I Hope You're Happy

From time to time I like ot look at the paranormal, because it is a politically neutral subject that has parallels with politics. I like to take skeptical looks at things, but find a new perspective. To this end, I’d like to look at Spring Heeled Jack.

Spring Heeled Jack is an unsolved phenomena originating in 19th century England. Here is the first bits of the wikipedia article on him:

Spring Heeled Jack (also Springheel Jack, Spring-heel Jack, etc), is a character from English folklore said to have existed during the Victorian era and able to jump extraordinarily high. The first claimed sighting of Spring Heeled Jack that is known occurred in 1837.^[1] Later alleged sightings were reported all over England, from London up to Sheffield and Liverpool, but they were especially prevalent in suburban London and later in the Midlands and Scotland.^[2]

Many theories have been proposed to ascertain the nature and identity of Spring Heeled Jack. The urban legend of Spring Heeled Jack gained immense popularity in its time due to the tales of his bizarre appearance and ability to make extraordinary leaps, to the point where he became the topic of several works of fiction.

Spring Heeled Jack was described by people claiming to have seen him as having a terrifying and frightful appearance, with diabolical physiognomy that included clawed hands and eyes that “resembled red balls of fire”. One report claimed that, beneath a black cloak, he wore a helmet and a tight-fitting white garment like an “oilskin“. Many stories also mention a “Devil-like” aspect. Spring Heeled Jack was said to be tall and thin, with the appearance of a gentleman, and capable of making great leaps. Several reports mention that he could breathe out blue and white flames and that he wore sharp metallic claws at his fingertips. At least two people claimed that he was able to speak comprehensible English.

Now, such a creature surely didn’t exist, and the technology for such aerial acrobatics didn’t exist until the invention of pogo stilts in the last couple years (I don’t have time to find a link on these, but they do exist). So what is the real reason behind this phenomena? There is an old rule that says when in doubt, the simplest explanation, however improbable, must be true.

The simple, improbable answer on this has never been explored: ninjas. Let’s look at this objectively. The 19th century was one of new wonders, and increased travel. Many people from the orient were making their first forays into the civilized society of Europe and England, and the population did not expect the cunning of ninjas. Their unsuspecting minds tried to fit the experience of seeing a ninja out on an evening stroll, jumping over the walls that stood in the direct path of their intended direction, and which were simply jumped over.The mold that their mind fit the sudden appearance of these unusual characters was the most recent fashion of literature: the gothic tale. The stories of Frankenstein, Dracula, Dorian Grey and others were just becoming fashionable in this time, and the public extended these new horrific tales to something mundane as ninjas.

I know that you’re doubting me on this, so let’s look at this a little deeper.

Let’s look at some of the finer points: We all know ninjas can make terrific leaps, so this aspect of the myth is obvious. Spring heeled jack had a terrifying appearance. Well, ninjas and Samurais were known to use masks for their battles to inspire fear into the hearts of their opponents. Breathing blue and white flames is easily explained. Ninjas have been known to employ such methods to mask their escape, and wouldn’t you do the same if you were suddenly confronted with an unexpected Londoner on your evening sabbatical? And Claws? I’ve seen Enter the Dragon, such weapons are common in ninja arsenals.

Now, you’ve probably realized by now that this post is dated April 1, and yes, it is a joke, but isn’t it interesting to see how arguments can easily be made to support a false hypothesis, with a little distraction of “the simplest explanation”?

Here’s one for the skeptics: The Doctor whose limited 12 person study on Vaccines and Autism has caused all of this trouble with people not getting vaccinated was found to have falsified his data. Andrew Wakefield reportedly ignored known facts and fabricated data in his study. The article doesn’t metion motive, but I suspect it was to be a big asshole.

Check it out.

11-15-08

In this episode:

Prop 8
Wind Turbine Syndrome
Slogging it Through the Conservative Blogosphere

Sign up:

(the link below doesn’t work for me, I don’t know why. Just get it from itunes. That works.–Johnny)

Here’s a new one: Wind Turbine Syndrome. Seems that people living near wind turbines are reporting symptoms of “sleep disturbance, headache, dizziness, vertigo, nausea and panic episodes “associated with sensations of internal pulsation or quivering which arise while awake or asleep,” according to Dr. Nina Pierpont. She has written a book about it called “Wind Turbine Syndrome” and subtitled “A Natural Experiment”. I’m not sure what makes an experiment natural or not. You can see its claims at windturbinesyndrome.com.

This just sounds fishy from the start, one of the usual new-technology-will-eat-your-children kinds of things, like microwave ovens, cell phones, and numerous others. On the other hand, it does seem in some ways plausible to me. The constant low hum is said to mess with the inner ear, and the inner ear is related to balance and disorders there can induce vertigo. The latter two claims are fairly well established in medicine, the former, not so much, so far as I know. I can’t say for sure. I know far more about sound than I do about the medical aspects of hearing. The visual aspects of huge wind turbines can cause some effects as well, if the shadows of the blades are constantly in your field of vision. Imagine the scene in the horror movie in the dark barn where the guy with the machete is about to jump from behind something. Isn’t it always lit solely by sunlight passing through the blades of a slow-moving fan? It’s used because it is very disorienting.

My understanding of the inner ear is that it is filled with fluid sort of like a carpenter’s level. When we change the angle of our head, the bubble moves to a different spot, and we perceive this as movement. When we spin, we get this fluid all in a tizzy, and this is the sensation of dizziness. Our visual senses also play into this, and tricking them can produce a similar experience, a fact exploited by those amusement park rides that have a big screen but don’t really go anywhere.

Sound is the action of air pressure changes as perceived by the ear. It comes in waves, what we sound engineers would consider pushes and pulls on a speaker. Think of the shape of a speaker. It is basically a bowl that collects the air in front of it, and pushes it outwards. It must then pull back before repeating the push. In the push air is actually more dense, and in the pull, less so. Humans hear roughly down to 20 hertz, or twenty of these cycles per second, though the ear drum is certainly pushed by lower. Volume is essentially a measure of the air pressure of the wave front. You’ve seen the Mythbusters where the candle gets blown out by the speaker, and they had to get a very low note to pull it off. The reason for this is that the front of the air movement blows the candle, and the less dense air behind the push isn’t enough to keep the candle lit.

Now imagine if you had a low rumble, ten hz or less, and you got a phasing issue, where when one ear is getting a push, and the other a pull. Disorienting. But also notice that the sound of mysterious hums often is reported as having similar effects on people as those claimed in this book. Many of these hums have been unprovable, but some have been tracked down satisfactorily to a particular source, some giant industrial fans in one town. When these were dealt with, the sounds went away and everybody lived happily ever after.

One other characteristic of low frequency noise is that it travels very far. Whales use low frequency to map out vast areas of ocean, as does Navy sonars.

So let’s right now call this plausible, but needing further study. The hypothesis is sound, if you pardon the pun. I also think these studies will eventually happen if the movement that follows this book is vocal enough.

The problem with this book is that it skipped this step and went directly to publication. I think it is obvious that with the recent focus on green power, the technologies are in the news. If you want to make a quick buck, sensationalizing the next big thing is a great way to go.

I’m not one to attack a doctor’s cred or anything like that. I’ll assume that Dr. Pierpont has more meaningful degrees and schooling in the subject than I, and I will leave the background check to other authorities. She has four peer reviews on the site by people that I will regard in the same way, credible until proven otherwise. The problem is on the website, the peer reviews are more like blurbs on a bestseller. They don’t convince me of the veracity of the book’s claims, only in its intent to make money.

In the end the real problem with the book, which I don’t have in my hands, and I admit am criticizing from afar, is that Dr. Pierpont has rushed to publish this in a book to peddle to the masses rather than seek funding and undertake the study herself. I’m sure it would be available. I’d start asking the manufacturers for study funds, after all, they would be liable if their product caused illness. The government could probably put some money to this as well, after all, wind power is certainly part of our future. Once this study is done, publish it in a peer-reviewed journal, not in your own book where you get to pick your own peers. If you survive this, then you publish the book and go on Oprah and all of that.

The rush to publish this book is problematic in that it isn’t just premature, it will give  never ending fuel to the fire of conspiracy theorists and whackadoos that insist that the wind turbine is ruining their lives, electromagnetic broadcasts are giving them brain cancer, and microwaves poison their food. This sort of alarmist writing is just bad science that will inevitably hinder the growth of clean power for no good reason.

For those of you who don’t know, Ogopogo is a cryptid that lives in Lake Okanagan in Canada. It is North America’s most famous equivalent of the Loch Ness Monster. Well, supposedly a baby has been found and caught, and the mother sighted. Of course, this was by a film crew shooting a pseudo documentary.

A local folklorist says that she has seen pictures and isn’t convinced. She thinks it is a decaying cod. They have sent it to a lab for analysis.

Of course, they may just be working on promoting their movie, or they might be onto a major find. As always, we’ll wait for the real story to unfold.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=5680c1d8-fa74-42fe-98b8-5a48872a713f