Programming Crystals

[Nostradamus]

Since I work in software development and also used to dig crystals to sell to crystal people I got a kick out of reading this article.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art13381.asp

You can't be out there in the dirt too long digging crystals without running into something worth reporting.

One time I was in Arkansas digging crystals and pulling in a few hundred a day. I was searching through a pile of mud when this woman was literally dragged in. Her knees were shot and she was looking for crystals to heal her knees. She had this little gardening tool that looked like she bought it immediately before coming to the mine. She was scratching at the mud and finding nothing. After a bit she'd ask her friends to come over and drag her to a new spot where she claimed crystals were calling to her. Again, she found nothing. This was getting on my nerves. Actually, it was ears. Her knees were so bad that she was screaming in agony as she was dragged from spot to spot in the mine. After only 3 drags I went over and offered my best find of the day. I did not want to suffer any hearing loss. I was turned down. Next drag I offered again. No thanks I was told.

What I did not understand was that she believed that the crystals I found had called to me. Only a crystal that calls to her could heal her knees. I tried to salt spots near her in the hopes of maintaining my sense of hearing. But I was caught and she would not touch the crystals I left for her to find. I tried to give crystals to her assigned draggers. They turned me down. They were tuned into the call of the wild crystal and wouldn't have me interfering.

At the end of day I felt like I'd been to a medieval dungeon. The woman resolved to come back until she found that healing crystal. I cut my mining trip short and headed off to mine wavelite.

I always wondered if she found that one special crystal to heal her knees.

[ciscop]

one of my friends
had a pendulum with a crystal
she said that with that she could predict the sex of an unborn baby
and that she was almost always right

duh...

[NinjaPuppy]

Hmmmm, let me see how I can word this properly without offending anyone's delicate sensabilities here.....

I have this giant rose quartz crystal on my coffee table. My now husband gave it to me as a gift when we were first dating. He knew I was into crystals and the like and he was trying to impress me. He delivered it in a beautifully wrapped gift box with contrasting tissue and everything. As I opened it, I remarked how beautiful it was and that it almost looked like a heart shape. He asked me what rose quartz symbolized or what it is used for in the Wiccan culture and I told him basically for 'love'. He asked if this was a 'sex stone'. I told him, not exactly and I was curious how he happened to come across that information. He said that he didn't know anything about it being a sex stone, but it sure looked like a fu@king rock to him.

He is a skeptic with a great sense of humor.

[Nostradamus]

That's nice. Rose quartz crystals are a bit unusual.

[ProfWag]

Since I work in software development and also used to dig crystals to sell to crystal people I got a kick out of reading this article.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art13381.asp

You can't be out there in the dirt too long digging crystals without running into something worth reporting.

One time I was in Arkansas digging crystals and pulling in a few hundred a day. I was searching through a pile of mud when this woman was literally dragged in. Her knees were shot and she was looking for crystals to heal her knees. She had this little gardening tool that looked like she bought it immediately before coming to the mine. She was scratching at the mud and finding nothing. After a bit she'd ask her friends to come over and drag her to a new spot where she claimed crystals were calling to her. Again, she found nothing. This was getting on my nerves. Actually, it was ears. Her knees were so bad that she was screaming in agony as she was dragged from spot to spot in the mine. After only 3 drags I went over and offered my best find of the day. I did not want to suffer any hearing loss. I was turned down. Next drag I offered again. No thanks I was told.

What I did not understand was that she believed that the crystals I found had called to me. Only a crystal that calls to her could heal her knees. I tried to salt spots near her in the hopes of maintaining my sense of hearing. But I was caught and she would not touch the crystals I left for her to find. I tried to give crystals to her assigned draggers. They turned me down. They were tuned into the call of the wild crystal and wouldn't have me interfering.

At the end of day I felt like I'd been to a medieval dungeon. The woman resolved to come back until she found that healing crystal. I cut my mining trip short and headed off to mine wavelite.

I always wondered if she found that one special crystal to heal her knees.

Nostra, I live about 10 minutes from Coleman's Crystal Mine just outside Hot Springs. Is that where you were?

[ProfWag]

one of my friends
had a pendulum with a crystal
she said that with that she could predict the sex of an unborn baby
and that she was almost always right

duh...

At least 50% of the time, I'm sure!

[ProfWag]

Hmmmm, let me see how I can word this properly without offending anyone's delicate sensabilities here.....

I have this giant rose quartz crystal on my coffee table. My now husband gave it to me as a gift when we were first dating. He knew I was into crystals and the like and he was trying to impress me. He delivered it in a beautifully wrapped gift box with contrasting tissue and everything. As I opened it, I remarked how beautiful it was and that it almost looked like a heart shape. He asked me what rose quartz symbolized or what it is used for in the Wiccan culture and I told him basically for 'love'. He asked if this was a 'sex stone'. I told him, not exactly and I was curious how he happened to come across that information. He said that he didn't know anything about it being a sex stone, but it sure looked like a fu@king rock to him.

He is a skeptic with a great sense of humor.

That's such a beautiful story that it almost makes me cry! HIlarious!

[ProfWag]

I know that a link to this website is not thought of highly around here, so please don't chastise me too much, but it's a story about a crystal shop in Sedona, Az.
http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swi ... itory.html

[ciscop]

great article
thanks for sharing


hey ninjapuppy, so are you a wiccan?
that´s pretty cool.

[NinjaPuppy]

hey ninjapuppy, so are you a wiccan?
that´s pretty cool.

Yes, I have been a card carrying member for 20 years now. Gardnerian Tradition.

That's such a beautiful story that it almost makes me cry! HIlarious!

For a complete skeptic, the hubs sure does have a good sense of humor. My skeptical prince 'humors' me by not stepping on my beliefs and in return, I don't turn him into a frog.

[NinjaPuppy]

Now for the linked article:

I have a friend who has a serious heart condition. It is as yet undiagnosed, and it causes considerable discomfort. Many of the shops in Sedona sell crystals which are supposed to solve health problems such as these, so I presented my case to the shop owners and asked for help.

If this 'heart condition' "is as yet diagnosed", how does he know it's a heart condition???

I picked through the stones and picked a few of the cheapest ones and one expensive one. The total ended up being about $55. Before you chastise me for giving money to one of these stores, I consider this research. Yeah, she makes profit on what is probably woo woo, but I had to follow the process to see how it worked.

He did not pay $55 for the healing, he paid $55 for the rocks. I'm sure that a fossil/rock shop would charge as much or more for similar rocks. Somebody's got to dig those babies up and clean them and market them and ship them, etc. Too bad this self proclaimed man of science didn't bother to list the type of rocks he was shown or that he chose. I guess without facts, I can't comment.

I took the bag of stones and gave them to my friend, who wore them just as directed. There was no noticeable immediate effect, but two days later something definitely changed: the condition got worse, with new symptoms. When the stones were removed, the condition remained worse.

You mean this still undiagnosed condition got worse? Like giving asprin to someone with a brain aneurysm because their head hurts?

Is this proof the stones were actually causing heart problems? Of course not. It's just correlation, and there's no reason to assume causation. And if I complained that the stones didn't work, it would be pointed out that I didn't actually buy all the recommended ones. There is no way to use the results in any useful way. However, if the heart improved, you can be sure crystal aficionados would be claiming success. Funny how it only works one way.

What I find funny is that he seems to have his own set of answers for why it didn't work, yet claims foul if it did. He also admits that he didn't purchase all the recommended ones. Half arsed measures provides half arsed results and this sort of self proclaimed 'research' is nothing more than an opportunity to point out his personal opinion. Face it, if a believer made these sort of statements from a positive side with the missing facts, the lack of proof etc., skeptics would be all over this as total crap. From his negative take, it's worse crap but I'm sure it gave plenty of skeptics a warm fuzzy to prove that woo is garbage. So sad, soooo very sad.

So what did I learn from this experience? Not a lot directly, but I did gather some new knowledge. Most interesting to me was that a person who runs a crystal store (they sold amber by the way, which is not a crystal) had to look in a book to find the right stones to treat a very common ailment.

His original claim of a SERIOUS HEART CONDITION has now been reduced to a COMMON AILMENT. OK, which is it??? Is this where I'm supposed to call bull sh!t, like skeptics do when they see less than perfect explanations???

And having done so, she recommended EVERY ONE mentioned in the book. Some of the individual stones were as much as $70. There is clearly money to be made in rocks.

Yes there is money to be made in rocks. I'm sure that diamond merchants and jewelers will back me up on this statement.

I was also surprised that no discount was offered, and that even the bag was charged for. Most small merchants will offer these things if a good customer (one that spends significant money) shows up. Crystal healers ostensibly try heal people and generate good karma in the world, but this store seemed much more dedicated to making money. I have no problem with that, by the way, but it needs to be pointed out.

Excuse me but he's in a tourist town for cryin' out loud. Like he's going to be shopping regularly at her store. You want a discount, go to WalMart. Since when do smaller independent shops in this sort of economy have the ability to give away merchandise? WalMart doesn't give you free stuff when you shop. This is one dumb remark.

[NinjaPuppy]

Another interesting thing: there was a different feel to the New Age shops—a less friendly, more distrusting atmosphere. I went to five or six of these shops, and they all had the same sign: "You break it, you buy it." Not an uncommon sign, but I only saw them in the New Age stores, and never in the other gift shops that had similarly fragile merchandise.

How does one come up with the opinion of a "more distrusting atmosphere"? Do you think it might have been his body language and attitude due to his skeptical nature as he admits in his next statement?

I looked. Sure, I'm a skeptic so maybe I was just uncomfortable in "enemy territory," but a thought occurred to me: could it be that fraudulent people are less trusting, and take precautions against strangers in the assumption that they're the same? Just speculation, but interesting.

Interesting assumption there, don't you think?

So yes, I've tried crystals. They didn't do any good. Maybe I did it wrong, maybe not, but regardless, I sure wouldn't recommend them to anyone else. They are pretty though, and the bag of crystals is currently part of a "pirate treasure," so at least it wasn't a total waste. In the meantime, I'm hoping the cardiologists can help my friend

Yes! Very good there skeptic!!! I'm glad your research proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they don't work. Even if you did it wrong and admit this as part of your research. I'm sure that there is a job for you in governement testing labs across the globe.

[Nostradamus]

ProfWag I have been tothe main Coleman mine, but I have been more often to the one in Jessupville.

[NinjaPuppy]

I know that a link to this website is not thought of highly around here, so please don't chastise me too much, but it's a story about a crystal shop in Sedona, Az.
http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swi ... itory.html

BTW ProfWag, my comments are in no way based on what you say above. I enjoyed that link very much. It really gives insight into the mind of some skeptics and how they present their views.

[ProfWag]

If this 'heart condition' "is as yet diagnosed", how does he know it's a heart condition???

Because there are many different kinds of heart conditions that can't be diagnosed without open heart surgery.

He did not pay $55 for the healing, he paid $55 for the rocks. I'm sure that a fossil/rock shop would charge as much or more for similar rocks. Somebody's got to dig those babies up and clean them and market them and ship them, etc. Too bad this self proclaimed man of science didn't bother to list the type of rocks he was shown or that he chose. I guess without facts, I can't comment.

First, he is not a man of science. Next, the supplier wanted to sell him over $400 worth of rocks. Crystals here in Hot Springs go for $20 for a rather large one. But you're right, he doesn't give details on size, but if we're talking 1"x1" then $55 is way overpriced. If he's not paying for the healing, what is the purpose of the rocks?

You mean this still undiagnosed condition got worse? Like giving asprin to someone with a brain aneurysm because their head hurts?

Yes, people's heart conditions often get worse. Tiredness, pain, discomfort, speedy heart, etc. can all change and get worse.

What I find funny is that he seems to have his own set of answers for why it didn't work, yet claims foul if it did. He also admits that he didn't purchase all the recommended ones. Half arsed measures provides half arsed results and this sort of self proclaimed 'research' is nothing more than an opportunity to point out his personal opinion. Face it, if a believer made these sort of statements from a positive side with the missing facts, the lack of proof etc., skeptics would be all over this as total crap. From his negative take, it's worse crap but I'm sure it gave plenty of skeptics a warm fuzzy to prove that woo is garbage. So sad, soooo very sad.

So you are suggesting that if I develop a heart condition, I should go get crystals instead of seeing a doctor?

His original claim of a SERIOUS HEART CONDITION has now been reduced to a COMMON AILMENT. OK, which is it??? Is this where I'm supposed to call bull sh!t, like skeptics do when they see less than perfect explanations???

Yes, heart conditions are a very common ailment.

Yes there is money to be made in rocks. I'm sure that diamond merchants and jewelers will back me up on this statement.

Big difference between diamonds and emeralds and a crystal or rock.

Excuse me but he's in a tourist town for cryin' out loud. Like he's going to be shopping regularly at her store. You want a discount, go to WalMart. Since when do smaller independent shops in this sort of economy have the ability to give away merchandise? WalMart doesn't give you free stuff when you shop. This is one dumb remark.

[/quote]
Agree, but just barely.
Here's the bottom line the way I see it. If I had chest pain and I was in Sedona, I could have gone into a crystal store and told the person behind the counter that I was having chest pain and I would have been given crystals to help my pain, been charged $400, and not advised to go to an emergency room. But you don't see anything wrong with that?