Illustration: Christoph Niemann I'm about to travel to Shenzhen on business, and I'm concerned about the city's atrocious pollution. Will I offend my Chinese hosts if I wear a dust mask?
Not at all, since many natives have adopted this practice, too — though it's generally more popular among bicyclists than pedestrians. Sure, a few folks might think you have some horrendous disease and thus refuse to sit next to you on the bus. But most Shenzhen residents will realize that you're only trying to protect your health. Just don't delude yourself into thinking a skimpy mask of the sort favored by many Chinese urbanites will do much good. "Cheap surgical masks give a false sense of security," says Christian Masset, chair of the antipollution organization Clear the Air Hong Kong, who contends that those filters catch few harmful particles. He recommends a higher-quality mask; many travelers opt for ones with replaceable charcoal filters. A little bulky and unsightly perhaps, but your lungs will thank you.
I recently held an eBay auction for some domain names I own, but the winner said he didn't want the names, just feedback as a buyer. I'm worried he's running a scam — trying to boost his overall rating so, as a seller, he can rip off unsuspecting buyers. What should I do?
It's quite possible that the winner has good intentions. He might be an eBay newbie who's facing the site's catch-22: It's hard to sell stuff without lots of good comments to your name, but you can't get those comments without making transactions. Because the feedback points you garner as a buyer count toward your total score (which is the only rating that appears on auction pages), an easy way to build some cred is by shopping.
That said, there's no question he's flouting eBay's terms of use. "If the main reason for the transaction was to obtain feedback and not to obtain an item, then it is a violation," says Kim Rubey, a company spokesperson.
You could report the guy to eBay, but you might want to hold off on tattling until you've attempted to discern his motives. Maybe ping him to let him know he's skirting eBay rules; perhaps he isn't aware of the site's policies on feedback manipulation.
Whether you tell on the bidder or not, though, it's probably unwise to publicly slag his rep. "Leaving negative feedback gets sticky, because he may leave you retaliatory negative feedback," says Julia Wilkinson, author of The eBay Price Guide. And no one wins in an eBay war.
Illustration: Christoph NiemannMy brother-in-law has a treatable form of cancer. However, instead of undergoing chemo or radiation therapy, he's taking shark cartilage — a remedy I believe to be bogus. How do I get him to try something legit?
You're right to be concerned, because shark cartilage is indeed a dangerous scam. The latest study to discredit the depressingly popular elixir came out last June. A clinical trial sponsored by the National Cancer Institute found that patients who took cartilage extract lived a median of 14.4 months, versus 15.6 months for those given placebos. Since no valid study has ever yielded even halfway-promising results, the Food and Drug Administration doesn't hesitate to issue injunctions against supplement manufacturers that tout shark cartilage as a cancer fighter.
It might be tempting to grab your brother-in-law and scream, "Don't be an idiot!" But resist that urge; cancer can make people so scared that they behave foolishly. Instead, approach him with a cool head and a bevy of facts.
Start by printing out some studies that illustrate shark cartilage's inefficacy (easily Googleable). Then check the Federal Trade Commission's Web site (ftc.gov) for records of legal actions against cartilage vendors.
Be prepared: He may simply reject all of this as evidence of a grand conspiracy by the Man. "Because the FDA has banned it, that's precisely what makes it attractive to some people," laments Stephen Barrett, a physician and founder of Quackwatch, a nonprofit organization that combats medical fraud. If that's your brother-in-law's mindset, you can counter by playing off his suspicious nature: If shark cartilage really worked, wouldn't big, bad Pharma try to get rich from it?
You should also point out that, contrary to the claims of many cartilage advocates, sharks do indeed get cancer. In fact, according to a 2000 study, sharks even get cancer of the cartilage.
Need help navigating life in the 21st century? Email us at mrknowitall@wired.com.
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