GHOSTS
So a strange thing happened last night to my wife while I was at work. According to her she saw an apparition of a child in our bedroom. She described it as being nearly three feet tall, but, as with many entities, was transparent with only minor details. The ghost was bending down to look at something on our floor and when it rose it turned at looked at my wife. She was unsure of what she was seeing at first, as she had only just been stirred from sleep by our cat. So, naturally, she was skeptical at what she was seeing. But as the seconds ticked by she came to realize that what she saw was real. She left the room and didn't return to it for the rest of the night.
At 3am the phone rings at my work and it's my wife. She tells me about what just happened. I want to believe that she did, but at when I cannot witness it for myself I'm skeptical. I tried to assure her that everything was going to be okay, but she felt differently. She was saying that she was terribly cold and couldn't get warm. Now if you've paid any attention to any paranormal investigation seen on TV investigators will experience cold spots. These cold spots are said to be an entity gathering energy from the surrounding space to manifest itself. I tired to assure her that everything was going to be okay, but she wouldn't believe it.
Needing further answers she wanted to call my mom. At 3 In The Morning! I quickly shot that down. Still, she insisted on talking to someone. So she turned to the only paranormal group she knew of: TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society). If you don't watch the SyFy channel, this group is out of New England who has gained a large following, and has "family" societies across the U.S. Minutes later an email is sent to their main office and a copy is sent to a local chapter in Rockville.
This was her night. I don't know what to make of it, but I don't think she has anything to worry about. However, it does make me want to try my own investigation. All I need is a digital recorder and a video camera. Anyone interested in forming a paranormal team?
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Episode XIII
2012 SUMMER OLYMPICS
Okay, so I know this event has now been a few days removed, I thought I'd give my two cents on what I thought of this event.
The first thing I would like to address is the event list. This year both baseball and softball were left off the docket. Why? Couldn't tell you, but I found it odd, regardless. Was it perhaps because the there are only four or five countries that take these sports seriously? Or was it because these four or five countries were the only ones who wanted to participate? In either case I can understand the IOC's decision to not have these sports included in the Olympics. Where's the thrill if only the same teams keep making the gold medal round? Sure there might be some variation from Olympiad to Olympiad, but the result is still the same: the lesser countries slowly drop out, until there's no choice but to drop the event.
However, if it's because of the players, then basketball should be the next sport to go from the summer games. In recent games, except 2008, the USA has dominated both the men's and women's divisions. With the NBA and WNBA being world-wide (just like the MLB), the competition on these levels is above what I believe the Olympics to be about. To me, the Olympics is about presenting sports that are NOT multi-billion dollar money makers. If this were the case then there should be American football and Rugby included in these world games.
This leads to my second thought: with baseball/softball and basketball both out of the Summer Games, then perhaps we could start seeing other events on prime time. Swimming, Gymnastics and Track & Field are getting the majority of the night time air. But, according to recent tracking, Archery increase viewership along with Volleyball (both beach and court) and Diving. These, plus many other sports need to get some of the lime light, rather than just a quick recap during prime time.
I would like to see all the martial arts and rifle matches get air time. Not that more well known sports don't shouldn't be shown during prime time, but how are other sports supposed to get support. Unless you know about the sport, or can catch it on some alternate channel, you many never know it exists. Like myself, I only get the main news channels, so NBC Sports, Universal NBC, etc. are all inaccessible to me, which means I cannot even watch these other sports online. So airing these lesser sports during the night would, at least to me, be exciting.
Not that I didn't enjoy this year's Summer Games, but after the first week I watched less and less of the Olympics. Perhaps this was because of what was aired and when, but I believe it to be due to the schedule of events. Track & Field can be exciting, but was just never my thing. The same goes with basketball. I feel that if they had offered some other sports I might have maintained interest in the games throughout its two week run. Maybe the games need to be expanding to a three or four week run. Sure the athletes may sit around longer, but maybe this would give the audience a chance to see more, rather than crunching it all down into a two week segment.
I'm glad to see that the US once again finished as one for the top five in the medal count. It goes to show how dedicated we are to our sports. Of course we have more funding than smaller countries, but that's beside the point! However, it would be cool to see that nearly ever country be able to fund equal size delegations. While I know this is not possible, but if it were, we would get a serious Olympic event.
I cannot wait until 2016 when the Olympics get to Rio, it should be exciting. But that will have to wait, as we have the 21014 Winter Games coming to Sochi, Russia.
As my mother-in-law once said, "I only wish the games were longer."
Okay, so I know this event has now been a few days removed, I thought I'd give my two cents on what I thought of this event.
The first thing I would like to address is the event list. This year both baseball and softball were left off the docket. Why? Couldn't tell you, but I found it odd, regardless. Was it perhaps because the there are only four or five countries that take these sports seriously? Or was it because these four or five countries were the only ones who wanted to participate? In either case I can understand the IOC's decision to not have these sports included in the Olympics. Where's the thrill if only the same teams keep making the gold medal round? Sure there might be some variation from Olympiad to Olympiad, but the result is still the same: the lesser countries slowly drop out, until there's no choice but to drop the event.
However, if it's because of the players, then basketball should be the next sport to go from the summer games. In recent games, except 2008, the USA has dominated both the men's and women's divisions. With the NBA and WNBA being world-wide (just like the MLB), the competition on these levels is above what I believe the Olympics to be about. To me, the Olympics is about presenting sports that are NOT multi-billion dollar money makers. If this were the case then there should be American football and Rugby included in these world games.
This leads to my second thought: with baseball/softball and basketball both out of the Summer Games, then perhaps we could start seeing other events on prime time. Swimming, Gymnastics and Track & Field are getting the majority of the night time air. But, according to recent tracking, Archery increase viewership along with Volleyball (both beach and court) and Diving. These, plus many other sports need to get some of the lime light, rather than just a quick recap during prime time.
I would like to see all the martial arts and rifle matches get air time. Not that more well known sports don't shouldn't be shown during prime time, but how are other sports supposed to get support. Unless you know about the sport, or can catch it on some alternate channel, you many never know it exists. Like myself, I only get the main news channels, so NBC Sports, Universal NBC, etc. are all inaccessible to me, which means I cannot even watch these other sports online. So airing these lesser sports during the night would, at least to me, be exciting.
Not that I didn't enjoy this year's Summer Games, but after the first week I watched less and less of the Olympics. Perhaps this was because of what was aired and when, but I believe it to be due to the schedule of events. Track & Field can be exciting, but was just never my thing. The same goes with basketball. I feel that if they had offered some other sports I might have maintained interest in the games throughout its two week run. Maybe the games need to be expanding to a three or four week run. Sure the athletes may sit around longer, but maybe this would give the audience a chance to see more, rather than crunching it all down into a two week segment.
I'm glad to see that the US once again finished as one for the top five in the medal count. It goes to show how dedicated we are to our sports. Of course we have more funding than smaller countries, but that's beside the point! However, it would be cool to see that nearly ever country be able to fund equal size delegations. While I know this is not possible, but if it were, we would get a serious Olympic event.
I cannot wait until 2016 when the Olympics get to Rio, it should be exciting. But that will have to wait, as we have the 21014 Winter Games coming to Sochi, Russia.
As my mother-in-law once said, "I only wish the games were longer."
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Episode XII
Minor Rant - iTunes
Okay. I'll admit this first: when it comes to technology I am behind on the times. Not that I'm years behind, but one of things I've only just got around to using has been around for a while now. And that is iTunes.
I rarely, if ever, used this program to run music, movies, etc. The ONLY reason why I just started using it was because I listen to podcasts while at work. While the websites are blocked on our internet, iTunes is not, so I must resort to this program to enjoy these tunes.
My rant about this program comes from my lack of experience using it, so please save the bashing for later.
iTunes has a nice function of allowing its user to easily find pretty much any music or movie with a simple search function. I knew this was there due to my occasional use of the program, but I didn't know its depth. So when I went to search for one of the podcasts I was stunned to see numerous hits on the name. But thankfully iTunes has a quick search option for podcasts alone, and allowed me to find what I was looking for quickly.
Where my problem lies is in this:
Once I finally found the episode I was looking for I'd start listening to it. But when I'd click on something to see other aspects of iTunes the episode would stop playing. Which means I had to go back and find the file again to get it to play. What kind of crap is that?! Plus, there is no pause button for this episode, which means every time I started over, I had to listen to everything over again. very frustrating.
When I click on something to play, it should play. Period. Just because I navigate to other parts of iTunes doesn't mean I want to stop listening to whatever. Keep playing. If I wanted to listen to something else, I'll let you know.
Again, I am a novice at using iTunes so if you have any helpful hints on how to use it, please let me know.
I did, by mistake, find out that I could download all the show's episodes, so I am doing that now. But I really didn't want to. However, I thought if I did, I might have an easier time listening to this show.
Okay. I'll admit this first: when it comes to technology I am behind on the times. Not that I'm years behind, but one of things I've only just got around to using has been around for a while now. And that is iTunes.
I rarely, if ever, used this program to run music, movies, etc. The ONLY reason why I just started using it was because I listen to podcasts while at work. While the websites are blocked on our internet, iTunes is not, so I must resort to this program to enjoy these tunes.
My rant about this program comes from my lack of experience using it, so please save the bashing for later.
iTunes has a nice function of allowing its user to easily find pretty much any music or movie with a simple search function. I knew this was there due to my occasional use of the program, but I didn't know its depth. So when I went to search for one of the podcasts I was stunned to see numerous hits on the name. But thankfully iTunes has a quick search option for podcasts alone, and allowed me to find what I was looking for quickly.
Where my problem lies is in this:
Once I finally found the episode I was looking for I'd start listening to it. But when I'd click on something to see other aspects of iTunes the episode would stop playing. Which means I had to go back and find the file again to get it to play. What kind of crap is that?! Plus, there is no pause button for this episode, which means every time I started over, I had to listen to everything over again. very frustrating.
When I click on something to play, it should play. Period. Just because I navigate to other parts of iTunes doesn't mean I want to stop listening to whatever. Keep playing. If I wanted to listen to something else, I'll let you know.
Again, I am a novice at using iTunes so if you have any helpful hints on how to use it, please let me know.
I did, by mistake, find out that I could download all the show's episodes, so I am doing that now. But I really didn't want to. However, I thought if I did, I might have an easier time listening to this show.
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