Now I’ll be the first to admit that most, if not all, TV commercials are lies, damn lies, and lies wrapped up in a crisp taco shell, just 99 cents while offers last. But there was one I saw the other day that had me rolling on the floor.
It was for some medication. Probably for weight loss, but I can’t remember. As I remember, they were making some pretty strong claims, like it was the only method ever invented, ever, that actually resulted in weight loss. Unlike the grapefruit diet and the breadfruit diet and the Fruity Pebbles diet, this one really works!
Well, at least that claim is true, since distilled water is 100% safe to consume.
If it is, indeed homeopathic, unlike, e.g., Zicam, which is labeled as “homeopathic” to avoid regulation, but which isn’t really, since it contains siginficant amounts of zinc.
And if it is, indeed, pure distilled water. Which you wouldn’t know for sure, since the FDA has no power to regulate homeopathic remedies, as they are niether foods nor drugs.
My favorite pseudo-science in commercials is when they show how medicine works. They show the animated human figure with a red bit in the head or the stomach that represents the pain or the indigestion or whatever. Then they show the medicine going down the throat and towards the red bit. Then it dissolves the red bit. And that’s how medicine works. I learn a lot from those commercials.
If I understand homeopathic medicine (not Homeropathic, that is for Cafe Society Simpsons threads) the lower the concentration the more effective. Then shouldn’t deionized water be the most effective possible medication since it has the lowest concentrations of medicines? Then again it has the lowest concentration of poisons so they probably just balance out.
This may not be quite in the same vein of “bad science” in that it’s not meant to mislead people into buying phony medications, but it’s always bugged me how those ads for the “Mach 3” razors from Gillette show this supersonic fighter jet zooming along… breaking Mach 1 BOOM, then Mach 2 BOOM, and gloriously, MACH3 BOOM!
True, going the speed of sound is called “Mach 1”, and going twice the speed of sound is “Mach 2”, etc. And there is a “sonic boom” phenomenon when the speed of sound is broken. BUT, there is no boom at Mach 2 and Mach 3! These aren’t the same note at different octives!
Reminds of when they put a bowl of some frosted, candy cereal next to a a complete breakfast (juice, milk, toast, fruit) and then say it’s “part of this complete breakfast.”
What I want to know is how those mops that use static cling to “grab” onto the dust bunnies and pet hair work. Doesn’t the static discharge after awhile?
With all due respect; The “boom” just follows merrily along behind the plane at any speed above Mach 1. It doesn’t just happen once as you go thru the transonic part of the envelope. So actually, there is a boom at Mach 3 (at least if you’re close enough).
Cheers.
PS. If you ask nice, I’ll explain to everyone the exact definition of “pedantic”.
Especially distilled water. IIRC from 10th grade Biology, distilled water flows into cells and causes them to burst, much more than regular water does, what with its lack of solutes or somesuch.
