david_carnell

The Wire, quite frankly the best TV ever! Hooters on LL...zut alors! That would put a cat amongst the proverbial pigeons. Still it is a family friendly venue. The Dads would like it. Back on topic. The Simpsons, Hollywood, Disney, Baywatch, Knightrider, WWF wrestling, the cheeseburger.

Yes...and skeptics[sic].

Unfortunately, as there have been no scientific trials to assess the benefits of alternative medicines against controls with large subject groups, in double-blind tests, in peer-reviewed journals I had to do the best I could. If anyone would like to shopw me some other stats to contradict my pov please feel free.

>:D< Very good MW74. Perhaps a Secular bookshop might be useful?

Ah yes, I know where you mean. That must be almost next door to Jerk Rock as well. What will that be I wonder?

Where is this place? Sounds very pleasant. Got to agree with you though MW74 (not something we've been doing much of on another thread! :))), sometimes you just gotta have a good espresso. Maybe we'll have to make do.

They are, very. Then they get polio and find their local doctor can only give them witch-hazel or a lethal dose of lead.

I thought an interesting note in the program, relating to the current stream of consciousness on East v West, was that people in the country's where alternative therapies originated from are now queing up to get their hands on "western" medicine and doctors trained in "science". For example if you lived in India, Nepal or Sri Lanka you may be one of the millions who daily use Ayurvedic medicine (I use the term medicine loosely). It is an ancient form of treatment that has been around since approx 1000BC. It should be pretty shit-hot by now then, having accumulated 3000 years of knowledge and improvements. And yet they have not yet learned about somehting simple such as toxicity. A research study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found significant levels of toxic heavy metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic in 20% of Ayurvedic preparations that were made in South Asia for sale in America. Worrying. Perhaps some statistics would be useful to highlight the plight of those countries who have been using Ayurveda for 3000 years. India(pop. 1.049 billion) Deaths from Hepatitis B - 23000 Deaths from Childhood Cluster diseases - 287000 Deaths from Meningitis - 53500 Life expectancy - 68.5 yrs Infant mortality rate - 34.6 per 1000 Sri Lanka (pop. 18 million) Deaths from Hepatitis B - 1000 Deaths from Meningitis - 4000 Life expectancy - 74.8 Infant mortality rate - 19 per 1000 And now a country that has placed its faith in Western medicine: UK (pop. 60 million) Deaths from Hepatitis B - less than 100 Deaths fomr Childhood Cluster diseases - 0 Deaths from Meningitis - 500 Life expectancy - 78.7 yrs Infant mortality rate - 5 per 1000 If its all the same to everyone, I'll stick with "western" medicine, happy in the knowledge that what we don't know yet, we're working towards knowing. In the meantime, next time you are pregnant, in old age, or ill, be glad that you'll be treated by "western" science. I know I will be.

Following on from Brendan's post, this guy is amazing with a guitar and as this clip shows, also a plank of wood with one string! Seasick Steve - Save Me Played on a "One String Diddly-Bo"!

As someone who perhaps was into a similar scene, given your bong-related comments, a decade later try this: Purile but quality!

Oh I had been thinking about posting a couple of things for a bit and now remembered what they were: Kenny Rogers - Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Is In) and in honour of the fact that the London Paper announced he was playing gigs at the o2 dome in December: Bruce Springsteen - Highway Patrolman

But, alas she was not very pretty

Oh the shame of writing before thinking! :-$:-$:-$

Except narcissists...they believe in nothing. "We believe in nothing Lebowski, nothing!"

At last, we begin to see the bigger picture - and just how damaging belief in superstition can be. Thank you to Sean, CaptB and Mockney for expressing this better than I did. And apologies to MadWorld for ganging up on you. :)

Hurrah, a Leeds victory. THe mighty Macclesfield were humbled 1-0! Marching on Together.

That deli looks pretty decent. And a new pub on Choumert Rd would be nice. Is that where the Montpelier used to be?

hyounan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I will probably get a backlash with this... ! ;-) Welcome to the EDF. Perhaps this was not the best place for a welcome as I have to rpfoundly disagree with your view. > You know, topics like these are always > controversial with no right or wrong answer. Well yes actually there is. When one is backed up by facts and science it is correct. When the other is hearsay, superstition and folklore it is wrong. >I also think eastern philosophy is > just as powerful and can be an addition. Really? Is this not just as daft as saying you worship the sun god or the tree god or any other pagan symbolism that is now roundly discarded by everyone in the west for what it is....nonsense. Becuase it is from the oh so "mystical" east is is somehow revered. In the "east" they also think eating ground tiger penis will give you sexual prowess. I find viagra would be more advisable and less harmful to the wildlife. >So if you negative > thoughts can affect your physical body then why > cannot reiki healing, affirmations, visualisations > or meditation, massage also serve a purpose in > assisting you to good health if the person is > wanting and believing in change. Again, this a recycled hash of the same argument MadWorld74 was purporting.Basically it boils down to only working if you believe in it. Therefore it is nothing more than an expensive sugar-pill that is now a whole industry worth millions of pounds. I am sorry to have fisked your first ever post and don't want this to be personal but I've expressed my views on this clearly and have yet to really see a convincing argument to the contrary. None of these treatments will submit themselves to proper scientific trials for a simple reason....they know they will fail. This is not some conspiracy by the medical establishment to stop non-pharma based treatments being used in the NHS but merely the triumph of rationality and science over the irrational and dubious.

If you claim to solely make people feel better mentally then that is entirely different from claims made by swathes of the alternative medicine industry about curing all manner of problems. I agree that positive thinking is extremely important when looking to heal the sick but then what you a providing is surely nothing more than a placebo? I don't want to insult anyone and I apologise now if I've offended you (this is not my aim at all) but to claim that publications such as the Lancet is funded by the pharma industry (is this what you are sayong?) and therefore misses opportunities to find causes of illness rather than merely the cure is incredibly naive. Cures for many common complaints are quite common sense. Overweight? Eat less, exercise more. Don't smoke, drink in moderation. Eat a balanced diet. Practice safe sex and don't do drugs. Does this mean we stop looking for cures for obesity, cancer, aids or whatever? No of course not. Modern medicine is responsible for saving the lives of millions of people and yet it is now being dismissed due to its reliance on drugs(!!??). Relying on scientifically proven and tested meidicine is not narrow-minded, it is the most sensible and intelligent thing to do - as Mark points out. Modern science does not have all the answers, but to assume that new-age twaddle can fill in the gaps is simply preposterous.

Then submit yourself for double-blind scientific trials and when you pass with flying colours I shall whole-heartedly apologise and admit my error. Until then I shall continue to believe in medicine and science that is regularly peer-reviewed and submitted to stringent testing before it comes near me.

We're all going to hell in a handcart if we follow these people back into the dark ages. Witch burning will follow....oh and astrology is the biggest load of sh*t going.

That's next week! This week he did psychics, mediums, tarot readers, spiritualists, aura-readers etc etc. The type of people who have stalls at "new-age fayres[sic]" and sell magic crystals for ?10 quid a pop. Next week we get the juicy stuff. Charlatans proclaiming to cure the world's ills through homeopathy/reiki/crystals/hot stones etc etc. Try telling that to the third world whilst they wait for innoculations against TB, malaria, polio, typhoid and river blindness.

Personally I like the man. I think his assuredness and confidence in his own beliefs is a welcome antidote to the mindless drivel spouted by the types of people he interviewed. His is sure of these due to them being based on science and rigorous testing. Not all mumbo-jumbo is harmless. The awful persecution of the attendees of a spiritualisty church by a "vicar-medium" who purported to be in contact with the dead was nothing more than exploitation. These people should not merely be dismissed as loons who are to be ignored in the vain hope they will go away. They undermine everything 21st century civilisation should stand for and Dawkins should be applauded for taking the fight to them.

Yes, the Gowlett are pretty good for ale. Their policy of only getting one barrell of each and then moving on to another stops stuff getting stale and is great for tasting beers you wouldn't normally see. I wonder if you're allowed to recommend beers to them? Timothy Taylor Landlord is, and I'm with you on this JimmyMac, an excellent drop. Apparently Madonna had it at her wedding to Guy Ritchie so they must be doing something right.

This is the beer list from where I used to drink