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19th December 2023, 08:30 PM | #1 | |||
Penultimate Amazing
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The Scam That Tricked Millions of Athletes
Remember Phiten necklaces and Power Balance bracelets?
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A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. William Shakespeare |
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19th December 2023, 08:56 PM | #2 |
Penultimate Amazing
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Some years ago ISTR we had some discussion of Q-Ray Bracelets on this forum but I don't remember Power Balance (same scam though).
Here you go: http://www.internationalskeptics.com...archid=9946650 Both are still being actively sold. (Do your own Google!) 'ol PT Barnum would be proud. |
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19th December 2023, 09:47 PM | #3 |
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Say what you want, but they cured me of a disease I never knew I had until the seller told me about it.
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19th December 2023, 10:49 PM | #4 |
Philosopher
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We don't want good, sound arguments. We want arguments that sound good. |
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20th December 2023, 01:25 AM | #5 |
Penultimate Amazing
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A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. William Shakespeare |
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20th December 2023, 03:16 AM | #6 |
Philosopher
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I'm wondering what kind of 'bogus' claim you could make for a necklace or bracelet that people would a. believe, and b. be of use to athletes and celebrities.
Hard to believe it could be more 'bogus' than convincing someone that a bit of carbon stuck on a ring is worth $45,000. Man loses legal bid to reclaim $45k diamond engagement ring after split with fianceé
Quote:
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20th December 2023, 03:44 AM | #7 |
Penultimate Amazing
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Yeah, I agree, but nobody is claiming that diamonds can cure any diseases or enhance athletic performance. From your response I'm guessing that you haven't actually watched the video. That's fine, but since this thread is about the video and the products in the video, there's not much point in commenting without watching it. You could start your own thread about how diamonds are a scam or actually watch the video.
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A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. William Shakespeare |
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20th December 2023, 07:50 AM | #8 |
So far, so good...
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Here is another test of the power balance bracelet:
https://cfiig.org/the-iig-power-balance-experiment/ |
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Over we go.... |
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20th December 2023, 08:04 AM | #9 |
Penultimate Amazing
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Videos are much less accessible than text, for me. Is it possible for you to discuss ideas which interest you here, in your own words, rather than assigning homework?
Can you at least give a summary of who the author of the video is, why you trust them, and what we might expect to learn from watching their video? |
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There is no Antimemetics Division. |
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20th December 2023, 08:14 AM | #10 |
Penultimate Amazing
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"Reality is what's left when you cease to believe." Philip K. Dick |
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20th December 2023, 08:20 AM | #11 |
Penultimate Amazing
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Having no interest in watching some random video by some random "content creator", I'm gonna go ahead and say my provisional conclusion is that the bracelets are fine and Bill Clinton was probably on to something.
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20th December 2023, 08:41 AM | #12 |
Penultimate Amazing
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I only got about three minutes into the vid, and the gist is that these little fashion accessories gave you magic powers based on some delusional pretense of science that didn't even make sense in theory. I never heard of these things specifically either, but probably just didn't notice, what with all the copper bracelets and magnetic necklaces and all.
Without having watched the whole video or know anything at all about the product, I feel supremely confident in stating unequivocally that the manufacturers don't owe anybody anything. Caveat emptor, and if you are enough of a sap to buy magic fashion jewelry, you deserve whatever's coming to you. |
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20th December 2023, 06:14 PM | #13 |
Penguilicious Spodmaster.
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Here's the Power Balance Wikipedia article, and the section about their efficacy, or rather, lack thereof.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Balance
Quote:
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20th December 2023, 08:34 PM | #14 |
Penultimate Amazing
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A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. William Shakespeare |
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20th December 2023, 08:37 PM | #15 |
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Did anyone else get a Placebo Band?
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So take that quantum equation and recalculate the wave by a factor of hoopty doo! The answer is not my problem, it's yours. Three Word Story Wisdom |
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20th December 2023, 09:11 PM | #16 |
Penultimate Amazing
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A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. William Shakespeare |
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20th December 2023, 10:33 PM | #17 |
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Thamks for the wiki link, Orphia Nay.
Anyhow, someone gave me a magnet bracelet once. I wore it only because I like to wear bracelets. I certainly didn't need any wrist control beyond pinball. |
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21st December 2023, 12:11 AM | #18 |
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LOL! A very sporty colleague of mine wore one of those. He was into cycling and was, as far as I remember, the last hold-out to insist that Lance Armstrong was clean.
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Слава Україні! **** Putin! |
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21st December 2023, 04:10 AM | #19 |
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21st December 2023, 06:13 AM | #20 |
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21st December 2023, 06:28 AM | #21 |
Penultimate Amazing
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Caption from and old New Yorker cartoon - Why am I shouting? Because I'm wrong!" |
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21st December 2023, 09:58 AM | #22 |
Safely Ignored
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I'm a little curious that I never heard of these magic products which fooled millions of athletes. I'm not curious enough to watch the video, so this is not the thread for me.
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21st December 2023, 10:07 AM | #23 |
Penultimate Amazing
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It's frankly stunning that anyone anywhere took these things seriously enough to test them. They put little hologram discs (featuring the company logo) in a silicone band and say that the holograms interact with your body's "energy field" and makes you better, stronger, faster. I mean...wtf is wrong with these people? They are like literally magic beans that you can't even eat.
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"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect" -Mark Twain "Half of what he said meant something else, and the other half didn't mean anything at all" -Rosencrantz, on Hamlet |
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21st December 2023, 12:19 PM | #24 |
No longer the 1
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Meh, people still buy "RFID blocking" wallets.
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As human right is always something given, it always in reality reduces to the right which men give, "concede," to each other. If the right to existence is conceded to new-born children, then they have the right; if it is not conceded to them, as was the case among the Spartans and ancient Romans, then they do not have it. For only society can give or concede it to them; they themselves cannot take it, or give it to themselves. |
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21st December 2023, 12:54 PM | #25 |
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21st December 2023, 01:52 PM | #26 |
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21st December 2023, 02:28 PM | #27 |
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It's not just athletes. I'm a programmer and in a big project about ten years ago I noticed one of our testers had this ugly bracelet thing on. I forget the brand, but it was one of those "there's a chip inside whose frequency protects you" things.
I asked if it really helped her, and she sort of non-answered in a vague slightly embarrassed way that indicated she knew people thought it was bunk, and she possibly even thought it might be bunk herself; but she did keep wearing it. |
21st December 2023, 02:37 PM | #28 |
Penultimate Amazing
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21st December 2023, 02:56 PM | #29 |
Penultimate Amazing
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"Well, what's the harm?"
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Science is self-correcting. Woo is self-contradicting. |
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21st December 2023, 04:27 PM | #30 |
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So take that quantum equation and recalculate the wave by a factor of hoopty doo! The answer is not my problem, it's yours. Three Word Story Wisdom |
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21st December 2023, 04:34 PM | #31 |
Penguilicious Spodmaster.
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21st December 2023, 04:37 PM | #32 |
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So take that quantum equation and recalculate the wave by a factor of hoopty doo! The answer is not my problem, it's yours. Three Word Story Wisdom |
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21st December 2023, 04:41 PM | #33 |
Penguilicious Spodmaster.
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21st December 2023, 06:17 PM | #34 |
Penultimate Amazing
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"Reality is what's left when you cease to believe." Philip K. Dick |
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21st December 2023, 06:31 PM | #35 |
Observer of Phenomena
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So take that quantum equation and recalculate the wave by a factor of hoopty doo! The answer is not my problem, it's yours. Three Word Story Wisdom |
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21st December 2023, 06:40 PM | #36 |
Penultimate Amazing
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21st December 2023, 06:47 PM | #37 |
Observer of Phenomena
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Wow, chill dude. No need to go on the attack in this thread.
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So take that quantum equation and recalculate the wave by a factor of hoopty doo! The answer is not my problem, it's yours. Three Word Story Wisdom |
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21st December 2023, 06:57 PM | #38 |
Penultimate Amazing
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I had a friend who I trained BJJ with who wore one of these. One of those people who was pretty anti-woo but still fell for all sorts of sciency-sounding BS.
Around the same time I was visiting Las Vegas with family as a brief stop on the way to the Grand Canyon. There was a guy with a booth on the street selling these, and he got my dad and sister to listen to his demonstration (my dad was just enjoying it for entertainment value). It was pretty funny when he did that "muscle testing" trick where he had them wear the bracelet and then try to hold an arm up against him pushing it down, and then did the same thing with the bracelet off. I guess because I already knew the trick that it seemed pretty obvious to me how he shifted his balance differently when they wore the bracelet and when they didn't, so it seemed like he was still pushing hard in both cases, but when the bracelet was off he could actually put his weight into it. After walking away I demonstrated on my dad how the guy had done it. Anyway, I haven't watched the video (because I can't), but as I recall it's basically just a bracelet with a magnet in it. IIRC they make a bunch of weird health claims from improved athletic performance to preventing disease, none of which is at all plausible. |
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21st December 2023, 07:14 PM | #39 |
Penultimate Amazing
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I think Orphia's use of "cow-orker" is just an old meme from this forum's JREF days, not necessarily a comment on her relationship to that particular person.
"Commenting skeptically" could be taken in many different ways, but it's not obviously bullying. She could very plausibly just have expressed doubt in its usefulness and explained why. Personally I usually avoid those sorts of comments. For instance I never talked to the BJJ friend I mentioned above about his bracelet. I think I just changed the subject when he suggested that I get one too. But that's just because I know myself well enough to know that I could end up getting frustrated and annoyed if we actually did start discussing whether or not it was effective. |
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"... when people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together." Isaac Asimov |
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21st December 2023, 07:38 PM | #40 |
Penultimate Amazing
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