The Snuson Confessional Sacristy & Bulletin

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Conn. Mom Arrested After Son Brings Grenade To Show-And-Tell

The mother of a 12-year-old Connecticut boy has been arrested after police say her son brought a grenade to school for a show-and-tell related to 70th anniversary of D-Day
Lisa Miguel, of Stratford, was charged with risk of injury to a minor, reckless endangerment and illegal possession of an explosive.
Stratford Academy was placed on lockdown Friday. Students were sent to the back of the school. A bomb squad determined the grenade was a simulator used for training and still had the pin inside.

(Excerpt) Read more at newyork.cbslocal.com ...

[sgreger1]

I mean I understand their apprehension, but hopefully the parents let them know it was only a sim grenade and not a real one.

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Feds Research Breeding Sheep With Lower Methane-Emitting Flatulence
Daily Caller ^

The U.S. government funded research into methane emissions from sheep digestive systems — flatulence and burps — to see why some sheep produce more of the greenhouse gas than others.
Researchers with the Energy Department’s Joint Genome Institute wanted to find out exactly why animals of the same species produce different levels of methane. The ultimate hope of the the research is to find ways to breed livestock that produce less methane when they pass gas.
“The deep sequencing study contributes to this breeding program by defining the microbial contribution to the methane trait, which can be used in addition to methane measurements to assist in animal selection,” said senior scientist Graeme Attwood with AgResearch Limited, a senior author on the paper.
JGI researchers looked at the methane emissions of 22 sheep that are part of a breeding program in New Zealand that aims to breed sheep that emit less methane. They found that sheep with low methane-emitting flatulence had elevated levels of Methanosphaera — a species of methanogen. Sheep with high methane-emitting flatulence had elevated levels of the methanogen Methanobrevibacter gottschalkii.
Researchers “then identified a methane-producing pathway and three variants of a gene encoding an important methane-forming reaction that were involved in elevated methane yields,” according to JGI.
“We wanted to understand why some sheep produce a lot and some produce little methane,” said JGI Director Eddy Rubin. “The study shows that it is purely the microbiota responsible for the difference.”
The publishing of the study comes as the Obama administration launches its plan to cut methane emission in its crusade against global warming. The largest man-made source of methane emissions comes from livestock, particularly cows and sheep.
Republicans have warned that regulating methane from livestock could lead to de facto taxes on animal flatulence. The Obama administration wants to reduce methane emissions from the dairy industry by 25 percent by 2020, which have lawmakers worried.
“The agriculture community is committed to environmental stewardship, which is evidenced by the 11 percent reduction in agriculture-related methane emissions since 1990,” Republicans, led by South Dakota Sen. John Thune, wrote to the Obama administration. “It is our hope that the EPA, USDA, and DOE will work with Congress and the agriculture industry to outline voluntary measures that can be taken to reduce emissions without imposing heavy-handed regulations on farms across America.”
The Environmental Protection Agency says that methane is 28 times more potent of a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and atmospheric levels of it have reached 1,800 parts per billion. One-fifth of methane emissions come from livestock, according to the EPA.

[trebli]

Try Beano. Works for me.

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I Admit, I’m Christian Because I Need a Crutch And I’m Brainwashed
Townhall.com ^


I cannot understand how atheists are able to ignore the spiritual realm as if it doesn’t exist. They explain away miracles and supernatural events as if these thousands of occurrences over many years are all just random. I’ve had hundreds of answers to prayer in my life, but atheists tell me they’re all coincidences.

One of the most frequent arguments I hear against my faith is that I believe in God because I’m “weak” and need some kind of support. Really? Me? Weak? I may be horribly flawed, but I wouldn’t describe myself as weak, after all the loudmouthed articles I’ve written, which I take a lot of heat for every week. I am flawed just like anyone else, prone to sin and doing things that don’t measure up to God’s standards of holiness, so why would I want or need some religion that tells me I can’t cheat, lie, etc., ever?
Although I was raised in a Christian home, I’ve discovered that it’s not easy living a Christian life. You’re never going to be very cool or popular; for the most part, Hollywood and being a musical star with their scanty clothing and drug-using lifestyles is off limits for Christians today. As the culture becomes more and more degenerate, it’s a daily battle to not cave in to it - to obey God rather than man.
I love science, and I love to debate, so I’ve spent many years reading books about Christianity, evolution and related subjects by scientists and brilliant academics. Many like C.S. Lewis, began their quest for truth as atheists seeking to disprove Christianity, but changed their minds the more they researched. I understand that most people believe in God based on faith alone, but I wanted to give intelligent reasons for the faith I held. Josh McDowell and the late Dr. D. James Kennedy have been two of the most influential thinkers in this area for me.
After years of reading all I could on the subject, I discovered that a few interpretations of certain Bible verses over the years may have reached relatively minute differing conclusions. Maybe the earth isn’t literally 6,000 years old, it may be older (2nd Peter 3:8 says that one day to us is like 1,000 years to God), and that the Bible was actually very forward thinkingwhen it came to women’s equality. It’s fascinating that Jesus first appeared to a woman, Mary Magdalene, after his resurrection, telling her to go tell his disciples that He had risen. Even basic Biblical doctrine, no matter how conservative/fundamentalist, disagrees here.
It doesn’t matter how many billions of Christians there are in the world, nor how intelligent and well-read they are, the other side keeps insisting we’re all brainwashed and need a crutch. The Christian faith is being pushed out of the public sphere more than ever today, as liberals in most parts of life - academia, government and the judiciary - try to squelch it. At the same time, Christians are standing up for Christ against powerful opposition, pushing back, often after great personal sacrifice.
There is a devout Satanist movementout there, which actively engages the dark side of the spiritual realm, including Satan and demons, and it is growing in size. How do atheists explain that away? Satanists hate God, and want to defeat Him, but they at least don’t try to pretend the supernatural world doesn’t exist, because they don’t ignore it. Explain away tarot cards, wiccans, and ouija boards “rationally.”
The intellectual Christian C.S. Lewis, who many - including myself - consider the greatest writer of all time, next to the Holy Spirit-inspired writers of the Bible, was a devout atheist for many years until he couldn’t escape the evidence any longer. He has said he was he was brought into Christianity like a prodigal, "kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance to escape … That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.”
Lewis had been a close friend of the science fiction writer J.R. Tolkein - Lewis also wrote many brilliant sci-fi books, including the Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe Narnia series - and started an Inklings intellectual discussion group with Tolkein at Oxford. Tolkein was ecstatic to see his friend convert, although he would have preferred he choose Catholicism over Anglicanism. Lewis remained neutral when it came to sectarianism.
It reminds me of the liberal and atheist commentator Kirsten Powers on Fox News, who recently became a Christian. She toldChristianity Today, “I'll never forget standing outside that apartment on the Upper East Side and saying to myself, ‘It's true. It's completely true.’ The world looked entirely different, like a veil had been lifted off it. I had not an iota of doubt. I was filled with indescribable joy...The horror of the prospect of being a devout Christian crept back in almost immediately. I spent the next few months doing my best to wrestle away from God. It was pointless. Everywhere I turned, there he was. Slowly there was less fear and more joy. The Hound of Heaven had pursued me and caught me - whether I liked it or not.”
Why do I need a “crutch?” I don’t. I only believe in God because the evidence is so overwhelming; as someone with half a brain, I can’t ignore it. I guess if I wanted to live a self-centered, hedonistic life, ignoring others around me who are suffering, I could ignore all the signs that Jesus/God/Holy Ghost exists. I’d love to sound like the “scientific, morally superior and super cool” one to all my peers, and spend most of my time partying and bettering myself, without doing anything for others in need. What an easy life that would be, especially if I were to become the typical narcissistic Hollywood star with all the fans. Who wouldn’t want that? But that’s not where the evidence leads; claiming otherwise is really ignoring all the evidence - which, as the opposing side ironically says about us, isn’t very scientific, but instead, “narrow minded, judgmental and condescending.”

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Space aliens walk among us? Indeed, claims retired Temple prof

HE WAY David M. Jacobs sees it, aliens from outer space have been kidnapping humans for aeons and sexually molesting them to create human-alien hybrids that walk among us today undetected and will soon take over Earth.
He knows that sounds crazy.
But he long ago quit caring what people think of him. As director of the International Center for Abduction Research, Jacobs, 71, has made it his life's mission to investigate claims of extraterrestrial abduction.

(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...

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Pope calls on U.S. to welcome illegals

In his message to the “Mexico/Holy See Colloquium on Migration and Development,” Pope Francis characterized the tens of thousands of illegal immigrants that have crossed the U.S. southern border as a product of globalization, suggesting that the phenomenon is happening worldwide.
Francis proclaimed, “Despite the large influx of migrants present in all continents and in almost all countries, migration is still seen as an emergency, or as a circumstantial and sporadic fact, while instead it has now become a hallmark of our society and a challenge.”
Emmer McCarthy for Vatican Radio said Francis expressed his concern for “the tens of thousands of children who migrate alone, unaccompanied, to escape poverty and violence.” He further sympathized, saying that “this is a category of migrants… who cross the border with the United States under extreme conditions and in pursuit of a hope that in most cases turns out to be vain." The Pope added that the amount of those willing to take the dangerous journey “are increasing day by day."
The Argentinean pontiff claims that the illegal immigrants are “forced to emigrate, suffer, and often, die tragically; many of their rights are violated, they are obliged to separate from their families and, unfortunately, continue to be the subject of racist and xenophobic attitudes.”
Rebecca Hamilton reporting for Patheos wrote that Cardinal Parolin also addressed the Colloquium and stated: "Whether they are traveling because of poverty, or violence, or with the hope of reuniting with relatives on the other side of the border, it is urgent to protect them and help them because their vulnerability is greater and they are defenseless against any abuse or misfortune.”
Finally, the Pope called for everyone to have a new outlook toward “migrants and refugees”....

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...

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Rome's Chief Exorcist Reveals the Secrets of Hell
Aleteia ^ |

Don Gabriele Amorth recounts his mentor's advice on how to talk to the Devil.


In 2012, the cause of beatification and canonization for Fr. Candido Amantini, a Passionist priest who served as the exorcist for the diocese of Rome for 36 years at the Scala Santa, was taken up in Rome. His most famous disciple (who is considered to be his successor) is 87 year old Don Gabriele Amorth, who wanted to participate in the opening ceremony of the process. The Pauline priest, who recently published the book, The Last Exorcist, wished to remember the Passionist Father and told us about the time when then devil argued with his teacher about Hell.

Don Amorth, are you happy? Fr. Candido will become a blessed.

It is a great joy because Fr. Candido was a man of God! He was always serene, always smiling, never angry even with the devil! Everyone was talking about him, he was extremely well known in Rome, where he served as exorcist for 36 years without ever quitting.

What do you remember about your teacher?

He was endowed with special charisms. For example, it was enough for him to see a photograph to determine whether a person needed an exorcism or medical treatment …

In what sense?

I’ll relate one episode. One day I was with him and he showed me three photographs that had been brought to him. He took the first, which portrayed a man, and he said to me: “Do you see, Don Amorth?”. And I replied: “I don’t see anything”. And he responded: “This man doesn’t need anything”. Then he took the photo of a woman and asked me again: “Do you see, Don Amorth?”, and again I responded: “I don’t understand anything, Don Candido”. His response was: “This woman greatly needs medical treatment, she needs to go see the doctors and not the exorcists”. Finally, he took the third photo picturing a young lady: “Do you see Fr. Amorth? This young lady needs an exorcism, do you see?”. and I replied: “Fr. Candido, I don’t see anything! I only see if someone is beautiful or ugly. And to be quite honest, this young lady isn’t bad at all!”. And he burst out laughing! I had made a joke, but he had already understood that that girl needed God.

You’ve said before that Fr. Candido never got angry, not even with the devil. Was Satan afraid of him?

He was very afraid of him, he trembled before him! He would immediately run away. In reality, the devil is afraid of all of us, one only needs to live in God’s grace!

Obviously you witnessed Don Amantini’s exorcisms…

Of course! I went to them for six years. I was appointed exorcist in 1986 and I began to perform exorcisms with him beginning that year. Then in 1990, two years before he died, I began performing exorcisms alone because he wasn’t practicing anymore. When someone went to him he responded: “Go see Fr. Amorth”. That is why I am considered to be his successor…

Was Fr. Candido ironic even with the devil?

I want to tell you about one very important episode to help you understand a truth. You need to know that when there’s a case of diabolical possession, there is a dialogue between the exorcist and the devil. Satan is a great liar, but sometimes the Lord obliges him to tell the truth. Once Fr. Candido was liberating a person after many exorcisms and with his typical irony he told the devil: “Go away for the Lord has created a nice warm home for you, he has prepared a little house for you where you won’t suffer from the cold”. However, the devil interrupted him and replied: “You don’t know anything”.

What did he mean?

When the devil interrupts with a saying like this, it means that God has obliged him to tell the truth. And this time it was extremely important. The faithful often ask me: “But how is it possible that God created Hell, why did he think of a place of suffering?”. And so that time the devil responded to the provocations of Fr. Candido by revealing an important truth about Hell: “It was not Him, God, who created Hell! It was us. He hadn’t even thought of it!” Therefore in the plan of God’s creation the existence of Hell had not been contemplated. The demons created it! During exorcisms, I have also often asked the devil: “Did you create Hell?”. And his response has always been the same: “We all cooperated”.

What advice did Fr. Candido give you?

He have me a lot of advice, especially in the final two years of his life. The most important? To be a man of faith and prayer and always to ask the intercession of Mary Most Holy. And then to always be humble, because an exorcist has to know that he isn’t worth a quid without God. It’s the Lord that makes the exorcism work. If he doesn’t intervene, the exorcism isn’t worth anything.

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Egypt urges U.S. restraint over Missouri unrest

CAIRO - Egypt on Tuesday urged U.S. authorities to exercise restraint in dealing with racially charged demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri - echoing language Washington used to caution Egypt as it cracked down on Islamist protesters last year.
U.S. foes Iran and Syria also lambasted the United States, but while they are frequent critics of Washington, it is unusual for Egypt to criticize such a major donor. It was not immediately clear why Egypt would issue such a statement.
Ties between Washington and Cairo were strained after Egyptian security forces killed hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters following the army's ousting of freely elected President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry's statement on the unrest in Ferguson read similarly to one issued by U.S. President Barack Obama's administration in July 2013, when the White House "urged security forces to exercise maximum restraint and caution" in dealing with demonstrations by Mursi supporters.
The ministry added it was "closely following the escalation of protests" in Ferguson, unleashed by the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman on Aug. 9.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...

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These Charts Show How The World Feels About 8 Moral Issues

What people find morally acceptable and unacceptable depends on where they live in the world.
The charts below from the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project show people's views on eight topics, often considered moral issues: extramarital affairs, gambling, homosexuality, abortion, premarital sex, alcohol consumption, divorce, and contraceptives.
Pew surveyed 40,117 respondents in 40 different countries in 2013 to obtain the data.
The first graphic below gives the median response across the world. People were the most disapproving of extramarital affairs, with 78% calling them morally "unacceptable," while 14% of respondents, the lowest in the survey, felt contraceptive use was "unacceptable." Topics like premarital sex and alcohol use were most the polarizing.




Pew Research Center

The rest of the charts, ordered from least-accepted topic to the most, show a breakdown of how various countries responded. The colors correspond to specific regions: green represents Asia/the Pacific; mauve, Europe; light blue, Latin America; peach, the Middle East, bright blue, North America; brown, Sub-Saharan Africa.
As Pew noted:
"Generally, African and predominantly Muslim countries tend to find most of these activities morally unacceptable, while in advanced economies, such as those in Western Europe, Japan, and North America, people tend to be more accepting or to not consider these moral issues at all."
Extramarital affairs

More than half of people in all but one country — France — consider having an affair immoral.

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...

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Atheists Accuse Pizza Shop of Violating Their Civil Rights by Offering Church Bulletin Discount

A restaurant owner who is under fire for offering a faith-based discount to customers says he doesn’t plan to discontinue it, despite receiving a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a secular activist group.
Steven Rose, owner of Bailey’s Pizza in Searcy, Arkansas, told TheBlaze Wednesday that he posted a 10 percent discount on his restaurant’s Facebook page on July 19 for anyone who brought in a church bulletin. Not long after, he received a comment from a user named “Bong Hits for Jesus” that read, “Good luck on your discrimination lawsuit.”
“I didn’t give much credence to it,” he said of the comment, but the story doesn’t end there.

(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...

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Gay Bathhouses Across US Face An Uncertain Future

Gay Bathhouses Across US Face An Uncertain Future As the number of bathhouses declines, some are adding new amenities and advertising online to keep their doors open
Saturday 23 August 2014 11.09 EDT
In their heyday in the late 1970s, there were nearly 200 bathhouses in the US. Today, there are fewer than 70 nationwide. Gay bathhouses that once remained in the shadows to stay in business are now seeking attention to keep their doors open.
Some are doing aggressive online advertising and community outreach. Others tout upscale amenities like plush towels and marble baths. A bathhouse in Ohio has even added hotel rooms and a nightclub.
Gone are the days when bathhouses drew crowds just by offering a discreet place for gay men to meet, share saunas and, often, have sex.
“The acceptance of gay men has changed the whole world. It’s taken away the need to sneak into back-alley places,” said Dennis Holding, 75, who owns a Miami-based bathhouse.
In the heyday of bathhouses, in the late 1970s, there were nearly 200 gay bathhouses in cities across the US; by 1990, the total had dropped to approximately 90, according to Damron, the publisher of an annual gay travel guide. In the last decade bathhouses, including ones in San Diego, Syracuse, Seattle and San Antonio, have shut down and the total nationwide is less than 70. Most patrons are older.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...

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Italy Steps Up Security Over Alleged ISIS Plot Against The Pope

Vatican scoffs at threats that Pope Francis is “in the cross hairs” of ISIS as Italy issues a terrorist threat and tightens security.
VATICAN CITY — As Pope Francis continues to straddle the fine line between calling for the end of persecution of Christians in Iraq and blessing American airstrikes against the Islamic State (also known as the “Caliphate,” ISIS, or ISIL), there is increasing concern for the pontiff’s—and the public’s—safety.
Earlier this week, the Roman newspaper Il Tempo published a disturbing report that Francis is “in the crosshairs” of ISIS for “bearing false witness” against Islam. Citing anonymous sources within Italy’s intelligence community and pointing to notable heightened security in Rome, the paper went on to say that ISIS plans to heat things up by “raising the level of confrontation” with Europe, Italy and very specifically Pope Francis, the “greatest exponent of the Christian religions.” The Vatican downplayed the concerns, calling them unfounded despite growing concern in Italy that it is not just the Pope who is under threat. “There is nothing serious to this,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told Catholic News Agency. “There is no particular concern in the Vatican.”
The Italian government apparently begs to differ. Earlier this week, Italy’s deputy interior minister Filippo Bubbico said that Italy and the Vatican are equally at risk after authorities issued a terrorism alert, warning ISIS could launch terrorist attacks on what they referred to as “sensitive targets” in Rome and elsewhere, specifically pinpointing embassies to both Italy and the Holy See, Catholic churches, bus and train stations, sea ports, airports and travel agencies. Other security measures include restricting air space above Vatican City and Italy’s foreign ministry, in addition to stepped up police presence in public transportation hubs and busy tourist sites like the Coliseum, the Spanish Steps and St. Peter’s Square. “ISIS poses an international and European security threat and we in Italy feel particularly exposed,” Bubbico told Italian SKY news.

“Our goal is to make sure that even the Vatican will be Muslim.”

The terrorism alert came the day after Italy’s parliament approved a measure to start shipping weapons to help arm Kurdish peshmerga troops fighting ISIS—a promise made by Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi on a state visit to Iraq earlier this month. Sicilian seaports that will facilitate the shipment have already stepped up security measures, especially on incoming vessels.
Since the terrorist alert and heightened security, at least five suspected potential jihad fighters were arrested near Venice this week as they prepared to leave for Iraq. Italy’s leading Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that at least 50 Italians are now known to be fighting with ISIS, pointing out that 80 percent are “very Italian” and only 20 percent are sons of immigrants, dispelling fears among some Italians that a spike in illegal immigration has somehow played a role in the recruitment of young people. Instead, the rise in recruits from Italy is fueled by “disillusionment with the future,” “distrust in the Catholic Church,” and “boredom,” according to the paper, which said all the known fighters are men between the ages of 18-25.
By no coincidence, perhaps, the bulk of the known ISIS foreign fighters from Italy hail from the northern regions where the controversial jihadi recruiter Imam Bilal Bosnic worked until Italy’s counterterrorism police started investigating him last year. Bosnic has admitted to trying to recruit converted Italian Muslims to fight with and finance ISIS. According to police investigating the five alleged jihadi fighters in Venice, Bosnian Imam Ismar Mesinovic also worked to recruit young Italians and was a close associate of Bosnic. Mesinovic was killed in battle in Syria last year after taking his two-year-old son with him to fight, according to police reports and interrogations with his wife, who is searching for information about the whereabouts of her young child.
Bosnic, who is now in Bosnia, gave an extensive interview to La Repubblica that ran on Thursday, in which he defended his recruitment technics as war tactics. He said that Greta Raminelli and Vanessa Marluzzo, two Italian aid workers currently being held in Iraq, “deserved to be kidnapped because they were interfering with the Muslim state,” adding that “it is the dutyof every good Muslimto be involved in some way in the jihad, fighting, helping, giving assistanceeach according to his ability, even with financing.”
He also told the paper that journalist James Foley deserved to die and that they will one day conquer the Vatican. “Foley was a spy. This is widely known. Killing is justified in some cases. In Islamit is acceptable to kill a prisoner if in some way this can be scary to the enemy. I understand that may sound terriblebut we are fighting awar, that was a war tactic,” he said. “We Muslims believe that one day thewhole world will be an Islamic state. Our goal is to make sure that even the Vatican will be Muslim. Maybe I will not be able to see it, but that time will come.”

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Why Do People Believe in Ghosts?

In June, Sheila Sillery-Walsh, a British tourist visiting the historic island-prison of Alcatraz in San Francisco, claimed that she captured an image of a ghost in a picture she snapped on her iPhone. In the frame of what was otherwise supposed to be a picture of an empty prison cell was a blurry black and white image of a woman. The story, which was printed in the British tabloid the Daily Mail, featured on the Bay Area's local KRON4 TV station and mocked by SFist, isn't the first time the Daily Mail has claimed that strange images have come up on smart devices.
Normally, a paranormal story wouldn’t catch my attention, but a few months before the story came out, a Spanish friend of mine named Laura showed me a weird image she found on her phone while I was traveling in Madrid. The photo, taken on her iPhone while on a trip to Ethiopia, shows a boy looking down at leaves he is holding in his hands. Seemingly superimposed onto the boy is another image of the boy, hands in a different position and eyes looking straight at the camera.
Laura was convinced she captured an image of a ghost.
Then a few weeks later I discovered an image of a man in the background of a photo I took with my own iPhone. The picture was taken in my apartment and the man, whom I can’t identify, was not actually in the apartment at the time.
Recent surveys have shown that a significant portion of the population believes in ghosts, leading some scholars to conclude that we are witnessing a revival of paranormal beliefs in Western society.

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...