Reasonable explanation???

[Groucho]

Are you guys serious? Do you not see orbs floating around you? I have a devil of a time getting them out of my way before I take pictures.

I can understand that... just look at all the orbs that are floating in front of your face in your avatar picture. No wonder you carry such a huge lens case, that must be where you keep your ghostbusting orb-catcher.

 

[Metallicat]

Are you guys serious? Do you not see orbs floating around you? I have a devil of a time getting them out of my way before I take pictures.

Careful not to swat at them. they could be your Aunt Edna you know.

 

[PixieDust32]

Dust

 

[PixieDust32]

When the orbs resemble an old fisherman, and he looks you in the eye, from the room you stayed in... then you can contemplate, without fear of judgment.

that is a crop from this photo, (second floor - second window from the left)

but the photo of separate orbs over each child is also intriguing.

You see what you brain is telling you to see, I didn't see anything until I read you and then I looked for that on the image.

 

[Metallicat]

There are millions of photos taken of millions of subjects each day... it's inevitable that we'll see some that look odd at first glance. That particular example shows one coincidence in one window of one building. Is that enough to throw out everything we know about science? And why a big fisherman head, instead of orbs?

One thing that is talked about in the book is the way humans recognize patterns, it's one of our major skills. And recognizing faces is a particularly strong talent that's ingrained into us from the moment of birth. Put two dots over a line and that's enough to make us think we see a face in almost any circumstance. Just ask any child how easily everyday objects can look like faces or bodies once the lights go out.

Another example... we all spent time as kids looking at all the recognizable patterns we see in clouds every day... yet we still know that they're just clouds.

I'm not trying to judge anyone or say that this is a matter of intelligence, because it's not... but it is a matter of critical thinking.

I agree.
I know on my bathroom floor I see an image that looks just like Abraham Lincoln except he has the back end of a donkey and is blowing smoke out of his mouth. I really should take a picture of it.

 

[AndrewWG]

I agree.
I know on my bathroom floor I see an image that looks just like Abraham Lincoln except he has the back end of a donkey and is blowing smoke out of his mouth. I really should take a picture of it.

Well, at least he is not blowing smoke out of his ...... um....... donkey!

ps. I will refrain from telling anyone what an orb is or isn't in a photo. I have a good friend who believes they are spirits, but personally, I'm not so sure about that. I am much more of a "prove it to me" type of person I suppose.

 

[Experiment_626]

Dust. Every single photo I've seen which includes them was taken in a place likely to have dust flying around -- and a light source at something close to the level of the lens. Most of the time that source is on-camera flash, but I've also seen them in outdoor daytime shots where the sun was low in the sky.

Why would a spirit be visible to a digital camera sensor but not to us? They're less sensitive than our eyes ...

SSB

 

[Groucho]

I agree.
I know on my bathroom floor I see an image that looks just like Abraham Lincoln except he has the back end of a donkey and is blowing smoke out of his mouth. I really should take a picture of it.

Another example: look how many times Disney fans see "hidden Mickeys" that aren't "real" hidden Mickeys, just coincidences. Or how often we see hidden Mickeys in the "real" world. Maybe Walt is haunting us all.

The burden of proof is on the spirit folks in this one. It's easy to prove that they're just dust. To claim otherwise is to make a pretty extraordinary claim, and it's up to that person to provide extraordinary evidence to support that claim.

Again... science would love to find out about such things. The idea that scientists are close-minded and not open to new ideas is a fallacy created by those whose ideas have been rejected.

Furthermore, anyone who could provide any proof of this (or of any supernatural talent or happening) is eligible to win a million dollars from James Randi... the money is real, the tests are fair and agreed to by the applicant, and nobody's ever even made it past a preliminary test. At the end of the day, dust is just dust.

Oh, and Mark - I think I found your Aunt Edna stuck to a DSLR sensor the other day. Do you want her back?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Critical thinking is extremely rare nowadays and a very necessary tool to help protect yourself from the cheats, liars, quacks, and nut jobs who are out there trying to sell you magic beans in exchange for your hard-earned money.

Groucho, surely you aren't saying that only people who believe that orbs aren't spirits are the only critical thinkers out there?

 

[Groucho]

Groucho, surely you aren't saying that only people who believe that orbs aren't spirits are the only critical thinkers out there?

Well, I think anyone who takes the time to think critically about things yet believes that they are something more than dust is giving them a free pass (a FastPass? ) in their mind. Probably because they want to believe even though they may know, deep in their heart, that they really have no rational reason to. There's just no reason to believe it otherwise.

Of the countless strange beliefs out there, this is one that is just so easily to explain, so easy to replicate, and so easy to understand. It's not a complex, difficult-to-grasp concept like modern medicine, evolution, global warming, why the twin towers weren't rigged to collapse, the law of conservation (ie, no perpetual motion machines ever), cold reading ("talking to the dead"), etc. There's also little money to be made off of "orbs" so there aren't too many charlatans putting out propaganda in an attempt to crowbar money out of your wallet.

(In case you couldn't tell, critical thinking is a topic I have pretty strong opinions on. I think most of the problems of this country, and indeed the world, are ones caused by a failure to think critically about things, and follow ideas that we want to be true, and not think about long-term ramifications.)

 

[Pea-n-Me]

So I'm guessing that starting a thread called Show Us: Ghost Photos would be a bad idea around here?

 

[JR6ooo4]

So I'm guessing that starting a thread called Show Us: Ghost Photos would be a bad idea around here?

Not at all, well partially. They go over much better on the community board. In fact, there is one started about every six months. THe one (which I can not find) from about a year ago had some really cool photos.

Mikeeee

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I know. I meant here on the PB.

 

[pjacobi]

You see what you brain is telling you to see, I didn't see anything until I read you and then I looked for that on the image.

Exactly!

Human brains are programmed to look for the most important thing - another human face. We're looking for all that non-verbal communication.

What does a new mother and baby do? They stare at each others face.

Even when we see a totally abstract patterns, our brain still trys to find something that looks like a face.


-Paul