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Reader Nick Brown, of Strasbourg, France, reports a very sensible move in his country:
France's "Académie Nationale de Médecine," the country's leading medical authority, has demanded that the French National Health Insurance system stop reimbursing homeopathic "medicines" (my quote marks!), unless they have been subjected to the same tests of medical efficiency applied to all other forms of treatment. The system recently dropped a number of "regular" medicines because they were deemed to produce insufficient results.
The Académie's attack is unambiguous (Nick's translation):
Homeopathy is a technique dreamt up two hundred years ago on the basis of concepts without any scientific basis. Since then it has been nothing but a doctrine, unaffected by any form of progress, notably the remarkable advances in science which have completely transformed medicine in the last two centuries.
The French Association of Homeopathic Practitioners countered with:
Homeopathy is a practice recognized by the French Order of Doctors, and is taught in universities. It is supported by 40% of the French population.
A French skeptic told me that the reimbursement of homeopathic medicine in France is relatively recent, having been introduced by President François Mitterrand. He was the president who famously consulted his astrologer every morning...I'm not sure what any of that proves, but I don't suppose we expected logical thinking from these people anyway. The French Health Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, gave a non-committal reply to press questions, saying he will study the evidence before making any decision. Let's hope he does just that.
Well, that seems congruent with his decisions....
We are saddened by the recent death of parapsychologist Robert Morris, a man who was reasonable and open in his research, and always willing to entertain conflicting views. He occupied the Koestler Chair in Parapsychology at Edinburgh University. We corresponded often during the 1980's. He, as I, was troubled by the reports from Washington University in St. Louis regarding the Alpha kids I'd sent in as ringers to test the parapsychologists there; they failed. Bob once wrote me that he'd "always valued our interactions and considered them fair and productive." One reason for my eager acceptance to attend the October 8-10 World Skeptics Congress was because Bob would be there. He died suddenly just before that time, and we miss him.
Hard on that news came a further shock. Dr. Jacques Benveniste, the scientist I battled on the matter of water having a "memory" that enabled it to produce homeopathic effects, died suddenly at the beginning of this month. Jacques was a colorful showman who spoke of scientific witch-hunts and Galileo-style prosecutions by Nature Magazine and orthodox scientists who opposed his theories. He was a hero to those inclined to regard science as a form of modern-day Inquisition. He looked upon himself as a Newton challenging a petty-minded, mechanistic view of the universe.
I've already reported the tragic accidental death of John Mack, the tenured Harvard professor and author of "abduction" books who once stated that he had seldom met a person who'd not been abducted by aliens.
Now I learn that another important person in my life has left us. Nobel Laureate Dr. Maurice Wilkins, who died recently at age 87, helped Francis Crick, James Watson and Rosalind Franklin unlock the structure of the DNA "life molecule" that sits at the heart of nearly all living cells. He was probably the first to obtain an X-ray image of DNA, he taught Francis Crick about DNA, and that photograph inspired James Watson. There is a possibility, however, that American Linus Pauling (1901-1994) actually made the first X-Ray diffraction shot of DNA, though he was kept incommunicado by the anti-communist drive in the USA and unable to inform his UK colleagues of his discovery.
I knew Wilkins as a perceptive man who I consulted at the UK at King's College in 1975 while looking into the Uri Geller claims. Maurice was quite dismayed with of some of his colleagues who entertained the notion that Geller really had psychic powers. I recall that he was at that time looking into the claims that nautilus shells and pine cones — among other products of nature — exhibit a logarithmic spiral. To assist him, I obtained and sent to him several specimens of huge longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) cones, and he was delighted.
Astrologer Joyce Jillson, the one who was consulted by Ronald and Nancy Regan in what I've called the "Tinkerbell White House" period, also died earlier this month at age 58. Jillson, once an actress in the TV series "Peyton Place," was the official astrologer for 20th Century Fox Studios, and was consulted by them on the best opening days for Fox movies. She picked the opening date for 1977's "Star Wars," the second-highest-grossing movie of all time, though I suspect that the high quality and the hype of the film itself might also have helped its success somewhat.
Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, psychiatrist and author of the ground- breaking book, "On Death and Dying," died August 24, 2004, in Scottsdale, Arizona, aged 78. This was a lady who at first began providing remarkable services for the dying, but then developed a "five-step" method of performing that task, and became much of a mystic. In all, her contribution was positive and productive.
While this seems like an unusual number of deaths in our selected field, it's one end of that old Bell-Shaped Curve...
Reader Larry Barowski is a little annoyed. He reports:
I was feeling pretty good about this until I did a Google News search for "Coral Calcium" to get more of the story. At the bottom of the first article returned were — you guessed it — three ads for Coral Calcium, hosted by Google. I guess if Trudeau doesn't hawk it and they don't claim that it actively cures cancer, they can still sell the stuff.I'm sure you've already heard that Kevin Trudeau, the weasel from those intelligence-insulting "Coral Calcium" and "Mega Memory" infomercials, has been shut down by the FTC and fined US$2,000,000.
That's disappointing, because I'm a great Google fan and supporter, Larry. But as with all Internet activities, there's trash among the gems....
Many of us feel that we might be looking for an escape following this November election. Reader Steve James of Indianapolis, Indiana, looked in on www.godsark.org/html/the_construction.html and tells us that there we'll find
. . . details and photos of the progress of a reconstruction of Noah's Ark, which is "being constructed to the original specifications" in Frostburg, Maryland. It includes such wonderfully Biblical details as:
...76 cement pillars, 34 sway-brace pillars...
Steel reinforcement rod was needed.
...the next step of construction involves the outside shell or steel superstructure...To date, over 3000 tons of cement have been poured to support this structure.
If you think that maybe they're only using heavy equipment because they lack the time to do it the way Noah did, one might note that ground was broken on the project in 1976.
Still no word on how they're going to get all those animals inside, but based on this, it may involve freeze-drying....No mention was made of gopherwood, nor how they expect that this was done with crude hand tools and carpentry. Presumably, Noah was a dab hand at whipping up steel reinforcement rods. Oh, wait — I guess that should be bronze. Unmentioned in the Bible are the five bulldozers used to dig the foundations, since this Ark, like the original, must have to support itself on land, where it was built.
Which really annoys those big predators. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my....!
The nut case at the www.geocities.com/ministryofdreams/ site has published more than 40 Earth-shaking visions he says he got straight from some god or other. I had to fill in and correct the almost-unintelligible text, though I left some colorful constructions, so bear with me. Among his inspired predictions are a few that I'd say had better hurry up and be accomplished:
Iraq will get nuked. I saw a bomber plane bombing a nation that said Iraq, it was all by itself and it was like an illuminated drawing, on it and U.S. flashed by the plane and I was high above the earth and then I am suddenly on the ground and I am running yelling, "Iraq is about to get nuked," "Iraq is about to get nuked," and one of the girls that I was talking to warning, I was telling her while in this vision about another vision I had I believed was about to be fulfilled where I saw a speedway gasoline sign and the price for gas was $4.03. In many visions, the Lord Jesus has revealed to me that Iraq has nuclear weapons, and they will shoot them into Israel, and Israel will fire back and eliminate Iraq with the United States finishing Iraq off with nuclear weapons. Jesus has also revealed to me that North Korea has nuclear weapons, and will join China and Japan, in attacking Russia.
Gee, atomic attacks and gasoline prices in the same vision? How versatile this man is!
A lot happened in this vision, but, I will just tell you some of it, and I don't remember all. I was in my room, and I was asleep, when knocking on the door awakens me. I answer the door, and a man asks me if I want to play baseball, and I told him to check back in a while. I layed back down, and the t.v. was on, and I watched a little, and later there was knocking on the door again, and it was him, and I let him in, and they was at least another person. I told the man when I started serving the Lord, I had to separate from sports. He asked me, "Do you dream dreams"? I answered, "You talk about dreaming dreams, I have seen the Antichrist and Jesus. Here is one that has partially come to pass. The Iraq war is going to end nuclear. You're going to see Iraq." He started talking to the person that was there with him, while I was talking, and kept talking, so my anointing left.
Yeah, that can happen. Anointing is just so transitory.
Enough. No, too much. My brain is turning soft.
Edgar Mitchell, Sc.D., has answered Terry Polevoy, MD, of HealthWatcher.net (www.healthwatcher.net/Quackerywatch/Cancer/Adam/index.html). This is the same Mitchell who went to the Moon and apparently found God and Uri Geller as a result. It's a long story, much of it outlined in my books. Dr. Polevoy had written to Mitchell in response to some healing claims:
Anyone who hides their identity and scams the public for money deserves the attention that I have offered the public on my web site.
I don't care if you went to the moon or not. That doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is that people are deluded into believing that distant healing or remote viewing works. You can't prove any of this at all, can you?
Preying on young cancer patients and their families is beyond belief. It's a bloody business, and scamming the public into believing that you cured anyone of any disease by looking at their picture that you sent them is robbery, plain and simple. When it is done over the phone it is even worse.
So, call up James Randi and take the challenge, won't you? And while you are at it, have the young anonymous adolescent boy wonder from Coquitlam, B.C. called Adam call him, too. And I am sure that James Randi will demand that Adam use his real name, just for the record. We wouldn't want any fake Adams to show up down in Florida, would we?
You obviously have made a career of making claims that you have not subjected to the paranormal challenge offered by James Randi, at www.randi.org/research/index.html.
Mitchell's answer:
You would do the world, yourselves and your viewers great service were you willing to listen to the well credentialed research people who have studied these phenomena for many years, rather than remain stuck in the negative dogmatic nonsense of 19th century science and the failing ideas of CSICOPS and folk like Randi. It is rather clear at this point that quantum science, properly applied, will provide totally new insight on these phenomena. Although there certainly are quacks of all sorts among the public, most of the names you mention on this site are bona fide healers and researchers, including young Adam, with whom I have personally worked.
Well, Ed, my prize is available to any of these healers. What say? Hello, Edgar? Oh. Visiting with Sylvia, I see....
Reader David Vestal keeps up with the latest Russian discoveries in science:
The first paragraph should give you the idea:Perhaps this will interest (or enrage) you. Apparently, we all possess the innate ability to control time, but can use this ability only once. Stress can hamper it, and dreams are a sort of autobiological calibration of it. The full story appeared in Pravda (which translates to "truth," I believe): http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/378/14212_time.html
A human being is capable of changing and impeding time in an emergent situation, in a desperate attempt to stay alive. Nature provided an incredible ability to people, although one can use this ability only once in a lifetime. The majority of people face it only once, during the moment of death. We never try to train this quality or turn it on, which makes it lose its efficiency and power as life goes. Nevertheless, this so-called "time control organ" is always in action, the time of every individual changes, although only highly precise devices can register this change (an atomic clock or synchronized quartz resonators).
The article concludes:
Our ancient ancestors were probably aware of the phenomenon. At any rate, modern shamans and yogi know how to hamper the time and come out of their bodies for a while.Needless to say, the existence of the time control organ has not been proved. Scientists, however, believe that the organ is possibly situated in the brain, in the hypothalamus. Some specialists say that this organ is the so-called "third eye," others say that it is situated in the spinal cord. Most likely, it goes about a qualitatively new function of brain cells, which are interconnected with one aura, scientists say.
Russian science marches on.... David observes wryly that
My guess is that it won't be proven in an, er, timely manner.
Intrigued by the recent piece here on the magnetic "wine clip" that is said to improve the taste of wine by affecting the size of the wine molecules (?) as the liquid is poured past it, reader J. C. Hrubovcak wrote to Dennis Lynch, the boss at wine clip headquarters:
I have included James Randi as a recipient of this message. He is the head of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), which administers the Million Dollar Challenge. Prove that your device works and you can make a lot more money than by scamming people at $49.95 a pop.
I eagerly look forward to you vindicating yourself, proving me wrong, and you getting the million dollars.Your wine clip is a scam. I say so with a million dollars worth of confidence. Prove that your supernatural device works and you can win a million dollars, the details are here: Million Dollar Challenge. Are you deluding yourself or are you a con artist?
Dennis Lynch responded:
For starters, calling our device "supernatural" is your doing, not ours. From what I see, our product is simply made of plastics and magnets. Although certain aspects of magnetism remain a mystery, I wouldn't conclude that it makes our product supernatural. Any and all explanations that we provide on our website are purely derived from our understanding of magnets and their effect on liquids.
I assume you agree that "taste is subjective." Therefore, we feel the best way of testing our product is via taste tests. Thus, we've conducted numerous and various taste tests with many people. Some of these people are considered experts in the wine industry while others are just common folk. In most cases, people taking the test conclude that a change in taste appears when the wine is treated with TWC. Some like the taste better while others do not. Few taste no difference at all. However, the majority of taste-testers (including myself) sense a measurable difference and voice a preference for such. I appreciate your opinions even though I do not agree with them.
Randi comments: Note that there's no hint that such tests were done double-blind, of course. Any other sort of test is useless — but maybe Mr. Lynch is well aware of that fact.... He continues:
We do not claim that TWC will cure any illness. We do not claim it will relieve pain. It won't make you stronger, faster or smarter. All we suggest is that TWC can make a bottle of wine taste better. Can we prove this via the use of instruments? We have searched for an instrument that could be used to test TWC on a scientific level. To date, we have found no such instrument.
Although you may require a University study to prove TWC's value, our customers do not. Even if we did have a study that concluded TWC was scientifically proven to work, what good would that do if people did not like their wine better when using TWC? Therefore, for as long as people are willing to try our product, we will continue to market it. Additionally, we will continue to offer a money back guarantee to customers that buy our product and then determine they don't like it. Now if that's what you consider a con, then so be it. You're entitled to your opinion.
Although I appreciate your challenge, I would rather make a million dollars building our business and keeping our customers happy. No offence pointed at Mr. Randi.
I appreciate you taking so much time to email me.In response to your "con artist" remarks...
Hmm. Notice: " . . . as long as people are willing to try our product, we will continue to market it." That's the "out" most of them have. They depend on the fact that most people choose to imagine that a product works, rather than fly in the face of "science." He just doesn't care whether or not it works, but only if someone will buy it. But I really have a hard time believing that Mr. Lynch actually declines to accept a million dollars for a one-hour test. That's a greater mystery than how a magnet can change wine....!
But Dennis Lynch also wrote to Mr. Hrubovcak, following a feisty series of comments by him:
A year back that was a website filled with people that appeared to dedicate themselves to knocking us down. They were people, like you, who were so willing to toss around words like con, scam and liar. Like you, they did so without ever trying our product. Furthermore, like you, they made those comments without knowing me or the people involved with this product.FYI there have been double blind tests conducted by skeptics like yourself. The findings of those reports were in our favor.
Mr. Lynch, tests can be done without any introductions. I've had rank and fame thrown at me by those who were astonished they could ever be doubted, or challenged to a test. In any case, there a MILLION DOLLARS awaiting you, personally, or ANYONE YOU CARE TO DESIGNATE, if one can pass a proper double-blind test. Just why are you so reluctant to take this test, Mr. Lynch? I think I know, and so do my readers. He continues:
But the key to this story is that even though the skeptical name callers selected the panel of taste-testers, and even when those taste-testers came back dumbfounded with how our product worked, they still continued to question the results and called us names. So I went even further and asked well-known and respected experts to try our product. They did and the results are on our website. I am sure you read them.
The bottom line is this, JC: (a) I have nothing to prove to you and (b) I don't need a $1MM (?).
Unlike most people that would have avoided your original email which was filled with second-grade name calling, I replied. However, this will be my last. I suggest you either buy a clip and try it for yourself or move on to bigger and better things. Perhaps you could take less time writing me and spend more time figuring out how to make a product that could pass your Randi test.
If that is talking down to someone who finds pleasure in calling other people names, then so be it.
Have a wonderful day.I called on them with a challenge.... I would send four Wine Clips to four "experts" on their panel. Those experts could run any test they wanted. My only request was that the results, good or bad, would be posted in a professional manner. They agreed to this and I sent the clips. The result: the tests came back in our favor. Nonetheless, most of the name tossing skeptics could not accept the findings. This caused fighting between themselves. I found that to be very entertaining.
Facetious to the hilt. Here's a man who doesn't want or need a million dollars. That, in itself, is rather unlikely to be true. If it is, then why won't he spend an hour, win the million, and donate it to feed hungry kids, or contribute it to AIDS research?
But wait. To quote from Lynch's own web page at www.thewineclip.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=tech_pvr "Andy Blue (Famous Wine Critic), Mary Ewing Mulligan (Master of Wine), Leslie Sbracco (Author: "Wine for Women"), and John Sculley (Former CEO of Apple and Pepsi) all agree that The Wine Clip improves the taste of wine." We challenged these people, too, and none of them want or need the million!
There's much more. At Epicurious.com in The World's Greatest Recipe Collection, we find they endorse the product, saying, "Fast and easy to use is The Wine Clip, a magnetic device that clips onto the neck of a bottle to make immature wines (especially reds) seem as if they've aged in a cellar for several years." Beverage Business Industry Magazine writes, "Technical speak aside, there is no doubt that The Wine Clip changes wine when it is used." The President, U-Winer On Premise Wine Making, California, claims that "It's unbelievable!", that is what my customers say about The Wine Clip. At U-Winer, customers make their own wine and I have them use The Wine Clip when tasting it for the first time. The skeptical are the most fun to watch during the taste test, they don't want to believe it, but their senses give them no choice." Wow! That's a million-dollar prize winner, for sure! And Mike Marlow, Wall Street Commodities Trader, is no fool. He says, "I consider myself an avid wine drinker. I didn't believe this product would or could work. I was proven wrong." How can we doubt Mr. Marlow? John Garvey is the Executive Chef Owner/Operator of the Brick Hotel, Pennsylvania. He raves, "Not only have I seen it improve almost any type of wine, it also has the added benefit of increasing interest in wine drinking in general. As the owner of several restaurants, I can certainly appreciate the fact that customers introduced to The Wine Clip drink more wine — if for no other reason then to keep trying it out." And David Hendrickson is the owner of Chef's II Restaurant Huntington, New York, surely not one to fall for a scam. He avers, "We were skeptical until the buzz in our restaurant got so loud that we could hear it in the kitchen. One table started talking to the next table until just about everyone was asking, 'What is that' and 'Can I try it.' We now sell The Wine Clip with our logo printed on the box."
After these glowing validations and testimonials, DO NONE OF THESE PEOPLE FEEL THAT AN HOUR OF THEIR TIME WOULD BE WORTH A MILLION DOLLARS? Or could it be that the tests Lynch got them involved in, were faked? I don't know, of course. But I do know that none of them have written us..... Or are they all simply liars? Again, I don't know. But I have an opinion or two, don't you?
Perhaps reader Paul Armel has a good comment here:
I was having dinner with some friends, most of whom have PhDs in the biological sciences (as do I), and most of whom have pretensions to being serious wine drinkers. One of my friends, a very bright, competent woman with a PhD told us, in complete seriousness, that if the rim of the wine glass has a lip (is not perfectly smooth), it will have a detrimental effect on the taste of the wine. This supposedly was due to some physical effect of the lip on the wine. I can't reproduce the argument since it made no sense to me.
The other members of the group took this at face value. Since we are all good friends, I had no difficulty telling them that this was "complete and utter nonsense."
I wonder if there's some sort of correlation between pretension and pseudoscience. Anyway, I thought you'd enjoy the story.There seems to be a lot of pretension surrounding wine drinking and this pretension seems to me to lead to nonsensical ideas.
Paul, I was saddened. No amount of education can make some folks smart....
A really good European trip — to five countries in three weeks — has left me tired but very satisfied. There'll be reports coming up. In case you wondered, the million is still in place....
While I was in Europe — five countries in three weeks — I noticed a few very important facts that I feel I should share here with you. Though I switched on CNN-TV every day while I was away, once I'd seen that day's offering, I turned to local newscasts. To my great surprise, the services there were using the U.S. Presidential Debates as either the first or second item of their nightly news coverage, usually with a panel discussing the important points made by the candidates. In countries half-way across the world, those debates were a very important item of news!
Also, each debate was to be seen in real time — with voiceovers in the local language — at three a.m. in the morning, as they occurred, live, back in the United States! When I enquired about why such close attention and priority was being given to the upcoming American election, I was told that these matters were of paramount importance to the security, economy, and future of that country, as well as being critical to folks back home.
That just points up how important the November Presidential elections are, folks — to us and to the rest of the world. Our position as a nation puts us in this strange and significant role when we go to the polling-place — and tells us that we must express our wishes about the leadership of this nation. Our voting record has been an embarrassment to us internationally, and that should end.
Get out there and vote. It's a privilege that so much of the world still does not enjoy, and we should be running to get out and provide our opinion and choices via the ballot-box.
Will you join me on November 2nd? It's critically important, and it's a duty you bear as a citizen. All the JREF staff will be out there making their choices, and we'd like to know that all of our readers and members will do the same.
Please?
