Lunar Therapy

[Kelfazin]

article

Could moonlight be the key to a healthier happier life?
A group called Interstellar Light Applications is so serious about finding out, it's constructed a giant wall of mirrors, called the Interstellar Light Collector, to focus the light from the full moon on people standing about 100 feet away.

...After the death of a good friend to cancer and inspired by the hope of finding a cure, Richard Chapin, a lifelong science buff who attended the University of Arizona, and his wife, Monica, decided to build the ILA collector in the desert west of Tucson. It opened in May 2006.

This actually made the news last night, and not as a quick 30 second report, but a full segment with video and interviews (video available on the linked page too, so you can see the mirrors and the people standing in the moonlight). It irritates the heck out of me that they put this kind of stuff on the news. I annoyed my girldfriend because I kept yelling at the TV "It's just sunlight! Why don't you put a piece of white paper in the sun and stand in it's reflection, it will be just as effective at curing your cancer!"

[TheOncomingStorm]

Interstellar Light Collector
It is called a telescope, so why do not astronomers live forever.

[TheOncomingStorm]

It irritates the heck out of me that they put this kind of stuff on the news.
newscasters appealing to the lowest common denominator.

[Kelfazin]

Interstellar Light Collector
It is called a telescope, so why do not astronomers live forever.

Good point

I'm not sure why they even call it "interstellar" when it's only made to collect moon light.... *sigh*

[Kelfazin]

It irritates the heck out of me that they put this kind of stuff on the news.
newscasters appealing to the lowest common denominator.

And possibly convincing somebody that they should go hang out in the desert at night instead of seeing their doctor about the cancer growing in their lungs. It's extremely irresponsbile, especially because the article states the guy who built the mirror is a "lifelong science buff who attended the University of Arizona". It makes it sound like the whole thing scientifically proven to work.

[Swift]

Interstellar Light Collector
It is called a telescope, so why do not astronomers live forever.

Well, maybe that's why vampires and werewolves live forever!

[Neverfly]

Im confused.

Is he claiming moonbeams provide magical pixie cures for ailments? Including cancer?

Does the fact that peole are exposed to sunlight too skew the figures?

I agree. I can't believe this was on the news. That's like reporting that a man in Kentucky installed a radio wave transmitter in his outhouse because the frequency of the waves eliminated the powerful oders eminating from the black hole.

[TheOncomingStorm]

And possibly convincing somebody that they should go hang out in the desert at night instead of seeing their doctor about the cancer growing in their lungs. It's extremely irresponsbile, especially because the article states the guy who built the mirror is a "lifelong science buff who attended the University of Arizona". It makes it sound like the whole thing scientifically proven to work.

Newscasters probably do not if it is really scientific or not they just want ratings. To bad broadcasters that show all the faith healers, collodial silver pushers, q-ray bracelets could be sued like doctors if their products/treatments failed.

[Kelfazin]

Im confused.

Is he claiming moonbeams provide magical pixie cures for ailments? Including cancer?

Does the fact that peole are exposed to sunlight too skew the figures?

I agree. I can't believe this was on the news. That's like reporting that a man in Kentucky installed a radio wave transmitter in his outhouse because the frequency of the waves eliminated the powerful oders eminating from the black hole.

They actually showed an interview with one lady who says the exposure has started making her cancer "die from the inside" or something (there is a video link to her interview on the article). I didn't listen very close last night because it was ticking me off heh.

[Kelfazin]

Newscasters probably do not if it is really scientific or not they just want ratings. To bad broadcasters that show all the faith healers, collodial silver pushers, q-ray bracelets could be sued like doctors if their products/treatments failed.

i agree that the newscasters were likely just reading the words given to them. Whoever produced that segment should be fired though.

[Neverfly]

They actually showed an interview with one lady who says the exposure has started making her cancer "die from the inside" or something (there is a video link to her interview on the article). I didn't listen very close last night because it was ticking me off heh.

Finally! Proof that we are supposed to be NOCTURNAL.


I feel so vindicated!

[Kelfazin]

Finally! Proof that we are supposed to be NOCTURNAL.


I feel so vindicated!

[Swift]

From the linked article in the first post

According to the ILA website, light cast by the moon is 500,000 times less bright than the sun. Reflected from the sun, it presents a distinctive spectrum composed of more reds and yellows, and possesses a different frequency than sunlight. This specific light spectrum has never been artificially duplicated. ILA is trying to prove those differences can impact medical, agricultural and industrial fields.

Here is the ILA website.

Anyone know if any of this is true? I kind of doubt the bit about more reds and yellows, it actually seems the opposite. Anyone have data?

[crosscountry]

darwinism. let them believe that, and the human race will become smarter.



I guess that is if people got sick before reproducing.

[KaiYeves]

Well, maybe that's why vampires and werewolves live forever!

Werewolves do not live forever, according to the legends, they age just like anybody else, but their children may also carry the curse.
Also according to the legends, vampires do not need moonlight.

[Neverfly]

Werewolves do not live forever, according to the legends, they age just like anybody else, but their children may also carry the curse.
Also according to the legends, vampires do not need moonlight.

They don't need moonlight but are limited to moonlight.

[Fazor]

From the quote in the OP

...After the death of a good friend to cancer and inspired by the hope of finding a cure, Richard Chapin, a lifelong science buff who attended the University of Arizona

Don't you all just love when that fun little word, "science", gets thrown arround all willy-nilly?
Oh, by the way, I've recently discovered that fresh summer dew has undocumentable but undenyable health benefits, including cures for aging, obesity, and foot odor. Unfortunately, it's gotten too cold 'round here, and the mornings greet me with frost rather than dew. But come spring, I'll be bottling the stuff for the low low price of $199.95/oz.! Visit my website at http://www.IfYouBeliveThisThenIAmRich.com/Quackery.asp

[Noclevername]

Why do they put all the other useless dreck that makes up 90% of the broadcast on the "news"? To fill up what would otherwise be dead air time. Gotta keep the eyes glued to the set, it's how they make their money.

Just more of the usual loaves and chariot races to distract the masses. See also ProleFeed.

[Kelfazin]

From the linked article in the first post

Here is the ILA website.

Anyone know if any of this is true? I kind of doubt the bit about more reds and yellows, it actually seems the opposite. Anyone have data?

The wiki article on moonlight says the full moon "typically provides only a faint illumination of about 0.2 lx, so the full moon is about 500,000 times fainter than the sun"

NASA says

Moonlight...is no more exotic than sunlight reflected from the dusty surface of the moon. The only difference is intensity: Moonlight is about 400,000 times fainter than direct sunlight.

And then this website has a picture of the spectrum of moonlight itself (about 3/4 of the way down) and states

As moonlight is nothing but reflected sunlight, the spectrum looks the same as a solar spectrum (1). It is continuous with dark absort lines, i.e. the Fraunhofer lines (some of them are marked).

So yes, moonlight is fainter, but the spectrum is the same. It's like standing outside on an overcast day...and with the exact same "healing" properties.

[Kelfazin]

Why do they put all the other useless dreck that makes up 90% of the broadcast on the "news"? To fill up what would otherwise be dead air time. Gotta keep the eyes glued to the set, it's how they make their money.

Just more of the usual loaves and chariot races to distract the masses. See also ProleFeed.

At least most of the dreck is harmless physically. But if somebody that was not very well educated in science saw this story, thinking that it was scientifically proven, they might not go to a doctor when they feel that weird lump in their chest. After all, doctors cost money, using this mirror is free.

[Noclevername]

At least most of the dreck is harmless physically. But if somebody that was not very well educated in science saw this story, thinking that it was scientifically proven, they might not go to a doctor when they feel that weird lump in their chest. After all, doctors cost money, using this mirror is free.

Considering some of the health and medical science articles and segments I've seen, this one's in good bad company. How many people have refused needed care or medicine, or failed to go to a doctor, because they panic over some scaremongering report about malpractice or bad drugs?

[Neverfly]

Yeah, people are afraid to go to the doctor. For many reasons.

But unless you have been chewed, bitten or gnawed on in the last couple months, not many people are afraid of moonlight.

[Jeff Root]

I didn't follow the link, but before I finished reading the second
sentence of the quote in the original post, I was wondering what
happens in the daytime????

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[crosscountry]

right, when the moon is out

[Maksutov]

...After the death of a good friend to cancer and inspired by the hope of finding a cure, Richard Chapin, a lifelong science buff who attended the University of Arizona

Given all the tie-ins to werewolves and vampires, one has to wonder if the guy isn't actually a lifelong science Buffy.

Of course a little buff here and there has been known to do wonders when figuring a mirror...

On the flip side, I like it best when the Moon is below the horizon so I can experience the full healing effects of light from Jupiter. Wonderful stuff psychologically, turns a grump into a jovial person.

Finally, one could be accepted at the U of A, go to classes for one day, get kicked out by the Dean, and nevertheless legitimately say that one "attended the University of Arizona".

[mfumbesi]

Finally, one could be accepted at the U of A, go to classes for one day, get kicked out by the Dean, and nevertheless legitimately say that one "attended the University of Arizona".

In that case I've been to 6 Highly Rated and Internationally recognized Universities.
After years of research I've found that standing under the glow of the Pleiades will cure impotence, I take cheques and all major credit cards.

[Casus_belli]

From the quote in the OP

Don't you all just love when that fun little word, "science", gets thrown arround all willy-nilly?
Oh, by the way, I've recently discovered that fresh summer dew has undocumentable but undenyable health benefits, including cures for aging, obesity, and foot odor. Unfortunately, it's gotten too cold 'round here, and the mornings greet me with frost rather than dew. But come spring, I'll be bottling the stuff for the low low price of $199.95/oz.! Visit my website at http://www.IfYouBeliveThisThenIAmRich.com/Quackery.asp

I'd buy some but thats a dead link.

[Swift]

YOU FOOLS!!!!!! 100% of all dead people have been exposed to DEADLY sunlight at some point in their lives. Moonlight, being reflected sunlight is just as toxic, but since it is weaker, the Effects of the Toxicity are slower to develop. The ONLY safe thing is to NEVER be exposed to DEADLY SUNlight!!!!!!!!!!!!

PROOF SUNLIGHT IS KILLING YOU!!!!

[KaiYeves]

What is it exactly about sunlight that kills vampires? Obviously not neutrinos...

[Kelfazin]

What is it exactly about sunlight that kills vampires? Obviously not neutrinos...

A severe allergic reaction