Post B1itvIaA8bGSKZqMVM by futurebird@sauropods.win
(DIR) More posts by futurebird@sauropods.win
(DIR) Post #B1itm2F3WPJv2tYOum by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-12-28T23:57:19Z
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Are there still people who think dowsing works? It used to be rampant in the UK and US... and lingered on for longer than you'd think (there are two Time Team episodes where they gently debunk it, rather than either ignore or body slam it as I'd expect.)But I also know it was big in the US.Are people still creeping around claiming they can find things with bendy sticks?
(DIR) Post #B1itvIaA8bGSKZqMVM by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-12-28T23:58:54Z
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@josh0 ohok. :(
(DIR) Post #B1iu3o371oYWEyRQIK by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-12-29T00:00:29Z
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@josh0 I don't know what I expected. Nonsense never dies I guess. IDK why dowsing in particular makes me angry. I will listen to someone tell me about how they saw bigfoot with far more patience. (Won't believe it, but I'll be nice about it. )
(DIR) Post #B1iu5uCr6hapuq02Wu by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-12-29T00:00:50Z
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@allrite "The West"
(DIR) Post #B1iuFt4mAFvfJ1ypNI by davep@infosec.exchange
2025-12-29T00:02:41Z
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@futurebird Here in France, yes. There's a weird bunch of eco people who are also convinced COVID was a scam etc. I stopped using an heirloom seed supplier called l'Association Kokopelli for that sort of reason.
(DIR) Post #B1iuGeTBxIO0IMlUSO by silvermoon82@wandering.shop
2025-12-29T00:02:44Z
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@futurebird I grew up seeing people consistently witch for water before drilling wells. My grandfather did it for family, but eg. well drilling crews would call in their own guy if the customer didn't have somebody. So that would have been 90s even into around 2001 when my parents built their house.
(DIR) Post #B1iuOxxpMPtb4W3jCy by FeloniousPunk@beige.party
2025-12-29T00:04:18Z
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@futurebird I hesitate to answer this but, yes. I was once shown how it was done and still have the rods. I’ve never done a double-blind study or anything but, has worked a couple times for me. My science brain KNOWS it’s absolute bullshit but, I have seen and felt it work. Nutty, I know. I fully admit that.
(DIR) Post #B1iufBX0gWBxmfFW4m by clew@ecoevo.social
2025-12-29T00:07:12Z
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I have watched a well driller do it. Reasonably successfully. I think locals have sometimes developed heuristics that work locally. WOuld like to see dowsing competitions in vadose regimes that are new for everyone involved. (Throw in whatever formal hydrologists would like to try! Underground is hard.) @futurebird
(DIR) Post #B1iulXswUFqMqmXaxk by sinvega@mas.to
2025-12-29T00:08:24Z
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@futurebird there was a minor controversy about it in the uk a few years ago. Some water companies (who are notoriously corrupt parasites) had policies that let staff dick around with "dowsing" if they wanted to. I believe some changed their policies when some mildly famous person challenged it, on the grounds that it is bloody embarrassing
(DIR) Post #B1iv7EyRTmQ0ZKSTlg by gdinwiddie@mastodon.social
2025-12-29T00:12:19Z
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@futurebird @josh0 BF Skinner's research showed that intermittent random positive reinforcement produces the most persistent behaviors. If you get positive results every now and then, people (and mice) attribute it to what they did and will continue doing the same. That's what make superstitions so durable.
(DIR) Post #B1ivTmYDK06b4owGye by chiasm@mastodon.online
2025-12-29T00:16:24Z
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@futurebird I mean. flat earthers. Need we say more? If those are still active...
(DIR) Post #B1ivVSJFY7vksWjn5k by TerryHancock@realsocial.life
2025-12-29T00:16:40Z
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@futurebirdI don't know about now, but it was very much still alive in the 1980s, I can attest.
(DIR) Post #B1ivwqKiL21XCmTw7E by nix@social.coop
2025-12-29T00:21:36Z
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@futurebird I'm quite confident that I can find dogs with bendy sticks, given enough time. Does that count as dog dowsing?
(DIR) Post #B1ix4aCOJCbxR7qLSq by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-12-29T00:34:17Z
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@FediThing OMGI read about this. I remember reading about it *now* but I was so annoyed and upset about it that I blotted it out of my memory.
(DIR) Post #B1ix76i0POamqLpnOq by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-12-29T00:34:40Z
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@FediThing "tactical black" dowsing rods. I'm so mad.
(DIR) Post #B1ixZlNulnNr6d6LIG by thestrangelet@beige.party
2025-12-29T00:39:53Z
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@futurebird Can they help me find my keys?
(DIR) Post #B1ixbHVGq57Z0fGXoG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-12-29T00:40:12Z
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@nazokiyoubinbou @FediThing I think this was the thing that made me a dowsing hater. I forgot about the event but the hate remained. Charging people MONEY to feel safe from bombs over this BS. Throw them all in a pit.
(DIR) Post #B1ixmSrYwdilQU1dGi by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-12-29T00:42:11Z
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@thestrangelet I have a magic ritual to find a lost object.1. Carefully draw the lost object, every detail, think about it carefully and render it as best you can on paper.2. Hang up the paper with the words "has anyone seen this? I can't find it."3. You will soon find the object. (And it may not be because someone finds it for you. You will be better primed to spot it by doing the drawing exercise.)magic!
(DIR) Post #B1ixy9FhgNDg50t8Pg by btuftin@social.coop
2025-12-29T00:44:16Z
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@futurebird For sure is. Before I left Facebook last year I came across a new variant in the form of American genealogists who think they can dowse for unmarked graves on old family farm plots and tell the gender of the buried person.Someone shared this amazing 'manual' that's such a recipe for how to do confirmation bias it's baffling to me the proponents don't see it themselves. http://www.jayhistoricalsociety.org/pioneerstories/Dowsing_for_Unmarked_Graves_by_Linda_Faye_Nelson.pdf
(DIR) Post #B1ixzkcqDPYGHRTViq by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-12-29T00:44:37Z
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@thestrangelet I'm not just being annoying and making fun of spells. This works and it FEELS like magic. Whenever I can't find something at school I start drawing it. Then I find it a moment later.
(DIR) Post #B1iyAyaQeHAmlVhPai by impermanen_@zirk.us
2025-12-29T00:46:36Z
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@futurebird as far as I can tell everybody does it before drilling a well here. The debate is over: it’s considered common knowledge that dowsing works and you’re foolish not to hire one, even though no one can offer any scientific basis. Note, dowsers don’t just claim to find the spot to drill, they claim to measure the depth that will be required (which is pretty hyperlocally specific) and the gallons per minute (likewise). I assume it’s a scam but I don’t know how they pull it off.
(DIR) Post #B1iyFyr94ck137u8ga by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-12-29T00:47:33Z
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@impermanen_ Is "dowsing" just a way of not teaching everyone how to do the thing you make money doing for themselves?
(DIR) Post #B1iz7Dz5YfUXJg0arQ by peachfront@toot.community
2025-12-29T00:57:05Z
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@futurebird @thestrangelet that sounds like too much work, so far (knock on wood) St Anthony has always come through for me in finding lost objects...
(DIR) Post #B1j0xhwhVV5ZFjTuaW by Moss@beige.party
2025-12-29T01:17:49Z
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@futurebird @impermanen_ If we assume that it has no scientific basis, *and* we allow that it works too often to be dismissed as placebo or coincidence, then presumably there is some inner sensitivity the dowser has that cannot be easily taught.
(DIR) Post #B1j0zwY2Bgwv7U0fwG by impermanen_@zirk.us
2025-12-29T01:18:15Z
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@futurebird my impression is that dowsers fall into two categories: the first I’d describe as New Age. They’re are very happy to teach you to dowse… for anything: lost items, best route to take for your trip to Sedona, what minerals your body needs, oh and where to dig your well. 1/2
(DIR) Post #B1j104nZVo8ChzLCGe by impermanen_@zirk.us
2025-12-29T01:18:16Z
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Then there are the pros who don’t go in for all that and just want to be recognized as a craftsman who helps you figure out where and how to dig a well, the rig you’ll need, etc. They claim to give you all these metrics before the drillers even show up and they make a living doing this. You will find out if their predictions were correct. I haven’t used one, but have talked to drill rig operators who say they’re usually accurate. 🤷🏼♂️ Don’t know if they teach, but guessing not freely. 2/2
(DIR) Post #B1j1hUvoE6GAD5tmqm by timtfj@mastodon.social
2025-12-29T01:26:06Z
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@futurebird @thestrangelet Do you think there's also an element of beginning to retrieve the memory of how and where you lost it? (I'm thinking that drawing the object entails remembering the object, which might include remembering it in its recent context.)
(DIR) Post #B1j2lTyPpW94Lra8O0 by Dervishpi@mastodon.social
2025-12-29T01:38:02Z
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@futurebird I've seen people doing it, and claiming good results. Not since 2002, however (when I left to work in another country).
(DIR) Post #B1j48P9S1YLM0kEn3I by Puck@sfba.social
2025-12-29T01:53:23Z
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@futurebird I had a guy teach me how to use devining rods years ago, I still have the pair he gave me. I don't believe in it, but like magic tricks, it's interesting.
(DIR) Post #B1j5kx5mNhXYEcSspE by barrygoldman1@sauropods.win
2025-12-29T02:11:34Z
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@futurebird ptrobly... i still watch people with elaborate schemes they think will choose winning lottery tickets. is human
(DIR) Post #B1j74eWVEJS0OEvFB2 by temporal_spider@masto.ai
2025-12-29T02:26:16Z
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@futurebird @thestrangelet let's all draw pictures of peace, kindness, justice, and food for everyone. We'll hang them up everywhere, and like magic, we'll find these things.
(DIR) Post #B1j8htg6uxosdkh37Q by donlamb_1@mastodon.online
2025-12-29T02:44:35Z
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@futurebird long story short. I saw a guy doing it one day to mark water lines. Thought it must be complete BS. He let me hold the rods and it worked for me. I was blown away.
(DIR) Post #B1jCYh2gvZkof47dGS by gay_ornithischians@sauropods.win
2025-12-29T03:27:21Z
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@futurebird Oh yeah? Why the ANTennae of Ants look like dowsing rods thenCoincidence?
(DIR) Post #B1jJ22TeuZMvGP71QO by RogerBW@discordian.social
2025-12-29T04:40:16Z
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@futurebird @josh0 Homoeopathy irks me more because refusing medical treatment kills people. Dowsing may encourage you to believe untrue things, but it's not that.
(DIR) Post #B1jLJFAZAxAFSUVtfE by pumiquxt@sfba.social
2025-12-29T05:05:49Z
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@futurebird my local water utility uses dowsing to map water lines under streets. i saw a guy doing it and asked about it. he wears special rubber booties and scuffs his feet (creating a static charge), while holding a thin metal rod in one hand, pointed down. in the other hand is a can of spray paint. he spent 20 minutes making elaborate marks on the street, in preparation for planned road workhe was quite casual in his explaining
(DIR) Post #B1jNfTyL1HpreDWev2 by JaykeBird@social.vivaldi.net
2025-12-29T05:32:13Z
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I had some family members claim to be able to do it if they "find the right stick". So yeah, thus far I haven't really seen them actually accomplish anything through it. Also to be honest, I'm not even sure what you're supposed to find through dowsing? Wasn't it like underground water or something?
(DIR) Post #B1jpj26bMoDV5ys9PU by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-12-29T10:46:38Z
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@donlamb_1 OK but I get "blown away" when I do my magic spell to find things even though I know exactly how it works. https://sauropods.win/@futurebird/115800075890252352
(DIR) Post #B1jvgfQ9KvjXszGr3Y by ehproque@neopaquita.es
2025-12-29T11:53:26Z
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@futurebird i recently got a "science" book from the library that had a lot of explanations to how it "might" work, and none for how maybe it doesn't.
(DIR) Post #B1jxpFDGLVbb7OSdBw by gbargoud@masto.nyc
2025-12-29T12:17:21Z
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@futurebird @thestrangelet This sounds a lot like my debugging ritual:1. Carefully write up the issue, everything you have tried and every detail2. Post it on an appropriate forum with "can someone help me with this? I'm out of ideas"3. Seconds you click on the post button, like half the time, the answer will come to you and you can post a reply of "nevermind, figured it out" to the inevitable frustration of everyone who comes across the post in the future.