# Company sells dowsing rods for use as bomb detectors **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 5, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-sells-dowsing-rods-for-use-as-bomb-detectors/516444 "2009-11-05T17:27:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-sells-dowsing-rods-for-use-as-bomb-detectors/516444/21 "2009-11-06T02:09:52Z")
> [@Bookkeeper](#): > > But they DO work! ([If you use them like any other pointed stick to poke gently into the ground to find the buried mines and bombs](http://www.armedforces-int.com/images/companies/1311/mine-clearing.jpg) :rolleyes:) I’d be more concerned about the worthlessness of that thin sheet of Lexan covering his(?) face if my introduction to the product hadn’t been a test by GE Plastics (then a subsidiary of the Sheinhardt Wig Company) in which a shotgun was fired at a Lexan motorcycle helmet visor and the only place a pellet passed through was through a metal snap. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-sells-dowsing-rods-for-use-as-bomb-detectors/516444/22 "2009-11-06T14:32:23Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Well, yes it is. We never relied exclusively on psychics for esponage, and laugh if you want to about the burning photos thing–if that hadda worked out it would have been awesome! But you make my point for me. Neither method worked reliably and so they were back-burnered for “further study” while more effective methods were pursued. If you haven’t read _The Men Who Stare At Goats_, I strongly recommend you do so forthwith. The psychic spies were “back burnered” for _20 years_. That’s how long it took the Department of Defense to figure out what an incredibly stupid idea they were. I presume they cover this in the movie too but I haven’t seen it yet. This made me giggle uncontrollably: > [@](#): > > “Whether it’s magic or scientific, what I care about is it detects bombs,” said Maj. Gen. Jehad al-Jabiri, head of the Ministry of the Interior’s General Directorate for Combating Explosives. Does anybody else desperately want _Ministry of the Interior - General Directorate for Combating Explosives_ on their business card? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-sells-dowsing-rods-for-use-as-bomb-detectors/516444/23 "2009-11-06T14:39:38Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Well, yes it is. We never relied exclusively on psychics for esponage, and laugh if you want to about the burning photos thing–if that hadda worked out it would have been awesome! But you make my point for me. Neither method worked reliably and so they were back-burnered for “further study” while more effective methods were pursued. Correction-neither method worked _at all_. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-sells-dowsing-rods-for-use-as-bomb-detectors/516444/24 "2009-11-06T14:48:16Z")
Moved from The BBQ Pit to Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share. **Gfactor** Pit Moderator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-sells-dowsing-rods-for-use-as-bomb-detectors/516444.md?page=1)