Hick

"Do you know what a nerd is? A nerd is a human being without enough Africa in him. – Brian Eno "

Baby's On Fire (And Probably Deeply Spiritual)

"A woman set herself on fire at a Miami mall Thursday, then walked around engulfed in flames as shocked shoppers watched, authorities said.

Two men and a woman who tried to help her were hurt, but not badly.

The 43-year-old woman, whose name was not released, doused herself with a flammable liquid at the Mall of the Americas, said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesman Arnold Piedrahita. She had third-degree burns over 75 percent of her body and was found conscious in a parking lot. Authorities do not know why she set herself on fire.

She was air-lifted to a hospital.

Witnesses said she was in a clothing store called Savage Boutique when it happened. Jose Morales, 24, said he was about to pay for earrings for his girlfriend at a nearby kiosk when he heard screams and thought someone had fallen.

When he turned around, he saw the blaze and realized someone was within it.

'This woman is just walking like this, super slow, completely on fire,' Morales said, his arms stretched out at his side to show what the woman looked like as she walked out of the store. 'You couldn't see nothing but fire.'"

-- Matt Sedensky, who probably didn't get a chance to ask if she was a Buddhist or an Eno fan - which I would've done immediately - thinking it was part of The Associated Press.

Cross My Heart. Hope To Die. Stick A Needle In My Eye. And My Ass. And My Foot. And My,...

Whoo-boy! As you can see from the photo above (poor kid!) the loons are having a party!

It seems there was a widely reported German study that claimed acupuncture works for low-back pain. Not surprisingly, even medical sites were pumping it, making my crazy "Student of the Occult" ex-wife's words ("We're in the hospitals - we're getting legit - you'd better 'get it' before it's too late!") positively prescient. Unfortunately, the reports are also a crock - and the results of the study are the best argument against acupuncture yet. Follow me, Kids:

According to the researchers from Ruhr-University Bochum, fake or "sham" acupuncture worked just as well as "true" acupuncture. Here's exactly what they said:

"The superiority of both forms of acupuncture suggests a common underlying mechanism that may act on pain generation, transmission of pain signals, or processing of pain signals by the central nervous system and that is stronger than the action mechanism of conventional therapy."

But, since true acupuncture supposedly works by placing needles in specific places - along routes called "meridians" - to effect your (highly superstitious) "chi", then getting a positive response from placing needles just any ol' where proves there are no meridians or chi to be effected. Sticking needles in a person - anywhere - will produce a response. It's just like hitting yourself in the foot to relieve a headache. TMR's conclusion - which isn't likely to change anytime soon:

Acupuncture is for idiots.

This is also further proof the media, especially the BBC, is totally lame - and totally gullible - when it comes to stories on alternative medicine and NewAge beliefs. You might as well do like Brian Eno said and stick a needle in a camel`s eye: