Why ghosts get 'spooked' by HD cameras

"Paranormal Activity 3," the latest in a series of successful low-budget horror films about amateur ghost hunters, opens on Friday. The first film, released in 2007, was a surprise indie hit around the world.

The films are shot in a "found footage" style, in which the audience is treated to footage supposedly taken in real life from home videos and security cameras. This technique, often involving handheld cameras and actors talking to the camera operator, has been around for years but was widely popularized in the 1999 film "The Blair Witch Project."

The grainy, low-budget look of the films is no accident; it was done partly because the films actually are low-budget, and partly for added "realism." The fact that the low-quality picture skips and jitters adds to the suspense, and Horror Filmmaking 101 teaches that a dark, partly obscured monster is much scarier than one that's seen clearly in bright light.

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   4. Why ghosts get 'spooked' by HD cameras

It's been an effective technique in the first two films, scaring up hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. And it's also true in real-life ghost hunting: Virtually all of the "evidence" for ghosts appears in the form of brief, ambiguous anomalies recorded with low-quality cameras (or good-quality cameras sabotaged by low-light conditions).

People have long reported weird, ghostly and paranormal activity, but perhaps the biggest mystery is why the evidence ? especially the photographic evidence ? hasn't improved. Are ghosts afraid of high-definition cameras?

Review: 'Paranormal Activity 3' is pretty scary

The idea that amateur ghost hunters wandering in the dark with crummy video cameras are going to uncover genuine evidence of a spirit realm unknown to science seems absurd. Nonetheless, the SyFy show "Ghost Hunters" has been wildly popular for years ? it was recently picked up for an eighth season ? despite the fact that the team has never found scientific evidence for ghosts.

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The show is, of course, entertainment television instead of real investigation, but what about the hundreds of amateur ghost-hunting groups around the world inspired by the show?

If ghosts exist, you would expect the photographic and video evidence for them should improve dramatically as more and more people look for them with better and better equipment.

There are more people actively trying to document paranormal activity than ever. And, thanks to smartphones, at no time in history have so many people had high-quality cameras on hand virtually all the time.

Today there's no excuse for anyone to capture grainy photos or video images of anything, whether it's your aunt in a horrid floral hat, Bigfoot in the woods, or paranormal activity in your hallway. And yet that is so often the quality of the footage that makes the rounds on the internet. [ Mythical Creatures: Beasts That Don't Really Exist (or Do They?) ]

Last weekend, Apple sold 4 million iPhone 4S units, each of them equipped with a built-in high definition 1080p camera featuring state-of-the-art optics, image stabilization, automatic lighting adjustment and other features that rival cameras used by Hollywood videographers only a few years ago. Perhaps one of those iPhone users will finally record some clear evidence of ghosts.

High definition provides more image information, which helps identify things often mistaken for ghosts, such as random shadows, unnoticed reflections and video artifacts. With those ghost impostors more easily dismissed, any real ghostly images should be sharper and clearer than ever before.

The age of amateurs posting questionable video evidence of the paranormal should be coming to an end. Professional ghost hunters, however, might well continue using cameras that produce low-quality images. After all, that's where the ghosts appear.

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44991420/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Iraq war over, US troops coming home, Obama says (AP)

WASHINGTON ? America's long and deeply unpopular war in Iraq will be over by year's end and all U.S. troops ""will definitely be home for the holidays," President Barack Obama declared Friday.

Stretching more than eight years, the war cost the United States heavily: More than 4,400 members of the military have been killed, and more than 32,000 have been wounded.

The final exit date was sealed after months of intensive talks between Washington and Baghdad failed to reach agreement on conditions for leaving several thousand U.S. troops in Iraq as a training force. The U.S. also had been interested in keeping a small force to help the Iraqis deal with possible Iranian meddling.

The task now is to speed the pullout of the remaining U.S. forces, nearly 40,000 in number.

Staying behind in Iraq, where bombings and other violence still occur, will be some 150-200 U.S. military troops as part of embassy security, the defense attache's office and the office of security cooperation. That's common practice but still a danger to American forces.

Obama, an opponent of the war since before he took office, nevertheless praised the efforts of U.S. troops in Iraq. He said American soldiers would leave "with their heads held high, proud of their success."

For Obama, Friday's announcement capped a remarkable two days of national security successes, though there's no indication how much they will matter to re-election voters more concerned with economic woes at home.

On Thursday, the president heralded the death of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and a day later the end to one of the most divisive conflicts in U.S. history.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost the U.S. more than $1.3 trillion.

Obama did not declare victory.

He did speak, though, about the string of wins on his watch ? none bigger than the killing of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader behind the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The Afghanistan war still rages, but there, too, Obama has moved to end the combat mission by the end of 2014.

This was, in essence, the third time Obama had pronounced an end to the war, allowing him to remind the nation he had opposed it all along ? a stance that helped his White House bid in 2008.

Shortly after taking office, Obama declared in February 2009 that the combat mission in Iraq would end by Aug. 31, 2010. And when that milestone arrived, he said it was "time to turn the page" on Iraq and put the focus back on building up the United States. On Friday, he said: "After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over."

The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was launched in March of 2003 after reports, later discredited, that the country was developing weapons of mass destruction. By early April, American Marines were helping Iraqis pull down a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. Saddam was captured in December of that year and executed in 2006, but the war dragged on.

The ending was set in motion before Obama took office. In 2008, President George W. Bush approved a deal calling for all U.S. forces to withdraw by Dec. 31, 2011.

At issue was whether that deal would be renegotiated to keep thousands of U.S. forces in Iraq. The Obama administration and Iraqi government spent months debating whether the United States would keep troops to maintain a training force, to provide added stability in a country where spectacular attacks still occur, and to serve as a hedge against Iran.

Throughout the talks, Iraqi leaders refused to give U.S. troops immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts, and the Americans refused to stay without that guarantee.

Obama never mentioned that issue on Friday.

He said that after speaking with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, both were in agreement on how to move forward. Obama said the two nations will now deal with each other in the normal fashion of sovereign countries and will keep open the idea of how the United States might help train and equip Iraqi forces.

"Over the next two months, our troops in Iraq, tens of thousands of them, will pack up their gear and board convoys for the journey home," Obama said. "The last American soldier will cross the border out of Iraq with their heads held high, proud of their success, and knowing the American people stand united in our support for our troops."

The Associated Press first reported last week that the United States would not keep troops in Iraq past the year-end withdrawal deadline, except for some soldiers attached to the U.S. Embassy.

"Both countries achieved their goals," said Iraqi government spokesman, Ali al-Moussawi. "Iraq wanted full sovereignty while the United States wanted its soldiers back home, and both goals are achieved."

In addition to remaining military forces, Denis McDonough, White House deputy national security adviser, said the U.S. will have 4,000 to 5,000 contractors to provide security for American diplomats.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the United States will now "turn our full attention to pursuing a long-term strategic partnership with Iraq based on mutual interests and mutual respect." He said the goal is to establish a relationship with Iraq similar to other countries in the region.

"Iraq is a sovereign nation that must determine how to secure its own future," Panetta said.

Obama's announcement was applauded by congressional Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who called it "the right decision at the right time."

Republicans were more skeptical. Many praised the gains made in Iraq and gave Obama at least partial credit but expressed concern that getting troops out would bring that progress into question.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he feared that "all we have worked for, fought for and sacrificed for is very much in jeopardy by today's announcement. I hope I am wrong and the president is right, but I fear this decision has set in motion events that will come back to haunt our country."

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney accused Obama of an "astonishing failure" to secure an orderly transition in Iraq, and said, "The unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government."

The U.S. said repeatedly this year it would entertain an offer from the Iraqis to have a small force stay behind, and the Iraqis said they would like American military help. But as the year wore on and the number of American troops that Washington was suggesting could stay behind dropped, it became increasingly clear that a U.S. troop presence was not a sure thing.

The issue of legal protection for the Americans was the deal-breaker.

But administration officials said they feel confident that Iraqi security forces are well prepared to take the lead in their country.

McDonough said that one assessment after another of the preparedness of Iraqi forces concluded that "these guys are ready; these guys are capable; these guys are proven; importantly, they're proven because they've been tested in a lot of the kinds of threats that they're going to see going forward."

The president used the war statement to once again turn attention back to the economy, the domestic concern that is expected to determine whether he wins re-election.

"After a decade of war," he said, "the nation that we need to build and the nation that we will build is our own."

__

Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad and Jim Kuhnhenn, Erica Werner and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111022/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_us_iraq

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Turkey: 49 Kurdish rebels killed in fighting

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) ? Turkish troops have killed at least 49 Kurdish rebels in a valley near the Iraqi border, the military said Saturday, as hundreds of troops also pursued Kurdish fighters within northern Iraq.

The rebels were killed in offensives in the past two days in the Kazan Valley region, near the town of Cukurca that borders Iraq, the military said in a statement posted on its website. There was no confirmation of the deaths from the rebel group.

On Wednesday, Turkey launched anti-rebel offensives involving around 10,000 troops both in southeastern Turkey and across the border in Iraq. The military operations began hours after 24 soldiers were killed in Cukurca by the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in the deadliest one-day toll against the military since the 1990s.

Turkey's conflict with the Kurdish rebels has killed tens of thousands of people since the insurgents took up arms to fight for autonomy in the country's Kurdish-dominated southeast in 1984.

The military said it recovered the bodies of 35 rebels at the valley after it struck the area with artillery shells and airstrikes on Saturday. Seven other bodies were found inside a cave while seven more rebels were killed in separate clashes in the region.

"Operations launched in a few regions across the border and in two regions inside Turkey are continuing," the military statement said, adding they were aimed at "preventing acts by members of the separatist terror organization against our units."

On Friday, the military said air and ground offensives were mostly concentrated within Turkey, in Cukurca, while operations were also under way "in a few areas" in northern Iraq.

The military has not revealed the number of soldiers that have crossed into Iraq. But the Haber Turk newspaper reported Saturday that 1,500 elite troops were involved in the ground operation against rebel hideouts in northern Iraq. The Vatan newspaper put the figure at 2,000.

The Turkish troops had penetrated three miles (five kilometers) into Iraqi territory, Haber Turk said, while military helicopters were ferrying elite troops in and out of other areas for "spot operations" against PKK rebels. Warplanes and drones were providing air support for the gunbattles.

The paper said the offensive was targeting seven suspected PKK bases along the border, where about 2,000 rebels are believed to be hiding.

The military said the operation includes commandos, special forces and paramilitary special forces ? elite forces trained in guerrilla warfare. They are being reinforced by F-16 and F-4 warplanes, Super Cobra helicopter gunships and surveillance drones.

The Kurdish rebels meanwhile, said seven of their fighters, including three senior operatives, were killed in Turkish air raids in northern Iraq on Oct. 10 and vowed revenge.

Turkey has launched more than two dozen air and ground incursions into northern Iraq over the 27 years of the insurgency, with mixed results. The rebels have returned to positions along the border soon after the troops have withdrawn. The current offensive was the largest attack on the insurgents in more than three years.

Turkey is seeking the cooperation of Iraqi Kurds, who control an autonomous region in northern Iraq, and of Iran for the latest offensive.

Hurriyet newspaper reported Saturday that Iraqi Kurdish security forces, the Peshmerga, were helping Turkish troops by providing intelligence.

Iraqi leaders have condemned the rebel attacks and promised to stop the PKK from using Iraqi territory for future attacks against Turkey. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said both Baghdad and the regional Kurdish government in northern Iraq "are committed to securing the borders."

On Friday, Turkey and Iran vowed to collaborate against the PKK and its Iranian wing, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, or PJAK, during a visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi. The PKK and PJAK have both been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in their respective countries and both are labeled as terrorist organizations by the United States.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-10-22-EU-Turkey-Kurds/id-b27f0ebdd333481d9b16338d4a6a97c5

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CSN: Buchholz calls collapse 'most unbelievable' thing he's seen

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October 20, 2011, 4:02 pm

Count Clay Buchholz among those Red Sox who have apologized for drinking in the clubhouse but think the story is being blown out of proportion.

Buchholz joined the Mut and Merloni program on WEEI Thursday to discuss his team's September collapse, as well as the not-so-complimentary reports now surfacing about him and his teammates.

"Yeah, it did [happen]," said Buchholz about the drinking in the clubhouse. "It wasn't to the extent that it's being told right now. The whole chicken thing, it wasn't like the guys were sitting in there saying 'We're going to order chicken today.' It was, we'd come upstairs, there would be chicken on the table and it happened maybe three times this season. The whole beer thing, it was more of a rally-beer thing.

"And yeah, it might not have been right, but I feel like there have been other teams in baseball that have gone through stuff like that. Not to say it wasn't a big deal, because it was a mistake, grown men shouldn't be making those decisions like that during a baseball game, but like I said before, you've got to live with what you've done and learn from it. I'm sure it's not going to happen again because it's a lot bigger right now than everybody ever thought it would be."

When asked if he had ever seen beer in the dugout, Buchholz responded, "No. Never. Never."

Buchholz called the team's collapse "the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen." In fact, he's still not quite sure how it happened. He said the entire team expected to just show up and win every night.

"I just think the big problem this year was everybody on the team knew how good we were on paper, the best in baseball in the last 10 years or whatever," Buchholz said. "Even me, [in September] I'd say 'My God, how are we losing these games?' We expected to go out on the field and win. It wasn't happening and no one knew what to do."

"Shock" was the word Buchholz used to describe how it felt to see Terry Francona go, and he hopes there aren't too many changes to the team's pitching staff next season. He praised Josh Beckett, a player he looks up to, as being the team's best pitcher.

"If anything, I think Josh Beckett was different in a good way this year," Buchholz said. "He's one of the guys that I've always looked up to regardless of the situation was, he's got that killer mentality of going out and winning a game . . . He's one of the hardest workers. I mean, I'm not saying this because he's my teammate and I'm trying to cover anybody's butt, but he was in the clubhouse everyday early, got his work done, ran and did all his stuff. He was the best pitcher on our team this year. I didn't see anything different [from Beckett]."

But what about Beckett's visible weight-gain, Clay?

"Gaining weight is gaining weight," Buchholz said. "You still have to go out there and perform. That's just the way it is. If this game were easy, there would be more than 750 guys out there doing it. He still went out there and did his job, gave us a chance to win a game every time he went out there. That's all you can ask for from a starting pitcher."

Buchholz also said he thinks John Lackey can turn things around after his poor season.

"I hope he's back," Buchholz said. "I think he's gonna turn it around. I think he was pitching with a lot of stuff. He was hurting a bit, there was some stuff internally with him and everybody else."

The pitching staff's demise was seen by many as the team's reason for falling apart, but now, even though pitching coach Curt Young is rumored to be headed back to Oakland, Buchholz wouldn't throw Young under the bus. He did intimate that it was a much different environment with Young around compared to when John Farrell was in Boston as the pitching coach.

"It was a different personality," Buchholz said of Young. "Curt's a really laid back guy. I have nothing bad to say about Curt. He talked to me about whatever I needed to talk about. Curt is laid back. John, with John it was, I don't wanna talk to him unless I have to because I'm scared of him.

"John was more of an intense guy, a straight shooter," Buchholz added. "I dont think anybody took advantage of [Young]. They were two different coaches. Hard to compare guys that are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum . . . Everyone knew what their job was as starters. no one was gonna go out there and say 'Wow, I'm not gonna win this game.' Everybody knows what their job is, one person coming in isn't going to make you change how you're doing your job."

Despite the reports and despite the perceived disconnect in the Red Sox clubhouse, Buchholz thinks the Red Sox will be fine when they return for spring training in 2012.

"On paper this team is really good," he said. "We just gotta get our priorities right and move forward. This is one of the best teams in baseball regardless of what happens . . . Everyone's going to come into camp a little bit more ready to do what we need to do."

Source: http://www.csnne.com/baseball-boston-redsox/news/Buchholz-Collapse-most-amazing-thing-hes?blockID=580480&feedID=3352

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Think Finance Debuts Consumer Electronics Retail Site For The ...

Leena Rao currently works as a writer for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney?s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was... ? Learn More

Think Finance, a company that helps serve the banking needs of the ?unbanked?, is unveiling Presta, a new consumer electronics retail site that gives customers the option to lease-purchase electronics.

Think Finance caters to the 60 million ?unbanked,? individuals in the U.S., which designate consumers who don?t have traditional bank accounts or cannot qualify for credit cards. The company says that 25% of Americans have FICO scores less than 600 and are facing dramatically reduced access to credit and banking services. Think Finance provides this population with pre-paid debit cards, online installment loans, financial literacy tools, and more. The company has served more than 1 million customers through its existing products.

Presta offers laptops, tablet computers, game consoles and more with a lease-purchase option, allowing customers to make fixed payments with a debit or credit card. Buyers can own products outright after making fixed payments for a year, or return them any time after three months with no penalty. Customers can even return products to upgrade to a newer model or pay off the lease-purchase agreement early at a discount.

In order to determine whether someone is qualified for a lease, Think Finance will take into account bank account history, how long a buyer has had an email account, income, and previous payment history. The site is debuting today in three states but will expand to 47 states in the U.S. in the first quarter

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/20/think-finance-debuts-consumer-electronics-retail-site-for-the-unbanked/

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Sex, Drugs, Chicago

Starz, the second-tier premium channel, is the home of the nimble catering comedy Party Down, the semi-ensorcelling nonsense of Camelot, and, of course, the Spartacus franchise, all hardcore peplum and softcore smut. They haven't been taking themselves too seriously over there. It's as if the chintziness of the z in the name set a certain tone. But after two years on the job, the company's CEO, Chris Albrecht, is ready to wow 'em. Before being fired by HBO, Albrecht greenlit and oversaw Oz, The Sopranos, and The Wire, among other televisual landmarks. Now comes his first Starz drama with artistic ambitionz.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=ea60c823834dbca22f5520c7c1f6fc58

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Yellen predicts stronger second half growth

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The No. 2 official on the Federal Reserve says economic growth will end "noticeably stronger" in the second half of this year, but she says the central bank still needs to keep its policy options open to provide more support to the economy if necessary.

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Janet Yellen said in a speech in Denver on Friday that oil and other commodity prices are falling and supply disruptions caused by Japan's natural disasters are easing. But she said the economy is still facing numerous problems.

Yellen said the central bank may need to consider more bond purchases to lower interest rates, but she said such an effort should be considered only if the economy required "significantly greater" help than the Fed is now providing.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-10-21-Fed-Yellen/id-819a4262fb7a4c2d9108187071242117

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