Would you pay $1000 for a blow dryer if it was called by a different name? I wouldn’t!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an article by Joe Schwarcz at the McGill Office for Science and Society on February 28, 2024 titled The “Repronizer” Merits Reproach, and subtitled It looks like a hairdryer, but the manufacturer explains that it is more than that. But the explanation reeks of twaddle. He opens by stating:

 

“We have become accustomed to seeing a lot of gobbledygook online. But the jargon that purports to explain the workings of the ‘Repronizer’ elevates bunk to new heights. What is the Repronizer? A device to ‘bioprogram hair.’ Not a hair dryer, the profusion of ads proclaim, although it sure looks like one.”

 

There is a three-minute YouTube video from from BeautyTech Distribution titled How to use your Repronizer where it sure looks like a typical blow dryer – except there also are a couple of washable air filter disks. It does not mention the wattage though. I looked up the instruction manual for the Repronizer 4D and found it draws 1200W at 100 V. Assuming that current of 12 amperes, at 120 V it would draw 1440 W.

 

There is another article by Krista Limoges and Olivia Cigliano at Women’s Wear Daily on October 27, 2023 titled The 9 Best Affordable Hair Dryers for Under $100. The 1440 W for the Repronizer actually is less than the typical 1800 W for their best blow dryers.

 

Yet another article by Maryam Lieberman at W Magazine on April 4, 2023 titled This Miracle Japanese Blow Dryer Uses Heat to Produce Healthier Hair gives it a glowing review and says:

 

“The technology behind this device is unparalleled. For its haircare line, Lumelinia relies on the power of quantum technology, which takes surplus moisture from your body and brings it to the surface level of your scalp. (As one of the company’s reps explained to me, the process is similar to taking a raisin to the hydration level of a grape.) They recommended I do ‘a slow pass every day, and you will see, it will improve your hair.’ I have been, every morning, and the results are remarkable.”

 

But Ms. Lieberman says the Repronizer sells for $1020, or over ten times the price for those dryers reviewed by Women’s Wear Daily. That’s absurd!

 

Dr. Schwarcz’s article mentions but does not link to a five-minute YouTube video demonstration of the Repronizer 3D Plus. The captions say:

 

“In this test, one designated portion of hair on the back of the head is blown with warm and cool air alternately in 5-minute intervals for a total of two hours.”

 

After two hours moisture content of the hair increased from 15.3% to 21.5%. That’s NOT what you’d expect from a dryer – but is what would happen if the humidity of air in the room was higher than where the test subject had been previously. (The moisture content of hair varies with humidity).  

 

The sixth paragraph of Dr. Schwarcz’s article points out:

 

“Any proper scientific experiment requires a control. In this case, that would be having the subject sit for two hours without the Repronizer doing whatever it does. Just let the hair air dry. I suspect the results would be the same. I base my opinion on a paper published in the Annals of Dermatology that reported on washing tresses of hair and then exposing them to different drying temperatures by holding the dryer at different distances. The results were compared with using no dryer at all. There was more surface damage to hair when a hair dryer was used than when the hair was allowed to dry naturally.”

 

There is actually another eight and a half minute YouTube video from BeautyTech Distribution titled REPRONIZER 4D PLUS DEMONSTRATION TEST. This time they did a three-hour test, but with a 0.47” thick plate glass blocking the wind. Yet the moisture content again rose, from 11.5% to 13.7%. What’s really going on here? As I said before, the moisture content of hair varies with humidity. In fact, one type of hygrometer uses a hair as the humidity sensor. The astonished folks viewing the demonstration are being misdirected to look at the visible Repronizer as the cause of hair changes rather than the invisible real cause of humidity in the video studio.

 

The dishwasher detergent pods I use are Finish Powerball Quantum. They work well, and Quantum in the name sounds impressive. Anytime you see quantum in a fancy explanation you might as well replace it with rectum – which is where the bogus wording came from.

 

The blow dryer cartoon was adapted from one at Opencilpart.

 

 

Pearls Before Swine cartoon about that distinctive Pittsburgh accent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An accent reveals where you came from. The March 1, 2024 Pearls Before Swine cartoon by Stephan Pastis has the following dialogue:

 

Policeman: Pardon me folks, but we’re looking for a bank robber. All we know about him is that he’s from Pittsburgh.

Rat: Yeah, well good luck ID’ing someone just based on where they’re from.

Bald Man: Yeah, yinz are nuts.

Goat: Pittsburghese for ‘you all.’

Rat: They have their own language?

Bald Man: Was my Franco Harris underwear showing?

 

I grew up in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh (from 1955 to 1977) and am familiar with their distinctive Western Pennsylvania English. Back on February 1, 2015 I blogged about how Last fall Pittsburgh took the prize for worst accent in the U.S. 

 

In Philadelphia they say youse, down South it’s y’all, but around Pittsburgh it’s yinz (or yunz). In Squirrel Hill the phrase: Yinz gwan up Murray? means Are you going (shopping) up on Murray Avenue?

 

The panorama came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

Stage fright doesn’t impact 73% of the U.S. adult population, it’s really just 21%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes what we read from a usually reliable source is just plain wrong. There is an article by Mariana Bockarova at Psychology Today on March 16, 2023 titled Local Perspectives: Singing With Stage Fright. She opened it by claiming:

 

“According to the National Institute of Mental Health, ‘stage fright,’ or performance anxiety - the fear one feels when needing to perform or present in public, impacts approximately 73 percent of the population. In fact, stage fright is the most commonly cited fear people have.”

 

That’s hogwash. On August 12, 2015 I blogged about how There’s really no mystery about how common stage fright is. Research supported by the National Institute of Mental Health found 21.2 percent had stage fright – about three times less.

 

That 73 percent is a baseless number from a commercial web site called Statistic Brain – it is their claimed percent of men who suffer from speech anxiety. I showed their table in another blog post on August 14, 2020 titled Toastmaster magazine is spreading nonsense from John Bowe about how common the fear of public speaking is.

 

And the 2023 Chapman Survey of American Fears lists public speaking as the 53rd most common fear, at a similar 28.7%.

 

The image of Dmitry Bertman on stage was adapted from this one at Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

George Adamski told us fairy tales about meeting a man from Venus and riding in his UFO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seven decades ago, in his 1953 best-selling book (with Desmond Leslie) George Adamski told us that Flying Saucers Have Landed. George claimed to have met a Venusian named Orthon. He followed with Inside the Space Ships in 1955 and Flying Saucers Farewell in 1961. But in December 1962 the Mariner 2 space probe found the temperature for the atmosphere on Venus actually was 932 F – so nobody really could have lived there. In my teens I found Adamski’s UFO books at the public library, and quickly realized they were pseudoscientific nonsense.

 

Along with a Wikipedia article, there is an article by Greg Daugherty at History.com on January 9, 2020 about how George Adamski got famous sharing his UFO photos and alien ‘encounters’. Adamski is also discussed in three articles at the Denver Public Library by Chris Root: one on August 30, 2022 titled The man who met a Venusian (allegedly), a second on September 20, 2022 titled The man who boarded a flying saucer (allegedly), and a third on October 19, 2022 titled The man who hitched a ride to a Venus (allegedly).

 

I was surprised to find that the second half of the February 14, 2024 Coast to Coast AM radio show had a guest tell us favorably about Adamski as follows:

 

“Author and ufologist Glenn Steckling is the director of the sixty-year + George Adamski Foundation, one of the oldest enduring UFO organizations. In the latter half, he shared his findings in his longstanding UFO research and pointed out some of what he believes is misinformation and disinformation in the field. Adamski, he noted, was well known in the 1950s contactee movement, and shot numerous clear photos of UFOs. Steckling’s parents worked with Adamski, and also had their own sightings and encounters. Glenn said his current mission is to educate the public regarding ‘accurate’ UFO historical information and documentation as opposed to substituting with ‘science fiction, wishful thinking, or vivid imagination.’ “

 

I think calling that organization a Foundation is hilarious, since Adamski’s books really lack any foundation. In a March 22, 2009 blog post titled Goink! I said some of what appears on Coast to Coast AM deserves the term parastupid.

 

In the Wikipedia article there is an image of a Coleman gas lantern (sold by Sears Roebuck) which apparently was the model for the Scout Ship photos produced by Adamski.   

 

The cartoon of a UFO was adapted from an image at Openclipart.

 

Should we have a pre- and post- pair of Words of the Day at a Toastmasters club meeting?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Compound words in English are curiously unsymmetrical. We might expect the prefixes pre- and post- to describe before and after, but that’s not how they always work. On April 20, 2018 I blogged about Playing with words: PRO or CON? In that post I noted that club meeting for Toastmasters International optionally call for the Grammarian to introduce a Word of the Week (or Day). We might also consider having a pair of words. Also, on January 10, 2024 I blogged about Should we have a con- and pro- pair of Words of the Day at a Toastmasters club meeting.

 

And On February 12, 2021 I blogged about Playing with words: PRE- or POST-? Today I’m revisiting those prefixes PRE- and POST-.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As shown above, now I found 14 pairs of words with both pre- and post- as their prefixes (rather than the previous two).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, I found 26 pairs where only the word beginning with pre- is real (rather than ten). You can be precise, but it’s too late to be postcise. And you can prefer something, but you cannot postfer it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I found seven pairs where only the word beginning with post- is real (rather than five). You can postpone something, but it’s too early to prepone it.   

 

Forget about memory supplements!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the Mcgill Office for Science and Society there is an excellent article (by their head) Joe Schwarcz on February 16, 2024 titled Nothing Memorable About Memory Supplements. He stated:

 

“What then is the overall conclusion about slowing memory decline? There is not enough evidence to back any memory supplement."

 

On January 13, 2020 I had a blog post titled Did a clinical trial show the dietary supplement pill Prevagen improves memory? Only when you forget about more than half of their data.

 

The finger with a string was adapted from an image at Openclipart.

 

A new Idaho bill would prohibit cities and counties from regulating knives – but not pitchforks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an article by Clark Corbin at the Idaho Capital Sun on February 21, 2024 titled Idaho cities and counties would be prohibited from regulating knives under new bill. That new bill is H0620 from Rep. Jordan Redman, who says he carries a knife every day. (Is he the guy who brings a knife to a gunfight?) But the proposed legislation does not also include pitchforks, like the one shown above in the iconic 1930 painting American Gothic by Grant Wood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing devil’s advocate, for consistency I think pitchforks need to be included.

 

The pointing devil image came from Openclipart.