Word: biorhythms
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...researchers investigated the claim of biorhythm supporters that a disproportionate number of accidents and disasters-perhaps 40% to 80%-occur on "critical" days that represent only 20% of a person's life. In fact, says the Hopkins team, of 205 serious or fatal highway accidents in Maryland in which the driver was legally culpable, only 20% occurred on critical days-just the proportion the scientists expected. Says Andrew Ahlgren, a University of Minnesota researcher who studies body rhythms: "I'm surprised the Hopkins team would even bother. Biorhythm theory is a silly numerological scheme that contradicts everything...
...biorhythm craze grew from the mystic speculations of Wilhelm Fliess, a colorful Berlin doctor who was Sigmund Freud's closest friend for more than a decade. A nose and throat specialist, Fliess is best known for his belief that the nose is responsible for many neurotic and sexual ailments, which are curable by applying cocaine to what he called the "genital spots" of the nasal membrane. Fliess published books and essays of impenetrable mathematics, all revolving around his mystic numbers, 23 (representing the masculine or physical principle) and 28 (representing the feminine, emotional principle and presumably based...
Such shaky origins apparently do not bother true believers. Actress Julie Newmar is convinced. Jackie Gleason checks his charts before an important engagement, and Gil Brandt, vice president of the Super Bowl-champion Dallas Cowboys, is also convinced that biorhythm "has a lot of validity." There are a growing number of adherents on N.F.L. teams. Minnesota Vikings Player Jim Marshall was intrigued when someone pointed out that his classic wrong-way run for a touchdown in 1964 came on a triple...
...charts to interested employees and gives drivers a day off during triple-criticals. An Exxon chemical plant at Baytown, Texas, sends out safety reminders to its 900 employees on triple-critical days. Says a spokesman: "Frankly, I don't know if there's any truth to the biorhythm theory, but we think the program will promote safety awareness." Biorhythm proponents say that hundreds of companies use the charts, but an investigation by National Safety News found that the claim "appears to be widely exaggerated...
...same proponents are pushing airlines to use biorhythm, on the grounds that many air crashes occur because of heavy pressure on crew members on their critical days. Indeed, United Airlines tried biorhythm for a year at a San Francisco maintenance facility, but then dropped it. Bernard Gittelson, a former p.r. man who is now the head of Biorhythm Computers Inc., believes the airlines will soon convert to the cause. Says he: "We are only five years from advertising tag lines like 'Our pilots never fly on critical days...