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The Glitter Mystery

GNC said:
A word I've never heard before, thank you!

Wiki sounds a bit worrying on the subject:
Dragée info
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Did anyone else follow the link from that article to the really unfortunately named weight-loss pills that were popular in the 1970s and 1980s? They sound like the punchline to one of those vicious "jokes" that were doing the rounds at the time.
 
Dragées - People who attend a performance by people in drag or the people wearing the drag???
 
The title reminded me of a really nice line from the biography of Liberace.

“ what a lot of people don’t know about Liberace, is that under all the fake glitter and fake tinsel . . .

There was real glitter and real tinsel ! “
 
Amoradala said:
The title reminded me of a really nice line from the biography of Liberace.

“ what a lot of people don’t know about Liberace, is that under all the fake glitter and fake tinsel . . .

There was real glitter and real tinsel ! “
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'Champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends'

Now try it with shampoo.
 
Krepostnoi said:
Did anyone else follow the link from that article to the really unfortunately named weight-loss pills that were popular in the 1970s and 1980s? They sound like the punchline to one of those vicious "jokes" that were doing the rounds at the time.
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These adverts were doing the rounds a few years ago:

 
Dragees is a word used for a lot of non-metallic candy too. I think it's just anything with a hard shell.

You can now buy chocolate which looks like rusty iron tools.
 
Xanatic* said:
Dragees is a word used for a lot of non-metallic candy too. I think it's just anything with a hard shell.

You can now buy chocolate which looks like rusty iron tools.
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Wow, you can too:
original_chocolate-rusty-tool-box-gift-boxs.jpg
 
I remember ‘metal mickey’s atomic thunder buster ‘ sweets circa 1988
Spherical silver balls. If we sucked loads of them, our mouths and tongue went metallic silver.

They were pulled from sale after being banned for high aluminium content.
 
Aye, they also makes chocolate that looks like stones.
 
The local farm shop was selling chocolate that looked like fruit for Valentine's Day...
 
James_H said:
The army uses large amounts of glitter as 'chaff' to confound radar and thermal imaging. I think this a compelling theory but according to this site the US army only has one chaff producer, based in NC rather than NJ.
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Close James. Glitter is non-metallic, and chaff has to be metallic in order to jam radar. It needs to be a heat source to jam thermal imaging, and glitter isn't hot (they use flares). What it might be good for is blocking laser guidance systems, as it is lighter than sand and being larger has more air resistance (like a feather) but is more reflective, and so will stay in the air longer and be more likely to diffuse a laser ordinance lock on.
 
AlchoPwn said:
Close James. Glitter is non-metallic...
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Mmm, I'm not sure that. Although plastic is now used in the modern manufacturing process metals are also, at least in some processes, included. There's broad range of types and manufacturers, and some glitter may well be entirely plastic, but I don't think its correct to state this as a universal.

Edit: certain online sources actually seem to contradict themselves on this - I suspect, as they later describe the inclusion of metals, that what they mean when they initially say that modern glitter is manufactured from plastic is that this is the main component, not the sole one.
 
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Min Bannister said:
Something that even the US FDA doesn't think should be food must be REALLY bad. :Givingup:
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The FDA is riddled with corruption. It's a national disgrace. I'd laugh if it weren't a constant threat to my life. If someone wants to drain the swamp, start there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Food_and_Drug_Administration

https://ethics.harvard.edu/blog/risky-drugs-why-fda-cannot-be-trusted

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/201...a-advisers-after-drug-approvals-spark-ethical'

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...-approval-fompanies-astrazeneca-a8433621.html

https://www.whistleblowers.org/news/fda-staff-calls-for-end-to-corruption-wrongdoing/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/food-additives_n_1654034

Worst of all, the FDA and its obvious corruption has led to a lot of people losing faith in the US govt's ability to regulate markets and protect them. This is what is behind a lot of bullshit like the Anti-Vaxxers. Don't get me wrong, anti-vaxxers and flat earthers belong in the same sheltered workshop imo, but when you can't trust the FDA to do its job, you can understand why people lose faith in the system. Color me pissed (the US version, which means drunk with rage, as opposed to the British version which just means seriously drunk).
 
AlchoPwn said:
This is what is behind a lot of bullshit like the Anti-Vaxxers. Don't get me wrong, anti-vaxxers and flat earthers belong in the same sheltered workshop imo, but when you can't trust the FDA to do its job, you can understand why people lose faith in the system.
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Yes, I know exactly what you mean. I think I understand where this stuff comes from in the US. You are not paranoid if they really ARE out to get you.
 
Not just the US, a lot of countries just rely on the rulings of the FDA on such matters. Too expensive to do your own research.
 
All especially relevant now that, in the interest of potential post Brexit UK US trade, the US ambassador is trying to persuade us that concerns about stuff like chlorine washed chicken are based on ignorance and misunderstanding.

(If that's true, then I'm happy to stay as thick as mince. But thanks for the clarification.)
 
AlchoPwn said:
Glitter is non-metallic, and chaff has to be metallic in order to jam radar.
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According to Wikipedia, modern glitter is produced by combining thin sheets of plastics and metals such as aluminium or titanium. Whether these metals would be in quantities great enough to jam radar is another story.
 
James_H said:
According to Wikipedia, modern glitter is produced by combining thin sheets of plastics and metals such as aluminium or titanium. Whether these metals would be in quantities great enough to jam radar is another story.
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OK, thanks James, good to know, they always just looked like shiny colored plastic to me. I assumed they were using some sort of petroleum based shimmer effect native to the plastic. I am beginning to think the reason the glitter company can't talk about their major consumer is because it is the US military, every branch of which has planes these days.
 
Spookdaddy said:
All especially relevant now that, in the interest of potential post Brexit UK US trade, the US ambassador is trying to persuade us that concerns about stuff like chlorine washed chicken are based on ignorance and misunderstanding.

(If that's true, then I'm happy to stay as thick as mince. But thanks for the clarification.)
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Yes, that subject in the news today provoked a lot of UK experts to point out how rancid food standards are in the US - please don't let us go that route.
 
AlchoPwn said:
...chaff has to be metallic in order to jam radar.
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Chaff doesn’t actually “jam” radar. lt merely provides a deceptively large return on a radar screen, so that a strand of chaff appears as large as an aircraft.

To be most effective it should be cut to precisely the search radar’s wavelength, or an exact multiple of it.

maximus otter
 
maximus otter said:
To be most effective it should be cut to precisely the search radar’s wavelength, or an exact multiple of it.
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Interesting. So not one-size-fits-all then. How easy is it to work out the wavelength?
 
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