Tradition!

If you ever wondered how traditions (minhagim) start, check this story out:

In the Godforsaken town of Olney, Bucks, there is a yearly pancake race. Women over 18 don a scarf and apron and are supposed to run holding a frying pan.
People do crazy things.
It finds its origin in a legend, as described in the article:

The story suggests one woman heard the church bells ring for the service and was so worried about being late she fled her house and ran down the High Street still clutching her frying pan and wearing an apron.
This event has been commemorated ever since with Olney women, complete in traditional apron, cap and holding a frying pan with a real pancake, running through the town.

Now, God forbid we should change that tradition!
And indeed, this year, a man on the BBC payroll, got dressed up in an apron and a scarf, holding a frying pan and…came third in the race!
The response of the BBC:

A spokesperson for the BBC said: "The Olney pancake race organisers were keen Blue Peter covered the event and Helen Skelton, its female presenter is currently kayaking in the Amazon for Sports Relief, so they gave Joel special dispensation to take part in the race.
"It would not be in the style of Blue Peter to simply film the race, the whole thing about the programme is that the presenters take part."

See? Heteirim (dispensations) lead to giluy arayois (sexual frivolty)!

Kiruv Alert: Tefillin as an Ancient Accupuncture Treatment

I saw this article called “Tefillin: an ancient Acupuncture point Prescription for Mental clarity” years ago when I was still frum. I loved it.
Kiruv professionals would like you to believe that this is proof for TMS.  After all, how could anyone else than God, thousands of years ago, know about acupuncture?
If you ask me, this does not prove anything more than that a religious Jew, who happens to be involved with acupuncture, believes that putting on tefillin may help you concentrate better. But so does coffee and smoking cigarettes.
Last week, someone sent me the article again, so I decided to do a little investigation.
The first thing I realized is that some people do not realize (neither did I) that acupuncture is not a scientific discipline. In fact, a quick glance at Wikipedia already shows that:

According to traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture points are situated on meridians along which qi (a "life energy"), flows...but there is no evidence to support their existence and they have not been reconciled with contemporary knowledge about biology, physics or chemistry.

Some googling did prove, however, that the article was indeed published in the Journal of Chinese Medicine in October 2002. This is their website and the original article can be purchased here, so that looks kosher. What does not look kosher, however, is the following.
The “About us” section reads as follows:

The Journal of Chinese Medicine was established in 1979 by Peter Deadman, and has been published continuously since then. It has played a vital role in raising the standards of education and practice in Chinese medicine throughout the English-speaking world.

Since 2001 the journal website has been offering the very best Chinese medicine books for sale on our website and in March 2005 greatly expanded the range of online products to include herbs, acupuncture supplies and specialist teas.

Hardly a yichus. Sounds more like a sham to me.
And here is the chinese medicine guru himself, Peter Deadman, publisher of the magazine:

On his personal website, there is no mention of any educational background. Despite this, he endorses his magazine as “Probably the premier English language journal in the field of Chinese medicine”. Medicine my tuches.
Oh yes, he also plays Klezmer for a band called ‘Matzos’, which might explain why he let this tefillin article slip in by accident.
My advise? Stay away from these so-called ‘proofs.