Iran military manages to keep a straight face while waggling miracle widget that 'can detect coronavirus from 100m away' Spare a thought for Iran's long-suffering scientists today, who had to read the news along with the rest of us that the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claims to have "developed" a gizmo capable of detecting coronavirus... in five seconds. At distances of up to 100 metres. State-controlled media PressTV this week …
This the one you're thinking of?: The story of the fake bomb detectors
They were all bogus. But despite this, some are still in use today - in Iraq at checkpoints, to guard sites in Pakistan, and at hotels in the Middle East.
[...]
The fake "detectors" were little more than empty cases with an aerial which swings according to the user's unconscious hand movements, "the ideomotor effect".
if I remember, it was quite a few UK-based, and other agencies and organizations, who were caught. And the catcher was, if I remember vaguely, a business-minded UK businessman, wasn't it? But it never became wildly known to the Western public, cause so many "top" orgs were caught, including, if I remember correctly, UN, and some parts of UK military, non?
You can't a down vote, from I presume a former member of the royal engineers.
From the linked article above.
"...even charged the Royal Engineers thousands of pounds for useless cards that went missing from a trade fair at which uniformed members of the corps had been paid to help promote the bogus devices.
Bolton's device, the GT200, was also backed by British embassies in Mexico City and Manila, through the then Department of Trade and Industry.
"The involvement of UK government agencies in promoting this is very embarrassing and awkward," says Mr Sheldon, who was shocked to learn of the involvement of the Royal Engineers Exports Support Team. "
There's one born every day!
Living in my own little world, where I am entirely surrounded by competent engineers, it is hard to believe that there are enough thickos out there to make a difference.
But then I see how popular Trump is, and that brings me down to Earth with a bump.
but until an independent scientific review proves this device to be a fake, the verdict is out there (alongside, I dunno, trumpian claims that a certain virus might have not originated in a market, but in a military lab, pretty convenient narrative, but how do you disapprove it, especially when the Greatest Scientist and Intelligence Sourcerer says so). And, given that all scientists in the world are (directly or indirectly) sponsored by the Great Satan (bar a couple of folks in Iran), it PROVES any such review of this fabulous, Iranian device would not be "independent" anyway.
p.s. actually, I'm disappointed, I thought this device would actually be a long-range microscope, able to detect virus(es) from up to 100 m away :(
to clarify, I think their claim is as clownish and just as out of their hairy arse, as the text makes it look. That said, it would be great fun if it turned out in the end that such a device actually works (as advertised), if only to shake our firm belief they're stupid bearded men in funny turbans running around a desert scenery on a bunch of camels and waving, what else but the good old ak47s. OK.
going back to a more serious level, what would be the point of such tv farce, I wonder? Presumably, addressed at their own population? But then, I had an impression, their population has already grown pretty immune and cynical to whatever their authorities proclaim so... who else might be the target audience? Or is it just a cheap and cheerful propaganda shot at those in the region who look up to Iran as their ultimate saviour?
> what would be the point of such tv farce
Gain fame and glory and be considered as the potential savior of humanity?
About the lack of credibility - Well, you are forgetting that people tend to blindly believe in whatever they might consider comforting, or supporting their own views. All people thinking Iran is a capable country will compulsively go "I knew it! Told you so!", followed by all those who despair and panic, and all of a sudden are offered some hope that the pandemic can be put under control in an easy, painless way.
Also the country isn't populated by scientists and medical professionals (no country is). If you tell the average Joe in the streets (even around here) that some such device has been developed, he'll believe it, if only because he wants to.
Your TDS is showing.
Since you want to make this about Trump... the facts and timelines actually show that the orange man got this right.
I kid you not. Trump got slammed because he closed the boarders to China and then gets slammed by the very same people for not doing it sooner.
Don't take my word for it. Use Google and search and create a timeline of events.
What we see isn't that Trump is good or bad, but those very same politicians who we need to lead the US are even bigger morons that Trump. Its sad and pathetic.
"Trump got slammed because he closed the boarders to China and then gets slammed by the very same people for not doing it sooner."
It's the opposition's favorite sport. They scream racism at every turn. When the President restricted travel from certain countries due to their hostile stance towards the US, there was screaming that it was part of an anti-muslim agenda. No, the populations of those countries may be primarily muslim, but it was more to their taking to the streets and shouting "Death to America, Death to the great Satan" that did it. The odds are low that people traveling from those countries to the US are looking to have a pleasant holiday.
American politics are disgusting. While the virus was building up speed, all the US government could do was concentrate on getting Mr Trump impeached. If there was ever a time to be able to multi-task, that would have been it. They are still at it as Mr Trump getting re-elected come November would be worse than millions dead of Covid-19.
Some are saying that he'll delcare martial law, suspend the constitution the November Elections then make himself POTUS for life. (just like his pal Putin...sic)
Once the virus has run its course will he have a country left to govern? possibly not.
all my US friends are hoping that both him and the Veep get it bad.
Trump's a bit of a slippery customer when it comes to he said/she said. His actions with the coronavirus appear to be driven soley by a political calcuus, what makes him look good and potential opponents look bad. Seen in that context what he says and does is essentially irrelevant for managing the pandemic, its mostly going to be interence driven by political calculus. Meanwhile in the real world states and counties are already dealing with the problem of how to restatrt everything -- locally, for example, we should be coming out of hibertnation over the next two weeks or so.
Trump's encouraging of the Tea Party like demonstrations is playing on a well known effect that's the subject of this article. In this case the Iranian virus detector can be re-purposed as a bear repellant. When you wave it about and notice that there aren't any bears showing on its indicator its proof that it works (it will be particularly effective in the UK).
Speaking as a britbong, I'd suggest it's because the democratic party of America have very little power. I believe they control Congress, which is more-or-less equivalent to Westminster over here. The Senate, which is the equivalent of our House of Lords (IIRC). Trump has also been stuffing the judiciary with lickspittles. Therefore, out of the three branches he has control of two - unless there are a plethora of spine donors across the pond. Now - did you have a specific point about how it's the Dem's fault that you'd care to elucidate?
Splitting a hair here, I've not seen any serious claims the virus "originated" in a lab, meaning that it's a bioweapon. The claims are more to the point that BSL-4 labs research nasty crap and some may have escaped.
Supposedly Chinese labs have leaked in the past. The Russians offed a bunch of people at Mayak with an Anthrax screwup (that was a BWC violation...). The US Army's Ft Derrick lab was shut down by CDC last year, only got it's approval for restart this March. Sometimes s..t happens. When the nitrogenous waste hits the rotating aspirator, it's time to check your ego at the door and figure out what the hell happened ... so you can share information on how to prevent another occurrence with everyone else doing similar work
The earliest conspiracy theories that I heard did indeed claim that the virus was engineered as a bioweapon by the Chinese. Actually, the first "theory" I heard had it that there were two versions of the virus - a "weak" strain that was meant to be released first in China and thereby immunize the Chinese, followed by a stronger strain to be unleashed upon the rest of the world. The story is that someone screwed up and released the wrong strain first.
Once it was shown that the virus was almost certainly of natural origin, the narrative has switched to claiming that it was being studied as a potential bioweapon in Wuhan and escaped into the wild either deliberately or accidentally.
I've only heard these theories from fans of talk radio and conspiracy web sites, not reliable news sources.
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The BBC's 'fact check' unit tried to answer this one and could only say that it hadn't been proven. The fact is that biological research institutions have accidentally released stuff in to the wild in the past and speculating that this may have happened here is entirely reasonable. Not necessarily true but reasonable.
I'll be straight onto the conspiracy theory/anti-vaxxer sites selling these for a fortune. It's a ready-made target market of gullible people, after all.
In my more misanthropic moments(*) I've considered selling kits to suppress 99% of electromagnetic radiation from computer monitors. I reckon paying £100 for a black bin liner and some double sided tape would be good value for the priceless education.
(*) People who know me go "more misanthropic???"
This can be proven to work so very easily:
Done, proven.
I may have been hoping a long range temperature sensor - point it at someone's forehead and measure their temperature, but this so much better! :)
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I'm just trying to work out at what point reality and satire are going to meet and become indistinguishable. I know this is satire because it's fucking crazy but how many news sites are going to pick this up a possible? How many conspiracy websites are going to start saying look we told it was 5G?
If one day we colonise another planet can we leave the idiots behind? That's not to say I'm not an idiot or better than anyone else. There just needs to be some sort of test like the Darwin awards. Questions like would you or did you vaccinate your children? Are you going to vote Trump 2020/1? (I didn't say did you vote Trump because some people were genuinely fooled however if you are planning to vote for him this time then you are a brain washed hick who protests about the lock down with others). Do you believe chemicals in the water are turning you gay? Does Don McClean's American pie predict a satanic communist takeover? If they answer yes to any of these questions then they don't go.
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Nothing on snopes.com - I recall these things being reviewed on dutch skeptical sites like kloptdatwel and the likes some 10 years ago - while I was being some sort of a trainee on skepticism. Anyway, the wiki has some stuff where snopes drops the ball a bit - one can search under GT200 or the ADE 651 being so completely bogus one starts to question the very nature of ones own species to the extend that one really sees the gnomes dancing the Can Can in ones own head.
The dutch site talks about it in 2013:
https://kloptdatwel.nl/2013/02/08/drugs-en-explosievendetector-valt-compleet-door-de-mand/
And here's the Wiki for those who also understand proper English:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GT200
... I refrain from stating that humans descend from monkeys, endorsing Darwin thusly, since we clearly don't - it's gnome country. (One better reads up Foucault, Les Mots et les Choses, for better understanding (why people are more like wheel barrows rather than trains - they have a hard time keeping on track/ not flying of the rails by habit (or lack of constraints (within their belief-system)))
I'm surprised that Homemade Security in the US didn't buy thousand of these devices for use at US airports. Not much they do contributes to security, but the yokels would be impressed with a properly tech looking wand that is supposed to detect something. Those people would feel so much safer knowing that they're been looked after by the latest high tech gadget. It's all a show and you'll feel better for not knowing the details.
From Wipikedia:
"The ADE 651 could detect items including guns, ammunition, drugs, truffles, human bodies, contraband ivory and bank notes at distances of up to 1 kilometre (0.62 mi), underground, through walls, underwater or even from aeroplanes at an altitude of up to 5 kilometres (3.1 mi). One promotional video claimed that the device could detect elephants from 48 kilometres (30 mi) away."
"It consisted of a hand unit on which a swinging antenna was mounted, linked to a box worn on the belt in which the cards were inserted to identify the "molecular frequency" of whatever the user wanted to detect. The cards were "programmed" by photocopying a Polaroid photograph of the target, cutting up the resulting copy and pasting the pieces between two squares of plastic."
So all that would be needed is a photo of the virus and then all those expensive ADE 651 devices lying around could be reprogrammed and put to good use.
I am having a difficult time with this announcement. I think most folk of average intelligence see through the hoax. So - who are the people presenting this, and what are they thinking ?
If they are taking the piss, then sure it makes sense. April Fool delayed due to calendar issues. But in their culture I thought they had minimal amounts of humour, especially when poking it at themselves.
If they are for real, then what are they thinking and how can they make such an announcement ? Are they trying for a scam ? Are they (to paraphrase Carl Sagan) people who see technology as magic, and use the rules of magical thinking as the foundation for their announcement ? If so, who fed them this line and how did they come to believe it ?
So many things that just don't make sense, from any angle.
If I were cynical, I'd guess that they will send patrols out, armed with the device, to detect "Covid carriers" and haul them to "hospital" for "treatment", where "Covid carriers" = "people who are causing ... problems", "hospital" = "undisclosed location", and "treatment" = "extreme unpleasantness". They said on teevee to the whole country that the things work, mostly sort of, and who among the populace will raise a hand to question people with firearms and a humour deficiency? First they came for my LGBTQ neighbors, then they came for ....
> will send patrols out, armed with the device
Do they really need that excuse?... "Enemy of the state" (short for "anybody who is not my fervent supporter is my enemy") is more than enough to neutralize any annoying elements.
No, I'm sure this is a genuine attempt to impress the masses (domestic and foreign). They know some won't believe, but then again some don't believe no matter what. What's important are the uneducated masses which will believe (if only because they want to), and the prestige thus gained among them. Over time the exact event will be forgotten, but people will remember that they are awesome, for some reason.
Why on earth would you think that Iranians don't have a sense of humour like any other culture? That's so weirdly insular. The Iranians were making self-deprecating political jokes about their rulers while we were still trying to work out whether woad and rabbit fur was a good look on zoom.
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