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Comment by dhimes | Hacker News Reader

It would be nice to believe that, but from time to time they have had the ear of Congress. There were, apparently, believers among them who thought we could build 'thought shields' against missiles.

Also, they apparently funded "remote viewers" for intelligence operations.

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>they apparently funded "remote viewers" for intelligence operations.

This was done in part because it was believed that the Russians were doing this, and administrators didn't want a "remove viewing gap." But it was stopped because it was tried and didn't work. If anything the fact that the program was ended is a good sign.

The Reagan White House was advised by an astrologer. Pseudoscience is something many people are susceptible to regardless of their position.

Actually it was Nancy Reagan who employed the astrologer. Supposedly he approved travel dates for Reagan. I've always believed, though I can't prove it, that his assassination attempt so rattled his wife that the President went along with the whole astrologer recommendations to humor her.

Dowsing for bombs. Yeah, it really happened.

Interesting. Are these people so confident that they are willing to risk they lives searching for mines or did they somehow done it from a safe distance?

The Iraqi government spent $85m on bogus bomb detectors that were just dowsing rods in a fancy box. Nobody at the interior ministry bothered to do any testing, or even to take the devices apart - they contained no electronics that could possibly have detected anything. Several other governments have purchased similar devices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADE_651

I believe 'dowsing for bombs' is a reference to http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22380368. In which case the perpetrators sold the kits to governments/agencies i.e. third parties were being exposed to the bombs.

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