Movie plot security threat contest winner
Bruce Schneier has announced the winner of his annual "Movie Plot Threat" contest, in which his readers are invited to come up with ridiculous, improbable and frightening things that you could probably frighten people with enough that they're lured into buying some stupid product or giving up some essential liberty (or both). Here's the winning entry, from Aaron Massey (be sure to click through and check out the runners up, too!)
Many Americans were shocked to hear the results of the research trials regarding heavy metals and toothpaste conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine, which FDA is only now attempting to confirm. This latest scare comes after hundreds of deaths were linked to toothpaste contaminated with diethylene glycol, a potentially dangerous chemical used in antifreeze.LinkIn light of this continuing health risk, Hamilton Health Labs is proud to announce Tommy Tester Toothpaste Strips! Just apply a dab of toothpaste from a fresh tube onto the strip and let it rest for 3 minutes. It’s just that easy! If the strip turns blue, rest assured that your entire tube of toothpaste is safe. However, if the strip turns pink, dispose of the toothpaste immediately and call the FDA health emergency number at 301-443-1240.
Do not let your family become a statistic when the solution is only $2.95!
See also:
Schneier: Movie-plot security doesn't make America safe
Movie-plot security threats bonanza
Schneier TSA movie plot contest results
Movie plot threat contest: make the TSA ban watches!
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Meh.
I thought the joke here was going to be along the same lines as explaining the risk from dihydrogen oxide in many household products. But the Wiki page on Diethylene glyccol actually makes it sounds pretty nasty:
"...much less toxic than its relative ethylene glycol, but still inappropriate for even minor consumption. Several poisonings have occurred when DEG is substituted for the non-toxic naturally occurring "triol" glycerine (HOCH2CH(OH)CH2OH, also called glycerol) in foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals."
Have I missed something here?
Ha Ha Great
Sachin
You wouldn't want to lie about something like that. If you want to scare people, just tell them the truth about many things.
Have I missed something here?
No. Worrying about contamination in foods, toothpaste and drugs isn't irrational at all. It happens now and is only likely to happen more and more as manufacturing of these products moves to China and other countries where health controls are lax. Of course maybe the joke is that having the consumer buy a product seems more cynical than actually insisting on better import controls
The Crazy Raspberry Ants from the previous post sounded much better to me.
Just change the word Raspberry to al qaeda and your set!
@ Jonathan Badger
Oh, I understand that. I think I'd just misunderstood the purpose of the contest. I thought the idea was to create scare stories based around "threats" that were either completely implausible or incapable of causing actual harm. Like warning people about the dangers of the volatile and powerful solvent dihydrogen monoxide, a pervasive chemical which can degrade to release explosive gases. Then selling a detection kit based on this fear. (Explanation here)
So a story about a danger that's slightly plausible and could actually do real harm didn't gel with my idea of what the contest was about.
..that's the winner?
Pffft.
BUGS, I think I misunderstood the purpose of the contest, too. I was hoping for something a little bit more abstract...you see crazier things on the home shopping channel every day.
Yeah, but I read it lazily (like most people do) and totally thought it was real.