Snake oil

You may have heard the phrase executable specification. Mostly snake oil. The point about a spec is that it states the requirements of a particular user, which are usually partial. You must add decisions to make it work. An executable thing is usually a program even if it s written in a high-level language, or in pictures. 

Walker, Bingham, A. The Snake-Oil Syndrome Patent Medicine Advertising. Hanover, Mass. Christopher Publishing House, 1994. With reprints of the words and images from patent medicine ads, this book illustrates the excessive claims made by merchants, marketers, and manufacturers during the 1800s and early 1900s. 

Bausell, R. Barker. Snake Oil Science The truth about complementary and alternative medicine. New York Oxford University Press, 2007. 

There s a single element found in successful weight loss,cholesterol control, stress management, diabetes prevention, and blood pressure maintenance. It s something virtually everyone all over the world who has enjoyed a long life has in common, the factor that all medical authorities agree is essential for both quality and quantity of life. What is this snake oil that appears to be the cure for what ails you It s physical activity. 

J. Diamond. 2001. Snake oil and other preoccupations. Foreword by Richard Dawkins. Reprint in R. Dawkins, A Devil s Chaplain. Boston Houghton Mifflin, 2003. 

A.D. 1900 "That bitter potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this bitter pill "... 

Datuba-Brown, D.D., and Blight, A. (1990) Inhibition of Human Fibroblast Growth In Vitro by Snake Oil, Br. J. Blast. Surg.43,183-186. 

THE MEDICINE MAN OF OLD. In frontier America, the medicine man— the doc—plied his trade in a tent, as his show on the road moved from village to village. His potent snake oil and tiger s milk cure-all were always "smuggled out of the sacred tombs of ancient Egypt" Silk-hatted and suave, between band numbers, doc made his pitch ... 

Shirai, N., Hayashi, K., Suzuki, H., and Shimizu, R. (2002) The effects of Erabu sea snake oil on the plasma lipids and glucose, and liver lipids in mice. Nutrition Res., 22,1197-1207. 

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