
Unboxing a 5G Protection Device - jackpea
http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2020/05/unboxing-a-5g-protection-device.html
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stinos
Sort of related: had a customer with a problem where data on a serial line got
corrupted which is usually resolved by applying proper shielding all around
the cable, i.e. standard Faraday cage principle. So English not being my
native language I wanted to explain this in correct terms and entered the term
'emf shielding' in a search engine just to doublecheck. I think 90% of the
results on the result page were all like this, 'protect your family from
dangerous EMF'-style. Image search: the same, images of entire iron curtains
meant to be put around your bed etc. Since this was using Duckduckgo, which as
far as I know does not suffer from the typical 'search bubble' like on Google,
I'm afraid this is an accurate representation of.. what actually? The internet
being flooded by companies wanting to make easy money? There being serious
amounts of people with a misunderstanding of EMF, it's sources and effects?

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jcun4128
Unrelated: was thinking how it would be possible to truly prove uniqueness eg.
by DNA but it seems everything can be spoofed. One way to avoid it is
computation eg. captcha but yeah sucks. This thought related to online voting.

I do find it interesting the desire to harm/screw other people over and feel
no remorse. Like those scams getting busted in certain places eg. fake virus
support. People show up to their actual office and do the scam like their 9-5
haha... Idk crazy. I sometimes wish I had that malintent vs. just being a
passive people pleaser. Like I'm sorry of my existence. Meanwhile guy jaywalks
across traffic to me and asks me for some money so he can go to McDonalds...
Idk. Conversely I see a legitimely homeless person and I offer them money,
they refuse.

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stinos
_I do find it interesting the desire to harm /screw other people over and feel
no remorse_

I'm not sure this is _the_ driving force here, especially when your
description sort of fits the worst psychopaths, and I can think of other
principles these people live by which aren't necessarily driven by such 'evil'
forces. E.g. desire to survive (==food/shelter) which in modern society
usually translates to desire to earn money, see an easy way to do that, feel
remorse but ignore it.

Alos, after having talked to so-called tinfoil hatters, it seems that a large
part of them genuinely believe all these theories (well, or were extremely
good in tricking me into believing they believe) and as such also believe they
can actually help people so from their point of view it's not a desire to harm
or screw over but rather to help. As crippled as that might seem to others.
I.e. do not underestimate the power of the human mind to play tricks on
itself, or mental problems in other words.

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jcun4128
> actually help people so from their point of view

Hmm I did not think of that. My rant was mostly about scams where you know
it's a lie eg. a fake virus and then you proceed to convince someone they have
to pay you money to fix this problem you made up.

But yeah I see your point about the need to make money too in this particular
situation(what I'm talking about) it is a fast way to make a lot of money.

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Eyght
On the subject of placebo technology. How well do HN think placebo software
would work?

An example would be a productivity app that only has a flip switch for High or
Low productivity. Whenever you need to be extra productive, just open the app
and set it to High.

~~~
comboy
It wouldn't be just placebo though. Clearly separating time when you want to
be productive vs playing around is an old and effective trick.

Placebo apps that make your Internet faster are as old as the Internet itself
though. I am guilty. In my defense, that was 20 years ago.

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mercer
I'm not 100% certain of how the medical/psychological community would define
'placebo', but I'd argue it's not as simple as this not being a placebo
because it's an effective trick.

The fact that placebos are effective is precisely /because/ they're
effectively tricking whatever badly-understood connection there is between our
thinking and our body. I imagine that there are degrees to this: 'tricking'
ourselves to be productive by deciding to clean our house instead would
generally not be called a placebo, whereas taking a sugar pill that lifts us
out of depression probably would.

But fundamentally they're just the same thing on a spectrum: an improvement as
a result of something that we /know/ should not be effective by understood,
biological pathways.

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woadwarrior01
What a lazy job! The least they could’ve done was to throw in a low frequency
oscillator, to give it some credibility. Fighting high-frequencies with low.
:)

OTOH, the reasoning for poor construction of these devices is probably similar
to the reasoning for poor English in 419 scam emails.

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AstralStorm
Having an oscillator on radio frequencies would require FCC stamp of approval.

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lvturner
The FCC doesn't have jurisdiction in the United Kingdom.

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metrokoi
I wonder if there would be a market for actual electromagnetic shielding
products, such as some sort of conductive paint for walls and ceilings? Of
course, you could not use your phone or other devices, but it could be useful
for the bedroom. A good way to have a guaranteed "do-not-disturb" zone as
well!

~~~
AstralStorm
The market is there, schools would love this technology. The problem is that
simple thin coat of aluminized paint is super expensive, as is a big mesh. And
phones are very effective at getting the low signals through any available
hole in filter coverage.

~~~
JPLeRouzic
I wonder if it would be possible to install a 4G network extender [0] then
implement IP route rules on the ADSL router, to forbid access to Facebook and
co?

[0] [https://www.verizon.com/support/4g-lte-network-extender-
faqs...](https://www.verizon.com/support/4g-lte-network-extender-faqs/)

~~~
rosswilson
Those extenders typically backhaul the traffic over a VPN back to the telco,
so your router would never see the true destination (e.g. Facebook).

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raxxorrax
Oh, I thought it would about some kind of mechanism against vandalism. How
naive of me in the early hours...

Surrounding yourself with a strong electromagnetic field should help you
shield against electromagne... forget it.

~~~
LeonM
> Surrounding yourself with a strong electromagnetic field...

Clearly you haven't read the advert, it's a 'nano-layer of quantum holographic
catalyzer technology'

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danparsonson
"...the slideshow will take you through my discoveries..." \- I'm being dim,
but where is the slide-show?

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kozak
How is it not illegal to sell these?

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andreareina
"These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA^H^H^H MHRA. This product
is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease."

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AstralStorm
Radio waves are under the purview of FCC not FDA. (Unlike laser light.) MHRA
has absolutely nothing to do with anything. Regulatory body in UK for radio
waves is also separate from MHRA. I might be wrong there but I think it's CAA,
while spectrum allocations are UK parliament.

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carlob
I had this idea of starting a business selling homeopathic antidotes to
vaccines. If anyone wants to partner up...

~~~
Namari
What would you want to treat?

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AstralStorm
Excess of money combined with lack of sense. (Or non-existent side effects of
vaccines.)

