myrmepropagandistI went on Facebook (I know I know I know) and they are selling tinfoil hats.
The "Wavestopper" costs $88 Free Shipping!
(I checked. It is not an April Fools joke. Selling to people with "brain fog" feels a little predatory to me.)
Do you think the people selling this are laughing at their customers or are they into it?
It's like a damn joke.
Ann K.@futurebird The old cliche laughing all the way to the bank.
goaty goats (she) 
@futurebird depends on the business model. if it's MLM it's definitely a mix of both!
Carolyn@futurebird They are exploiting the idiocy common today. Just look at the "wellness" industry and US gov. People are steaming parts of their anatomy that are not supposed to have air introduced, sunning their nether regions to power up for the day, sticking so many things up their hinies that have no business there, are vilifying life-saving vaccines...
So this hat is like a harmless nothing that I am sure many will buy and somehow feel safer for the wearing...
Sigh.
Jack the Waterlogged Count@CStamp @futurebird It's a magnetic bracelet for the Rona era. Mostly a scam, but also basically a harmless bit of tat that makes people feel happy.
Amorpheus@count_01 @CStamp @futurebird Some people just are wired that way. This product is like... "Ok... you wanna comply with your brain wiring? Now you can without people staring at you for believing in something that lacks scientific consense."
I don't think these things are harmless because they are a symptom of people not getting real help, and because it's a rip off.
I don't think it should be so easy to make money telling lies and ripping people off with false medical claims.
@futurebird Most wackos are very careful to have disclaimers about their claims. It would be interesting to see the fine print.
And, I agree with you. Laws should not be allowing this, but until they do, this is one of the less harmful things I've seen.
AnnieBuddyI really hope it unrelated, but I saw 2 teen girls wearing what looked like tinfoil hats in a small town near me last week. I was thinking it was an interesting look 👀
@AnnieBuddy @futurebird It's disturbing that in the age of information, people are choosing ignorance.
But it reminds me of back at the beginning of the internet, in which authorities expressed concern with regards to pedophiles. Before the internet, they were generally isolated and they knew that what they were doing was wrong by social standards. The internet gave them community, to validate and justify their actions.
This is a greater manifestation of finding community as an outlier.
Luna Lactea@AnnieBuddy @futurebird @CStamp Maybe something to do with hair dyeing. I think one of the methods for doing highlights or complete dyeing involves separating bunches of hair & wrapping them in foil to contain the dye as it soaks in so you can do other things while waiting on it.
However it also could have been foil hats. Kids are exposed to more anti knowledge propaganda now than they have ever been.
Fluffy Kitty Cat@futurebird @CStamp real healthcare is too expensive but quack stuff is affordable
@fluffykittycat @futurebird That wackadoodle stuff isn't contained to the US.
True. But I think it's resurgent at the moment. I'd love to see a false advertising crackdown.
These people are fearless.
@CStamp @futurebird this is an important market for them at scale. So many people so little healthcare
Brian Nicar@futurebird It's hard to say whether all the new-age garbage out there is being sold by true believers or con artists. A mixture of both?
David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)Around 25 years ago, there was a not-very-serious paper from MIT that pointed out that tinfoil hats are basically parabolic reflectors and so, rather than keeping out rays, they will focus them on the brain.
Possibly worth sharing with people who might buy this nonsense.
lemgandiHah. What the MIT folks didn't realize is that by FOCUSING THE RADIO WAVES your brain becomes MORE POWERFUL!
groxx@lemgandi @david_chisnall @futurebird I'm sure they're aware - the parabolic antenna that the hat makes is aimed down, increasing your reception of the Earth's healing Schumann resonance waves. It's like dial-up for the collective unconscious (slower access is healthier, it's low glycemic index information and the opposite of unhealthy 5G).
@lemgandi @david_chisnall @futurebird You still use a cellphone to make long distance calls? So old fashioned! I use my parabolic reflecting foil hat to focus radio waves into my hypothalamus, allowing me to receive & transmit radio communications for miles!
gentle colossus@david_chisnall @futurebird given the price and material used, guessing they're doing* a mini Faraday cage? while a silly thing to put on one's head, it'd be a great for - random example - tossing your phone inside during a protest
(*gesturing towards uselessly in its intended role as a hat)
A Faraday Cage needs to be completely enclosed. Most people regard placing metal all of the way through their necks unfavourably.
Getting a metal mesh implanted below my brain so I can get full coverage.
SecondUniverse (she/her/they)
серафими многоꙮчитїи
Gerard Cunningham ✒️@david_chisnall @futurebird Well that's just the kind of thing Big 5G would say
Lunaphied@futurebird the latter or they literally don't care
BenAs we say in England - they must be Havn a laugh...
The reviews are quite something. Trying to summon the energy to look up the 'Clinician Reviewed' quacks.... Probably low energy because of the signals. Maybe I need a hat.
Here is an image of Jean Marie Tuete, NP at St Albert Family clinic in Delaware. 👍
They seem to be real people, the next question is do they know they are being used on this site or nah?
I had a sales email recently where I reverse image searched the staff and there was over a hundred profiles on LinkedIn for each person. Different names, companies, countries.
Draken BlackKnight@futurebird
...that price tag should be a dead giveaway as to their target demographic.
...that price tag should be a dead giveaway as to their target demographic.
Kid Mania
Hot Dog Water, will not complyIf I was just a skosh more evil I'd be selling all kinds of geegaws and doodads to the superstitious New-age Dark Age dipshits.
Pepperbike@GGMcBG @futurebird It is immoral to let stupid people keep their money.
Rachel Rawlings@futurebird They're selling it for $88? If they're not laughing, they're seig heiling at trump rallies.
John Maxwell@futurebird The science says it's so much worse than that.
https://web.archive.org/web/20100708230258/http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/
https://web.archive.org/web/20100708230258/http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/
Aoife 🦫🏴@futurebird That price tag was A Choice
Maybe? The "wavestopper" boxers are $78 ... I don't see a pattern in the other prices.
IDK I don't know every creepy number what do you think:
havnwear. com/collection/best-sellers
@futurebird Nothing else jumping out at me other than that the company used to be called "Spartan" which is red flaggy but not a slam dunk, and not finding much about the guy behind it outside of interviews which he isn't really dropping any dogwhistles. Probably not a nazi rn, but the way these alternative medicine grifters are I'm sure he will be in a few years.
Bryan Veal@futurebird @serverlessaoife I’d expect the baseball/trucker hat to have dog whistle pricing before the beanie.
Berkubernetus@futurebird I also like the fake certification for it.
IEEE-299 describes a method of measuring shielding effectiveness.
So that's like saying "Certified to Relative Humidity Standards".
Clayfoot
@futurebird Though these days, it isn't radio waves that I worry about getting through
https://bulletproofzone.com/products/legacy-safety-bulletproof-baseball-hat
https://bulletproofzone.com/products/legacy-safety-bulletproof-baseball-hat
Finitum@clayfoot @futurebird finally
Is this to keep something out... or is it to keep something *in* ?
@clayfoot @futurebird Do they sell chaps to go with their chafes?
@linuxandyarn @futurebird Well that's just silly
Luka Rubinjoni@futurebird Does it prevent brainrot?
You mean like... somehow keeping it from getting out of the hat and spreading? Like it's a brainrot containment hat?
hmm?
I think one would need some kind of noise canceling face mask to do that.
@futurebird The rot is out of the hat. We're late. Sorry.
WTL@futurebird 😳🤦🏻🤔👿🤮
Azuaron@futurebird As someone substantially disabled by brain fog, that ad makes me want to perform some Luddite-like activities.
@futurebird I found their Amazon page and gave them a glowing (like nuclear waste) review, and reported their product page. Will Amazon do anything? Probably not. But hopefully it makes them do some damage control, at the very least.
Josh 
Joe MansfieldNow I really want one of those.
@helvick @futurebird I got it from ARSE. Not sure if they’re selling them right now, but they’ve always got fun things. (I like to buy their refrigerator magnets to surreptitiously leave on my friends’ refrigerators and see how long it takes them to notice.)
Australian Research & Space Exploration - Space Australia
The Australian space program brings many opportunities in research and exploration to the domestic and international market. Let's explore the universe together. ARSE covers the future of space in Australia as we go forward hand in hand, together with agency. Connect with Australian Space Industry insiders.
Jeff Forcier@josh0 @futurebird love some good ARSE swag!
Carsten Franke@futurebird I wonder how it shields 99.7% when about 40 % of your head are open... And otherwise...price for best snake oil product of the year? When is a red MAGA version coming?