"Placebo effect" is no excuse for fraud

In a refreshingly candid ruling, a judge has found that the "Q-Ray Ionized Bracelet" is nothing better than fraudulent "poppycock." The Q-Ray bracelets sold for as much as $200, and supposedly eased chronic pain conditions of their wearers by making use of the "placebo effect." The judge in the case wrote that "Defendants might as well have said: ‘Beneficent creatures from the 17th Dimension use this bracelet as a beacon to locate people who need pain relief, and whisk them off to their homeworld every night to provide help in ways unknown to our science.’"

It feels really good to see such a straightforward ruling in favor of blunt logic (obviousness even), against the kind of bullshit artists that seem so ubiquitous. It feels like a long time since the scientific world-view got any willing support from our government branches. May this be a sign of better things to come.