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Call for Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie References

lma writes "Lyle Zapato, best-selling author (well, maybe just author) of Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie: Practical Mind Control Protection for Paranoids , and developer of MindGuard, personal anti-psychotronic software for Amiga and Linux, is trying to find as many references to AFDBs or similar devices prior to 1991 as possible. Please help this important part of our cultural heritage from being lost, and email him with any references you can find." Well, there was my Uncle Milt..I mean...well, nevermind.

39 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. ACK! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    They're watching me through satelites to make sure I don't make any first posts.

    1. Re:ACK! by uncoveror · · Score: 4, Informative

      They don't need no stinkin' satelites! They use the V-chip. Not to worry. Tin foil can fix that, too!

      --
      The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
  2. fantasy by ch-chuck · · Score: 4, Funny

    I like to image this comic strip: Two agents are hunched over a console at NSA HQ, one says to the other, "Dammit, I had a positive lock on his brainwave sync'd with the thought projector, but then he put that darn foil hat on again!"

    --
    try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
    1. Re:fantasy by windex · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I always like to note to people who throw out the tin foil hat theory that if they really did have mind control satelites they would have forced people to forget about them.

      This then causes them to go into "religion" mode, which should be self explanitory.

  3. MLB by Cire · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's Major League baseball! They're watching from the skies!

    You guys want to see what's in here or want to see me hit some dingers? DINGERS! DINGERS!

    Simpsons reference. :)

  4. Also available for servers ? by calm_a_whore · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think he needs anti slashdot aluminium foil protection for his server, its all gone a bit 503.

  5. Or he could be... by MojoRilla · · Score: 5, Funny

    Trying to use slashdot as a cheap way to do a patent search.

    At least that is what the aliens told me.

    1. Re:Or he could be... by digidave · · Score: 4, Funny

      We must foil is plans!

      --
      The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
    2. Re:Or he could be... by Iguanaphobic · · Score: 3, Funny

      Since when do we need to do searches before applying for patents??

      --
      Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power.
  6. The Straight Dope by Angry+White+Guy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ran this article recently which says tinfoil just isn't enough, and to construct a faraday cage to be impervious to alien influence.

    Personally I think that they really need professional help if they believe in aliens, but if it keeps the government from reading my mind I'm all for it!

    --
    You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
    1. Re:The Straight Dope by oliverthered · · Score: 3, Funny

      What's the tinfoil for,
      Shiny side in, keeping the thought police out
      Shiny side out, for keeping the mind control out.

      --
      thank God the internet isn't a human right.
    2. Re:The Straight Dope by sg_oneill · · Score: 5, Informative

      This page explains it all. It's got tinfoil hats for sale. And the model on the front page. Try not to have any liquids in mouth loading page. It'll end up on the monitor!

      Oh and these guys appear to be for real.

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
  7. Don't be fooled!!! by 0x12d3 · · Score: 3, Funny

    He's looking for these devices for"reference" yeah sure. He's obviously trying to take over the world.

  8. From their website by nizo · · Score: 4, Funny
    MindGuard is a program for Amiga and Linux that protects your mind by jamming and/or scrambling psychotronic mind-control signals and removing harmful engrammic pollutants from your brain. It also has the ability to scan for and decipher into English specific signals so you can see exactly Who wants to control you and what They are trying to make you think.
    With MindGuard, you can rest assured that your most valuable possession -- your mind-- is safe from the nefarious tinkering of evil-doers.


    I am so glad this software is available, now we can get even more of the right kinds of folks advocating the use of Linux. Is there a large untapped market for Linux use in mental hospitals?

    1. Re:From their website by Angry+White+Guy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      type man xsublim from the console one day and see what you come up with. It's been happening all along. Software to control you, software to set you free.

      --
      You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
  9. the server dons a foil hat by jo_ham · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, the server just put a foil hat on.

  10. Re:They work.... but I don't... by tcdk · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...or I would have been able to see that there should be a negation somewhere in the last part of that sentence. My bad.

    Arg! It's an evil plot to make me look silly. Hand me that roll of tinfoil please....

    --
    TC - My Photos..
  11. The real deal by Duchamp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I had a few calls from this one when I worked as a sysadmin at her ISP.

    You can also see her with a sign standing outside the mall in downtown Hamilton, or at the side of the road by the highway.

    1. Re:The real deal by new+death+barbie · · Score: 5, Funny
      You can also see her with a sign standing outside the mall in downtown Hamilton, or at the side of the road by the highway.


      Yeah, we make her do that every now and then. When she's really bad, we let the monkey play with the joystick.

      --

      It's supposed to be completely automatic, but actually you have to press this button.

  12. Tinfoil Hat Linux ...for the Paranoid by nucleon · · Score: 5, Funny
    This article reminded me of a fun little Linux distro on floppy from the nice folks at the Schmoo Group. "You may want to use Tinfoil Hat Linux if...
    • You're using a computer that could have a keystroke logger installed. http://www.keyghost.com is an example of a tiny & cheap hardware logger.
    • You need to use your personal GPG keys at work, school or a web hosting facility where you don't trust or own the equipment.
    • If you maintain a PGP Certificate Authority or signing key and have to have a safe place to use the CA key.
    • If you simply don't want to risk putting a PGP key on a hard drive where someone else might have access to it.
    • The Illuminati are watching your computer, and you need to use morse code to blink out your PGP messages on the numlock key."
  13. No shortage of whackos. by Raymond+Luxury+Yacht · · Score: 4, Informative

    Ah yes... Mind control devices through radio and micro waves, CIA conspiracies, drugs slipped into the water and food supplies, and of course contrails. It warms my heart to see that there are people more insane than I am...

    --

    Ceci n'est pas une sig.
  14. Twins and Card Games by Dareth · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have two sisters who are identical twins. It was always required for them to wear aluminium foil hats if they wanted to be partners in our family games of spades. Otherwise, we would all end up beaten by them two terrible cheaters!!!

    --

    I only look human.
    My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
  15. Movie tin foil by shawkin · · Score: 4, Informative

    Annie Hall 1977
    Woody Allen

    ALVY:
    (Looking at Rob who is wearing a foil covered suit and hood)
    Why are you wearing that? Worried about thought control from space aliens?
    ROB:
    (Pulling the hood over his head)
    Gamma rays, Alvy. Gamma rays. Wear this and you'll live forever.

    1. Re:Movie tin foil by Sloppy · · Score: 4, Informative

      The actual quotation is, "Keeps out the alpha rays, Max." (Rob rarely addresses Alvy by his real name.)

      --
      As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
  16. Dude! by turg · · Score: 5, Funny

    You got an affiliate commission link into a front-page Slashdot story! You rock!

    --
    <sig>Guvf vf abg n frperg zrffntr
  17. My Dad remembers the original case by Degrees · · Score: 5, Interesting
    My dad was a Sheriff's officer before I was born, and the original story made the rounds. One of his friends was a detective in the San Francisco Police Department, was called upon to visit a citizen there (must have been in the early 1960's, I think). Anyway, the person had lined every wall of the apartment with aluminum foil, 'to keep them from reading her brainwaves with the radio'. Obviously, the person was mentally ill. When the person expressed distress at not being able to leave the apartment, the tin foil hat was proposed. (The detective figured that the person was harlmess enough, so why not 'help'?)

    So that is the story as I heard it. My dad knows the name of the detective in S.F.

    --
    "The most sensible request of government we make is not, "Do something!" But "Quit it!"
    1. Re:My Dad remembers the original case by Schnapple · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yeah but his point was that this was a mention of a tin foil hat in this very reasoning (to protect your brain from influences) way prior to 1991. Urban legend or no, if it was told in the 1960's then this was quite a while back and therefore qualifies.

  18. Whats worse by boogy+nightmare · · Score: 3, Funny

    That Fact that this book is sold by amazon (funny although it is) or the fact that the biggest (or first listed) search by customers there after was for clean undearwear :)

    I've heard of pissing yourself with laughter but that takes teh cake

    --
    Kingdom of Loathing (www.kingdomofloathing.com) Addicted is me
  19. Since she knows about . . . . by kfg · · Score: 3, Informative

    so much stuff that's, like, super top secret - if you know this we'll have to kill you, you'ld think she would have come across the concept of *page two.*

    But Noooooooooooooooooooo!

    KFG

  20. how's this for a conspiracy theory? by murdocj · · Score: 3, Funny

    In order to mind control you, "they" need you to wear an aluminum foil hat, so they start these stories...

  21. Don't forget earplugs! by Mantrid · · Score: 3, Funny

    Don't forget to buy your earplugs, in addition to your foil hats! I mean, how else are you going to protect yourself from *superluminal* attempts at mind control?

    And remember.... Yvan eht nioj!

  22. Crest of the Stars by hackwrench · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They don't need mind control devices. Anybody watch "Crest of the Stars" and see how well the Baron controlled the minds of his vassals. (They should be showing that episode sometime this week again and again one last time on Friday on TechTV). That's how it's done, not with devices, but with social engineering. (Is that the right category- not absolutely sure.) Promoting those lower than you in the social structure into menial jobs.

  23. Rediculous! by Wireless+Joe · · Score: 5, Funny

    Everyone knows that aluminum did not exist before 1992. It was at that time that the Reynolds corporation made a bid to take over the US Government. Reynolds, an alliance between the city of Marina Del Rey and Tom Arnold (look it up, I don't use Google because they track my searches) began producing "anti Illuminati medium" or a-lumin-um by extracting the "conductivity" from steel, a naturally occuring mineral.

    Reynolds knew that the CIA and FBI were using mind control through the "cable networks" to persuade the population to upgrade to HBO, the mouthpiece for the Masonic Order of the Illuminati.

    You all just think you remember aluminum existing before 1992 because you do not wear your beanies, and have been influenced by HBO. Still need proof? Consider these facts:

    1. If you travel outside the US, you will find that no other countries use or have heard of aluminum. (England has something similar called aluminium, which was developed in tandem by Margaret Thatcher's shadow government.)

    2. If you travel to another country and they say that they have aluminum, you have not actually travelled to another country, but are on a HBO-enduced mind control trip.

    3. Aluminum does not get hot in the oven. I've made thousands of fish sticks in the years after 1992, and no matter how badly I burn them, I can always lift them by the corners of the aluminum foil I placed them on.

  24. Be wary of links online... by MarvinMouse · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Some of the psycho links aren't actually as insane as you may think...

    I used to play the game Majestic online, and I know for a fact they set up a lot of "pseudo-pages" of companies, home pages, etc. to go along with the storyline, and some of these links that have been given are directly from that game, and a few may be from further down the road (then I was in the game), because they seem to read almost exactly the pages I saw when I was playing.

    Sure there are psychos online, but there's also a lot of pages set up for other less insiduous or insane reasons.

    Just something to think about.

    --
    ~ kjrose
  25. How I discovered Tinfoil Hats. by mbstone · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I first opened my law practice, I shared a legal secretary with another lawyer.

    Part of my real-world education in solo practice was that, from time to time, I would get calls from prospective clients who were aggrieved by (alleged) mind-control rays and who wanted me to represent them against the U.S. Government or whomever. I would patiently listen to their stories, and offer to take their cases for $10,000 up front. (Mercifully, no one bit, or the state bar would have had my ass.)

    I had fun, but I got tired of being so patient a listener as I had other (billable) demands on my time. I mentioned my surprise (at the number of such calls) to my secretary, who said, "Oh. You just have to tell them to make a tinfoil hat and they'll go away. Works every time." And it did!

    100% of prospective mind-ray clients who were instructed to make tinfoil hats went away, presumably satisfied. I even got one or two nice notes in the mail, and a couple of referrals.

    Moral: There's no substitute for an experienced legal secretary.

  26. Former AZ Governor by carlos_benj · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wonder if former AZ Governor Evan Meacham is aware of this. He used to tune multiple radios to different stations and point them at the window to foil (no pun intended - well, maybe a little) eavesdroppers. I think I saw a picture of him somewhere with an aluminum contraption on his head that was supposed to prevent his brain from being accessed (which seems to have worked pretty good since he often didn't seem to have access to it).

    --

    --

    As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.

  27. TFB - RFC 90999 by Punk+Walrus · · Score: 3, Informative
    Okay, if I do this search, I want to see a RFC document come out of this.

    My story stems from a congressional intern (don't laugh) under Frank Wolfe in 1986. She was a friend of mine, and told us one day that part of her job was to answer the mail that the congressman got. Everything had to be logged, filed, and in most cases, given a standard form answer. One day, she got one that went something along the lines of:

    Dear Congressman Wolfe,

    Twice I have sent letters regarding the CIA trying to beam mind-controlling microwaves into my brain, and I have gotten form responses each time. I am serious. If you don't tell me how to prevent the CIA from beaming these thoughts into my head, I will have to take action.

    Loyal Voter,
    Sylvester P. Smythe

    Or something along those lines. My friend was not exposed to much weirdness in her upscale little life, so she got very scared, and showed the congressman. He simply said (deadpan), "Type up a response telling him to wear tinfoil on his head, take his personal medications, eat more natural vegetables and thank him for being a loyal citizen." She thought he was kidding, he winked at her, and assured her that it would be okay to type that letter. "I don't want him to 'take action' or do whatever he feels necessary if we don't respond. Type it up, and I'll sign it." She did, he did, and they never heard from him again.

    We may hate politicians, but they have to put up with this kind of stuff a lot.

  28. EM radiation and your brain. by Chris+Canfield · · Score: 3, Interesting
    If you visit this old wired story, there is a bit of evidence that the increasingly pervasive and increasingly intricate electrical fields we are exposed to every day may not be having a neutral effect on our mental states. The author wonders, not without reason, whether the hallucinatory effect he experienced might be related to the surprising, so far unexplained explosion of mental illness in developed nations. I remember an abnormal developmental psychologist professor from the University who said that many of the hallucinatory schizophrenics in her care had objectively fewer episodes while wearing some form of EM radiation shielding around their brains, and a good friend working in a home for mentally troubled youths seconded the assertion.

    In other words, there may be a very good health reason for the ubiquity of self-medicinal aluminium headware. Perhaps we should be attempting to investigate the link between tin hats and improvement in certain forms of mental illness, rather than simply mocking the subject (and QED anyone attempting to study it)?

    --
    This Sig is a mnemonic device designed to allow you to recognize this author in the future.
  29. "These customers also bought..." by tgeller · · Score: 4, Funny
    I had to laugh when I saw that the Amazon link had the following text: Customers who wear clothes also shop for:
    • Clean Underwear from Amazon's Target Store
    • Ladybug Rain Boots from Amazon's Nordstrom Store
    • Pet Socks from Amazon's Urban Outfitters Store
    • Puppy Footed One-Pieces for Newborns from Amazon's Old Navy Store
    I think that's one hell of an ensemble, there.
    --
    Tom Geller