Finally, there was one where a picture here would really have helped, but what the heck: a do-it-yourself cervical traction device. Just sling the thing up on a door, put your head in the harness and pull the cord to stretch out your neck. Price: a numbing $54.95. Inevitable Darwin Award included. Eventually.

Editor's Note: This story was originally printed with the title "Are You Buying This?"

6 Comments

1. 1. hnkelley 04:19 PM 4/25/08

   LOL I love reading all those adds for strange stuff. Most of it takes advantage of either or both of two problems. First, people are lazy (me too). Anything that removes work from the equation is automagically great. Second is the average person's complete lack of scientific understanding. Many just don't get the little nuances between a scientific statement and advertisement.
   
   As for wanting a picture for the last item on the list, how about this one that looks like (but isn't) MS' Steve Ballmer doing what many might wish: hanging himself. http://www.painreliever.com/xmodels/painreliever/4395h.jpg (work safe pic, just one of those neck-stretchers in action)

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2. 2. ksgarvin 06:41 PM 4/25/08

   Be glad those ads are silent. Otherwise, Billy Mays would jump out of the magazine and start yelling at you to buy the stuff.

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3. 3. Michael Meehan 08:01 PM 4/25/08

   "Modern technology, done well, is indistinguishable from magic." Done like this it is indistinguishable from voodoo.

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4. 4. Hugh Jones 08:02 PM 4/27/08

   I get a lot of these glossy catalogs with this stuff in the mail. They usually go directly into the "round file". Many of the items listed are of very high quality, but only in very rare instances can I justify a compelling need for them. But they must be doing very well, because they seemingly spare no expense to make sure I continue to receive their beautiful advertisements.

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5. 5. SteveBallmer 01:26 PM 5/5/08

   I fell for some of this stuff, now I sell people Vista.

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6. 6. douglas Heaton 04:02 PM 6/1/08

   Loved your article, as usual, but wondered why you did not include comments on my personal favorite ad in each issue of Sci-Am (page 101 in may 20080) for ROM. Can you believe that you only need to use this machine for ten minutes per day and it "balances blood sugar, and repairs bad backs and shoulders."
   
   All this for only $14,615.
   
   I am surprised that you allow this ad in your great magazine.
   
   Doug Heaton
   
   --
   Edited by douglas Heaton at 06/01/2008 9:08 AM

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