Updates made to The Millenium Project in May 2001

Another "alternative medicine" tragedy (6/5/2001)
I was referred today to a site called "The Mercury Connection" (the site no longer exists – PB 5/4/2003) to show me the horrors of amalgam fillings. It certainly horrified me, but not for the reasons that the person recommending it to me thought. What horrified me was the report, in his own words, of a man with an incurable disease who had the last years of his life stolen from him by quacks and liars. Roy Smith had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a quite rare complaint. He was deceived into thinking that this may have been caused by the mercury in the fillings in his teeth, so he had all his fillings removed and replaced. If the story had stopped there it would have been bad enough, but the vultures hanging around him wanted more. He was encouraged to spend his time (and his money, of course) on the useless quackeries of chelation and hyperbaric oxygen.

You would expect that these treatments would have some demonstrated benefit after some time, but fifteen months after Roy had had his fillings replaced, he was told that the amount of mercury in his body had increased! At the same time he was being told that he needed more and more treatments in a compression chamber, although there was no evidence that his condition was improving. You might ask yourself why someone would tell him that he needed to sit in a compression chamber several times per day when it didn't seem to be doing him any good. The reason was that he and his family still had money left. You may wonder how the level of mercury in his body could increase alarmingly when the supposed source had been removed more than a year before. It was because the people selling him a "treatment" were taking the measurements. Think about it for a moment – if the reported levels never dropped, he would know that he was being scammed, but if they had actually dropped to nothing he might have wanted to stop paying. So they lied to him.

Roy Smith died on July 13, 1998. His death was a personal tragedy for his family and, like all needless deaths, diminishes us all. It would have been a tragedy for the chelationists and oxygen "therapists" as well, because a large part of their income would have gone. Unlike Donna, Ryan and Lori who lost a husband and father, however, the quacks would have just had to do a bit of advertising to get another Roy.

Update

… and its aftermath (12/5/2001)
The response I got to the above was astounding. I was accused of damaging people by trying to stop them having their fillings out, I was "trashing" Roy Smith and his memory, I was trying to gain benefit from his death. Someone even wrote to his widow about me. What nobody would address is that even if the ALS had been caused by the fillings in his teeth (it wasn't), what I was objecting to was not so much the removal of his fillings but the process of continuous lying that went on after that about how the level of mercury in his body went up and down. It could only go down unless the charlatans treating him were feeding him mercury, they were incompetent beyond belief, or they were lying to him. Again, no possible criticism of a form of "alternative medicine" was permissible or could even be contemplated. Even the Gutless Anonymous Liar put its oar in.

Brain-dead MLMer of the week (6/5/2001)
They're at it again. Well, they are always at it, but I find it enormously amusing when some spammer writes to me with promises of great wealth from a pyramid scheme. Some of these messages look like they actually come from real people, not just spambots, so I guess their desire to have me in their downlines exceeds their ability to read. I will collect all the MLM invitations I receive over the next month and put them together on a page here so we can all have a good laugh. I liked the one that came in this week and started off "Dear Multi-level marketer" and then went on to tell me how I could get rich by spamming, but my favourite would have to have been the one which had the subject "Recieve Your Blessing", told me it was not MLM, and said:

In today's society people are looking for that "Get Rich Quick Scheme" and feel they shouldn't even have to work to create any kind of wealth in their lives. You should know by now, this is simply not possible unless you win the lotto! You must be asking yourself "Well, what is possible then? If you have a strong desire and a good work ethic, you can change the situation you are in, and you can create wealth in your life!!!

Speaking of "recieving" blessings … (6/5/2001)
A few months ago, I mentioned that a site called "Java for Jesus" had a link to The Millenium Project which said "this man and his site need to be redeemed -- please help this man". They have revised the site and I can't find this any more. I greatly appreciated the concern and I hope they are still looking out for me.

Laugh of the week (6/5/2001)
Just to make sure we all keep laughing at it, the Gutless Anonymous Liar has upgraded me. It is now drooling on about dogs rather than rats. It also claims that someone has "sanctioned" me, possibly because one of the aforementioned mammals has retaliated against my head. Perhaps I will learn more soon, because a full moon is due in the next day or so.

Date sent: Tue, 1 May 2001 23:24:47 +0200
Subject: acs sanctions peter dogfuck-ditch!
From: "anonymous@zoubidoo.net" <anonymous@zoubidoo.net>

tell you what buttfuckditch!

give us a fax number that\\\'s in service and we\\\'ll fax you the letter!

seems your \\\"buddies\\\" at the acs consider you as fucked in head as you appear to be...can\\\'t fool them...can ya?

Bizarrity!!! (12/5/2001)
Shortly after uploading last week's update to this site, I received the following lunacy from the Gutless Anonymous Liar, speaking in its alternative "pompous fool" mode rather than its more normal "deranged mouthfoam" style. As if I am going to take any notice of some anonymous anencephalic pretending to be a lawyer. Somehow, I am not surprised that GAL should join the chorus of hypocrisy that has come from the supporters of "alternative medicine", who all seem to think that lying to a dying man is not a bad thing to do.

Date sent: Sat, 12 May 2001 17:22:13 +0200
Subject: References to Mr. Roy Smith
From: "anonymous@zoubidoo.net" <anonymous@zoubidoo.net>

Sir:

You have published information on your web site concerning the above matter. The information in false, misleading, and libelous.

We realize in perusing your site, correspondence demanding the removal of materials concerning Mr. Smith would be insufficient.

We have been instructed by the family to bring an action against you and your internet service provider, and have initiated same.

We take great interest in persuing these matters with you, and as apparent from other materials on your site, many others will benefit from our action.

You very apparently warrant the glowing commentary from your detractors.

* As Mr O'Neill died on March 31, 2013, I don't expect any further communication from him so I stopped the counter.

Linkery Foolery (12/5/2001)
You would wonder why anyone would have a business web site and then try to stop other people publicising it. I don't mean the sort of places linked to from here – I mean legitimate businesses and organisations that have something worthwhile to sell or say. I have heard of two of these this week. The first was Ansett Airlines, the second largest airline in Australia, who don't want anyone linking to them at all. I run a web site for a business organisation and it has a link to Ansett so that members can buy tickets. I guess I'll just have to remove the link and send the members to Qantas instead. The other organisation affects The Millenium Project and it is the American Cancer Society. Because of other content on this site, apparently I can't say something like "Here is a list of people lying about how they have the cure for all cancers. You can go to the American Cancer Society to see the truth". Bizarre!

Attention, anti-vaccination liars (12/5/2001)
Please explain the following figures in light of the continually repeated lie that there are no benefits from vaccination. Saying that these figures are not true because they came from the CDC will just be another example of your lies, so don't bother with that one.

Brain-dead spammer of the week (12/5/2001)
The MLM stuff keeps coming in, but I loved this bit of spam from a fool pretending to be someone that I might want to do business with. Hey, idiot, I already HAVE a web site.

I was referred to you by one of your clients, and after doing a bit of research at what's already on the Internet (in regards to your type of business), I came to the conclusion that your company could greatly benefit from getting an online presence. This would be even more effective if your web site was professionaly developed to match the services of your company and welcome your clients on the web.

Harassment Update (12/5/2001)
It was a full moon so the usual drivel came in from the Gutless Anonymous Liar. By coincidence, Mr William O'Neill reappeared on the same day and sent a fax to an organisation I am associated with, accusing me of things I haven't done and asking them to do things they can't do. I may display a copy of the fax here one day, but, as it contained an implied threat to widely defame the organisation in question, I will have to wait until the lawyers have finished with it.

It's been a quiet week (19/5/2001)
There must have been a new shipment of tranquilliser darts at the asylum because everything has been quite peaceful lately. Oh, there was the usual knee-jerk reaction from the Gutless Anonymous Liar when the email here was broken for a day or so, but its effort was so feeble that it was hardly worth its while to put crayon to cardboard. Another fruitcake has taken to posting slabs of content from The Millenium Project to various Usenet newsgroups and then asking questions which show that she hasn't read what she quoted, so I might start a special section soon to display that particular collection of idiocy. The high point of the week was hearing that the owner of an anti-vaccination mailing list had removed a list of corrupt doctors who were prepared to violate professional ethics and issue fraudulent vaccination exemption certificates to parents who want to harm their own children and endanger others. The list owner removed the list because the "ratbags guy" might be watching as a spy! If they were right, they wouldn't be so frightened of little old me, would they?

Where have all the racists gone, long time passing? (19/5/2001)
I once had almost three hundred racist sites listed here, but the number has dropped over time to less than two hundred. Part of this fall off is because I have been concentrating on other things and haven't been actively looking for replacements for the ones that have gone, but there seem to be a general wilting away of racism on the web. Hatewatch.org has closed down and, at the other end of the spectrum, Yoderanium.com has been coming and going like the Cheshire Cat. The web seems to have failed to meet the expectations of either the racists or their opponents.

I can spell "millennium" when it's "millennium" that I mean ... (19/5/2001)
It looks like it's language lesson time again. As it says quite clearly at the top of this page, there is a word, "millennium", which means "a thousand years" and another word, "millenium", which means something else. I know the correct spelling for the correct context. Despite this, people keep writing to me either questioning the spelling or telling me that I can't spell. I received a couple of messages about the word this week. One was polite. One came from an idiot.

From: "Love" <love@synergynet.co.uk>
To: <fuckedrat@ratbags.com>
Subject: poem4 U

millennium has two n's fuck face
been told that yet? doubt it. ha ha ha
feeling educated?
feeling informative, witty?
do you like it?
then publish it.
you're not even evil
but you've made lots more mistakes

Linkery Foolery (Update) (19/5/2001)
Common sense has broken out at the American Cancer Society and they have relaxed the rules about who can link to their site. I won't claim that this backdown was because of what I said about them last week, but I can only assume they responded to public opinion. Under the old rules, the content of The Millenium Project would have meant that I couldn't say something like "Here is a list of people lying about how they have the cure for all cancers. You can go to the American Cancer Society to see the truth". Now I can. Congratulations, ACS, on realising how the web works.

Attention, anti-vaccination liars (Update) (19/5/2001)
Last week I challenged the anti-vaccination liars to explain some figures in light of the continually repeated lie that there are no benefits from vaccination. I pointed out that saying that these figures are not true because they came from the CDC would just be another example of lying, so they needn't bother with that one. I also posted the challenge to a couple of newsgroups, and you can read the subsequent conversations that happened in misc.kids.health and misc.health.alternative. A couple of the participants don't believe that bacteria or viruses can cause disease!

Brain-dead spammer of the week (19/5/2001)
Last week I mentioned some fool who had been "referred to" me by "one of [my] clients" who suggested that I might need a web site. This week's fool is even better! Here's some idiot offering me a domain name. Hey, spammer – I own eight domain names, one of them being the one you addressed the spam to.

We were referred to you by a friend and understand that you may be interested in securing your very own domain name. Did you know that domain names are being registered at the rate of more than 30,000 per day? You should reserve your name domain now before someone else registers it. Do you want an email address that will suit your name, business or personal interest? If so, you need to secure your domain NOW

Speaking of the brain-dead ... (19/5/2001)
My collection of MLM spam is coming along nicely, and I should have a fine page of this stuff up next month for all of us to laugh at. Unless, of course, I decide to take up some of the offers and go into the pyramid selling business myself, in which case I will probably be retired to Monaco with all the other people who have made millions in just a few days.

Why do they lie? (26/5/2001)
Some of the claims made by "alternative medicine" practitioners are so absurd that no thinking person could believe them – that water has a memory, that you can treat disease by poking points on someone's foot (presumably with someone reading the effects from changes in the irises), that refrigerator magnets can change blood chemistry, and many more. These claims are not what I am talking about here. What continues to surprise me is the habit of saying things which can be proved to be untrue with almost no effort at all. Twice in the last week I was told something so outrageous that I just had to go and check. The first was that a book about the sweetener Stevia had been banned in the USA and had even been the subject of government-ordered book-burnings. What I found is that this book is so banned and proscribed that you have to go to secret, underground book shops like The second lie was that the head of the Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute was also the Chairman and CEO of Phillip Morris. The boss of Phillip Morris is Geoffrey Bible; the head man at Sloan Kettering is Dr Harold Varmus. In neither case did it take me more than five minutes to find the truth. These liars must think everyone is stupid.

He's back!! (26/5/2001)
After a hiatus of several months during which he left the task of harassing me up to the Gutless Anonymous Liar, Mr William P O'Neill of the Canadian Cancer Research Group has reappeared with a couple more versions of my name. He responded to a message I had sent to a newsgroup, but his response just consisted of editing my quoted signature. One of the things he changed was to alter a link to here so that it went instead to the American Chemical Society. Why he would think I have anything to do with them is a mystery, but, in a remarkable coincidence, GAL seemed to refer to that organisation this week as well. For those who may have forgotten, you can read the collected letters of Mr O'Neill in the CCRG Correspondence File.

Brain-dead spammers of the week (26/5/2001)
I don't want this to become the place where everyone goes to see more copies of the spam they have already received during the week, but sometimes the trash that comes in is just so funny. It's not that the content is funny, or the fact that clowns keep sending out unsolicited messages. What is funny is how these experts in mass marketing seem to get the target markets so badly wrong. The stuff isn't just a nuisance to the recipient – it's a waste of time to send stuff to where it will never be accepted. A classic example of this is this message sent to the Healthfraud mailing list advertising a snoring cure. If you want to sell quackery, don't pitch to the unconvertible.

SNORING-IS IT AFFECTING YOUR LIFE?

Tired of waking up at all hours?
Tired of not getting a good nights sleep?
Tired of waking up every morning to hear how you snored the night before?
Tired of sleeping in separate rooms?
Just TIRED of being TIRED?

It is not your fault, there is a solution!

SNOR-GON IS HERE ! !

SNOR-GON is a safe, natural solution to your snoring problem

* Works first time, every time
* All natural
* No side effects
* Guaranteed results

Over the last couple of weeks I have mentioned people who wanted to build a web site for me or to get me a domain name. Here's someone who wants to link to my site, but he would like me to send him the URL, just in case he's forgotten it. (As an added bonus, it was sent to an email address that is associated with no web site at all.)

Hello, I am impressed with the overall design and layout of the website where I found your email address. I would link to link to this page (if it is your website) from xxx.yyy.com . I offer various low interest credit cards with instant approvals so I do not think we will cost each other anything in lost revenue. I would be most greatful if you could link to my site as well. If you are interested, just send me your URL to ad@1acredit.net and I will post it at soon as possible.

This one is just confusing. It was sent to a group of people who all have "ratbag" as part of their domain name. Could it really be true that the handbag makers, the computer games coders, the comic strip writers, the others and I are all too fat?

THE SCALE MOVED!!!

Hello! My name is Tara Simon and I would like to share my experience as an inspiration to many who may feel there is no hope.

It's amazing how long you can avoid dealing with a problem that you simply don't want to face up to. I managed to ignore my weight problem for the better part of a decade.

My life was going from the bed to the sofa and from the sofa to the refrigerator.

Food was my escape, and the weight piled on until I hated the way I looked. At my top weight of 282 pounds, I felt worthless, with no desire or energy to respond to life. I would look at old pictures, and wonder If that thin, sexy, woman, in that short black dress was really me? (My husband proposed to me in that dress 10 years ago) I didn't even feel like that happy woman in the picture I was exhausted and so depressed.