Dowsing

[owdman]

PS next time you see a gas or water board man looking for a leaking pipe ask him why he doesn't use a dowser.

[Anna Kettle]

An underground stream will affect the vegetation above it. An underground pipe would do too cos the earth has been dug up and relaid unlike in the surrounding areas. It is possible to read from a map the likely places to find water eg in a valley

I would think that a lot of the success of dowsing is because the dowser subconsciously picks up on these clues.

I once went on a one day dowsing course but as a fully accredited and certificated dowser I have to say that my subconscious doesnt work at all well :(

Anna

[owdman]

Same with old buildings - if you work in them long enough you pick up a sensitivity to things which have been done - which show as discontinuities and changes however well they have been made good. An old trick - more interesting than dowsing and more useful, is to hold a torch against a wall and shine it across the surface. It can show up all sorts of bumps where pipes/cables have been installed, or openings filled up etc. not to mention the crudeness of the apparently flat plaster work!

cheers

Jacob

[Nick]

Considering that everywhere under the ground there is a water table, it's not surprising that a "water course" will be found if you dig *anywhere*.

[Mary Fisher]

Yes, in a waking moment in bed I realised that I'd used the wrong word and intended correcting it this morning. It was a well. She had been told by a neighbour that there was one but not where, now she does.

Mary

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[Mary Fisher]

Well said.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

What's the explanation for life in terms of the *known* laws of physics? Or death, come to that?

Are you suggesting that we've reached the point where we know EVERYTHING?

Mary

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[Mary Fisher]

And homoeopathy ...

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

You know that? You know that none of them uses dowsers?

You're wrong.

[Mary Fisher]

That shows that your subconscious hasn't worked at all well on those occasions, nothing more :-)

Mary

[The Natural Philosopher]

Strangely enough,m that one doesn't work.

Homeopathy has been extensively tested and found relatively wanting.

Apart from the placebo effect.

[John Rumm]

My comment was not about dowsing as such, but was addressing the the oft quoted mantra that if the mechanism by which something appears to work is not understood, or cannot be explained with our current knowledge of the world around us, then it must be bogus. This argument always misses the obvious possibility that the problem is not with the phenomenon being bogus, but with the state of current knowledge being insufficient.

[John Cartmell]

The objective term 'it works' is linked to an objective test. The 'Randi Test' is about the best there is in this field and, unless 'it work' for an equivalent test the phrase simply doesn't apply.

It doesn't work - but the psychology of it gets around our subjective human expectations.

[John Cartmell]

Physics isn't the study of life. Find the right subject area and you can get an explanation that will exhaust your ability to learn and understand.

You cannot cope with knowing everything. We know more than you can cope with - and NB that applies to everyone, not just Mary!

[Zoinks]

I certainly knew everything when I was 17, not so sure now though.

Zoinks.

[owdman]

I researched it in some detail years ago when looking for a well where we lived in Wales. We actually used a recommended local dowser who did a convincing demo with dipping twigs etc. He chose the same place for the well that I had already guessed as suitable by virtue of location, greener grass etc. We also asked a local 'water engineer' who suggested an even better place for a well, which we eventually used. He was very rude about dowsers. We asked the water board for advice also. They said that wells or boreholes were obtainable virtually everywhere if you dug deep enough into 'the shales and flags of the Upper Wenlock' - so we all would have been right. Since then I have made a point of asking any water/gas/drainage worker I have encountered if they would use dowsers and they all said of course not. There are 'dowsers' on the net if you google but they are obviously new-age fruitcakes to a man! I'm interested in the subject because I'm interested in why people believe nonsense such as homeopathy, santa claus, fairies, etc etc. and God of course. It's important because modern politics such as the Iraq war is driven by Bush and Blair both believers in dangerous religious nonsense. Dowsing and all that crap is the thin end of a big dangerous wedge!

cheers

Jacob

[Chris Bacon]

It does not work. Try alt.stupid.

[Mary Fisher]

Our daughter's animals must be more intelligent than we thought if they understand the 'placebo effect'.

And the animals of many other farmers we know. Commercial farmers, by the way, not hobbyists. Go to the Royal Show and talk to some before you're so dismissive.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

Your beliefs are as valido as those of the rest of us.

Mary

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[Mary Fisher]

ah - you're right - I hadn't allowed for the poster's intellectual age.

Mary