And this month's Darwin Award goes to:

[mr blur]

A Seattle woman is attempting to go 100 days without eating to prove that humans can "live on light".

Naveena Shine says she believes it is possible for human beings to survive without food and is conducting what she describes as an experiment to prove it.

The 65-year-old, originally from Birmingham in the UK, has been consuming just water and "one, maybe two cups of tea a day" for the past 41 days, losing 30lbs in the process. Other people have previously claimed to be able to survive without food and and water, although no one has ever proven it to be possible and some have died attempting it.

Dr Ronald Hoffman, medical director of the Hoffman Center and host of a weekly health talk podcast, said it was "delusional to think that you can escape the laws of biology".

"Plants have what are called choroplasts that contain chlorophyll and they have the ability to capture energy from sunlight," Hoffman said. "Humans don't have cholorphyll or chloroplasts. No humans do. It is impossible for a human to have that.

"Therefore they have to derive energy from external sources, that can be either fat or protein or carbohydrates, but it can't be sunlight."

Hoffman said if Shine continues to not eat food her organs will eventually fail and she will die.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/14/living-on-light-without-food

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

1. I'm reminded of a quote from the TV show "Leverage"

Nate: Can we give [Parker] a fake tumor?

Hardison: Oh, we could inject her brain with some contrast dye and have it pool into her cranial cavity but there might be some side effects.

Parker: Like what?

Hardison: Organ failure, death, deathlike symptoms.

Parker: I vote for plan B.

[DetlefK]

2. And when she dies: "If only she had gotten more sunlight."

It has to be sunlight for very conclusive, spiritual reasons I don't need to mention here.

[Rod Walker]

3. Shades of the Breatharians...

Seems like people believing in this sort of thing is something of a self-correcting problem, mind you.

[valerief]

23. Self-correcting problem. Bwah! Love it!

[skepticscott]

4. How dare he call her delusional

for acting on her deeply held beliefs? Who does he think he is, telling anyone else that what they believe is wrong?

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

5. Skepticscott feels it necessary to sneer at religion every chance he gets

But I must not call him a bigot, for calling someone a bigot on DU is worse than posting bigotry.

[skepticscott]

6. If you can show where in my post

there is a "sneer at religion", by all means do so.

Or is this another of your acknowledged "exaggerations"?

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

7. Apparently, skepticscott does not understand his own posts.

If he pretends he is not sneering at religion, then he is not being wholly honest.

[trotsky]

8. FA, if you choose to continue the behavior here that got you blocked from the Religion group,

you'll be banned here, and perhaps from DU entirely given your disturbing disposition toward abusive, intolerant behavior.

Address the topic of the thread (is this woman delusional? can a person go without eating for 100 days?) and stop attacking individuals.

[skepticscott]

9. In other words, you can't..again

But if you'd like me to explain what I was talking about, just ask, and I'll be happy to. Lacking that, I'll thank you not to ignorantly mischaracterize what I'm saying.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

10. This is the skeptics group, where we're skeptical about all silly claims

Including those silly claims made by religion.

You call it sneering, we call it the truth. Hurts, don't it?

[Logical]

15. LOL, are you serious? n-t

[trotsky]

11. Didn't even make it halfway.

https://www.livingonlight.co/

And she was cheating, taking at least a supplement containing sugar. Lots of creative excuses and rationalizations at the site.

[mr blur]

12. Indeed,

When I began this whole adventure I asked the Universe what it wanted from me and I understood the message to say that I needed to do this in order to bring the possibility of being able to "Live On Light" onto our planet.

So after all, nothing to see here, just another sad loony .

[dimbear]

20. Dang. I'm disappointed. I was going to point out that you don't get a Darwin for running a scam.

Next case.

[grantcart]

22. How about running an ineffective scam?

https://www.livingonlight.co/end-of-experiment.html

There are many, sometimes complex, reasons why I am choosing to do this. I talk about them on the current YouTube. The overt reason is that on that day the phones and internet will be cut off and I have nothing to pay for the space I am in. In practical terms I cannot continue. However, I see money as simply energy and symbolic for many other things. There is nothing like the black and white clarity of money for bringing important messages into our lives.

[WovenGems]

13. No creature

Not one living thing that has ever called Earth home lived only on sunlight. And don't think "but plants do". The lawn has more sense than this Darwin Award honorable mention gets.

[GreenStormCloud]

16. No award until she is removed from the gene pool. N/T

[uppityperson]

17. Update, June 16 she quit due to financial issues. Huh.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/18/seattle-woman-naveena-shine-live-on-light

https://www.facebook.com/notes/naveena-shine/day-44-sunday-16th-june/137795256423824

I want to let you know that at mid-day on Wednesday 19th June, on the 47th day of the "Living On Light" experiment,I am going to conclude the experiment and begin the process of slowly moving back into eating normal food again.

There are many, sometimes complex, reasons why I am choosing to do this. I talk about them on the current YouTube (#24). The overt reason is that on that day the phones and internet will be cut off and I have nothing to pay for the space I am in. In practical terms, I cannot continue. However, I see money as simply energy and symbolic for many other things. There is nothing like the black and white clarity of money for bringing important messages into our lives.

[LiberalAndProud]

18. In practical terms.

Huh?

[trotsky]

19. 'I see money as simply energy'

Then, like food, she should have been able to manifest it though quantum willpower.

That's the thing with true believers though, even with facts staring them straight in the face (or the stomach), they will cling to their beliefs instead.

Creationists, astrologers, alt-medders, anti-vaxxers, newage nuts like this - doesn't matter.

On edit: you know, if we skeptics were truly evil, we could have taken up a collection to pay her bills so she could continue her project.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

21. Spring water...

...on sale, $2.50 a case.




...on sale, $3.79 a box.


Dementia as a diet, priceless.