5 Things I've noticed about... Alternative Medicine

Alternative Medicine.

It's a multi-billion dollar scam industry that millions of people around the world use the products and services of year after year.

Many people who use alternative medicine will say it works, while many, many others will say otherwise.

Now there are a lot of things that I have notice about alternative medicine, but I have narrowed it down to five different things.

So here are five things I've noticed about alternative medicine:

5. It has a lot to do about nothing.

Alternative medicine products and services basically comes in two different forms: does nothing and uses nothing.

Most alternative medicine just doesn't work at all (such as homeopathy), and the few that actually does do something, the effects are minor and no where near as effective as real medicine, and could even be harmful if done improperly.

Then there are some that not only does nothing, but uses nothing as well. Reiki healing is a prime example of this as practitioners of Reiki healing practitioners claim that they use "energy" from some unknown source to "heal" people. Sometimes they will use crystals to harness this power. Sometimes they'll just use their hands. Regardless of how they "harness" this energy, they all do the same thing: nothing.

4. It works off of anecdotal evidence

Some of the best "evidence" that practitioners of alternative medicine have about how effect the products and services they offer works is anecdotal evidence. In fact it's not just best evidence they can give, it's also often the only evidence they can ever give (besides the stuff they make up) mainly because scientific experimentation and testing have proven that their products and services are useless.

Most practitioners of alternative medicine will tell you that their products and services does make people feel better, what they often don't tell you is how long it took to fix or cure whatever was ailing those who used their products or services, or whether they were using real medicine and medical services along with the alternative medicine, or how many people it didn't work for and ended up having to go and get real medicine and medical services when the alternative medicine failed to cure any thing but perhaps a heavy wallet. And that's another thing about alternative medicine...

3. It gets expensive.

Some alternative medicine is cheap (or at least it seems that way) but a lot of it is either over priced and even cost to much for some to use (which can be a good thing in a way, because the expense forces that person to go get real medicine). Even for people with health insurance it can still get expensive because most health insurance companies will not pay for alternative medicine, so a person who wants to use alternative medicine will have to pay for it out of pocket.

Even for the alternative medicine that isn't expensive, and can still get expensive because you have to keep buying and using it over and over again until either whatever is ailing you heals up on it's own, or you wise up and get real medicine, or you just keep buying the same useless stuff and forgo real medicine because you've been tricked into believing it works, even when it is obvious it doesn't.

Now being expensive for either a product or service that either doesn't work, or hardly does anything at all is a very negative part about alternative medicine, but it is not as bad as the fact that...

2. It is dangerous.

If you're taking an alternative medical treatment for either a cold or a cough then really the only damage your causing is to your wallet, but if you're taking alternative medical treatment for either cancer, or HIV, or anything that can kill you, then it becomes dangerous because you are forgoing proven medical treatments for something that doesn't work, and could possibly make it worse.

Besides just being dangerous because the belief that alternative medicine works can cause a person to forgo getting real medicine and medical treatments and instead get alternative medicine and medical treatments, some of this stuff can be dangerous if improperly done (like chiropractic) or overused (like colloidal silver) or if to much is taken at once (like Laetrile) and even outright used at all (like Cansema).

1. It's legally questionable.

Besides just coming in the forms of doing nothing and using nothing, alternative medicine also comes in another two other basic forms: doesn't work, and harmful. Because of this many forms of alternative medicine are in legal gray areas (besides the ones that are illegal) due to the fact that for the most part they don't work, many people believe that all forms of alternative medicine should be viewed as fraud and made illegal, and that all products that has shown to be dangerous should be made illegal because they are a dangerous fraud.

Besides the fact that alternative medicine is legally questionable, there have already been some ramifications when concerning alternative medicine. Some products have been made illegal because they are either dangerous, or just don't work. Insurance companies have no legal obligation to pay for alternative medicine, and often do not. Some people have even had their children taken away because they refused to get their children real medical treatment (often times for stuff that's life threatening) and use alternative medicine as a "substitute".

Many practitioners of alternative medicine have also been sued by their clients, either for fraud because they were sold a product or service that did not work, or because their product or service injured their client and actually increased their medical bills, or even left them disabled.

Many practitioners of alternative medicine have also been fined by the government, forced to shut down their operations, and in some extreme cases, sent to prison for fraud and practicing medicine without a license.

Why do people lie about their belief in a Conspiracy Theory? Part 2: Ulterior Motives

Why do some people claim to believe in a conspiracy theory, when in fact they do not?

In Part One I of this two part series, I explained that some people do this out of a motivation of fear (mainly the fear of some sort of lose by no longer believing in a conspiracy theory, or the fear of some type of retaliation).

Of course it is not always fear that motivate a person to claim that they believe in a conspiracy theory when they really don't. It could be that they have an ulterior motive that tends to be selfish in it's reasons.

Attention Seeking

Conspiracy theorists get a lot of attention, either from fellow conspiracy theorists who may or may not share their beliefs, or from skeptics who debunk their beliefs (while at the same time mocking them for those beliefs), or from the media (and law enforcement agencies) when a conspiracy theorist breaks the law after being motivated to do so by a conspiracy theory.

This attention can be attractive to those whom seek out attention themselves, and will take any type of attention (positive or negative) they can get.

Basically you can think of them as a bratty child who is acting bad simply because no one will play attention to them, and they know that acting the way that they are people will pay attention to them, and they do so without fear of consequences because there might actually be very little in the way of consequences, and even when they do suffer the consequences of their actions, they know it will be either minor and/or temporary, and that there are probably ways around it too.

Financial Motivations

Some people claim to believe in conspiracy theories not because they actually do, but because they're greedy, and they know that selling products that some conspiracy theorists buy can make them a lot of money.

For example, some one might open up a store that sells alternative medicine. The owner of the store might tell their customers how they "believe" that big pharma is evil, and that the medicine big pharma makes is actually bad for you, and that what they are selling will cure just about anything. The owner might not believe a word they just said, but if it gets them a sale, then they might not care.

Another example would be someone who has their own radio show and/or internet site which is dedicated to conspiracy theories, and lets say that this radio show and/or internet site has several sponsors that sell products that are aimed at conspiracy theorists. This could cause the host of this radio show and/or internet site to constantly spout out conspiracy theories that don't believe in order to keep money rolling in from those sponsors, and maybe even sell products that they have created (such as videos) to their audience.

Political Motivations

Another reason why some people might proclaim belief in a conspiracy theory that they don't believe in, and even make up conspiracy theories that they know are bogus, is because of political motivations.

Politically motivated conspiracy theories are actually very common, and the most common use for them is to try to get a person elected to an office by making up some stuff about another person whom already holds that office (or vice verse). The reason for this is to try to fool the voting public into believing these conspiracy theories about said candidate, and get more people to vote for their own candidate. This can be done by either a supporter of one of the candidates, or by one of the candidates themselves via attack ads, or internet postings.

Persecution complex

Somewhat similar to politically motivated conspiracy theories, some people might claim that a certain piece of legislation would (or does) somehow take away their rights (whether real or not). Some people might use the claims that a certain piece of legislation would take away their rights in order to rally people around them and either intimidate a politician to vote no on said piece of legislation, or create legislation that is suppose to counteract the other piece of legislation, or to an extreme extent, get people to ignore the legislation and any laws that comes with it as way to make it appear that piece of legislation is a failure. This could also apply to legal rulings as well as legislation.

Another reason why someone might claim that there is a conspiracy in that they are being persecuted for is that they are in fact being either investigated by law enforcement officials, or they really are being prosecuted for a crime they may or may not have committed. Some people might start spouting off conspiracy theories about the government targeting them over some conspiracy theories that they claim to believe in (which they may or may not actually believe in).

In fact they may actually be claiming that they are being persecuted (and even go so far as to claim that they have proof of a conspiracy theory, when in reality they never do) as a way to rally support around them, and as an attempt to try to intimidate the government into backing off of them.

Research

Some people might claim that they believe in conspiracy theories, and go to gatherings of conspiracy theorists groups, not because they believe any of it at all, but because they are doing research into conspiracy theories and conspiracy theorists.

The reason for this could be because they could be a psychology student, or a psychologist, who is doing research into the mentality of conspiracy theorists, so they may pretend to believe in conspiracy theories in order to gain their trust, and help to better their research in understand conspiracy theorists, and the conspiracy theories that they believe in. Perhaps they are even a skeptic who is trying better understand conspiracy theorists.

The research could also be being done by law enforcement officials in order to seek out individuals who might be considering committing a crime (like an act of terrorism).

Controlling people

Probably on of the more darker aspects of conspiracy theories is some people might create conspiracy theories as a method of (or an excuse for) controlling people in order to get them to do what they want them to do.

The creation of conspiracy theories are primarily based off of some type of fear, and there are people out there whom have no problems using that fear in order to control another person.

While this way of controlling people is mainly used by cult leaders, it is also used by egotistical people who simply love to control others.

5 Thing I've noticed about... Cryptids

Cryptids.

Creatures that are often times so elusive that there is no physical proof of their existence, and has lead most people to believe that they don't exist at all.

Now despite the fact that there is actually no proof that any cryptids exist, there are certain things that I have noticed about them, and have narrowed down to five things.

So here are five things I've noticed about cryptids:

5. They are masters at Hide & Go Seek.

If a cryptid was to ever enter a hide & go seek contest, they would probably win it, because they are masters at hiding.

Despite the fact that many of the areas of the world where various cryptids are known to live are actually very well explored, no one can actually seem to capture a living or dead cryptid.

A couple of good examples of this would be the search for the Loch Ness Monster and the search for Bigfoot.

Despite the fact that there have been multiple explorations of where Bigfoot is suppose to live (which is apparently everywhere now) or the use of motion sensor triggered trail cameras where they are suppose to roam, no one has ever been able to produce any solid proof that Bigfoot exists, other then a few grainy photos taken by people whom weren't even looking for the creature and could easily be something else entirely, and some photos and videos and footprints that are clear, but have either been found out to be hoaxes, or are strongly suspected of being hoaxes.

As for the Loch Ness Monster, that creature is so good at hiding scientists couldn't even find it after all of Loch Ness was scanned with sonar devices.

4. They're big business

Cryptids have made people a lot of money.

There have been many popular TV shows dedicated to finding cryptids, or has a cryptid as one of the characters. There have also been multiple products that feature cryptids as well (including shirts and toys). You can even pay people to take you on expeditions into these places where these cryptids are suppose to inhabit, and the sites where some of these creatures are suppose to live (such as Loch Ness) have become huge tourist attractions, attracting thousands of wannabe monster hunters every year hoping to catch a glimpse of one of these elusive creatures.

Of course lets not forget the millions of dollars spent on high tech equipment to try to find these alleged creatures.

Plus, who here can honestly say that the creation of the Star Wars character Chewbacca wasn't in some ways inspired by the descriptions of Bigfoot.

3. They don't seem to interact with each other.

Out of all the claimed sightings I have heard about varies cryptids, the one thing I have never heard is one cryptid interacting with another cryptid.

This could be a result of the alleged rarity of these creatures that there are simply not enough of them to actually interact with each other (other than a cryptid of their own species, which is also something that is never seen), or they're just scared of each other and avoid each other (which many known animals actually do).

Of course it could be because people so rarely see a cryptid (and it's usually from a distance, and it's not very clear) that it could be that no one has ever had the opportunity to see a cryptid interacting with another cryptid. It's not like people see Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster everyday, so it shouldn't be surprising that no one has ever seen Bigfoot riding on top of the Loch Ness Monster either.

2. There are multiple explanations for them.

While a few cryptids will have one explanation for it's existence, most of them have multiple explanations.

The two most common explanations for a cryptids existence is that they are either an unknown animal that has simply yet to be discovered, or, as many scientists believe, the misidentification of a known animal (other than those that are out right hoaxes).

Other explanations are that some could be a prehistoric creature that survived extinction (as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster are sometimes claimed to be) or that they could be aliens (as the Mothman and Chupacabra are sometimes claimed to be) or that they're some kind of spirit like creatures (as the Jersey Devil is sometimes claimed to be).

Regardless of how many logically (and not so logical) explanations there are for a cryptid, there is one true thing that all cryptids have in common...

1. They probably don't exist.

Despite the numerous explorations of areas where the creatures mentioned above (along with many others) have been done in an attempt to find these creatures, no one has ever been able to capture one, or bring back any physical proof that these creatures exist at all. These facts, combined with the logical explanations for the sightings of these creatures (including misidentification of a known animal, and intentionally created hoaxes) has lead many scientists to concluded that most, if not all, probably don't exist, or they just don't exist at all.

Or course I (and many scientists) say they probably don't exist rather than saying that they don't exist at all in most cases because there is a remote possibly (and very remote at that. Basically being on the same level as proving the existence of ghosts, or proving that aliens have been coming to Earth) that a few of them could exist.

Because of this remote possibly that some of these creatures could exist, and the occasional eye witness sighting from someone who doesn't appear to be making their claim up, it keeps people looking for them and wasting their time and money trying to find something that odds are doesn't exist. But still, much like with UFO hunting and ghost hunting, cryptid hunting can be fun, and can lead you to go to all these interesting places and lead people to learn more about history and nature, and maybe even real science along the way.

The Pros and Cons of Paper Money and Coins

There are a lot of pros and cons when it comes to coins, and a lot of pros and cons when it comes to paper money (or bills, as they are sometimes called). But which is better?

To help you answer that question for yourself I've made a list of five things that should mainly be considered in determining which is better, paper money, or coins:

Durability

Hands down this goes to coins.

Paper money only lasts for a few years at the most before finally it has to be taken out of circulation as a result rips and tears and the ink fading, while coins practically last forever.

In fact there are coins that are thousands of years old that are still around (although not in circulation) and I still occasionally get a wheat penny.

Cost effectiveness

Paper money wins this one

While you still have to manufacture new bills every year to replace the old ones, it's still a lot cheaper to manufacturer paper money than it is coins.

In fact the penny and the nickel actually cost more to make than what they are actually worth, and many countries have actually stopped manufacturing pennies altogether because they are just not worth the cost (Canada being the most recent as of this post).

Portability

Again this goes to paper money as well.

This reason why paper money is more portable than coins is very simple: you can put bills into wallets, putting them all in one nice little place, and they are much lighter than coins, thus easier to transport. Plus, because you can actually put bills in wallets, it makes it much harder to lose them then coins (unless of course you lose your wallet).

Counterfeiting

When it comes to counterfeiting, coins win this.

While coins can be counterfeited, simply because there is so much more involved (and expensive) with making a coin then paper money, most counterfeiters don't even bother to try to make counterfeit coins, and instead make counterfeit bills.

Heck, the only thing you really need to make your own counterfeit paper money is a scanner and printer combo. You'll of course be caught very quickly if you try to send it anywhere and arrested, but you can do that a lot easier then making a coin.

Disabled friendly

Unless paper money is made at different sizes, the blind can't tell a $1 bill from a $100 bill.

Simply by the fact that no two coin denominations are alike (in size, thickness, engravings, and the edges along the coins) it's far easier for the blind to tell one coin apart from another.

In fact the reason why coins were designed the way they were is so that it would be easier for the blind to use in the first place.