# Bad science in everyday life **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 12, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-in-everyday-life/154614 "2003-02-12T18:31:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-in-everyday-life/154614/21 "2003-02-14T17:54:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Philster \* > Bad science? How about how everything is a “quantum leap” ahead of the old stuff. Quantum is the tiniest scale. Ahem, please look in a dictionary first before issuing such criticisms. “Quantum=tiny” is a _recent_ addition to the use _as applied to one area of Physics only_. When Nero told someone to throw a quantum of Christians to the lions, he wasn’t talking about a tiny amount. (In my AH dictionary, the Physics quantum is the _fourth_ usage given.) ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-in-everyday-life/154614/22 "2003-02-14T18:32:29Z")
But, IIRC, people didn’t start using quantum leap as an advertising slogan until the show _Quantum Leap_ became well-known. So the physics usage is implied. In which case, I guess, it shouldn’t be a “quantum leap ahead of” said product. Maybe a “quantum leap apart from”? ---
**Author:** ![CadburyAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@CadburyAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CadburyAngel)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-in-everyday-life/154614/23 "2003-02-14T19:27:13Z")
This isn’t bad science, but it reminds me of when I got lunch in the cafe of the Smithsonian. One of the labeled treats was “Noodle Bowel.” Noodle Bowel? I’m not sure if that’s what you’re selling or what it’ll do to my innards, but no thanks either way. Really shook my faith in that whole Temple of Knowledge thing. ---
**Author:** ![\_etalhea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/779978/32.png) [@\_etalhea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_etalhea)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-in-everyday-life/154614/24 "2003-02-14T21:19:41Z")
For what it’s worth, my GF is a nurse in an internal medicine practice. Colonoscopy/Sigmoidoscopy is a daily routine for her, her job is to feed the hose in while the doc works the camera. She says the 5-10 pounds of “stuff” clinging in your colon theory is pretty much true. You’d be surprised. I’ve read serious articles that confirmed this. One was about a clinic (more of a camp) in Southeast Asia somewhere that specializes in colon cleansing. Apparently, you stop eating all together and take in enough vitamins and fluids such that you won’t die. Enemas every hour on the hour and every BM is done into a colander and you are encouraged to examine it. It was really a neat article and there were some interesting pictures that made it believable. There is some sort of stage about 2 weeks in where all the toxins in your body apparently start to be expelled. Almost on cue, everyone develps bad BO, bad breath, and weird skin tone/texture. It only lasts a few days. At some point, the ummmm, texture of your ummmm, enema results changes and things like gristle and stuff come out. One guy heard a “plink” and looked and it was a marble that he distinctly remembered swallowing as a kid. They had before and afters and everything. I tend to believe it, and I’m usually very skeptical. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-in-everyday-life/154614/25 "2003-02-15T00:50:44Z")
I always understood the phrase “quantum leap” to mean that the leap was a large one, because it made the leap from point a to point b without touching the points in-between. It’s like making an advance in logic without needing the previous logical steps that would seem to make it necessary. I seem to recall this usage way before the TV show of the same name, and Merriam Webster ([m-w.com](http://m-w.com)) dates this usage to 1956. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-in-everyday-life/154614/26 "2003-02-15T02:39:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by //\etalhea|) \* > \*\*For what it’s worth, my GF is a nurse in an internal medicine practice. Colonoscopy/Sigmoidoscopy is a daily routine for her, her job is to feed the hose in while the doc works the camera. > > She says the 5-10 pounds of “stuff” clinging in your colon theory is pretty much true. You’d be surprised. I’ve read serious articles that confirmed this. One was about a clinic (more of a camp) in Southeast Asia somewhere that specializes in colon cleansing. > > Apparently, you stop eating all together and take in enough vitamins and fluids such that you won’t die. Enemas every hour on the hour and every BM is done into a colander and you are encouraged to examine it. It was really a neat article and there were some interesting pictures that made it believable. There is some sort of stage about 2 weeks in where all the toxins in your body apparently start to be expelled. Almost on cue, everyone develps bad BO, bad breath, and weird skin tone/texture. It only lasts a few days. > > At some point, the ummmm, texture of your ummmm, enema results changes and things like gristle and stuff come out. One guy heard a “plink” and looked and it was a marble that he distinctly remembered swallowing as a kid. > > They had before and afters and everything. I tend to believe it, and I’m usually very skeptical. \*\* Ahem. I read the same issue of Stuff that you did. ---
**Author:** ![elgar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@elgar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elgar)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-in-everyday-life/154614/27 "2003-02-15T04:33:38Z")
The doctor I go to supplements his income with nontraditional medicine. One of the fliers in his waiting room is for a colonoscopy, and I guess he really believes in it’s effectiveness. Whenever I think about it though, I remember this episode of Absolutely Fabulous where the mom is defending having this procedure every week or so. The show is much funnier than I have related here, however. Wouldn’t having this done make you really dehydrated? ---
**Author:** ![TwungTister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TwungTister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwungTister)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-in-everyday-life/154614/28 "2003-02-15T22:04:00Z")
EcoQuest products. Their catalogs are full of extremely expensive items to protect you from life. Protect you from any contact with microbial life. Protect you from the sun. Every device is touted as giving you something you would get anywhere, but without the [insert nasty something here.] For instance, a light that gives the benefit of sunlight, without the UV rays. Blankets that prevent you from being contaminated with bacteria. But going past their photo of bacterium gave me a start. Anyone might see photos in a biology textbook. This wasn’t a diagram set up to mean anything. These people meant the picture to be scary. Show a scary picture and people will be afraid and will buy your stuff. Then they offer $31 bottles of pills. Pills make people think they’re medicating themselves for something. One of these is Flora. It provides beneficial bacteria…!now they acknowledge bacteria can be beneficial!..such as lactobacillus…this is the active culture in yogurt! Why aren’t they promoting consumption of yogurt? Because they can’t sell it at $31.00 a jug. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-in-everyday-life/154614/29 "2003-02-16T00:20:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PoorYorick \* > \*\*.:smack: I realize that “average” isn’t the same as “median,” but still . . . _everyone_ can’t be above average. > > I guess that misuse of statistics could be a whole other thread. \*\* They can be if they’re from Lake Wobegone. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![\_etalhea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/779978/32.png) [@\_etalhea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_etalhea)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-in-everyday-life/154614/30 "2003-02-17T16:12:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Raygun99 \* > \*\*Ahem. I read the same issue of Stuff that you did. \*\* Yeah, that was it. You don’t happen to remember what issue it was by chance? I’d like to read that again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-in-everyday-life/154614.md?page=1)