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The fourth installment of the Paranormal Activity films topped the box office last week. Television channel SyFy's hit show Ghost Hunters scares up big ratings, and has spawned copycat series on networks ranging from Biography to Animal Planet.
The omnipresence of paranormal entertainment piqued the interest of Paul Brewer, professor of communication at the University of Delaware, who wondered what makes viewers believe -- or disbelieve -- what they see on the screen.
His resulting study, recently published in the journal Science Communication, examines the influence of media messages about paranormal investigators on how people perceive the investigators' credibility. Brewer conducted an experiment asking participants to read one of four versions of a newspaper article. After reading the selected article participants filled out a questionnaire.
"It wasn't just any story about paranormal investigators that made people believe in ghosts and haunted houses," Brewer said, "it was a story about how they were scientific."
© Lefteris Pitarakis/APGeorge Entwistle, the new BBC director general, had a 'tsunami of filth' breaking over him because of the Jimmy Savile scandal, says BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten.
In a Radio 4 interview, Lord Patten also admitted that the Savile sex abuse scandal had done "terrible damage" to the corporation's reputation.
Patten's defence of the beleaguered BBC director general on Thursday came as Entwistle asked Radio 5 Live controller Adrian Van Klaveren to lead the corporation's editorial coverage of the Savile child abuse scandal, taking over responsibility from BBC News director Helen Boaden and her deputy, Steve Mitchell.
© American Institute for Economic Research
The additional outlays look set to test the resilience of consumers, whose spending accounts for around two-thirds of the U.S. economy.
"We think it's going to be a difficult six to nine months," said Scott Hoyt, senior director of consumer economics for Moody's Analytics. "If anything, conditions are likely to get worse, particularly at the start of the year."
The strength of consumer spending has surprised some economists, given unemployment near 8 percent and anemic wage growth. Consumer spending has cushioned the blow to the United States from slower foreign demand for its goods.
U.S. households have shed about $880 billion in debt since the peak in the first quarter of 2008, according to Federal Reserve data. That has put many consumers on a path back to financial health.
© AP/Westminster Police DepartmentThis booking photo released by the Westminster, Colo., Police Department shows Austin Reed Sigg.
Police in the Denver suburb of Westminster said they took 17-year-old Austin Reed Sigg into custody on Tuesday night after receiving a phone call, apparently from his mother, that led them to Sigg. He was formally arrested Wednesday.
Reached by phone, Sigg's mother told The Associated Press he turned himself in.
"I made the phone call, and he turned himself in. That's all I have to say," said Mindy Sigg, before she broke down in tears and hung up.
Police announced the arrest as agents searched the home of Sigg, an Arapahoe Community College student described by former classmates as a smart "goth kid" who was interested in mortuary science.
© Dean Hoffmeyer/Times-DispatchNorth Anna's Unit 1 was unaffected by the automatic Unit 2 shutdown and continues to operate at full power, the NRC said.
A preliminary report filed with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Unit 2 at North Anna, in Louisa County some 45 miles northwest of Richmond, tripped automatically at 1:47 a.m. today.
"The unit is in a normal post-trip electrical configuration. All systems functioned as required," the NRC report said.
The commission's report, filed one hour after the event, said Richmond-based Dominion was focusing on turbine intercept valves or reheat valves that malfunctioned "for reasons unknown at this time."
North Anna's Unit 1 was unaffected by the automatic Unit 2 shutdown and continues to operate at full power, the NRC said.
Dominion spokesman Richard Zuercher said the utility had been able to trace the shutdown of Unit 2 _ which is more than three decades old _ to four valves that govern the flow of steam in the turbine system for spinning the unit's generator.
From left to right: Cameron, Major, Blair and Brown.
Labour MP Tom Watson alleged a member of a notorious group was connected to a former No 10 aide.
He said: "The evidence file used to convict Peter Righton, if it still exists, contains clear intelligence of a widespread paedophile ring.
"One of its members boasts of his links to a senior aide of a former prime minister, who says he could smuggle indecent images of children from abroad.
Comment: What British Prime Minister David Cameron really means is that he will do everything he can to try to put the lid back on... but is it too late? Is the cat already out of the bag? For more information on paedophile networks in high places, check out Dutroux Cover-up Protected Pedophile Networks.
Stephen Farrow
Dr Tim Rogers, a consultant forensic psychiatrist, told Bristol Crown Court that Stephen Farrow, 48, demonstrated many of the characteristics of a psychopath.
Farrow has admitted killing the Reverend John Suddards, 59, at his vicarage in Thornbury, Glos., but denies murdering the vicar and pensioner Betty Yates, 77.
He said it was not possible to be sure when Farrow was telling the truth and when he was lying.
The psychiatrist said there are 20 traits of a psychopath - when each is given a score of up to two, Farrow scored 31 out of 40.
But he said that after assessing Farrow on two separate occasions in recent months and reading compiled reports spanning several years, he passed the threshold of psychopathy.
According to Sydney-based lecturer and author Chris Golis, the characteristics of a corporate psychopath are their charm, their lack of natural empathy, their ability to deceive and their view that life is a game with winners and losers - and that they are winners.
"Typically they are manipulative, lack ethics, desire power and are very active players in corporate politics," Mr Golis explains.
"They meet someone and they say, 'what's in it for me? How can I make money from this person?'"
Mr Golis says well known examples of the character type in the corporate sphere include businessman Alan Bond and the late Sydney stockbroker Rene Rivkin. But he says top sportsmen often exhibit the characteristics too, and Lance Armstrong appears to fall smack bang into the category.
Comment: Golis clearly isn't a reliable source on psychopathy if he thinks they're capable of developing remorse.
Horrified: The community of Winnsboro, Louisiana is in shock after 20-year-old Sharmeka Moffitt was set on fire in an attack on Sunday night at a community park
Sharmeka Moffitt, who is black, claimed she was doused in lighter fluid and then severely burned by three men wearing white hooded sweatshirts while walking through a park on Sunday night. She also told police that the men wrote 'KKK' on her car.
However, police in Shreveport revealed on Tuesday that they found Ms Moffitt's DNA on the can of lighter fluid used to burn her and her fingerprints on the cigarette lighter that was used to start the fire.
Investigators also believe she was the one who wrote 'KKK' on her car.
It is not known why she self-immolated or reported that her injuries were the work of apparent white supremacists, police said.
Ms Moffitt remains in critical condition at the hospital, with burns on 60 percent of her body.
Her family issued a statement apologizing for the turn of events.
'Our family is devastated to learn the circumstances surrounding our daughter's injuries. While this was not the resolution we had expected, it's a resolution,' they said.
Another victory for Montana, "ground zero" for the battle against Citizens United
In the latest battle in Montana's war against Citizens United, the Supreme Court refused to block a Montana law "limiting campaign contributions to candidates for state office, leaving the caps in place at least through the November general election," reports Reuters.
On Tuesday afternoon, the high court upheld a ruling - handed down earlier this month - by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of appeals that temporarily reinstated Montana's right to regulate campaign contributions. Previously, a lower court had struck down the restrictions labeling them "unconstitutional."
According to the Associated Press:
© Jonathan Ernst / REUTERS
On Tuesday afternoon, the high court upheld a ruling - handed down earlier this month - by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of appeals that temporarily reinstated Montana's right to regulate campaign contributions. Previously, a lower court had struck down the restrictions labeling them "unconstitutional."
According to the Associated Press:
Montana law caps contributions by individuals and political committees at $630 for gubernatorial candidates, $310 for other statewide offices and at $160 for all other public offices. Total limits for political parties are $22,600 for governor, $8,150 for other statewide candidates, $1,300 for state senators and $800 for all other public offices. Donations by political action committees to candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are capped at $2,650 and $1,600 respectively.
Comment: 25 Horrifying Statistics About the U.S. Economy That Obama Does Not Want You To Know
America's Third World Economy
US: Slow-moving economy runs into brick wall
The illusion of
freedom[Economy] will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater. - Frank Zappa