Back when I was a kid I use to have all sorts of odd things happen to me; I mean really weird stuff, like knowing things before they could be known, seeing things that no one else saw, weird stuff like that. I never paid much attention to the odd stuff I felt and saw because I figured that everyone else felt and saw similarly.

I didn’t realize how wrong I was until a close friend playfully took me to task for knowing when she was going to call and what she was going to call about. Apparently not everyone was as sensitive as I was, and at first I thought it was cool. Then I found that guys who finish their date’s sentences tend not to go on dates very often, and I started ignoring the things I was sensitive to.

Nowadays I suspect my feelings and impressions of future events are no more accurate than anyone else’s, which is a shame because I could sure use it when I play the lottery.

Be that as it may, it seems that a lot of folks experience things that they can’t explain. These events are often categorized as being "paranormal," which carries all sorts of negative or minimizing connotations and it’s often hard to get anyone else to take the experiences seriously.

That’s where the paranormal investigators from Pennsylvania State University comes in. This group, made up of students studying several disciplines, get calls for help from people who have exhausted most normal resources in attempts to explain and/or alleviate paranormal occurrences. There’s a new show based on the cases the Penn State crew investigates on the A&E channel called Paranormal State. The episode titled, Sixth Sense, is free to download this week.

Like in the Sci Fi Channel’s show, Ghost Hunters, the Paranormal State crew tries to portray objectivity and even some healthy skepticism while investigating a couple whose young son is supposedly visited by ghosts. The show follows along as the investigators talk to folks, then attempt to witness the phenomenon for themselves. And, as in Ghost Hunters, there’s a lot of infrared camera shots, whispering, and camera jiggling, but no actual ghosts.

Is the kid faking it to get attention or is it that the Paranormal State crew have no real idea what to do with a real ghost. You decide.

As for me and my experiences, I can tell that they were real in as much as I remember them. Maybe kids are naturally more sensitive than adults. Who knows?

Check out the free episode of Paranormal State at the iTunes Store.

From the paranormal to the quasi-normal, October Road is an ABC evening soap-opera drama that’s in its second season. I must admit, I’m not big on these types of shows and I likely would not watch them on TV or buy episodes from the iTunes Store, but the freebie downloads are interesting; they include two music videos and an interview session with the cast of October Road.

I throughly enjoyed the music videos, and the 24 minute cast interview was mildly interesting. If you’re already a fan of October Road then you’ll love these freebies. If you’re not a fan check out the freebies anyway, you might find that you like this sort of thing.

OK, remember high school science class where the cool kids deer-in-the-headlight look while other more mentally agile folks will try to tap dance their way to an answer, which may or may not be the right answer, but at least it’s an attempt.

Well, if you’re tired of staring back blankly or tap dancing you might want to take a look at some of the Instant Egghead video podcasts. These shows, produced by Scientific American and 60 Second Science, cover a variety of topics from meditation to Dark Matter.

Christopher Mims explains it all in Instant Egghead (Note the iMac. He really IS a smart guy.)

I downloaded the What is Evo-Devo episode and watched as Christopher Mims, resident egghead, explains the concepts of evolution/devoltion based on gene theory. If you can feel your eyes starting to glaze over, fear not, Mr. Mims makes his explanation easy to digest and, after watching the 2 minute episode, you may actually feel a bit smarter.

There are currently only 5 episodes, but more are on the way, which is a good thing. We can all do with a bit more science.

That’s a wrap for this week. Thanks for reading and I predict that you’ll be here next week. (Hey! I haven’t lost my touch after all.)

More free stuff at the iTunes Store:

Vern Seward is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He’s been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.