herbaliser
New Blood
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2003
- Messages
- 22
Hi, I'm a first-time poster on this board.
Thanksgiving takes place this weekend in Canada and some members of my extended family will be in town. There's never a dull moment when my relatives come to stay. Last time my brother got in an argument with my aunt about some of her various beliefs. My aunt made claim after crazy claim until my brother got on his knees and begged her to curse him to death (as she claimed could take place). It sounds tense, but it was a pretty funny moment (at least the pictures I took were funny).
My aunt quit her position as a paralegal at age 50. Her and my uncle refinanced their home so she could take a 2 year massage therapy course. She has told me of massage therapy practitioners who have massaged old, deep scars off of subject's bodies in a matter of minutes. She appears to believe in some forms of psi and the ability to curse someone. She also believes that chiropractors and massage therapists can take care of pretty much any illness.
She blames the medical establishment for the death of her 85 year old mother, despite the fact that her death was expected and very natural for her age. There was no screw-up in her treatment or care, my aunt just chooses to believe that the doctors did not do enough. In death, her mother left no money for her children as this was all donated to "100 Huntley Street" - a religious charity. Her mother did not even leave anything to cover funeral costs. I imagine the financial burden on my aunt and uncle is quite nasty, what with two mortgages, hitting the reset button on her career and paying off some educational expenses.
My cousin refuses to have her sons vaccinated since this has been 'proven' to be 'very dangerous'. My cousin even went so far as to accuse my brother (has 2 daughters, ages 2 and 4) and my sister (1 daughter, age 3) of playing roulette with their children's lives by getting them vaccinated. She seems to share all of her mother's beliefs and has added some of her own (reiki, feng shui).
My uncle stays out of all this stuff with the exception of his farmer's almanac. Is there any validity to this almanac at all? I know nothing about it, but as it was described to me it sounded hokey.
Is there any validity to any of my aunt or cousin's beliefs?
In addition to hanging out with the 'rellies' this weekend, I just had a visit from a friend of mine who fasts. He's fasted for 2 weeks before and has planned a month-long fast starting shortly. His only intake is a concoction made of water, a whole lemon, a tablespoon of cayenne and 2 tablespoons of syrup. I spoke with him at length about this to find out what it's supposed to achieve. He wasn't quite sure, stating that it was a very subjective thing. In fact, the reason he's doing a month this time instead of two weeks is that last time he didn't get the results he wanted. He never really stated what result he wanted. I asked if the result was measurable - i.e.: you had 8 pounds of 'toxins' in your body before and post-fast you now have 2. He said it didn't work like that. Of course, he wasn't really sure how it worked. He used to work at a psychic hotline, so I knew that we weren't going to solve anything by talking about it at length.
What benefits have been reported from fasting?
Thanks for the rant/post. This is a fantastic forum for skeptical discussion and I hope to be here for a good long time.
Thanksgiving takes place this weekend in Canada and some members of my extended family will be in town. There's never a dull moment when my relatives come to stay. Last time my brother got in an argument with my aunt about some of her various beliefs. My aunt made claim after crazy claim until my brother got on his knees and begged her to curse him to death (as she claimed could take place). It sounds tense, but it was a pretty funny moment (at least the pictures I took were funny).
My aunt quit her position as a paralegal at age 50. Her and my uncle refinanced their home so she could take a 2 year massage therapy course. She has told me of massage therapy practitioners who have massaged old, deep scars off of subject's bodies in a matter of minutes. She appears to believe in some forms of psi and the ability to curse someone. She also believes that chiropractors and massage therapists can take care of pretty much any illness.
She blames the medical establishment for the death of her 85 year old mother, despite the fact that her death was expected and very natural for her age. There was no screw-up in her treatment or care, my aunt just chooses to believe that the doctors did not do enough. In death, her mother left no money for her children as this was all donated to "100 Huntley Street" - a religious charity. Her mother did not even leave anything to cover funeral costs. I imagine the financial burden on my aunt and uncle is quite nasty, what with two mortgages, hitting the reset button on her career and paying off some educational expenses.
My cousin refuses to have her sons vaccinated since this has been 'proven' to be 'very dangerous'. My cousin even went so far as to accuse my brother (has 2 daughters, ages 2 and 4) and my sister (1 daughter, age 3) of playing roulette with their children's lives by getting them vaccinated. She seems to share all of her mother's beliefs and has added some of her own (reiki, feng shui).
My uncle stays out of all this stuff with the exception of his farmer's almanac. Is there any validity to this almanac at all? I know nothing about it, but as it was described to me it sounded hokey.
Is there any validity to any of my aunt or cousin's beliefs?
In addition to hanging out with the 'rellies' this weekend, I just had a visit from a friend of mine who fasts. He's fasted for 2 weeks before and has planned a month-long fast starting shortly. His only intake is a concoction made of water, a whole lemon, a tablespoon of cayenne and 2 tablespoons of syrup. I spoke with him at length about this to find out what it's supposed to achieve. He wasn't quite sure, stating that it was a very subjective thing. In fact, the reason he's doing a month this time instead of two weeks is that last time he didn't get the results he wanted. He never really stated what result he wanted. I asked if the result was measurable - i.e.: you had 8 pounds of 'toxins' in your body before and post-fast you now have 2. He said it didn't work like that. Of course, he wasn't really sure how it worked. He used to work at a psychic hotline, so I knew that we weren't going to solve anything by talking about it at length.
What benefits have been reported from fasting?
Thanks for the rant/post. This is a fantastic forum for skeptical discussion and I hope to be here for a good long time.
