Warner Bros. Consumer Products and The LEGO Group announced on December 16, 2011 their partnership to produce LEGO toys based upon the Lord of the Rings franchise and the upcoming Hobbit movies. Look for the toys to hit the shelves around June 2012.

Read more from the official LEGO.com press release.

Related articles

• Lego locks in ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Hobbit’ deals (news.cnet.com)
• THE HOBBIT to get LEGOized! (geektyrant.com)
• First Look at the Upcoming LEGO Sets for THE LORD OF THE RINGS (collider.com)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For the rest of us who don’t have the time or talent to build such an elaborate costume, here are some still cool geek Halloween costume ideas.

Kick Ass Costume Costume Source	Iron Man 2 Halloween Costume Costume Source	Deluxe ($$$) Darth Vader Costume Source
Green Lantern Halloween Costume Costume Source	Master Shake Halloween Costume Costume Source	Ghostbusters Halloween Costume Costume Source
Halo 3 Master Chief Costume Costume Source	Hellboy Halloween Costume Costume Source	Watchmen Rorschach Halloween Costume Costume Source
Neo Costume Costume Source	Hit Girl Costume Costume Source	Chun Li Halloween Costume Costume Source
Watchmen Silk Spectre Costume Source	Princess Leia Costume Costume Source	Avatar Neytiri Costume Costume Source
Sleestak Halloween Costume Costume Source

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I consider myself a logical person, yet I accept that there is a lot in the universe we humans have yet to figure out and discover. I’m curious about the paranormal, but I tend to take a very skeptical approach to its existence. A few years ago I discovered the SyFy channel’s Ghost Hunters TV show.  I appreciated their approach in paranormal research – trying to find logical real world explanations for supposed paranormal activity.

Here was a group that wasn’t quick to declare a place “haunted”. In fact, most of the time if a place exhibited phenomenon that they were able to physically document, they would at most say it exhibited paranormal activity. I only remember them declaring a site “haunted” a few times in the first couple of seasons. I respected that. I mean how much detailed evidence can one collect in one short session?

Now I have to admit, I watch Ghost Hunters and some of the other paranormal shows out there for entertainment for the most part. I’ll admit, some of the stuff they’ve “caught” over the years is definitely interesting and has made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. But I think I don’t believe anything they present as evidence anymore.

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My suspicions started when they came out with Ghost Hunters International. Were they going to saturate the genre? Would they be able to fill the extra hour with valid evidence. Well, of course they could find more evidence, there are buildings in Europe older than America, so they’d have some great locations to research.

Then they added Ghost Hunters Academy. At this point I knew they were going for the money – Franchiseville. Now they had three shows and they all depended on content that was not under the direct control of the producers. Spirits and other strange happenings don’t respond to a director yelling “Action!”. The whole series depends on them finding “evidence” that give audiences the chills each week. That’s a tough thing to do, especially when your crew has no control over the main “star” of the show -  the paranormal.

I remember thinking to myself when I heard about GH Academy – “Jeeze, how are they going to deliver decent paranormal activity for these noobs each week? I bet they’re gonna start faking stuff now just to keep up the ratings”. I mean a lot of money and jobs were now tied to delivering spooky stuff each week. Who would want to watch a show where three weeks in a row there wasn’t anything cool to see? No one, right?

But then I remembered the early seasons of Ghost Hunters where they were very reluctant to declare any place haunted. Surely they wouldn’t sell out, but then again Grant and Jason did just buy that nice hotel…

As we all know most people don’t take paranormal activity seriously, nor do they believe in it. Let alone does the main stream scientific community. For this field to be taken seriously, fake findings, “Evidence” and other shenanigans need to be stamped out. The more BS out there that is presented as fact, taints the credibility of the whole field.

Well image my anger a few weeks ago when I stumbled upon the interview with Donna Lacroix and the Ghost Divas. You know the one where she claims that Grant, Jason and the GH production staff are faking some of their evidence.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It sparked my interest. Nobody likes to be lied to especially when it tarnishes the reputation of people who are truly trying to better the reputation of paranormal research. Her interview made me call into question all I had seen on GH. How much, if anything, had they faked? Was the whole show fake now? So I began searching and came across several interesting videos analysing Ghost Hunter footage.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So now I’m wondering just how much of GH *is* fake? I don’t know now so I gotta throw all of it out. I continued to watch the show for its entertainment value only.

I still watch because I am fascinated by the paranormal – not enough to actually do an investigation myself though. I’ve done enough research to know it’s something one has to properly prepare to do correctly. Cowboy Investigating doesn’t do anyone any good. I’ve heeded the warnings by experienced investigators about partial/full possessions, spirit attachments and other nasty stuff I don’t want to mess with right now. Remember – we’re dealing with the unknown of some supposedly nasty stuff. I’d rather be the tech guy.

When I was preparing for this article tonight, I ran across an interesting post by the Ghost Divas calling Donna Lacroix’s credibility into question.

Now I don’t know who to believe anymore. So I guess the safest thing to do is believe no one. “Trust no one” as Mulder used to say.

The thing that pisses me off the most is what kind of damage will this do to the field of paranormal research. Let’s face it, it doesn’t have the best reputation as it is. And all these paranormal TV shows popping up (Just look at the Bio Channel’s line up) I don’t think it’s a good thing. Some of these shows will fake their footage. It’s inevitable. Money talks and ratings = money.

So here I am, not sure of any of it. The good thing about all of this is that the Net has a good BS detector, and liars don’t last too long around here. If Ghost Hunters is faking their evidence, they better remember – we’re all watching. Lies will be exposed. Sure some of these people tossing stones at Ghost Hunters will have an axe to grind, but most will simply be truth seekers.

Long live the truth and the Internets

Related articles

• Syfy’s ‘Ghost Hunters’, Cable’s Hottest Paranormal Franchise, Returns For Season 7 (tvbythenumbers.com)
• Syfy renews “Ghost Hunters” for Season 7 (reuters.com)

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The internet is a great place to find free music, free games, free software, even free sex videos (ie free porn) – all kinds of free stuff is out there. But did you know you can download a ton of free ebooks all legally as well? Okay, you probably know you can and you’ve probably even downloaded a few here and there. But for those of you who are interested in enjoying more free ebooks, here are some sources for the e-books and free ebook readers:

About eBooks

• Wikipedia ebook entry
• Overview of different ebook formats
• Another article on the different ebook types
• Project Gutenberg: No Cost or Freedom?

Popular eBook Formats: .pdf, .DjVu, .pdb, .epub, .azw

eBook Reader/Library Software

• Adobe Reader – Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris & Mobile platforms – Reads: PDF,
• Adobe Digital Editions – Windows, Mac – Reads: PDF, EPUB, flash content
• Aldiko – Android – Reads: EPUB
• Calibre – Windows, Mac, Linux – Reads: CBZ, CBR, CBC, EPUB, FB2, HTML, LIT, MOBI, ODT, PDF, PRC, PDB, PML, RB, RTF, TXT
• eReader – Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, Symbian, iOS (iPhone, iPad, & iPod Touch), Blackberry, Palm OS, PocketPC, Windows Smart Phone, OQO  – Reads: eReader
• iBooks – iOS (iPhone & iPad) – Reads: EPUB (future PDF support announced)
• Lexcycle Stanza – Windows, Mac, iOS – Reads: EPUB. eReader, MS LIT, AZW, MobiPocket, PalmDoc, HTML, PDF, DOC, RTF
• TomeRaider – Windows, PPC, Android, Palm OS, EPOC, various pda/phones – Reads: TR, TR3
• Microsoft Reader – Windows – Reads: MS LIT
• Mobipocket – Windows, mobile devices – Reads: Mobipocket
• Sony Reader Library – Windows, Mac – Reads: EPUB, ASC4
• Kindle Reader – Windows, Mac, iOS (iPhone & iPad), Android, Blackberry – Reads: AZW,

eBook Readers – Hardware

• Apple iPad
• Apple iPhone
• Amazon Kindle
• Barnes & Noble Nook
• Sony Reader
• BeBook
• Selection of readers at NewEgg.com
• Bookeen
• Comparison of readers

eBook Format Converters

• Calibre – ebook library & reader as well
• PDFtoEPub

eBook Libraries – download free eBooks

• Project Gutenberg
• books.google.com
• University of Pennsylvania
• BookGlutton.com (free & paid)
• WikiSource
• Manybooks.net
• Feedbooks.com (free & paid)
• Archive.org
• FreeBookSpot.com
• Free-ebooks.net
• FreeComputerBooks.com
• e-library.net

eBook Stores

• eBooks.com
• eReader.com – A Barnes & Noble Company
• Amazon.com
• Kindle Store – Devices & ebooks
• Sony eBook Store
• Mobipocket
• myBeBook.com
• BooksonBoard.com
• Fictionwise.com (free available too)

Related articles

• Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader comes to Apple iPhone, iPad (intomobile.com)
• EPUB: The final barrier for Kindle Adoption (zdnet.com)
• Hands on review of the Kindle 3 (news.cnet.com)

Sale is good until Friday August 27, 2010 – so you better get your orders in now!

Buy Our Crap Cheap Here!

I couldn’t find a pic of Stewart in his first show of The Daily Show, but I did find an early one, and a pic of Stewart & Conan O’Brien on “The Jon Stewart Show”

Related articles

• It’s Jon Stewart… and He’s a Stormtrooper? (wired.com)
• Jon Stewart on Internet Exploiters aka Google & Verizon (gigaom.com)
• Jon Stewart White Beard Explanation (popcrunch.com)