Spoke with a Reiki practitioner today

[Orrex]

She's a very pleasant woman, softly spoken with a warm smile. She gave me a pamphlet extolling the virtues of this "ancient art," which apparently can heal pets and plants as well as people.

Any session up to half an hour is a dollar-per-minute, while an hour is a bargain @ just $50.00.


I'm in the wrong line of work.

[lizerdbits]

1. I'd be rich

If I could bring myself to bullshit at that level.

[Orrex]

4. I know what you mean.

Scruples are such an impediment to profitability.

[Silent3]

14. I make better money writing software

But then again, I have to work harder at it too. Software engineering is only 50% bullshit. :)

[GoneOffShore]

2. I have a friend who does Reiki - for free -

she doesn't think she should charge for it or take donations.

She's worked on me when I've had minor back problems. The Reiki, along with the muscle relaxant, Indomethacin, hash brownies, accupuncture, Rolfing and the heating pad seemed to help. Though the hash brownies and heating pad seemed to be the largest reliever of pain.

[Orrex]

3. Hey, if an attractive woman wants to wave her hands around me for 10 minutes, I guess that's okay

Not sure I want to pay a dollar per minute for it, but...

[GoneOffShore]

5. If it wasn't free -

She offers and thinks it helps.

I let her and her husband lets her do it to him and the dog. Keeps the peace as it were.

[Orrex]

6. The situation reminded me of one of James Randi's experiments from a few years back

He trained two (I think it was two) guys to simulate a variety of supernatural abilities, and he turned them loose on scientists who were seeking to prove the existence of such abilities. IIRC, Randi instructed the two men that, if they were asked, they were to admit the hoax immediately. However, no one asked them, so the hoax went on for a considerable stretch of time.



I think that Reiki is complete nonsense, and I've never seen nor read nor heard about anything to convince me otherwise. However, I don't go out of my way to be rude, so when the practitioner talked about the benefits of her magical jazz hands, I simply smiled politely and said "well that sounds cool."

If she'd asked me outright what I think of Reiki, I was fully prepared to give her an answer that she wouldn't have liked. Nevertheless, since the question never came up, I never felt obliged to disclose my opinion on the subject.

[Q3JR4]

11. It was my understanding that in Project Alpha

Randi hired two magicians who figured out themselves how to fool the researchers. One of those magicians, Steve Shaw, now performs under the stage name Banachek.

I could be wrong but I'm basing this on interviews with both James Randi and Banachek conducted by Steven Novella, Bob Novella, Jay Novella, Rebecca Watson, and Evan Bernstein.

Second, I too would not volunteer my opinion unless whomever it is that is spouting off the nonsense would be in some way hurt by it, or they ask me directly what I think.

Q3JR4.

[Iggo]

8. If I'm paying an attractive woman a dollar a minute...

Okay. Just stop right there, Iggo!

Jeez! What is wrong with me?

[Q3JR4]

12. I was thinking the same thing....

:P

Q3JR4
there better be a LOT of touching going on. <----I couldn't resist. :P

[varkam]

7. If it's ancient, it must be good!

Leeches? Leeches, anyone?

[TZ]

9. I have to bring up this point Varkam,

(oh but its good to see you around buddy!) Leeches actually have real medicinal effects. People with a related condition to what I have (called Polycythemia Vera) actually get helped from Leeches. The condition causes too many wbc, rbc and platelets and the sheer volume has to be removed by phlebotomy from time to time. Leeches are great for making incisions that heal with no infection. I'm not sure I'd want it done to me, but its legit scientific treatment.
Sorry, not the best illustration of an old treatment being worthless...;)

[realisticphish]

10. maggots too

not EVERYTHING people did back in the day was stupid; but you have to know what to reject or not

[Occulus]

15. Leeches are also very useful in reattachment procedures

Say, if you lose a finger. The blood tends to pool upstream of the severed appendage after the procedure, and the leeches keep that under control and their saliva also helps keep the blood thin enough to keep flowing through the blood vessels.

If I ever lost a finger at work (and that's a real possibility) I'd ask if leeches would help reattach it.

Someone else also mentioned maggots. Medicinal maggots are useful because they only eat dead tissue, and never touch living tissue. Necrotic tissue is a very real danger that can easily cause infection; the maggots eat that like candy, and even serious wounds are known to heal faster thanks to their activity.

It sounds gross as hell, but both creatures are very beneficial in specific situations.

[ChadwickHenryWard]

13. And they say Big Pharma is a ripoff.

At least their criminally overpriced product actually fixes you.