Every so often someone shows me something that so amuses me that I either must have one or must blog about it. This time around, it was my wife. Last weekend, we were reading the newspapers. On the weekend, we happen to get the New York Times as well as our local newspaper. There, ensconsed in the USA Weekend advertisement section stuffed into the local newspaper, I saw it. I saw it, and I had to have it.
Well, not really. But I had to blog about it anyway.
Ask yourself: When you’re in pain, what do you need? Is it enough just to have the power of magnet woo to heal you? Of course not! You need the triple threat, especially if that triple threat includes the healing power of Jesus. And there’s only one product out there that can provide the triple threat, triple punch, religiously woo-tastic body blow to your pain that we all need and want. Are you ready?
Are you ready for the Copper Magnetic Therapy Jesus Bracelet? After all, it has the soothing power of copper, the penetrating power of magnets, and the healing power of Jesus, all rolled up into a single bracelet! Check it out:
COMBINES THE MOST POWERFUL FORCES OF HEAVEN AND EARTH
Do you believe? Wear this solid COPPER MAGNETIC THERAPY JESUS BRACELET for the most powerful healing and comfort you’ve ever experienced! COPPER has been relied on for centuries to ease the pain of arthritis. MAGNETS are used therapeutically to ease muscle pain, tendonitis, bursitis, back pain, poor circulation and more. And faith in the miracles of JESUS can not only protect you from physical pain, but soothe your soul in times of stress! Fully adjustable to fit most wrists.
I love that last part. After all, what good is the healing power of Jesus if it doesn’t fit your wrist?
I did have one question, though. Copper is not magnetic. So how is it that this wonder bracelet has, in addition to the aforementioned healing power of Jesus that derives from stamping Jesus’ name on the bracelet, magnetic powers as well? Is it Jesus exercising His power? Or did the manufacturer slip some iron in there? Inquiring minds want to know!
Another question: Shouldn’t the healing power of Jesus enough? Doesn’t the healing power of Jesus render whatever woo-tastic wonder of magnetic copper healing imbued in the bracelet rather superfluous? You’d think so. Or, at least, I’d think so. But apparently I’m wrong.
Jesus needs magnets and copper to heal you. Truly, the Lord works in mysterious ways. All for $9.97. What a bargain!
Or maybe Jesus isn’t your thing. No problem! The appropriately named Dream Products, Inc. Catalog can fix you up with an acupressure ring with magnets (of course!) or a genuine stone acupressure ring with magnets, an astrology pendant, magnetic therapy ankle bracelets, or even a mystical pentacle charged with “unseen” magical and spiritual power (no doubt the “unseen” is the most accurate word there).
Truly, if you want woo, you’ve got woo.
51 replies on “Your Friday Dose of Woo: Jesus and the triple threat”
Anyone who believes the rest of the spiel will believe that these folks found a way to magnetize copper. Reality will not deter them.
I’d assume that those two round bits at the ends would be the (most likely ferrous) magnets. They appear to be copper plated, however.
Jesus is a high temperature superconductor. Duh.
For $9.97 it is a bargain. So much that I’m thinking it’s probably not even all made out of copper, since copper is pretty expensive as far as common metals go and I’m assuming these are manufactured for 50 cents apiece. My bet is that it’s made out of the same cheap nickel alloy most junk jewelry is made out of and it’s been copper plated, probably with a couple of button-sized refrigerator magnets on the ends.
Oh, and 3000 Gauss is 0.3 Tesla, which, while possible to achieve with permanent magnets, is basically well within the realm of rare-earth magnets:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neodymium_magnet
Which, I’m pretty sure, would jack up the price to a bit more than 10 bucks.
Truly, Poe’s Law at work. Until you said the ad was in USA Today, I was convinced you had been taken in by a parody website.
Meh. Assuming one characterizes Jeebus as all-knowing and all-good, the idea of invoking His blessings with a copper bracelet is no more or less absurd than the idea of invoking His blessings with imprecatory prayer. If he’s all-knowing, he already knows what you need; and if he’s all-good, he’s only got one potential course of action (the goodiest one!) so trying to boss him around is not likely to be effective.
In a sense, the copper bracelet might be less absurd. Maybe God is all-knowing and all-good, but not all-powerful… and he needs a copper bracelet (with magnets!) in order to, like, bless you or something. [shrug] Seriously, it’s no more crazy than anything else that Jeebites believe.
@5:
Ah, but they said it has the “penetrating power of” 3000 Gauss magnets. Plenty of wiggle room there – I’ll readily agree that their tiny refrigerator magnets have the same power to penetrate inch-thick titanium by being dropped from 1mm as does a 3000 Gauss magnet.
Oh. Dear. This is…um….
Oh, I hope my mother doesn’t see this. She’d buy one. :facepalm:
Which, I’m pretty sure, would jack up the price to a bit more than 10 bucks.
These days, you can buy small neodymium magnets very cheaply from just about any craft store, so they’re not likely to jack up the cost of these bracelets that much if bought in bulk.
Not that this makes the bracelets any less silly… 🙂
I hope Jesus gets some royalties out of this. 🙂 Thanks Orac for the quality LOLs as usual!
Wow. Simply wow.
This makes the Q-ray bracelet ad beside it look tame. And ironic, being a Q-ray ad on a science blog.
$9.97?!?!?!?!? For the healing power of Jesus!!!! Our Lord and Savior is probably really pissed that his services are being discounted at such a rate. I would have been willing to pay at least $19.99 in two easy monthly installments for this fantastic healing power.
Does anyone know how much the water to wine service costs? That would be cool.
I bought a stretchy bracelet composed of tiny portraits of Jesus intersperced with hematite a year or so ago at Books-A-Million for less than five dollars (you can get them with angels too). I do not think it was “blessed” by our Lord, but I dunno. If I had to wager, I’d guess He did not get a cut of the action.
Perhaps it is WOO, but the bracelet has been quite soothing over an old wrist fracture. I wear it often and get lots of compliments.
Occasionally, when I look at/fiddle with it, I take time to ponder Him and that also makes me smile. Therefore it is quite soothing to the soul as well.
#8, I hear you. A vendor could quite a few of these things at our family get-together, this weekend.
I don’t know that Jesus would approve of his face being fiddled with…You’d think the son of god earned some respect.
Wow, they sell everything on that website. I was really impressed with the Miracle Magnet Toilet Cleaner. Just drop it in the tank and the magnetic field forces all the minerals to flush down the drain. (Scratches head)I’m really disappointed though, I was hoping for something more powerful, like a Miracle Magnet Jesus Toilet Cleaner. Now that would be all kinds of awesome. I wonder why they haven’t thought of that idea?
It might also give a whole new meaning to the saying “praying to the porcelain god”.
Doesn’t this go against the whole graven image thing? Idolatry and all that…
Todd W. — I see this usage of Jesus as being very much on par with the irony of, say, people who Want To Protect The US Flag From Desecration wearing American flag shirts & shorts and use of the flag as decoration, given Section 8 of the US Flag Code.
It needs to be made of copper, since we all know God’s kryptonite is iron chariots.
…the westernization of a dead Palestinian press-ganged into selling… Copper Magnetic Therapy Jesus Bracelets!
-with apologies to Tim Minchin
I’m glad they included the picture of Jesus.
Thank goodness it’s the real Jesus and not some made up swarthy character.
Because then the copper and magnets wouldn’t work.
Such a great laugh, I had to share it with the labmates. Thanks Orac!
“These days, you can buy small neodymium magnets very cheaply from just about any craft store, so they’re not likely to jack up the cost of these bracelets that much if bought in bulk.”
Huh, good to know! I’m willing to bet they’re still just refrigerator magnets, if only because one could seriously pinch a finger getting it stuck between attracting magnets of that force. A finger, that is, or maybe even a palm… enough to cause a stigmata, perhaps?
Where I live, those things would sell like hotcakes. I’m half tempted to get a franchise…. only not.
These were probably the types of things they were selling in the temple when Jesus showed up, got angry, overturned tables and drove the merchants out with a whip yelling something about a den of thieves. I suspect he’d have the same reaction if he were around today (then he’d be put in jail for assault, destroying property, and if he looked like he did 2000 years ago, get stuck in Git Bay as a suspected terrorist).
Heh…for those who like to ask themselves, What Would Jesus Do?, I say there’s pretty good scriptural evidence that he’d physically attack scammers who hijacked religious ideals for profit.
Wow, my watch has stopped working just reading that. Clearly powerful stuff, it’s no wonder Jesus endorses the product.
Wouldn’t the wearing of magnets of that force automatically preserve you from the evils of computing?
well.I will only order IF they are shipped wrapped securely in aluminum foil, because I dont want all that magnetism, copper effect, and Good Christian karma leaking out all over the post office while in transit.
Does anyone know if you can safely wear them while talking on a cell phone or wearing a those wonderful toxin extracting foot pads? I woo-d hate to overdose on karmic effects, or have some sort of a woo-pathic drug/energy interaction.
Wonder if wearing the bracelet while performing homeopathic mixing and shaking procedures would result in some sort of TURBO-fabulous mega effect (1000 times ZERO= … ZERO)?
Happy Passover/Easter/ Incredibly pleasant weather weekend, folks.
I think this is the same stuff that gave Wonder Woman her bullet deflecting powers.
Someone should market this stuff to the military.
@Daniel J. Andrews
Well done. A little scriptural knowledge in the hands of a critical thinker is a dangerous thing to fundies.
The magnetised copper is a relic from the Ark of the Convent, and summons the Sky Faeries to cure you.
JonF: Naw, little NIB magnets cost a few cents.
Someone on Amazon, for instance, is selling 100 for $5.99.
They’re cheap these days.
Does it come in blue?
Really, this stuff is getting absolutely silly!
In SE Asia (I know both Thailand and Malaysia specifically have these ads running on TV), there is a product called Vakoou, that is supposedly all the rage here in the US.*
http://www.vakoou-usa.com/index.html
(and http://www.vakoou.com, too)
I wish I could find a decent translator for this page, but maybe some Japanese readers can help out. Basically, I think it’s saying that it uses magnets/crystals/copper/etc (whatever… does it really matter?) to increase penile blood circulation and therefore increase penis size.
But in truth, all that they’re selling is padded underwear that makes it look like they have a bigger johnson when worn under their clothes.
*I find it interesting that just like Western Woo says that it’s based on Oriental Principles, that Eastern Woo often sells itself as being based on Western ideas too. If Americans do it, it MUST be real!!
I would love to help (I could use the practice), but that site is in Chinese, not Japanese. Hopefully someone else could translate; especially that list of the ten major features of the product. Should be good for quite a few laughs.
Given the recent findings on the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation on morality, I expect that we will soon have them adding that the bracelets can make you a better person.
Orac, I’m a bit worried about:
“Every so often someone shows me something that so amuses me that I either must have one or must blog about it. This time around, it was my wife.”
I think you are telling us that your wife so amused you that you had to either have her or blog about her. I’ll let you tell us which one … no, on second thoughts, don’t bother.
I find that copper Jesuses turn my skin green.
Boy, they really missed the boat.
Why stop at the power of Heaven and Earth? Why not go for Heaven, HELL, and Earth?
A tiny goat-head in a pentagram ought to do the trick.
They could probably come up with some ad copy suggesting that the arrangement of glyphs, and the materials, held Satan within the control of Jesus, and thus guaranteed that Hell’s power would be used for your benefit, and not harm anyone.
Sure, just wash it in vinegar and in minutes it will magically turn blue. Blue-green anyway.
I’m torn between laughing at the idea that people are conning folks out of money with the image of Yeshua Ben Joseph, noted bronze age confidence trickster and bemoaning that they are using the imagined image and name of a bronze age philosopher for profit.
Man I wish sciblogs had post editing.
Oh well.
My last (@40) should have read :
” . . . noted bronze age confidence trickster; and bemoaning. . . ”
Aren’t they saying that it will “cure, treat or prevent disease”? Is there a quack miranda warning somewhere?
Out of topic (although still woo), a graph from Information is Beautiful to follow in real-time your favorite food supplement, in function of its Google popularity, and of the amount of evidence regarding its supposed effects.
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/play/snake-oil-supplements/
I dunno about the actual quality of the evidences used to make this graph, but the graph itself is fantastic.
What colour will the Jesus picture turn after being thus washed? If it turns green, too, does that prove he was an extraterrestrial?
Do they have a version to help erectile dysfunction?
Do you suppose this woo-dget will activate the DNA too?
If it leaves a green ring around my wrist, does that mean it’s working?
The Palestinian bronze age ended over a millenium before Jesus’s time.
(Oddly, common as this error is, I almost never see it corrected by Christians. It’s almost as if they’re violently clueless about the origins of their religion.)
I hope they sell it in the Spanish speaking world too. Many people will be glad to have a bracelet inscribed with their first name.
But is it really ok to sell pentacle pendants as well as Jesus bracelets ?
dreamproductscatalog -> dream product: scat, a log
seems appropriate