Saturday, March 24, 2007

A rainbow of woo

It's always troubling to see a groovy physics phenomenon get hijacked by the purveyors of woo. Magnets have long been a favorite target of abduction. Homeopathic scam artists sell magnets to wear, to sleep on, walk on, and so on, all with the unfounded promise of "better health." Complete bogousity, of course.

Now it's the rainbow's turn. Not the rainbow, itself, but the colors of the rainbow. Announcing ColorEnergy. Arbitrary "powers" are assigned to each color...arbitrarily. If you give the purveyor a bunch of money, she'll explain the whole thing. None of it founded on research, of course. But like PT Barnum said, there's a fool born every minute. This scheme is just one more that parts the fools from their money.

I just don't like the rainbow being invoked to do the dirty work.

Thanks to The Amazing Randi for the heads-up.

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