Consequential Strangers, by Melinda Blau and Karen Fingerman

This book is off-topic, but it's so interesting that I thought I'd share it.

There's an old saying, "I shall only pass this way but once, so any little good I can do, let me do it now, for I shall only pass this way but once."

We pass strangers every day - each one of them has their own problems and preoccupations. A smile from you might change their life - so might a frown or a casual insult (such as sneering at their weight, or something of that nature.)

It costs nothing to give someone a friendly smile, and you never know what it might accomplish as the stranger at whom you smile goes on to struggle through his or her day.

Consequential Strangers: The Power of People who Don't Seem to Matter, but Really Do, by Melinda Blau and Karen Fingerman
W W Norton and Co, 2009
219 pages, plus Appendices, notes and index. No photos
Library: 155.927 BLA

Description
They punctuate our days, but we take them for granted: our barista, our car mechanic, a coworker, a fellow dog lover. Yet these are the consequential strangers who bring novelty and information into our lives, allow us to exercise different parts of ourselves, and open us up to new opportunities. They keep us healthy and are invaluable when we're sick. They fuel innovation and social movements. And they are vital in times of uncertainty.

In their unprecedented examination of "people who don't seem to matter," psychologist Karen L. Fingerman, who coined the term "consequential strangers" collaborates with journalist Melinda Blau to develop an idea sparked by Fingerman's groundbreaking research. Drawing as well from Blau's more than two hundred interviews with specialists in psychology, sociology, marketing, and communication, this book presents compelling stories of individuals and institiutions, past and present.

A rich portrait of our social landscape-on and off the internet-it presents the science of casual connection and chronicles the surprising impact that consequential strangers have on business, creativity, the work environment, our physical and mental health, and the strength of our communities.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction - The Birth of a Notion
1. The Ascendance of Consequential Strangers
2. The View From Above
3. Beyond the Confines of the Familiar
4. Good for What Ails Us
5. Being Spaces
6. The Downside
7. The Future of Consequential Strangers
Epilogue: The Postscript is Personal
Appendix I: 20 Questions
Appendix II: The Occupation Test
Notes
Index

Book Review: ‘Aliens Above, Ghosts Below’ – Dr. Barry Taff

GhostTheory: Book Review: ‘Aliens Above, Ghosts Below’ – Dr. Barry Taff
Simplicity. Simplicity is what makes for a good horror movie. There isn’t any need for elaborate plots, or million dollar special effects. No. Just a basic story, with ordinary characters and terrifying scenes in where most of the fear is left to the imagination of the audience. Do you remember reading “The Amityville Horror” or “The Exorcist”? The books were written with such simplicity and realness to them, that fear gripped you by subtle details.

When it comes to the parapsychology, it’s the cases that are the most subtle and well witnessed that send shivers down my spine. Most of the new school ghost hunting shows are painfully dull. They repeat the same pointless types of investigations which requires them to run around in the dark with thermometers and flashlights, scaring each other. Then we have the old school “ghost hunters” (if we can call them that). These are the guys that put a lot of effort into investigations. Analytical investigation through science, as we understand it, and through psychology, is what they were all about. Cases weren’t solved in a 1-2 day time frame. In fact, I don’t believe them to be ever “solved”. The paranormal activity just dissipated. These were the men and women that used logic, reasoning and common sense into every investigation they headed.

Through the decades, one man has had one foot squarely planted on science, while the other foot explored the unlimited possibilities of the paranormal.

Dr. Barry Taff has seen it all. From his meticulous work as a young researcher for UCLA’s parapsychology lab in the 70s, to his most famous cases which propelled his status as one of the greatest in the annals of the paranormal. Dr. Barry Taff has always focused on understanding the phenomena that many mainstream scientists deny or belittle. With decades of experience, Dr. Taff now finds the time to reflect back through all the crazy years and crazy things his research took him to. Still, keeping his firm stand on science, Dr. Taff explains his encounters with the unknown in his new book titled “Aliens Above, Ghosts Below“.

The book is riddled with stories of apparitions, hauntings, aliens and science. It’s an incredible read for the skeptics, as well as the believers. From the subtle cases involving “ghost cats” to Dr. Taff’s topsy-turvy ride through the dating world (which his take on the subject is quite amusing); the book is as chilling as it is entertaining. “Aliens Above, Ghosts Below” is one of those books that you have to put down. Not because it’s bad, but because you need to turn on the lights to keep from being freaked out.

I do most of my readings late at night, due to my busy schedule. So when I was reading through Dr. Taff’s version of the “San Pedro haunting” and “The Entity“, I felt chills going down my spine. Enough for me to turn on more lights. Those are two of his most famous cases. One of which spawned a movie. Now, I know those cases back and forth because I’ve been interested in the research that was done. Meticulous scientific studies, and well documented witnessing of the paranormal phenomena by scientists and others. But what really creeped me out where the stories of ghostly apparitions that were reported by families throughout the L.A. area. The stories of those who reported UFOs or aliens and then weeks later disappear from the face of the earth, never to be found, even decades after…those types of stories freak me out, and that’s what the book is filled with.

The book is written in such way that Dr. Taff starts with some of the basic cases and research that he’s done, and then takes you to some of the most unbelievable explanations to the paranormal and even how we, as humans, can begin to understand what really is out there. Holographic brains, time traveling and even theoretical physics is how the book concludes Dr. Taff’s amazing journey through this bizarre world. And for some strange reason, although I’m not a big sci-fi fan, it all made perfect sense.

“Aliens Above, Ghosts Below” is one of those books that presents the problems with gathering evidence or data in parapsychology and the contradictions of what the modern laws of physics tell us, but at the same time, does a hell of a job in presenting eyewitness testimony of the impossible. Or what we perceive to be the impossible.

Whether you’re an avid “ghost hunter” or mainly a skeptic, this book will speak to both sides of the argument and serves as a great tool for opening the doors of curiosity. A great read and great exploration into the unknown.

Jonathan Miller reviews 'Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives'

WBEZ91.5: Jonathan Miller reviews 'Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives'
Filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul was born in Thailand but his formative film education came about in the Windy City. He earned his MFA in experimental film at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His latest film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives has won a number of major awards, including the Palme d’Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. The film has a run in Chicago beginning on Friday. Eight Forty-Eight asked Jonathan Miller to take a closer look at the film.


Boonmee, a farmer in rural Thailand, faces death. His kidneys are failing. His sister-in-law Jen comes to spend time with him. She is accompanied by Tong, a young man who can help care for Boonmee.

Boonmee’s proximity to death draws the world of spirits closer. The night Jen arrives, Boonmee’s wife, Huay, appears at the dinner table. She has been dead for 19 years. Then Boonmee’s lost son, Boonsong, emerges from the shadows of the night jungle as a monkey ghost. Boonsong explains that he became fascinated by an image of a monkey ghost that showed up in one of his photographs. He began to stalk them, and eventually found one to be his wife.

The monkey ghosts stare at the human world from behind the dense jungle foliage, laser bright red eyes surrounded by long dense black fur. Weerasthakul’s finds the source for these striking creatures in popular Thai films he watched when he was young. They are at once familiar kitschy and unearthly profound.

The up-country landscape is lush, eerie and brimming with spirits, alive and dead. There’s a quasi-animistic quality to the world that Weerasthakul depicts — the wheel of karma can be felt spinning in every action. Killing mosquitos with an electronic zapper leads to profound consequences. Boonmee invites Jen to taste the honey right from one of the hives on his bee farm. The honey, with flavors of tamarind and corn, is bitter and sweet, the distilled essence of life.

Boonmee confesses a belief that his illness is the result of his karmic debt. He is burdened by deaths that he has caused, from insects to humans. His thoughts on these actions point to a subtle political subtext. Part of the history of the area where Weerasthakul sets the film involves clashes between the government and farmers turned communists.

Appearances in this film are deceptive — the world of the living and the world of the dead, dreams and the future, all interpenetrate. In the opening moments of the film, a buffalo slips its tether and runs off into the woods; it may be Boonmee’s memory of a past life. A princess, woebegone because of her flawed appearance, stops by a waterfall in the woods, where a talking catfish convinces her of her beauty and seduces her. Boonmee’s long-dead wife tends to his medical needs at his bedside and they embrace.

Boonmee stands for a world that is passing into extinction, an ongoing process in which the present engulfs its origins. The tale weaves its way toward its peak moment as Boonmee Jen and Tong descend into a cave. The explicitly womblike quality of the location provides a platform for the blurring passage between birth, death, and rebirth. Boonmee senses a previous incarnation as he moves deeper into the cave, a primordial undifferentiated birth, maybe human, perhaps animal, at the least, alive. Perhaps it began among a handful of fish swimming in a pool in the caves far from the light of day. Here, in the depths of the earth, the fission of spirit and matter occurs and completes another turn in the cycle of existence and extinction.

Even the living may separate from themselves to exist in two places at once. Perhaps because of the deadening qualities of modern life: at complacent moments, lulled by distraction, or lies, blinded by ideology, it may be that we die a bit, at which moment our spirits have to go forward seeking fulfillment.

Weerasthakul’s gentle and subtle film moves with unhurried fluidity. The pace of everyday rural life meshes with overarching cosmic rhythms. Few filmmakers would ever try to show us how we can, to paraphrase William Blake, “Hold Infinity in the palm of our hand
. And Eternity in an hour.” Weerasthakul demonstrates most deftly that a brightly-lit, colorful restaurant with a karaoke soundtrack can be the purest paradise.

Neve Campbell says she`s seen a ghost

MonstersandCritics.com: Neve Campbell says she`s seen a ghost
Scream 4 actress Neve Campbell has said her former house in Los Angeles was haunted and she used to see a woman who had been murdered in the home.

The 37-year-old told British Live magazine: 'I know that ghosts exist because I've seen one. A few years ago I moved into a haunted house in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, with some friends. It turned out that it was inhabited by the ghost of a woman who had been murdered there in 1991.'

She added: 'Doors would repeatedly slam, windows would open and ashtrays would fly off dressers. Then there were times when the ghost would actually walk into the room. After a while it just felt normal. I would pass her in the hallway and casually wish her good morning.'

Ghost Hunters sneak peek video 'Dog the Ghost Hunter'

MassLive: Ghost Hunters sneak peek video 'Dog the Ghost Hunter'
(Monday, April 4 post): This week's Ghost Hunters sneak peek video includes footage of Maddie-the-ghost-hunting-dog doing her job and checking out a family home in which the resident dog gets creeped out. No such problem for 'Dog the Ghost Hunter,' as she fearlessly wanders around the place, in what I am sure, is more of a search for the resident dog than an actual ghost hunt, but whatever.

The TAPS team is apparently doing a private home investigation, which is fabulous, as well as an investigation of a fort in Maine that frankly, looks just as cold as last week's investigation at Mackinac Island up in Michigan did.

Expect eerie encounters at paranormal Powell business

Columbus Local News: Expect eerie encounters at paranormal Powell business
The Powell Paranormal Place opens April 17 with a visit from pro ghost hunters Debby and Mark Constantino.

When Travel Channel and A&E ghost hunters Debby and Mark Constantino entertain crowds at the Powell Paranormal Place's grand opening April 17, they may be able to do more than just explain their methods.

Business owner Lynlee Lybrook said the celebrities can use their specialty in advanced Electronic Voice Phenomenon, a device that allegedly allows people to communicate with the undead via static and radio waves, to interact with ghosts that live in the old farm house at 9216 N. Liberty St., which houses the Powell Paranormal Place.

"I couldn't ask for a better place to have this business," Lybrook said of the hauntings.

The entrance to the shop is through the metaphysical store Mystic Nirvana, where a photo on the cash register depicts what the owner calls a spirit standing next to a member of the weekly psychic development class.


"Meters are for skeptics," said Lybrook, who dares anyone who isn't sure about the paranormal to join her on a ghost hunting trip. "You can't explain an electric reading in a house that hasn't had electric for years."

The store offers infrared cameras, EVP meters and camcorders for those who question what they hear, see or don't see on a ghost hunting trip or in their own homes.

Lybrook said there are two kinds of hauntings: residual and intelligent. Residual may be recurring events, such as an object being misplaced or seeing a shadow at the same time each day. Intelligent hauntings involve the ghost interacting with humans via EVPs or what Lybrook calls her "lucky flashlight."

During a meeting of paranormal minds in the basement of the business, members noticed a flashlight turning on and off. They began asking questions about the ghost and receiving answers, Lybrook said, by way of turning the light on and off. This lasted for 30 minutes and has occurred since, she said.

She and a Mystic Nirvana worker also have been able to hear voices on real-time EVPs and talking when no one else is in the old home.

Lybrook said she began ghost hunting five years ago when her brother Steve died.

"It is kind of a healing thing to find out that there is something after death," she said.

Her first experiences occurred on the U.S.S. Freedom that's docked in Tampa Bay, and at the Mansfield Reformatory, where she saw shadowy figures.

"I didn't believe it at first," she said. "Like anyone else, I had to experience it."

Lybrook said every ghost-hunting trip is different, and the Powell Paranormal Place will offer a variety, ranging from spooky children's camps to downright terrifying adult jaunts through former penitentiaries and mansions.

The first adventure will be to Prospect Place Mansion in Dresden, Ohio. Lybrook said she will invite no more than eight people to participate in the $60 trip. Other planned visits include the Mansfield Reformatory and Moundsville Penitentiary. Prices will vary for each trip, she said.

Those looking to dabble in ghost hunting, but who might be faint of heart, can stop by the second Monday of each month for a paranormal chat, where for $10, students can discuss how to deal with paranormal events, take field trips to local cemeteries or homes, and learn how to use ghost-hunting equipment.

For the younger crowd that might be intrigued by the unknown, Lybrook said in the summer she plans to host backyard campouts that will feature s'mores, equipment tutorials and, of course, some good old-fashioned ghost stories.

The business is believed to be only one of four boutiques like it in the country, Lybrook said.

The boutique offers lower-end items beginning at $14 to pique interest in ghost hunting. Upon further advancement, items such as the real-time EVP can be purchased for $300. Five percent of all the store's profits benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

The store hours are 3 to 9 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Lybrook said she plans to have longer store hours during fall, when she anticipates business to increase.

For information on classes and products, visit the website powellparanormal.com. Tickets to the grand opening event April 17 are $20 and can be purchased online.

Lybrook maintains that while there are ghosts with evil intentions and hunters should always be prepared for the unknown, most spirits are just mindful observers with personalities that might resemble who they were as humans.

"I think if you have good intentions, they'll know," she said.

Ghost hunters to report findings at Fort Knox on Wednesday

Bangor Daily News: Ghost hunters to report findings at Fort Knox on Wednesday
PROSPECT, Maine — Television viewers around the county will find out on Wednesday whether any ghosties or ghoulies are spending their time in eternity at the Fort Knox historic site.

The stars of the SyFy Channel’s popular “Ghost Hunters” program will offer their opinion on whether the fort is haunted when they reveal their findings from a February visit to the 19th century fort on the episode that airs April 6. According to the “Ghost Hunters” website, the show airs at 9 p.m.

“We hope by its inclusion in the ‘Ghost Hunters’ show, many more people will come to visit and enjoy the cultural heritage of Fort Knox,” said Will Harris, director of the Bureau of Public Lands which oversees the fort and its grounds. “It is a gem — with or without spirits.”

The crew of the “Ghost Hunters,” including the show’s stars, Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, and co-star Amy Bruni, spent six days in February with a 19-person crew in the Prospect-Bucksport area. The show is based on the investigations of Hawes and Wilson, former Roto-Rooter technicians, who began investigating paranormal occurrences as a hobby, using highly sophisticated measuring equipment.

In addition to filming in the fort itself, they interviewed Tom Desjardin, BPL state park historian, Leon Seymour, executive director of the Friends of Fort Knox, and other area residents about the fort’s history and reports of paranormal experiences at the fort.

“Visitors have repeated odd experiences to FFK staff over the years, which enabled us to connect the ‘Ghost Hunters’ with local people who related their experiences to the investigators,’’ Seymour said in a prepared release. “Though [the Friends] has not taken an official position on whether ghosts prowl the corridors of the fort, we are pleased that this will bring national attention to the historic site, and in so doing, increase visitation.”

He did not indicate what kind of “visitation.”

The fort is one of four National Historic Landmarks in Maine managed by the BPL. Construction was begun in 1840 to protect the Penobscot River and Bangor’s lumber operations, and, though never completely finished, it was garrisoned with troops during and shortly after the Civil War and for a month during the Spanish-American War in 1898, according to Desjardin.

The fort’s barracks were not located inside the fort but were in a wooden structure somewhere on the fort property, according to Desjardin. Although there are no official reports of hauntings at Fort Knox, Desjardin noted that records indicate three soldiers died while at the fort. In 1866, he said, one artilleryman, who was a new recruit and spoke only German, died of disease while stationed there. He was buried in the fort’s unmarked graveyard.

Years later, two other soldiers died while serving as the fort’s caretaker.

“It will be really nice to see Fort Knox presented on the national stage , and it will bring attention to one of Maine’s unique places,” Desjardin said.