28 thoughts on “Dara o’Briain on homeopathy, mainly :-)”
Hiya Bravo – If she ever reads this, your old sparring partner, Catrina, is going to be well displeased with you. 🙂 Very funny, nontheless.
OZ
P.S. Uruguay 1, South Korea 0 after 12 minutes, in case you’re interested.
OZ. Like, I care 🙂
Shame, I’d like to see the Koreans go through – plenty of time left though
Homeopathy – I swear by it.
Dara is one of the best, and this is brilliant Bravo.
By it, Zen, or at it 🙂
67 minutes and Korea have equalised.
OZ
I have used it for 30 years, even cured a nasty dose of MRSA when all else failed.
Uruguay score a brilliant goal in the 80th minute. 2-1.
OZ
Zen, yep, that’ll be the stuff.
Oz, oh, bugger!
On the homeopathy thing, here in deepest Portugal the old girls still go for a post-prandial Sunday stroll into the hills and come back with armfuls of wild herbs, weeds and other bits of flora for the treatment of a wide variety of ailments. Before the advent of modern pharmaceuticals this was all there was to treat sicknesses, effective or not, but there are generations of knowledge distilled into their activities, so it can’t be all bad. Sad to say, this knowledge will probably die with them in this very generation as it already has done in the UK.
For example, only a few years back the Great Wolf went to a pick-your-own strawberry farm, the surrounding hedges of which were laden with plump, juicy sloes. “Could I have a few of those”, he innocently and honestly enquiired to the callow youth behind the counter. “Yeah, help yourself, mate. (Mate?? To the Great Wolf???? Bad move – very, very bad move, but the Great Wolf bit his tongue). Dunno wot they are so take as many as you want. They’re worthless”, was the bored and sullen suburban reply. It cost Dad a fortune for the requisite gin and vodka, but we have been enjoying the delicious results ever since.
Personally, I’d rather take a natural infusion of whatsoever for a hangover or bellyache than a little tablet of chemicals from some multi-national with lobbyists in Westminster and on Capitol Hill.
OZ
Homeopathy is complete balderdash. The best it can offer is the placebo effect!
OZ: Actually I don’t think that even Catrina is that batty.
>from some multi-national with lobbyists in Westminster and on Capitol Hill.< Like the natural medicine lobby, you mean? A multi-billion dollar industry based on nothing but hot air, like yer man said.
PS. I’m with you on sloe gin, though.
Sorry, Bravo – Final result Uruguay 2, South Korea 1. It’s market day in the village tomorrow, with a lunch of beer, salad, chicken grilled on an oil drum barbie and more beer and then off down to The Bar for Ingerlund vs der Vaterland. I’m going down tonight to put some beach towels on the prime seats – just in case, you understand. not that I have any truck with stereotypes but there are some of those in the surrounding hills. 🙂
OZ
Bravo – No, I don’t mean the multi-national natural medicines lobby. I am talking about having a good lunch and then going for a walk in the hills to identify and harvest ones own natural curatives. I, for one, would like to learn what the old girls know of local plants and things before it’s too late – not only for medicinal purposes, but also for the kitchen.
OZ
FEEG, in that case, roll on placebos. I think you are wrong. No, I know it.
All my stuff is packed and gone, finally – in fact, I spent 6 hours at the customs depot today, in 35 degree heat, trying to get it cleared so it could go off to Cyprus. Fun.
The point is, that all myy books are gone, so I have no references. However, I consulted that nice Mr Google, and here you are:
Homeopathic products are made from minerals, botanical substances, and several other sources. If the original substance is soluble, one part is diluted with either nine or ninety-nine parts of distilled water and/or alcohol and shaken vigorously (succussed); if insoluble, it is finely ground and pulverized in similar proportions with powdered lactose (milk sugar). One part of the diluted medicine is then further diluted, and the process is repeated until the desired concentration is reached. Dilutions of 1 to 10 are designated by the Roman numeral X (1X = 1/10, 3X = 1/1,000, 6X = 1/1,000,000). Similarly, dilutions of 1 to 100 are designated by the Roman numeral C (1C = 1/100, 3C = 1/1,000,000, and so on). Most remedies today range from 6X to 30X, but products of 30C or more are marketed.
A 30X dilution means that the original substance has been diluted 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times. Assuming that a cubic centimeter of water contains 15 drops, this number is greater than the number of drops of water that would fill a container more than 50 times the size of the Earth. Imagine placing a drop of red dye into such a container so that it disperses evenly. Homeopathy’s “law of infinitesimals” is the equivalent of saying that any drop of water subsequently removed from that container will possess an essence of redness. Robert L. Park, Ph.D., a prominent physicist who is executive director of The American Physical Society, has noted that since the least amount of a substance in a solution is one molecule, a 30C solution would have to have at least one molecule of the original substance dissolved in a minimum of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules of water. This would require a container more than 30,000,000,000 times the size of the Earth.
Oscillococcinum, a 200C product “for the relief of colds and flu-like symptoms,” involves “dilutions” that are even more far-fetched. Its “active ingredient” is prepared by incubating small amounts of a freshly killed duck’s liver and heart for 40 days. The resultant solution is then filtered, freeze-dried, rehydrated, repeatedly diluted, and impregnated into sugar granules. If a single molecule of the duck’s heart or liver were to survive the dilution, its concentration would be 1 in 100200. This huge number, which has 400 zeroes, is vastly greater than the estimated number of molecules in the universe (about one googol, which is a 1 followed by 100 zeroes). In its February 17, 1997, issue, U.S. News & World Report noted that only one duck per year is needed to manufacture the product, which had total sales of $20 million in 1996. The magazine dubbed that unlucky bird “the $20-million duck.”
Charlatans fleecing the gullible.
Hilarious, Bravo!
Only trouble is, I’d probably be first in that sack 😉
Natural remedies do not fit into the homoeopathy bracket, OZ: so the herbs etc do not make homeopathic treatments. They make alternative treatments,some of which, it is recognised, do make measurable differences. I believe aspirin was ‘discovered’ this way, and then controlled ways of producing it as a valuable treatment were devised.
Placebos can work too. 🙂
Don’t knock the ‘knowledge’ of the centuries. Some of the ‘cures’ my mother passes on from the times when she was a child and a visit to the doctor was an expense really work. She’s also a mine of information about which simple products clean just as well (if not better!) than some of the very expensive chemical preparations in fancy bottles on the supermarket shelves.
However, for serious complaints she will sing the praises of the NHS which provide her freely with pills that have kept her going to 89…
Guys, the clip makes the point. What works from ‘alternative’ medicine has already been incorporated into the real, clinically-tested medicine.
Boa, as for the ‘knowledge of the centuries. What was the average life expectancy in the ‘centuries,’ again? Death rates in pregnancy, birth, or from puerperal fever? Death rates in childhood? Whooping cough? Lockjaw? TB? Smallpox – if you can remember what that was…etc, etc, etc. Yep, they work alright…
PS. Not to mention pain: Kidney stones, gallstones, internal infections, migraine, cancers, trauma,… Pass the panadol, please.
Bravo – I think I made it clear that for ‘serious illnesses’ forget the earlier remedies and head for the nearest doctor with modern remedies…
PS.
It would seem that many modern hospitals have forgotten some of the best of the ‘earlier remedies’: scrubbing brushes, disinfectant and a bit of elbow grease.
Horses for courses!
Boa, that’s the point. Many of these charlatans dissuade people from seeking medical attention.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Hiya Bravo – If she ever reads this, your old sparring partner, Catrina, is going to be well displeased with you. 🙂 Very funny, nontheless.
OZ
P.S. Uruguay 1, South Korea 0 after 12 minutes, in case you’re interested.
OZ. Like, I care 🙂
Shame, I’d like to see the Koreans go through – plenty of time left though
Homeopathy – I swear by it.
Dara is one of the best, and this is brilliant Bravo.
By it, Zen, or at it 🙂
67 minutes and Korea have equalised.
OZ
I have used it for 30 years, even cured a nasty dose of MRSA when all else failed.
Uruguay score a brilliant goal in the 80th minute. 2-1.
OZ
Zen, yep, that’ll be the stuff.
Oz, oh, bugger!
On the homeopathy thing, here in deepest Portugal the old girls still go for a post-prandial Sunday stroll into the hills and come back with armfuls of wild herbs, weeds and other bits of flora for the treatment of a wide variety of ailments. Before the advent of modern pharmaceuticals this was all there was to treat sicknesses, effective or not, but there are generations of knowledge distilled into their activities, so it can’t be all bad. Sad to say, this knowledge will probably die with them in this very generation as it already has done in the UK.
For example, only a few years back the Great Wolf went to a pick-your-own strawberry farm, the surrounding hedges of which were laden with plump, juicy sloes. “Could I have a few of those”, he innocently and honestly enquiired to the callow youth behind the counter. “Yeah, help yourself, mate. (Mate?? To the Great Wolf???? Bad move – very, very bad move, but the Great Wolf bit his tongue). Dunno wot they are so take as many as you want. They’re worthless”, was the bored and sullen suburban reply. It cost Dad a fortune for the requisite gin and vodka, but we have been enjoying the delicious results ever since.
Personally, I’d rather take a natural infusion of whatsoever for a hangover or bellyache than a little tablet of chemicals from some multi-national with lobbyists in Westminster and on Capitol Hill.
OZ
Homeopathy is complete balderdash. The best it can offer is the placebo effect!
OZ: Actually I don’t think that even Catrina is that batty.
>from some multi-national with lobbyists in Westminster and on Capitol Hill.< Like the natural medicine lobby, you mean? A multi-billion dollar industry based on nothing but hot air, like yer man said.
PS. I’m with you on sloe gin, though.
Sorry, Bravo – Final result Uruguay 2, South Korea 1. It’s market day in the village tomorrow, with a lunch of beer, salad, chicken grilled on an oil drum barbie and more beer and then off down to The Bar for Ingerlund vs der Vaterland. I’m going down tonight to put some beach towels on the prime seats – just in case, you understand. not that I have any truck with stereotypes but there are some of those in the surrounding hills. 🙂
OZ
Bravo – No, I don’t mean the multi-national natural medicines lobby. I am talking about having a good lunch and then going for a walk in the hills to identify and harvest ones own natural curatives. I, for one, would like to learn what the old girls know of local plants and things before it’s too late – not only for medicinal purposes, but also for the kitchen.
OZ
FEEG, in that case, roll on placebos. I think you are wrong. No, I know it.
All my stuff is packed and gone, finally – in fact, I spent 6 hours at the customs depot today, in 35 degree heat, trying to get it cleared so it could go off to Cyprus. Fun.
The point is, that all myy books are gone, so I have no references. However, I consulted that nice Mr Google, and here you are:
Charlatans fleecing the gullible.
Hilarious, Bravo!
Only trouble is, I’d probably be first in that sack 😉
Natural remedies do not fit into the homoeopathy bracket, OZ: so the herbs etc do not make homeopathic treatments. They make alternative treatments,some of which, it is recognised, do make measurable differences. I believe aspirin was ‘discovered’ this way, and then controlled ways of producing it as a valuable treatment were devised.
Placebos can work too. 🙂
Don’t knock the ‘knowledge’ of the centuries. Some of the ‘cures’ my mother passes on from the times when she was a child and a visit to the doctor was an expense really work. She’s also a mine of information about which simple products clean just as well (if not better!) than some of the very expensive chemical preparations in fancy bottles on the supermarket shelves.
However, for serious complaints she will sing the praises of the NHS which provide her freely with pills that have kept her going to 89…
Guys, the clip makes the point. What works from ‘alternative’ medicine has already been incorporated into the real, clinically-tested medicine.
Boa, as for the ‘knowledge of the centuries. What was the average life expectancy in the ‘centuries,’ again? Death rates in pregnancy, birth, or from puerperal fever? Death rates in childhood? Whooping cough? Lockjaw? TB? Smallpox – if you can remember what that was…etc, etc, etc. Yep, they work alright…
PS. Not to mention pain: Kidney stones, gallstones, internal infections, migraine, cancers, trauma,… Pass the panadol, please.
Bravo – I think I made it clear that for ‘serious illnesses’ forget the earlier remedies and head for the nearest doctor with modern remedies…
PS.
It would seem that many modern hospitals have forgotten some of the best of the ‘earlier remedies’: scrubbing brushes, disinfectant and a bit of elbow grease.
Horses for courses!
Boa, that’s the point. Many of these charlatans dissuade people from seeking medical attention.
Your #25 entirely agree.
Common sense breaking through?
An end to the waste of taxpayers’ cash on the charlatans?