Dear Bronwyn....

<<though I did try hard to become a believer in Christianity for one short impressionable period in my life,>>

Now.... u KNOW what's coming don't you :)

"If at first you don't succeed.. try..try again"

If I was a salesman..I'd look up my sales manual in the section which says "Identify the barriers to the sale" then try to pick them off one by one.

But let me just say.. please don't connect the faith with the 'faithful'.. so to speak.. all of us are dissappointed from time to time over those we thought represented something we found interesting...just look to the Lord Himself as recorded in the Gospels, and the commentaries on his life and word in the Epistles.
He doesn't stop knocking just because we ignore the first tap on the door. (or when we open the door a bit and then see the product and close it again)

COPPER..no..I don't have a clue about the effect of a copper write bracelet.. unless there was an infection directly at that point perhaps.
The bracelet thing sounds like one of those extrapolations into the twilight zone.

CELIVIA.. after a good ol knock in the head.. I might.. MIGHT even start to make sense from now on :) That bloke previously had almost pushed my navel out through my spine, (with a kick or 5) and separated my head from my shoulders.. and this time he whined that I was hitting him too hard.. awwww

All this rationality, yet most of you have fallen for the big one.

Hands up all who have fallen for the Global Warming scam, & all who fell for the last one, the Y2K scam.

Dear Celivia,

What a great thread!

Everyone is having so much fun.
Including Polycarp - wow, I'm seeing him in a
different light altogether. Boxing no less...
Interesting! Hmmmmmm

If my oracle cards made you laugh, you should have
seen me trying to do belly-dancing.

I took several classes to impress my husband (so
I thought). It was belly-dancing or pole-dancing.
I opted for belly-dancing. Instead of arousing
him, he got hysterical, and to this day we don't
speak about it.

The copper/infection thing is new to me. I was under the impression copper bracelets were worn for something to do with blood pressure, or something else blood related. I recall older people used to wear them when I was a kid. Old=green wrists.

I've tried really hard to believe in several mystical options but was never successfully convinced. Bd mentioned the money factor, which always seems to be at the bottom of any kind of mysticism. The wealth of the Vatican was not brought about by a miracle and those lovely boxes account for the cost of whatever is in them.

As a kid I read that village witches and other assorted weirdos provided their services in exchange for the support and goodwill of those they helped. No money, and reward came with results. It's one of those kiddy things that stuck.

Accupuncture's a different animal. Whether it works because I believe it does, or because there's some physiological basis for it, accupuncture works.

Yoga, maybe. I suspect that the beneficial effects are partly due to doing something in concert with others, like choral singing or line dancing or doing the Nutbush or the Time Warp.

Dear chainsmoker,

Copper is supposed to possess healing properties
that fight against inflammatory
diseases, such as arthritis and rheumatism.

It's no wonder that you remember older people
wearing copper bracelets.

Amber is said to have healing properties
as well.

I know I feel great wearing it.

Bronwyn,
I agree that in some cases, digestive tract cleansing can have (verifiable) health benefits.
But my concern is that the self-help industry is such an unregulated jungle where there’s no control on authors’ medical qualifications.
Most people don’t pay attention to disclaimers in books.
I don’t really have a solution, but I think that people need to be aware that there are non-qualified healers and authors who make insubstantial claims about health.

Look, for example, at “Dr” Gillian McKeith, an author who’s well known around the world and who advises and educates on nutrition and colon cleansing She has been banned from using the title “doctor” on the basis of qualifications gained by correspondence course from a non-accredited American College.

She’s not the only one; there are others who use the title Dr when they’ve only acquired some kind of naturopath certificate.
Nobody stops them from making uninformed claims and giving people nonsensical advise about their health.

Not only US schools, but Australian correspondence schools as well offer health courses of which the contents are questionable.
I’ve been interested in quackery for some time and as a hobby I was on a mission to investigate some of the schools and courses a few years ago. IMO they were of low standard.

I don’t like the idea that American naturopaths can publish books making use of the Doctor status, and that these books are then distributed in other countries where people are mislead into believing that Doctors write these books and therefore follow the advice given.

I’m quite convinced that the blood type diet is BS, too. I’ll change my mind when I see evidence of proper scientific studies on this.
The author, d’Adamo is another example of a naturopath who calls himself Dr.
The diet is an invention of his mind backed up by pseudo-science and could harm people.

Homeopathy: nonsense!
James Randi can explain the concept far better than I could.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWE1tH93G9U

Romany,
That was so funny re “the old crap”! Your students are brilliant, you must love them!

Yes herbs have healing properties.

Continued