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Acupuncture is not just for people. It's also for cities

ap.google.com — Adam Kuby has stuck a 23-foot needle into the ground down by the Willamette River and hopes to plant more, choosing locations where he figures the city's "chi," or vital energy, needs some help. An artist who arrived from New York four years ago, Kuby says the acupuncture project is an attempt to get people to see the city in a holistic way.

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  • toddy5k, on 05/06/2008, -2/+64Wouldn't it be easier to heal the cities by sticking these needles into a few choice douchebags?
    • yuanzhoulu, on 05/06/2008, -9/+1honest question, what's the difference between a douchebag and a douche, and which one is worse? i always thought the douche was worse because a douchebag is presumably just a bag that you could fit a douche in, which isn't all that bad compared to the douche itself.
      • dynelol, on 05/06/2008, -5/+4Well, if i had to get reincarnated into something inanimate, becoming a rush of fluids for a vagina surely couldn't be the worst thing.
      • dynelol, on 05/06/2008, -4/+1The bigger question is why it hasn't gotten popular to call people enemas or enema tubes. Don't the rest of you guys consider enemas to be more disgusting?
    • MadHarvey, on 05/06/2008, -1/+3B...Batman? Is it you?
    • spikedtuba, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2And by needle you mean.. Pole.. because that is what a 23 foot stick in the ground is called
  • controltheweb, on 05/06/2008, -1/+20Google Earth is another attempt to get people to see the city in a holistic way. (He should put a giant red balloon with a huge letter on it on the upper end of those needles.)
  • zad1, on 05/06/2008, -9/+8As needles stuck on a certain points on a body can have negative effect, so does the giant needles in the city. Japanese occupiers used to stick some needles in Korean penninsula to block the energy flow in the country.
    • doctechnical, on 05/06/2008, -3/+12This would be fascinating, if it weren't for the fact that acupuncture is *****. There's no difference between an acupuncturist putting needles in someone, or an untrained person just sticking them in randomly.
      • t1m0j5, on 05/06/2008, -5/+1proof? or would you prefer pills? thats right you like all the side effects, anal leakage must run in your family.
        • variant5, on 05/06/2008, -0/+5Archives of Internal Medicine, Sept 2007
          http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/ ...

          "...ten 30-minute sessions, generally 2 sessions per week, of verum acupuncture (n = 387) according to principles of traditional Chinese medicine; sham acupuncture (n = 387) consisting of superficial needling at nonacupuncture points; or conventional therapy..."

          "At 6 months, response rate was 47.6% in the verum acupuncture group, 44.2% in the sham acupuncture group..."
    • sodoh, on 05/06/2008, -1/+8I am not sure why you are getting buried, you are in fact correct.

      The Japanese did in fact do this during the occupation of Korea. Sometime after the Japanese left as part of mending relationships with Korea the Japanese actually listed all the locations they did this and helped remove the needles.

      It even got a mention on the US show Ripleys believe it or not.
  • insomniac8400, on 05/06/2008, -18/+7What a fag.
  • BruisedGhost, on 05/06/2008, -4/+37oh yeah that will work real well I'm sure, and after that we are going to give the city a seaweed facial and a bikini wax. Then Godzilla is going to come and rearrange all of the buildings to make the city more feng shui
  • sgiffy, on 05/06/2008, -5/+30Daily dose of stupidity: Check!
    • dynelol, on 05/06/2008, -2/+9Yeah this is god damn ridiculous
    • jtbandes, on 05/06/2008, -4/+2It's not stupid... it's Portland! I like it here.
  • JoshuaLowe, on 05/06/2008, -2/+13This is how it all started in Pompeii.
    • rationalist, on 05/06/2008, -0/+3A giant needle punctured the volcano?
  • dreesemonkey, on 05/06/2008, -7/+8Freaking artists.
  • TigerFist, on 05/06/2008, -0/+3http://sacredsites.com/americas/united_states/inde ...
  • BeforeSputnik, on 05/06/2008, -2/+10"The praises don't stop. Swing a cat and hit 10."
    What the hell does that mean?!
    • Ellipson, on 05/06/2008, -2/+3After considering this mind-numbingly stupid sentence for a while, I think he means something like, "Swing a cat like a baseball bat and hit ten more cats with him for fun and amusement."

      I think.
    • imnojezus, on 05/06/2008, -1/+2It means you think a guy sticking needles in the ground is a news worthy story.
    • york2600, on 05/06/2008, -1/+2He means it's easy to get a place to live in Portland with a pet unlike many cities in the US. Pay a pet fee and a pet deposit and you can live wherever you want. That just isn't possible in a lot of cities.
    • BeforeSputnik, on 05/08/2008, -0/+1I just checked it myself (thanks for the help Digg, geez) apparently "swinging a cat" (usually dead) and hitting something references the abundance of the thing you hit. So the phrase "Swing a cat and hit 10" apparently means that there are a lot of cats in Portland.
  • BeforeSputnik, on 05/06/2008, -1/+7I kind of enjoyed the article. A good travel-brochure-type ad for the city of Portland, which I suddenly have the urge to visit. Naked people running around, guys trying to pump beer through a fountain, toy bike races down a big hill, it'd be like college all over again!
    • publiclurker, on 05/06/2008, -1/+4Except around here, not all of those naked bodies are as fit as you remember in college.
      • stonebear, on 05/06/2008, -1/+4It's not supposed to be erotic. It's about liberation; the freedom to be who you really are, regardless of what other people think of it.
        • Monk22, on 05/06/2008, -1/+1but your still fat and gross
        • publiclurker, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1Truest me, in my case, it's certainly not erotic, just concern for my fellow man.
    • plytheman, on 05/06/2008, -1/+3Dugg for mentioning Zoo Bombers. I'm almost as far from Portland as you can get (masshole) but I just started getting into the whole freak bike scene and these guys are pretty nuts. http://www.zoobomb.net/video-index.html for a little video taste of their insanity.

      Now I just need to learn to weld so I can start hacking together some mutant bikes of my own...
  • omnithought, on 05/06/2008, -3/+18Oh my god! That guy stuck a stick in the ground! My life has changed! I BELIEVE!!!
  • PhildoVT, on 05/06/2008, -4/+19***** hippies
    • york2600, on 05/06/2008, -2/+4Everything has to be the hippies right? Just can't be people having a little fun
  • tekproxy, on 05/06/2008, -2/+9Well if he needs a giant needle I guess this energy should be large enough for us to quantify in some way... Oh wait! We can't. Just another crazy.
    Portland sounds like a pretty hip city, except for the fact it seems filled with credulity and ignorance. They need a massive dose of reality, just make sure the public sex is protected as free speech.
    • Slackdragon, on 05/06/2008, -1/+2Hey, as long as my right to kill dolphins with my bare hands to eat their delicious pancreases is protected as free speech is protected, I'm gold.
      • rationalist, on 05/06/2008, -0/+4The Department of Redundancy Department thanks you for your comment.
    • Enlefo, on 05/06/2008, -1/+2Portland is pretty hip, and pretty educated. Have you even been here? You should, we won't give you ***** for making ignorant statements.... well, maybe just a little.
  • cmuwriter, on 05/06/2008, -1/+2Dugg for the beer fountain idea.
  • KnightWhoSaysNi, on 05/06/2008, -2/+2No pic. No Digg.
    • monkeymagnus, on 05/06/2008, -1/+3http://www.adamkuby.com/Acupuncture.html
      • travis6690, on 05/06/2008, -1/+1Why the ***** are you getting dugg down?
      • Slackdragon, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1How come the acupuncture pole (too big to call ito call it a needle) needs a "grip" at the end? Is anyone really going to insert or remove it by the giant, comfy grip at the end? I don't think so.
        • mcphatty, on 05/06/2008, -0/+4its art.. best not to question its stupidity.
          • Slackdragon, on 05/07/2008, -0/+1See, that's what I miss about the 14th century renaissance. Art meant something. Architecture had purpose. Now with this retrograde bohemian crap... "Artist" means you're like James Bond. Agent .007 with a license to be retarded.

            Just because no one "gets it" doesn't mean it's deep.

            Could you imagine pitting the artists and artisans of 14th century Venice, Italy up against the artists and artisans of 2008 Portland, Oregon? "I've got a giant rubber-tipped pole! What have you wops got?!"
  • Premier, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1How come when you click on the thumbnail you get a bigger thumbnail
  • snautz, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1obvious cities need trees, not needles to perform equivalent function :)
    • GlassAgate, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1More trees, more bikers, less gas hogs...

      We need to overhaul our cities.
      We need much more efficient cities.
  • jbmcb, on 05/06/2008, -1/+12Next we'll be jamming huge magnets underneath crumbling bridges to speed the "healing."
    • doctechnical, on 05/06/2008, -0/+3And improve the milage of the cars travelling on the bridge. Brilliant!
  • belebih, on 05/06/2008, -4/+15What kind of pseudo-scientific ***** are they gonna use next? Running homeopathic medicines through the sewers? Giving the city colon cleansings? To quote George Carlin, “People are ***** goofy!”
    • radiopayola, on 05/06/2008, -3/+3First of all, this is art. No scientific claims or even the slightest insinuation of science... Second, acupuncture is hardly considered a pseudoscience.
      • 7fields, on 05/06/2008, -2/+6Acupuncture defines pseudoscience.
        • t1m0j5, on 05/06/2008, -1/+2so several thousand years of practice makes it nothing?
        • Valmorian, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2"so several thousand years of practice makes it nothing?"

          Being old and popular doesn't make it true. For how many thousands of years do you think people were casting out evil spirits that cause disease?
      • rictek, on 05/06/2008, -2/+1Acupuncture is recognized by the CDC and the WHO as an effective treatment for several conditions. Just because we don't understand the scientific basis behind something doesn't mean it can't be effective.
        • Valmorian, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2"Acupuncture is recognized by the CDC and the WHO as an effective treatment for several conditions."

          Any citations for this claim? Which conditions? I
          • KingMoses, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1Fatness of the wallet. Acupuncture is an excellent treatment.
    • amoirae, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1Minnie is ***** Goofy. Everyone knows that!
  • AhaChi, on 05/06/2008, -6/+4It's amazing, when people know little or nothing of a subject they tend to pooh-pooh it, sneer or downright deny any possibilities that are seen by those who know more than they happen to know. Same old prophet-artist story - off with their heads! Grow up and learn more about our seamless universe!

    • Digger1218, on 05/06/2008, -1/+14I don't mind that the guy wants to stick giant needles in the ground, but I think its ***** stupid.
  • corneliusJones, on 05/06/2008, -1/+1pics or it didn't happen
  • APac, on 05/06/2008, -2/+3its called AERATION, or in this case, a dumbass form of light greenwashing/people accepting *****. well done
  • NucleaRR, on 05/06/2008, -1/+3Was it me or did the article start down one path, then turn right, then stopped, then went 180°, thru the rabbit hole....
    • pattywack, on 05/06/2008, -0/+0not just you, I noticed that too... strange.
  • BXRWXR, on 05/06/2008, -1/+1Nutjobs, sheesh.
  • BOFH2, on 05/06/2008, -2/+6how much are the taxpayers paying for this?
  • akkibaba, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2If the guy is paying for it thought donations from stupid people, I have no problem with this garbage. If he's getting city money in any form, that's not cool at all.
  • Klainmeister, on 05/06/2008, -4/+7Man, i don't understand all the bashing going on here. An artist is making a project in a city that is more than welcoming to this type of expression. I'm from Oregon, and Portland specifically and we love our quirkiness. I think it's more of an artist project than an actual 'healing'.

    Jee whiz, support a little culture and stop being so grouchy.
    • APac, on 05/06/2008, -5/+1yea we need more culture, because usa's education system, poverty level, and homeless rate is ideal lol
    • belebih, on 05/06/2008, -4/+3I'm so sick of people calling random, pointless crap art. Sticking giant needles into the ground to help the city's "chi" is not culture and it's not art. It's just ***** stupid.
      • rationalist, on 05/06/2008, -3/+3I'm so sick of people assuming they are the arbiters of what is or is not art for everyone else - particularly when they tend to be the same people who rant about "freedom".
        • belebih, on 05/06/2008, -3/+1What I consider art is work that requires skill/talent and creativity. Sticking giant needles into the ground fails at both in my opinion. But hey, yeah I rant about freedom, because I totally support your right to have ***** taste as well as my right to point that out.
    • Klainmeister, on 05/06/2008, -2/+6I don't even understand what that first reply is trying to say. These are privately funded projects and add something to the scenery that is unusual and strange. I'm surprised there are such rude and disgruntled people on digg right now. This is the same type of nay-saying that the Eiffel tower received....
      • APac, on 05/06/2008, -3/+4I am saying, charity for social problems > ***** art

        24/7/365
    • Enlefo, on 05/06/2008, -1/+2Well said. There seriously is a lot of angry comments on this thread. Obviously these people aren't from Portland or they'd chill the ***** out and stop being such haters.
  • mac0Fd00m, on 05/06/2008, -2/+2Why do the crazy bohemians flock to portland? I hear Seattle's more in line with your Chi, or something like that, so you should all move there...
  • mogebier, on 05/06/2008, -1/+1Wow.
    What has he been smoking??
    • chicagodj, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2I dont know but he better start sharing.
  • koft, on 05/06/2008, -3/+2This is ***** stupid.
  • kwazyhulk, on 05/06/2008, -1/+6I can just hear the comments in China..."It's always stupid round-eyes that take eastern ***** too far."
  • taosbob, on 05/06/2008, -1/+5In Asia this is a very common understanding of the nature of qi and fengshui. Certain regions are deemed to be lacking in vital energy and in need of this kind of surgery. One such area in Korea (Unju-sa Buddhist temple) had 1000s of stone pagodas during the Koryô period (918-1392 CE) sited there to buttress the deficient qi.
    • KingMoses, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2They know so much about it, they trained Ryu in the ways of SHORYUKEN!!
  • dropthehammer, on 05/06/2008, -1/+2he should do new york instead.
  • christopherball, on 05/06/2008, -3/+2feng shui isn't going to help with the F'ing smog
    • rbusta, on 05/06/2008, -1/+3Smog? This was an article on Portland not [generic over-hyped California city here], did you not read it?
  • AmericansRevolt, on 05/06/2008, -4/+2buried for being retarded
    • rationalist, on 05/06/2008, -1/+2Not sure whether to digg you up for best unintended self-referential comment, or digg you down for worst unintended self-referential comment.
  • CatsAreGods, on 05/06/2008, -1/+1Panic in Needle Park!
  • chubbymidget, on 05/06/2008, -3/+2I'm sure the cities homeless appreciate that. Now they something to lean against while they're hungry
    Nice waste of money douche
    • york2600, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1Portland gets cold. The homeless go to California. Being from California I can back this one up. We get them all
  • Erectile, on 05/06/2008, -4/+3This is possibly the stupidest idea ever.
  • skyz, on 05/06/2008, -1/+5i knew a deep tissue massage therapist who was into something similar minus the hype: apparently there is a natural gird pinpointing sacred sites (some ancient some relatively unknown) and his mission was to travel to these sites and meditate in an effort to heal the planet based on the deep ecology theory that the earth itself is a living breathing organism suffering from a good deal of stress - of course his efforts were done without drama and with his own money so i would tend to give him more credibility
    • BOFH2, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2While I do not buy in to his ideals I do like the fact he did it with his own money.
  • cloudcity, on 05/06/2008, -4/+2This is the single dumbest story I have ever seen on Digg.
    • supermanred, on 05/06/2008, -2/+1Have you actually looked at your 3 submissions? Don't talk.
      • cloudcity, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1I'm 1/3 Dugg, that's me submitting one story once a year. And they be dumb "stories", but they are original content and not some blogspam/digg clone "news of the weird" human interest stories....
  • Leg0z, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2I love Portland and everyone should come and visit sometime. Just don't stay, especially if you're from California.
  • Sanitarium, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1Dublin has had that for a while now.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spire_of_Dublin
  • ZenMojo, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1And then Jack Hawksmoor comes by and psychoanalyzes it....
  • TsuruchiBrian, on 05/06/2008, -0/+4This will be an important scientific experiment to see if the placebo effect works on buildings.

    I'm all for art, but pretending that this eastern "medicine" BS is real is just retarded. In the west we have better medicine. That is a fact. In a way it is sad that our medicine so frequently involves drugs that have nasty side effects and invasive surgeries, but it's better than...... dying.

    For thousands of years Chinese people where using rhino horns and tiger penises to "cure" impotence. It is almost certain that these were just placebos. All Chinese cures for anything are placebos. This is not ancient Chinese secret remedies, they are well understood psychological phenomena. Also, Viagra is about a million times more effective than tiger penis, doesn't cost $50,000, and doesn't require the death of an endangered species.
  • supermanred, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1This brings to mind a line by Jack Nicholson in Batman, which I believe was a last minute ad-lib by the actor:

    "This town needs an enema!"
  • pattywack, on 05/06/2008, -0/+0"Unusual? You bet. Unusual for Portland? Not really."

    Dugg. That's so true, and its one of the many reasons I love Portland. Wish I still lived there sometimes.
  • oldcyborg, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2Some people will do anything to keep from having gainful employment..... This dude is one of them....
    The famous internet saying would be "It just doesn't scale" hehehehehe
    Cyborg
  • kontraire, on 05/06/2008, -1/+1I don't know about acupuncture for cities, and I'm skeptical of claims of the manipulation of chi in general, but I can tell you that one session of acupuncture knocked out two years of shoulder and neck pain for me. One session.

    Say what you will about quackery, the ***** WORKS for muscular-skeletal pain.
    • Yage2006, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2I'll say something .
      Your prone to the placebo effect.
  • Spoomeister, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1They're called ley lines, guys. Look it up in wikipedia.
    Everything old is new again, apparently.
  •  

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