[meteorite-list] Attention Steve Arnold: Divining Iron Meteorites

[JoshuaTreeMuseum]

Chris;
You're losing a lot of credibility when you publicly admit that you've 
fallen for the con of the Amazing Randi. Do some research, the guy's a 
fraud:
http://torbjornsassersson.wordpress.com/2010/05/02/james-randi-and-his-one-million-dollar-challenge-fraud/

Essentially he was a washed up stage illusionist when he hit on a brilliant 
idea to promote himself and charge a small fortune making fun of people on 
the lecture circuit. I looked into his offer, it's rigged and a con. I can't 
believe a man of science would fall for something like that.

You're seriously impugning the German people, the smartest folks on the 
planet? Do the names of  Nicolaus Copernicus, Albert Einstein,  Werner von 
Braun, Werner Heisenberg, Hermann Helmholtz, Max Planck, Wilhelm C. Röntgen, 
Heinrich R. Hertz, Karl Benz & Gottlieb Daimler, Nikolaus August Otto, Ernst 
Ruska, Konrad Zuse, and Levi Strauss mean anything to you? How about 
Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, Handel, Mozart, Strauss, Wagner, Kraftwerk and 
Engelbert Humperdinck? I could go on like this for another hour or so, but 
you get my point.

My god man, have you ever eaten a hot dog or a hamburger? Have you ever 
drank a beer? Driven a car? Ever worn Lederhosen while schuhplattling to the 
sounds of an oompa band?  Have you ever seen Boris Becker play tennis?
(Would you ever guess that I'm of German extraction? :)

Phil Whitmer

Oh, and I love those Russian scientists, they're a laff-riot. Hard to bear 
Pravdo for funny news too!

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Rather than just repeat what can be found elsewhere, I'd suggest you start
with the Wikipedia entry on dowsing, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing ,
which has some excellent references to negative evidence, as well as some
references explaining Betz's poor technique.

A PhD does not automatically make somebody a good scientist (just look at
the huge number of pseudoscientists that Russia has produced), and the
absence of a PhD does not make somebody a poor scientist. All the evidence
suggests that Randi is a much better scientist than Betz. Randi designs his
experiments with proper attention to double blind methodology and controls,
and his results are reproducible. This is quite different from Betz.

People can be blinded by culture, too. I've spent a lot of time in Germany,
and an amazing number of people believe in dowsing (along with the idea that
underground "streams" near houses cause health problems), and an amazing
number of people believe in homeopathy. FWIW, both dowsing and homeopathy
appear to have originated in Germany.

Chris