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The altruistic Dr. Wassen

Mojo

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Mojo
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In this week's Swift, James Randi writes about Andre Wassen, a French veterinarian who claims that the challenge is unwinnable because the abilities that the JREF considers to be paranormal don't work if there's money involved.

Wassen describes himself as one of "a group of vets who practice alternative medicine on a daily basis using any tool available, included what you call paranormal", and also states that he performs dowsing for his patients, and that "on a daily basis, far away from the spot lights, some practitioners dowse, do distance healing etc ...with patients who are suffering and the less they show off, the more they are successful...using these methods you describe as paranormal".

I wonder how these guys earn a living. As they claim to be successfully using techniques that don't work if money is involved, they obviously can't be charging for their work as vets.
 
Mojo said:
In this week's Swift, James Randi writes about Andre Wassen, a French veterinarian who claims that the challenge is unwinnable because the abilities that the JREF considers to be paranormal don't work if there's money involved.
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Do they get paid for seeing their patients?

If yes, why does it work then?
 
That's one of the big advantages woo has over science: if things look a bit difficult, they can always just make something else up... :rolleyes:
 
Or, more likely, the money given by their clients is a donation-they (the psychos) aren't seeking a profit, they're just accepting a donation. To take the Challenge would be to seek a profit (and 1 million is one heck of a profit!), and thus, the powers won't work.

:D

Marc
 
Marc L said:
Or, more likely, the money given by their clients is a donation-they (the psychos) aren't seeking a profit, they're just accepting a donation. To take the Challenge would be to seek a profit (and 1 million is one heck of a profit!), and thus, the powers won't work.

:D

Marc
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Not neccessarily. They could easily decline the money, after all JREF says that they can do whatever they want with it. Heck, they could even take it and donate it to charity, even burn it.

But they still won't do it, because of the other excuse: the presence of skeptics negates the effects. Too bad.
 
There's another option...
As a computer-tech, I'm frequently faced with mysterious error-codes and baffling users-practices. Then I do the 'normal' thing, like diagnosis and repairs of whatever kind seems necessary. Along the way I look for lost screws with my Dowsinator 2K (tm), do a little voodoo to find maliciously lurking hex-dumps and consult the Tarot to find answers to the irksome BSOD. There are also numerous incantations to be chanted - such as I D 10 T and /%¤#/¤!.
All of this works, of course, but I only charge for the 'mundane' part of the solution since all the woo-doo would leak out and crash if I charged for any part of the magic.

Neat solution, don't you agree :-P
 
Capt.Nemo said:
There are also numerous incantations to be chanted - such as I D 10 T and /%¤#/¤!.
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You left out the most powerful incantation of them all - the almighty PIBCAK!


(For the non-techie: Problem Is Between Chair And Keyboard.)
 
Genesius said:
You left out the most powerful incantation of them all - the almighty PIBCAK!


(For the non-techie: Problem Is Between Chair And Keyboard.)
Click to expand...

I'd heard it as "PEBKAC" - Problem Exisits Between Keyboard And Chair.

And

160,000 Google hits for PEBKAC
65,000 for PIBKAC
805 for PIBCAK
721 for PIBKAC

So by most common usage, I'd say it's PEBKAC.

And there's also the more direct "luser"
 
And to return to the subject....

Of course, the likelihood that the reserved car park at their Vet's Practice is full of new top-of-the range BMW's has nothing at all to do with profits!

YBW
 
Well, I'm sure Dr. Wassen would prefer to drive a clapped-out Citroen 2CV, but you know, homeopathic vets need to be able to respond rapidly to emergencies, so he needs a Beemer. Purely for the sake of his patients, you understand. The leather seats are to attune him to his patients' needs, because as you know, like begets like.
 
Euromutt said:
Well, I'm sure Dr. Wassen would prefer to drive a clapped-out Citroen 2CV, but you know, homeopathic vets need to be able to respond rapidly to emergencies, so he needs a Beemer. Purely for the sake of his patients, you understand. The leather seats are to attune him to his patients' needs, because as you know, like begets like.
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Well, that's a total straw man, because we have no information as to what level of fees this guy charges, or what sort of car he drives. However.
Capt.Nemo said:
There's another option...
As a computer-tech, I'm frequently faced with mysterious error-codes and baffling users-practices. Then I do the 'normal' thing, like diagnosis and repairs of whatever kind seems necessary. Along the way I look for lost screws with my Dowsinator 2K (tm), do a little voodoo to find maliciously lurking hex-dumps and consult the Tarot to find answers to the irksome BSOD. There are also numerous incantations to be chanted - such as I D 10 T and /%¤#/¤!.
All of this works, of course, but I only charge for the 'mundane' part of the solution since all the woo-doo would leak out and crash if I charged for any part of the magic.

Neat solution, don't you agree :-P
Click to expand...
This sounds extremely similar to a story I was told only lunchtime today, regarding another homoeopathic vet. The sane vet who told me the story said he had a client come to him with a very run-of-the-mill case, a Westie with an itchy (allergic) skin. The previous vet treating the case was a homoeopath, and the owner wanted to go on with the homoeopathy because it was so effective. Basically every time the skin flared up, she just took the dog to the homoeopath for a little injection, and it all calmed right down again. Could my informant (who is very anti-woo) please find out what the treatment was and continue with it? [I'm listening to this thinking, but you don't inject homoeopathic remedies, what's going on....]

Anyway, sane vet phones up homoeopath and asks for details of the Westie's treatment. The injections were in fact of a corticosteroid, a very standard treatment for this condition. Except that homoeopaths say that corticosteroids are evil allopathy, and poison, and by the way will stop homoeopathy from working! My informant said he protested, but that's not homoeopathic medicine. The homoeopath said no, but he just didn't tell the owner.

This is doubly reprehensible, because corticosteroids really are heap powerful medicine, with side effects and contraindications, and the owner must be informed about all these in order for the treatment to be safe. But no, we're homoeopaths, we tell people that steroids are evil, and bad, and harmful, and stop homoeopathic remedies working, so we'll just use them covertly, for their very marked effect, and not tell the owner.

Oh, and it's not the only instance of this I'm aware of. Above story happened in the west of Scotland, and the link is to a similar story in Sussex, so it's not the same tale twice.

Homoeopathy is deliberate fraud.

Rolfe.
 
Rolfe said:
Well, that's a total straw man, because we have no information as to what level of fees this guy charges, or what sort of car he drives.
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Rolfe, with all due respect, I think you need to work a little on telling the difference between logical argument on the one hand, and ridicule partly based on speculation on the other.
 
Hi Rolfe,

As I'm as much a culprit as Euromutt in this I agree.

My admiration for the work you're doing against the Homeopathy lobby is unbounded, but lighten up occasionally, huh?

:) :) ;)

That helps?

Anyway - it's always the dog's fault!

YBW
 
Oh sure, I knew you were joking, it was just the thought that an outsider coming into the thread could get quite worked up about that sort of thing. Look at these evil sceptics, they just assume this lovely guy drives an expensive car without any evidence and then use that to pillory him, that sort of stuff, you know.

Rolfe.
 
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