#skeptics

[leasthaunted]

Episode 109: Let's Get Kraken

In the most recent episode, Cody and Garth dive into the deep waters to talk about Kraken! And in Garth's corner, he covers the art of figureheads (the sculptures of the front of ships)!

Enjoy the images discussed in the episode below (trigger warning: the last two images are of dead animals, there's no blood or obvious signs of distress but y'all deserve a warning nonetheless)! And please come join the episode discussion on the Least Haunted Discord!

Sorry for the late post, I was hunting for a lake monster!

The book Cody read for the episode: Monsters of the Sea by Richard Ellis.

The Swine Whale (left) and possibly Kraken (right) Carta Marina map of Scandinavia (1539).

Illustration by Denys de Montfort. Historie naturelle des Mollusques (1802).

In 1861 the French ship Alecton recovered part of a Giant Squid, Achiteuthus. This event would inspire Jules Verne when writing 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

A Scandinavian grapnel anchor, aka Krake, made from the top of a spruce tree.

"The Kraken" in 1981's Clash of The Titans, although a feat of stop motion animation by Ray Harryhausen, NOT A KRAKEN.

The Mollusk album by Ween. The inspiration for SpongeBob SquarePants according to show creator, Stephen Hillenburg.

They Might Be Giants album Apollo 18 limited edition Zoetrope vinyl! Only 240 were ever made, Cody has #195 and Garth has #196.

GARTH'S CORNER, GARTH'S CORNER, GARTH'S FIGUREHEAD CORNER!

Here are some of the figureheads mentioned in Garth’s Corner. Special props to the YouTube Channel Baltic Empire for “Carved works and Figureheads: A History of Ship Decorations.” Garth also credits Chris Riley for his article “The History of Ship Figureheads.”

Here’s a carving of an elk’s head found in Säkkijärvi, Finland. It was made between 1750 and 1,500 BCE and is thought to have been attached to the front of a boat.

Some examples of Greek Ships with eyes.

The Oseberg Ship, a lavish ship that was buried in Norway some time in the 800s CE.

A model of the 80-gun Naseby (1655) showing Oliver Cromwell on a horse.

A mezzotint etching by Robert Sayer “Hercules as Ship's Figurehead” (1788).

A modern ship, Neptune, a replica of a 17th century Spanish galleon, originally built for the film "Pirates" (1986).

And finally, here’s an awkward mermaid Garth saw online. Not sure where he found it but here she is.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Trigger Warning Below ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dead Sperm Whale with squid scars on its skin.

Dying Architeuthis found in Toyama Bay, Japan 2015.

[pineapplerightsideupcake]

I feel like people that believe in ghosts/cryptids/supernatural stuff need to familiarize themselves with basic nature and science because a basic understanding of just about anything disproves this junk.

“I saw a huge furry create on two legs! It must have been Bigfoot!”

You saw a bear. It was a bear. The reason people all claim that Bigfoot stinks is because bears smell terrible. Bears often stand on their hind legs. Their footprints look vaguely humanoid. Bigfoot is just bears.

“I saw a creature that looked like some kind of emaciated and sickly deer with glowing eyes!!”

Your flashlight/headlights caught a sick deers eyes. You didn’t see a monster like a sick deer you just saw a sick deer.

“I heard screams of the undead from that field!”

Please google what animal sounds are in your area. Rabbits and foxes just to name a few make sounds that could easily be mistaken for human cries.

“My doors and windows shut by themselves! Wood creaks and I hear knocking/footsteps!”

You need to understand that houses shift and make sounds. Friction and moisture and air currents all change constantly. A window that stays shut when it’s humid may contract when it’s cooler and slam shut. AC vents may blow a door open. You’re hearing footsteps/knocking from impossible places because human ears are absolutely horrible at localizing sound.

“I saw something/a ghost/a demon in the shadows!”

Look up pareidolia.

“I saw a monster/ghost/demon right after I woke up!”

You experienced sleep paralysis

Like I am begging people to just learn about the world around them.

[tinfoil-hat-brigade]

I happened to run across a Twitter conversation last night about Harry and Meghan that just about made me vomit because it was exactly the same shit that’s been said by the haters about Benedict and Sophie over the last 9 years. It’s like they have templates where haters just swap out names. Meghan faked both pregnancies, Archie and Lillibet are rented children, they’re analyzing photos pixel by pixel to prove that they’ve been photoshopped, blah blah blah. 

The one tihng mentioned in the conversation that I saw before I just had to bail because it was so putrid is that Harry and Meghan bought a somewhat pricey bicycle for Archie from a local bike shop in Montecito. The shop’s owner spoke very positively about both of them, and apparently he’s now getting death threats. (Correction: The bike was actually a gift from the shop owner, which actually makes the fact that he’s getting death threats even more shitty, as if that were possible.)

Lunatic haters are everywhere. And their MO is always the same, driven by nothing more than jealousy, bitterness, erotomania, and in some prominent cases, mental illness.

I just want to add this: I live an hour north of Montecito, and I’ve heard or read absolutely nothing negative about Harry and Meghan. Not a single thing. Their privacy is respected, as it should be. Sorry if that busts the haters’ bubbles, but it’s the absolute truth.

[bandcampsnoop]

11/1/23.

John Halvorsen (Vorsen) was not part of the recent Bailter Space tour (Micah went to the SF show and said it was fantastic). But "A World On Fire" represents material from the early 1990s to the present. It definitely sounds like it was spawned from the sound of his three bands - The Gordons, Bailter Space and Skeptics. I would throw in Snapper as well.

But this really has an early to mid 1980s alternative sound too - think of The Chameleons UK, or early U2.

Leather Jacket Records is quickly earning a reputation as a label that brings us old New Zealand acts through reissues or new music. Halvorsen is from Wellington, New Zealand.

[blogparanormal]

https://ufostalker.com/

DOES 200,000+ UFO SIGHTINGS PROVE SKEPTICS WRONG?

211,873 allegedly seen so far world-wide have been reported. It appears most UFO sightings here are reporting what they have observed. There are very few obvious spoofers trolling making stuff up. There are also some very detailed UFO reports here too.

[bad-artist-non-historian]

don't get me wrong, I love Hellenistic philosophy and learning about it, but learning about a seemingly century-long debate (read: verbal brawl) between the stoics and the skeptics is exhausting, and reminds me of the free-for-all debates (read: arguments fueled entirely by feeling and yelling and not at all like fact) of Junior High & High School

[digiacom]

I know it's been pointed out a million times before me, but my gosh does it bear repeating.

REM pods, spirit boxes, and all the other tools and techniques for collecting ghost evidence are methods of manufacturing coincidences.

These tools (never used with controls of any kind, of course) are designed to create random-seeming phenomena (noises, phrases, and other "evidence"). Keep asking questions to set up the phenomena as a response, especially in a creepy spot with a story, and no matter what happens meaning can (and will!) be read into it. Bam, synchronicity galore.

My doodle dedicated to all the watchers out there - watching Ghost Files right now, which is enormously entertaining, in part because watching Shane put up with all the coincidence manufacture is fun as hell. Good work ghoul boys!

[miroslawmagola]

Science fiction isn't fiction any more.

Psychokinesis or telekinesis is a hypothetical psychic ability allowing a person to influence a physical system without physical interaction.

Prof. dr. Gerhard Ruhenstroth-Bauer invited Miroslaw Magola to the Biochemical Institute of the Max Planck Institute in Martinsried to take a closer look at the abilities and phenomena Mirosław Magola exhibits in broadcasts and TV shows. This video was filmed at the Max Planck Institute and you can see what Magola showed interested scientists and skeptics.

Prof. dr. Gerhard Ruhenstroth-Bauer a German biochemist and physician. He was a professor of experimental medicine at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. In addition, Ruhenstroth-Bauer was a scientific member of the Max Planck Society and from 1962 until his retirement in 1981 director at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried.

[benthejrporter]

QED Conference 2024

New HPANWO TV film: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2024/10/qed-conference-2024.html

[leasthaunted]

Episode 114: The Dark Watchers

From the coast of Big Sur, to the top of the second highest peak in The British Isles, Cody and Garth explore tales of giant shadow figures in the mist. What are The Dark Watchers? Who is The Big Gray Man? and What does a specter from Germany have to do with it? All of this and the opening of your third eye await in the latest episode of Least Haunted!

As always, please come join the episode discussion on the Least Haunted Discord!

[wawazaba]

🐸🗓️ october 13 - "international skeptics day"

[dec0mposing]

Tag Time!!!

I was tagged, yet again, by @sowhatifiliveinfukuoka, to share five songs I've been listening to. I can't be bother tagging anyone, so feel free to continue this on if you see it and wish to!

Terror Couple Kill Colonel - Bauhaus

AFFCO - Skeptics

Hamburger Lady - Throbbing Gristle

Shit Lunch - Pretty Dumb

Love In The Darkness - a.s.o

[sailermoon]

idk why ppl think megan is faking liking anime she was so right incels mad she’s a weeb and a baddie

[tinfoil-hat-brigade]

So I just saw the news about Benedict and Sophie’s home being broken into by a disturbed man with a knife....

First thought was oh thank god they’re all safe and no one was hurt.

Second thought was are Gator and Aeltri claiming it was a false flag in order to gain sympathy and are they also having a shit fit because the article mentioned that Benedict and Sophie have 3 children?

And fuck the haters for causing me to have that second thought.

[jribera777]

Never be afraid to answer questions from the skeptics. That's how you prove your beliefs to be true and the gainsayers won't be able to say much after that.