Evolving Thoughts

Woo science kills: dowsing for bombs

The UK government has banned the purchase of a dowsing device that is supposed to “detect” bombs in Afghanistan. Even the Afghans know this doesn’t work. [H/T Russell McPhee]

Science

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Comments (14)

    1. I think they are outsourcing the manufacture to the Church of Scientology.

    2. You’ll notice how I refrained from pissing on the floor…

      If you would have done he would have detected it with his dowsing rod.

  2. I don’t know about pissing on the floor but the guy who is making them is certainly taking the piss and laughing all the way to the bank while he does it.

    On the other hand we could view it scientifically as yet another confirmation of the the Hannum Hypothesis.

  3. I say let ’em dowse – the Darwin Awards are there for a reason, you know.

  4. The training manual for the device says it can even, with the right card, detect elephants, humans and 100 dollar bills.

    …ah, the mythical “right card” (I have one – elephants/humans are about 50:50)

  6. I understand the electronics used in microwave image detection devices has become far cheaper to manufacture of late.

    It at least would appear to work better in some situations than the tinfoil hat approach used in this case.

  7. ‘Even the Afghans’? I think they’d know better than most about taking caution around landmines.

  8. “This paper is written by John Living, who was educated at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham. He was commissioned as an officer in the Corps of Royal Engineers, and was taught dowsing at the School of Military Engineering, Chatham – reported to have the world’s largest collection of material on dowsing.

    “John Living has been a Member of the Institute of Royal Engineers, Member of the Institute of Engineers, Jamaica, Member of the Institute of Civil Engineers (and Chartered Civil Engineer) in the United Kingdom, and a Professional Engineer registered in the Provinces of Ontario and Alberta, in Canada.

    He has more than 40 years experience of dowsing, and is a member of the Canadian Society of Dowsers, the Canadian Society of Questers and the American Society of Dowsers”

    http://mypage.direct.ca/j/jliving/landmine.htm

    “Police officer Husam Muhammad says using the device properly is more of an art than a science, and he demonstrates how to walk with a steady rocking march, holding the sniffer out ahead of him.

    “If we are tense, the device doesn’t work correctly. I start slow, and relax my body, and I try to clear my mind (edit.of any rational thought),” he says.”

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111750111

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