proves scientifically reliable, the idea is to use them in the areas that have already been de-mined, where their movement would be followed with heat-seeking cameras, Kezic said.

"We are not saying that we will discover all the mines on a minefield, but the fact is that it should be checked if a minefield is really de-mined," he said. "It has been scientifically proven that there are never zero mines on a de-mined field, and that's where bees could come in."

VOTE: Bikini Teacher Vs. Homer Simpson Root: The Weird News Top 10

2013-05-19T12:42:05Z

It seems that the world of Weird News is filled with bikinis, weenies and roots that look like Homer Simpson.

Teacher Olivia Sprauer may have been fired for the swimsuit photos she posed for under the name "Victoria James" two weeks ago, but now she's being courted by lingerie companies, trade shows and Hustler magazine.

It wasn't such a good week for a drunk man in Jilong, Taiwan, who reportedly used scissors to cut off his own penis and testicles during an argument with his girlfriend.

Meanwhile, Portland man Jared Weston Walter, 26, is accused of masturbating and ejaculating on heads of TriMet bus passengers in Oregon.

HuffPost Weird News didn't shy away from other bodily functions this week, giving the straight poop about Carlos Baca, a 27-year-old man from Port St. Lucie, Fla., accused of fleeing the scene of a small car accident on Monday.

His excuse: He ate "bad" Chinese food and didn't want to poop in his pants.

A North Carolina family let it all hang out -- literally -- when they went walking down the street in the buff. Their excuse: The Lord told them to get naked and walk down the street.

God made another appearance in HuffPost Weird News this week when Joseph McCaffrey was reading The Hour, a Norwalk, Conn., newspaper, and saw a splattered ink blot that his wife says resembles Jesus Christ.

Whether the blot looks like Jesus is a matter of interpretation, as is whether the fleece flower root that was reportedly dug up by a pair of farmers in China bears any resemblance to Homer Simpson.

Charles Ramsey, the man credited with rescuing Amanda Berry from accused kidnapper Ariel Castro, continued his rise into iconic status after he was immortalized with his own tattoo and an action figure.

William von Schneidau, a butcher in Seattle, has meat lovers high on the hog after HuffPost Weird News reported that he feeds his pigs marijuana to make them the highest quality possible.

Finally, dog lovers got a kick out of a new new iPhone app, Weather Puppy, which displays different pictures of puppies based on the weather in your area.

The weird angle? Lots of photos of wakeboarding West Highland white terriers that, while obviously doctored, were so cute anyway that no one dogged them.

What was the weirdest story of the week? If you're not dog tired, scroll through the gallery and vote in the poll below.

PHOTOS: Amazing Sea Butterflies

2013-05-18T23:32:48Z

We're consistently impressed by the variety of biodiversity out there, but these sea butterflies are really something else.

The creatures, also known as pteropods, were photographed by Karen Osborn, a research zoologist with the Smithsonian Institution. They're related to snails and use a muscular foot to swim through the ocean.

Osborn found all of the pteropods off the coasts of Mexico and California and photographed them in a shallow tank of clear water to "inspire interest in these weird, wild animals," she told Smithsonian Magazine.

Many pteropods have shells made of calcium carbonate and are vulnerable to changes in the ocean's acidity. A study released earlier this month said the average surface acidity in oceans worldwide is 30 percent higher than at the start of the industrial revolution and the Smithsonian wrote last year that many shelled creatures in the Arctic have already started dissolving.

But while they're still here, take a look at more incredible images of the sea butterflies below:

Republican Warns Of Modern-Day Hitler Invasion

2013-05-18T21:01:56Z

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is known for his unusual Twitter feed, and he took to the website again on Saturday with more unique posts.

Grassley sounded a warning early Saturday on one area where he thinks America is suffering:

US has no foreign policy. We shld remember what happened th last time we had no foreign policy. It was Sept 1939 Hitler started WWII Poland
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) May 18, 2013

Though this might be the first time Grassley has warned of a modern-day Hitler invasion, it's not the first time the senator has talked history on twitter. He made headlines in January and February 2012 when he ranted on twitter that there wasn't enough history on the History Channel.

LOOK: National Geographic's Stunning Photo Contest

2013-05-18T17:03:43Z

The 'National Geographic Traveler' Photo Contest is upon us, and some stunning images have already started to flow in.

The contest is in its 25th year and asks amateur photographers to submit photos from their travels for a chance to have them published in the magazine. More than 3,000 shots have already been submitted (you can see all of them here), and so far, the results are breathtaking. Images of an alligator resting on the back of a turtle and another of two vultures battling are particularly stunning.

The contest will be open until June 30, 2013 and entries cost $15. Click here to check out some past National Geographic photos, and take a look some of this year's incredible submissions below:

Hewlett-Packard Employees In Fear Of Geese Attacks?

2013-05-18T15:21:28Z

Hewlett-Packard has enough problems dealing with angry shareholders without having to deal with angry geese.

A visitor to the tech giant's Boise, Idaho, office recently had an altercation with a pissed-off goose that was serious enough that officials decided to address the problem with a memo titled "Boise Site Communication: Avoiding Geese Attacks."

Hewlett-Packard spokesman Michael Thatcher acknowledged the memo and told The Huffington Post it was sent out as a preventive measure after a visitor to the Boise office "had a run-in with a goose."

There has been no fowl play since then, but officials didn't want any more feathers flying, so they sent out a memo April 10 to HP's Boise employees.

Sources said those workers found it so "unintentionally hilarious" that they have been forwarding it to employees at other HP locations.

The birdbrained memo obtained by The Huffington Post starts out, in typical corporate speak, by explaining how Canada geese -- the type found near the Hewlett-Packard Boise office -- "usually start choosing mates and selecting a territory for nesting in late February to early March."

The memo also lays out how Canadian geese divide the work between genders.

The gander’s job during nesting season is to defend the female, their nesting territory, and eggs. If a person or another goose enters the territory, the gander will usually give a warning call to the intruder before chasing it away. Some geese can be very aggressive and will only stop their attack when the intruder has left or the goose’s life is threatened.

Take a gander at the tips offered on what to do if attacked by a goose.

Never turn your back or shoulders away from the hostile goose, and never close or squint your eyes or block your eyes with a purse or briefcase.

If the goose makes an aggressive move towards you while hissing or spreading out its wings, you should slowly back away while using your peripheral vision to watch for obstacles you could trip over.

Maintain a neutral demeanor toward the goose (i.e., do not yell, swing, kick, or act hostile). At the same time, do not cower, hide your face, turn your back, or run from the goose. Over aggression may cause the female to join the confrontation which usually causes an even more aggressive attack from the male.

Brad Compton, a biologist with Idaho's Fish and Game Dept., said geese attacks are actually very rare.

"I haven't heard of one in a decade," he told The Huffington Post. "We get lots of complaints about goose poop though."

Yes, the geese feces problem is, er, handled in the memo.

"Goose feces is [sic] very slick so watch where you are walking and stepping to avoid slips and falls."

"Cars seem to be a favorite spot for some of the geese to rest on. During this process they can also leave deposits on the vehicle. It is advisable to wash this off your car when you get home or on the way home at a car washing facility."

Employees at the Boise headquarters who "observe any aggressive geese behavior in high traffic areas" are asked to report them to site security.

READ THE COMPLETE MEMO BELOW:

Avoiding Geese Attacks

PUNISHMENT? The World's Best Punner Gets This Trophy

2013-05-18T14:13:48Z

Usually, people who enjoy peppering their conversations with wordplay get the "punaround" from their friends and colleagues.

But on May 18, the O. Henry Pun-Off World Championship in Austin, Texas, those who enjoy "punning off at the mouth" have a safe haven to do it without feeling ashamed. Just ask organizer Gary Hallock, a former winner -- he feels their pun, er... pain.

"People with this ability are shunned by polite society," he told The Huffington Post. Hallock recognizes that people who insist on punning at the expense of, well, normal conversation can be annoying.

Now in its 36th year, the Pun-Off attracts punsters from all over the world to compete in two categories.

In "Punslinging," esteemed "com-pun-iters" face off two at a time to see who can make the most puns on a single topic, such as "politics," "food" or "body parts."

In last year's championship round, contestants riffed on farming with groaners like, "if my wife left me, I'd marry a hoe;" "when a farmer's wife leaves him, does she send a John Deere letter?" and "you can always find cowfish in a corral reef."

It's not as easy as it sounds: Puns can't be reused and the contest ends if no one makes a pun within five seconds. However, as the clip below demonstrates, some punsters can last upwards of 15 minutes before "punning up empty."

WATCH: PUNSLINGING AT ITS BEST (OR WORST) (Story continues below)

In the second category, "Punniest Of Show," contestants present a pun on stage in any format, be it visual, musical or stand-up routine and get scored on 10-point scale.

The top punster in each category receives a trophy shaped like a horse's ass. It's the highest honor a practitioner of the lowest form of humor can receive.

Along with the contest awards, the person chosen "MVP" -- "most volatile punster" -- gets a trophy of a turkey.

Hallock said the Pun-Off amounts to a kind of support group for those afflicted with high amounts of "paranomasia," the ability to use words that sound similar to other words, but have different meanings.

"Puns are the bane of everyone's existence if they're not prepared for them," he said. "People tend to abuse it by offering them in venues that are inappropriate or unexpected. If all you do is offer puns, you're highjacking a conversation. It's the opposite of communicating."

Dave Wallace, last year's top "punslinger," said the skills he learned punning have made him quick on his feet, and said that a great punster has two outstanding qualities.

"You have to be somewhat intelligent with a disdain for social graces," he told HuffPost.

The honor of being the best punster isn't as prestigious as, say, the Nobel Prize, but punsters like Jerzy Gwiazdowski, the 2012 winner of the "MVP" (Most Volatile Punster) and "Punniest of Show" honors is happy to have his awards on his mantel.

"For 29 years, it was like, 'sorry, I have a problem.' Now, it's like 'sorry, I have an award-winning problem," he told HuffPost.

Gwiazdowski, a New York-based actor and writer, will be defending his title this year and said he's been keeping in fighting shape through monthly competitions with other Empire State punsters.

"It would seem there is a certain part of the linguistic brain where puns live," he theorized. "After competing with like-minded punners, it's like you're living in that corner and can't stop. It's like working a certain muscle group."

Conventional wisdom suggests that someone adept at punnilingus is just as happy to get a groan as a giggle, but Hallock said that's not the case.

"We [punsters] have to be stoic when a pun receives a groan," he said. "It's not as off-putting as when someone groans at a joke. It means that I have succeeded in annoying you, but I don't think it's as good as a laugh.

"We fall into the trap into embracing the groan. It's our lot in life."

LOOK: Zombie Prep Camp, Not The End Of The World

2013-05-17T23:24:21Z

Zombies will be stumbling around a Saskatchewan lake this weekend, but not to worry.

The world is not ending, but people are training for it.

Jonathan Michell is one of the organizers behind the Zombie Prep Camp taking place at a camp on Katepwa Lake, about an hour northeast of Regina.

Michell says they came up with the idea because camp is fun and adults should have a chance to go, too.

They picked the theme because zombies are the focus of popular television shows such as "The Walking Dead" and movies, but also because they create a good metaphor for the worst-case scenario of survival.

Story continues after slideshow

Several emergency planning groups across North America have used the zombie scenario to draw attention to preparation for natural disasters or health outbreaks, including the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We have professional instructors teaching archery, first aid, unarmed combat, fire-starting, shelter building; we also have lectures on the psychological impact of the apocalypse,” Michell explained.

The 15 registered campers will also have to test their skills.

“Throughout the weekend there is a small army of zombie volunteers that are going to be trying to "kill" you and "eat your corpse',” Michell said.

While it doesn’t hurt to prepare for the worst, he says the ultimate goal is to get active, meet people and have fun.