Heavy Z Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 I saw this on the Nasa news website: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/food-03d.html "Last June, scientists from the US space agency verified that Manek spent 130 days surviving only on water, the report said. They even named this subsistence on water and solar energy after him: The HRM (Hira Ratan Manek) Phenomenon." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 Mr Manek said he "eats through his eyes" in the evening, when the sun's ultraviolet rays are least harmful. He and his wife claim the technique is totally scientific. However, doctors warn that staring at the sun can make you blind. Hmmm....I've heard that other things can make you blind too! Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 There are groups of these people and they have books out, etc. Nothing new, and EVERY SINGLE legitimately investigated case came up a fraud, period. I think it was Newsweek or Time that did a story about 8 to 12 months ago. I laughed and laughed at all the quackery that goes on in the world with people actually believing this stuff. He's got a stash of food under the house or something that keeps him going, not just tea and sunlight. If they want to conduct a scientific test, put him in a laboratory with 24 survellance, and make sure he gets no visitors. Also, check each one of his stools (eewww) and find out what is in there. I never put any faith in articles like this, especially when there is more then ample evidence to the contrary. Crop circles are coming up again (locally this time) and people are actually believing in that too, even when there were major stories about debunking such things last year--how soon they forget. Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavy Z Posted July 16, 2003 Author Share Posted July 16, 2003 Davy - I agree there are tons of charlatans out there, that's why NASA brought this guy to the U.S. to put him under observation - they are past the point of questioning his legitimacy and are now trying to figure out how it works. If it's a hoax then he found a way around their surveilance for four months, which speaks volumes of NASA's ineptitude in this study if this is indeed the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudge Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 The record for surviving on water is over 400 days, 411 I believe. http://www.falconblanco.com/health/alimentation/sun/manekji.htm http://niejedzenie.pl/hiraratanmanek.htm http://niejedzenie.pl/HiraRatanManek-raport.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavy Z Posted July 16, 2003 Author Share Posted July 16, 2003 "To ensure that Manek's story does not sound like a fairy tale, there are an array of doctors from the Health Care International Multitherapy Institute and the Jain Doctors Association who have been monitoring his health from two days before the fast started, which will last up to February 15 to complete 411 days." I didn't realize he'd gone longer than 130 days - wow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strotter Posted July 17, 2003 Share Posted July 17, 2003 It's hot outside, and I don't want to go out, and there's nothing (of course) on TV, so I looked into this. A lot of stories about what NASA does and doesn't do get passed around, and a lot of them have nothing much to do with reality. A quick search on Google turned up this at the American Physical Society site, (the largest Physics professional organization in the world), in the What's New section (http://www.aps.org/WN/WN03/wn070303.html): NASA: COULD AN ASTRONAUT LEARN TO SURVIVE BY PHOTOSYNTHESIS? Perhaps the Columbia accident convinced NASA that a backup plan is needed in case astronauts are stranded on the Space Station (WN 14 Mar 03). According to the Hindustan Times, NASA turned to a survival expert, Hira Ratan Manek, a 64-year-old mechanical engineer from India. Manek claims to have survived for eight years on sunlight, water and a little tea. He is in the United States to show NASA how he does it. NASA scientists reportedly verified that Manek survived on water and sunlight for 130 days. The NASA Public Affairs Office confirmed to WN that the claim is true. This is a bold new approach. If the laws of nature stand in the way of a solution, it?s time to change the laws. But at the bottom, there's a "see correction" note, which takes you to ERROR: NASA REFUTES STORY ABOUT A MAN WHO LIVES ON SUNLIGHT. Last week, WN picked up the story from Space Daily, which got it from the Hindustan Times, about a guy in India who claims he can survive on water and sunlight and who was invited to the US by NASA. WN called NASA and thought it confirmed the invitation. However, NASA insists they said there had been no contact with him. WN deeply regrets the confusion. It will now be WN policy to avoid anything that photosynthesizes lest it fall on Bob Park. The "Bob Park" thing is an inside joke. The only references at NASA to "HRM" are in regards to "Human Resources Management" So far as I can tell, it seems that the story was originally filed at the Times of India, though I couldn't check for the original owing to the search engine at the TOI crashing repeatedly. Some time later, it was picked up by the Hindustani Times. I found articles referring to that one dated as early as January 2001 (http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_160317.html). At that point it began to show up on lots of "alternative" sites, mostly those for "Breatharians", which are folks that believe you don't have to eat to live. At some point Mr. Manek came over to the U.S. and gave a number of lectures. That's when the story began to have the "NASA" thing attached to it - the first reference to NASA was in June, 2002. If you do a quick Google for "Hira Manek", you'll get almost 1200 hits. What's *really* interesting is that the earlier articles have references to the original TOI story, but later ones don't - they simply reprint the same story, over and over again, no byline, nothing. Just the same couple of hundred word article, over and over. Only the one, at APS, actually called NASA to confirm, as far as I can tell, and even *they* printed the thing before confirming. An excellent case of "Open Mind, Insert Foot". Also, SpaceDaily isn't a NASA site - it has a .com extension, all U.S. government sites, including NASA, use .gov - it's actually an Australian commercial site. Check it using http://www.DNSstuff.com: Registrant: Space Media Network (SPACEDAILY-COM-DOM) Simon Ernest Mansfield PO Box A447 Sydney South, NSW 1235 Australia 61-2-4234-3841 simon@spacer.com Domain Name: SPACEDAILY.COM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavy Z Posted July 17, 2003 Author Share Posted July 17, 2003 Great Job Strotter, thanks for taking the time to dig into this story and bringing us into the light! I found the space daily article on NASA news, which I knew wasn't the official NASA site but they do(usually!) post good information on NASA-related events. Davy, your BS-detector was right! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.