Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
A few slices short of a loaf.

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

user:
pass:
register,


                                               

Please log in.
Before you can vote, you need to register. Please log in or create an account.

Fashionable Paranoia-Compliant 'Bluetooth'

For use in places where a tin-foil hat is undesirable (such as on a hot day where it would trap a lot of heat), but you still want to ensure your brainwaves are not being intercepted, read, or tampered with.
 
(0)
  [vote for,
against]

I have a pair of oval 'rattlesnake egg' magnets that I keep on my refrigerator (see link). I noticed that I can place these magnets on my ear, one in front and the other behind, and the magnetic attraction between them holds them firmly, yet not uncomfortably, in place. It looks a lot like a high-tech Bluetooth headset, because the magnet behind the ear, snugged right up against my skull, is barely even visible except from directly behind.

While toying around with the idea of walking around looking like I've got an expensive hookless Bluetooth accessory, I remembered a conversation with a techie friend of mine who mentioned that a magnet can be placed near a Playstation 3 to scramble the GPS signal used by Sony to track its location.

This got me thinking... and I've come up with 2 ideas, both of which I'll lump into one post for your reading pleasure. The first is quite simple: Wear a pair of oval magnets in the manner described above to scramble any attempts at remotely probing your mind.

The second would be an actual electronic device that looks identical to a real Bluetooth headset, complete with blinking status LED, but all it does is emit a frequency-scrambling radio signal that has the added benefit of shutting up those annoyingly loud cellphone talkers in your immediate vicinity.

If you don't like one, but like the other, please vote based on the one ya do like. If you don't like either, then fishbone away!

21 Quest, Feb 08 2012

"Rattlesnake Eggs" http://compare.ebay...eItemTypes&var=sbar
[21 Quest, Feb 08 2012]

Little evidence, indeed http://www.cancer.g...isk/magnetic-fields
//Overall, there is limited evidence that magnetic fields cause childhood leukemia, and there is inadequate evidence that these magnetic fields cause other cancers in children (see Question 2). Studies of magnetic field exposure from power lines and electric blankets in adults show little evidence of an association with leukemia, brain tumors, or breast cancer (see Question 3). Past studies of occupational magnetic field exposure in adults showed very small increases in leukemia and brain tumors. However, more recent, well-conducted studies have shown inconsistent associations with leukemia, brain tumors, and breast cancer (see Question 4). // [21 Quest, Feb 09 2012]

[link]






       I thought it looked kinda like a Bluetooth so I decided to see how it feels.
21 Quest, Feb 08 2012
  

       //the traditional placement is left/right rather than front/back ?//
  

       <presented in as part of the 'care in the community for old jokes' initiative> Au contraire - captain Kirk had a final front ear.<\papotcitcfoji>
MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 08 2012
  

       Seems with so much magnetic and/or electronic scatter around your brain case you'd have tumor city after a few years.
  

       As for the thought reading itself, I have nothing to worry about. There's nothing going on in my head that I would not want anyone else to know about. :-P
Psalm_97, Feb 09 2012
  

       //Seems with so much magnetic and/or electronic scatter around your brain case you'd have tumor city after a few years.//
  

       No offense to you personally, and the tirade about to follow is not directed entirely at you, but I really hate it when I hear baseless hatespeech about technology like that. Name one documented case of any sort of cancer being conclusively linked to any sort of personal electronic device.
  

       I hear all the time that there's this irrational fear that cellphones and Bluetooth headsets *might* cause cancer, and they *might* cause an explosion at a fuel pump, and they *might* cause disastrous interference with the operations of passenger aircraft (this one perpetuated and enforced by the same airlines that are now allowing their flight crews to use iPads literally INSIDE the cockpit, the fucking hypocrites!). Show me the evidence, or shut the hell up.
21 Quest, Feb 09 2012
  

       I didn't say personal electronics. I was talking about electro/magnetic fields, which are proven to cause cancer. I have no data on cell phone or bluetooth EM generation, mostly because I don't care enough to look it up. But cancer clusters caused by power stations do exist. That's why land near major power substations is so cheap.
  

       I only mention it because the purpose of the magnets on both sides of the head is specifically to generate a magnetic field in the space your brain occupies. The potential damage caused by the radio signal emitter I have no idea about.
Psalm_97, Feb 09 2012
  

       Sorry, but magnets are not going to mess up your GPS, despite what your techie friend said. A stationary magnet has a static magnetic field. That is a radio "signal" at 0Hz. It won't interfere with the GPS signal above 1GHz.
  

       If you set a magnet on top of your GPS, you may see a small decrease in signal stength, but you would see the same decrease with the same size piece of any metal.
  

       A tinfoil hat (AKA Farday cage) is much more effective at stopping a GPS signal.
scad mientist, Feb 09 2012
  

       //I was talking about electro/magnetic fields, which are proven to cause cancer// - really? - can you give a (reliable) source for this?
hippo, Feb 09 2012
  

       //can you give a (reliable) source for this?//
  

       Just ask Robert Strom. He won his leukemia case in court.
  

       I don't think normal magnets would be harmful though. But I also don't think a magnet near your head would deter thought spying. Tin foil helmets for the win!
Psalm_97, Feb 09 2012
  

       //A tinfoil hat (AKA Farday cage) is much more effective at stopping a GPS signal//
  

       Hence the sub-title... and Robert Strom did not win his Leukemia case in court, he settled with Boeing out of court. No direct cause/effect link was ever scientifically proven between his EMF exposure and the cancer he developed.
21 Quest, Feb 09 2012
  

       *goes off to look up what he should have looked up in the first case...
  

       I sit corrected. Sorry, what I read listed it as a court case.
Psalm_97, Feb 09 2012
  

       It did go to court. Boeing escalated it to federal court, who kicked it back to superior court, and both parties agreed to an out of court settlement.
21 Quest, Feb 09 2012
  

       //Just ask Robert Strom. He won his leukemia case in court.// - no, I actually meant a controlled study using proper scientific method, published in a reputable peer-reviewed journal.
hippo, Feb 09 2012
  

       <healthy scepticism> // GPS signal used by Sony to track its location// I'm finding it difficult to believe that Sony are embedding GPS devices into static home-based consoles. First, you usually need a clear view to the sky in order to pick up a GPS signal, so unless you've run an extension cable out into the garden to set up your tv, console etc, it would be hit or miss on whether the GPS unit would ever pick up a signal. Second, if the unit is plugged into the mains, it's likely to be pretty static, limiting the range of uses towards which a bit of GPS kit could be put. Thirdly, they might be able to achieve the same thing using the same internet routing ip/meta-data sniffing that TV-on internet use to regionally enable-disable content depending on who's paid the appropriate licenses on it. The point being, if Sony wanted to place regional controls on the use of their consoles, there's better and more effective methods of doing so that don't rely on GPS. </unconvinced>
zen_tom, Feb 09 2012
  

       I do wonder about that myself, ZT. After some fairly extensive Googling, I have yet to find a single report of a GPS device being mentioned at all in regards to the PlayStation 3. That said, there is some fairly extensive evidence that magnets cause interference with radio transmissions.
  

       Regarding the whole airline safety thing, a personal pet peeve of mine, it turns out that Boeing has done some fairly extensive testing, but all of their evidence that PEDs (portable electronic devices) actually cause interference is still anecdotal, using vague terminology like 'could', 'may', and 'might'. Not once did they put forth any evidence that could be used to state conclusively that "Personal Electronic Devices do cause interference with aircraft electronics systems".
  

       One interesting thing I noticed watching a video posted by ABC news (who was taking the side arguing in favor of restricting PEDs) about such tests was that they measured the electromagnetic pulses emitted by several different brands of PED, including the iPad, and found that the clock circuitry of the iPad (just the clock, mind you, no mention whatsoever of any wireless signals like Bluetooth, 3G, or Wi-Fi) emitted sufficiently strong EMF emissions to exceed their maximum safety guidelines.
  

       This is interesting because, as I stated in a previous annotation, the iPad is the tablet of choice being issued to flight crews by several airlines, intended to be used at any point during the flight, including take-off and landing, IN the cockpit. These same airlines are the same airlines that have the gall to tell their passengers that PEDs are unsafe to use.
21 Quest, Feb 09 2012
  

       //magnets cause interference with radio transmissions// <Picky> Surely only by interacting with the electric currents within a transmitting or receiving device, or fields within a waveguide. EM radiation in free space would pass through a magnetic field unchanged.
  

       Strong magnetic fields do interfere with brain function, though.
spidermother, Feb 09 2012
  

       //Strong magnetic fields do interfere with brain function, though//
  

       Fridge magnets? According to an article I read on the subject: 'The magnet used by MIT researchers to disrupt brain activity is a special kind of technology -- "not a normal magnet," Young says. You can't turn your little brother into a super villain by making him wear a suit of refrigerator magnets.'
21 Quest, Feb 11 2012
  

       //Fridge magnets?// No, *strong* magnetic fields. I wasn't suggesting that your ear magnets have any effect.
spidermother, Feb 11 2012
  

       Ah, gotcha. My mistake, pal.
21 Quest, Feb 11 2012
  

       //You can't turn your little brother into a super villain by making him wear a suit of refrigerator magnets.//
  

       Rats, another dastardly plan foiled!
  

       *goes back to the drawing board
Psalm_97, Feb 11 2012
  

       [21], what strange and unaccountable delusion has caused you to consider that any person, agency or being with any pretence to rationality* would have the slightest interest in what goes on inside your head ?
  

       Even we wouldn't Assimilate someone with magnets stuck to their pinnae.
  

       *Jerry Springer excluded, of course.
8th of 7, Feb 12 2012
  

       Linking power stations and power lines to cancer is completely different to linking magnetic/electric fields to cancer, since the latter does not involve exposed high voltage cables that ionize the air and that sort of thing.
  

       The second part of the idea, the jamming signal, is (sadly) illegal.
  

       Interestingly, in the UK it's not illegal to own a jamming device, just so long as you never turn it on.
mitxela, Feb 14 2012
  
      
[annotate]
  


 

back: main index

business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle