I've been reading a book called
41 Signs of Hope by Dave Kane. Dave Kane is the father of Nicholas O'Neill, who was the youngest person to die in what we around here refer to as the Station nightclub fire. A bad fire caused by use of pyrotechnics in a nightclub act in a place built of firebox tender caused the club to go up in flames. 100 people died.
(if you are into details, wiki does OK:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Station_nightclub_fire)
Dave Kane writes that the family started getting messages from Nick right away. So he wrote this modest book about it. An easy read. Fun to read.
What struck me is that the things that mean so much to Dave and his wife and to other family members would have no meaning for me.
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In the posts/thread on orbs, there is a small discussion about what orbs are. There is some argument that they have personal meaning. I look at them for a more scientific view, and argue that digital cameras have some flaw that causes these dots of light to appear. I don't think they are good for objective analysis. (Orbs on the oldfashioned film type cameras may, though). However, it does occur to me that orbs in a particular picture could have personal meaning for someone.
http://afterlife-knowledge.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1197413866It is just that I can't use orbs in digital cameras to prove anything. And I can't use all the signs that Dave Kane sees as proof, except in his case they are so pervasive, well it does make you take notice.
So how could personal messages be used to provide evidence? We notice those things that have personal meaning to us, but how could that be "quantified"?
I am also wondering if that will be a problem in the experiments to see if the NDE experiencers will see random pictures. What interest could they have in random pictures? But I can understand their interest in dudes in white or green poking on their bodies.
http://afterlife-knowledge.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1222133676__
I recommend the book, especially to anyone who is grieving for someone. (and I got it on interlibrary loan from Mansfield MA public library; we do have a great library system.) BTW, Nick wrote a play as a teenager, called
They Walk Among Us, about young people who die and return as guardian angels. They didn't find the play until after Nick died, and yes they did produce it.