# Shonky business awards 2011...



## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

In case anyone is wondering, shonky means not to be trusted, fake, dubious, etc. Below are some of the "winners" of this years Shonky Awards. If you have any other similarly "shonky" products in mind, please let us know, but better if you don't "name names" due to possible legal issues...

1. Flood insurance - related to devastating floods we had earlier this year, esp. in Queensland. The insurance companies treated many victims of the floods with the usual red tape and pedantic cr*p, which is simply not on in the case of a national emergency like this.

2. _Sensaslim_, a "weight loss spray," claiming to help reduce apetite.

3. A company claiming their quail eggs can cure chronic diseases like cancer.

4. _Peachy Pink Undergarments_, underwear marketed as being able to reduce cellulite if worn. This is simply bizarre .

5. Crystal-encrusted baby dummies, that were found to be a choking hazard.

6. A Chinese manufactured car that had fake roof racks as decoration, they were not usable in any way.

7. _Smurf's Village App_ for Apple iPhones (I hate these damned things) which ended up having hidden costs for parents, making them go out of pocket big time.

Source: article from _Sydney Morning Herald_ HERE...


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

I heard on _Have I Got News For You_ yesterday that the latest craze of pedicure-by-fish (put your feet in a tank of water and let fish nibble your skin away) can give you Hep C and HIV. :/


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

HIV?

Sticking you feet in a hog trough and letting the hogs nibble your toes off can reduce your shoe size.

Anemia is a possible side effect.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

"Pedicure-by-fish" sounds totally off the planet. The things people do to make a buck out there...


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## jalex (Aug 21, 2011)

Lots of the companies exposed by New Scientist's Feedback column would fit right in here. One example which comes to mind is a company which claims to have made a garment with 2.5 (?) layers of fabric which can be stretched in _four_ directions (as opposed to our available three dimensions).

There are so many businesses which try to promote their useless products by blinding readers with science (chucking around words and phrases like 'ionise', 'quantum vibrations', 'energy fluctuations' etc etc) that some noble soul has set up a website with which these sites can be tested for scientific 'quackery' or 'fruitloopery' as it's known: http://www.quackometer.net/?hitparade=on.

Without a doubt the most ridiculously ostentatious piece attempt at this sort of thing is this site: http://www.quantumjumping.com/ which claims to allow its customers to transfer their consciousness at will to parallel versions of themselves in alternate universes in which they have totally different lives. 'Shonky' doesn't even begin to describe it.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Sid James said:


> "Pedicure-by-fish" sounds totally off the planet. The things people do to make a buck out there...


I would actually not only love to do this because of the wonderful end result but I think it might feel pretty funky, too! I think they make you sick, though. Not sure.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Sid James said:


> "Pedicure-by-fish" sounds totally off the planet. The things people do to make a buck out there...


My friend, it's more like "the things people do to _try_ to make a dollar out there"; if it weren't for the consumers who are dumb enough to buy these things in the first place, the sellers would be out of business.

That's why, we the consumers, ought to be very critical of what the punters are trying to sell us. Equally, I advocate a critical faculty when it comes to music, too.


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