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Thursday, November 17, 2005

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Putting on the foil? Read this first.

"On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets: An Empirical Study", by Ali Rahimi, Ben Recht, Jason Taylor, and Noah Vawter. The abstract:

Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals. Using a $250,000 network analyser, we find that although on average all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from the cranium of the subject), certain frequencies are in fact greatly amplified. These amplified frequencies coincide with radio bands reserved for government use according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Statistical evidence suggests the use of helmets may in fact enhance the government's invasive abilities. We speculate that the government may in fact have started the helmet craze for this reason.

Hat tip to The American Interest's Dan Kennelly for the link.

posted by Dan on 11.17.05 at 12:22 AM

Comments:

Whoa! Talk about your conspiracy theories...
After being barraged this morning by AFDB information from otherwise sane and reliable sources, I turn to Daniel W. Drezner for my daily dose of hard-edged reality and I'm hit straight between the eyes with yet another AFDB story. (I think the aliens or the gov't, or maybe the aliens who work for the gov't, got to these MIT guys and this is a plot to get us all to take off our AFDBs. Not me, no way. Mine stays on 24/7 now.) So, let's get back to money and terrorists and other fictional news, ok?

posted by: mike on 11.17.05 at 12:22 AM [permalink]

Maybe now we can finally get that Ralph Nader vs Alan Keyes presidential race 'they' have been preventing.

posted by: Mark Buehner on 11.17.05 at 12:22 AM [permalink]

I think we have an early favorite for one of the 2006 IgNobel Prizes.

posted by: HaveBeenProbed on 11.17.05 at 12:22 AM [permalink]

But see http://zapatopi.net/blog/?post=200511112730.afdb_effectiveness

posted by: CS on 11.17.05 at 12:22 AM [permalink]

All you need to know is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinfoil_hat

If you put a layer over your cranium, patting it down, then build the hat you can reduce the negative internal focusing effect, and reflect more EM radiation.

posted by: Dan on 11.17.05 at 12:22 AM [permalink]

The son of friends of my folks, a brilliant fellow who was also a paranoid schizophrenic who committed suicide by jumping off a bridge onto the San Diego Freeway, would wear a beekeeper's helmet for the same purpose. We once met him at the Greyhound station thus garbed.

posted by: A. G. Rud on 11.17.05 at 12:22 AM [permalink]

OT, but could DD get rid of the nofollow tags on links? They weren't there when I and many others commented here in the past.

If you don't know what nofollow is, or you don't understand all of the implications, please do your research since it's quite a pernicious little tag.

Details
here, here, here, here, here, and here.

It can be uninstalled as described here.

posted by: nofollow breaks blogs on 11.17.05 at 12:22 AM [permalink]