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Several readers in Australia have sent us to an alarming site:www.betterhealthchannel.com.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Homeopathy?OpenDocument where we find at the top of the Better Health Channel (BHC) page this heading:
What follows isnot reliable, and ofpoor quality. Someone in the government of the State of Victoria has okayed this without troubling to check any of the facts. But they say:
Just what does this "rigorous and exhaustive approval process" consist of? Going to that "quality assurance page," we find naive misrepresentations, statements such as:
Then the article presents — without any discussion or evaluation — the notions of Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, that:
Then they give another misleading statement:
The "clinical trials" they refer to have all been conducted by homeopathic interests, and we note that at the close of this BHC article, they state that: "This page has been produced in consultation with, and approved by the Australian Homeopathic Association." What a surprise! Were any conventional experts — those strange fuddy-duddies who prefer facts and reality — brought into this "consultation" by the State of Victoria? We'd like to know!
And the BHC article manages, via the input of the homeopaths — not to our surprise — to bomb legitimate medical practices in favor of homeopathy:
This is sheer fiction — not the "philosophy," but the assumption — and it's astounding that the BHC has allowed this to appear on their pages! Huge and dramatic successes are accomplished by "conventional" medicine every day, but that fact is ignored. And read what the BHC says about their usual practice in considering material that they publish:
Having examined what they say about homeopathy, we see that at least this section has escaped all five of these "procedures."
It says, above, that their articles are "also regularly updated." Well, this item on our web page should be part of the next update, BHC. We await its inclusion.
Sure.
Aussie reader Marcus Lang:
Ah, but see how smart you're now getting, Marcus! Must be the magnets....
Hopping over to New Zealand, we have reader Jamas Enright:
You've already got your answer, Jamas. The media do anything to get ratings, and seeing the adoration offered John Edward in Australia, NZ has shamelessly copied the format to get some of the bundles of cash that both the USA and Australia have seen rolling in from the gullible. And the program sponsors are laughing all the way to the bank, too....
TOM CRUISE ACTUALLY MAKES SOME SENSE
Increasingly controversial actor Tom Cruise, now campaigning on behalf of Scientology against the science of psychiatry — and psychology — has been screeching at media interviewers as if he actually knows something about these matters that wasn't invented by the late science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard, who came up with the notions of, first, a crackpot theory he called "dianetics," and then a very profitable religion he dubbed "Scientology" based on the dianetics pseudoscience. Said Tom recently, while being interviewed along with Steven Spielberg about their film treatment of H.G. Well's "War of the Worlds":
Well, Tom and I agree on that obviously true statement. From the mathematical point of view alone, the presence of other life somewhere is inescapable. By guessing alone, Tom would be right — but his belief is not based on mathematics nor on chance; he believes that, because Scientology told him so.
Spielberg, who did very well with his blockbusters "E.T. the Extraterrestrial" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," was once a very uncritical and vocal supporter of UFO sightings and contacts, but has recently changed his opinion on the matter, reasoning logically:
But he readily agreed with his star, Cruise — though for logical reasons — on the "other life out there" possibilities:
Hey, guys, we all agree on that point, really, even though it's not in the Bible. But I — and perhaps Steven? — disagree on Tom Cruise's religion, Scientology, which currently doesn't widely advertise some awkward facts. Their founder Hubbard based the whole religion on a story about a galactic warlord from 75 million years ago named Xenu, who he said assembled billions of criminals from other planets, those millions of years ago, and imprisoned them inside Earth's volcanoes. The souls of these space creatures, he preached, are still constantly interfering with us. The mission of Scientology is to help us to shed these spirits, he said.
Sheeesh!
It was Scott Harbaugh who referred me to this next item. From Chuck Shepard's "News of the Weird" site:
Asks Scott: "It must be working." How can you argue with that sort of logic?
But the user is warned to use the pouch only in conjunction with other "Layers of Light" products, because
Oh, now it's all clear to me; I was wondering about those aspects. The specific instructions for the magical pouch — are you paying attention, Mr. Erstad? — are provided:
Folks, the above provides ample evidence that this is a thoroughly quack device, typical of the seemingly modern scientific approach due to the lofty terminology (quantum, magnetic, alignment, electro-pollution, toxic vapors, traumas) applied in a meaningless manner.
In the late 1800s it was magnets for health, then in the 1960s and 70s it was copper bracelets, which gave way again to various applications of magnets, and now it's a bag of crystals and the titanium necklace, priced from $23 to $188, and worn by otherwise smart sports figures. And red kabbalah string bracelets. I wonder if you can mix the bracelets and necklaces without explosion — or at least getting a bad rash...?
Reader William McEwen:
Oh, wouldn't we love to see a case brought against the Star-Telegram by an unfortunate reader who followed advice given for the wrong day, and lost money or was run over by a bus as a result? I can just hear the plaintiff: "Yes, your honor, I always do stupid things, but this careless action by the newspaper made me even stupider!"
STARCH DETECTED IN SHAW'S SUPERMARKET!
Chip Taylor, a reader "in counterfeit-free central Vermont," tells us:
Chip, you missed a great opportunity when you were shown the officer's collection of really phony bills; a stroke of that pen on each one of them would have shown that it didn't work! And, the "Randi method" mentioned above needs explanation:
I regularly go to my bank and take out a couple thousand dollars in $50 bills. I bring them back to the JREF library, lay them out on the large table there, and spray them with canned spray-starch. I let them dry, then turn them over and treat the other side. When they're all prepared, I put them back in the same wrappers, make out a deposit slip, and trot out to my bank again. I admit that the folks there are quite mystified by this sequence, and probably examine those bills very carefully before mixing them back in with the currency population. But just picture the result: all over the state of Florida and beyond, innocent customers are offering very real currency in return for goods and services — and being accused of proffering counterfeit bills. If this happens enough times, with the bills being checked and validated, people are going to become convinced that this phony device just doesn't work. There will be exceptions, of course. One will be our local German restaurant, the Old Heidelberg, where I unknowingly tried to "pass" one of my own treated bills, and was lectured by the dunderhead in charge on how useful the pen was. They even called in a local cop, who agreed that this was a legitimate means of detecting phony bills, was not at all swayed by a call I made to the Secret Service — they verified that the pen didn't work — and trotted me off to the local bank. The manager there validated the bill, and the cop ushered me out and told me to "not do that again." I guess he meant dining at the Old Heidelberg — and I've obeyed that order carefully. If they're that uninformed at that restaurant, they may not know the difference between a bratwurst and a tube of caulking. And that could be fatal.
The new Nicole Kidman "Bewitched" movie could make life a living hell for the fans. According to "occult expert" David Benoit of Virginia, the film makes witchcraft seem so "harmless" to folks — especially to kiddies — that it will inspire them to give it a shot themselves. He says this isn't a good idea because, as everyone knows, any kind of spell-casting can attract real demons which possess the people performing the spells. Hey, Benoit should know. He's the author of "14 Things Witches Hope Parents Never Find Out."
Could one of those feared things be that people who believe in witches are twits?
Reader Thomas G. Meloche tells us:
Reader Nathan Hendrickson, following on the item last week on the Great Tulsa Brouhaha to which he contributed, reports:
Nathan responded:
I heartily agree. Kudos to Ms. Buck-Miser, a properly concerned — and responsive — public servant
Well, friends, my offer last week to pay the JREF million to anyone who could prove that the Sun revolves about the Earth, got the expected storm of responses. All but a few properly pointed out that it's a matter of relativity — not Albert's variety, though similar — and that's of course right. I answered the first dozen or so, but then decided that I'd provide this general response here.
It's very true that one can look upon the Earth as the reference position, in which case the Sun would be traveling around the Earth. However, in any situation like this, we look at the parsimonious view: what is the simplest relationship that can be derived? To provide another difficult question: When you walk across the beach, you will probably perceive that action as your body moving across the surface of the Earth, which — relative to you — is standing still. But if you wished, you could also choose to decide that your legs are turning the planet Earth beneath your body — and that's just as correct — though bizarre — as the more sober view. It's relative, you see.
The old Ptolemaic view that the Earth stood still, and that all the planets, stars, and the Moon and Sun, revolved about the Earth, provides us with very complex views of the paths of those bodies. The outer planets, for example, go through "epicycles," which means that as they travel across the sky relative to the stars, they appear to slow down and stop, then go into reverse for a period, after which they resume their "regular" motion. If they were actually revolving around a stationary Earth, that motion would be very difficult to explain. Mind you, it could be expressed — and has been expressed — by huge and cumbersome equations, but the much simpler planets-travel-in-ellipses-around-the-Sun picture yields more basic and parsimonious results.
Trying not to get too confusing about all this, I must tell you that if you chose to accept the Moon as your point of reference, for example, you could work out the equations in a similar fashion, and if you then decided that the Earth revolved around the Moon, that would be as "correct," as well. And, the Earth does not exactly perform an ellipse around the Sun; the center of gravity of the Earth/Moon combination performs an ellipse around a point very near the center of the Sun. And that point in the Sun moves around too, subject to attractions from the planets....
The answer's in there somewhere. It's a very complex and involved, ever-changing set of parameters.
Oh, I almost forgot: when a comet enters the Solar System, that makes the.... Forget it.
The devout head of Catholic Apologetics International — Dr. Robert Sungenis — has very clearly and proudly stated his medieval philosophy, for those who inquire. Go towww.catholicintl.com/qa/qa.htm#Question%2050 and look at question #50, asked by a woman:
Lucky Maureen! Her husband allows her to vote, and if he could find a college heapproves of, he'dallow her to attend there, too. Clearly, despite his education — I can't find what his doctorate consists of — Dr. Sungenis has yet to peek out of the 14th century. Reader Nathan Stohler has sent me another Sungenis flash of genius. Nathan wrote to him:
Fearlessly, Sungenis established his scientific authority by responding:
Wow, I'm floored by such slick repartee, and tempted by the $5 offer! I must agree, Dr. Bob, I don't "get it." But since it's not there to be "gotten," I'm spinning my wheels....
WALDORF/STEINER/ANTHROPOSOPHIST SCHOOLS IN NORWAY
Reader Trygve Knudsen offers us an insight into the strange curriculum of those expensive and exotic "Steiner Schools — also known as "Waldorf Schools" — that infest the globe. They are based on the teachings of architect/artist/occultist Rudolph Steiner [1861-1925] based on anthroposophist notions:
Reader John Goldie has reason to fear his local library:
John, this is probably Russian "psychic prodigy" Natasha Demkina, who we've written up here several times (www.randi.org/jr/031805x.html#1) and who has been thoroughly exposed and debunked — though one might have to actually do a little research to discover that fact.
Now you've got me really interested, John. I pursued this self-devouring octopus statement, and athttp://library.thinkquest.org/J001418/octopus.html I was told that these critters will nibble themselves away "when stressed." I dunno. I agree with you that such a tendency seems not very species-survival-positive. As for that nine-meters-plus-straight-up leap by an armadillo, other sources report that it's three to four feet — .9 to 1.2 meters — so that just might be a misplaced decimal point. I can't see an armadillo surviving a self-launched 30-foot fall, despite its armor.... John continues:
That lemming-suicide myth began in 1958 with the release of the Disney movie "Wild Wilderness." It's a total invention, it's spurious, wrong, untrue, and bogus. But, it's such an attractive lie that it's easily believed, repeated, and promoted by folks who need fantasy in their lives. John:
Thanks, John. Just be sure that your kids watch their decimals....!
There are several varieties of "vegetarian." There are "vegans, who avoid all animal products, including milk products. "Fruitarians" consume only fruit, nuts, and other seeds. But atwww.randi.org/jr/071103.html — and other locations — you'll find the most extreme diet-claimers of all, the "breatharians," who claim to subsist on nothing but air and light. Most of them say that they don't even need to drink water. Or beer, for that matter.
A well-known advocate of breatharianism is Ellen Greve, a businesswoman from Australia who claims she hasn't eaten any real food for the last 12 years. She has adopted the name "Jasmuheen," which we'll all agree sounds much more mystical than "Ellen," and is likely to attract gullible folks who will buy into her delusion and her scam. She's written a book, "Living on Light, the Source of Nourishment for the New Millennium," about how "Ascended Masters" speak to her by "cosmic telepathy," and how she draws upon invisible "pranic energy" for her sustenance. Questioned on the obvious personal matter, she says that she excretes only "rabbit-type droppings every three weeks," a claim that has not excited my interest at all.
Her claim that she lives on light, however, is something that we could easily examine. I've already explained why these claims are usually ignored by the JREF, but I must make an exception here because of the high profile attained by Jasmuheen. For her to fail a widely-publicized test would relieve us of all the nutty and noisy "airians" we hear from regularly. I'll bet that we could get together some funding to conduct a comprehensive test of her claim.
However, we have to look at what happened in 1999 when Jasmuheen agreed to undergo a challenge issued by the "60 Minutes" TV show in Australia. They confined her in a hotel room under a doctor's care, but after only two days of this, she began showing symptoms of high blood pressure, dehydration, and stress. Asked why she had these problems, she said it was because of "air pollution," so the show moved her off to a mountain location where the air was probably much better. Two days later, she was ill again. Her speech had slowed, her pupils were dilated, her pulse was almost double the normal rate. The doctor in charge said that her kidneys were in danger of being damaged, so the experiment was immediately terminated.
Hey, I'll do that test, first making sure that Jasmuheen is totally satisfied about the circumstances, and meeting all her requirements, including location, atmosphere, and ambiance. I'll also get a comprehensive waiver from her that says she won't bring legal action against anyone if something goes wrong, that she's a competent adult, that she will tell us when and if she has any problems, and that she will close off the test at any time she wishes. But I won't allow the test to be terminatedunless Jasmuheen herself says she wants it to be stopped!
Why am I so heartless? You should know that to date, three of her followers have starved to death by following her instructions. If she has the wisdom to command them to die, she should have the smarts to know when she's going down that slope, as well. Jasmuheen said of one of those dupes who died, that she was "not coming from a place of integrity and did not have the right motivation." I believe that Jasmuheen should be allowed — even encouraged — to demonstrate that she herself has both the required integrity and the correct motivation.
However, here's something that might be far easier to test: Jasmuheen claims that her own DNA has changed shape from 2 strands to 12, "in order to absorb more hydrogen." (Don't fall off your chair laughing, and youknow that I couldn't have invented such a stupid claim!) She's already been asked by the Australian Skeptics if she'd allow her DNA to be unraveled, and they offered her A$30,000 — which she said she'd think about. She stated, "I don't know what the relevance for it is." Perhaps by now she's been able to arrive at a decision on that matter, and has also considered the fact that the prize — for her — now amounts to US$1,023,000. That's a lot of "relevance," Jasmuheen.
We'll keep you posted, since I'm sure we'll have an immediate and enthusiastic acceptance from Jasmuheen. (yawn)
Reader Brian Makepeace writes:
As usual, readers are eager to correct me. Dr. Matt Fields, for example, tells me that a reference I made last week to myths of creation, had an error. He writes:
Picky, picky, picky! Okay. Then our friend and reader Flavio Rizzardi in Padua, Italy, along with some 30 other readers, pointed out something that I really should have spotted:
Reader Jeremy Lyon, of Mesquite, Texas, on this same point, adds:
Reader William McEwen — you heard from him earlier in this edition ofSwift — also offers input on this item:
All on my own, upon re-reading last week's review of the Browne book, I saw that I'd passed over an obvious question: How did Browne's co-author Chris discover — through his fabulous psychic powers? — that the temperature of heaven was "a perfect 78 degrees"? Did he have a thermometer with him when he visited Never Never Land — oops, I mean, "the Other Side" — or are there thermometers stuck up on the trees? And, if Eskimos, polar bears, and Emperor penguins go there, do they carry bags of ice cubes around to beat the sweltering — to them — heat? But the heavenly ice and snow, Chris tells us, are warm.... And as reader Eric Johnson, in Canada, says:
Well, Eric there are problems with your belief that temperatures below the equator are always warm. You see, when Canada has summer, Australia has winter.... But your basic observation was just fine.
Reader Steve Ferry adds his bit:
And Steve Wilcox of Denver, Colorado, writes:
I agree.... But I must let Sylvia have the last word here. This, I couldn't improve upon. On the Larry King show last week, promoting her silly book, she announced that there also are no skunks in heaven.
Even Larry laughed at that one..
Atwww.energels.com/main.htm you will see ads for an "Energy Mug" and an "Energy Egg," both of which produce miracles that are obviously eligible to win the JREF million-dollar prize. The mug will:
But, cautions Cheryl Peterson, who sells this set of merchandise, "Do Not X-Ray Or Microwave" the mug. That makes sense.... I couldn't resist issuing a proper challenge to this claptrap. I sent this letter, both by US Postal Service and by e-mail:
For her convenience, I sent Ms. Peterson a printed copy of the JREF "Application for Status of Claimant" form. Of course I don't expect that I'll have any response from her, but if I do, you'll be the first to know. Reader Germán Buela alerted me to this item.
Under the heading, "VOODOO SCIENCE," Bob Park tells us that the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, the oldest medical school in the nation, which had formed a partnership with the Tai Sophia Institute to offer a master's degree in Complementary and Alternative Medicine, has quietly severed ties to Tai Sophia. Fight 'em all, win a few.
Reader Kurt Kober suggests you go tohttp://in-souls.com/index2.html, but only when and if you have the time to carry on laughing and kicking your heels. You'll be in stitches when you see just how damn silly people can get! And I'm sure that the proprietor of this site, understanding that silliness factor fully, is dragging in the coin....!
Those of you who know about The Great Carlos event, in which our friend and artist Jose Alvarez created the character of "Carlos," a spirit he was "channeling" for the people of Sydney, Australia, may obtain a much clearer picture of his ongoing project and what he has done after that original performance in 1988, by tuning in towww.wnyc.org/studio360/show061105.html, where author/art historian Thomas Hoving is interviewed by host Kurt Andersen on the artist and his work. I strongly suggest that you listen to the whole program, clicking in on "Forge This" and then "Airwave Imposters" leading up to the "Carlos" segment; this is an excellent discussion of fakery in general, the subject that we handle in depth here at the JREF, and it goes into how Alvarez created this fictitious persona who was so willingly accepted by the public of Australia in the same way they'd chosen to believe so many fakers-for-gain who invaded their shores. This hour of WNYC radio is entertaining and educational, and will demonstrate how the art of fakery can be either constructive or damaging, depending entirely upon the goal of the creator. You can also listen to another interview about his work atwww.wps1.org/include/shows/correspond_miami.html where Alvarez goes a little more into his intentions. Click on Edition #15.
The formidable team of Richard Wiseman and Simon Singh will be opening a science stage production in London on July 4th — perhaps in observance of the 1776 Britain/colony severance? — and it's a sell-out already! You can see all the details atwww.simonsingh.com/Theatre_of_Science.html. A monstrous Tesla Coil — shown in the illustration — will be co-starring in the show, and the audience will get to choose which of the two presenters will take up residence onstage in a coffin-shaped Faraday Cage at the close of each show as a million volts or so is blasted at the daring "involunteer." The producers of the show had first intended that an audience member would be selected as the subject for this experiment, but the insurance company handling the affair firmly refused to issue a policy if a hapless human guinea pig were to be so selected; they opted to use one of the two scientists. Scientists are very close to being regular people, but are apparently considered dispensable — which makes sense, because in this case either one can carry on the show without the other "fried" member of the team present, and a replacement for the next show can be easily and quickly obtained from the huge rank of parapsychologists and psychics that the UK boasts. My personal suggestions would include Rupert Sheldrake and Derek Acora, and I'm prepared to expand that list....
In any case, there is now a £12 million policy covering possible mishaps at the "Theatre of Science" show, and the background of Michael Faraday has been examined in detail; all seems in order.
I know, last week I promised you an excerpt from an interview with Scientologist/actor Tom Cruise, a homeopathy trial in Norway, and an examination of Himalayan Rock Salt Crystal Lamps. Too much other stuff came up, so I'll postpone those goodies until next week. Apologies.
