The power of prayer? What a load of cobblers!

A few months ago I'd been talking to someone about the power of prayer. We were both coming from opposite directions ie. she believed in the power of prayer, I didn't. Now, there are several studies out there that each put forward their claim for prayer working, or not working. Surely both claims can't be true? By default, one must be true, the other false. The claims made by the various reports seem to be influenced by the investigating body producing the report. Believers in prayer always find in favour of prayer, and vice versa for the non believers.

I thought it would be interesting to discover how much time people spend in prayer.
I limited my study to Great Britain

Christian church figures state that 6% of the UK population regularly attend Sunday services. 6% of the UK population is roughly 3,684,840, so thats quite a few people plodding to church on a Sunday.

Now, lets assume that in the standard church service there is five minutes of prayer. From services I've attended this figure feels about right. So we have 3,684,840 people each praying for five minutes. This equates to 18,424,200 minutes, which in turn equates to 307,070 hours, which then equates to 12,794 days.
12,794 days is roughly 35 years, give or take a few days. 35 years!

So there we have it. Every Sunday from the churches of Great Britain there will be an accumulation of around 35 years worth of prayer. This doesn't take into account people praying away from church so, in reality, the figure would be much higher but impossible to measure.

The point is this (and remember, my figures are for the UK alone, the prayer total for the entire world would be much, much higher) If prayer works, and church-goers are praying for 'good' things, this world should be a utopian paradise by now.

OK, I know this is proof of nothing, but I think it's interesting all the same.

Where has Most Haunted gone?

Many people who have visited this blog recently have asked me the same questions. Where has Most Haunted gone? Why has Most Haunted finished?

Well, the answers are available within this blog for anyone to see. But very briefly, here are some of the main reasons.....

1. Poor viewing figures - click here for details
2. A track record of being less than honest with the viewing public. Click here for details and here.
3. Showing footage of questionable origin. Click here for details.
4. Perhaps the number one issue and one which will eventually see every single ghost hunting program fail......ghosts do not exist!

Of course, it's more complex than just these reasons alone but if you browse the articles and videos in the blog archive you'll get a good understanding of why Most Haunted is no more.

Bonsall UFO video - Debunked.

The following footage was taken on October 5, 2000, 21.15 and is said to be amongst the most important UFO videos ever taken.....



This is a posting I made on a forum in response to the Bonsall video.....

Well, I froze my bits off for 15 minutes last night filming UFO's. Well actually the moon and jupiter.

The results are similar to the Bonsall youtube video. I'm guessing the guy who filmed the Bonsall video used a similar hand held camera to mine. The effects on the video seem to be explained by the way the camera tries to focus on an object and also by the poorer quality of distant objects when zoom is used.

I used full zoom on jupiter and the planet had a definite illusion of movement. It appeared to move at both ends and it's shape was somewhat distorted, almost onion shaped for a time. It also took on a red hue which would occasionally turn blueish. The illusion of movement was caused by my camera contantly trying and failing to focus on the distant planet.

Also, as the camera tried to focus, I noticed I was getting some very funky effects similar to the last few seconds of the Bonsall video. I can see how these effects could easily be mistaken for detail on the underside of an alien craft, if someone was of that mindset.

Another point about the Bonsall video that's just occured to me. In the foreground, just before the camera zooms in, we see a strong light source. It's interesting that the UFO is always filmed directly above this light. This source would have been giving off, at the very least, a slight heat and the object, when viewed through this heat, would definitely have taken on an illusion of movment.

It's a planet people!!!!