If you’ve seen the show Ghost Hunters on the Sci-Fi channel, then you’ve got a pretty good idea what the API folks are all about. According to their website, through their investigation into the disturbances, they hope to “ease your fear and help you understand why this is happening.” In other words, they try to figure out if there are any non-paranormal causes for your “haunted” house. High EMF readings, drafts coming in from under your door or maybe just a punk kid who likes to freak out his gullible parents are just a few of the possible reasons your house may appear to be haunted. The API folks will help you root out any possible non-casper-related explanations. If all else fails, they will attempt to capture evidence of the other-worldly entities.

Founded in 2004 by A.M. Silva and based out of Centerton, Arkansas Paranormal Investigations was started in order to “assist others going through paranormal experiences and to develop a group of like minded investigators who are searching for Scientific evidence in the paranormal field.” The API team, which consists of several members with over 14 years of cumulative paranormal investigative experience, provide their services free of charge. If you feel that you have some paranormal activity going on, you can submit an investigation request via their website. You’ll have to answer a series of questions about the incidents, but if you really want to get these folks out to investigate, it’s totally worth it.

Now, the folks at API won’t be wearing matching jumpsuits and carrying proton-packs. You’ve gotta leave that kind of ghost hunting up to Ray, Peter, Egon and Winston. But if Vince Clortho, Keymaster of Gozer shows up at your front door, throw a strainer on your head, welcome him in and call API.

If you’re itching to do some paranormal investigation of your own, The Arkansas Paranormal Investigations team will be holding a charity event on October 4th 2008. For a mere $25 you can join them on an investigation of one of Arkansas’s most active hot spots for Paranormal Activity: The Arkansas State Tuberculoses Sanatorium. Plus, all proceeds will go to the Human Development Center of Booneville. Not only will you be supporting a good cause, but you’ll be getting the ever-living-crap scared out of you in the meantime. Sounds like fun!

While you’re waiting for the charity event, if you visit the API website, www.paranormalbeliever.com, you can view summaries of their past investigations. Looks like they’ve done quite a few in their four years of operation.

So, if you’ve got ghosts and you’re all alone, pick up the phone and call The Arkansas Paranormal Investigations team. They ain’t afraid of no ghosts.

PS - It was hard keeping the Ghostbusters references to a minimum. Really hard.

So, when I read that former Apollo 14 Astronaut, Dr. Edgar Mitchell, has said that not only are aliens real, but they have, in fact, visited our planet and that governments around the world have hidden the truth for almost 60 years and continue to do so, I was a little shocked.

He claims that during his tenure at NASA he was well aware of many UFO visits to earth. He also claims that our traditional image of extraterrestrial beings is fairly accurate; small frame, large eyes and a large head. He also indicates that the Roswell incident was real and that similar instances are being investigated to this day. While Dr. Mitchell claims that our technology is “not nearly as sophisticated” as theirs, he states that, were they hostile, “we would have been gone by now.”

No word on if they were green and from Mars.

You can listen to the interview with Dr. Mitchell yourself right here.

My immediate reaction to this news is one of skepticism (I’m more of a Dana Scully than a Fox Mulder). Normally, claims like this are made by those with little to no credibility. However, In this case it’s different. Dr. Mitchell holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Carnegie Institute of Technology as well as a Doctor of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT. Yes, MIT stands for the Massachussets Institute of Technology. He’s not just some schmuck from Hickville, USA claiming to have been anally probed by “little green fellas” after a night of too much drinking with his “buddies,” he’s a smart dude. Oh yeah, he walked on the moon. He’s a freaking Apollo Astronaut.

Sounds legit, right? Well, here’s a few grains of salt to take with that:

Upon doing a little “research” (ahum! wikipedia), it turns out that his interests include “consciousness and paranormal phenomena.” In addition he “founded the nonprofit Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) to conduct and sponsor research into areas that mainstream science has found unproductive, including consciousness research and psychic events.” Can’t leave this one out either: he claims “that a teenage remote healer who lives in Vancouver and uses the pseudonym Adam Dreamhealer, helped heal him of kidney cancer at a distance.”

There’s a few grains of salt for you.

Regardless of whether he’s batshit crazy or not, this is the most legit claim to extraterrestrials visiting our planet that I’ve ever come across.

NASA, of course, responded saying: “NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe.” “Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinions on this issue.”

While I have little doubt that life exists elsewhere in the unfathomably large universe of ours, and probably in our own galaxy, I have a hard time believing that EBE’s are making regular pit stops at Earth… but having an Apollo Astronaut claim otherwise certainly gets me thinking.

Sounds good to me.

The Northwest Arkansas Museum Foundation is working towards bringing a “world-class science museum” to the area. Current plans for the 130,000 square foot museum call for a glass atrium, five museum galleries, an IMAX movie theater, a community auditorium and a center for traveling exhibits. Sounds pretty ambitious… and awesome.

F yeah!

You know, a planetarium would be pretty sweet addition to that list… at least I think so.

I love a science museum. Well, I love a REAL science museum. Christian Science Museums in Cincinnati do not count. Since the University of Arkansas shut down their museum several years ago, the area has been sorely lacking on the science museum front. I, for one, would welcome a new science museum with open arms.

Currently, the NWA Museum Foundation is awaiting proposals on possible site locations around NWA. The proposals are due this Friday. When making their decision, the board members will look at each proposal and will take into account the proximity to walking trails, highways, bus routes, cultural and entertainment amenities, potential rail lines for light rail or similar transit. In addition, there must be parking for 10 buses and 310 vehicles as well as allowing for future growth.

Proposals for Bentonville, Springdale, Johnson (Ha!) and Fayetteville have already been received.

According to the foundation’s proposal, officials want the building to qualify for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification and be designed “in the spirit of” noted Fayetteville architect E. Fay Jones.

An environmentally friendly building that looks badass? Double F yeah!

Let’s just hope they make the right decision and put the museum where it belongs; Right here in Fayetteville: The heart of Northwest Arkansas.

Well, if your answer was a resounding “Yes!” to all the questions above, then you’re in luck, my friend. Virgin Galactic has released the final design of their low-orbit spaceship and announced that they will begin service, starting in 2010. Well-to-do, wannabe astronauts: Sign-up today!

The first thing that came to mind was “There’s no way in hell I’d ride that thing.” Now, don’t get me wrong, I’d love to take a ride into space and do some Superman-like moves while in a zero-g environment. However, I’d love to not die while doing so. Virgin Galactic’s site has an FAQ that, from what I can tell, was made to “alleviate” potential passengers safety concerns. Check it out:

1) Hybrid rocket motor SpaceShipTwo will use a hybrid rocket motor. This system combines the reliability of a solid rocket but avoiding its lack of control, with the ‘controllability’ of a liquid rocket motor but avoiding the associated inherent instability. A hybrid rocket motor, has a ‘fuel’ element and an ‘oxidiser’ element. In SpaceShipTwo (as in SpaceShipOne) these will be non- reactive, non-toxic, stable at room temperature, easy to store and relatively safe to carry on a flight. Combination of the two elements (in the case of SpaceShipOne, Nitrous Oxide and Rubber) does not create an automatic reaction - they will only burn if a significant source of heat is introduced. This also means that if the source of oxygen is shut off, the rocket motor shuts down giving the pilots control and the ability to abort a flight safely during the boost phase.

Experience Just like an airline or a train company, safety for a spaceline will come primarily from the quality of the vehicles used and the culture and expertise of the operating company. Virgin has a detailed understanding of what it takes to manage and operate complex transportation organisations safely, year in - year out. This can only come with the experience gained from running companies such as Virgin Atlantic Airlines and Virgin Trains which carry millions of passengers each year and have enjoyed superb safety records. This experience will be brought to bear as Virgin Galactic develops and then operates the world’s first commercial spaceline.

Wow. That’s all they could come up with? Two bullet points? It’s good to know that the safety will come from “the quality of the vehicles used” and the “culture and expertise of the operating company.” Whew! Boy that makes me feel better. I thought they were building a virtually untested spacecraft from scratch and were hiring pilots to fly the untested spacecraft in an environment (low-earth orbit) that they’d never flown in before. Good to know I was wrong. Geez. Well, I guess it’s better than saying “There’s a decent chance you’re going to die on this flight” or “We don’t have a clue how safe this thing is, but don’t worry about it, dude; Everything’s going to be just fine. Now sit back, buckle up, fill out this 1,789 page safety-waiver and get ready for blast off. Also, a little prayer never hurts. Oh yeah, parachutes are located under the seat next to the cyanide capsule behind the ‘last words’ voice recorder. Thanks for flying Virgin Galactic. See you in hell.”

So if you like the idea of boldly going where no man has a few astronauts have gone before, you’ve got a couple hundred grand that you can spare and like the idea of death by sub-orbital implosion, then go book your flight today.

I don’t know about you, but I think I’ll wait a few years until it’s been proven safe and the cost per flight drops about $199,000.

I’m sure that conspiracy theorists are having a field day with this. Who could forget the infamous “Face on Mars” that so many theorized was the remnant of an ancient civilization? Or how Astronomers in the late 19th and early 20th century believed there were canals on the planet that were made by none other than little green men. There’s no telling what will come of this “discovery.” I’d be willing to bet that the Moon Hoax proponents who claim that the Moon landings were fake will surface and claim that the Mars rovers never made it past Nevada. Area 51 to be exact. We’ll see…

The notion of Martians is nothing new to us Earthlings. Since those first claims of extraterrestrials on Mars surfaced well over a hundred years ago, there’s been an onslaught of books, movies, ghost stories and such that use the beings as their source material. Where would the Sci-Fi genre be if the idea of Martians never came to be?

As far as the Sasquatch on Mars goes, unless the hairy bastard learned how to build a rocket, navigate it to Mars, survive extremely cold temperature (-178 degrees Fahrenheit on a cold day) and was able to learn how to breath Carbon Dioxide, I’m going to chalk this one up to a rock formation, as odd as it may be.

Take a look:

This year, the shower is bound to be as excellent as always, especially with the moon staying below the horizon until around 5am. At around 2 am on Friday, January 4th the shower will peak, again, averaging over 120 meteors per hour. It’s a show worth getting out of bed for. However, for those of us who have to work early in the morning, you should still be able to view a good amount of meteors on the following night.

When watching the shower, the best way to watch is to simply lay down flat with your toes pointed NorthEast, look up and enjoy… and wear something warm.