Friday, May 23, 2008
Last month, after learning that the University of Maryland Health Center
offers acupuncture (WN 4 Apr 08) , I
wrote to object to this promotion of superstitious medicine by a research
University. The university administration responded that this "immensely
popular" service has been offered for eleven years. Where have I been?
Health centers offer acupuncture at many top universities, including UC
Berkeley and Harvard. So what does acupuncture treat? Acupuncture it
seems can handle anything. After all, the "meridians" run the full length
of the body. What! They didn't teach you about meridians in Physiology
101? Meridians connect the acupuncture points - the places they stick the
needles to get the chi flowing. You didn't learn about chi either? It's
like vital-life stuff, but nobody's ever seen it. Are there other ancient
beliefs that universities should make available to our students? How
about astrology? It's even older than acupuncture, and like acupuncture
it only works for true believers. Also like acupuncture, astrology has no
rational explanation. Moreover, few students can construct their
horoscope without expert assistance. I recommended that Maryland create a
Horoscope Center staffed by licensed astrologers.
Barrack Obama's problems with the incendiary Rev. Jeremiah Wright were
cancelled out this week when megachurch pastor John Hagee, whose support
McCain had earlier welcomed, declared that God allowed the rise of Hitler
because in the end it returned Israel to the Jewish people. To McCain's
credit he recognized at once that Hagee is rowing with one oar and
renounced his endorsement. Back in February Hagee implied that Hurricane
Katrina was divine retribution for a planned Gay Pride parade in New
Orleans. At that time McCain repudiated Hagee's remarks but held on to
the endorsement.
The 18-year old telescope was to have been repaired and upgraded at the
end of August, but NASA has set Oct. 8 as the new date for the final
repair and upgrade. The telescope is badly in need of replacement
batteries, guidance sensors and gyroscopes to keep it operating until 2013
when its replacement, the James Webb telescope is supposed to be
launched. The main instrument, the Advanced survey Camera, must also be
repaired. The repair mission is supposed to take five consecutive days of
spacewalks using a crew of seven.
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is a major United Nations
meeting on conservation in Bonn. Governments are being urged to agree
adopt measures for protecting open ocean and sea floor habitats. Among
the evidence considered is a major recent study concluding that, if
current trends continue, 2050 could mark the end of commercially viable
marine fisheries. Food is up, fuel is up, the population bomb has gone off.
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