Universal Bullshit Detector Watch by Joey Skaggs
When Street Tech started, besides “Hardware beyond the hype,” our other mottoes were: “We have a website and we're not afraid to use it” and “A well-honed bullshit detector.” At one point, I went a little spend-happy at a Radio Shack and bought a slew of components with the idea of prototyping some sort of gag gadget we could give out as prizes, an actual Street Tech Bullshit Detector you could use to probe your gear and get a read-out of ambiguous pearls of wisdom about personal technology (sort of a Magic 8-Ball for gadgets). This, of course, was an idea too expensive and frivolous to ever realize.
Fast-forward nearly a decade and someone who also has a nose for bullshit, the celebrated media prankster Joey Skaggs, has invested the big bucks where we were chickenshit. He's recently released The Universal Bullshit Detector Watch by Joey Skaggs (US$40 postpaid). Joey was kind enough to send us one for review.
I've always been a fan of novelty watches. I've had (to name a few) a Jetsons watch, a Beatles watch, two Charles S. Anderson watches, and a giant rubber LCD watch (hey, whatya want, it was the '80s?) This is a novelty watch, but when you put it on, it's not as cartoony/goofy as you might think. It's got a gunmetal case with a silver ring around the face and a black rubber band. The face is a wine red (darker than it appears in this image). On the face is a cartoon bull taking a tremendous, steaming dump. But because the background red is dark, the bull doesn't stand out that dramatically – until you light 'er up and the pooin' starts.
The watch case has two buttons, one typical one for setting the time, and one for the BS Detector. There's also a little speaker grille on the case, When you press the button, the bull starts mooing, three times, as an LED below the poo pile flashes to illuminate the whole face red (from the bottom, up). After the moos comes a very satisfying raspberry that removes all doubt about the message behind the watch. I haven't had an opportunity to use it in response to an actual social situation where BS Detection is called for. It would be fun to have it in, say in a room of people watching a politician or other professional lier on TV, or over the holidays when my brother-in-law and I inevitably go to the mat over, well, just about everything.
Joey is collecting funny stories about using the watch. I don't really have any, yet. I've shown it off to people several times, but it's always been in a bar or restaurant where it's really loud and people can't hear the bull doing his business. I end up shouting: “Wait, wait 'till it ends. He shits.” They can't hear me. “HE SHITS. IT'S A BULLSHIT DETECTOR.” And then other people, strangers, look at me like I'm some half-baked barfly. The other thing I've noticed is that I inevitably get into a conversation with people about Joey Skaggs and the media pranks he's pulled and the next thing I know, they're writing down his URL. So, the watch is also a way of spreading Joey's meme. I mean, I just wrote a review on Street Tech about a watch that makes crapping sounds, because his name is on it. Oh, this guy's good.
Gareth Branwyn -[Monday, February 19, 2007]
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