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gilmork
New Member
6 Posts |
 Posted - 11/26/2003 : 15:51:57
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Doctors are studying an Indian hermit who is in perfect health, but claims that he hasn't had anything to eat or drink in several decades.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3236118.stm
quote:
Prahlad Jani, a holy man, or fakir, who is over 70 years old, has just spent 10 days under constant observation in Sterling Hospital, in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.
During that time, he did not consume anything and "neither did he pass urine or stool", according to the hospital's deputy superintendent, Dr Dinesh Desai.
The most strange quote in the article is:
quote:
He says he has survived several decades without food or water because of a hole in his palate.
Drops of water filter through this hole, he says, sustaining him.
The article doesn't mention whether the doctors found (or even looked for) a life-giving-substance-dripping hole in his palate during his time under observation...
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Edited by - gilmork on 11/26/2003 15:53:40
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 11/26/2003 : 16:16:21 [Permalink]
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I'm taking this with a grain of salt the size of Roy's Rock.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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walt fristoe
SFN Regular
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 11/26/2003 : 17:35:04 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by gilmork
The most strange quote in the article is:
quote:
He says he has survived several decades without food or water because of a hole in his palate.
Drops of water filter through this hole, he says, sustaining him.
The article doesn't mention whether the doctors found (or even looked for) a life-giving-substance-dripping hole in his palate during his time under observation...
The article I read on this (I think it was at morons.org) said that the doctors wanted to examine him again to check for this hole in his palate, which means that they didn't do it when they had the chance.
Even that Aussie fellow couldn't wrestle this much croc! 
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"If God chose George Bus of all the people in the world, how good could God be?"
Bill Maher |
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Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
Posted - 11/26/2003 : 23:08:14 [Permalink]
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"A hole in his palate..."
Perhaps its a general term for his mouth.
"Drops of water filter through this hole..."
Perhaps along with an occasional Tandori chicken, or some rice.  |
Diversity, independence, innovation and imagination are progressive concepts ultimately alien to the conservative mind.
"TAX AND SPEND" IS GOOD! (TAX: Wealthy corporations who won't go poor even after taxes. SPEND: On public works programs, education, the environment, improvements.) |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 11/27/2003 : 06:21:01 [Permalink]
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I've never met the fellow, and don't know the doctors, if doctors indeed they be. However, I do know a little layman's biology, and that biology says that decades without sustenence just ain't gonna cut it. If the story is the real deal, then our fakir friend is either a decades-old corpse or a zombie. With the exception of a fortuitously distant neighbor, I do not believe in zombies.
Which leaves is with Divine Intervention, or Flim-Flam.
Whaddya think?
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Paladin
Skeptic Friend
USA
100 Posts |
Posted - 11/27/2003 : 19:01:57 [Permalink]
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I remember reading somewhere that he'd already lost weight in the ten or so days the doctors had been observing him, though I can't remember the source. Thus, I can't vouch for its veracity. But if it's true, it just adds to my already significant skepticism.
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Paladin |
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Tim
SFN Regular
USA
775 Posts |
Posted - 11/27/2003 : 22:26:29 [Permalink]
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Tell me which doctors are actually studying this guy, and I'll make sure I find another when I get sick.
I think the "Indian hermit" makes this case appealing to some. Westerners seem to fall for this crap under the aupices of Eastern Mysticism like lemmings falling into the sea.
Also, remind me not to consider the BBC News a scientific journal. Thank Ambaji, even our five year old realizes that people have to eat and drink to survive.
From Article quote:
despite no water entering his body, urine nonetheless appeared to form in his bladder - only to be re-absorbed by the bladder walls.
Do we have a Nobel in the making here? Decades of this means zero toxins. Imagine the value to science. Imagine the potential!
I'd love to make a similar claim, but I'm a rich, fat American. They'd just say I was nuts. |
"We got an issue in America. Too many good docs are gettin' out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their -- their love with women all across this country." Dubya in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 9/6/2004
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Tim
SFN Regular
USA
775 Posts |
Posted - 11/27/2003 : 22:32:22 [Permalink]
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| Would Prahlad Jani qualify as continuous motion device? He can produce much larger amounts of energy than he consumes. Another Nobel? |
"We got an issue in America. Too many good docs are gettin' out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their -- their love with women all across this country." Dubya in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 9/6/2004
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 11/28/2003 : 04:29:33 [Permalink]
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What is remarkable to me is not that people actually buy into this crap whole hawg, but that there are so many who will happily praise and support this and other charlatons, even to their own detrement.
Whoa! Oh no, wait a minute! Why should we be suprised at all? Preachers of one sort or another, of virtually all faiths, have been doing similiar for as long as there have been churchs, holy caves, or other centers of spiritual irrationality. And the devout among us follow along and chip in to the sacred kitty just as they're instructed to do.
Parallels can be easily be seen in our own society; resurections, stigmatized priests, God's intervention over snakebite (we lose snake-handlers, one or two a year, it seems), holy-rollers and gibberers in tongues, exorcisims of whatever and magic knuckle bones -- those famous relics of defunct individuals -- faith healing, and the list is endless. What is one, skinny, slightly deranged, old coot amongst all of that? Hell, he can't even compete with Pat Robertson, although he seems to have a certain, quaint charm and dignety that Pat, Benny, et al, sorely lack.
I'm wondering if there will be a followup to this astonishing tale of holy endurance.
Edited: the usual (sigh).
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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| Edited by - filthy on 11/28/2003 04:34:32 |
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Stargirl
Skeptic Friend
USA
94 Posts |
Posted - 11/28/2003 : 14:36:27 [Permalink]
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| Is this going to become the latest mystic craze/nonsense? There was a discussion about a man making a similar claim on this thread |
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him - Voltaire |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 11/28/2003 : 15:49:12 [Permalink]
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A little more from The Anomalist:
quote:
Ahmedabad: Medical tests to determine the veracity of a claim of a saint subsisting without food or water for the past 65 years were suspended as the hospital authorities found the heavy rush of devotees for "darshan" disrupting the procedure.
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13319688
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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JimTheBrit
New Member
United Kingdom
3 Posts |
Posted - 11/28/2003 : 16:12:30 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Paladin
I remember reading somewhere that he'd already lost weight in the ten or so days the doctors had been observing him, though I can't remember the source.
From the BBC article:
"At the end of his confinement, doctors noted no deterioration in his condition, other than a slight drop in his weight."
I read a number of articles about this claim and the above article was the only one to mention the 'weight loss' finding. Hmmmmm.
Edited, 'cos like a prize pillock, I didn't realise I'd reposted gilmork's link. D'oh! |
| Edited by - JimTheBrit on 11/28/2003 18:50:23 |
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Paladin
Skeptic Friend
USA
100 Posts |
Posted - 11/28/2003 : 18:40:11 [Permalink]
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Could it have been the BBC story? Quite possibly. I check the BBC News site on a regular basis - at least daily.
Thanks, Jim! |
Paladin |
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PruplePanther
Skeptic Friend
USA
79 Posts |
Posted - 11/29/2003 : 07:55:47 [Permalink]
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"Ya gotta eat!"
Offer him a platter of Double Fried Cheese Fries and watch him gobble 'em down. 
And only 12 grams of fat per fry! |
"If I don't know where we are, I can't plot a course home." Major Carter, SG-1 |
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