Bill Nelson wins the internet.
Ben Goldacre
The Guardian,
Saturday August 9 2008
Silly season is in full swing. At the Telegraph, their correspondent has gone for a bioenergetic health audit. “The resident homoeopath, Katie Jermine, quizzed me about my diet, stress levels and lifestyle. She then strapped on a wristband and plugged me into an electronic device called the Quantum QXCI, which scanned my system for vitamins, minerals, food intolerances, toxicity, organ function, hormone balance, parasites, digestive disorders and stress levels.”
We’ve all come to accept that the hypochondriac pages are somehow exempt from the transaction constraints of “cash for précised true facts” in the newsagents. So you will be unsurprised to hear that several intolerances were diagnosed with the Quantum QXCI machine, each requiring extensive treatment. And not just some healthy fruit and veg. No: only an idiot would pay £150 to be told to eat more fruit and veg. There were also 120 pills, of varying colour and size.
What is the mysterious QXCI machine? Sadly the Telegraph seem to have kept the most interesting details from us, for this is no less than the Quantum Xrroid Consciousness Interface, “the most advanced medical assessment and therapy device in the world today” according to the distributors. It loops all 200 trillion human cells within a 55-channel biofeedback system to gather bioenergetic data at nano-second speeds, creating optimal wellness. It is covered in lights and switches, with special sciencey connectors like the printer ports on an old computer, and it looks like the equipment on an intensive care unit.
This is nothing less than cargo-cult science, as Professor Richard Feynman had it over thirty years ago, describing the similarities between pseudoscientists and the religious activities on small Melanesian islands in the 1950s: “During the war they saw aeroplanes with lots of good materials, and they want the same thing to happen now. So they’ve arranged to make things like runways, to put fires along the sides of the runways, to make a wooden hut for a man to sit in, with two wooden pieces on his head as headphones and bars of bamboo sticking out like antennas – he’s the controller – and they wait for the aeroplanes to land. They’re doing everything right. The form is perfect. It looks exactly the way it looked before. But it doesn’t work. No aeroplanes land.”
Quantum, of course, is a word that many interpret as permission to make stuff up, although almost the entire electronic manufacturing output of the world is driven by a perfectly adequate understanding and application of quantum principles. Xrroid meanwhile is a word simply concocted by the machine’s inventor himself, a wealthy gentleman described as Professor Bill Nelson. He has at least five doctorates (by my counting), is reported by the Seattle Times to be a federal fugitive on the run from the US, and his machine costs £10,750 (a bargain, as they explain: “Technology attracts clients and charges are higher for practitioners who use state of the art assessment and therapy systems”).
But more fascinating than the ridiculousness of this machine is the confident mindset of a man who would choose to make it. For a window into this world, I can only recommend the website of his International Medical University of Natural Education, which hosts trailers for several feature-length movies about the grand and glorious life of Professor Bill Nelson, inventor of the Quantum Xrroid Consciousness Interface. One piece, entitled “Bill’s theme” (available in full at www.imune.org/films/1/trailer), very clearly wins the internet.
Supported by a large cast, on lavish sets, Professor Nelson (playing himself) has dramatic fist fights, lifts weights, champagne is poured, equipment is brandished, he mooches in glamorous strip bars, attractive women stroke him, and evildoers in cars – suppressive agents of the pharmaceutical industry we suspect - try to run him off the road! But best of all, the entire story is narrated by Professor Nelson, at the side of the screen, sometimes hushed, sometimes in a dramatic baritone, but entirely in song, setting his own words to the tune of “I am the lord of the dance”.
thejobbingdoctor said,
August 9, 2008 at 9:23 am
Quite an extraordinary bravura performance by Bill.
The backdrop includes ‘Heroes Square’ in Budapest and a woman fondling a statue: very strange.
The word allopathy is used by homoeopaths to describe non-homoeopathic treatment.
You deserve a medal for your exposing all these quacks and wibble merchants. Thank you.
One small, pedantic point. It is not the Lord of the Dance, but actually an older Shaker melody called ’simple gifts’ that has been orchestrated by Aaron Copland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Gifts
The Jobbing Doctor
Stewtheking said,
August 9, 2008 at 9:36 am
That simply can’t NOT be a spoof, can it? Really? That’s utterly staggering.
AlisonK said,
August 9, 2008 at 9:46 am
Poor love.
David Mingay said,
August 9, 2008 at 10:02 am
I like how Katie Jermine says in the Telegraph piece that we must embrace the real world.
stever said,
August 9, 2008 at 10:14 am
hes stroking a horses balls. The man needs help.
Suw said,
August 9, 2008 at 11:00 am
Wow, he really does take narcissism to new heights, complete with perfect 80s style. That weightlifter’s headband just sets his beautiful golden locks off a treat.
Stewtheking said,
August 9, 2008 at 11:18 am
Just had a glance at the QXCI literature (www.energetic-medicine.net/QXCI.html) and it appears that the “interface” that the box provides is a random number generator.
Brilliant, just giving a random quantitative number for a woo practitioner to tut over before prescribing the pills.
Dudley said,
August 9, 2008 at 11:31 am
Has nobody linked here yet? http://www.desire-dubounet.info/
colmcq said,
August 9, 2008 at 11:32 am
I’m ashamed to admit some brave chap paid us a visit at work one day with this fancy machine. He had quite a few appointments but I didn’t have the heart to tell him he’s spent 15k on what appeared to be a simple device that measured electrical resistance (cf scientologists emeter).
see also
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/electro.html
I think he was genuinely conned into buying the machine - he came accross as earnest but rather tragic and not particulary scientifically literate. I felt guilty for almost laughing when he started saying “every food stuff has it’s own energetic vibrational signature”.
Dudley said,
August 9, 2008 at 11:32 am
After reading that - go to YouTube and spend a happy hour or two searching for Bill (Desire)
Dr Aust said,
August 9, 2008 at 11:47 am
Mother of jabbering Go….
I just can’t believe how much the idiotic thing COSTS.
If you want a box with flashing lights there are many cheaper options.
Or, for the 18,000 US dollars this thing sets you back, you could buy a real piece of cutting-edge scientific electronics, like a complete patch-clamp amplifier and interfacing.
Of course, that would only allow you to measure the current (picoAmp range) through single ionic pores in cell membranes (see the Nobel citation for the discoverers, Erwin Neher and Bert Sakmann). Much less useful than something that helps you relieve the credulous of their cash.
eveningperson said,
August 9, 2008 at 11:47 am
120 pills? This is ‘organic’ and ‘natural’? If someone can swallow that they can swallow anything…
hairnet said,
August 9, 2008 at 12:02 pm
!
tini said,
August 9, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Never again will I blindly click on a link my husband sends me while eating a bowl of muesli in front of the computer. I nearly choked on my heroic attempt at not redecorating my screen.
By the time I saw him with his t-shirt tucked into those jogging bottoms pulled up to his chest, I was nearly in tears.
How can this not be a spoof?
mrmuz said,
August 9, 2008 at 12:54 pm
That is the greatest thing ever. All this time I thought ‘Yor: the Hunter from the Future’ was untouchable!
And yes, is there a Poe’s Law for health kooks?
IainStrachan said,
August 9, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Hi, Ben,
I’m wondering if this device is the same (or similar) to a mysterious device known as the “Oberon machine”, which some friends of mine unwisely submitted to. It diagnosed all sorts of problems, but after it, the person concerned had a bad reaction (ringing in the ears) and the “doctor” who had used the machine told them they were “electrically sensitive”, having been zapped by 2.4Ghz microwaves from the said device.
I looked it up on the web, and found a page of total pseudo-science from the supposed Russian institute that had developed the device. Among other things they claimed that the machine was using Quantum Entanglement as its basic principle. Like we’re really talking Star Trek medicine here, which won’t be around till the 23rd century, I gather.
I pointed out to my friends that this meant the machine was a total fraud, but they wouldn’t listen, sadly.
phayes said,
August 9, 2008 at 1:49 pm
£10,750…
So he’s ripping off the quacks. Good for him.
“So Nat’ralists observe, a Flea Hath smaller Fleas that on him prey, And these have smaller Fleas to bite ‘em, And so proceed ad infinitum.“
idragosani said,
August 9, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Using 9-pin serial connections? You’d think if it were using all those high-speed quantum mechanical thingies it’d at least be using USB 2 or Firewire.
evidencebasedeating said,
August 9, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Lets not be too hard on the messenger. The last four sentences:
“Start a food diary. Research has shown that keeping an account of what you consume can be a powerful tool for helping weight loss. Continue when you get home, noting the calorie content, too. It may open your eyes to where you’re going wrong”
is totally correct. Pity about the health info in the rest of the article.
dai said,
August 9, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I’m not sure that “wrong” is an entirely satisfying rhyme for “wrong”.
To be honest, I’m just going to pretend that this is a Trey Parker spoof, as thinking that people actually give this man money is terrifying.
dai said,
August 9, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Actually, this gets better in so many ways.
Ben, your link to the International Medical University of Natural Education is incorrect. Should be imune.net, not imune.org. The latter describes the (possibly NSFW) films of one Desiré Dubounet.
Google that name, at it turns out that Ms Dubounet is none other than the tv/ts (not sure which?) alter ego of the good Prof Bill Nelson! (see http://www.desifm.net/main.html).
Desi/Bill also enjoy a music career as “Desi and the Hunz”. I would particularly recommend “Plastic Jesus” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOqe_qVkytA)
Desiré/Bill has “truly changed the world of movie making, music, medicine, science and and more”.
Indeed.
jonathanhearsey said,
August 9, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I’m always interested in machines like this. I love the fact that CAMs ‘think’ it’s scientific because it looks like a ’scientific’ machine!
It’s brilliant what CAMs believe and amazing that their confidence in the machine is directly proportional to the price.
‘It MUST be real/good/reliable/scientific* (*delete as appropriate) because it cost me OVER £10k’
Idiots.
Pity the punters though. Poor patients, desperate to get well - buy in to the machine because the treatment is expensive and ‘it might help’.
Fraud. Charlatans. Side-show Bobs.
Drives me mad, can you tell?
Angry from Sussex
used to be jdc said,
August 9, 2008 at 7:44 pm
From the Seattle Times piece linked to above [federal fugitive on the run] -
Because the FDA does not oversee these studies, they have to try and police these dodgy products after they have been placed on the market. It seems they need help in this area too: “The FDA said it took action as a result of a recent Seattle Times investigation that uncovered a global network of manufacturers who sell unproven devices and practitioners who exploit unsuspecting patients”. I’m not sure that allowing the sale of IRB services is all that sensible.
used to be jdc said,
August 9, 2008 at 8:23 pm
“So he’s ripping off the quacks. Good for him.”
That’s how CAM works isn’t it? You sell someone equipment or knowledge [Quantum QXCI machine? Certificate in naturopathy? Certainly sir - but it will cost you…] and how do they make that money back? By using their ‘knowledge’ or their dodgy machine to extract cash from unsuspecting punters. Providing courses for cash means that people who have taken the course may feel obliged to make money from their newly-learned skills. If you spent three grand learning a brand of CAM, then you might want to get something for your investment and you might sell on the bullshit you were sold to someone else in expensive consultations [and you could even explain the high fees you charge by pointing to your bright shiny certificate].
Slightly off-topic here, but:
Why allow BSc courses in made-up nonsense like homeopathy, when you simply don’t need a degree in order to sell sugar pills or have a nice chat with the patient? [I’m looking at you, UCLAN…]
humber said,
August 9, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Fraud aside, it seems that a lot CAM therapists do think like their patients. The more unorthodox the idea, the better. Science is only of use when it supports their beliefs. They are both easily led.
Bill Nelson is either too deluded or dishonest to be interesting. The price tag suggests the latter.
BobP said,
August 9, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Humber - I don’t agree. A lot of CAM therapists are just opportunists who are making their bucks this way because it’s easy.
There’s a fundamental dishonesty in their business model and a lack of ethics in their practice.
Slightly off-topic, I note that the Traditional Chinese Herbal shops in may area have taken up ear candling big time. This has absolutley nothing to do with chinese tradition, but it fits their business model; very low cost of raw materials, very good profit margin.
grog said,
August 9, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Very sad that the 10k will be paid for out of patients’ pockets… but try and get some people to pay 43p for paracetamol at Tescos and they demand a script.
More interesting and convincing QXCI technical details here:
http://www.body-mind-sport.com.au/allergya.html#how%20it%20works
“The accuracy of the Quantum’s bio-resonance system relies on over twenty years of research conducted in the field of bio-energetic and bio-response (bio-feedback) medicine.
The Quantum device electronically challenges the body with a fractal (the mathematical equivalent of a shape or image) of biologically active compounds. These compounds include such items as medicines, vitamins, pathogens and homoeopathics. The reactivity of the individual is measured using Fourier mathematics.
The 16 channels used by the Quantum to map the biological terrain include: frequency, amplitude, voltage, amperage, resistance, hydration, oxidation, proton pressure (or pH balance), electron pressure, impedance, capacitance, inductance, reactance and resonant frequencies.
The changes in these channels can be seen therefore as measuring the body’s EPR or ELECTRO PHSIOLOGICAL REACTIVITY.
The computerised Quantum measures the changes to Voltage, Amperage and Resistance or Total Reactance at biological speeds. The database of the Quantum (the matrix) is where over 7,500 substances are contained. The fractal of each is sent to the patient and the reactance is recorded as a value in the main test. These scores are where the therapist looks initially to find issues and clues to problems the patient may be experiencing.
The Quantum is also able to use this non-linear analysis to develop multi signals for deep tissue interface. This is an energetically generated method of stimulating immune function, destroying pathogens and detoxifying the body via supportive therapies via auto-focusing.”
There’s more but I switched off at deep tissue interface.
Robert Carnegie said,
August 10, 2008 at 1:55 am
I wonder whether there is sufficient amusement potential in deliberately giving yourself an actual temporary biological imbalance before betng tested on this machine, and watching them miss it. Oestrogen injections… maybe not.
JustAsItSounds said,
August 10, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Hello, first time commenter, long time reader here etc.
I couldn’t help but recognise one of the actresses in the trailer to Bill’s theme (around 2:28 - 2:40 where Bill playfully tries to push her off a ledge or something).
My extensive studies of Eastern European ..umm… Cinema Verite lead me to believe her usual roles are normally shot in very warm, slightly anoxic conditions, possibly in a womens dormitory somewhere - this can be the only explanation for the lack of clothing and amount of heavy breathing evident in these … documentaries.
gazza said,
August 10, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Don’t forget those bizarre red LEDs for sticking up your nose and intended for controlling hayfever. These have been referred to on this site previously and were commonly on sale this summer for £19-99 (’reduced from £39-99′!) at Lloyds Pharmacy branches. OK, a lot cheaper than the stuff referred to here but still in the same class of garbage electronics. More harmful in many ways as it’s intended to seduce and fleece the average punter in the steet of their money by looking hi-tech.
mjs said,
August 11, 2008 at 7:00 am
Right on. I ran into this story myself, in December 2007.
The Seattle Times did a fabulous bit of investigative reporting on William Nelson. The self-described “genius,” whose random number generator will “cure cancer, reduce cholesterol, end allergies, treat cavities, kill parasites and even eliminate AIDS.” used to be called the EPFX, according to the Times article. It’s supposed to emit healing (they don’t) radio waves (it doesn’t).
You’d think that people would recognize a fake cure when they see one, especially one as fake as this. Sadly, this is not always the case. People have literally died because they used this treatment design instead of going to the hospital for, oh… little things, like cancer.
Unbelievably, he is a multi-millionaire as a result of this product.
Michael Berens and Christine Willmsen of the Seattle Times deserve kudos for bringing to light this awful, complete lack of science (and conscience) masquerading as medicine, in the name of commerce. They did so in a way that is thorough, and considerate of the families of the deceased.
lmsmith27 said,
August 11, 2008 at 8:38 am
This is old technology.
Check out http://www.lifesystemdevice.com/
This machine is much better than the QXRI. If you check the graph carefully, it must be better, as it goes up to 10!
Very Spinal Tap.
maninalift said,
August 11, 2008 at 10:08 am
“Lets not be too hard on the messenger”
what?
He’s not just a passive messenger passing on the information he has been told to and if he is he shouldn’t be.
Journalism has standards to uphold… Doesn’t it?
Dr Aust said,
August 11, 2008 at 12:40 pm
You and Spinal Tap have given me a great idea, lmsmith27. All I have to do to get filthy rich is market a similar “quantum nonsense” device that goes all the way up to 11.
Kerrr-chinng.
Dr Aust said,
August 11, 2008 at 2:42 pm
PS MJS (post 31) is spot-on about the excellent reporting on Nelson and the QXCI by the Seattle Times - it is an exemplary piece of investigative journalism and lays the fraud bare in all its depressing aspects.
As ever, I am left asking myself - why are the UK broadsheet press not doing this kind of reporting? Could it be that their editors don’t want to offend our woo-loving Heir to the Throne?
Dr Rob said,
August 11, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Professor Nelson is indeed larger than life. He lives in Budapest, Hungary and also runs a gay nightclub here usefully called Cafe Alibi with an internal disco called Bitch. He often sings there in drag under his alter ego Desiré Dubounet.
He also has a film production company that makes films about him.
He claims all kinds of impossible things like he has degrees in Law, Maths, Computer Science, Medicine, was an Olympic athlete, worked for NASA and solved the Apollo 13 problem … any number of delusional things.
Here is DD’s website. Be careful reading too much. It can bend your mind.
http://www.desifm.net/main.html
(No I am not joking.)
LeonStander said,
August 11, 2008 at 7:11 pm
The QXCI device made the news in South Africa last year, when a general practitioner used it to diagnose a whole range of very unlikely diseases in a male patient. Amongst others he diagnosed his patient to have “vaginal problems”. When questioned about it, the GP explained that his patient was probably angry at his wife’s vagina!
More worrying than one rural GP’s folly, was the defence of the use of the quack-machine by the Gauteng provincial chairperson of the South African Medical Association. She indicated that critics did not understand “quantum” medicine.
Eighty years ago, the editor of the South African Medical Journal, C. Louis Leipoldt, wrote about quackery: “Nowhere perhaps is the public so ill educated concerning quackery as in South Africa.” I wonder what he would have said now!
I have blogged about this on Occam’s Donkey at Quackery in South Africa: The SCIO/QXCI, with links to the story.
Sheepie said,
August 11, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Good Lord - has anyone listened to Plastic Jesus http://www.desifm.net/main.html and click on the video clip link. I’m not sure about 10 octaves, nearly one would be my guess. I think he manages to sing in tune at least once too - amazing!
Dr Rob said,
August 11, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Yes he does also claim to be in the Guinness Book of Records in having the largest vocal range - of 10 octaves, although googling around shows that possibly Georgia Brown holds the world record at 8 octaves.
I don’t know how he is allowed to make and market these machines from an EU country and get away with it.
Dr Aust said,
August 12, 2008 at 2:45 pm
First off, he was probably there before Hungary joined the EU; second, I suspect the enforcement is normally be in the local jurisdiction where the device is being sold, for which internet selling presents a significant problem; and third, I guess someone would have to formally complain in the place where he is based about “false advertising”, or misselling.
I wonder if the QXCI sells in Germany? The law against “medical fraud” in a general sense, seems to be enforced there rather more stringently than in many other places in the EU.
mikewhit said,
August 12, 2008 at 4:26 pm
The BBC keeps wheeling out the Telegraph’s Science correspondent on Radio 4 - maybe he should keep a closer eye on his colleagues to stop them making fools of themselves and the newspaper !!
Dr Aust said,
August 12, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Given that the Telegraph keep sacking their specialist correspondents, it might be wise to check that he wasn’t the golf correspondent until a week ago.
Though if it is science editor Roger Highfield, he is pretty good. And he even has a website.
Dr Aust said,
August 12, 2008 at 8:46 pm
PS Hmm… just read that Roger Highfield was off to edit New Scientist.. so who exactly is Telegraph’s man on Radio 4?
tinman said,
August 13, 2008 at 11:31 am
there was a somewhat more sceptical review of this machine and the Diagnostic Clinic that uses it back in 2003 in The (London) Times. Particularly interesting was that the writer, Anne Woodham describes herself “As the author of several books on complementary and integrated medicine, I am open-minded about the unorthodox spectrum” but she was unsettled about the lack of an evidence base for the system, and very disturbed at the results and diagnosis she was given
misterjohn said,
August 13, 2008 at 12:08 pm
The cv that Nelson produced is worth reading;
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2007/11/16/2004018334.pdf
mikewhit said,
August 13, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Yes, to date it has been Mr. Highfield on R4 (Leading Edge).
Though I did wonder why it was always the Telegraph that provided the input …
mikewhit said,
August 14, 2008 at 12:00 pm
@Dr Aust, your Highfield link points back here !
Should be www.rogerhighfield.com …
mikewhit said,
August 14, 2008 at 12:09 pm
NS Appointment story link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/10/telegraphmediagroup.pressandpublishing
mikewhit said,
August 14, 2008 at 12:14 pm
So now there’s no-one left there to restrain their flights of fantasy …
Dr Rob said,
August 14, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Would you buy any medical services from this man?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EixiYUPlG5s&feature=related
We will have to temporarily relabel this site Bad Singing!
Actually I have met Bill in Budapest, but only when he was in drag, which seems to be most of the time.
Only in Hungary…
iamjohn said,
August 14, 2008 at 6:41 pm
“when you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants”
I think the guy really ought to get some credit for squeezing “he finally proved medicine is not just allopathy” into a single line of his delightful and memorable song. Despite my intense appreciation I find I simply can’t better his own self-adolation.
Dr Aust said,
August 14, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Thanks for pointing out the missing link and providing the real one, Mike.
The story about Roger Highfield going to the New Scientist is more interesting for what it studiously doesn’t say (anything about what will happen to science coverage at the Telegraph post-Highfield) than what it does. If you believe half of what Private Eye say about it, then the Telegraph is in semi-meltdown. Which, as you say, would not bode well for their science coverage.
OldBodger said,
August 15, 2008 at 2:22 am
Leave OFF! He’s all right, just trying to make a quid, and besides you don’t know him!
mikewhit said,
August 15, 2008 at 10:31 am
If the box is called a QXCI, why does it have “QMCI” written on it ?
Just asking …
OldBodger said,
August 15, 2008 at 10:59 am
Good point and well challenged!
So what do you all say now that the fragile fabric of your argument has been fully exposed.
Yes I thought so. Your silence is deafeninG!
mikewhit said,
August 19, 2008 at 2:34 pm
On the subject of correspondents looking after other items in “their” newspaper, a reader writes to the Space Solves section in Sat’s Guardian mag, referring to “Ecozone Magnoballs” for hard water … balls indeed !!!
( http://www.csicop.org/si/9801/powell.html)
What is it about magnets ?!
Andrew Taylor said,
August 19, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I propose alternative lyrics:
This story’s about a naturopathist.
He dreamt up his entire philosophy while pissed.
He thought that gathering hard evidence
Was just a problem for someone else.
Even faced with an avalanche of proof,
He point-blank refused to acknowledge simple truth.
He just dug his heels even further in,
To fight a battle he couldn’t win.
His hypotheses were all absurd.
He thought that ‘allopathy’ was a word.
So he made up a load of silly woo,
Which he then tried to sell to you.
He tried to use huge amounts of sophistry,
Believing that this might affect reality.
He even wrote a song, because he knew
That everything that rhymes is true.
He must have really hated his GP
To come up with something like naturopathy,
But it all backfired on him when he fell ill
And died rather than take one pill.
His hypotheses were all absurd.
He thought that ‘allopathy’ was a word.
So he made up a load of silly woo,
Which he then tried to sell to you.
Ben Goldacre said,
August 19, 2008 at 5:48 pm
i will actually give a genuine prize for the first person to set that to music, ideally over the original video. double wins if it’s andrew taylor.
Dr Aust said,
August 22, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Perhaps it’s my age, but Andrew T’s lyrics seem to me to be crying out for being set to a jaunty calypso tune / rhythm.
We do need a chorus / refrain, though. Any suggestions? My current suggestion is:
“Hey hey he’s living rich and happily..
In his own parallel reality”
(rpt ad nauseam)
Dr Aust said,
August 22, 2008 at 5:02 pm
PS Or if you prefer a more modern version of the song, try here.
Leandro Tessler said,
October 13, 2008 at 4:25 am
SCIO/QXCI arrived in Brazil lately. Mr. J. J. Lupi, a portuguese representative of Bill Nelson has been here recently trying to sell his miracle machines. Mr. Lupi is not so flamboyant as Mr. Nelson, but his CV available in his own web site is also a mixture of fraud and misinformation. I have blogged about it in portuguese in the hope people start to think critically about this fraud and local health professional councils take legal action.
olster said,
October 15, 2008 at 11:11 am
Wow- I love this machine!
Especially the text at the very bottom (yes- the bit no-one ever reads!) says:
DISCLAIMER This device is to be used as a BIOFEEDBACK and STRESS REDUCTION system only. It is designed for stress detection and stress reduction. This device does not diagnose. Only a licensed doctor can diagnose a patient.
Love that!
Though why it didn’t try to define “’science’ as the use of words to confound the gullible and sell my pointless but expensive products” is quite beyond me!
It reminds me of the way the Russians generated random numbers for their encryption keys- by tuning a very sensitive radio into static to pick up something essentially rubbish!
I leave you with this message from Bill…
Again, if you are happy with radionic/distant healing principles (where the therapy can continue without the client being present) then the EPFX QXCI / SCIO does have merit, but it should perhaps be seen as more of a support for the practitioners’ own healing intent.
I’d prefer just to give my patients a sticker.
Maytreia said,
October 23, 2008 at 3:00 pm
It´s very interresting what you’ve wrote, but let me ask you:
have you ever follow up a degenarative desease treatment by SCIO???
do you have more information about the analisys of the treatment by scio???
did you check anouther sources, beyond FDA about the machine???
I’m Portuguese, and it was diagnose liver and lung cancer stage 3 2,5 years ago…
had quimiotheraphy almost every days, the doctors gave me 1 year the most of life, (not happenned, i´m here)!
one day some friends of mine talked to me about this machine and gattered money to pay the first treatment.
when i arrived there, the practicionaire, treated me and didn’t asked me any money because i could’t pay, and treated me for 8 months every weeks.
after 2 months of Scio, it was bearable the quimotheraphy (no side effects anymore), and after 5 months of Scio the cancer had reduce 75% on the liver.
the doctors were confused, i spoke with them about SCIO and thei spoke like you, but without knowing!
Now FDA, the great enterprise that manufacture and aprove all kinds of medical stuff!!!
even the ones that were tested in Africa and killed millions, the same that put yourselves more sick (i’ve worked in Usa almost 5 years)
the same FDA that if you don’t have insurence doen’t provide you any treatment for free, or unless you sell all your life and soul to be treated with dignity!
You’ve traded a President that made peace treatments, increased your economomy for an alcoholic Fool war and Terror creator because the first one had a lover like 80% of the Americans, and the same judjing Bill Nelson by his sexual/artistical choise!
hos the poor mind people here!
Hugo Martins
Dudley said,
October 24, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Erm… Hugo… This is a BRITISH website…
moulie said,
November 16, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Damn, that CV is funny. I only made sense of a bit of it, but the ‘Quantum Biology’ bit made me wonder what Feynman would have made of all this!
Oh, and just to say (as a non-paper buyer) the Bad Science book is now in my top 5 fave. books, very good, very funny, read in a day! Heck i may even get round to buying the Guardian!