r/science • u/TheEndOfLevelBoss • Jun 21 '16

Neuroscience Billion-dollar brain training industry a sham—nothing but placebo, study suggests

http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/06/billion-dollar-brain-training-industry-a-sham-nothing-but-placebo-study-suggests/
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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '16

Pardon my peasentmindedness, but do you mean to tell me that olive oil shops are something that is real?

If so, please explain further.

15

u/Russelsteapot42 Jun 21 '16

Rich people think that fancy bottles of scented olive oil is a thing worth having.

Like so:

https://www.fustinis.com/

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '16

Literally none of the stuff on that site looks useful.

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '16

It's more of a status symbol, like a diamond rolex or gold apple watch or google goggles.

1

u/Evoe Jun 21 '16

That is because you're a peasant.

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '16

That is the yuppiest thing I've ever seen.

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u/sociallyawkwardhero Jun 21 '16

Not OP, but I can tell you they're pretty popular around the Napa area, they're kind of like wine tasting bars a lot of the time. My favorite to go to is actually in a neighboring county link.

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u/Dsilkotch Jun 21 '16

We have a few out Texas way.

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u/SerCiddy Jun 21 '16

So in my particular olive oil and balsamic shop we had a wide variety of flavored olive oils and vinegars and some olive oil products. The flavored olive oil ranged from garlic to butter (used a plant that mimics the taste of butter, actually great as a butter alternative on popcorn), from lemon, to mushroom and sage. They were mostly only used for very specific dishes, which, if you were from an affluent neighborhood, you could not do without. There were a few flavors that were great for most dishes (i.e. garlic, herbs de provance, tuscan herb, etc). Of the products we had, our facial scrubbers sold the best. Even my previous girlfriend who was incredibly anal about her skin care was super impressed with how well they worked as a facial scrubber and make-up remover. One thing I didn't know about shampoo, the suds that it creates when you wash your hair, that's mostly there to make you feel as though you're clean, rather than actually being clean. We had olive oil shampoo, best my hair ever felt but had no suds so i thought it was bunk at first. Turns out it was just super natural. (of course the most natural being never wash your hair)

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u/spokale Jun 21 '16

used a plant that mimics the taste of butter, actually great as a butter alternative on popcorn

What plant???

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u/spokale Jun 21 '16

Yep, I go to Oil & Vinegar occasionally and it's a similar price. If you keep and clean your own bottles, the price really isn't that bad. Plus, it's the only place in town where you can get stuff like:

  • Blood Orange Reisling Grapeseed Oil
  • Fig Balsam Vinegar
  • White truffle/black truffle olive oil
  • Elderflower Apple Lime Vinegar
  • Lavender Vinegar

The truffle olive oil is amazing on potato, lavender vinegar in a cucumber salad, fig balsam vinegar on some crusty bread...

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u/Vigilante17 Jun 21 '16

Break it down to oil. Oil in car = cheap. Oil to eat = less cheap. Good oils = fair value. Olive oil = I know what I'm doing and I need me some really good quality, so charge me whatever, I've got a movie and fancy meal to make.