atticus

A Day in the Life of a Paranormal Investigator

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 03:10:49 +0100

So I am RiPA, RiPA is my lifestyle choice,
but why oh why do I do it?
I think being a Paranormal Researcher is very hard work.
Read on and see if you agree:

A Paranormal Researcher is someone who can’t get a real job or any PhD funding. They wake up in the morning to a stack of unpaid bills, and then sweet talk the lovely bailiffs at the door. After a discussion with said gentlemen they pay some cash and mentally cross out their food budget for the next two weeks. They also note the recording they need to finish their lecture review for deadline today has still not arrived. Huzzah!

A paranormal researcher picks up the clothes they wore last night off the floor, hurls a book on Attachment Theory at the dog (or cat) and wonder if SPR/BPS journals burn nicely once the gas has been shut off. They then dedicate four hours to grounded analysis of carefully collected accounts of spontaneous cases – or reading peoples ghost anecdotes to you and me. They code, construct categories by hand because they can’t afford QSR software, and after a hard mornings work with Diet Coke (or black coffee cos they have no milk) they decide they have not made any advances over what Sidgwick and co had in 1894.

So they pop on the JREF for a morning of playful abuse, and after lunch (noodles, with noodle sauce, 12p a bag from oriental supermarket) they wonder why MAcDonalds, Wilkinsons and WH Smiths rejected them. So they spend couple of hours filling in application forms so they can be anything but a paranormal investigator.

The afternoon is busy, busy, busy! Reading the EJP in the bath as the nice shiny paper is not effected by splashes, they realise they are still after all these years useless at the level of stats required to check the articles validity. They wish they could afford a netbook so they could consult SPSS in the bath, but they would only drop it.

After a refreshing bath they set out to track down someone who reported a spontaneous case to them to verify certain questions arising from their account. The email will be ignored, they nearly always are. Wishing they had chosen a better paid career, like say leaflet distributor, professional philosopher, dog poo collector or non-affiliated theologian who sells 5 books a year, they start work on a piece on the development of fairy lore in the early modern period, because they have nothing better to do. Then it hits them – they have no food for tea!

But huzzah! they have a call – and the phone is currently connected because their friend/partner/pimp paid the bill. And for once it’s not a debt collector! Nope, they are invited to give a talk to a local group. They start drafting it, becoming more and more depressed as they realise no one is actually interested in theoretical work or the parapsychological literature, so it end up as “adventures in ghosthunting”, a comic tale of sitting around in the dark in rooms filled with other hopefuls, while absolutely nothing happens. The difference in being a pro is you don’t have to pay for the privilege.

Suddenly they decide to reach for their handy EMF meter. They can’t hear the washing machine from the basement but long experience shows this device can pick it up – have they washed their pants, as a real girl is visiting tomorrow? They dream of the day they can afford a second pair.

Afternoon brings email: another studentship rejection, disturbed family members wondering how you became so unemployable, and a Diet Coke break dedicated to the social issues of Jeremy Kyle – less exciting than it sounds. They decide to kill Cousins, Actors, Singers etc for being so much better looking and better funded than them; but then reject the notion, and return to the Spud-U-Like application.

Wasting an hour on wondering why no one seems to be participating Alex Tsaris’ Jaytee the Psychic Dog replication the earnest paranormal researcher returns to their grounded analysis, struggling with methodological issues.

Evening: a bitter ex-wife accusing you of leaving her in poverty, hungry dog yowling for food, and your mother sadly asking how work went? You set out to meet a veteran investigator of mediumship who will buy you lunch,and an enjoyable hour of salacious gossip about the misdeeds of contemporary physical mediums later, well fed, you feel the strength to once again face writing up a study you performed eight months ago. Finally even you are bored with it, so you start work on looking at the geological maps of Nantwich, and a water table plan of Clacton, trying to work out if GW Lambert really was on to something.

You get another call – there is a vigil in a haunted house, a local tourist spot, can you attend only £30? Muttering to yourself a Noel Coward lyric

“The Stately Homes of England,
Though rather in the lurch,
Provide a lot of chances
For psychical research-“

You politely enquire who experienced what and when? It seems a tourist thought they saw something in 1982 in the East Wing, and theeighty year old gardener swears he saw the dead master in 1963. Oh and a cleaner heard a voice call her name last Wednesday.

So you suggest that rather than taking 50 people to sit in the dark all night, festooned with electronic gizmos, while a lovely lady recounts the sad tale of the spirit girl who starved to death on Christmas Eve, it might be worth actually just interviewing and recording what the witnesses said, and having a look at that? The person trying to sell you the ghost night hangs up.

You sigh and stare out the window, and regret ever becoming a paranormal researcher. And then you wake up the next day and post this on RiPA

(Thanks to CJ Romer for the inspiration)

Atticus's Wooing Tips For Valentines Day 2011

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:50:20 +0100

Ok, so its been a while since I last updated my blog and funnily enough, The last post was on a similar topic that I am going to speak about today.

So today is 14 Feb 2011. A time for showing the world how vomit inducingly loved up you are.
Its also a time to stalk.... I mean try and get in with the fancy of your life.
So heres some tips on how to do that.

Am I an expert? Hell no!
To be honest I kinda suck at this wooing lark.
It is however, through this 'suckage' that I can bring you tried and tested tips and formulations.

Men, why risk damaged gentalia with a sudden 'shoe to groin' technique when your old buddy Atticus here has done it for you.

When asking a lady for a dance or for her number, your chances will be improved by lightly touching her on the arm. Try not to do it in a creepy way.

Use mimicry, bodily and verbal. Use mimicry, bodily and verbal (see what I did there?)

If you're male, try to make yourself look taller and vice versa for women.

Hire a sports car, if you're a man, but don't bother if you're a woman. Both sexes should avoid Toyotas - that's a joke, please don't sue, they're lovely cars.

When flirting with a man, use direct, no-nonsense chat up lines rather than the subtle or witty approach. Men are very easily confused you know.

When wooing a woman, use chat-up lines that demonstrate your helpfulness, generosity, athleticism, ‘culture’ and wealth. Don't bother with jokes, empty compliments and sexual references.
This ought to do it - 'Hey gorgeous, sorry I'm late: the opera over-ran, then I had to race to my neighbour's to help carry her piano upstairs - the one I bought her as a moving-in present'.

Try not to come across as too desperate. Don't, whatever you do, admit to reading this blog post.

If you're a really handsome man, don't show off your wealth too much - women might just conclude that you're likely to be unfaithful in the future. And anyway Mr Clooney, I'm sure you don't need these tips.

You hunky smile magnet! Here's a good one for heterosexual men: get friends of the opposite sex to smile at you. Women apparently find a man's face more attractive after it's been smiled at by a woman.

If you're a larger woman, keep your chosen man hungry and he's more likely to find you attractive.

Don't flirt and drive! Remember gentleman, interacting with a lady can impair your cognitive faculties.

Wear red. If nothing else, your little scarlet number will match your blushing cheeks as you smile with bashful pride at the compliment your date (hopefully) just paid you.

Desperate situations require desperate measures. If, despite all your romantic efforts, your date remains decidedly unfrisky, you could try reminding them of death.
Warning: This could backfire.

Happy Valentine's day for Monday 2011!

Intimacy Tips. I Learnt The Hard Way!

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:50:46 +0100

Over the years I've had some successful relationships and some unsuccessful ones. Over time I have manged to write a quick tip guide for guys who need a little bit of help or some guidance when they meet the girl of the night/week/month.

1. KISS FIRST. Avoiding her lips and diving straight for the erogenous zones makes her feel like you're paying by the hour and trying to get your money's worth by cutting out non-essentials. A properly passionate kiss is the ultimate form of foreplay.

2. DON'T BLOW TOO HARD IN HER EAR. Admit it, some kid at school told you girls love this. Well, there's a difference between being erotic and blowing as if you're trying to extinguish the candles on your 50th birthday cake. That hurts.

3. SHAVE. You often forget you have a porcupine strapped to your chin which you rake repeatedly across your partner's face and thighs. When she turns her head from side to side, it's not passion, it's avoidance.

4. ABOUT SQUEEZING HER BREAST. Most men act like a housewife testing a melon for ripeness when they get their hand on a pair. Stroke, caress, and smooth them.

5. ABOUT BITING HER NIPPLES. Why do men fasten onto a woman's nipples, then clamp down like they're trying to deflate her body via her breasts? Nipples are highly sensitive. They can't stand up to chewing. Lick and suck them gently. Flicking your tongue across them is good. Pretending they're a doggie toy isn't good.

6. ABOUT TWIDDLING HER NIPPLES. Stop doing that thing where you twiddle the nipples between finger and thumb like you're trying to find a radio station in a hilly area. Focus on the whole breasts, not just the exclamation points.

7. DON'T IGNORE THE OTHER PARTS OF HER BODY. A woman is not a highway with just three turn-offs: Breast-ville East and West, and the Mid-town Tunnel. There are vast areas of her body which you've ignored far too often as you go bombing straight into downtown Vagina. So start paying them some attention.

8. DON'T GET THE HAND TRAPPED. Poor manual dexterity in the underskirt region can result in tangled fingers and underpants. If you're going to be that aggressive, just ask her to take the damn things off.

9. DON'T LEAVE HER A LITTLE PRESENT. Condom disposal is the man's responsibility. You wore it, you store it.

10. DON'T ATTACK THE CLITORIS. Direct pressure is very unpleasant, so gently rotate your fingers along side of the clitoris.

11. DON'T STOP FOR A BREAK. Women, unlike men, don't pick up where they left off. If you stop, they plummet back to square one very fast. If you can tell she's not there, keep going at all costs, numb jaw or not.

12. DON'T UNDRESS HER AWKWARDLY. Women hate looking stupid, but stupid she will look when naked at the waist with a sweater stuck over her head. Unwrap her like an elegant present, not a kid's toy.

13. DON'T GIVE HER A WEDGIE DURING FOREPLAY. Stroking her gently through her panties can be very sexy. Pulling the material up between her thighs and yanking it back and forth is not.

14. DON'T BE OBSESSED WITH THE VAGINA. Although most men can find the clitoris without maps, they still believe that the vagina is where it's all at. No sooner is your hand down there than you're trying to stuff stolen bank notes up a chimney. This is okay in principle, but if you're not careful, it can hurt - so don't get carried away. It's best to pay more attention to her clitoris and the exterior of her vagina at first, then gently slip a finger inside her and see if she likes it.

15. DON'T MASSAGE TOO ROUGHLY. You're attempting to give her a sensual, relaxing massage to get her in the mood. Hands and fingertips are okay; elbows and knees are not.

16. DON'T UNDRESS PREMATURELY. Don't force the issue by stripping before she's at least made some move toward getting your stuff off, even if it's just undoing a couple of buttons.

17. DON'T TAKE YOUR PANTS OFF FIRST. A man in socks and underpants is at his worst. Lose the socks fist.

18. DON'T GO TOO FAST. When you get to the penis-in-vagina situation, the worst thing you can do is pump away like an industrial power tool - she'll soon feel like an assembly-line worker made obsolete by your technology. Build up slowly, with clean, straight, regular thrusts.

19. DON'T GO TOO HARD. If you bash your great triangular hip bones into her thigh or stomach, the pain is equal to two weeks of horseback riding concentrated into a few seconds.

20. DON'T COME TOO SOON. Every man's fear. With reason. If you shoot before you see the whites of her eyes, make sure you have a backup plan to ensure her pleasure too.

21. COME SOON ENOUGH. It may appear to you that humping for an hour without climaxing is the mark of a sex god, but to her it's more likely the mark of a numb vagina. At least buy some intriguing wall hangings, so she has something to hold her interest while you're playing Marathon Man.

22. DON'T ASK IF SHE HAS COME. Equate this with her asking: "Is it in?" You usually will be able to tell. Most women make noise. But if you really don't know, don't ask right there on the spot, the first time. Bring it up later, as part of your normal couple communication.

23. DON'T PERFORM ORAL SEX TOO GENTLY. Don't act like a giant cat at a saucer of milk. Get your whole mouth down there, and concentrate on gently rotating or flicking your tongue on her clitoris.

24. DON'T NUDGE HER HEAD DOWN. Men persist in doing this until she's eyeball-to-penis, hoping that it will lead very swiftly to mouth-to-penis. All women hate this. It's about three steps from being dragged to a cave by their hair. If you want her to use her mouth, use yours; try talking seductively to her.

25. WARN HER BEFORE YOU CLIMAX. Sperm tastes like sea water mixed with egg white. Not everybody likes it. When she's performing oral sex, warn her before you come so she can do what's necessary.

26. DON'T MOVE AROUND DURING FELLATIO. Don't thrust. She'll do all the moving during fellatio. You just lie there. And don't grab her head.

27. ABOUT PENIS HYGIENE. Boys should be taught how to wash daily underneath the penis foreskin. If your parents "forgot" about it, you may be sexually challenged by an awkwardly foul-smelling penis. Worry no more! Get in the shower and follow these instructions:
Gently pull the foreskin back away from the head of the penis;
Rinse the head of the penis and inside fold of the foreskin with soap and warm water;
Use your finger to remove any deposits from the fold;
Pull the foreskin back over the head of the penis.

28. DON'T TAKE ETIQUETTE ADVICE FROM PORN MOVIES. In X-rated movies, women seem to love it when men ejaculate over them. In real life, it just means more laundry to do.

29. DON'T MAKE HER RIDE ON TOP FOR AGES. Asking her to be on top is fine. Lying there grunting while she does all the hard work is not. Caress her gently, so that she doesn't feel quite so much like the captain of a schooner. And let her have a rest.

30. DON'T ATTEMPT ANAL SEX AND PRETEND IT WAS AN ACCIDENT. This is how men earn a reputation for not being able to follow directions. If you want to put it there, ask her first. And don't think that being drunk is an excuse.

31. ABOUT TAKING PICTURES. When a man says "Can I take a photo of you?", she'll hear the words "...to show my buddies." At least let her have custody of them.

32. BE IMAGINATIVE ENOUGH. Imagination is anything from drawing patterns on her back to pouring honey on her and licking it off. Fruit, vegetables, ice and feathers are all handy props; a bath or shower with a richly perfumed soap won't be forgotten; hot candle wax and permanent dye are a no no.

33. DON'T SLAP YOUR STOMACH AGAINST HERS. There is no less erotic noise. It's as sexy as a belching contest.

34. DON'T ARRANGE HER IN STUPID POSES. If she wants to do advanced yoga in bed, fine, but unless she's a Romanian gymnast, don't get too ambitious. Ask yourself if you want a sexual partner with snapped hamstrings.

35. DON'T LOOK FOR HER PROSTATE. Read this carefully: Anal stimulation feels good for men because they have a prostate. Women don't have one. Some women do enjoy anal sex. Just don't take it for granted.

36. DON'T GIVE LOVE BITES. It is highly erotic to exert some gentle suction on the sides of the neck, if you do it carefully. No woman wants to have to wear turtlenecks and jaunty scarves for weeks on end.

37. DON'T BARK INSTRUCTIONS. Don't shout encouragement like a coach with a megaphone. It's not a big turn-on.

38. ABOUT TALKING DIRTY. It makes you sound like a lonely magazine editor calling a 0900 line. If she likes nasty talk, she'll let you know

39. DO CARE ABOUT WHETHER SHE COMES. You have to finish the job. Keep on trying until you get it right, and she might even do the same for you.

40. DON'T SQUASH HER. Men generally weigh more than women, so if you lie on her a bit too heavily, she will turn blue.

41. DON'T THANK HER. Never thank a woman for having sex with you. Your bedroom is not a soup kitchen. If you really want to show her how meaningful she is to you, try kissing her tenderly, all over, instead of falling asleep like a bear.

And a bonus tip:

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. Don't let routine settle in. Try new and "forbidden" locations: A woodsy area (don't forget the bug spray); your backyard (in the middle of the night); your car or better yet, your van (remember those days); even on a boat (anchored offshore). It will provide that "don't get caught" excitement that might be lacking after a while in the plain safety of your old bedroom.

Reliving my fighting days....Addendum

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:50:40 +0100

Well, my first session of KFM has been and gone annnnnd gee, im so unfit! I knew im kinda unfit but not that much!

All those lonely nights of porn and eating cheesey wotsits have made me a walking heart attack candidate!

Poor Stuart (the trainer) kept his cool though.

KFM is certainly a physical activity and one that I hope to carry on. My active days are long behind so I have got a lot of catching up to do. I have a great excuse though, As some of you guys know, I was involved in a car accident sometime back which kinda changed my life. Rehabilitation is complete so need to getl iterally fighting fit again. Roll on next Thursday!

Reliving my fighting days....

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:51:04 +0100

Its been a while since my last blog scribe but I have the excuse of having a rather busy start to the year.

Without going into too much detail let me just say that RiPA have many projects coming up this year and we are getting chocka with investigations and case studies.

But Im not gonna speak about that here. You'll just have to keep checking back on the RiPA homepageor forums.

Instead im going to speak about myself a bit and one other activity that I do outside RiPA.

Some of you may or may not know that I used to be a team captain for a Greco Wrestling team in Luton a few years back. Due to lack of funding the club had to be cancelled so that stopped. I then took up being a Viking re-enactor with Clan Hwicce. A great bunch of guys they were but life, as usual got in the way and my various combat hobbies stopped.

All throughout this time I have been a fan of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) and have been following the likes of ECW, WEC, PRIDE and mainly UFC. Its the only sport I do follow. Beats football in every way!

So while doing some filming projects
I discovered the guys at Total Dojoin
Bletchley, Milton Keynes.

Total Dojois a friendly gym which offers multi-dicipline training. From MMA, BBJ and Thai Bo to the lesser known KFM (Keysi Fighting Method).
And this is where I come in.

Ok, to start with I was interested in the MMA side of things and by using my Greco as a base dicipline I thought id like to reinvent myself in that way.
But the more time I spent at Total Dojo, the more fascinating I found KFM.

It is this dicipline in which my future training will be.

KFM is NOT a martial art. It was not born or reinvented in the 'dojo'; KFM was born on the streets of Spanish gypsy origin. It has grown, developed and matured on the streets and the KFM Instructor Development Program is now a direct consequence of real events, experiences and subsequent years of investigation. KFM is an amazing multi dimensional journey into the world of self-discovery.

KFM was born in the 1950's and
therefore old and primitive traditions do not bind it,
nor do they limit the never-ending process of evolution. If we are to truly grow and develop as human beings then we must first break free from all past conditioning.
Learning is non accumulative, therefore we cannot store learning as we can knowledge, learning occurs on a daily basis and once we have 'learnt' something it becomes Knowledge which is now of the past.

KFM is an art form dedicated towards the study and investigation of survival of the modern day streets. It is in a state of constant evolution, never standing still and fuelled by research and investigation. You must allow yourself to evolve and grow on a daily basis if you are to truly absorb the essence of KFM and KFM lives in the blood and not in the collection of techniques.

Basically its a form of street fighting but with a psychological hook.
This is enough to hook me in.

In fact ive got training tonight (Thursday 11 Feb) so till next time.......

Xmas is like a funeral

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:51:33 +0100

This is my 31st Xmas and as opposed to things getting better, the whole thing seems to be getting worse!
Let me explain a bit more, now aside from the religious & commercialised factors of Xmas, something else has occured to me about this time of year.

To be honest, Ive noticed it for the past few years but now im gonna blog about it..... because I can!

One of my bugbears about this festive period is the falseness of people. Peeps you dont see or hear from for years suddenly show up and act like they are your best friends. Also somewhere in their conversations will be " stay in touch" or "lets catch up" even though both parties have no intention in fulfilling that declaration.

I am spending Xmas 2009 at home alone and I am cool with that as I hear alot about the stresses of 'family christmas's'.
Is it the right present? Who wants to sit next to smelly aunty? Is there enough cranberry sauce? Who needs that hassle?

Im a simple guy who likes a simple life. There is no turkey nor mistletoe in sight in my house, I got a pot noodle in the cupboard and im sure that that will be substantial enough for this day.

Gee, I dont want this blog to make me sound like a miserable christmas miser, I assure you im not, I just cant be doing with being the superficialness of people. Its kinda akin to a funeral.
Haha, Ive just compared Xmas to a funeral..... I think I should make that anology clearer.

We go to funerals to show our respect to the deceased.
Why do we pay our respects to the dead? Isn’t it too late by then? Should we not show more respect for the living? Specifially what about the living dead?

Not zombies, or vampires, those are “undead”, the living dead are really all of us. Anyone who is alive, and especially those who are near death are the living dead. In many cases these people are treated worse than we treat dead people. Seldom visited, until after death. Why?

Does anyone really like going to funerals? Probably not, but in some cases it is the one thing that brings people together like Christmas. Often people will make the effort to attend a funeral of a person even if it is somebody they haven’t bothered to see alive in years. Again, just like Christmas.

Consider the following scenario:
When a lady's first husband lay dying in the hospital she phones his relatives to let them know. His brother made plans and flew in right away. His aunt said “If there is a funeral, call me”. She replied “There is no point in coming then, is there?” and hung up. Her husband was conscious, but very likely aware he was not going to survive. The aunt rethought and did come.

I never understood what the point was of attending a funeral. The dead cannot show their appreciation for your turning up at a funeral. There is a pretty good chance that they do not know you are there. How can it be said that showing up at a funeral is “paying respects to the dead?”. In reality showing up at a funeral is more to show support to the loved ones left behind. If you was that woman, would yoy consider it a slap in the face, for a person to want to come to a funeral for a person they had not seen in years.

Similarly if a person actually wants to show their support to the love ones left behind, showing up at a funeral is a poor way to do so. Offering flowers to somebody long gone. What really counts in this respect is how a person commits in the days or weeks following.

Not too long ago, I attended the funeral of my Nan, Ok, at the risk of sounded hypocrtical here, I had not seen her in years and we didnt exactly get along. I turned down the offer of attending several times but then I thought I shall go to support the ones she left behind, My father. This really got me thinking hence why I am writing this. But the point im trying to make here is although many turned up for the funeral, where were they after the event? Not many of them came back to the house to show support or respect to the living

Then there is the on going issue of not speaking ill of the dead. Why not? We all know people who have died that were not such terrific people. Imagine a child who had been severely abused by somebody. Now the abuser lay dead and the child hears only how wonderful that person was. Do you not think the child is just dying to hear one person speak honestly about their abuser? Do you not think they want to shout out the truth? Respect for the dead sometimes ignores respect for the living.

In old age homes people rot as
they await death. Some get no visitors, others are abused by their supposed care givers. The old are easy victims of crime. It is more common to see them treated disrespectfully than treated well. In some cases even their kids do nothing more than wait for them to die so they can get their inheritance. People who do not even bother visiting these folks while they wait to die are the first to show up at the funeral.

The mentally ill are also treated with disrespect, as burdens on society. As living dead, they are all but ignored or become the butts of jokes and ridicule..... which can be funny, but wrong...

When we think of our dead, we need to remember our living. We need to respect the living before they die. We need to remember that death is unavoidable, and that the dead probably don’t even notice our respects paid to them. The living are the ones who we know will notice respect, or lack there of. Isn’t it about time we show some respect to the living?

Oooops, I kinda went off topic there...... but I hope you see the point im trying to make.
Also, what about the bulk send 'Merry Xmas' texts? Surely if you really meant it, you would take the time to personalise the message? What does the 'Merry' actually mean anyway? Am I having a 'Merry' Xmas? Im not sure.

See ya'll next year......

Making Anomalistics A Little Clearer....

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:51:53 +0100

Studying paranormal claims is as much about revealing imperfections in the human mind as it is about flying saucers, ghosts, extrasensory perception and psychic healing:

Ok, so since we changed the name and our ethics to Anomalistics, there has been a bit of confusion regarding the word, its meaning and how an organization runs in accordance to it.

Once you learn to say the word ( it is not 'Animal-Sticks!') it will become your friend, and in this blog, I will try and make it all a bit clearer with a little help from Prof. Chris French.

Chris French has taught anomalistic psychology now for 15 years, and he vouches that it provides a fantastic way to teach critical thinking skills.RiPA has found this to be true.

I now find myself wondering why I didnt move to Anomalistics a lot sooner

Most people, whether believers or sceptics, find paranormal and related claims fascinating. Such topics are often the focus of conversations at dinner parties and arguments in pubs, not to mention being a staple of tabloid newspapers and daytime TV. Starting from the inherent interest that students, researchers and the public have in such controversial claims, important questions can be raised regarding the most valid forms of evidence and arguments that could be put forward in support of them.

For example, most people assume that the most reliable evidence of all is that based upon personal experience. Even those sceptical of paranormal phenomena often fall into this trap. People often proclaim: "I won't believe in ghosts [or flying saucers, angels, etc.] until I see one with my own eyes." to which when i get told this i always retort with the same phrase... "Do you believe in Bacteria?" But accepting the evidence of your own eyes can be a mistake. As even brief exposure to the field of anomalistic psychology will reveal, personal experience is often a very poor guide to reality.

Both perception and memory are
prone to errors. What we see and hear, especially under less than ideal
observational conditions, can be heavily influenced by our prior beliefs and expectations. This is why RiPA has been running a course and talks on 'Sensory Deprivation'.

Hallucinations are much more common than most people realise. Memory is also prone to errors: many of our recollections are not even distorted versions of events that we have witnessed but instead are complete fabrications. The evidence suggests that many reports of ostensibly paranormal experiences may well be based upon such false memories of which im sure the RiPA's know inside and out of such workings by now!

Anomalistic psychology investigates the imperfections of the human cognitive system that could lead us to conclude that we have experienced the paranormal when in fact we have not. The cognitive biases include not only those affecting perception and memory, but also those related to reasoning and judgement.

So if personal experience is not a reliable guide, is there a preferable approach? The kind of evidence that might convince me, you, skeptics, academics, Bungle etc that paranormal forces really do exist is that produced by well-controlled scientific studies.

Because scientists are human beings and therefore susceptible to all of the cognitive biases referred to above, in practice the scientific method is not perfect. But it is the best approach we've got. It is the only approach to truth that I am aware of that at least acknowledges that such biases exist and attempts to control for them.

Furthermore, its reliance upon replicability, self-correction, critical evaluation by peers, and ultimately upon empirical data means that we can legitimately have a higher level of confidence in well-supported scientific theories than in other assertions about the ultimate nature of reality.

So as RiPA announced last month we should therefore welcome the increasing number of universities in the UK that offer anomalistic psychology as part of their BSc psychology programmes and the inclusion of anomalistic psychology as an option on the A2 psychology syllabus for A level students. Studying this branch of psychology is an excellent way to improve the nation's critical thinking skills.

However, there remain barriers to the full acceptance of anomalistic psychology as a respectable sub-discipline within psychology. One of these is simple intellectual snobbery. There are still some academics who seem to believe that any topic that is of interest to the tabloid press and to daytime TV cannot possibly be worthy of serious consideration by psychologists. Wait till RiPA release 'Spirit : Level' to the world!!

My advice to such people? Come down from your ivory towers! Psychology is about people, and most people believe in the paranormal, a sizeable minority claim to have had direct personal experience of it, and many live their lives in accordance with such beliefs.

Fortunately, this intellectual snobbery appears to be on the wane within the discipline.

There is a second barrier to the wider acceptance of anomalistic psychology. Most people do believe in the paranormal and, what is more, evidence suggests that such beliefs may, in certain contexts, provide psychological benefits.

One obvious example is the fact that people who believe in an afterlife, despite the lack of any convincing scientific evidence, will be less afraid of dying. Exposure to anomalistic psychology may not only lead people to question paranormal claims but also to question firmly held religious beliefs. One of the implicit messages of anomalistic psychology is, "Question everything – but use the appropriate critical thinking tools when doing so." For some people, this will be a challenge they prefer not to face.

For those who do accept the challenge, anomalistic psychology can be an extremely rewarding subject. The sheer range of topics covered is exceptional. At one extreme are highly entertaining accounts of the fraudulent techniques used by con artists to convince punters that they have genuine psychic powers, as well as consideration of the psychological processes that lead far more people to the mistaken but sincere belief that they themselves are psychic. RiPA's 'Test the Medium' project is based around this instance. Just for the record, I have put an advert up in several places where 'Mediums' meet.... not one has responded and one advert was ripped down!! hmmmmm...

At the other extreme, some of the most profound questions that we face as human beings are addressed: Do we survive bodily death? What is the nature of consciousness? What is the solution to the mind-body problem? In between these two extremes, the nature of science and pseudoscience are considered, not to mention a wide range of fascinating topics such as alien abduction claims, psychic healing, hypnosis, ESP, psychokinesis and cryptozoology. What more could you ask for?

This is why at the RiPA meets its not all about Ghosts and Hauntings, but more about the physical side of you, me, the human race, and the universe.

Twilight star, Ashley Greene in uproar about nude pictures....and Invertigo

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:52:13 +0100

Ok, so this topic isnt really paranormal but there is a connection.
Ashley Greene, star of hit movie' Twilight' is a tad upset about some naked photos of her on the internet.

Bit late to worry about that now dont you think?
In this day and age, its the sort of thing you'd expect, especially if you are of celebrity status.

Now im not one for gossip mags, nor do i get the papers so I usually end up missing out on the latest 'Britney shot' or the ' im too posh for knickers' photo.

Buuuuuuuut, i did follow this one up, but only because i made a comment about Ashley a day or two ago on how i didnt think she was that pretty, but then i saw her in a film myself and a friend were watching and without realising who she was i uttered some kind of comment about how pleasing to the eyes she was.

Anyway, you can see these pictures in our forums under the
'The Talk Bar' thread. Maybe RiPA should think about showing a bit of flesh to boost our rankings??
What was that? ok, maybe not then.

What else can i utter about then ...
OOOO it also came to light about how a great looking rollercoaster by the name of 'Invertigo' in 'The Great America' Theme Park, Santa Clara, California.
24 poor buggers were stuck on this ride for a few hours. Imagine that, being suspended high up, without a real clue what was wrong with the machine that had your life in its hands. It could go at any mo....

What a ride! More on this story plus a great video of a kid freaking out can be seen and read on our forums by clicking this link: Invertigo at the Great America, California

Thats about it for me for now.

Keep sending in your stories, pics and any paranormal evidence you have and thanks for visiting RiPA

Rivalry is Abnormal, Not Paranormal

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:53:04 +0100

Now ive been in this game a long time, perhaps a bit too long.
I was there pre 'Most Haunted' and before 'Taps'.
In fact, probably before a lot of internet groups started up and the paranormal boom of today.

However, one thing has not changed and thats the rivalry between paranormal groups.
It seem that although we are all looking into the same thing, the competition is so very high!

Lets look into that a bit closer.....

It has come to RiPA's attention that one or two groups out there are currently slating the RiPA's work and the way they do things.
What I would like to know is:

How can they say what they're saying if they do not know how RiPA work?
What do they hope to get out of slagging off another team?
In what way does that make the team they represent look good
Why bother? if they dont like, get over it!

So my first point. RiPA works very hard at what they do. The team meet every week and what goes on at those meets is very in-depth work. From lectures by well-known names within the field as well as the RiPA's themselves to recreating a scientific parapsychological project that has been endorsed or requested by a university with which RiPA is involved with.

Ok, so RiPA does not rely on a fancy website filled to the brim with repeats of topics that can be found on countless other para-sites, nor do they depend on investigations to make the team look big or good or 'the best'. They mainly concentrate on education and coming up with new reasonable theories as well as helping parapsychology departments across the world. Most of the work RiPA do is behind the scenes and you can only truly appreciate this if you become a RiPA.
The only people that come to these meets are, of course, the RiPA's and anyone who has been cordially invited by a RiPA.

So i reiterate my first point, how can a team slate another team when they really dont know what goes on behind the scenes??

Point 2. I think this speaks for itself. Surely its playground tactics? Imagine you join your team to a prime location and the team leader tells the person in charge of the premises, 'Dont have these guys cos they do this and that and this and that'.
This will only lead to that group shooting themselves in the foot eventually as the team that does little but slag people off. Not only that, slagging off other groups can be so very childish and unprofessional.
Ok, now some teams do have techniques that may cause for concern, but flag this up with that group directly. You will be helping them as well as the paranormal society and lets face it, due to recent TV revelations, it needs all the help it can get!

Point 3 I kinda covered above. Only in very extreme circumstances (health, safety, stupidity) should the warning signs be put out. But really make sure you know what that group is about before you even entertain giving that team a bad press.

Last point. Now RiPA are unlike most teams out there. The way they work, teach, learn and conduct investigations is not of the normal run-of-the-mill variety. RiPA are not a ghost hunting team, nor are they in it for profit. RiPA works in pyschology anomalistics with guidance from some big names in parapsychology. This makes RiPA instantly different from, lets say, the team known as 'A.N Other'.
While 'A.N.Other' have their ways to do things, maybe their specialist area is photography or filming etc, Let them do it.
Surely if the paranormal teams that have a chip on their shoulder swallow their pride and learn to get along with other groups, this could only help to find and discover what we are all trying to look for. The evidence of whether or not the paranormal exists, whatever subject of it it maybe.