KW4MW
02-29-2008, 06:13 AM
I attended a meeting Wednesday night partly out of curiosity and partly out of an obligation to a couple of friends who asked me to attend with them.
It was a meeting of the loony fringe of the New Agers - aging New Agers at that. What I saw was disturbing to say the least as I heard a person with some influence in this town speak about government conspiracies and cover ups, etc. Yep - Chem trails came up - they're either there to control the weather or to make us sick so that the phamaceuticals and the AMA can make money. I never did get a definitive answer on that one. Nor did I realize that i was slowly being poisoned by the flourescent lights overhead and that they exist in stores to affect our reasoning powers so that we will impulse buy.
The big hit of the night were "frequency healing machines" - mysterious machines that buss, click, whirl, chirp and have lights flashing on and off that will cure various diseases and body disorders by generating healing frequencies. One machine, the "NOVA healing machine" or some such name stood alone in another room. It was about 3 feet high and any tenth grade science nerd would have recognized it immediately as a Tesla coil with a few added features, those being mainly tubes of various gases (Xenon, Argon, Krypton, etc.) that were excited by the Tesla coil and then generated their own "healing frequencies".
I emailed my friends and a few others with my critique of the evening - the text is repeated here in its entirety except for obscuring the name of the lecturer.
Recap - Group meeting 2/27/2008 - Two Thumbs down
.
Well last night’s meeting was a either a whopping success or a complete turn off, depending upon who you talked to.
Personally I wasn’t impressed; Mr. X. spoke about a few common sense items like eating right, avoiding chemicals, believing in the power of God, loving yourself and making affirmations, things we know to be true and working from our own experiences and beliefs.
But I must say that my overwhelming impression of Mr. X’s presentation was that it was a mixture of exaggerated claims for bogus machines that were reputed to perform miracles and a regurgitation of the usual conspiracy theories that seem to abound within the loony fringe elements of the New Age genre.
He had machines there that reportedly could cure everything from an ingrown toenail, warts and bad breath all the way up to the major disorders like cancer, heart disease and diabetes. He even showed us one machine in which one could simply insert a Polaroid picture of a disease afflicted person and then that person could travel around the globe while this magical machine churned away – on low voltage batteries no less – and that person would eventually be cured within weeks. Of course he brought a couple of shills (or perhaps suckers) with him to attest to the machine’s magical qualities. (One of the shills had his picture taken and then placed into this machine. He then went to Canada where, while there, he claims the machine operating here in Florida on a few AA batteries cured him by remote control. )
I would have loved to have had the opportunity to look inside some of his machines. Doubtless I would have found a few parts gleaned from the shelves of Radio Shack or some of the mail order parts stores around the country.
However it is important to recall his disclaimer that these machines will not work if you don’t believe in them, if you don’t believe in God and the power of prayer, if you don’t love yourself and your fellow man and if you don’t make positive affirmations concerning your own situation. Hmmm – don’t all these New Age fads default to that?
Ok – who am I to judge? Well I do have a few qualifications, having worked in the electronics industry for over 40 years. One of my stints involved working with the Research Department at Walter Reed Hospital in Wash. DC. Specifically I worked at WRAIR (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research) in nearby Silver Spring MD where I assisted scientists from leading universities and federal laboratories investigate the effects of electromagnetic radiation on living tissue. I personally helped perform the tests, observed the effects and recorded the data so what I am telling you is straight from the horses mouth.
My experiences from that job alone have convinced me that it takes a Hell of a lot of electromagnetic energy radiation to affect a change in body tissue. I’m talking in terms of Watts/cm2 which is way more than Mr. X’s machines can put out using a couple of AA batteries.
Another factor – exposure to any type of radiation falls off inversely to the square of the distance. That is a good thing – otherwise we would be inundated with electromagnetic energy from radio and TV stations, the sun and even from sources from outside our solar system.
The Tesla coil in the other room? This thing has been around for over a century. Nikoli Tesla originally developed it with the aim of transmitting electrical power directly instead of using power transmission lines. Most science labs sell Tesla coils as curiosities and kits can also be purchased online to build them, probably at a fraction of the cost of the Nova healing machine. Mr. X’s machine has a few added whistles and bells in the form of tubes of ionized gases. Yes they vibrate at a certain frequency – just like those “poisonous” overhead fluorescent lights. What’s the difference? Not much. Just a pretty machine to make everyone go Ahhhhh!
By the way, that predominant smell from those machines is ozone – One machine in particular was operating throughout the evening for no other purpose that to "produce Ozone". Unfortunately, due to the hype concerning the ‘ozone hole’ over Antarctica the public has come to believe that ozone is always a good thing. It is when it’s 30 miles up in the atmosphere blocking or absorbing UV radiation. However here at ground level it’s not so great for the human physiology.
By definition Ozone is an unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen, O3 that is formed naturally in the ozone layer from atmospheric oxygen by electric discharge or exposure to ultraviolet radiation, it is also produced in the lower atmosphere by the photochemical reaction of certain pollutants. It is a highly reactive oxidizing agent which forms when pollutants from cars, factories and other sources react chemically with sunlight. It is the main ingredient in smog. It is usually worst in the summer. Breathing ozone can be harmful, causing coughing, throat irritation, worsening of asthma, bronchitis and emphysema, and even permanent lung damage, if you are regularly exposed to it.
Bottom line – do I think that the machines work? Well – yes but not as Mr. X claims. If I were a village shaman and you came to me with a headache I may tell you to go out into the street, pick up a freshly dropped horse turd and hold it to your forehead. In a little while your headache would dissipate. It may be because (a) your headache simply went away as most headaches do or (b) your headache disappeared because you firmly believed that I, as a shaman, had given you a cure for your headache – this is simply known as the placebo effect. It certainly did not go away due to any curative effects of that fresh steamy horse turd.
However, note that the single working element in that scenario – faith.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what it is all about. It has nothing to do with screwy machines with blinking lights and buzzing sounds. It is all in the human mind – with faith you can do or cure just about anything if you believe strongly enough.
Rebuttals welcomed.
It was a meeting of the loony fringe of the New Agers - aging New Agers at that. What I saw was disturbing to say the least as I heard a person with some influence in this town speak about government conspiracies and cover ups, etc. Yep - Chem trails came up - they're either there to control the weather or to make us sick so that the phamaceuticals and the AMA can make money. I never did get a definitive answer on that one. Nor did I realize that i was slowly being poisoned by the flourescent lights overhead and that they exist in stores to affect our reasoning powers so that we will impulse buy.
The big hit of the night were "frequency healing machines" - mysterious machines that buss, click, whirl, chirp and have lights flashing on and off that will cure various diseases and body disorders by generating healing frequencies. One machine, the "NOVA healing machine" or some such name stood alone in another room. It was about 3 feet high and any tenth grade science nerd would have recognized it immediately as a Tesla coil with a few added features, those being mainly tubes of various gases (Xenon, Argon, Krypton, etc.) that were excited by the Tesla coil and then generated their own "healing frequencies".
I emailed my friends and a few others with my critique of the evening - the text is repeated here in its entirety except for obscuring the name of the lecturer.
Recap - Group meeting 2/27/2008 - Two Thumbs down
.
Well last night’s meeting was a either a whopping success or a complete turn off, depending upon who you talked to.
Personally I wasn’t impressed; Mr. X. spoke about a few common sense items like eating right, avoiding chemicals, believing in the power of God, loving yourself and making affirmations, things we know to be true and working from our own experiences and beliefs.
But I must say that my overwhelming impression of Mr. X’s presentation was that it was a mixture of exaggerated claims for bogus machines that were reputed to perform miracles and a regurgitation of the usual conspiracy theories that seem to abound within the loony fringe elements of the New Age genre.
He had machines there that reportedly could cure everything from an ingrown toenail, warts and bad breath all the way up to the major disorders like cancer, heart disease and diabetes. He even showed us one machine in which one could simply insert a Polaroid picture of a disease afflicted person and then that person could travel around the globe while this magical machine churned away – on low voltage batteries no less – and that person would eventually be cured within weeks. Of course he brought a couple of shills (or perhaps suckers) with him to attest to the machine’s magical qualities. (One of the shills had his picture taken and then placed into this machine. He then went to Canada where, while there, he claims the machine operating here in Florida on a few AA batteries cured him by remote control. )
I would have loved to have had the opportunity to look inside some of his machines. Doubtless I would have found a few parts gleaned from the shelves of Radio Shack or some of the mail order parts stores around the country.
However it is important to recall his disclaimer that these machines will not work if you don’t believe in them, if you don’t believe in God and the power of prayer, if you don’t love yourself and your fellow man and if you don’t make positive affirmations concerning your own situation. Hmmm – don’t all these New Age fads default to that?
Ok – who am I to judge? Well I do have a few qualifications, having worked in the electronics industry for over 40 years. One of my stints involved working with the Research Department at Walter Reed Hospital in Wash. DC. Specifically I worked at WRAIR (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research) in nearby Silver Spring MD where I assisted scientists from leading universities and federal laboratories investigate the effects of electromagnetic radiation on living tissue. I personally helped perform the tests, observed the effects and recorded the data so what I am telling you is straight from the horses mouth.
My experiences from that job alone have convinced me that it takes a Hell of a lot of electromagnetic energy radiation to affect a change in body tissue. I’m talking in terms of Watts/cm2 which is way more than Mr. X’s machines can put out using a couple of AA batteries.
Another factor – exposure to any type of radiation falls off inversely to the square of the distance. That is a good thing – otherwise we would be inundated with electromagnetic energy from radio and TV stations, the sun and even from sources from outside our solar system.
The Tesla coil in the other room? This thing has been around for over a century. Nikoli Tesla originally developed it with the aim of transmitting electrical power directly instead of using power transmission lines. Most science labs sell Tesla coils as curiosities and kits can also be purchased online to build them, probably at a fraction of the cost of the Nova healing machine. Mr. X’s machine has a few added whistles and bells in the form of tubes of ionized gases. Yes they vibrate at a certain frequency – just like those “poisonous” overhead fluorescent lights. What’s the difference? Not much. Just a pretty machine to make everyone go Ahhhhh!
By the way, that predominant smell from those machines is ozone – One machine in particular was operating throughout the evening for no other purpose that to "produce Ozone". Unfortunately, due to the hype concerning the ‘ozone hole’ over Antarctica the public has come to believe that ozone is always a good thing. It is when it’s 30 miles up in the atmosphere blocking or absorbing UV radiation. However here at ground level it’s not so great for the human physiology.
By definition Ozone is an unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen, O3 that is formed naturally in the ozone layer from atmospheric oxygen by electric discharge or exposure to ultraviolet radiation, it is also produced in the lower atmosphere by the photochemical reaction of certain pollutants. It is a highly reactive oxidizing agent which forms when pollutants from cars, factories and other sources react chemically with sunlight. It is the main ingredient in smog. It is usually worst in the summer. Breathing ozone can be harmful, causing coughing, throat irritation, worsening of asthma, bronchitis and emphysema, and even permanent lung damage, if you are regularly exposed to it.
Bottom line – do I think that the machines work? Well – yes but not as Mr. X claims. If I were a village shaman and you came to me with a headache I may tell you to go out into the street, pick up a freshly dropped horse turd and hold it to your forehead. In a little while your headache would dissipate. It may be because (a) your headache simply went away as most headaches do or (b) your headache disappeared because you firmly believed that I, as a shaman, had given you a cure for your headache – this is simply known as the placebo effect. It certainly did not go away due to any curative effects of that fresh steamy horse turd.
However, note that the single working element in that scenario – faith.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what it is all about. It has nothing to do with screwy machines with blinking lights and buzzing sounds. It is all in the human mind – with faith you can do or cure just about anything if you believe strongly enough.
Rebuttals welcomed.