Table of Contents:
ANOTHER SHOTGUN APPOACH TO PROPHECY
Canadian reader Tristan Lall is appalled at the Toronto Star newspaper:
Particularly offensive (unless actually true, I add, in the spirit of open-mindedness), is an alleged prediction that "In April 2001 on [radio] I predicted that two planes would crash into the World Trade Center and in a field in Washington." (The field was in Pennsylvania, of course, and the Pentagon is in Arlington, VA.) She also claimed to have predicted the tiger attack on Roy Horn (of Siegfried and Roy), and says that at some unspecified time she predicts "an earthquake in Rome or perhaps a terrorist attack."I thought of you when I happened to encounter this asinine article in the Toronto Star, written by entertainment columnist Rita Zekas. She chronicles the life of luxury led by Nikki "Psychic to the Stars" Pezaro, and in so doing, gives free advertising space in an otherwise respectable newspaper to a shameless attention-seeker.
Note, Tristan, that her post-predictions are exact and detailed, while those yet to occur are fuzzy….?
Looking at the 2004 predictions listed on her website www.psychicnikki.com/predictions.html, I'm impressed with her capability to state the obvious; my comments in parentheses. These were apparently made prior to 1/1/2004:
An earthquake in Rome, Italy, thousands effected [sic]" (in a city that has a history of earthquakes), a new Pope after the Pope passes on, (which is exactly what usually happens), an avalanche in Switzerland (a country replete with mountains and snow) and a lot of prosperity in 2004.
Of course, some of the 2004 predictions have a slightly different flavor:Need I say more?
A terrorist attack: in Las Vegas, in New York, in Athens, Greece, in Canada, in London, England, in Scotland, in Paris, France, in Canada (repeated), in Chicago, at Mt. Rushmore, at Niagara Falls, in St. Louis, Missouri, and against Air Force One — the Presidential aircraft.
Randi comments: and note that "in Canada" covers 3,700,000 square miles, and is declared twice. Does that cover 7,400,000 square miles? I dunno how to figure these mysterious matters…. Then Ms. Pezaro gets even more mystical, saying:
A quasi missile will hit North America (a what-missile?) and a suicide bombing in North America.
Hold on. That's another rather widespread guess, this one covering 9,400,000 square miles! Is there no safe place where we can hide, Ms. Pezaro? Tristan continues:
It is simply disgusting that anyone would so obviously try to capitalize on the fear of terrorism already instilled in the populace by making a slew of predictions in the hopes of crowing loudly when even one of them is fulfilled.
Agreed. But it was just too vapid and effortless a subject for Toronto Star reporter Rita Zekas to pass up. And she probably got a free reading from this astonishing psychic, with the same pin-point accuracy as seen above. If so, I imagine that she heard something like this:
You'll perhaps be getting a phone call from someone, somewhere, sometime. A man or woman you don't remember will be writing to you or calling you, maybe. Or a child. Don't step in front of speeding trucks on Thursday, especially in Toronto. Or Montreal. Or a small town, somewhere. Or maybe not….
Currently "on a roll," UK astrologer Jonathan Cainer is raking in the money and laughing at his dupes. But Richard Dawkins, professor of the public understanding of science at Oxford University, has an opinion on this, and being not at all shy about making his thoughts known, recently said:
Astrology may be slightly damaging, but mostly it is just sad. So sad, that people are ignorant of the true glories of the stars, and of the stupendous distances and times that separate them, while they bother with the frivolous inventions of a charlatan like Jonathan Cainer.
We'll be hearing Dawkins giving more such opinions when he addresses us on "From Eve to Newton, the Apple of Knowledge" at The Amaz!ng Meeting 3, in January…. Are you registered yet….?
FOOT-PROBING REVISITED
Reader Julian Jensen comments:
I was reading the section on Reflexology in the last edition of the newsletter. In that segment there was a reference to the Reflexology Association of America. Needless to say, my interest was piqued. Here is the link to their official website: www.reflexology-usa.org/index.shtml. And here are a few choice quotes:
As pioneers in Reflexology and CAM [Complimentary & Alternative Medicine] we've often experienced these four [skeptical] stages of acceptance first from our clients or from their family members. I refer here to the family members who first think that their relative is crazy.
No comment on the above. Not content to restrict their activities to the quackery of poking at people's feet, here's another good one:
"I begin every reflexology session this way," she said. Standing in the corner of the room with two metal rods she detected energy obstructions I didn't know I had.
Yep, it's good ol' dowsing. I can highly recommend this website. Pay special attention to their newsletters. They're priceless.
I've improved on last week's reflexology diagram, making this ancient art more available to the general public. See the accompanying chart...
Reader Bert Whetstone:
In your commentary of May 28 you made mention of Rodney Cluff's expedition to discover the elusive North polar hole. Well, it looks like Cluff is having difficulty attracting suckers — errr, true believers — to fund the voyage: www.ourhollowearth.com/4thExpeditionUpdate.htm. My bet is that Cluff will eventually cancel the voyage due to "military intervention." Also on that page is some fascinating reading about how earthquakes prove that the Earth is hollow.
It had to happen. Those marvelous "free energy" contraptions assembled by inventor Joseph Newman are once again being touted on the Internet. Multiple identical copies of badly cobbled-together ads have arrived in our e-mailbox; that's a sure sign of a paranoid personality. They're headed:
Joseph Newman's Energy Machine is now reducing the input power by more than 50%, while the output power, torque, and speed increase by more than 300%!
Well, I'd be just as entranced if Joe could show us a 5% output-over-input result for any of his contraptions, and I'd pay out the million-dollar prize, too. But how can I doubt this wonder, when Dr. Roger Hastings, Principal Physicist, UNISYS Corporation, is quoted as stating that:
The future of the human race may be dramatically uplifted by the large-scale, commercial development of this [Newman's] invention.
Oh, Hastings, consult with a high-school science teacher, and get educated! Guys, until you get it working to my very simple standards, as stated above, I think I'll keep this skeptical attitude that I've adopted for such matters. I've already traveled to Mississippi to witness two Newman machines refusing to budge, and I've little incentive to do that again; it's boring. But if you want the JREF million dollars, let's go!
Alas! After demanding all sorts of exceptions to the JREF Challenge, and refusing one of the basic rules, outright, Mr. Newman — who does not deign to respond in person to any correspondence — has now instructed his lackeys to run from any possible test of his creation. Drat! I just love seeing them trying to get those pocketa-pocketa machines running, and then hearing the excuses….!
As you suspected, there's more: Newman now tells us that
God awoke me at 4:00am this morning and told me how to capture every bit of the massive back-spike and simultaneously charge the battery pack.
Typically, this "inventor" is "improving" something he hasn't even been able to make work, in the first place!
But now, along much the same line, we've heard from Mr. Theodore Karavassilis, in Athens Greece. Basic language adjustments have been made:
Our team has five members in Athens and 75 members worldwide. Our website is closed now to new investors. This is a private project. All of our investors know our address, telephone numbers, passport IDs, and have certificates and contracts in their hands.
In January of 2004 a live demonstration took place and we showed our prototype generator to some of our investors. The first working model will be ready in July 2004. We already have some companies here in Athens who are interesting in buying our "power amplifier." We are talking about a machine which will multiply the input power.
Mr. Mike Lilley gave us a lot of trouble. We have received dozens of email messages saying unkind words about us. Now, we have blocked his email address and we are at peace again. Mr. Lilley is not one of our investors. We've worked for eight years and we've been two years online. We communicate with our investors every week. Mr. Lilley pressed us to give results of our tests and when we refused, he sent us the following email message:I've been informed that Mike Lilley has published an article about us and our efforts. We have not met Mr. Lilley and we do not want to. The last eight years I've been the head of a research team. We call our project ENERGIA project. The target is to build a real power amplifier. We have our own machinery shop and we are doing the best we can in this direction. Two years ago, one of our prototypes gave us greater output than input. We announced our efforts on the Internet, and created our own web-site. We are not scammers, we are researchers. We have spent more than €140,000 on our research. We are not rich men; this is a lot of money for us. Of that money, only €18,000 came from internet investors. It's very difficult, in time and money, to do something for the first time.
As I said the first time, back in October when you promised public results in October/03, it is again time to add you to the list of internet scam, fraud, and con artists and assure that you get plenty of publicity as such. Quackwatch, JREF, and several other sites on my list will be interested. Don't bother to write back, you [five unflattering terms]. You guys are all alike.Ohhh, so then the previous information you gave me that the general public would be able to freely see the results of the "CRES" Athens [the Greek national Centre for Renewable Energy Sources] testing by October 2003 was all bogus, then, just as I assumed it would be when you lied about making it shortly available to all? That's what I figured would happen. Why did I give you the benefit of the doubt?
The only thing I want to say to you is that no one has ever accused us that we have stolen money from them. We are honest researchers. We trust each other and we have all the funds we need to start selling some units. We cannot just go out to the world and announce that we have found the way to produce free clean energy. We want to be able to sell our first three units and have enough funds to arrange the worldwide patent pending, first. We want to secure our invention before we announce anything.I want you to understand that I have personally met with CRES to discuss the procedure for receiving a certification for our device, then on second thought we decided not to announce anything before we build our first three working amplifiers and sell them to companies in Athens.
Randi comments: Now, that shows some common sense — aside from the fact that none of these machines can or will work, that is. If Mr. Karavassilis sticks with that goal, we'll see no more of him, and any damage to his investors will be minimized. He himself will persist in believing that his idea will work, and something as simple as a poorly-taken readout on an unfamiliar oscilloscope — Newman's folly — will continue to mislead and deceive this man, as happened — and continues to happen — to Newman. Mr. Karavassilis continues:
I am an honest person, a researcher who has made much effort and has spent a lot of money for his dream. Please do not let people (who do not even know me) accuse me. If you need any info or if you think you can help us, please feel free to email me at omikrongr@yahoo.gr.
Folks, I think you can see the big difference between Newman's gang and Mr. Karavassilis. Newman has been touting his "free energy" notions for years now, and has come to the point where he fears any real investigation, and must wriggle out of being put where his claims can actually be examined. Karavassilis appears to be — at least at this stage of his delusion — cautious and yet confident; that makes him a more sympathetic character, and I feel that he'll suffer more from his lack of sophistication than Newman possibly could. That's to be regretted.
I think that Mike Lilley has too harshly judged our Greek "inventor," though that attitude was no doubt brought about by his past disappointments and experiences with such individuals….
Reader Kevin Schaffer has an important observation for us:
Hmmm...I wonder if those supermarket blind taste tests of colas ever used such a fraudulent method...Regarding "Blue Vibrations," in your June 11 Commentary about the lemon juice "energizing," I believe that why it tastes better, stronger, whatever, might go beyond a mere placebo effect. It has a rather mundane explanation. Human taste falls off, the longer you eat the same substance. The first bite of a greasy cheeseburger tastes better than the last, and not just because you're less hungry at the end. Hence, the first zing of sipped lemon juice (always the "energized" one, according to the instructions) will taste better or more powerful than another sip of the same substance from the other glass. The perception could very well be a real one. Of course, drinking from the "unenergized" one first would make that one seem stronger. My theory would be that a double-blind test would remove the placebo effect, but that the "first one" sipped, whichever that is, would end up being picked most of the time.
That same thought has also occurred to me, Kevin….
The bizarre Korean billionaire and Unification Church founder Reverend Sun Myung Moon, 84, has actually been crowned as "The Messiah" — which I'm sure he believes himself to be — in the U.S. Capital! Last March 23rd, Moon was declared to be The Messiah as a bipartisan group of members of Congress looked on or participated. The coronation of the billionaire, pro-theocracy newspaper owner was performed with royal robes, a crown, the whole silly works, yet this stupendous, Earth-shaking event seems to have escaped the attention of the media in general! You'd think that the fact it took place, not in a makeshift basement church or at a remote backwoods campsite, but in a Senate office building, might have attracted considerable media frenzy.
Moon has much influence in Washington. He's both a religious leader and a media mogul, owning both the Washington Times newspaper and the wire service United Press International.
One congressman involved, Danny Davis from Illinois, even wore white gloves and carried a pillow holding one of two ornate gold crowns that were placed on the heads of The Messiah and his wife, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, at the ceremony. Mr. Davis says he was "a bit surprised'' at Moon's Messiah remarks, which said that emperors, kings and presidents had
….declared to all heaven and earth that Reverend Sun Myung Moon is none other than humanity's Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent.
Mr. Davis said he had attended meetings of the Moon "peace foundation," knowing of Mr. Moon's involvement, but of the crowning ceremony, he said:
It's my understanding that what they were doing was recognizing Mr. and Mrs. Moon as parents. They call it true parents, as parents who provide parental guidance or parental direction. That's what it meant to me. It meant nothing more and nothing less.
Moon's Unification Church includes the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace-mentioned above — which held what it advertised as this "Ambassadors for Peace awards banquet" in the Dirksen Office Building. The initial invitation, sent to all members of Congress, stated that Mr. Moon and his wife would also be present and honored for their work. But follow-up letters mentioned only the peace foundation and simply told lawmakers who from their states was being honored. Representative Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland was there, too, and commented:
I remember the king and queen thing, but … I had no idea what he was king of.
Oh. Well, listen more carefully next time, Roscoe. Some of the others, like Senator Mark Dayton of Minnesota, insisted they were duped and had no idea that the organization holding the reception was connected to Mr. Moon. Mr. Dayton said he attended because he'd been told that a constituent of his state was being honored.
Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United, an organization devoted to preserving the separation of church and state, said of this spectacle:
You had what effectively amounted to a religious coronation in a government building of a man who claims literally to be the savior.
Wait a minute, Mr. Lynn. There are dozens of such declarations made every year — we even get some here at the JREF. Of course, not too many of the afflicted get crowned in the Capital, I admit. But the event attracted little notice, at the time it occurred. The uproar didn't occur until later, when a freelance writer published an account of the event in Salon, the Internet site that deals often with Washington peccadilloes. But Archbishop George A. Stallings, pastor of the Imani Temple, an independent African-American Catholic church in Washington, who helped coordinate the reception, does not see what all the fuss is about:
From his spiritual perspective, [Mr. Moon thinks] that is how he sees his role, as ordained by God. This is not the first time the man has been on Capital Hill.
Very true, and now that he's officially a god, he'll be hanging around the place regularly, I'm sure. Deities have obligations, you know.
Moon's organization was required to find a senator to act as a sponsor, in order to hold this affair where they did, but the identity of the sponsor remains a secret; the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, which approved the request, would not release the name. A spokesperson for Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, the committee chairman, said staff members were examining the application, filed in the name of The Washington Times Foundation, to see if there were any violations of Senate rules. I'm sure that means we'll never hear another word about it.
Here's an interesting angle: our friend Bob Park, the outspoken curmudgeon, points out that there was a short-lived move a couple of weeks back, to re-name the Moon — yes, the Earth's natural satellite! — after Ronald Reagan. I kid you not. Re this coronation of The Messiah, Bob declared:
This is big. We don't get many Messiahs in Washington. The appropriate action, we believe, is to rename the Reagan Memorial Moon. It will henceforth be known as "The Moon."
Bob has such a way of putting things….
A test: look at this photo, and guess which is the correct caption:
1. Costume party with the Pillsbury Doughboy.
2. The new sanitation team reports for duty.
3. Advertising Korean-made Chlorox Bleach.
4. The New Messiah is crowned in the Capital.
Surely, #4 is the least likely….?
Reader Jeff Thorne spotted something of interest written by Amy Sullivan at http://gadflyer.com/politicalaims/index.php?Week=200425#410, concerning "prayer power":
Yep, you read that correctly. As a solution to ending the drought, the governor asked everyone in the state to pray for rain.
And apparently they were just a little too good at it. It did in fact start raining on May 23, the day of prayer. And it didn't stop for fourteen days. The ground was so parched that it couldn't handle all of the water, many areas in the state flooded, and they had to call in FEMA, whose officials are currently assessing damage and deciding whether to declare parts of the state a disaster area.
The lesson clearly is that if you're going to deal with a problem by having your citizens pray about it, you might want to break them up into prayer groups, designating certain counties for Monday, others for Tuesday, and so on. The entire state petitioning for rain at one time was apparently too much for God, who said, "Alright already!" and sent them a flood.
UPDATE: I just want to make clear a point that should already be obvious to most sentient beings: that this story was told to me by friends who know of my interest in religion and politics and that it should in no way indicate that the congresswomen or anyone who works for her is opposed to prayer. I don't apologize for the snarkiness — I still think the whole thing is ridiculous and inappropriate for a governor. But I do apologize if anyone got the impression that there was any snarkiness on behalf of the congresswomen or her staff. Just because I have friends who work for Kerry or Daschle or Herseth doesn't mean that they share my opinions and thoughts. Lord knows they don't. Now, are we all abundantly clear?Last night I hung out with some former Daschle office friends who are heading up the office of newly- elected Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth, and knowing of my interest in all things related to religion and politics, they told me about their new governor's strategy for dealing with the drought that plagued South Dakota this past spring. Republican Governor Mike Rounds put together a task force to deal with drought-related problems, tasked state agencies to develop solutions, and proclaimed a state-wide day of prayer for rain.
Jeff comments:
Now who would think that reporting the story would imply that one "opposes" prayer? I certainly don't think it will do anyone any good, at least in regards to getting one's rain started or halted, but I wouldn't say I opposed it. No more than I oppose the Tooth Fairy.
Reader Paul Budzinski of Lake Forest, California:
I had to comment about last week's story concerning the "rolling Baba" on your website. As a subscriber to the Los Angeles Times, I read the article mentioned and was surprised as well by the "fact" that the rolling Baba can reach speeds of 15 mph. I immediately emailed the Times via their letters@latimes.com address and explained that given that speed, the Baba could "roll" the L.A. marathon in a record shattering time of 1 hour 45 minutes and easily come in first place. He could then take the first place Mercedes Benz car he'd receive and drive to his next rolling engagement in style.
They chose not to publish my letter.
Canadian reader Rob Bairos tells me:
I'm just watching a Canadian talk show host being interviewed by a "psychic medium." At first I thought it was a joke, as she was embarrassingly obvious:
Is there anyone with a "D," or, or "E," … A "J" or a "G" ... an "R"? There's an "R." There's also an "E"? An "S"? An "O"? ... Is it Robert? It's Rod.... Ron? Well, he's watching over you now….
I was horrified to find out that the "psychic" was serious. Even more ridiculous was the host: "Well, you've made a believer out of me!" She was complimenting her on her giftedness!
I feel like I'm trapped in the Twilight Zone where everyone on television is completely insane. I'm just writing to thank you for your work in pointing out the obvious, as unfortunate as it is. Thanks for being a light of reason in a world of idiocy!Etc., etc....
Well, Rob, I got a "B," as well as an "R." Is it "Rob"? It is? Wow!
Readers Martin Rule of Coventry, UK, and John Atkinson of the Isle of Man, notify us that The Curse Of Uri Geller has claimed another victim, following Uri's disastrous recent involvements with Reading and Exeter football clubs. During Euro 2004, the football tournament then taking place in Portugal, Geller appeared on a popular Channel 4 daytime chat program — the "Richard & Judy Show," where he asked viewers to touch the TV screen images of England soccer players and to pass their "positive energy" to the team prior to Thursday (June 24) night's crucial quarter-final match against Portugal. Apparently it didn't matter whether the image on the screen was from videotape, or live. These fabulous powers work equally well either way, as we all know.
The result was predictable: England lost on penalties, having finished the match 2-2. The team is now out of the tournament. Thanks, Uri. Yours is a very special talent.
Unfortunately, the feng shui expert and a lady Anglican priest who were also in attendance didn't help either, with their own particular brands of superstitious nonsense. John and Martin are happy to report that the TV hosts, Richard Madely and Judy Finnegan, appeared to show a good amount of skepticism and made sure that the whole episode was treated as a light-heated diversion. I've been on with this team, via telephone, a few times — and I've found that they're not very tolerant of fakes….
MAYBE HE'S DOING IT THE HARD WAY
Several years ago, a correspondent sent me the following observations about the powers of Uri Geller, at a time when he was receiving much TV attention. Cleaning out some old files, I came upon the document once again. There's food for thought to be found here….
1) His method is inefficient. It's not like before Uri came along, we were wondering how on earth we'd get a spoon bent. If the need for a bent spoon arose, we'd grab it in our two hands and bend it, simple as that. We didn't have to concentrate very hard on the task.
2) His method is slow. The "grab it with both hands and bend" method of bending spoons is demonstrably faster than the "concentrate and rub" method.
3) His method is unreliable. Believers in psychic ability call this the "sheep and goats effect." For some reason, when a skeptic is in the room or scientific controls are in place that would eliminate cheating, the spoon will fail to bend through mind power alone. Sometimes the "vibes" aren't right. However, the no-rubbing grab-and-bend method works independently of vibes, regardless of how many people in the room doubt it will work.
4) Most importantly, people don't need spoons bent. In fact, the optimal configuration for a spoon is un-bent. The only purpose for bending a spoon I can think of, is demonstrating one's psychic abilities. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I can't think of a single time I've needed a bent spoon. Fortunately, although I'm not psychic, should the occasion arise, I'm pretty sure I could bend one with just my hands.
So in conclusion — this man enjoys fame and, I presume, wealth, because he has a slow, inefficient, and unreliable method for accomplishing a task that no one needs done. He gets invited to TV shows to demonstrate this completely substandard method of performing this useless task.Mr. Geller's claim to fame is that he can bend spoons with his mind. Oh sure, he claims a lot of other kookery, but it's the spoon-bending that most people know him for. He purports to be able to bend a spoon just by concentrating on it. Let's assume for the moment that he really can do this feat. Some observations about it:
I am almost certain I can find some job that no one needs done and find a really poor way to do it. I won't claim psychic abilities, though, just my own inept skill set. Do you think I can get some fame and money? I really only want a little….
Next week, we'll show you another video clip from the RAI3-TV program you saw here recently, this time with Geller "psychically" bending a key that is so heavy, he appears to have to hold it in both hands….
Back in November of 1994, before this website existed, I ran a complaint on my "Hotline" about the embrace of quackery, superstition, and pseudoscience that the Public Broadcasting System in the USA always falls into, as soon as it's time to ask for financial support. It read:
I postponed this particular piece until the PBS stations had finished their mid-August funding pleas. I'm supportive of their work because of the raft of excellent programs they offer us, and I didn't want to interfere with the fundraising process.
But I seethed when a blatantly stupid program, "In Search of Angels," was used as a come-on for donations. Pandering to gullibility is inexcusable, and when the host of a WXEL-TV session here said, following this inane show, "Giving to support WXEL means that you can continue getting programming like you've just seen," I was ready to explode. "The programming says it all," said this character, betraying every good intention the directors of the channel may ever have had.
The scripting of "In Search of Angels" was juvenile, to say the best of it. "They certainly are there," said the starry-eyed ingénue in charge of bad information, referring to guardian angels, and there followed a parade of dumbos who verified that they regularly depended on these supernatural beings for protection and guidance.
On the NBC-TV Nightly News, the author of one of the million-selling angel books, just last night, told her viewers that there was nothing wrong with making even trivial requests of one's guardian angel. "You can certainly ask them to find you a parking space," she beamed. Can you get less trivial than that? Gimme a break!
It's getting worse, folks..... ANGELS FOR SALE
Almost ten years later, this outrage has worsened. We've just been through a few weeks of vapid adulation over Wayne Dyer, the huckster who PBS has apparently permanently adopted to solicit money from viewers via his phony pop-psychology platitudes. What most viewers perhaps don't recognize is that Dyer is actually selling his CDs, books, and videos through PBS during these appearances, since contributors are sent items from his merchandise list as rewards for their contributions. He's not a volunteer tout for the network; he profits from all contributions — over a minimal amount — that are made to PBS. As just a taste of the nonsense Dyer offers PBS viewers:
To create, we need a pause or gap between the thoughts. The gap or this space is the place that allows us to build, create, and manifest. We can all experience the gap through meditation. In Getting in the Gap, I use the Lord's Prayer and the sound "ah" or one of the names of God. The sound of "ah" is not only within the name of God; it is also in the sound of Allah, Krishna, Jehovah, and Ra. When repeated in a mantra while in the Gap, it keeps us in a prolonged state of consciousness with our Source. Staying in the Gap helps us to experience the benefits of less stress, more peace, less fatigue, more energy. We also look younger and happier.
This network also adores and employs the blatant pseudoscience of Gary Null — diploma-milled PhD. — who makes just as much sense as Wayne Dyer: none. Null, for just one example, touts strapping on magnets to cure and protect the human body:
Magnetic therapy can help the body ward off such microbial invaders as viruses, bacteria, and fungi. It achieves this, in part, by increasing immune function through the oxygenation of white corpuscles, an important part of the immune system's arsenal. A magnetic field can also function like an antibiotic by lowering acidity, with the result that microorganisms have a more difficult time surviving.
Another popular icon PBS hoists and hosts is Deepak Chopra, M.D., who preaches a return to medieval notions of medicine, along with the varied "biles" (yellow, black), "humors," and other ancient notions of the alchemists. The bottom line here is that PBS sees proven dollar signs in pseudoscience, and finds nothing wrong with using it to fund their otherwise excellent fare. But this is what really alarms me: there had to be a point in time where the managers of the network met with their fund-raising advisors, listened to suggestions that they use acceptance and promotion of quackery and lies as a way to attract money, and agreed to do so at the expense of their integrity. They knew it was dishonest, and they didn't care. Is that the American way?
I used to support PBS annually. No more….
The "Hotline" files referred to above, recently rediscovered, will soon go up as an archive on this page, so you can look over ancient observations I've made. It comes to some 18,000 words, unedited, and there's more, yet undiscovered….!
