Things to do in ‘couver when you’re weird

These ads that appeared in my Facebook feed the other day confuse and frighten me:

I hadn’t realised that breeding grotesquely oversized kittehs was A Thing in Vancouver… or maybe that’s just what happens when you buy breakthrough peptide-based treatments from the internet…

I’m very excited to hear about this new alternative to expensive stem cells, by the way. Lord knows I’d be buying waaaaaaay more stem cells than I am now if they were just a leeeeetle bit cheaper…

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!

About Cath@VWXYNot?

"one of the sillier science bloggers [...] I thought I should give a warning to the more staid members of the community." - Bob O'Hara, December 2010
This entry was posted in bad people, freakishness, furry friends, medicine, pseudoscience, screenshots, shopping, silliness, Vancouver. Bookmark the permalink.

15 Responses to Things to do in ‘couver when you’re weird

  1. Cath@VWXYNot? says:

    Oh geez… I meant this post as a joke, but the peptide therapy website is winding me up. I refuse to provide them with a link, but here’s the intro:

    Regenerative Cellular Therapy’s Peptide Manufacture has been researching and working with peptides and peptones for over thirty years. Developing specific high-power bio-material vital for the human body, continues to develop new therapies in which we have succeeded in having the dysfunctional cells of the recipient regenerate for their repair and revitalization within the strictest and most rigorous controls exacted by bio-safety.

    We employ natural substances—known as cell compounds—using extracts of animal and plant origin that are 100% safe bio-medications for cell nutrition that progressively induce the repair and normalization of the cell cycle as a curing mechanism.

    The rest of it is no better.

    GRRRRRRRRRRR.

    Post now being edited to include the “pseudoscience” and “bad people” tags…

  2. Anthony says:

    Oh man, You come up with these awesome things to do just as I’m getting ready to leave? Harsh.

    I never knew I was supposed to grow my cat to epic proportions and inject myself with peptides… so many opportunities lost.

  3. Liz says:

    gaah, I’ve been getting this “stem cell alternative” ad on my facebook homepage for the last few weeks and it drives me bananas

    I do find it a bit funny that as it is likely being targeted to the pages of those with stem cell or biomedical related content on their profiles, it will hopefully primarily be seen by annoyed scientists and not by those who are likely to buy into the scam.

  4. Bob O'H says:

    Are you sure it’s the cat that’s the wrong size? Peptides do that to people, you know.

  5. Schlupp says:

    Gah. Peptide based is such a disappointment. I had read Reptile first.

  6. Alyssa says:

    I see the cat one too (though it’s for London, not Vancouver, of course). Was it lame of me to be kind of excited to see such a giant cat and I had to use all my power not to click on the ad because in my head I knew it was fake?

  7. Sorry, Anthony. But maybe they can ship the peptides to Denmark?

    Liz, I certainly hope that’s the case! When I had Google Ads on my old blog I got all kinds of creationist ads, so this targeted marketing lark really doesn’t work all that well I think! (It was the baby monkey & chimp for sale ads that made me get rid of Google Ads in the end – much worse than creationism).

    Bob, you make an excellent point. I shall definitely avoid those peptides now; I wouldn’t survive an hour in my house without being hunted down and mauled if I was that size relative to my cats.

    Schlupp, I’m sure if you try hard enough you can find someone selling miracle reptile-based cures on the internet. You might even be able to get a Groupon for it.

    Alyssa, so it’s a Canadian thing rather than just a Vancouver thing? Why wasn’t that on the citizenship test?!

  8. rpg says:

    Seeing as I now work in the most heavily regulated industry on the planet, I can’t say how pissed off scammers and other homeopaths make me.

  9. Mel says:

    **apologies for the long comment but bad evil awful “science” therapies are a pet peeve.**

    I’ve been getting the peptide ad too! Now I know I shouldn’t visit their website, it would probably make me as mad as when I found out about “DNA CryoStem Skin Therapy system” which apparently you can get in several “spas” in the States. Here are some of the more awful rage inducing excerpts:

    “Q: What is the origin of the skin stem cells used in DNA CryoStem™ Therapy?
    A: The skin stem cells are obtained from bovine (cow) amniotic fluid. A special herd of bovines are raised under pristine and controlled conditions in France. These free-range bovines are organically fed, nurtured, and no vaccines or hormones are administered to ensure the highest standards of health and care. An innovative and proprietary collection process is utilized to extract the amniotic fluid under absolute sterile conditions and strict European governmental supervision. The extractions are carefully timed in order to achieve maximum amounts of stem cells, which have not become specific to the bovine genetic composition but contain the DNA information to convert to human genetic composition, specifically that of human skin.”

    Because you know – cow cells can magically become human if they’re stem cells. Maybe this is unique to organic French cows? Then there’s this:

    “Q: How do the skin stem cells work?
    A: It has been proven that a young cell coming into contact with an old cell leads to the reprogramming of the old cell. This reprogramming is made possible because of a cell’s power to share genetic information via DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). When the skin stem cells come into contact (topically) with living human skin, the reintroduction of young, strong and powerful DNA begins to reorganize and share its biologically flawless information with existing aged and/or damaged cells. By means of this sharing of information, the future generations of skin will regenerate much stronger and younger looking.”

    Isn’t it great that cells touching your skin just automatically feed your cells their DNA?!? Good thing my skin never comes into contact with any cells… oh oops except for various millions of bacteria. I guess my skin must be >90% bacterial DNA by now. Hope their DNA is as flawless as cows.

    AAARRRGGGGH. This still bothers me and I found this ages ago.

    • rpg says:

      *splort*

      dammit. I was hoping this MBP would last a while longer.

      • Cath@VWXYNot? says:

        Mel FTW – even though I’m personally appalled that some of my skin has converted to the DNA of any organism that’s ever touched me… although most of my clothes seem to have already converted themselves into cat fur, and that hasn’t hurt me, so maybe it’s not so bad…

        • ricardipus says:

          I’m pretty sure there are a few things wrong with that. In particular, “herd of bovines” isn’t grammatically correct.

          Oh yeah, and the DNA thing too.

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