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the Zapno (tm) anti-static device and dishonesty



Why do I have an extremely low opinion of the Zapno (tm) and of Mr. Thorp?
It's because I see a major problem with honesty.

We who dislike shocks from "static electricity" can easily avoid them:
just firmly grasp your car keys and touch a metal object. After
discharging yourself with car keys it's safe to grab the object with your
hand, and you'll receive no shock. The tip of your car key gets blasted
by the white-hot spark plasma, but your delicate fingertips do not.
That's why you avoid the intense pain which makes such sparks famous.
This especially helps avoid those nasty "car door shocks."

OR... we can buy a Zapno (tm) for only AU$22 (now reduced to AU$12.95),
put it on our keyrings, and use it rather than using car keys.

Understand? Car keys free, Zapno(tm) AU$12.95

(or US$7.20)

Mr. Thorp obviously knows this. The whole Zapno (tm) product seems
dishonest to me. It targets ignorant customers: people who don't know the
"car keys trick." Mr. Thorp certainly isn't telling them about it.


That's one.



There's a second Zapno(tm) version, a wall-mounted type. It's quite a
good idea: touch the conductive spot on the Zapno(tm) and you discharge
yourself. However, the active ingredient in this device is most probably
a simple resistor which costs under one cent in quantity, and the rest of
the device certainly doesn't hide any expensive parts. There's probably a
neon bulb in there (costs maybe thirty cents AU$,) and probably some
cardboard and plastic. Resistor and bulb thirty cents, Zapno(tm)
AU$12.95. See the problem? If I bought this Zapno(tm) at such a price,
tore it open, and discovered that all it contained was a resistor and a
neon bulb, I'd feel that I'd been the victim of a scam. The product is
dishonest, it relies on customers being ignorant.


That's two.



Since my original message I found two more incidents involving dishonesty.

If I go to the Zapno (tm) website, right on the top page I read this:

"Many experts believe static electricity is a major cause of health
problems including the common car sickness and most other motion
sickness disorders."

Oh, reeeeeally?

Please give me the names of these experts, and perhaps point me to their
web articles or research papers. I know for a fact that the modern
medical establishment doesn't think that "static electricity" causes
motion sickness, or even causes any health effects whatsoever. Also, I'm
relatively familiar with the "alternative health" field, and I've never
heard the above idea, not even as a fringe-science health claim. I could
be wrong, but I very strongly suspect that Mr. Thorp has made up his
health claim out of thin air. Or possibly he got it from some
"alternative" health source such as a website about Electrical
Hypersensitive Syndrome. Either way it looks to me like a "health scam":
like a dishonest attempt to scare the customers about health effects of
electric charge in order to sell them an unnecessary product.

Legitimate medical devices cost millions to test, and at least in the USA
it is illegal (to say nothing of extremely unethical) to even IMPLY any
kind of health claim. I would ask the subscribers of PHYS-L: if you were
selling the Zapno(tm) device, would you place the following blurb in your
advertizements? I certainly would not; legality aside, making
unsupported health claims is simply dishonest.

"Many experts believe static electricity is a major cause of health
problems including the common car sickness and most other motion
sickness disorders."




That's three.


I originally sent PHYS-L a fairly angry message "Big money in the
electrostatics biz." Mr. Thorp responded privately, and I pointed out the
existence of PHYS-L and showed him how to subscribe so he could rebut the
things I said in that message. Instead he tried legal intimidation aimed
at PHYS-L and at the list moderator. If I'm wrong, why not just post
counterarguments to show this? It's my opinion that he CAN'T rebut the
things I said, so he has to use some other tactic. That's more
dishonesty: a lie of omission. Now that his customers are finding that
message during web searches, his goal is to try to get the archived
message removed in order to keep the information hidden.


Not too honest. Well that's four.


So now you see where my anger comes from. I think it's entirely
justified: I REALLY dislike dishonest people. I don't like people who use
persuasion instead of just telling the truth, and I especially dislike the
ones who are trying to take advantage of our ignorance to make money.

Our great leader Dan MacIsaac mentioned that I might be a bit injudicious
in my words to Mr. Thorp. Perhaps, but I've yet to see any evidence that
he's anything but a comon scam artist with a large (and hidden) disrespect
for his customers, and after seeing his health claim about motion sickness
I'm ten times more convinced. He seeks to persuade us that he's one of
us. The evidence points to the very opposite. My sense of honor requires
that I state this loudly and in no uncertain terms. I have great respect
for many people, and I give most other people the benefit of the doubt.
But for those rare people who deserve it I have extreme disrespect
bordering on outright revulsion. Strong words yes, but sometimes strong
words are entirely justified, and staying silent would be wrong.

Here's the original:

Big money in the electrostatics biz
http://lists.nau.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0206&L=phys-l&F=&S=&P=22676


Also see the following messages.

RE: Big money in the electrostatics biz
http://lists.nau.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0207&L=phys-l#13


If Mr. Thorp wants to discuss these issues, here I am. I won't do it in
private as he wishes. If he has anything to say, let it be in front of
our little group of experts, and with the messages going into an archive
where the whole internet community can see them.

Welcome to the internet, where "scams" and "ripoffs" (i.e. products
relying on dishonest tricks played on ignorant customers) can have a hard
time selling. When customers can do a quick web search, scammers who are
accustomed to ignorant customers get a nasty suprise.


Oh, and the "zapno" keyword I added to my "HUMANS AND SPARKS" page? It's
there so people can discover the trick of using car keys to avoid painful
sparks. Anyone interested in Zapno (tm) should try using the car keys,
and if hyper-sensitive people still get a bad feeling when discharging
themselves with car keys, they can buy a Zapno(tm) with it's internal
current limiter. For the majority, the solution is to tell them about the
car keys trick, not to sell them a product they don't need. And in my
opinion, people should vote with their wallets and give a wide berth to
dishonest companies, even if by chance they sell products which might
sometimes be useful. Use your purchasing power to send a message. If
most people did this, wouldn't the world be a much better place?



(((((((((((((((((( ( ( ( ( (O) ) ) ) ) )))))))))))))))))))
William J. Beaty SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
billb@eskimo.com http://amasci.com
EE/programmer/sci-exhibits amateur science, hobby projects, sci fair
Seattle, WA 206-789-0775 unusual phenomena, tesla coils, weird sci