Friday, January 25, 2002
1. DOE VOODOO: INSPECTOR GENERAL UNCOVERS MORE HIGH-TECH DOWSING.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management supports development
of innovative environmental cleanup technologies. It would be
hard to imagine anything more innovative than "Passive Magnetic
Resonance Anomaly Mapping," which combines an electronic system
and a human operator into a single bio-sensory unit by connecting
the operator at the wrists to an electronic system strapped to
his waist. The device is supposed to locate underground water,
faults, fractures, buried objects and chemicals. Specifics on
the interaction between the operator and the electronics are, of
course, proprietary. However, it relies on the operator's
ability to sense tiny changes in magnetic fields. You've been
having trouble sensing magnetic fields? Not to worry. The
operator, a Ukrainian, is said to be the only person in the world
who can. According to the DOE Inspector General's report, no
peer review was sought before spending $408,750 on field tests.
You will be shocked to learn that it failed every test. The
company that developed it blamed calibration problems. We are
reminded that DOE also bought into the DKL LifeGuard. It was
supposed to detect a human heartbeat through 500 ft. of concrete
and steel
(WN 25 Sep 98).
Before that, DOE fell for the Quadro
Tracker, a dowsing rod with lights and buttons
(WN 12 Jan 96).
2. IRISH VOODOO: REUTERS BITES ON THE LATEST FREE-ENERGY CLAIM.
I got a call this week from a Reuters correspondent in Dublin who
had witnessed a demonstration of the Jasker Power System, a motor
that is said to replenish its own energy source. All he could
tell me about it was that it's the "size of a dishwasher," and it
kept three 100-watt light bulbs lit for two hours without running
down the "starting batteries." To prevent the idea from being
stolen, everything else was secret. It was developed in Ireland
to keep the U.S. government from suppressing it. What did I
think? I think he was a damned fool for covering it. The first
warning sign of voodoo science is that it's pitched directly to
the media. Second, details of how it works are withheld. Third,
a powerful establishment is said to be attempting to suppress it.
3. PRAYER: DOES BELIEF INFLUENCE WHAT THE RESEARCHER REPORTS?
As WN reported last month, Mayo Clinic researchers could find no
benefit to coronary patients from prayers if the patients didn't
know they were being prayed for. This week, writing in Time.com,
Leon Jaroff points out that, by contrast, Elizabeth Targ, who is
funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative
Medicine, found a positive distance healing effect on AIDS and
cancer patients. Jaroff says such work should be monitored by
qualified scientists from outside the paranormal and quack
communities. "Past experience," he writes, "suggests that under
such safeguards miracles do not occur."
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