Alois Swoboda

Interesting snippet in the Wikipedia article (with no attribution): One of Swoboda's most enthusiastic backers was Elbert Hubbard, relative of L. Ron Hubbard, who turned many of Swoboda's teachings into what is now Scientology.

Related only by the concept of magical thinking. My wife, whom I do love dearly, must be reined in every so often. She sometimes reads a submission on her facebook account regaling the reader with the wonderful curative properties of an onion, or apple, or tomato, or [insert vegetable/fruit of choice here]. The claims, despite the item to be used, are that putting one in a room removes the bad air. I have occasionally made the mistake of tossing out the rotting vegetable/fruit and that sends her off on a pseudo-lecture about the need for improving the quality of the air in our home in order to ensure the quality of our health.

She will not hear me when I tell her that the smell of rotting vegetables/fruits is in no way conducive to a happy household.
agent j

If he can heal the heart, why does he need to wear pince-nez?

I'll bet that he could also make the deaf to see, the lame to talk and the blind to walk.

His jacket used the zebra's method of camouflage, so it would be difficult for his students to grab him, once they realized his course was a hoax.

Here's a follow-up to my comment about Elbert Hubbard above. Elbert Hubbard was founder of the Roycroft community, proponent of the Arts and Crafts Movement and an accomplished writer. This is from a Roycroft website:

A common question about Elbert Hubbard is if he is related to L. Ron Hubbard of Scientology. (Scientology's members include famous Hollywood actors such as John Travolta and Tom Cruise.)

A few stories persist: One states that L. Ron Hubbard was a nephew of Elbert by the adoption of his father into the Hubbard family. L. Ron's father, Harry Ross Hubbard, was born Henry August Wilson but was adopted as an orphan by a Mr. and Mrs. James Hubbard of Iowa. Elbert, therefore, was an uncle (but not by blood).

L. Ron Hubbard was so impressed with his uncle Elbert Hubbard's accomplishments that in 1956 he dedicated the ninth printing of Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health to him. L. Ron Hubbard was born in 1911. Elbert Hubbard died in 1915. It is unknown but doubtful they ever met.

But L. Ron Hubbard was known to elaborate on his background, and it is said he used the popularity of Elbert’s name to promote his own causes.

NOTE: As of right now, we have no record of a Mr. and Mrs. James Hubbard of Iowa in Elbert Hubbard’s family tree. So there currently is no proof to this story.

BMN, the glasses are to appear smarter, of course, and allow Dr Swoboda to look at his female fans without seeing them naked with his X-Ray vision.