Doug Miller wrote:
In article , Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,
(Doug Miller) wrote:
In article , Steve Barker
wrote:
my father in law certainly did NOT know where the 1" iron line a quarter
mile long from the spring up ontop the hill was when he had that old man
come out and 'witch' it for him. dug down to the line the first time.
There are multiple plausible explanations for that:
a) the old man who 'witched' the line is the same guy that *installed* the
line forty years before
b) dumb luck
c) get anywhere close and dig a big enough hole, and you're bound to hit it
d) somebody's lying
Or my own supposition on that story,
e) looking at the contours of the hill and other geographic clues, the
guy chose the most logical route for a water line, correctly assuming
that the installer had done the same.
And may not even have been consciously aware of having done so, either.
So now we have five eminently plausible explanations, vs. one completely
implausible one. The true believers will, of course, insist that the latter is
the correct one.
I particularly like E (combined with ideomotor) and C.
I would add, to twist a phrase, "when I am right no one forgets, when I
am wrong no one remembers."
And to use another cliche, "the proof is in the pudding." If dowsing
worked someone by now would be a millionaire.
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A commercial company sold a product that was a little larger than a pack
of cigarettes with a rotating rod. It had interchangeable modules, and
different modules could detect (rod would swing) marijuana, cocaine,
..... Police departments, schools, and other bought and used the
detectors and said they *worked*. Finally someone tested them with a
blind test - on one of the tv 'news magazine' programs. They didn't work
and were a scam.
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bud--