Have you "Earthed" yourself today?

Well, it is the other way out. The earth going to take away all your free electrons and will actually make you poor of electrons. If you were somehow low at electrons and were puffing them out then earth sure will compansate for those. You get nothing extra than just required and that is not at all bad thing.

You get 5 points for putting this question - you were only 180 degree phase away on the information track. Never mind. It is a very good thing to talk about it.

I want to add few more good things here. you can make the tree to be more active if your supply little current to then. you can also connect a small battery to your body and earth to make your ions move all the time and have much better blood ions flow. Make sure you limit the current to just micro amp level and frequency switching at only few Hz or mHz level.

<Sigh> Placebo effect taking place I say. Still, if people are willing (for example) to pay thousands to get their audio cables cryogenically frozen to alter the crystalline structure of the cable to make it sound (possibly) better, good on them. Lord knows that a reduction of 0.000001% THD (total harmonic distortion) or gold-plating the 110V socket outlets to the stereo makes all the difference. Crooks, cheats (but not idiots) the lot of them. Of course if you want a real laugh, then there are the people selling directional copper audio cables. In the end, the Placebo effect (why, I can tell the difference in sound quality, cannot you). I bet every single one of the test subjects was told that this would make them better, lo and behold it has some sort of effect! But if it were a blind test and they weren't told, hmmmmmm, both subjects show same results. The mind is a powerful thing, all you need to do is convince someone they can do or overcome something and they will.

Being grounded does have some adverse effects, especially if you are working on a 220kV line at the time.

Very nice of them to give the disclaimer at the bottom (yes I actually read thru the website before commenting, you never know after all, and for once it WASN'T something on free energy or using a 555 chip sign-wave generator to cure cancer or crappy magnets on the outside of a plastic water pipe to clean the water).

"The Barefoot Pad is categorized as a personal bedding or foot pad item with a ground connection. It conducts electrons naturally present in the earth, through an earth connection device through a grounding wire and through the soft, carbon fibers of the pad and thus facilitates obtaining a "grounded to earth condition" for someone whose feet are touching the pad fibers. No health benefit claims are made for this conductive pad. The only claim for this pad is that it will conduct electrons present in the earth."

No kidding, who would have thought.

Are you aware of ionic conductivity? This takes hardly few volts to do wonders. I beleive if ionic conductivity is changed a bit, then some local ion activity will also be affected in the body. The heart pulse isn't 230V that makes you to live or nerve pulses that tell things to brain or let the control things isn't robot motor power. These are just signals. Body works on basically Na+ K+ and Ca++ channels to open gates of the cells to share energy resources from blood to the cell. The negative ion is Cl- and not electron. Body resistance being at about 10kOhms, effectively maintains balance. Wet body works much faster and may be one reason why swimming is great experience for the body. Why one feel fresh after bath may not be dirt cleaning alone.

I have conducted tests over 450 people in March 1-5, 2004 in live conference cum workshop and found that those people show greater body conductivity were sick and those were dry were also sick. Skin conductivity differs considerably on health of individual or it may be other way out. Without data all talk is baseless. Hence, some good data is a must. Let me do some real experiments then I can say something more.

In India, people touch ground by hand when they get up from bed. This is an age old tredition and now almost a ritual. I am not sure if this is done against the putting foot on the ground first. It really may not have any great scientific reason.

Static electricity on cloths can be up to 10000V to 50000V and hence, it may do some good to discharge the body. Our hair get pulled and some surface moisture must get ionized and micro-discharges casing radiation damage may lead to skin cancer. Nature has about 5 micro Rad per hour dose. It may increase to 100 times or more. It sure will do something not so good to the skin.

It is easy to comment but hard to find facts. Some time what we ignore becomes a big ??????????? I give you 5 points for another 180 degree phase.

My technician killed all my ADC chips when he ignored to discharge his body. These chips were Texas TLV2548. He also managed to kill all AD549 amplifiers worth US$50 each quantity 100 numbers. I should have tought his this at the first place to save my chips.

You have a point - high current through body can kill. Knowledge helps much better than ignorance.

Yes, but there is a big difference between looking at some small fact or experiment or measurement and using it as proof of something, but ignoring, say, bigger factors that cause a much bigger effect (such as the old laws of conservation, physics electrical theory, etc). This is where people get into problems - Take one backyard experimenter with a minimal knowledge of say, electricity and an idea (for example - using magnets to make a perpetual motion machine). Sure he can make it move, he may even think that it works (due to poor lab results, incorrect interperation of meter readings, etc), but in the end it will never work because the laws of (the universe) say they wont, and he/she may never find out it will never work if he/she doesn't ask the right questions (or perform the right tests). Laws can sometimes be bent, but not broken.

Simply put - It is possible to get any results you want if you only ask specifiy questions, or look at specific areas of research and development, or overlook the obvious answer. Sometimes all it takes is someone outside of the problem to ask the right questions (and yes, real experiments conducted properly are a must).

As for surface skin conductivity (as a good example by the way), it is only a small fact you can easily measure, and you could base all of the assumptions on this, BUT without a good background in Biology you wouldn't know that it is mearly a small fact, nothing more (and almost meaningless as it is effected by a vast number of other, larger facts such as stress, skin condition due sun damage, biology, race, humidity, etc, etc). Also surface skin resistance differs from internal resistance thru flesh which differs from internal resistance thru blood vessels, etc (things are much more complex than they first appear).

The important test results that would indicate the big facts require far more knowledge and expertise to aquire (for example, you wouldn't try and diagnose patients at a hospital by using an ohmmeter to measuring patents skin resistance. An extreme example, but it illustrates the point). Sure it could indicate that say a person with high resistance is dry therefore they could have a cold, and a person with low resistance is wet and sweeting therefore they could have a fever, but in the end these are mearly possible indications to problems. The right tests are not being done and the right data is not being aquired to give the correct result on the petents condition. Sure, the ohmmeter method may diagnose correctly a few patents, but in the end is the test method valid.

Excellent reply.

Let us discuss magnet though it was not the idea placed earlier.

Magnet makes ion to move in a circuilar motion and is what is used in the all CRT you use with computer or TV. It is also used in Ion Beam experiments and also in MRI imaging. I am not aware of how magnet is to be connected to the current discussion.

Magnetic field caused by high voltage power lines is known to cause cancer. Ionization of air due to high voltage causes increase on O3 level and kills the brain neurons if inhalled continuously in 0.1ppm and above.

Surface effect on the body can be stress based and known to be used in lie detector. I agree that one single parameter is of little value. In India most of the people are bare foot and in Japan people don't remove shoes in temple. I am yet to know if people in Japan are dumb or sick. I think they live more. Then, two sets of people are having different food and life styles.

Static charge is known to be high on skin and cotton cloths are much better of health. Triboelectricity plays some good role on skin surface. I have no idea of what happens of water filled body which also works as conductor and insulator. We are complex machine.

The magnet was mearly an example of how something that looks simple to the untrained eye is actually a complex system that cannot be fully understood and utalised (for example by turning it into a new perpetual motion power source) without proper knowledge of the complex system itself, and the laws of electricity and physics, etc. Other examples are Peltier devices, electrolysis cold fusion, or any other neat science experiment that anyone with no knowledge or experience can setup and play with using easy to obtain parts.

As to the magnetic field of the high voltage power lines causing cancer (or anything else for that matter), this has never been proven EVER (and I work in the electrical power and distribution industry). So just for you, I will let you in on the facts!

This is another very good example of what we were talking about before, and can be broken down very simply into the following (simplified example)

1) Pass current thru a wire, get a magnetic field, bigger the current, the bigger the field. So...

2) <Assumption>- High voltage lines must cause big magnetic field.

3) <Self validation>- Bar magnets can be used to move metal filings around on a table. There is iron in a human. Therefore powerlines cause problems. Whats todays buzword that the media are using......Cancer. Powerlines cause cancer.

Don't laugh!, this is quite a common practice, and the media just love to get ahold of things like this and blow it out of proportion (sometimes they are the ones creating it!), and when the media repeat it more people believe it, and so on and so on. Now the FACTS.

1) Current causes the magnetic field - as voltage goes up on the HV transmission line the current goes down to get the same power to flow. This is why we use high voltage as a transmission method (transmission line wires running at 400V with a diameter of 2 feet, is not a very practical)

2) The magnetic field decreases as distance away from the transmission line increases. This has a MAJOR efect on people on the ground, as the actual magnetic field the person experiences is very small.

3) An example from the world health organisation on Electromagnetic fields and public health "It is not possible to determine whether there are any long-term health consequences even from exposure in the millitesla range because, to date, there are no well-conducted epidemiological or long-term animal studies. Thus the carcinogenicity of static magnetic fields to humans is not at present classifiable (IARC, 2002)." Lets look at the figures - Earth's surface is between about 0.035 - 0.07 mT. MRI scaning machines used for medical diognosing purposes produce about 0.2-10T (that's 140,000 times earth magnetic field). 2T can produce temporary sensations of vertigo and nausea effects which may have a safety impact for workers executing delicate procedures, while exposure to 8T can cause possible effects ranging from minor changes in heartbeat to an increase in the risk of abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmia) that might be life-threatening (all info from WHO). WHO gives A continuous exposure limit of 40 mT as safe for the general public.

NOW, an actual example (from a real environmental study in association with the WHO) - "At ground level beneath a 765 kV line carrying 3000 - 4000 A the peak electric field strength is approximately 10 kV/m, and the peak magnetic flux density is approximately 100 μT. At ground level 50 m from the center of the line, the electric field is of the order of 1 kV/m and the magnetic flux density is about 0.1 μT" I can tell you that is a VERY large transmission line, but it illustrates the point well, AT 50M FROM THE LINE THE MAGNETIC FIELD FROM THE TRANSMISSION LINE IS ALMOST IDENTICAL TO THE BACKGROUND MAGNETIC FIELD PRODUCED BY THE EARTH, and that is the scientificaly proven fact.

So, where did the statement "power lines cause cancer" come from, probably from the same way that the statement "the earths magnetic field causes water to flow down the sink hole clockwise in the northern hemisphere clockwise, and anticlockwise in the sothern hemisphere, due to the corrioles effect" (or the other way round), which is completely untrue as the earths magnetic field has such a minimal effect as to be barely measurable. I blame the media and people without all the facts and knowledge for perpetuating both these myths. Just because 1000 people speak a false statement does not make it true.

As for Ozone (O3), well yes it binds with oxygen in your blood stream and can kill you. Ozone also occurs naturally. Inhaling any gas concentration continuously will also kill you.

Some people in Japan may live longer but it is more likely to be due to lifestyle or other more obvious factors (such as Sake). Dont forget the good old "Bell curve" distribution, there will always be values outside the expected normal dataset.

>> Static charge is known to be high on skin and cotton cloths are much better of health.

What research are you aware of that proves that the obvious (high skin resistance(+Ve) + cotton cloth (less +Ve) = static charge buildup generated through friction of the two) causes better health.

DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ, Especially if the Marketing department have written it! Coming back to my previous point, Just because 1000 people speak a false statement does not make it true. Seek out the facts, knowledge based on fiction is not knowledge at all (well actually it's -ve knowledge, if there is such a thing, but you get my point).

One short comment--it is my understanding that Coriallis (sp?) Effect is strictly a result of the earth's rotation, not related to magnetism. That may not be correct. Enjoyed your comment.

Getting cancer or not getting cancer is highly statistical. Some one smokes 100000 cigarettes may not get cancer but other man hardly smoked anything just may get it. Does this rule out the probability. There are professional hazards which people take.

I have seen many power lines causing corona spark when these are high voltage and near sea climate. There must be a lot of ozone that sure will eat away the brain of people slowly and may give cancer. Harm may be much lower in dry climate.

Similar problems may exist near the power distribution points.

Just 50 years ago the permitted radiation level was 80 Rad per year for the radiation workers. Now it is 5 Rad and perhaps soon will become 2 Rad. Reason for such changes are reduction in probability and lower risk for individuals. People will take emergency exposures as high as 1000 Rad and fire fighters will get burnt alive in saving others lives. You are as greater risk in high current high voltage zone and more when power is full of harmonics due to poor power quality which is very often true in India.

Look at the data and then decide. I have seen people playing with radioactive sources. I have seen people sitting and ralaxing on top of radiation source storage box. Does that mean radiation is good for relaxing?

There are million x-ray machine in India and none use radiation safety instruments as most of them think it is Ok that way. Government knows it very well and what is that you have to say about it. I am working on plans to make the world safe. It is not easy for others to accept such ideas. I have not come across single industry that agrees that they are polluting the environment. Have you ever come across? Union Carbide that killed thousands of people didn't know the risk or their engineers were thinking that it is great fun to take risk? Their every paper to the government tells that they were having no environmental risk.

I will not discard some one's data just like that. I will have a look and use some serious thoughts. Scientific data either have statistical error or show a trend. What else is the way?

Hazard minimisation is the key, but perhaps it is better to concentrate on the hazards that are likely to cause the most problems rather on possible hazards that may or may not cause a few potential problems.

Corona sparking near the sea - I don't believe that the concentrations of ozone created in these instances are capable of reaching any sort of dangerous or hazardous level when the power lines are out in the open, way up high, and in an environment with natural airflow (wind). In an enclosed space like a switchboard room however, a problem could exist, however proper design and maintenance of the lines should all but eliminate these ozone problems. Standing under the line with an ozone concentartion meter on a still day should prove that (I am sure this has been done somewhere, perhaps the applicable research paper is available on the web).

Radiation level reduction - Interesting case, many variables. The Chernobyl disaster was an interesting example. The chief engineer in the reactor control room at ground zero received a huge dose of radiation and still survived. One of my flat-mates was living in Russia 100 miles away at the time, he has some interesting stories (1.5 foot high mushrooms outside their summer home).

> I have not come across single industry that agrees that they are polluting the environment.

No, I doubt you will, leaves a large opening for law suits against the company in question. Easier for us all to just believe the truth, that ALL companies and business are harming the environment, either thru their own actions or using non-renewable resources from other sources for their purposes. It all gets a bit depressing when you start to delve too deeply, so don't, it won't help you or your cause (I have been there before and know). Just know that you are right, but also know that change (especially big ones such as world peace, end to hunger, end to environmental pollution and hazards, etc) comes very difficultly. So start small (its what we all do and has the best chance of success).

Union Carbide case - Don't blame the Engineers, they knew the risks, it all came down to lack of tank maintenance and possibly lack of training and/or vigilance. In the end it was only about the accountants and management trying to save the company money (why do you think they stuck the plant there in the first place), as for the papers, an obvious lie (but I would believe perpetrated by management rather than an unethical engineer). Another good example is a major car manufacturer (I won't mention which one). They had a cost analysis done when they built a new car, they came to the conclusion that a human life was worth about $2000 to them. This justified leaving out a $2 part on all their cars that would protect the fuel tank from a rear end collision causing the car to burst into flames and kill the occupants. Many died. The companies engineers were the ones that designed the part and tried to get it included, but failed because it raised the cost of the car by too much (to be competitive in the market the argument was). A rare case, bnut it does happen. My heart goes out to the ones involved who quit the company over this ethical dilemma, I would like to think that I would do the same thing if I were in there place (and I believe many of us would). I am sure the management would see it differently if someone marched one of thir sons or daughters into the meeting room, threw a briefcase containing $2000 onto the meeting room table, doused the son/daughter in petrol and set him/her alight if front of them. I believe some of those involved have already left this world, I am sure that hell has a nice place for them.

Moving on..

Scientific data validation - Multiple reputable sources (edd's opinion off of the UFO abduction society website should not be one of them), double blind tests and of course own personal observations and tests. Best mindset to be in (depending on the situation) is either interested and open-minded, or sceptical and making it you personal goal to prove the data wrong. These mindsets are necessary whenever reviewing data from a source that is not 100% reliable (and I am including the TV media in this also). I cannot count how many times I have seen people get sucked into a dead-end research project or development because they wanted the results or the outcome to be true and, went about trying to prove them true rather than stopping and stepping back and looking at the big picture and thinking impartially for a bit.

A recent example of SHOCKINGLY BAD research validation was the case of the kid with no engineering experience and limited equipment building a cold fusion powerplant in his backyard out of X-ray machine parts. The media reported that the results were promising because.................the colour of the reaction was similar to another scientific groups experiments into cold fusion (also unproven to even work). VALIDATION BY REACTION COLOUR!!!! . No, not quite finished yet .

Remember, if researchers say it sounds like a duck, the research data indicates it is a horse, known laws of science indicate it's a head of lettice, as far as you can tell it looks like a cheese sandwich, and the media is reporting that the research is promising because it is Blue, further investigation is required before making a conclusion.

Is it possible for you to frame a rule of what people should do or what they should not?

The diverse knowledge is very valuable. Do you think Dr. Hahnemann should have started work in Homeopathy or inaculation has any meaning to you? Do you know the size of the pituitary gland that makes us human and is the sole governing gland in the brain. Chemicals in human body work at molecular signal level and if something makes that better even a bit will make us much better to perform. Every little bit of information and efferts are worth. You may perhaps disregard meditation completely.

Ok, just off the top of my head here.....Diverse knowledge is valuable but knowledge is only knowledge if it is proven to be true, until then it is only an idea and must be looked at impartially until it can be proven (either by yourself, others, or better both). This is especially true when the idea contradicts known and proven knowledge. Now this known knowledge may actually be slightly wrong (even thou it has been proven to work), in which case there may be room to modify it and validate the new idea BUT, the known knowledge was here first and it is already proven, and this must be taken into account when dealing with new ideas.

As for homeopathy, inoculation, meditation and even the placebo effect, I have nothing against them because they actually work and are proven (yes, even the placebo effect and homeopathy, which I use myself and have impartially verified).

Bravo!

Yea, back when pseudoscience discussions were far more common on CR4 I used to write a lot. The fact the quantity of pseudoscience questions has greatly reduced over the years on CR4 makes it all worth while.

Hopefully old posts like this are still helping people interested in science but trying to understand all the convincing-looking fake videos and scams out there and why we aren't all using them to solve all the worlds problems.

;)

I think you scared them off and, needing a public outlet, they founded Gizmodo, Space.com, Wired and re-staffed Scientific American (which used to be a great rag packed with original content but these days cut 'n' paste from other sources).

My brother and his wife lived for awhile in a house next to a cross-country high-tension line. I'm guessing 300 kV or thereabouts.

They were always not-quite-sick, but not well either - esp. my SiL. One day my mum and SiL went to a local bigbox store. When they went down the Lighting aisle some of the lights came on in the outdoor-lighting display. They attributed both to my SiL's being 'magnetised' by the power line.

In the first case it turned out there was a small leak in their flue. Mild carbon monoxide poisoning. In the second? Motion detectors.

EVEN STILL, they blame that powerline. It's things like this that feed the (rampant, these days) ignorance grist mill. Willful ignorance is the worst of all. It is incurable.

Bravo again for your awesome and well-informed rebuttal.

-e2