I’m not forgetting anything of the sort. A single datum is not worthless; anecdotes by themselves are not worthless. But there is a pitfall that is common with anecdotes: it happened to me, therefore it must have a causal connection. Thus, here, a person burns their finger and then touches their earlobe and it seems to have some effect upon the burn, or the feeling of the burn. So the person leaps to a conclusion: the burn must have been helped by the touching of the earlobe. Then if they find that others have had the same experience, the assumption becomes: wow, there are many who have had the same experience, so it must be true!
Of course, we know that nothing further from the truth COULD be true. Which is my point. One anecdote is worth only a very little: it represents the experience of one person. Multiple anecdotes aren’t worth much more, because all the represent is the multiple experiences of the people from whom the anecdotes are received. THAT, sir, is not data of any value in trying to decide what is really true or not about an underlying cause, because, as I amply demonstrated in the follow-up post, just because it seemed to have a connection doesn’t mean it actually does.
Of course, it’s not the sort of thing that people who want to latch onto otherwise unexplainable phenomena like to hear. So, if you prefer to think that bodily emanations can affect the street lights you walk under, or that people really can bend spoons with their minds, or other similar such things, then by all means, ignore the point I made and cherish your anecdotal evidence.
Of course, intelligent people will tend to :rolleyes: or :dubious: or . Price you pay, I guess. :smack:
(Who knows? In the long run, the “intelligent” people may be the ones doing the :smack: !)
I tend to think with my mind, but I let my heart intervene. This is infinitely more difficult than being “intelligent”. Try it sometime. It leads to what most folks call insanity.
Taking both sides into consideration (heart and mind), gives me a kind of perspective that I could not otherwise have; it makes me crazy, and that is O. K.
As I make my way in this world, watching what others do, I am PROUD to be crazy.
Why bump a stupid thread from 2007 just because the column it references made the front page again? Ready to reengage the debate over Koreans being in Vietnam? Or perhaps you wish to discuss the data/anecdote silliness?
The article also contains other info about why it should not be used for medical purposes.
(Note: The two main issues with DMSO were that it might increase ocular pressure in the eyes and that double blind testing was impossible since it causes a “crab meat” taste in the mouth despite being applied to the skin. Something subjects would notice and might influence their reporting of responses. DMSO can facilitate the absorption of other substances, good and bad.)
Several older friends swore that WD40 helped achy joints but they also drank that nasty fungus tea that was popular in the 90’s. Lubricant, heat from friction, manipulation of muscles & joints - sounds like 'massage" to me.
BUT, in mid 90’s, I watched a Japanese nuclear engineer change out the small chili peppers in the toes of his socks for fresh ones. We had spent the day slogging through wet snow & on a ski lift above the Sapporo snow festival: he wasn’t dressed as well as the rest of us but he wasn’t as cold as we were either. He also said he usually had them in his gloves as well but hadn’t needed those because he wasn’t really using his hands in the cold. His methodology (developed over 20 years of field work) was to replace the peppers in his socks every 4-6 hrs as he would begin to feel a chill. Fresh ones to gloves; gloves to socks; socks to trash as those peppers tended to be crushed.
His wife indicated that the few times he had been caught pepperless - he was colder than others in the group because he refused to spend money on better outdoor gear he rarely needed.
MODERATOR NOTE: Irishman, this is sort of one toe over the thread-shitting line. I’m leaving this as a friendly Moderator Reminder. But the answer to your question is: obviously, those who bump it and discuss it disagree with your comment.
. Price you pay, I guess. :smack: