10 Great Snake-Oil Gadgets

The Byelorussian Strikes Again writes "Wired offers up 10 of the most awesome snake oil gadgets, from industrial cables sold as $200 ionized pain-relieving bracelets to a plastic chip that cures anything, improves gas mileage and cleans swimming pools. One truly sad development: the infamous $500 wooden volume knob is no longer on sale."

Comments

Quote:

[Bananatree3]

"Bergstein said the device offered a false hope that consumed his wife and robbed the family of precious remaining time with her. A retired Microsoft manager, Bergstein looked at the source code in the EPFX's software. It appeared to generate results randomly." quoted from the article

Pear cables

[MacDork]

In related news... the Pear cable calls James Randi's million dollar challenge a hoax.

Re:major study needed.

[Shambly]

James Randy Swift is offering 1 million dollar to show that they can accuratly dowse. I would like to assume that anyone actually able to do it would have claimed the prize. The fact that no one can replicate it in a controlled setting makes claim that it is possible dubious at best.

The Randi Challenge is open to everyone, you know

[Moraelin]

The Randi challenge is open to everyone, you know, so it's hard to argue with a straight face (and an undamaged brain) that somehow the real dowsers just mysteriously slipped through the cracks, and all the thousands of studies picked just the wrong ones.

It's open to everyone. If anyone thinks he's a real dowser (or a real telepath, or anything else "paranormal"), he can register, prove it and walk with a cool million dollars for their efforts. That's more than they make out of finding water for some farmer too, so it should be incentive enough to register if they actually have the gift. Heck, a million dollars isn't bad at all a deal for a couple of day's work even for someone who's in the business of dowsing for oil or minerals. Plus they'd get the free publicity of it all. People went through a lot more effort for a lot less gain.

To my mind that's as close as testing literally everyone as it gets. If at least one person on the whole Earth had such powers, they're not just free to get it tested, but actually invited and promised a nice reward.

And the first test there is: do they even genuinely believe they have those powers, or do they know that they're running a scam? If they don't even try to register there, you can already know in which category to file them. The _vast_ majority of dowsers, magicians, clairvoyants, mind-readers, etc, fall in that category by their own hand.

But of course that still won't stop gullible people from believing in fairy tales, just because they feel a need to believe in fairy tales.

Re:Worth

[kebes]

A product is worth exactly what it's purchaser will pay for it. True enough. But the free market ideal of "every product ends up costing exactly what it is worth" is based in some ways on informed producers and consumers. In reality information is imperfect, so a consumer may purchase something that has a perceived utility, when in reality the product does not have that utility.

You may say: "So what, it's the buyer's fault for being stupid." However there is a point where it goes from "stupid buyer" to "fraudulent seller." If you bought a DVD player, brought it home, and in the box found a brick instead of a piece of electronics, you would be (rightly) pissed. It's fraud. The brick does not have the same value (to you or anyone else) as the money you just handed over. Similarly (if more subtly) when a seller tells you he is selling you "an ionizing wristband" that "improves wellness" he is flat-out lying. That is fraud. The wristband will not improve the person's life to the extent they were led to believe.

So, while I agree that ultimately "something is worth exactly what people are willing to pay for it", we must be watchful for scams where what is delivered is not what is advertised. (Selling "metal wristband" for $600 is okay, selling "ionizing wristband that improves wellness" for $600 is fraud.)

Re:Do the volume knobs count?

[CrankyFool]

You're right, there's a missing context.

I remember seeing the original hype around the knobs. At the time, there were in fact claims being made that the beech knobs, and the specific way they were made, had a notable impact on the quality of the sound your sound system outputted. Ah, found the link:

---
They are custom made with beech wood and bronze where the bronze is used as the insert to mount to the stem of the volume pot. The beech wood is coated several times with C37 lacquer for best sound as pointed out by Dieter Ennemoser. How can this make a difference??? Well, hearing is believing as we always say. The sound becomes much more open and free flowing with a nice improvement in resolution. Dynamics are better and overall naturalness is improved. Here is a test for all you Silver Rock owners. Try removing the bakelite knobs and listen. You will be shocked by this! The signature knobs will have an even greater effect really amazing! The point here is the micro vibrations created by the volume pots and knobs find their way into the delicate signal path and cause degradation (Bad vibrations equal bad sound). With the signature knobs micro vibrations from the C37 concept of wood, bronze and the lacquer itself compensate for the volume pots and provide (Good Vibrations) our ear/brain combination like to hear way better sound!!"
---

See http://www.bostonaudiosociety.org/past_pres_msg/06-11_pres_msg.htm

Re:Wooden knobs == PC case mods

[Anonymous Coward]

There's nothing wrong with putting wooden knobs on your stereo if you like the way it looks. But I'm sure anyone with a lathe could make you a set for much cheaper than $400+.

Re:The Randi Challenge is open to everyone, you kn

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd like to mention that people need to have some sort of 'media presence' now. He has changed the challenge from being 'anyone can apply' to needing some sort of mainstream media credentials. It is a small change, but important.

Wooden Knob page via wayback machine....

[Ellis D. Tripp]

http://web.archive.org/web/20070830091736/http://www.referenceaudiomods.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=NOB_C37_C

Here are some of the claims made:

[quote]The sound becomes much more open and free flowing with a nice improvement in resolution. Dynamics are better and overall naturalness is improved. Here is a test for all you Silver Rock owners. Try removing the bakelite knobs and listen. You will be shocked by this! The signature knobs will have an even greater effect...really amazing! The point here is the micro vibrations created by the volume pots and knobs find their way into the delicate signal path and cause degradation (Bad vibrations equal bad sound). With the signature knobs micro vibrations from the C37 concept of wood, bronze and the lacquer itself compensate for the volume pots and provide (Good Vibrations) our ear/brain combination like to hear...way better sound!![/quote]

Complete and utter bullshit, of course, but great for separating gullible yuppies from their money.

Re:Not to mention...

[xtracto]

X-ray hair removal:

The discovery of x-rays in 1895 captured the imagination of both scientists and the general public. Before the effects of x-rays were fully understood, x-rays also captured the imagination of quacks, who began opening women's hair removal clinics almost as soon as x-ray researchers began reporting they were losing their hair.

Re:Dowsing

[gerardrj]

To expound on the 'there no physical effect to account for water attracting brass rods' comment.
All of the natural attraction/repulsion/radiation forces I am aware of are quite omni-directional. Pulsars are beams but for a very well understood reason.
There is no way that underground water would only affect non-ferrous rods when the water is inline between the rods and the center of the Earth (IE you are standing over the water). If this supposed effect existed it would be beam-based anti-gravity which would have tremendous financial/military benefits. Given the nearly limitless potential for wealth and/or power, the continual non-exploitation of this would-be force means one must gather that the force/effect simply does not exist. If it can be detected it can be identified and harnessed.
Even if water in the ground were causing the rods to move, the force causing the movement would radiate in all directions (a sphere) and fall off at a probably exponential rate from the source. If such a force existed it would not act suddenly as proponents claim but would act over a much larger area, so large in fact as to make the rods useless. If over the water the rods are acted upon with such force that the handler can not un-cross them, then twenty feet away the force should still be at least so strong that the handler can just barely uncross the rods.

You are quite correct...

[Bananatree3]

I remember hearing a quote bout how Naturopathic medicine can help get to the root of a disease and help stop it, but don't go to a Naturopath if you are having a heart attack. However, Naturopathic medicine is still quite beneficial.

When I was 2 years old I had ear aches that were excruciatingly painful and would not go away. My parents took me to a general doctor who prescribed putting plastic tubes in my ears to help drain fluid that was causing the painful pressure in my inner ear. My parents went to a Naturopatic doctor who saw I was allergic to dairy and soy, and my parents put me on Rice milk for years. The pain went away, and I didn't have to go through invasive surgery to end the pain. I didn't like rice milk at first, but it was still a hell of a lot better than not having those hellish earaches.