I decided to start this post due to me starting to discuss about the above topic in this post on boards.ie.  Given that it was going to be off-topic if I went any further in the post, I decided that this subject deserved its own post on my blog.  Why on my blog?  Well, I am due for an update for starters and secondly, I get the feeling that it may be better off here because at least I know I won’t need to worry about how many characters or words in the thread I created.  The thread in question is located here if you’re reading this directly from the blog; gotta do some linkbacks after all as there’s going to be two sets of comments to read through I’m sure.  Anyway, as I stated in the boards.ie post, I would never charge for my services and nor would the majority of paranormal teams, though a few individuals and/or teams might do.  And while I wouldn’t necessarily charge for my services, I don’t think it’s unfair if the person/organisation who called out the investigator assisted with the travel costs of those who are attending.  I was a little unsure of this at first, but a discussion with Steve Parsons at the ParaCon on Saturday made me feel a little easier about stating this.  As for charging a rather large amount for performing an investigation of a private or commercial location, I do feel that it’s rather unethical to charge lots of money for the service.

Like I said before, travelling to somewhere does cost money and there’s nothing wrong with asking for reimbursement of travel costs; the percentage of which I’d leave to the team and the client to decide seeing as each case is different.  Anyway, while the previously stated method is fair, it’s when investigators start to charge what I’d consider large amounts of money for a service.  In a field that’s still in its relative infancy, I fail to see how a large callout fee can be justified for an investigation that may or may not bring results, and possibly do more harm than good.  At present, there’s no way of telling if a paranormal organisation is legit or not, which brings its own set of dangers.  Any Tom, Dick and Harry can setup what they call a paranormal investigation group and claim to be able to get rid of ghosts.

I’m sure a good few people (from boards.ie) will recognise some of what I’m saying now as being paraphrased from Ciaran O’Keeffe’s and Steve’s talk, which is a huge driving force behind what I’m saying. I do feel like talking about this more, both with people who saw the talk and also those that haven’t, especially as the topic of paying for investigations was brought up in the thread where my response was posted.  Anyway, back to my initial point… because anyone can go around claiming they’re a paranormal investigator (I’m not saying everyone who says they are is a charlatan) and that there’s no regulating body for this sort of thing as of yet, people who don’t know any better have the potential to be conned by unethical individuals which is not right.  Even worse is the issue that they charge for their services and can actually do nothing.

Read the rest of the entry »

Oddly enough, I’m not actually sure what exactly to talk about for this entry as I haven’t thought about any specifics.  I expect it may not be till near enough to the New Year, or after that I get to keep some consistancy.  Either way, it won’t hurt to mention any stuff I’ve seen, done or are going to do.  I’m also thinking that I may end up keeping my random style of writing to a degree, as it wouldn’t be random randomness if I didn’t!  Anyhow, I went into Central London yesterday to pick up a lab coat (I’ll explain later) from Foyles bookshop and ended bup buying a few books too!  This is by no means a bad thing to be honest, as the books will have some benefit.  Two of the books are talking about games design or project management regarding games projects.  I figured that these would be good for me to get so I can brush up on this subject in preparation for university/college.  Granted, design is my strongest skill, but it never hurts to get help with improving techniques.  I also finally managed to get a book on wolves; this too was one of my medium-term aims along with the lab coat.  I had to aquire an extra large one because of my broad shoulders, although that said, I could do with a little toning round the stomach, so it’s a good thing I’m going to the gym!  As for why I wanted a lab coat… well, I’ve always wanted one and I think it completes the scientist look although there’s the practical purpose that it keeps my clothes clean!

I also paid Maplins a visit as well and got some books on robotics, soldering and electronics, as well as a book on oscilloscopes, which sparked my interest since I studied at Greenwich.  I also got another set of LED Safety Glasses (which are gonna be modded, leaving the first ones I bought intact) and also an Audiophile 2496 audio card, which I was hoping to use for helping me with music composition at a later date, although it would be more nice just to have something professional to use with MIDI.  The problem is however that it needs audio cables, and while I do have them, I don’t have the space for them, so I’m either going to have to locate an external version of the card or make the space.  It’s occurred to me that I have also lost my reciept so I need to goo looking for it, damn.  That aside, I may have to just accept that this may be the best card for my price range (I don’t want to pay a lot more to be honest) and get a Game Port to USB adaptor, which to be honest may not be a bad idea, seeing as they’re cheap enough at 8 quid each!  I really only wanted that expensive card for the built-in MIDI port, and considering I can have a decent audio card with a cheaper separate bit, it may be best off just going down this route.  I have too many game controllers that require Game Ports to just drop the idea; I didn’t realise till much later that I had no MIDI port on my soundcard!  Another bonus as well is that it has some composing software with it, as well as some loops, so that’ll help me some more.

Read the rest of the entry »