Banning From The Bottom Up

EoR hopes Stephen Conroy, or the Liberals, or the not-a-coalition of independents, gets their act together and institutes the long needed Great Firewall of Australia so he doesn't have to put up with the filth that infests the interwebs. Such as Annabel Lyon's The Golden Mean. An award winning book about the tutelage of Alexander by Aristotle, the book features a willfully and flagrantly exposed buttock on its cover, leading to one right-minded company banning the book.

“Because we’re obviously a ‘family show’ and we’ve got children in our gift shops, we had suggested we could carry the book if there’s what’s called a ‘belly band’ wrap around the photo.”

Because, of course, children have never seen a bottom, have no idea what a bottom is, and would be horribly psychologically scarred if they happened to see one.

Personally, EoR is more concerned about donkeys of a sensitive nature (like himself) encountering that naked horse bottom on the book cover...

How To Meet A Ghost (2)

Oh, why didn't the spirits warn them beforehand? Not a blood-curdling "Look ooooouuuuttt!" Not even a softly whispered "T".

A man who was with about a dozen people who were looking for a legendary "ghost train" in Iredell County was hit by a locomotive and killed early Friday morning.

(...)

"During the investigation, witnesses told deputies they were at the site in hopes of seeing a 'ghost train'," the Iredell County sheriff's office said in a press release.

The sheriff said the incident coincided with the anniversary of a train wreck that occurred at the same location in 1891.

Journalism: More Scare, Less Fact (2)

A surfer was recently killed in the south-west of Australia after a shark attack. Led by the populist press, this has resulted in the usual scare stories, and manufactured "debate".

Mario Vassallo, a keen surfer who helps promote the professional surfing circuit when it comes to Western Australia for the Margaret River Pro event, has criticised "bloody greenie huggers" who wish to protect sharks, saying: "If they want them so much then they can swim out and hug them."

(...)

"They say there are not as many now and that they are tagging them to keep an eye on them. So much for keeping an eye on them," Vassallo said. "This is getting beyond a joke."

It is difficult to accurately determine how many sharks are killed each year due to humans but experts estimate it is around 38 million just for shark fins alone, while a marine biologist suggests the figure is around 73 million a year. He goes on to note

I have never confirmed that more people are killed every year by vending machines. This certainly could be true as on average 5-6 people per year in the entire world are killed by sharks. There are numerous things far more dangerous to people than sharks such as lighting, boating accidents, bee stings, dogs, hitting deer with your car, etc and the list goes on. We always have to respect sharks as large predators as we do bears and mountain lions but the truth is they are not out to eat humans.

(...)

Literally millions of people are in our oceans every day and are not attacked (...). The risk of shark attack is very low. Less than 100 per year globally.

Shark Safe Network puts the number of sharks killed per year at 100 million, while

To put things into perspective, your lifetime risk of drowning is 1 in 1,134 and from an air/space accident it's 1 in 5,051. The chance that you will be the unlucky victim of a fatal shark attack, however, is 1 in 3,748,067. There are actually more deaths on US beaches from people being smothered by collapsing sand holes than from shark bites!

Discovery News also reports

The New England Journal of Medicine reported that from 1990 to 2006, 16 people died by digging until the sand collapsed and smothered them. ISAF counted a dozen U.S. shark deaths in the same period. Clearly, you’d be safer in the water, with the sharks.

Taronga Conservation Society Australia provide some very good statistics, noting that

Worldwide estimates state that 30 to 100 people a year are attacked. Analysis of over 1,000 case histories world wide, from the International Shark Attack File suggests an average of 30% are fatal.

Australian figures show 25% have been fatal.

Clearly, Australian sharks are actually safer than those in the rest of the world. Deaths from bee stings are two to three times the rate of shark attack deaths, but EoR can't remember the last moral panic from the press concerning "Man killed by bee - Calls for bees to be exterminated". Over 28 times as many people are killed in the US by dogs compared to sharks.

Apart from shark fins, they are also killed for their meat, their oil (used in cosmetics) and cartilage (used in chondroitin products that promote the 'sharks don't get cancer' fallacy).

Journalism: More Scare, Less Fact

The media a little while ago was full of the terrible story of how dangerous Toyota cars were. They mysteriously suffered from Unintended Acceleration Syndrome, becoming unstoppable juggernauts on the highways and freeways of the Western World, sending their terrified drivers on a nightmare ride of terror. Sound grabs of telephone calls made by terrified drivers pleading for help were played over and over. Toyota's market credibility suffered badly. Its CEO made an unprecedented apology.

It now seems that the main fault with Toyotas was the nut behind the wheel. Drivers stamp on the accelerator, panic, and fail to press the brake.

So far, this has not been reported in any of the local media to EoR's knowledge. But a scare story is so much more exciting than reporting that people are stupid.

Just so the climate denial movement's tactics: make an outrageous claim which is sure to be promoted by the nutjobs that promote denial, until it is picked up by the mainstream media who love a beatup. Even when the story is later proved false, the work of the denial movement has been done. The mainstream media rarely, and never prominently, trumpet their errors, and the denial movement can move on to the next desperate act of straw clutching, such as the fact that it is raining.

Alternative Medicine: Natural, Gentle, Holistic, Bullshit (2)

Australian Doctor discusses again in "The Price of Faith" the case of Penelope Dingle's fatal encounter with alternative cures.

Her homeopath, Francine Scrayen, holds a diploma from the Oceanic Institute of Classical Homeopathy (which seems to exist in a post box), as well as a "postgraduate diploma" from Belgium. Proper notekeeping, and medical diagnosis, appear to be subjects not covered in her extensive studies.

(She) duly documents the symptoms in her notes, described by the Coroner's report as both voluminous and detailed, albeit light on details about treatment she actually provided.

EoR wonders how you can detail a treatment that contains nothing?

After a whole year of rectal bleeding, Ms Scrayen notes "perhaps see a doctor". Nonetheless, Ms Dingle decided to forego conventional treatment, which would leave her infertile, and continue with alternative treatment.

During the inquest, Mrs Scrayen denied she had any influence over this decision. She denied telling Mrs Dingle she could cure cancer through homeopathy or treat the cancer without the need for medical treatment.

The Coroner rejected these denials, saying she regarded Mrs Scrayen as "not a witness of truth".

At this time, Mrs Dingle and her husband effectively shut down all contact with the conventional medical world, apart from two doctors EoR has already commented on.

This course of events left Mrs Scrayen in charge of Mrs Dingle's cancer treatment. Despite Mrs Scrayen's detailed notes, there are few clues as to what her homeopathic cure involved. But, according to the Coroner's report, one condition of the treatment was that Mrs Dingle should not accept mainstream pain relief. Mrs Dingle, apparently on the advice of Mrs Scrayen, believed it would affect the efficacy of the homeopathic remedies.

There's that old chestnut about how fragile homeopathic remedies are (which is always a good way to explain why they don't work). Light, perfume, bad thoughts, conventional medicines. They all destroy the wonderful magic spirit angels so easily.

There were claims that Mrs Dingle spent nights screaming in pain and, as a result, was on the phone to her homeopath dozens of times a day for help. She was sometimes told that the pain was "between her ears".

No, the pain was the hopelessly inadequate and unqualified person who had offered her a miracle.

"Well, sometimes it was pain and sometimes — well, the majority of it would be to check whether the remedy was doing something or not... Sometimes it was, but it didn't hold. That's what I kept on saying to her. The remedy works, but it doesn't hold; the remedy works, but it doesn't hold."

Mrs Scrayen then institued another traditional therapy, something she had heard a childhood nurse mention, and suggested Mrs Dingle "insert plugs of Velvet soap in her rectum so she could push through 'the blockage'."

When nurses finally visited Mrs Dingle at her home she was emaciated, weighed around 35kg, in great pain and with a grossly distended abdomen. She refused analgesics "after consulting with her husband." Finally, she was transferred to hospital. Before she had turned away from conventional treatment, she had been told her cancer was treatable. Now her cervix, uterus, ovaries, bowel from the pelvis and fallopian tubes had to be removed surgically. She died in August 2005.

The Coroner said Mrs Dingle was surrounded by "misinformation and poor science", including from her husband, Dr Dingle, a man with no medical qualifications who contributed to decisions about her care.

Homeopathy is accused of being stuck in the medical beliefs of two hundred years ago (which, apart from adopting various buzzwords into meaningless discourse, such as 'quantum entanglement', it is) but this idea that suffering must not only be endured, but is somehow good for you reaches even further back.

Another value found within religious pain is that of relief of guilt or pre-emptive payment for sins done wrong, which falls with the aforementioned juridical model. Many psychoanalysts, including Freud, share a similar perspective towards pain usage. This is often the reason found within the motivations of Christian saints and martyrs. In some instances, punishing the body can be viewed as a way for the person to “pay” for their committed sins, serving to both relieve guilt and anxiety towards the justice they believe will be served at death. Obviously, this can hold a positive psychological value to the person who chooses to inflict pain on themselves for this reason.

Tanveer Ahmed notes that alternative therapies fit perfectly into the worldviews of those who are not 'religious' but are, instead 'spiritual':

Alternative therapies are not confined by the limits of testable knowledge, making their potential power of explanation enormous, and leaving patients thinking their troubles have real spiritual significance.

For example, a naturopath will diagnose problems with a mix of genuine biological and physiological terminology, adopting a sense of medical authority. But the problems will be addressed with questionable, untested treatments such as homeopathy or herbal products.

Patients are left reassured they are not dealing with a quack, but retain a link with nature and the spirit. They are told their condition is unique to them and the power to heal exists inside their own bodies.

Spontaneously Levitating Equines - The Horror Continues

Longterm readers will be aware of EoR's efforts to uncover the suppressed evidence of Spontaneously Levitating Equines.

SLE is a terrible blight that the mainstream media ignores, yet the evidence for it is abundant. Sceptics will deny its existence, or suggest that data is being cherry-picked or misinterpreted, but they are too closed-minded to accept the obvious reality. Such as this photographic proof shows:



The owner is desperately trying to stop her horse from irretrievably being drawn up and away. What causes this terrible condition? EoR thinks there may be a clue in this photo. Note the high voltage power lines in the background! Electromagnetic radiation is a dangerous force that no one should be forced to suffer, as any holistic geologist will tell you. You can't see these evil waves, so they must be dangerous!

EoR urges all horse owners to immediately ensure their horses are safely enclosed in a Faraday Cage now, or you may be next victim to be struck down (or up, as the case may be) by this needless condition.

Alternative Medicine: Natural, Gentle, Holistic, Bullshit

Things have gone quiet concerning the death of Penelope Dingle from cancer which she unsuccessfully sought to treat through homeopathy and alternative means, but the 13th August 2010 issue of Australian Doctor provides some extra information that the mainstream media seemed to ignore.

The article is mainly concerned with two (real) doctors who treated Ms Dingle, and who have been referred to the medical board as a result.

Dr William Barnes recommended vitamin C and Carnivora (Venus Flytrap extract). According to the Coroner's report, Dr Barnes stated this would stop her cancer growing (and only cost around AU$500 a week). Two days later, Ms Dingle apparently changed her mind, preferring instead to rely on 'classical' homeopathy (EoR assumes that's somehow different from 'modern' or 'postmodern' homeopathy). Dr Barnes testified that he told her homeopathy was unlikely to work, but the coroner dismissed this claim, pointing out that Dr Barnes was supportive of homeopathy "at least in some circumstances".

Ms Dingle underwent emergency surgery only when she was on the point of death, after which she again sought out Dr Barnes for help to 'improve' her immune system while undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

He offered her intravenous vitamin C and B with Carnivora, along with intramuscular mistletoe and other alternative treatments. The coroner said Dr Barnes' treatment, which ran from late 2003 and continued for most of 2004, cost $30,000.

Dr Igor Tabrizian was consulted in April 2003 for nutritional advice.

The coroner accused Dr Tabrizian of failing to take adequate notes, compile a detailed history or access the results of Ms Dingle's colonoscopy or MRI scan. The coroner said "it was difficult to reconcile his responsibilities as a doctor" with his failure to assess her condition, though stressed that neither Dr Barnes nor Dr Tabrizian had caused or contributed to her death.

Ms Dingle's homeopath, Francine Scrayen, on the other hand, appears to have kept exemplary records. Indeed, she apparently documented for a year that Ms Dingle had blood in her stool and abdominal pains before suggesting she get a medical diagnosis. Ms Scrayen testified that she had "assumed" that Ms Dingle was suffering from haemorrhoids and that

"according to Hering's law of cure, [this was an] old symptom coming back."

Hering's Law states

From above downwards.
From within outwards.
From a more important organ to a less important one.
In the reverse order of their coming.

It is a magical incantation that predates modern medicine and its understanding of micro-organisms and disease causal factors, but it is still a favourite of homeopaths, especially to placate sufferers of healing crises which, while they may appear to the uneducated eye as an indication that you are geting sicker are actually something completely different:

A healing crisis is the opposite of a dis-ease crisis yet in many ways feels the same, and symptoms are often similar. It's very important to make the distinction between the symptoms of dis-ease process and those of the healing process. Healing crisis usually occurs after a period of increased well-being, and may last a few days. Each healing crisis releases physical problems from the past. When a healing crisis comes, do not attempt to stop it! This confuses most people because, "If I feel sick, I must be sick," when in actuality, the discomfort of the healing crisis is an indication of your own body working to heal itself, from the inside, out.

You're not really dying from cancer, you just think you are!

The coroner observed that Ms Scrayen was "not a competent health professional" who had "minimal understanding of relevant health issues." He also observed

"Unfortunately [Ms Dingle] was surrounded by misinformation and poor science."

Election 2010 (2)

Australia now has two People's Choices arguing that they are the clear new winners and should govern for the next three years. The Liberal/National Party argues that they received the largest primary vote (even though Australia doesn't operate under a first past the post system). The Australian Labor Party argues that it got the largest overall vote after preferences were distributed (even though there was a heavy swing away from them). While there was over a 5% swing away from the ALP, only 1.8% went the L/NP way, and 3.7% went to the Greens (ie a leftwing party) so it could also be argued that the Australian people wanted a more socially progressive government.

EoR thinks the obvious solution is for the L/NP and the ALP to form a coalition. They'd control around 143 seats in the Parliament. Their policies, politicians and poll-driven reactiveness are the same. They're both right-of-centre parties.

At least there was one pleasing result: the Climate Sceptics Party only polled 3,486 primary votes. Even the Australian Sex Party polled better, gaining 8,728 votes. In Western Australia, the Greens polled 14% of the vote in the Senate, the Australian Sex Party 2.14%, and the Climate Sceptics Party a paltry 0.14%. The Australian Sex Party generally outpolled Family First, leading The Register to comment:

The party was born out of a sense of grievance that national politicians were playing to the moral grandstanders and quite failing to represent the views of the majority of Australians, who are on the whole fairly laid back about sexuality.

Of course, being laid back is only one position.

Bob Katter, though, is back as an independent. He is on record as denying climate change, arguing forcefully and clearly:

"I mean, if you could imagine 20 or 30 crocodiles up there on the roof, and if all that roof was illumination, and saying that we wouldn't see anything in this room because of a few croco-roaches up there."

Bob Katter also understands the important things for Australia's future. Like promoting the building of a giant illuminated statue of Jesus on Queensland's highest mountain.

How To Meet A Ghost

Confirming the fact that at least half the population are below average intelligence, there appears to be a new urban legend emanating from New South Wales that claims a ghost can be conjured (but only by P Platers — those new drivers on Provisional plates) and only be exceeding the speed limit.

Supposedly, the 'ghost' is a deceased motorcyclist, who is chasing the young drivers in order to make them slow down. EoR isn't sure whether this proves the gullibility of young drivers, or the stupidity of ghosts.

The story has spread from Australia to the UK, the USA and Canada.

EoR's favourite report is from a real life hunter of evil working for God.

But the event that really made me realise that there is a real threat is when me and some friends went to go check out a ghost sight at lemon tree passage, NSW, Australia where a bikey had been hit and killed by young drivers and his ghost follows any young drivers that speed along this road at night which is a long straight road in the middle of bush and he dispeares at the turn of where he died. And as we got close to the area, a sickening feeling that everyone admitted to feel came over us. His ghost came and we did it a couple of times cause we were heaps fasinated, and everytime tears would stream out of my eyes though i didnt feel like i was crying and then on our way home, well away from his road. a faceless bikey on the wrong side of the road was riding right at us, his bike didnt make a sound and he disapeared when he hit the car and then a headlight appeared in the distance behind us and within 5 second he was 5metres behind us getting closer and closer. everyone in the car started screaming and crying and i started praying for us and the bikey and something weird happened. without me even meaning to, my hand lifted and made the sign of the cross and the ghost vanished.

Then, of course, there's the proof on YouTube as well: various shaky videos of a car headlight, and teenagers swearing profusely. Way better than those clearly fake photos Anthony Grzelka's got.





EoR expects that there will be a lot of competition for the Darwin Awards this year.

Of course, stupidity is not only an Australian characteristic, but is to be found all over the world, including the USA where one in five believe President Obama is a Muslim, even though there is not only no evidence for the proprosition, but a range of evidence against it.

Election 2010

Eeyore took his tail out of the water, and swished it from side to side.

"As I expected," he said. "Lost all feeling. Numbed it. That's what it's done. Numbed it. Well, as long as nobody minds, I suppose it's all right."

The Golden Age Of Science Illustration

This is just so wrong.


(Click to enlarge)

I Am Providence

EoR will be spending the day translating some arcane texts at the Miskatonic University concerning Yog-Sothoth.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

Mr Rabbit Dissembles

Last Monday's episode of Four Corners looked at the current political contest in Australia. At one point, Tony Abbott, the presumptive heir to the throne of Canberra, was questioned about climate change, in the context of leading a party that refused to pass the Labor Party's Emmissions Trading Scheme legislation, and as a man who has previously described climate change as 'crap'.

TONY ABBOTT: I accept that climate change is real. I think government needs to do, ah to take meaningful measures ah, to combat it and that's...

MARIAN WILKINSON: You're dispute is the role of man's intervention is that correct?

TONY ABBOTT: Sure, but, but that's not really relevant at the moment. Ah, we have agreed ah to get a 5 per cent emissions reduction target. That's, that's a bipartisan position. Ah, I think we can get it, ah, by the direct action measures that I've outlined and the interesting thing is that the only major political party with a credible policy in this area is the Coalition. Um, the government says that climate change is ah, the greatest moral challenge of our time, but they don't have serious policy to deal with it.

The human causes of climate change are not really relevant at the moment even though Mr Abbott now has performed a volte face and considers climate change 'real'? Why does he then go on to say his party will reduce emmissions? Isn't that pointless if there's no relevant human causal factor?

MARIAN WILKINSON: Do you still believe that the views of the IPCC scientists are alarmist?

TONY ABBOTT: Um, I, I certainly think that there is a credible scientific counterpoint, but in the end, um, I'm not going to win ah, ah, an argument over the science, I'll leave that to the scientists.

That would be the scientists who are clamouring for your attention? Is that why Mr Abbott considers a scientific argument unwinnable (unlike the political one)?

MARIAN WILKINSON: One last question on that because ah, you have said very publicly ah, before this that you believe the earth is cooling not warming and you have cited the work of ah, Professor Ian Plimer on this. Do you still think there is a credible case for that?

TONY ABBOTT: Um, I, I have pointed out in the past, ah that ah, there was that high year um, a few years ago, ah, and the warming ah, if you believe the various measuring ah, organisations, ah, hasn't increased, but again ah, the the point is not um, um, the science, ah the point is how should government respond and we have a a credible response that will achieve a 5 per cent reduction by 2020 and the government doesn't.

If EoR can interpret this rambling embarassment as Mr Abbott attempts to placate climate deniers and those calling for action on climate change, he seems to be arguing that the earth is cooling, human caused climate change is mistaken, ignore the science (for whatever reason; presumably, because it directly contradicts what he just said), and trust him (and Ian Plimer). This is the sound of a politician trying hard not to get caught up in his own lying disbeliefs.

For the record, the Labor Party's way of dealing with climate change (also included in the Four Corners report) is just as useless.

Non-Psychic's Hunch Fails. Media Amazed.

Following on from yesterday's bad psychic, Andy has brought another to EoR's attention.

Variously described as a psychic finding a body in a park, and a psychic finding the 'wrong body', the actual situation seems a lot less clear.

Aboriginal elder Cheryl Carroll-Lagerwey was apparently searching for Kiesha Abrahams, a young girl who has been missing for over a fortnight. It is not known whether she is alive or dead. Instead, Ms Carroll-Lagerwey came across the torso of an adult woman. EoR hesitates to say she 'found' the torso, since she wasn't looking for it. She also, notably, failed to find the girl she was actually looking for.

Ms Carroll-Lagerwey is not a psychic. She has never claimed to be a psychic. EoR has been unable to find any evidence that she has previously ever made any predictions, psychic or otherwise. She states she is

not psychic, but has a third sense and a dream that led her to believe she could help find Kiesha Abrahams.

The distinction may be subtle, but the media labelling her a 'psychic', rather than someone who had a 'hunch', creates a whole different set of expectations. For instance, 9 News states she is a psychic, even though the same report directly quotes her:

It's just my feeling ... so I went with my gut feeling.

Nurragingy Reserve is not a park (as Psychic Line News reports), but a 90 hectare bushland reserve. Shallow bush graves are a traditional method of disposing of bodies in Australia. In fact, if you're going to dispose of a body in Blacktown (not that EoR is encouraging anyone to do so) it sounds ideal:

Nurragingy Reserve is one of the most significant remnants in the Blacktown LGA. It is the largest and least disturbed area of bushland along Eastern Creek.

Ms Carroll-Lagerwey also only related her 'feeling' after discovering the body. Post-hoc psychic revelations are properly termed 'reporting'. They do not require any special skills.

The Police reaction is interesting. Thaindian News reports that

Police are pleased to have been led to a body by the psychic even though it was a different one and they are counting on her help to find the missing girl.

EoR takes that report with a huge pinch of salt, since it states the body was found in a park by someone who is psychic (but not a witch), which is a distorted and inaccurate record of what happened. Chief Inspector Pam Young from the NSW Homicide Squad is rather diplomatic about just how helpful psychics can be in murder investigations:

I have certain strong feelings about people who claim they are psychic. I don’t think it will help if we enter a discussion on that.

Edit:

The mother of a man recently killed by a shark in the south west of Western Australia has commented:

"I was worried, always worried and lived in fear that I would get this phone call, because it's dangerous, absolutely dangerous," she said.

EoR wonders why she's not also being touted as a 'psychic' since she, too, had a hunch that came true, and which is also reported after the fact.

Fleecing The Gullible: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Anthony Grzelka has been the subject of some previous discussion here including examples of his fake 'psychic' readings, but EoR is always intererested in how the science of psychic prediction progresses, so it's time for another look at the best, most accurate pyschic Western Australia has to offer.

Here's a puff piece a regional television station produced (which really should have come with an advertorial warning, since it's hardly news):



He's a Ghost Whisperer, "just like the ones in the movies". That would mean his ghost whispering is fictional then? It's good that Mr Grzelka does this to "help others", not just for the money. EoR does, however, feel heartened that he is encouraging skeptics:

I do believe people should be skeptical because there are people that want to take your money and run.

Others just want to take your money again and again. Mr Grzelka is a master of the Barnum statement, cold reading, the leading question, and the rapidly forgotten run of mistaken guesses. He has an absolutely incredible ability to ask people questions and repeat the information back. His performance is stunning in its transparently fake 'readings'. He'll wander around the bush for hours until he finds some bones. Any bones. Give him a photo, and he'll psychically talk to the wandering spirits (because, apparently, if you take a photo of a ghost it gets captured on the image — even a digital image — and is dragged around wherever that image goes). Even a fake ghost photo will do for his performance, when he'll blather on about all sorts of random stuff in the hope that some of it will seem to be relevant to the (usually desperate for such hits) mark.

Whether I am a bogus medium will of course be asked after an incident like this and there is no way of avoiding this.

EoR doesn't think the question needs to be asked. It's been answered (and, as some of the commenters on that page have noted, 'bogus medium' is a tautology).

Like any good psychic, he's also got a gallery of badly taken photographs, and photoshopped images labelled as ghosts and spirits. Like this baby:



EoR is convinced that this must be real. Why, only the other day he took a photo and this is the incredible result:



Clearly, the spirits are trying to communicate a Message.

Thistle Thoughts

EoR, having accidentally sat on some thistles, ponders the State of Things.

If, as we all know, homeopathic remedies only work when their magic vital force is shocked into reality by beating them against a leatherbound Bible, would the same process work with a leatherbound Qu'ran? And, if not, would that disprove the existence of one or the other deity?

TCM Stagnates, Dreams of Better Times

Perth has recently been witness to the amazing healing power of alternative medicine to deal with cancer. Just so you understand that this is actually based on science, consider TCM: A Woman's Guide to Healing from Breast Cancer by Nan Lu, O.M.D., L.Ac., with Ellen Schaplowsky (2009). As Ms Schaplowsky enthuses in the introduction:

In his gentle, wry way, Dr. Lu likes to remind his patients and Qigong students that TCM is not “New Age” medicine; nor, he says, is it a patchwork of different healing modalities. He likes to emphasize that TCM is a complete time-tested medical system — the only one that has identified a theory-based root cause for breast cancer. Why is this so important? Once the root cause is known, then specific treatments can be applied. Such is the case with TCM whose work on breast cancer began at least five centuries ago. (p.xi)

Take that evil Western treat-only-the-symptoms medicine! How can you ever compete with a five century head start? So, what are some of those 'root causes'?

Now, many of my patients ask me if stress directly causes cancer. I tell them that it is absolutely critical for women to understand that stress can cause a liver function disorder. When a woman has a liver function disorder, her blood and Qi can stagnate and cause a breach in her immune system. When this happens, she becomes vulnerable to breast cancer. (p.23)

And you thought beliefs about Qi and how it can stagnate in your liver were just the interpretations of the ancients as they attempted to understand disease? No. If it's five centuries old it must be correct. Of course, it's not that simple. No, to understand cancer, you need to know the whole aetiology of cancer:

THE TCM DEFINITION OF CANCER:
QI DEFICIENCY, COLD, AND STAGNATION
Ancient practitioners recognized that when there is cancer, three major conditions are present: Qi deficiency, cold, and stagnation. Cancer carries a cold or yin energy. Its very essence is cold or frozen. That’s why heat treatments with lasers and infrared lights are currently being explored to eliminate cancerous growths. Qi deficiency (which means your organs do not have enough Qi to perform their natural functions) can lead to cold. If a Qi deficiency continues over time, it will inevitably cause Qi or blood stagnation (which means that these intertwined forces become blocked in their natural, healthy flow through the body). When this condition occurs, a lump or mass will inevitably develop. The condition of stagnation then means the body’s internal environment will become cold. If the body is further insulted by external cold, this condition will worsen. If you have cancer, no matter what kind, these three conditions will always be present: Qi deficiency, blood stagnation, and cold in the meridians or specific organs. I urge you to take good care of yourself if you suffer from one or more of these conditions. Your body
now offers the right environment for cancer to develop. To prevent or treat breast cancer, TCM has many treatments to address these particular conditions. The first thing practitioners do is try to increase overall Qi, then break up any stagnation, and then relieve cold. (pp.44-45)

So cancer is caused by a deficiency of a magical life force that is invisible, has no mass or size; by stagnant blood (which EoR would have thought was more indicative of circulatory problems); and a further undetectable magic 'cold' in the invisible nonexistent life force. Easy, eh? Not only that, it's quite clear where exactly the 'stagnation' is occurring, since it will show up by where your breast cancer is.

According to TCM meridian theory, if the stomach meridian’s Qi stagnates in the breast area, then your breast cancer will show up in the outer, upper quadrant or on the center line that runs through the breast. If your kidney meridian’s Qi stagnates in your breast area, then your cancer will appear in the inside upper quadrant. If your liver meridian’s Qi stagnates in the breast area, then your cancer will develop in the outer, lower quadrant. Eighty-five percent of breast cancers occur in these three areas. Keeping your Qi running smoothly in these three major meridians can dramatically increase your chances of controlling the development of breast cancer, or its recurrence. Keeping your Qi running smoothly in these three critical meridians can also help keep your Inborn Qi, which resides in the kidney, strong and your whole body functioning in harmony. When this happens, you can help yourself avoid cancer’s energy pattern — even with a genetic or inherited predisposition for this disease. (pp.92-93)

Dr Lu is also fond, throughout the book, of using the automobile analogy which, at various times, has warning lights come on, runs out of oil, gets stuck in traffic jams and so on. EoR would, however, like to see a TCM Mechanic rush to the scene and attempt to warm and rebalance the stagnant automotive Qi in the brake meridian, or diagnose which part is failing from where exactly the bumps are on the bodywork.

In the Magical World of TCM, every body part seems to mirror every other body part. Iridology is well known (but which part of the iris represents the iris, and does this area also have a smaller part that represents the iris representation, and that part must also have an iris representation-representation, ad infinitum?), as is reflexology (but which part of the foot represents the foot, etc etc). Add to these the powerful diagnostic tool of nosology:

To show you how this works specifically, let’s look at the nose as a miniature of your body. The long bone from the bridge to the tip of your nose reflects your body’s spine; the curves at the nostrils reflect the health of your hip joints. The middle of the tip of your nose reflects the condition of your stomach. If you have skin problems on your nose, I am able to recognize which organs are causing them. A red nose means that the stomach is suffering from a condition of excess heat. This principle applies to almost all the body parts. Each one represents the entire body in miniature. Reflexology is based on this principle. For example, the
bottom of your foot is regarded as a map of your entire body. Your hand is also a body map. So are your face, your tongue, your nose and the bone of your index finger, and so on. (p.144)

As if that's not sufficient diagnostic possibilities, you can also tell what's wrong by what time you wake up:

TCM theory states that Universal energy changes every two hours and your body’s meridian and organ energies respond to and match these changes. For example, energy changes start with the lung, which is “on duty” or in charge of the body from 3:00 to 5:00 A.M. If your lung’s Qi has a problem, then you might find yourself waking up in this time period. Or, you might wake up with a physical problem like a cough during these hours. Here are the other times of Universal energy changes and their related organs:

3:00 A.M.–5:00 A.M. Lung
5:00 A.M.–7:00 A.M. Large intestine
7:00 A.M.–9:00 A.M. Spleen
9:00 A.M.–11:00 A.M. Stomach
11:00 A.M.–1:00 P.M. Heart
1:00 P.M.–3:00P.M. Small intestine
3:00 P.M.–5:00 P.M. Bladder
5:00 P.M.–7:00 P.M. Kidney
7:00 P.M.–9:00 P.M. Pericardium
9:00 P.M.–11:00 P.M. Triple warmer
11:00 P.M.–1:00 A.M. Gallbladder
1:00 A.M.–3:00 A.M. Liver (pp.221-222)

Failing all those, you might need to use dream interpretation, or possibly tarot cards, or tea leaf reading.

Dream diagnosis or interpretation is one tool TCM uses to understand a patient’s physical condition. Qi problems in the internal organs show up in different kinds of dreams. For instance, if your heart Qi is deficient, you might feel yourself falling out of the sky or off a tall building. If you have a kidney Qi deficiency, you might have dreams that are connected to drowning or being under water, or being in a boat that is capsizing. Or, you might find yourself being fearful and hiding from something in your dreams. If you refer to the Five Element Theory chart on chapter 2, you can see where this insight comes from. Water is the element
of the kidney and fear is its ruling emotion. You can gain more insight into your dreams by studying the Five Element Theory chart. If you always see yourself arguing or fighting or things are destroyed in your dreams, then you might have a parasite, or these could be signals that your internal problem might be worsening. (p.222)

They might also be signs that you're falling for a disproven medical system, and that's it time to update your 'tools' and 'theory'.

Online, Nan Lu also recommends the efficacy of a miracle to cure breast cancer.

To help create conditions that favor a miracle, return to moments in your life when you were truly happy. Recall these memories often; they are alive within your cells today. They have the ability to stimulate your powerful life force. Trust that you are the miracle. Trust that your life has purpose. Love your self. Make yourself, not others, happy first. Experience the joy of your own vitality and truly live your miraculous life!

Science Policies 2

Yesterday EoR considered the science policies of the major parties for the upcoming Vote For Your Least Boring Candidate competition. Or, more precisely, the lack of such policies except for the Greens. In the interest of political neutrality, today EoR wants to consider some of the minor parties that may also have an impact on the new Parliament.

The Nationals, like the Liberal Party, have no science policy. The best that can be said for them is that, at least, they don't have a picture of a politician on that page. Only a red dirt road, leading off into the empty wilderness...

The nearest Family First gets to a science policy is to be anti-abortion, anti-euthanasia, and anti-human cloning.

And, just to round out another group of three, there are the independents and the extremely minor parties. Such as the Climate Sceptics. The Climate Sceptics, since they are a party whose fundamental reason is a science based one, remarkably have no science policy either. Of course, given that they consider scientists are part of some alarmist communist tax-grabbing cabal, that's not surprising. EoR imagines they'd like to burn science textbooks in the street if they could.

EoR is, however, pleased to learn that they have a Senate candidate in WA. A chiropracter, no less.

Most Australians (myself included previously) don’t have the time to investigate the issues and as such we have allowed the extreme green left to control the discourse. The encouragement of critical thinking is something sadly lacking from our democracy, but it is my hope that my involvement with The Climate Sceptics will stimulate debate and critical evaluation of this issue by the people of Western Australia.

Critical thinking is something that is sadly lacking in those who deny the reality of climate change. And in those who can 'see' imaginary spinal subluxations. And in those who think the 'extreme green left' are somehow controlling the climate change issue. Eor nonetheless welcomes the chance to exercise his democratic rights, and place Mr Woods very last on his ballot paper.

And, if you think this appalling lack of vision is just about science, there's no clear policy for the Arts either.

Australian politics: finally resolving the conflict of the two cultures. By dumping them both.

Science Policies

In an idle moment, EoR has been wandering around the propaganda sites for the world's most boring election ever. EoR was interested in each major party's science policy.

The Australian Labor Party has a picture of Our Julia defiantly gazing in a totally different direction from the Suited Men of her party, as well as lots of pictures of smiling happy people, but no science policy that EoR could find.

The Liberal Party has a picture of Mr Rabbit defiantly gazing in a solitary way and fewer pictures, but no science policy that EoR could find.

The Greens have a tiny picture of Chistine Milne in a sidebar, and an image of 'scientists' (you can tell they're scientists because they're in white coats and holding test tubes), and a whole page of 35 science and technology principles.

Both Labor and the Liberals are failing Australia in their visionless poll-driven drive to mediocrity.

Dangers Of Charlatanism Electrifying

The Complaints Register of the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration makes interesting, if depressing, reading.

EoR is pleased to see that the (delightfully non-therapeutically titled) galvanic cock ring appears to have disappeared from the interweb.

when this device is fitted and the electrodes come into contact with the underneath of the scrotum and the base of the penis, the gentle current (Galvanic Current) helps relax the muscles in that area, allowing blood to flow more freely thereby assisting in the creation and maintenance of an erection (...) can be used as a tourniquet to keep blood in erect penis and assist in maintaining erection

EoR doubts the therapeutic efficacy of a penis torniquet. Nonetheless, the device was apparently claimed to be a "genius contraption". That would only be in the sense that any scam is designed to fleece the gullible, and the best scams are the traditional ones:



Another old scam is Hulda Clark's zapper, sold to cancer sufferers in order to lighten their finances, preying on the vulnerable solely for the unethical gain of profit.

In another recent complaint, the TGA has censured Natural Health Direct for selling this useless device, stating

The advertisement included claims that the advertised product “designed to kill bacteria, viruses, and parasites”, and made reference to a book called “Cure For All Diseases” by Dr Hulda Clarke, which was said to “describe in detail the correct use of the zapper”. The advertised device was said to be “made in Germany according to Dr Clark’s specifications” and “manufactured under licence to Hulda Clark.” The advertisement also advised consumers to “refer to Dr Clarke’s book” for a “full description of the correct use of the zapper”, and stated that “we make no claims for the zapper other than those made by Dr Hulda Clarke.”

The company were ordered to display a retraction (which may or may not have happened — it is certainly not there now) and to no longer make therapeutic claims for the zapper.

This is their advertisement that led to the complaint (click to enlarge):



This is their current advertisement (click to enlarge):



Can you spot the difference (other than changing the layout)? The phrase "designed to kill bacteria, viruses and parasites" has been removed, as the TGA ordered. The phrase "Please note: In her book Cure For All Diseases, Dr Hulda Clarke describes in detail her theory in relation to the correct use of a 'Zapper'. For more information on the correct use of the zapper, please refer to Dr Clarke's book." has not been removed, but simply moved to the bottom of the advertisement. So Natural Health Direct is still selling a useless device (for AU$236.80!), a device that doesn't work, a device invented by a woman who died of cancer herself. a charlatan who claimed:

The method is 100% effective in stopping cancer regardless of the type of cancer or how terminal it may be. It follows that this method must work for you, too, if you are able to carry out the instructions.

The 'method' here is extracting the largest amount of money possible from the most vulnerable people. It clearly works (but only to extract money). It continues to work (but only to extract money). Natural Health Direct should be ashamed. The TGA should have the legal power of the Australian Tax Office. Or the ACCC who previously ruled that Herbert Nathan, director of Raylight Pty Ltd, be required to give refunds to people who purchased his Parasite Zapper.

Christopher Monckton Is A Fraud

The Grand Loony of Climate Science, Christopher Monckton — who likes to call environmentalists Hitler Youth — is, as is his scientific wont, pursuing that most powerful of scientific methods and abusing all and sundry and threatening the fake climate science world with a plethora of law suits.

Christopher Monckton is a fraud.
Christopher Monckton lies and misrepresents science.
Christopher Monckton is full of it.
Christopher Monckton misrepresents the science.
Christopher Monckton is a fraud.
Christopher Monckton seeks to censor his critics.

August 6, 1945

“If you cut off a piece of fingernail and burn it…that’s what burning human flesh smells like."

Status of World Nuclear Forces

In Which EoR Suffers From PMT

EoR can hardly contain his excitement upon learning that Debbie Malone, the woman who has spent the last 18 years psychically solving missing persons and murder cases for Police throughout Australia, is coming to town to run seminars on how to take bad photographs and psychometry. Sadly, though, he will be unable to afford the AU$395 fee for an hour's individual reading. How will EoR cope without knowing that someone with an "A" name who has "passed over" is wafting around his aura? AU$395 an hour is, EoR quickly calculates, the equivalent of an annual salary of around AU$700,000. Australia's Prime Minister is paid only half that amount. There's something deeply wrong with that.

What caught EoR's attention however was not the standard platitude-offering 'psychic', but PMT. EoR is always pleased to find a new woo, if only in order to prove that the gullibility of people has not yet reached its limits. PMT, or Pyramidal Memories Transmutation is described in the following glowing terms:

Pyramidal Memories Transmutation (PMT) is a 5th dimensional technology developed by Joel Ducatillion, a French Naturopath, in November 2004.(...)

This technology works through the combination of 6 DNA 850 encoders. Joel describes the DNA 850 encoder as a small closed glass tube enclosing DNA encoded light spirals. Joel records DNA codes based on mathematical calculations, transposes them into sounds and when these sounds are played into the encoder, a programming takes place in these spirals of light. As at 2006 there were over 11,000 codes contained within each encoder.

5 of these encoders are used to create a double pyramid and the common part of the two pyramids forms the transmutation room in which the person sits during the process which takes about 45 minutes.

The 6th encoder is used to activate the pyramid. During this activation, a crystal of ether extends between the 7th chakra and the back of the head. It is this crystal that will raise the body's frequency - ether, astral, mental and causal - towards the 5th dimension, which means an octave above using a quantum leap.

This technology works on the memories that the person’s Soul decides that it wants transmuted. Hence it is not dependent on the person’s decision as to which memories are to be transmuted. Nor is it dependent on the operator’s intuitive view as to which memories should be transmuted. The transmutation room is therefore a place where our expectations and our will have no influence.

(...)

When the memories are brought forward into the transmutation room, the encoders are used to clean them, to remove the blockages around them. They are left as a clean memory. These cleaned memories are then brought into the person’s consciousness and are transmuted. This then completes the transmutation process. From experience, most, if not all, of these memories will be consciously transmuted as quickly and as smoothly as taking a gentle, peaceful breath. They then pass on as part of the normal process of the Universe.

EoR's head is spinning: mathematics, pyramids, memories, chakras, crystals, and especially 'DNA encoded light spirals'. This is the sort of wacky science that seems to have been developed under the influence of some extremely heavy hallucinogenics.

Apart from having memories 'cleaned' (which sounds disturbingly like 1984), this particular way of wasting money, of course, doesn't really do anything:

PMT is a 5th dimension technology and certainly not a therapy. During this process, neither the person nor the operator has any influence at all, whatever their level of understanding or their intention might be.

EoR really wants to see one of these super-advanced scientific machines operating at full throttle but, sadly, this is the only picture he could find:



Disappointing really. Joel Ducatillon, the inventor of this postmodernist marvel, is also the 'father' of Diamond Water which is like water on steroids (only without the steroids).

Diamond Water is here to help us upgrade and wake up, to go faster into our new and upgraded selves, to help clear unhelpful and heavy frequencies from our cells, our psyches, our energy and our souls of old. There is no more time now, this water is like a secret agent working behind the scenes. It is water that has been *imprinted with intent by one of the glass encoders (5th dimensional technology explained under Pyramidal Memories Transmutation).

Joel also further explains the wonderful PMT glass thingy:

It was only a year and a half later (1997) that I received a channelling instructing me to create a little glass tube as simple as this (Joel holds up the tube, see picture above) small and simply made by a glass-blower. This thing is a sort of artificial DNA of light. Clear-sighted or visionary people can see in it spirals of light and there are geometries that are imprinted into it, as in DNA. Of course, for it to be printed, I had to process the air that is contained in it, as well as energetically encode through geometry and mathematics.

EoR has that sinking feeling that, as a closed minded skeptic, he'd simply see a small glass tube without any of the wonderful swirling multidimensional spirals of DNA encoded madness. But what if it was all true? What if particle physics proved all this?

The CERN (European Centre for Nuclear Research) laboratory in Geneva uses a particle accelerator, which is by chance circumference 27 kilometres. The number 27 is 3 X 3 X 3; the number of the quantum leap jump into another dimension. This is different from what we have understood or known before. Having made this oscillating circle (circumference 27 cm) I then chanted a mantra in front of the circle in suspension, with the glass tube at the centre of that circle. When I finished the mantra I noticed a light thread going out of the external circle, then going in towards the centre of the tube, then out again, perhaps a few hundred times per second. This created a sort of break at the level air inside the tube. Some 40 % of the air in the tube then transformed into krypton. Krypton is a heavy gas that you can also find inside light bulbs as neon, argon or Freon, and it is a gas that holds sounds in memory.

EoR's mind is oscillating in wonder by now.

Physicists may perform experiments on this by magnetic resonance but my duty is not to prove what I am doing but to transmit. I have no scientific base at all, no proof of what I am telling you, and I don't need to be right, so nobody need bother to say that I am wrong!

"I can sell this without proving it! Ha! You're not allowed to prove me wrong!"

A further claim that Joel Ducatillon makes sounds frankly bizarre (yes, even in comparison to all that has gone before):

Since 1992, I have the ability to transmute people's memories through my own body; I wouldn't advise you to reach this initiatory stage, because it is very destructive for the organs and especially the heart. When I am in front of somebody whose soul asks to transmute memories, I take these memories inside my body, and the result is that half an hour later I have to change since all my clothes smell like celery. (p.4)

EoR thinks this smells like something else. Despite all his claims that his (non)therapy will accelerate your personal evolution, he also doesn't appear to believe in that concept in any other form, as he reveals when discussing the historical Adam and Eve:

The consciousness of the Tree of Life is there as we unite good and evil as one energy alone; it is the top of the triangle. You understand the base of the cult of trinity that you can find everywhere and then the Snake came and said-basically speaking, what I am saying right now is a little bit childish, but still there is something behind it- the snake came, in other words some aliens came on Earth, coming from reptilian constellations, even if it sounds a little bit ”……..” even if you don't believe in it, it doesn't matter, I used to not believe in it 30 years ago but now I do, because I have proofs of it. (p.13)

You have to know that at that time people use to be vegan and the climate on earth was “universal” there used to be neither Eskimos, nor too hot equator. So people used to need almost no clothes and to eat only fruits that were huge and very rich. It must be quite pleasant to eat like that! And all of a sudden, there was the fall into the Tree of knowledge of good and evil, so everything started to deteriorate. (p.15)

He also believes in the fantasy that thoughts will 'manifest' themselves, promoted oh so successfully by the purveyors of The Secret. Now, this paragraph is difficult to comprehend, and it doesn't seem to make much sense (even in the illogical world of Joel Ducatillon), but it appears to be saying that women are raped because they want to be — if EoR has this wrong, please point it out):

We are going to take the example of a woman, because it happens more often with women than men. If a woman contains memories of a rapist man inside her, since she was a man who raped along time; some day, as this memory is starting to arise, at the time when it has to pass the door, in other words when the soul wants to get rid of this memory, which is going to radiate within the energetic bodies of this lady, well this lady is going to find herself in a situation where a rapist will be “fed”, even if this guy never raped anyone, on that day, if he has this tendency it will be fed by this memory and that will push him to such action. (p.18)

It takes until page 23 of this meandering, mean-spirited diatribe to come to the central point of PMT: money. What if, someone asks, a person wanted to give this amazing treatment for free?

At a certain point it will get stuck, nobody will come anymore and on top of it you might attract people whose soul will give nothing; because it will be people who say: ”Ah, she does it for free, let's go for it and the soul is unwilling so you are going to waste such and such time for nothing, and the person is going to say: “ you know your thing is rubbish” and it is going to turn against you, and you won't have any body coming anymore. This is what you get when you work for free. Anyway, the people who shouldn't have PMT sessions can't find the money. If they don't have the money it is that they shouldn't receive it. However it is not an injustice because if they don't have any money it is because they have created this lack of money; so they get what they have to experience.

Isn't it obvious? You're poor because you want to be. You're raped because you want to be. You, and millions of other Jews, are exterminated because you want to be. So stop whining, and pay up.

If money exists it is because God has created it since we are God! You understand? We are little sparks of the divine! Money is as “divine” as the rest, it is the way we used it, which is not great! (p.24)

On page 12, M. Ducatillon rambles on about racism (which results from 'judgement' and 'separation' and represents 'wasted energies'), which rather grates with his final paragraph:

Some memories are like mastic, it doesn't even get in really well into the encoder! 2 or 3 sessions are needed for one memory, to manage getting it because it is sturdy stuff! Sometimes there are people who have “more constipated” genetics, for instance the German race; you almost need a motor cultivator to remove the memories! In Belgium it is prickling, there is no mass, you would think you are in a field of hedgehogs, or a field of nettles; the masses only start to come out after 3 or 4 sessions. It is also true that these are countries where there is a lot of aristocracy. If you deal with Italians, or Spanish, it is something else. For instance, in Italy , when I go to Milan , Turin , or Rome , I can see a huge amount of hate between men and women; this is the country where they hate each other the most in their memories! The Catholic Church fed this for 2000 years, well, almost!

Failed Predictions Never Stop Champions Of Truth

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
-George Santayana

Science proceeds by making predictions based on hypotheses, and determining whether those predictions accord with observed reality. Agreement in prediction and observation doesn't necessarily indicate you're correct (perhaps you missed something else, perhaps it was coincidence), but failure in agreement indicates that your hypothesis is flawed. In other words, it is a fantasy.

For example, in 2009, David Archibald devised his own method of assessing climate and, based on his new model, predicted

2009 is the eleventh anniversary of the recent peak on global temperature in 1998. The world has been cooling at 0.06 degrees per annum since then. My prediction is that this rate of cooling will accelerate to 0.2 degrees per annum following the month of solar minimum sometime in 2009.

Not only was he wrong, he was grossly wrong, and his 'prediction' was so incorrect that it didn't even correlate with the continuing positive trend in climate.

In the world of science this would be considered a failure. In the world of ideology, it is a mark of distinction. David Archibald made a repeat appearance at the WA Skeptics recently, continuing to tout his failed hypothesis via a 91(!) slide Powerpoint presentation (which also indicates his failure to understand how to effectively use Powerpoint, EoR notes in passing). Most of the presentation consisted of cherry picked facts, data sets with no references to their source, graphs often missing indications of what the axes represented, and political diatribe, though one (and only one) contained what might be considered a prediction based on Archibald's contrarian views.



Global Warming Alarmists (you get the idea from his emotive use of language that Archibald is here making a political presentation, not a scientific argument) are not just Wrong, but 'Exactly Wrong'. EoR isn't sure of the distinction, but he's sure it's a subtle and important one.

Prediction 1:

The Earth is getting colder and this will accelerate.

This is clearly a lot vaguer than Archibald's previous prediction. He doesn't appear prepared anymore to state a range for his studies as to how much colder Earth is getting. It's a nice phrase. It's one the deniers like to parrot in the belief that repetition will make it magically true. It was wrong in 2009. It is still (and increasingly so) wrong now.

The other statements that Archibald makes in that slide appear bizarre taken out of context until you learn that the last forty of so slides of his presentation are a political argument that burning more coal and using nuclear power are the only sensible ways to save the planet.

For another example of science in action, in 2008, "one of Australia's leading air pollution experts", Dr Peter Dingle, hypothesized

The "noxious cocktail" of athletes pushing themselves to the limit and the Games' city's dirty atmosphere could trigger a serious - and potentially lethal - asthma attack, Murdoch University Associate Professor Peter Dingle said.

"Without a doubt you are going to see an increase in asthma incidents,'' Prof Dingle told Beijing Now.

"And while it is unikely, because of the number of officials and medical specialists on hand, you could have a death during these Olympics.''

EoR believes Dr Peter Dingle's specialty is indoor air quality, not 'air pollution', though the incorrect description may be an error on the reporter's part (it still doesn't excuse using Dr Dingle outside his area of expertise). The article notes that, according to the Australian Olympic Team's head doctor, Peter Baquie (who, unlike Dr Peter Dingle, EoR assumes actually has a qualification in medical health)

The performance drop is no longer considered to be a concern as the treatment of asthma ensures no symptoms are brought on by the pollution.

"We haven't had any concerns about the pollution affecting respiratory problems," said Baquie.

"It is not a danger, we are not seeing that sort of risk."

Nonetheless, the reporter feels compelled to return to yet another dire prediction from Dr Peter Dingle:

But Prof Dingle said the risks were undeniable.

"When you are an athlete you are pushing the barriers of your body,'' he said.

"So those people are already under stress and more likely to have an asthma attack.

"Add that to the stress of air pollution- and Beijing is unique in that regard - and you have a pretty noxious cocktail.

We all, of course, remember the terrible tragedy that was the epidemic of asthma at the Beijing Olympics, and the pollution caused deaths that so marred the Games.

Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim.
-George Santayana

The Angels Want Your Money

What could be more trippy and sciencey than quantum physics and angels?

You are contacting us at a very important time, at the shift to a new paradigm. It is very likely, that you have already been affected by this paradigm shift through many personal life changes. This shift on earth is indicated by the integration of science e.g. quantum physics and spirituality.

Oh. EoR missed that one. When exactly was it integrated? And who got the Nobel Prize for it?

QA-Healing applies fundamental concepts of quantum physics to perform healing. It works hands-on, or at a distance. It uses diagnostic intuition, clairvoyance, telepathy, energy healing, and prayer. It goes beyond physical death, and integrates non-physical helpers in the process.

Yes, because quantum physics wouldn't work without those fundamental principles of telepathy. And prayer. And clairvoyance.

You might also believe that there is a higher power and many Angels and Archangels, who will help you any time. However, you might not exactly know how to put all the pieces of the cosmic puzzle together. You are probably still missing some connecting puzzle pieces.

EoR believes he's not the only one missing a few connecting pieces here. Of course:

Real Love is the strongest power in the universe.

Stronger even, presumably than the Strong Nuclear Force? Hey, they're the ones who brought up quantum physics!

Quantum-Angel-Healing goes beyond drugs (horrible, primitive medicine), even beyond mind-body woo (so passe) and ushers in the incredible 'Third Era of Medicine' whereby healing will be achieved by non-local entangled quantum angel observers who will spout rubbish from The Secret before unveiling a plethora of Schrödinger Boxes full of dead cats. You can do this easily by simply switching on your Angel Receiver (it's like a TV):

You can invite the angels to contact you and ask for a repeated sign that you comprehend, for example to leave you a feather, a coin, or show you a license plate on a car with 444, which is the angel’s number. The angels are very cooperative and they are committed to help and support you at any given time. Simply ASK them to help you with anything, also for so-called little things in life. Don’t be afraid to waste their time, God created millions of angels and many are “unemployed”.

EoR hates to think what the dole payments amount to for millions of unemployed angels. With all the sick and suffering around, he's sure there's work available for them if they really wanted it. That's the problem with Heaven today: too many bludging angels.

Anyway, EoR has 'invited' the angels to make woo disappear. He's currently waiting for a sign.

Like any really good woo site, there's also a page of orb photos except, unlike the majority of people who don't know how to clean a lens before taking a picture, these aren't the dear departed coming back to tell you you're going to have a minor operation sometime in the future.

Orbs are likely to be angels, archangels, guides, fairies and other spirits which are around us. The Angel-Orbs on our pictures are balls of energy, which are especially attracted by the vibration of love and joy.

That's a patent lie. Everyone knows what real fairies look like:



This mumbo jumbo is obviously helpful for clearing blockages of unwanted cash, since there are other people promoting it as well.

Quantum-Angel-Healing® is a method of energy healing, which is different from all other healing modalities. The essence is a hands-on energy treatment with Angels.

So, completely different from hands-on energy healing with reiki. Or therapeutic touch. And, despite the claims, Quantum-Angel-Healing doesn't do any healing:

Rev. Gisela Arenas & GentleHeartHealing.com do not claim to diagnose or heal any illnesses

The Rev. EoR also suspects that there's no Angels, or Quantum in it either. Leaving a big empty hole of fatuous nothingness.