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

Not to mention...

[Bananatree3]

multi thousand dollar EPFX machines that run off random number generators. Apparently this William Nelson fraud character lives in a multimillion dollar house in budapest because of it.

Re:Not to mention...

[garlicbready]

The link reminds me of an article I saw recently in the Fortean Times
(couldn't find a link sorry)
during the early days of X-Ray's they were often used as a method for hair removal
(you'd place an exposed body part in front of a wooden box / machine and the hiar would drop out)

it was only later on that they discovered the slight problem with cancer

Re:Not to mention...

[_Sprocket_]

If you are so gullible and so stupid to think these artifacts work, then be my guest, and waste all your money. You had it coming. This way, with some luck, you will not be able to sustain a family, and/or die from starvation. Not my fault. Good for humankind. I agree that people need to maintain critical thought and a degree of skepticism when someone makes extraordinary claims. But the idea that these people DESERVE this kind of crime?

Fuck you.

I would assume you're healthy and if you're lucky, you'll remain so the rest of your life. You'll never experience a condition where your body shuts down or begins to attack itself. You'll never go through the helplessness of not being able to trust what you perceive yet fully aware that your body is degrading and the symptom you're feeling might be real and life-threatening. You'll never have to go through the process of working with numerous doctors who, being much more educated and experienced on the subject than you, still have to make educated guesses as to what MIGHT work to slow the damage; each drug or procedure involving reams of documentation outlining dire risks and medical details (that require years of training to really understand) as to why they THINK the treatment might be doing something beneficial. Not a cure. Just something to maintain some degree of a quality of life until maybe sometime in the future a cure can be found.

The people who prey on the desperation inherent in this situation are among the worst kind of criminal. Their victims, while perhaps lacking some of the clarity of reasoning, are still purely victims. They do not deserve to be preyed on while everything else in their lives is being torn down around them. Whats worse is the unfortunate soul who passes up on a treatment that might have actually given them something of a life in favor of one of these snake-oil treatments that simply took from them and their loved ones.

Audio gadgets

[GreatRedShark]

I've seen a list of audiophile gadgets here:
http://www.ilikejam.dsl.pipex.com/audiophile.htm

Re:Audio gadgets

[plover]

Thanks for that link, that's a great list. Reminds me of an old joke:

Q: What's the difference between a hifi salesman and a used car salesman?

A: The used car salesman knows when he's lying.

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

Re:Quote:

[syrinx]

"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."

Bergstein went on to say, "and as a Microsoft employee, I'm extremely familiar with software that generates results randomly."

Where are the HiFi Speaker Wires?

[path_man]

Warning: Troll Alert!! I'm sure I'll get modded down for this but...

I would think that the latest spate of HiFi speaker wires would be right up there. The key difference between dowsing rods and these cables, is that once in a while dowsing rods seem to work. The multi-hundred dollar cables, time and time again in double-blind tests, have been shown to perform more poorly than the cheap utility speaker wire. And yet, there's a whole industry out there that argues (and markets) to the contrary.

Snake Oil indeed.

Re:Where are the HiFi Speaker Wires?

[Linker3000]

I will only use oxygen free, litz-wound snake oil.

It has to be said by somebody....

[zappepcs]

Next year's list will include MS Vista operating software !

Re:Audiophooles

[butterwise]

insulted speaker cable

Yo, speaker cable, your momma so stupid it took her 2 hours to watch 60 Minutes!

Dowsing

[plover]

My father in law showed me how he uses dowsing rods. He takes hefty copper wire (about 8 gauge or so,) cuts it into two pieces each about half a meter long, bends a right angle in each roughly in the middle, and then walks around with one held very loosely in each hand with the wires pointing forward as he walks. When he crosses a water pipe, or electrical wire, or whatever he's looking for, the wires in his hands swing together.

He believes this with all his heart.

So one day I had him do it over a stretch of ground we both knew to have some old pipes buried under it. And then I had him repeat it, blindfolded. He couldn't hit the same spot twice. Not even close. (The pipes were indeed buried roughly where he said they were when his eyes were open.)

I tried to explain to him that he was simply remembering where he had buried the pipes, and that it was his subconscious mind that was causing the wires to cross, but he really didn't want to hear that. He'd rather believe in dowsing.

Re:Dowsing

[idontgno]

Better to admit to once having been a fool than to continue to fight when even you know that you're wrong.

Not really; you're neglecting a huge part of the psychology that makes snake oil work.

"You've proven nothing to me as long as I can refuse to admit being wrong."

The game's not over when objective reality says it's over; it's over only when the self-deluded stops deluding himself or herself, and that's a pretty tall hurdle to get over. Particularly if personal ego or public "face" is involved.

Re:Dowsing

[plover]

There are plenty of reasons why dowsing might appear to work so often. The world is full of clues, to someone who knows how to read them. A dowser probably picks up on them subconsciously. And a scam artist may pick up on them consciously, but has no reason to be truthful to you as to how he knows.

So how do you find a water pipe, when you don't "know" where the water pipe is? Well, if you've worked in construction all your life, you will learn things about house construction and plumbing. The sewer pipe usually exits near the front of the building facing the street, often in a line perpendicular to the street from the vent stack on the roof. You know that sewer pipes are built with as few bends as possible, as bends cause constrictions and blockage. And the water pipe will frequently parallel the sewer pipe, because you know that plumbers rarely want to dig two trenches when they only have to dig one. So you drive up to the place, your brain picks up on the vent stack on the roof (but doesn't tell your conscious self,) and you start witching for the pipes. Your subconscious does the rest.

Or out in the middle of an open field. Digging a trench for a pipe disturbs the ground. When a trench is backfilled, a small hump of dirt remains, but gets flattened out over time as the dirt is compacted. Sometimes the hump remains high over time, and sometimes the dirt is washed away before it's settled, leaving a slight depression. Some humans can detect minuscule changes in slope with their feet, and again this could happen without the dowser realizing it. Or the ground cover can reveal the presence of a dug-and-refilled trench, with less mature plants over the trench, or a slight change in the density of plant growth because of the digging, or plants that grow slightly differently due to the change in soil makeup beneath. There could be a difference in that weeds may be more or less prevalent over the refilled trench. Your feet can feel all of these differences. Cuts in the treeline at a distance can give visual clues, too.

A good friend is a pilot who has flown pipeline inspection flights, and he says they're easy to follow, even without the little yellow signs. Ground cover and erosion patterns give them away, even under a field that I personally know has been tilled annually for at least 27 years since the pipeline was buried. If you doubt me, go check a google satellite map of any local pipeline you're familiar with -- you will find an unnaturally straight line cutting through fields, passing under roads, disturbing trees, brush, and altering creekbeds. Yet if you were walking across that field, you'd likely miss all those clues.

Dowsers may be attuned to the differences without being aware that they are. But there's no magic behind dowsing. Sensitivity, observational skills, and experience are the really simple explanations. There's not much reason to "dig around" for a paranormal answer when there are perfectly logical physical reasons.

Some kind of error

[SnoopJeDi]

I think there's some kind of error with Slashdot, the article link is not working for me.

It's just taking me to the Skymall catalog.

Re:Comments on the article site

[ScentCone]

I can't even imagine the kind of imaginary world people with no scientific/technical formation live in.

And it's that attitude, sir, that prevents you from receiving quality information from the spirits around you. Trying drinking some more spirits, maybe it will help. Lack of imagination is often cured via an artifical suppression of inhibition. It also helps if there's a sexy druid you're trying to impress. Bonus: the more drink, the more any druid appears sexy.

Re:Wooden knobs == PC case mods

[schon]

How are wooden knobs any sillier than the modded PC case. PC case modders don't believe it will improve their FPS or ping times.

The wooden knobs are $400 because the manufacturer claims that they improve the sound quality.

That's rather a huge difference, IMHO.

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:On the contrary!

[Captain Splendid]

I'll be happy to sell someone a wooden knob for $500.

SOLD! D'ye know how much Pirate Penis Prosthetics go for on the open market, lad? That be a good deal, so it be.

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

Not that simple

[Moraelin]

A product is worth exactly what it's purchaser will pay for it.

Bringing free market theories into it is good and fine, but only if you also realize the context in which they apply. The free market is a bit more complex of abstraction. There are a heck of a ton of assumptions there, such as that the products are interchangeable, there are many suppliers, etc. And most importantly in this context: the buyers are perfectly informed.

That last part is crucial here: a product is worth exactly what you paid, only if you knew _exactly_ what you're buying. I.e., that doesn't apply to scams and cons.

If you think you bought Product A, but instead you got Product B, then that whole "is worth exactly what the purchaser paid" assumption falls flat on its face. Your judgment of whether or not it was worth it was based on Product A, not on product B.

E.g., if I offer to sell you, say, Porsche Carrera, how much is that worth to you? Even second hand it's still worth tens of thousands. Now imagine that you pay that money and I give you a toy car. That's just not the product you thought you were buying. Saying that it's worth exactly as much as you paid for it, would just be stupid.

Now that's a case where the fraud is easy to spot. This kind of snake oil is the same kind of fraud, only it's a lot harder to spot for the uninitiated.

E.g., if you had cancer and I promised you a medicine that can cure you, how much is that worth to you? Quite a lot, I'd bet. People have been known to blow their life's savings on such a miracle medicine or cancer-curing gizmo, in that situation. But that was worth the price only assuming that it is what I assured you it is. If instead I give you coloured water or a box that displays random numbers, then it's just not the product for which that price was judged.

It's the same fraud as in the car example: you were promised Product A and were given ample assurance that it is indeed Product A. That's what you judged that price for. But instead you were given Product B, which isn't even remotely the same thing. That's what makes it a fraud.

Now if those things were sold honestly as snake oil (think, "this bracelet won't do jack shit for your health, but we think that industrial cable looks cool and we're charging 500$ for it anyway"), _then_ that "it's worth what the purchaser paid" idea would apply. Sure, then the buyer knew exactly what he's getting, judget it worth every cent. Fair enough. If someone knew they're buying just a piece of steel cable, and was ok with paying that price for it, I can't argue with that.

But as long as the buyer was deliberately mis-led into thinking they bought something completely different, sorry, no. Just no.

Audio Cables and more.. A slight rant..

[h.ross.perot]

I wandered in to Radio Shack the other day for a TOSLINK cable. Young "not quite a geek" spys me and approaches. "How may I help you?" he says. "I need a few TOSLINK cables" says I.. and reach for the Radio Shack house brand.. "OH" he interrupts; "You don't want those; you want these" and reaches for a brand name that will remain nameless. I see a 59.00 dollar price tag on a 3 meter cable and look at the fellow. "So; what's the difference" I ask (Knowing he has not clue) "Well"; said the young not quite a geek; "these have better insulation". "Oh?" I counter; "Insulation from what; sunspots?" "No" he replies; "for all of the electronic gear around your house. The better insulation blocks hum and pops". Sad thing was the young lad had no idea why his argument was pointless. I remember the day when I could walk into a Radio Shank and hob-nod with my fellow wizards.. Now; I could probably go to 7-11 and get better advice. Rant mode off ..

Stock spam of lube additive treated as terrorism

[Animats]

A few years ago, I received many stock spams for "XLPI.PK", or Xcel Plus, which sells fuel and lubricant additives. Such additives are referred to in the automotive industry as "mouse milk"; they usually don't do much, and may make things worse. That whole category of products is mostly bogus.

Back then, their web site contained endorsements from the FAA and the US Army. The web site reproduced a a letter of endorsement appearing to be from an FAA representative. I thought this was a bit strange, so I sent off a note to the regional FAA office asking if it was legitimate.

A few weeks later, I got a call from an anti-terrorism investigator at NCIS. Someone at the FAA had looked at the letter and the web site. They apparently didn't like what they saw, and referred the matter for investigation of the use of unapproved lubricants in military equipment. That comes under the "sabotaging the war effort" laws, which brings in military investigators.

I'm not sure what happened thereafter, but the spamming stopped and "XLPI.PK" is now trading at $0.001.

Re:James Randi is also a fraud.

[gurps_npc]

Christ, what a foolish argument.

1. Everybody has a personal investment in not being proven wrong about this crap. But the lying/fools that think Dowsing works have a MUCH GREATER personal investment in not being proven wrong than James Randi does. Even claiming the personal investment arguement makes you look foolish.

2. The Let me get this straight, you are complainging that his tests are too strict? I got news for you kid, every scientific experiemnt has FAR stricter tests than the relatively easy thing James Randi does. Why? Because CON MEN DO EXIST. You have to be pretty moronic to complain about someone making it dificult to be conned. As a stage performer, Randi KNOWS how to trick people and he is NOT stupid enough to let someone use those same methods on him.

3. Real things work no matter what kind of strict tests you do. You light a match, it works. It works if 'non-believers' are present. It works if cameras are watching you. It works if a CHILD does it. It just works. Dowsing simply does NOT work.

4. The thing to remember is that people claiming that Dowsing work: a. make money doing it, so they have LARGE incentive to lie and cheat. b. If they did work, they would make SO money by actually doing it for real that the million dollars from Randi would be small potatoes.

5. You admit that there ARE shysters and frauds. Fine. Believe it or not but that puts the burden of proof on you. Because the rest of us do NOT admit that anyone can do it for real. The existence of shysters and frauds means there is PLENTY of doubt that ANYONE can really do it. Why? Because for a real product, the shysters and fraud get OUTSOLD by the people doing it for real. When you go buy a new car, you do not have a real chance of getting something that has no engine. The existence of REAL cars make it very hard to sell fake ones. If Dowsing etc. was real, the real people would outcompete the fakes and it would be hard to find one of the shysters and frauds. The fact that there are so many many shysters and frauds is not 100% proof that no real ones exist, but it pretty darn close to it that no real ones existed 10 years ago (because if one real one existed 10 years ago, he and his students would have put the fake ones out of business by now.

Stop attacking the guy that proves you wrong and just prove yourself right. Otherwise, everyone will continue to laugh at your foolishnes.

I would gladly . . .

[Anomalous Cowbird]

. . . go quite a non-meterian distance to obtain a device which emits "non-Hertzian frequencies."

Especially if I can pay for it with non-monetary currency.