Foiling the Man (Who suggested foil hats?)

Popular Science ^ | May 2006 | Amanda MacMillan

[listenhillary]

Foiling the Man

Can tinfoil hats actually prevent the government from reading your thoughts?

Amanda MacMillan

Conspiracy theorists, beware: That aluminum foil beanie—headwear believed, since at least the 1950s, to stop brain-control rays—may make it easier for The Man to read your mind, according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology grad students.

Inspired by fringe beliefs that invasive radio signals can probe citizens’ thoughts and that wearing foil on your head may fend them off, an experiment by four Ph.D. candidates found that certain key frequencies—owned by the Feds, naturally—are actually enhanced by such “protection.”

The students first recorded a baseline transmission from a radio-frequency spectrum analyzer, a device that emits radio waves of various frequencies, to its receiver antenna, located on four test subjects’ bare noggins. Then they performed the same measurements— sweeping from 10 kilohertz to 3 gigahertz—while the subjects wore one of three double-layered foil helmets: the “classical” (foil hood wrapped close to the head), the “fez” (cylindrical, flat-topped hat) and the “centurion” (conical shape with a peak).

The antenna, a stumpy plastic-coated stub, was fitted between the helmet and the subject’s cranium to determine how much of a signal was absorbed or deflected before reaching the brain.

What started strictly as “a desire to play with some expensive equipment” ended with surprising results, says lead study author Ali Rahimi, a recent graduate of MIT’s doctoral program in electrical engineering and computer science. Overall, the foil effectively weakened radio waves by up to 10 decibels over most of the frequency spectrum (there were no significant differences among helmet shapes). But at 1.2 and 2.6 GHz—which fall within the band reserved for government satellites, GPS systems and mobile phone corporations—passage through the foil amplified these waves by 20 to 30 decibels.

Although Rahimi doesn’t know why the foil increases only those frequencies—antenna design is a “black art,” he says—the implications of the research were clear. “It requires no stretch of the imagination to conclude that the current helmet craze is likely to have been propagated by the Government, possibly with the involvement of the FCC,” the students sagely declared. “If there are radio waves involved in reading minds, aluminum hats aren’t an effective way to counteract them."

[listenhillary]

Fun

[SquirrelKing]

Works for me. They haven't been able to read my thoughts for years.

[crazyhorse691]

Just so funny. Going to download the article and have fun playing with the moonbats paranoia's.

[lepton]

I know people who haven't been able to read their own thoughts in years....

[rlmorel]

This is no laughing matter. You just need proper instruction to build them correctly, then you can be safe.

Proper Foil Headwear

[seastay]

[mmercier]

what about my propeller beanie...?

[listenhillary]

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

A rebuttal to Rahimi's study.

[Political Junkie Too]

They haven't been able to read my thoughts for years.

They don't have to anymore. With sites like this, people freely divulge their deepest thoughts all on their own.

-PJ

[DManA]

Idiots! You don't put tin foil on your head. You line your underwear with it to protect your precious bodily fluids.

[AnnaZ]

But did they remember to keep the shiny side out?

[listenhillary]

The AFDB site says the dull side out may enhance certain frequencies.

[panaxanax]

This is a true story.

While living in Paradise, CA in the mid 70's a friend of mine who was in the part-time moving business asked if I wanted to help him move an old lady's household to Mt. Shasta, CA. He warned me that she was a "bit kooky". When we arrived to her house that morning I was blown away to find that the entire inside of her hovel was plastered with aluminum foil. Ceiling, floors, windows, walls, doors on both sides....everything covered. Very bizarre. wish I had taken pictures. She seemed harmless (about 70 years old), but had surely checked out from reality.

She told us that she was moving to Mt. Shasta to ascend to the heavens on the flying saucers than came in the odd shaped clouds that hovered over the mountain. Evidently if you scale this 14.000' mountain and hold up a silver cup the space ships will beam you up to a "better world". I asked how the heck she was going to climb the mountain that many expert climbers have lost their their lives on. "The aliens will see that she makes it", she said. I never found out if her mission was successful. Mt. Shasta..... a very weird place full of very weird people.

[MAexile]

It's not the government, it's the aliens man, the aliens...

[freddymuldoon]

http://zapatopi.net/afdb/

[AnnaZ]

Exactly!!!

Shiny side OUT!

= )

[TWohlford]

I smell IgNobel Prize here!

"Please stop... I'm Bored!"

[PA Engineer]

But at 1.2 and 2.6 GHz—which fall within the band reserved for government satellites, GPS systems and mobile phone corporations—passage through the foil amplified these waves by 20 to 30 decibels.

Wow.

[OneWingedShark]

Leadfoil, it's supposed to be lead-foil!

[rlmorel]

LOL...Okay...I...feel...the...government...trying...to...read...me...