From: Bill Stewart <stewarts@ix.netcom.com>
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 1997 15:16:52 +0800
To: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Subject: Re: Chiropractic
In-Reply-To: <199708191755.MAA03771@mailhub.amaranth.com>
Message-ID: <3.0.2.32.19970821235638.0068bebc@popd.ix.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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>>Well the field of Psychology is second only Chiropracticy for quacks.
...
>Actually, you are being too kind here to Chiropractic.

Feh.  While there certainly are chiropractors who are quacks
(especially since it's much easier for a quack to become a
chiropractor than a government-licensed Real Doctor (:-) ),
and while some of the theory of the various schools is quite bogus,
there are chiropractors who are quite skilled at making people's
backs feel better and helping other musculo-skeletal problems,
and most of them do follow a certain amount of scientific method in
that they tend to keep the hypotheses that work and reject those that
don't (the hypothesis being either "this technique will help the patient 
feel better" or "the rubes will keep coming back for this", 
depending on the particular practitioner.)

>But beware the siren song of weeding out quacks. 
Hear, hear!

>My local community floated a proposal to license and regulate psychics, 
>palm readers, fortune tellers, etc., until wiser heads prevailed,
>pointing out the essential idiocy of this.  Not to mention the First 

Back in Red Bank, New Jersey, there was a long-standing ban on
fortune-tellers, tarot-card readers, etc.; people had pretty much
forgotten about it until a few years back when somebody opened a
NewAgey book&crystal complete with tarot reading and and the like,
and somebody tried to get it closed down.  The original laws were
intended to stop frauds preying on the gullible; they weren't
really designed to keep the True Believers from selling to each other...
I think the law got overturned.

And By The Way, Tim, your aura indicates a high level of cynicism,
which interferes with the psychic abilities of people around you.


#			Thanks;  Bill
# Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts@ix.netcom.com
# You can get PGP outside the US at ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto/pgp
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