Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Bigfoot caught on iPhone

While I may be more into  the ghosts and paranormal, I find cryptozoology also quite interesting. So I thought I would share the article below.

A young woman in Spokane, Washington claims to have captured definitive video footage of the legendary Bigfoot, the elusive ape-like humanoid that famously avoids high definition footage.

The woman in question -- who revealed herself to the media only as "Samantha" -- says she was filming a group of friends hike through Downriver Park in Spokane when her iPhone inadvertently picked up the mythical beast.

Because the creature was some distance away, Samantha didn't notice until she reviewed the footage later at home. 

A few days  later, she uploaded the video to YouTube; the "evidence" was soon viewed by over 700,000 believers and skeptics alike as of May 31 -- with a disproportionate number of "dislike" ratings.
Samantha seems convinced, however. 

"I have never given it much thought, but now I'm not so sure," to she explained

Read Full Article HERE 

Monday, May 23, 2011

Montana Wildlife Center Haunted?

The sounds of muted conversation at Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks' new wildlife center near Spring Meadow Lake is becoming hauntingly familiar to Patti Buckingham and some of her coworkers


Buckingham said in the few months since the eight FWP educational branch employees moved into the historic Stedman Foundry and Machine Co.'s building, she's tried to track down what sounds like a few men talking.

She has yet to find the source.
"It's not real dramatic or scary or hair-raising, but it's definitely there," Buckingham said on Friday. "You can't make out the words; it's just the rise and fall of voices, like they're in a meeting."

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Ghost appears on XBOX 360 Kinect

I thought that this was interesting article and if the KINECT could be used for ghost hunting. Ghost hunters do use IR cameras to pick up paranormal anomalies, and the Kinect also uses an IR camera

This story is from KOTAKU
Okay, my sister was telling me about her friend who has a Kinect. One night recently she was playing it (not sure what game though) with her son and after some time the son ends up going to bed but the mom continues to play and at some point while she's playing the Kinect picks up on another body... When there is no one around but herself. Immediately she turns it off and goes to her bedroom.
Now, I somewhat believe in ghosts and I'm thinking to myself, "Can the Kinect even pick up on something that isn't physically there?" So I'm trying to think of away where this situation would end up happening. Or does the Kinect need to be hacked so we can communicate with otherworldly spirits?
Avatar for Mike Fahey Mike Fahey  In today's spooktacular edition of Speak-Up on Kotaku, commenter HeyCarl relays the twisted tale of the Kinect player that wasn't there.


The link above goes to a site, called Above Top Secret, were members are other experiences with creepy Kinect Ghosts.

Friday, May 6, 2011

9th Circuit Resurrects 'Ghost Hunters' Lawsuit

9th Circuit Resurrects 'Ghost Hunters' Lawsuit

     (CN) - In a dispute over the rights to the television show "Ghost Hunters," the 9th Circuit on Wednesday reaffirmed a longstanding Hollywood rule that a pitch session between a writer and a producer creates an implied contract that cannot buckle under federal copyright law.
     The so-called "Densy claim" derives from the California Supreme Court's 1956 decision in Desny v. Wilder, a dispute over the idea for Billy Wilder's 1951 film "Ace in the Hole."
     Dominating the "dog-eat-dog" film and television business in Hollywood for more than 50 years, the rule is meant to protect writers who pitch ideas that cannot be copyrighted but can still be stolen by a producer.
     Over the years, the California courts have "uniformly concluded that Desny claims are not preempted because they flow from agreements and understandings different from the monopoly protection of copyright law," according to a ruling by a full panel of the federal appeals court in Pasadena.
     Parapsychologist Larry Montz found himself in a typically frustrating position for a Hollywood scribe in 2004. After spending years unsuccessfully pitching an idea for a television show about a team of real-life paranormal investigators who search for evidence of ghosts, "Ghost Hunters" debuted on the Sci-Fi Channel without him.
     Montz and producer Daena Smoller had previously pitched the idea to NBC and the Sci-Fi Channel. In 2006, they sued the production company behind "Ghost Hunters," Pilgrim Films & Television," distributors NBC Universal and others for copyright infringement, breach of implied contract and breach of confidence. The lawsuit claims that NBC stole Montz and Smoller's idea and partnered with Pilgrim to produce the show.
     U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper, of the Central District of California, dismissed the case, finding that federal copyright law preempted the plaintiffs' state-law claims. In 2010, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit affirmed.
     After a rehearing before a full panel of 9th Circuit judges, however, Montz and Smoller prevailed. The panel ruled 7-4 to reverse the District Court and revive all of the pair's claims.
     Noting its 2004 ruling in Grosso v. Miramax Film, the circuit said it has consistently held that, as in the Densy claim, "an implied contractual claim is not preempted by federal copyright law." Such a finding is especially important in Hollywood, where ideas are often pitched to multiple producers and studios without the formal protection of a copyright, according to the panel.
     "This approach not only accords with the Copyright Act's preemption guidelines, but it also recognizes the gap that would otherwise exist between state contract law and copyright law in the entertainment industry," Judge Mary Schroeder wrote for the court. "The Desny innovation serves to give some protection for those who wish to find an outlet for creative concepts and ideas but with the understanding that they are not being given away for free. Without such legal protection, potentially valuable creative sources would be left with very little protection in a dog-eat-dog business."
     Writing in dissent, Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain - who was joined by Judges Ronald Gould, Richard Tallman and Carlos Bea - argued that Montz's claim was sufficiently related to copyright law as to be preempted.
     "Montz does not claim to have sold his rights as a copyright owner," O'Scannlain wrote. "To the contrary, he alleges that he retained those rights, and that Pilgrim implicitly promised not to use or to disclose his ideas without his consent. As the district court properly held, an action to enforce a promise not to use or to disclose ideas embodied in copyrighted material without authorization asserts rights equivalent to those protected by the Copyright Act. Accordingly, the district court's determination that the Copyright Act preempts Montz's claims should be affirmed." (Emphasis in original.)