Glitter's Top Secret Project

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In 2018, a New York Times article set off an internet firestorm when a spokesperson from a major glitter manufacturer refused to say who their biggest client was. The hints are tantalizing, and the theories about who is buying all the glitter and what is being done with it have run rampant. Let’s look at the various theories and see if we can learn something about glitter along the way.
Here’s the New York Times article that started it all (there is a paywall).
www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/st...
And here’s the Endless Thread podcast that suspects it’s boat paint:
www.wbur.org/endlessthread/20...
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LINKS LINKS LINKS
www.forensicfilesfiles.com/pe...
www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/st...
www.pffc-online.com/flexpack/...
www.caity.info/work
projects.nfstc.org/trace/docs...
www.mccrone.com/mm/holographi...
www.asteetrace.org/glitter
www.zoominfo.com/c/meadowbroo...
www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/st...
www.zoominfo.com/c/glitterex-...
www.microtracesolutions.com/s...
www.forensicfilesfiles.com/pe...
www.wbur.org/endlessthread/20...
www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmeti...
www.aerotime.aero/articles/31...
www.dentistryiq.com/dental-hy...
• Top Gun: Maverick (202...
media.defense.gov/2018/Oct/05...
www.nbcsandiego.com/videos/wh...
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
www.pffc-online.com/flexpack/...
www.cracked.com/article_31563...
collective.world/mystery-indu...
The article that started it all: www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/st...
The motherload:
/ which_mystery_industry...
original.newsbreak.com/@bridg...
This video mentions a podcast where they claim to have solved it and the answer was boats - • Who Is The Glitter Ind...
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - What Is Glitter?
3:39 - The Glitter Mystery
5:11 - Sponsor - Factor
6:52 - Glitter Theories
14:51 - Future Joe Theory
16:48 - Mystery Solved?

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1 авг 2024

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Комментарии : 6 тыс.

@likebutton3136 11 месяцев назад

I can't imagine a hell worse then working in a glitter factory. You know that stuff has to be so deeply ingrained in everything you own there is no escaping it.

@emilywforreal 11 месяцев назад

I wonder how sparkly their lungs are…

@wolf1066 10 месяцев назад

My dad worked in the milk powder plant of a dairy company and his entire car was contaminated with milk powder from his clothes and hair (with the obvious side-effect of milk contamination) - the only vehicle I've ever been in where I got "car sick" from just getting into the car, before the engine even started. Glitter's got to be just as pervasive - though fortunately probably smells better...

@likebutton3136 10 месяцев назад

@@wolf1066 my god. I'd have to get a $500 burner car for sure just for work.

@wolf1066 10 месяцев назад

@@likebutton3136 Your $500 burner car would've cost more than dad paid for his car...

@BreakdancePeach 10 месяцев назад

You come home and sit down on the couch. Your butt was covered in glitter. You try to rub your eyes. There's glitter under your fingernails. Ouch. You accidentally cut a gash into your finger. Only glitter pours out of the wound. You call your spouse for help and grab their hand. They dissolve into a pile of glitter. You look at your children carefully, their skin has a shimmer to it. They were always made of glitter. You look at your whole life. Only glitter. You wake up. You're still in the glitter factory.

@timseguine2 10 месяцев назад

Even if it isn't anything nefarious I can pretty much guarantee that if they "don't want people to know it's glitter", then it is either bad for consumers, the environment, or both.

@seameology 9 месяцев назад

🎯

@alexia3552 8 месяцев назад

You can't get much more nefarious than damaging health and ecosystems. "Don't want people to know it's glitter" means it's something people interact with and are aware of, so it wouldn't make sense for it to be spy taggers or something you're not supposed to encounter or know of at all.

@garyshan7239 8 месяцев назад

actually most of the glitter gets vaporized-and chaff is maked from AL string or streamers not glitter

@sirspammer 8 месяцев назад

? @@garyshan7239

@BasedRanger 7 месяцев назад

I wonder if Glitter-X ever expanded out into mica based glitter? That stuff is in absolutely everything nowadays. Particularly all manner of paints and cosmetics, even processed food. I could imagine that they wouldn't want that being in the press, as it's my understanding that's it's still primarily being mined in third world countries. By children. Child slaves. Because they're the only ones small enough to fit into the narrow passageways of the mines. Which regularly collapse. Mica is pretty much up there with the bulk of the chocolate industry in terms of knowingly and primarily relying on child slavery to source their product.

@penultimatosis 10 месяцев назад

I once convinced a girl in high school that glitter was an asexually reproducing organism and that’s why we couldn’t get it out of the theater stage wings.

@alexia3552 8 месяцев назад

This is the funniest comment on this whole video this is so out of left field lmao Also peak high school experience

@IRMacGuyver 8 месяцев назад

That's called the kipple effect.

@Renewthoughtlife 7 месяцев назад

This is wild! Lol😂 and wildly not the wildest thing I've ever heard 😮😂

@Renewthoughtlife 7 месяцев назад

That accidental glitter discovery seems made up... but ok 😂

@jodirauth8847 10 месяцев назад

Several years ago I was making my new granddaughter a fuzzy blanket. Hello Kitty with pink and white snuggly soft micro fleece. If you have ever cut this super sparkling microfleece you know a super fine dust is created as your cutting it into the size you need. I was recovering from my 5th surgery that year and I was convalescening in bed while I cut my fabric pieces, happy as I could be and it was really cold outside so i was snuggled with my dogs and my project. Where it gets very funny is that my husband is a detective Sargent in a law enforcement agency. He worked night that year. He leaned in to kiss me goodbye and glittery sparkly dust stuck to him like mosquitoes drawing blood. Well he got to work and it was very clearly seen all over his clothing under UV light. He lit up like Christmas tree. The laughter I heard over the phone as he told me over the phone what happened , i could hardly hear him speaking because his brothers in blue were laughing so hard.

@OlOleander 8 месяцев назад

Aww, that's cute. You know what's crazy? Up to 40% of police personnel have uniforms and equipment contaminated by glitter. Look it up yourself! Google "40% cops"

@johnransom1146 11 месяцев назад

I taught at a children’s museum. We called glitter “craft herpes “. Because you can’t get rid of all of it. Later in life I repaired paint jobs at a GM plant. Metallic flake paints were the hardest to repair. Glitter minus the plastic was the flake. I’m retired now and living in Nova Scotia. Mica is everywhere here. The beach, in gravel. Environmental artists use mica flakes instead of glitter. I know some potters that do. Get rid of the stuff. It’s just bad news.

@DemoDick1 11 месяцев назад

My daughter once rolled BJJ with a small amount of residual glitter in her hair. It was on the mat for weeks. You CAN’T get it all.

@inguss27i 11 месяцев назад

😂

@Rizko505 11 месяцев назад

*pulls out a small pile of glitter from behind your ear* 🙁 you are right

@frittfoxx3488 11 месяцев назад

I am certain I have glitter in my hair STILL from kindergarten craft time. I am now 30 XD

@JossCard42 11 месяцев назад

My grandpa lived near Coos Bay, Oregon and he had a hobby of collecting interesting trash that washed ashore (My favorite was his collection of old glass floaters that broke away from fishing nets and buoys and floated over from Japan). There's actually a small art industry in the area making art from the plastics and debris that wash up on the beach.

@tewtravelers9586 11 месяцев назад

Back in the 80s, I knew an old man who was a great fisherman. I was always asking him to tell me his secrets. He finally did. Glitter. He dipped all his baits and tackle in it. The water would be full of sparkling toxic plastic, and the fish thought it was a feeding frenzy. I never used his secret.

@erinaa9486 11 месяцев назад

Oof And then he would sell and eat those plasticy fish, and whichever he didn't, others did 😢

@heroslippy6666 11 месяцев назад

@@erinaa9486 Microplastics are in fish, especially these days. A little bit extra couldn't hurt.

@evilmonkeywithissues 11 месяцев назад

Mayhap we have incidentally stumbled upon the answer?

@rhinovirus2225 10 месяцев назад

I've never considered trying that but the tiny scales of small fish when being eaten in a feeding frenzy does look exactly like a tiny glitter bomb going off. Now I gotta invent biodegradable glitter lure dip dammit.

@saltydinonuggies1841 10 месяцев назад

@@rhinovirus2225biodegradable glitter already exists if that helps you. And “edible glitter” which is really just sugar

@vexusvexed 10 месяцев назад

If you want Earth friendly alternatives to Glitter: 1. Mica Powder, as mentioned in the video. Mica is naturally occurring, and they add pigments to give them bold, beautiful colors. Mica is most commonly used in Makeup, so it's body safe as well. There are plenty of sustainably and ethically sourced mica products. 2. Eucalyptus Pulp Fibers. BioGlitz, one of the upcomming biodegradable glitter manufacturers, uses exclusively Eucalyptus Pulp Fibers to create their shine. Like Mica, they add pigments for color. BioGlitz is also ethically AND sustainably sourced, + they're accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council. FDA approved and GMO absent. BioGlitz is not the only biodegradable eucalyptus manufacturer though, check out your options!! Keep in mind though: Make sure the product is ethically and sustainably sourced before you can confidently call it Eco-Friendly. While these are better alternatives to plastic and aluminum glitter, Mica is not naturally renewable and Eucalyptus takes 6 to 8 years to fully grow into a viable tree for pulp fiber extraction. Use your biodegradable glitter with pride, but still be wise with it like you would regular glitter. Do your research and find out what works for you lovelies.

@westzed23 10 месяцев назад

I knew about mica being used for glitter but not about the eucalyptus pulp fibers.

@mpk6664 9 месяцев назад

Mica is also quite bad for you to breathe. Mica powder sounds horrendous.

@westzed23 9 месяцев назад

@@mpk6664 That is good to know. I was looking at using earth friendly products rather than plastic. I have asthma problems so I'll watch out for this.

@beautybychiara02 9 месяцев назад

i’m pretty sure mica has a huge issue with child labor so that one wouldn’t be better

@user-eu4dg2mn3f 9 месяцев назад

The comment i was ACTUALLY looking for ! Thank you ❤

@danielgillespie7899 10 месяцев назад

I think the countertops idea is probably spot on. I recall watching a video a couple of years ago about the construction of an underground train station in London. Because the station was so far underground no natural light entered it and they were concerned about it looking drab and depressing. So they mixed glitter into the concrete they used to construct the internal walls. Not so it would be sparkly but just enough so that it reflected a small amount of light and therefore didn't appear matte and drab. So I imagine that glitter is used fairly often in construction. And because of the "natural" appearance of stone countertops they probably wouldn't want people knowing there is something incredibly unnatural in them.

@patrickpullman8348 11 месяцев назад

During the sponsorship, I was thinking "Oh goodness, they use glitter in microwave meals." and then I was "oh, it's just the sponsorship."

@j.f.fisher5318 11 месяцев назад

Lolol I thought the same thing hahahaha

@oakleyves 11 месяцев назад

that’s exactly where i thought it was leading

@stefanhennig 11 месяцев назад

Wouldn't that make some sense? Glitter would absorb the microwave radiation and heat up, allowing a more uniform heat distribution. But I think that carbon fibres might be working just as well while being less conspicuous. Maybe in the packaging, though? The truth is out there.

@astralshore 11 месяцев назад

Haha same 😂

@FLPhotoCatcher 11 месяцев назад

I don't know if anyone will get this... In the past, people looked to some eagle-eyed people older than expected from today's experience with people. Why? What do the "kems" from packaging, rugs, etc do to systemic "harmones"? Is it an unintended consiquence, or not. Hopefully we can put the *toothpaste* back in the tube.

@hectorsmommy1717 11 месяцев назад

About 20 years ago I saw a segment on some show about Nielsen-Massey (the vanilla extract company). They were showing the process and when asked were very cagey about what happens to the seeds after all the flavor is extracted. Someone researched and it turns out their biggest customer for that was Breyers. Their Vanilla Bean ice cream is made with extract for flavor and the flavorless seeds we all see are thrown in for looks and to make people believe they are getting something special.

@RobinTheBot 11 месяцев назад

I'm not mad about it. Good way to use what would otherwise be waste, harmless, and it made for a unique selling point. That's fine.

@13donstalos 11 месяцев назад

*Scandalized

@lourias 11 месяцев назад

Yep, I did a self- blind taste challenge years ago. Braums, Beyers, and Blue Bell. Breyers was the most TASTELESS! Blue Bell was the BEST!!!! Each brand was labeled as the same flavor. Oh, yes, it was a blind test because somebody assisted me. A blindfold was used, they scooped up a small amount, and my mouth was rinsed after each taste.

@hectorsmommy1717 11 месяцев назад

@@lourias I am spoiled because I grew up and still live in the land of frozen custard. Ice cream just doesn't do it.

@niiii_niiii 11 месяцев назад

@@hectorsmommy1717frozen custard????🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤

@maighaleb786 10 месяцев назад

I remember the day I found out that there was such a job as a “forensic glitterologist.” It was on an older episode of forensic files. Homes boy had every single size, shape, color, etc. of glitter basically ever, and his job was to like ide tidy glitter found at crime scenes. I was dying I was like this man is my spirit animal.

@goldman77700 7 месяцев назад

Forensic files was a such great show. Binged the show awhile back and was instantly hooked like watching Unsolved Mysteries.

@coalcreekdefense8106 10 месяцев назад

I asked an AI chatbot about this on a lark, and its answer was the cosmetics industry. It made absolute sense to me. Small enough glitter would give a luster without being discernable as glitter, and it would definitely benefit companies to keep it a secret. It has the same problem as toothpaste, being that it would be illegal, so it's pretty shaky.

@readmydescription5533 9 месяцев назад

Thats not a secret everyone knows that. It has to do with military I just watched a documentary on glitter called "the end lf glitter conspiracy" by CHUPPL Can't believe they risked their lives to collect data from the sites

@Ja_Mes 8 месяцев назад

Or food

@alexia3552 8 месяцев назад

I mean, there's ways to launder your paperwork I'm sure. If nobody tells then who can get in trouble? :) It's only illegal if you get caught.

@GutoPiai 11 месяцев назад

In Brazil, in the week after the carnival, when everyone is back to their boring lives, and at work, in a multinational company, for that stressful budget meeting, the president of the company is raging complaints all around, but then in that moment, that sweet moment, you see some glitter shining somewhere around his face and you remember: he is also just a human being. And no matter how many showers you take after the carnival. The glitter is now part of you, in a symbiotic relationship, to remind you, during many days to come, about those mistakes you want to forget

@denisdrozdoff2926 11 месяцев назад

An oratory trick my mum taught me. If you are to speak in front of "important people" and it makes you anxious just remind yourself: each and every one of them woke up, brushed their teeth and groggily shuffled into their kitchen then set a pot of coffee before frying some eggs. Probably in their PJs or underwear.

@Mr.Anders0n_ 11 месяцев назад

@@denisdrozdoff2926wouldn't work on me! I don't have breakfast, drink anything, or brush my teeth in the morning 😏

@mason4354 11 месяцев назад

@@Mr.Anders0n_facts. I was already awake, alert and ready for anything. Who sleeps?

@Mr.Anders0n_ 11 месяцев назад

@@mason4354 i don't sleep. I close my eyes and flow into alternate dimensions and universes. I spend the night roaming those strange lands and encountering different versions of me among other colourful characters... Who would willingly want to miss out on this?

@nickfifteen 11 месяцев назад

I just remember elementary school and all the girls had glitter in their hairline. I always thought that was such a crazy thing that girls did, and I remember spending all afternoon trying to figure out how to remove glitter from someone's hairline (Dunk head under water and then agitate their scalp? Lice comb? Straight-up shaving their head and starting over??)

@timramich 11 месяцев назад

I have another theory. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing. For the glittery anti-counterfeit marks and holograms (iridescence) they put on money. I'd imagine that if those things are made slightly wrong, it could be easily spotted by the Secret Service. They could be the biggest customer not in terms of weight, but perhaps in terms of cost, because of difficulty to manufacture and strict tolerances.

@reefer-joe 11 месяцев назад

This make a lot of sense. 🤔The *US Treasury* could have a contract to have a secret glitter formulated exclusively for their use. They would not want anyone to know the formula to thwart counterfeiters, and the contract would specify that not only the formula but themselves as well must remain a secret. 🤫

@s3quattro10 11 месяцев назад

This is what I was going to comment..some kind of passport or cash security feature, it’s the only thing I can think of that they would want to keep quiet.

@davefancella 11 месяцев назад

This is pretty plausible

@Admiralty86 11 месяцев назад

Wow, great idea!

@s3quattro10 11 месяцев назад

@@Admiralty86 the other side of my brain says that if it was for something so critical the US gov would have their own glitter factory….or the firm would never be allowed to tell people there is a big important customer they can’t tell you about if it was for this purpose 🤷🏻‍♂️😂

@MaidMirawyn 11 месяцев назад

I just bought some little pots of body glitter at Dragon Con that isn’t plastic-it’s eucalyptus fiber! So far I love Uniglitter’s “bio glitter.” There are far fewer color options, of course, but it feels good on your skin and looks good!

@d_lynn421 11 месяцев назад

Random, but I was at DragonCon too!

@MaidMirawyn 11 месяцев назад

@@d_lynn421 Wishing you all the best in post-Con recovery! I’m definitely still operating at a sleep deficit.

@bloodleader5 10 месяцев назад

Man, you don't just casually tell people you went to a sex fetish convention.

@penguinfromtheholy 10 месяцев назад

@@bloodleader5Well, YOU don't 😅

@1978garfield 10 месяцев назад

Hey, they admitted to being a stripper so why not own up to attending a sex fetish convention. Isn't discussing body glitter the same as saying "I am a stripper"?

@theinconsistentgamer1402 11 месяцев назад

Never in my life did i think I'd be this invested in a glitter mystery. Great video! Earned a sub for sure.

@toddjohnson5692 11 месяцев назад

The most plausible explanation I can think of for the spokesperson not wanting to reveal their biggest customer is they don't want to give that away to their competitors.

@lukebaehr3851 11 месяцев назад

DOD?

@wtfwhereami 11 месяцев назад

@@lukebaehr3851automotive industry. It’s the major part of car paint.

@gmotdot 11 месяцев назад

It wasn’t a customer, it was their biggest industry.

@vape42 11 месяцев назад

@@gmotdot yes but that information could be used by competitors.

@SongSteel 11 месяцев назад

@@wtfwhereamiWhile it is used in car paint, it turns out that it's not the main consumer of glitter. The main buyer of glitter is the government.

@Erin-Thor 11 месяцев назад

All I know is that many years I let a neighbor use my house for a baby shower. Now… over a decade later I am STILL finding glitter in plants, shoe bottoms, everywhere. You can’t get it out, ever, I swear the little glitter things are alive and breed. 😊

@michaelpipkin9942 11 месяцев назад

Where's the door to door vacuum salesmen when you need em??? Or, just burn it down. Please don't......haha

@candlestyx8517 11 месяцев назад

tinsel is the same way, and party confetti.

@Erin-Thor 11 месяцев назад

@@candlestyx8517 - Ahh Party confetti! 🤣👍🏼

@Erin-Thor 11 месяцев назад

@@michaelpipkin9942 - I have a good vacuum, LOL! AND I use it often!

@sunshine3914 11 месяцев назад

@@candlestyx8517Not even close. I clean party venues, the confetti & tinsel you can get in one cleaning. But glitter & shimmers… the lounge will never be free of.

@EonWhite 10 месяцев назад

I hate glitter, and I hate companies who are keeping secrets even more! It’s almost always bad for people or the environment when they do!

@tcsam73 8 месяцев назад

I used to be a custodian that had, among my other duties, to clean some children's classrooms. I always dreaded when they would use glitter. It never failed, I would be finding glitter everywhere for weeks after cleaning glitter from the kids classrooms. One time I finished up the night covered in glitter. My coworkers laughed their asses off, and I started to describe it as looking like I was mauled by a stripper.

@budove58 11 месяцев назад

So, I was in the flooring industry for 20 years and I have been involved in filing claims against product manufacturers for failures several times. I can tell you with 100% certainty that all adhesive manufacturers add glitter to their products so they can positively identify which product was used. Each product has a different glitter composition so that under a microscope it would be easy to identify who was the manufacturer and to ensure the recommended adhesive was used for the application. If you think about the amount of adhesives used I could easily see 500 tons of glitter being used for this purpose.

@arenomusic 11 месяцев назад

Are adhesive manufacturers assigned a glitter code, like an ID? This one gets aluminum on purple plastic, this one gets zinc on orange, etc?

@FLPhotoCatcher 11 месяцев назад

I don't think you could *see* that though.

@leland818 11 месяцев назад

@@arenomusic/ more or less. The manufacturer will have custom unique blends for each customer, and for each use case the customer needs which can be positively identified as a DNA like ingredient

@faroncobb6040 11 месяцев назад

There are two problems with this theory. First is that it isn't even a little bit secret that the adhesives are tagged, the manufacturers want you to know that they will be able to tell if you used the right one or not. And second, the amount of glitter in a pail of glue is really small, I really can't see them using nearly as much as automotive paint.

@everettputerbaugh3996 11 месяцев назад

@@FLPhotoCatcher ...In the can or on the floor while wet, maybe.

@rytheguy13 11 месяцев назад

I work for a quartz manufacturer, and I can tell you for sure we do not use glitter. When we want quartz to sparkle we use specially treated chunks of glass. That being said, we manufactured in the US. The majority of quartz is made over seas, so it's possible those practices are different.

@SillySpaceMonkey 11 месяцев назад

Sorry you got your comment stolen by the booty bot 😢

@autohmae 11 месяцев назад

That's what you want us to think ;-) (I'm joking, but I'm certain someone really does believe this)

@michaelpipkin9942 11 месяцев назад

Suuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrre buddy................ . . . Sure.

@loke6664 11 месяцев назад

Well, that is kinda glitter but probably not the kind they mean here. But yeah, the plastic part seems like a stupid idea to use, I could see some company using aluminum for the job but that would also just be kinda glitter. I don't really see why this would be a secret anyways, just like with paint so I don't think this would be it.

@ministryofwrongthink6962 11 месяцев назад

Thats because you guys are legit. DEFINITELY can see the Chinese industry pulling that crap. _AND_ it would make perfect sense why an American company would want to keep something like that secret

@Davethreshold 11 месяцев назад

My theory: Her being so secretive about it has a few thousand people talking about it and the company that she works for! Unexpectedly GREAT video Joe!

@elgorrion52 11 месяцев назад

it's for painting McGuffins

@skuzzyj 10 месяцев назад

@@elgorrion52 My mind went straight to bass boats

@sarakajira 10 месяцев назад

The Endless Thread podcast did a deep dive on this and called tons of representatives in tons of industries, and basically figured out that it's boat paint that is the biggest customer. That one boat paint manufacturer that made coatings for bass boats were buying 10, 30 gallon drums of glitter a week. And that was just one company. Across the industry it'd be thousands of barrels a year.

@turdle837 9 месяцев назад

Yes! I have no idea what podcast youre talking about, but I also heard this story somewhere!

@andie_pants 11 месяцев назад

Tell any car bro that you like the glitter on their car, and you will instantly get sharply corrected _"It's called FLAKE!"_

@bzuidgeest 11 месяцев назад

Yes snowflakes😂, on and in the car

@martins.4240 11 месяцев назад

"It's not a doll, mom, it's an action figure!"

@alfarkle 11 месяцев назад

Oh God I am going to say this to so many people I know just to get them going 😂😂

@ahleena 11 месяцев назад

Yeah flake is flake. Flake is big and looks like glitter. But the "metallic" paints are also just a finer glitter added to the paint. My current vehicle I would swear is a base coat/cream coat, but if you look close you can find the occasional glitter sparkle in there. Maybe 10 sparkles per inch. You can even see it if you aren't looking under a magnifier. Why would they add it if you can't see it?

@MarcoTedaldi 11 месяцев назад

"your paint flakes? Must be a pretty bad paint job!"

@BoreasCastel 11 месяцев назад

What's bizarre to me is that plastic straws and grocery bags that nearly always end up in the landfill were banned in Canada before something that nearly always ends up as litter and that practically cannot be removed from the environment.

@foximacentauri7891 10 месяцев назад

Yeah glitter should really be banned.

@robertabarnhart6240 10 месяцев назад

Too many lobbyists keeping it legal.

@kimdracula8229 10 месяцев назад

@@robertabarnhart6240 All those damned scrapbookers

@ThePartarar 10 месяцев назад

When my restaurant switched to paper straws, but also switched to plastic cups.

@sfdntk 10 месяцев назад

What's crazier is that a single piece of steak, just one piece, produces as much carbon pollution as an entire month worth of household plastic waste. One single piece of steak. And yet governments are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to tell you not to use straws, while subsidising the animal agriculture industries to the tune of billions and billions of dollars. Total hypocrisy. Oh, and that also means that anyone who pretends to care about climate change / the environment and still eats meat is nothing more than a virtue signalling hypocrite. Fact.

@sylviahoffman9440 10 месяцев назад

When I was a kid in the 1960s, my mother told me it was pieces of glass (I cringe when I see eye shadow with glitter). I don't know if that was true, but I still never get it near my face. 😊

@Nicoya 10 месяцев назад

Mountain bike tubeless tire sealant uses glitter as one of the main components to help clog up punctures. Most people are unaware of this, and the material is usually dressed up in all sorts of fancy marketing terms rather than "we put glitter in there".

@poursperfectpints 11 месяцев назад

The military rumor has been flying around the tabletop gaming world for ages. Metallic model paints, which use glitter, end up with a shortage every time there's a new conflict. Even the lack of components for making white metal causing gaming companies to switch to resin and plastic right after the invasion of Iraq. I'd always heard the story that every X number of years, our stealth fighters needed to be repainted using paint with glitter, but chaff makes just as much sense. Side note, the invasion of Ukraine caused an immediate glitter shortage for model paints. Large companies like Games Workshop were out for months.

@lunacouer 11 месяцев назад

Huh...that's an interesting connection. Now I'm latched on to this being what it is. I wonder what happened to craft glitter during each invasion?

@scottcarter6623 11 месяцев назад

And they not wanting people to know could be just that the military is oversensitive about the glitter jokes and associations.

@firstendo 11 месяцев назад

Makes sense

@poursperfectpints 11 месяцев назад

@@lunacouer I've never looked into it. And again, it's all rumor and conjecture. But one would also have to factor in whether or not smaller model paint manufacturers are further down the pecking order compared to gigantic craft companies selling standard glitter. I'm not sure if they'd correlate.

@naiknaik8812 11 месяцев назад

thats so interesting lol

@miguelsuarez-solis5027 11 месяцев назад

I used to work for this a makeup company. They had this ugly Grey powder that was literal diamond powder worth about 5k per kilo. It was used so a company could legally say they use diamonds in their products. What did they use to make it LOOK like shimmery diamonds? Glitter So I totally believe the quartz theory

@CODDE117 11 месяцев назад

The quartz theory has a lot going for it

@FLPhotoCatcher 11 месяцев назад

Microplastics are everywhere. We should not be making more. I'm guessing it ends up in food and toothpaste. That would not be something we would expect, and definitely not be something they would want us to know.

@ericalbers4867 11 месяцев назад

"diamond powder" So literally just carbon powder.. graphite powder.. ground up pencils. People with too much money on their hands are supremely gullible and stupid. At least when it comes to expensive stuff.

@squirlmy 11 месяцев назад

@@ericalbers4867 No! diamond powder is not graphite. Small diamonds are actually easy to manufacture, and if cartels didn't control the supply in South Africa, natural diamonds would be very cheap, they're so plentiful. So it's not people with "too much money", it's all of us who put a diamond ring on our spouse's fingers, who are the suckers. Stop looking your nose down any other group of people and start questioning what you do that is gullible and stupid.

@kitefan1 11 месяцев назад

@@squirlmy industrial grade diamonds for saw blades and such are not pretty.

@GunnarClovis 10 месяцев назад

The tile/countertop theory and the chaff/military theory both seem so incredibly logical and plausible to me that I kinda believe both simultaneously as answers. The others I'm more iffy on or don't buy

@erinnorris 10 месяцев назад

i literallyl have not stopped thinking about this article since I read it

@Nictator42 11 месяцев назад

Countertop theory does make sense, as I feel that a lot of upper middle class suburbanites splurge on them because its supposed to be made of "rare and exotic pretty rocks" and if the customers were aware that the shine was mostly caused by glitter, they'd feel like they were getting ripped off by the price tag.

@donloughrey1615 11 месяцев назад

My brother in law got very angry with me when I told him that his 'quartz' counter tops where a composite and not '100% solid quartz' like the salesman told him.

@SongSteel 11 месяцев назад

Quartz countertops is a strong theory, but unfortunately it's incorrect. The largest buyer of glitter has been shown to (most likely) be the government, the Department of Defense.

@imnotlettingyouseemyname 11 месяцев назад

I would suspect that consumer glitter purchases would vastly outweigh the amount of glitter that could be in quartz countertops. The government, and especially the DoD would make sense to me. There are a few things you can do with glitter that most people probably wouldn’t expect and they seem to be things the DoD would want to use it for.

@vincentellsworth7905 11 месяцев назад

if you saw that you wouldn't think that's glitter?

@jamiedennis-jackson1480 11 месяцев назад

Chessex, a company that manufactures polyhedral dice sets, has a line of dice called Chessex Borealis. They use extremely fine glitter to give them this particular sheen. Several years ago, they were forced to change the glitter in the dice because the US Treasury started using that particular glitter in US currency. That particular glitter is so proprietary that no other dice maker in the world has been able to exactly duplicate Old Glitter Chessex Borealis, though every dice maker from hobbyists to huge manufacturing plants the world over has tried. So make of that what you will.

@charlesmurray3255 11 месяцев назад

I like the answer, bank notes is a contender,

@kitefan1 11 месяцев назад

@@charlesmurray3255 That makes sense. I think everyone knows now who supplies the paper, but no one but the gov't gets to buy it.

@agentredfbi9626 11 месяцев назад

@@charlesmurray3255when i worked retail there were times when I thought the bills, 50s and 100s in particular, looked rather sparkly

@DrachenGothik666 11 месяцев назад

@@charlesmurray3255 I doubt it would make the running--they don't make that much paper money, & the glitter doesn't form a large enough component of it to make that big of a detail. No, I don't think U.S money would be the biggest buyer. If there was a central world printer of currency, that might work as a theory, but each nation prints their own money.

@csbsdunbar 11 месяцев назад

Interesting comment!

@caspenbee 10 месяцев назад

As a kid I toured an IBM vinyl manufacturing facility and they were extremely secretive; wouldn't tell us who ANY of their clients were. I think that's just how manufacturers are -- maybe they don't want competitors offering their clients a deal to switch factories, or they don't want to be liable for any manufacturing errors. DoD does make the most sense to me though -- I could see not naming an actual client company if it was countertops, but she could have named the industry as a whole pretty safely.

@Ericlearnstosing 9 месяцев назад

IBM is one of our largest defense contractors. That’s why. Nuclear Missile Defense and Super Computing/Radar.

@HenryLoenwind 8 месяцев назад

@@EriclearnstosingIt's not just that. I worked at IBM for over twenty years, and it was always a big thing when a customer had agreed to be listed as a reference customer.

@TheMidtownPookiee 6 месяцев назад

IDK WHY BUT I'M SO FASCINATED ABOUT THIS TOPIC. 🤣🤣🤣 WHO WOULD'VE THOUGHT CERTAINLY NOT ME!!! 😂

@seabeepirate 11 месяцев назад

Boat paint is often ablative meaning it’s meant to wear off to prevent things from growing on it. More or less they are slowly dumping glitter into the water to protect the boats.

@excalibur2038 11 месяцев назад

Exactly what i thought, especially all the sand and other shit in the water that slowly erodes at the paint, people forget that salt water can be pretty abrasive, 100% they dont wanna talk about it because it would be like opening the pandoras box of glitter ocean pollution

@warpedweirdo 11 месяцев назад

@@excalibur2038 WRONG. The problem isn't glitter, bud; you're barking up the wrong tree. Think long and hard now: what is a fiberglass hull made of? What is gel coat? But lets look beyond boats for a moment; let's look at YOUR lifestyle. When you purchase groceries, what do you carry you food out in? Paper bags maybe? More commonly a plastic bag, reusable or otherwise, right? And what does the vast majority of food come packaged in? Plastic, right? You drive a car, right? Look at your seats. Are they covered in leather, or is it plastic? What do you think is under the fabric? Look up, what do you see? It ain't cotton! The dash board - what's that? The radio? Shift knob? Compartment covers? Carpet? Trim? You see plastic everywhere you look, right? Look at your car's paint. Is it still glossy? Or has the PLASTIC clear coat started to wear off? Or has is worn away entirely? And those tires - my oh my, those tires - you drive tens of thousands of miles on those things, and they wear down. Yeah... where do you think all that goes? You go to McDonalds, order a soda. Some places you'll get a paper straw because people didn't like seeing pictures of a turtle with a straw up its nose. But you still get a PLASTIC lid. Your clothes. What are they made of? And what do you pull off your dryer's lint filter? Yeah, lots of plastic there. How much plastic fiber from your clothes got flushed down the drain by the washing machine? It all has to go somewhere. A lot of your personal plastic waste ends up in the landfill, where it's mostly sequestered. But not all of it. A lot of your plastic ends up in the water, where it slowly breaks down into tiny pieces. Sometimes that water is in the ocean. And sometimes, that water is your drinking water. Yes, you may well be drinking some of your own plastic pollution! Boats are an insignificant source of plastic pollution in the ocean, and your personal consumption is far, far more impactful.

@excalibur2038 11 месяцев назад

@@warpedweirdo bro i dont need you to explain to me how much plastic we use in society, everyone knows this, i was talking about who the glitter companies sell too and why they wouldn't want people too know

@johanneskepler7503 11 месяцев назад

@@excalibur2038 sounds like they want you to dump some glitter in the ocean.

@solandri69 11 месяцев назад

Anti-fouling paint (prevents growth of algae and barnacles) is based on copper and is pretty nasty stuff (it has to be to prevent stuff from growing on it). It's subject to strict regulations when stripping it off (before applying new paint). If large amounts of it came off in the water, that would defeat the purpose. And there's no need to decorate it with glitter since it's below the waterline (the waterline you see on boats and ships delineates the boundary between regular not-so-toxic decorative paint, and toxic anti-fouling paint).

@superkoopatrooper4879 11 месяцев назад

I feel like passively inhaling glitter dust is 100x worst than smoking lol.

@audiodead7302 11 месяцев назад

At least you leave behind a sparkly corpse.

@christophercrowder872 11 месяцев назад

@@audiodead7302hundreds or thousands of years from now archaeologists are going to dig up so many glittery remains that they will be convinced there was an entire culture/civilization of "exotic dancers". LOL! 😂😂😂

@mousermind 11 месяцев назад

*worse than That's debatable. On the one hand, glitter is plastic and metal, maybe some germs. On the other, cigarettes include thousands of toxic chemicals and particulates. Vaping is basically the same as inhaling glitter, what with its micro-shrapnel.

@ironcito1101 11 месяцев назад

I remember the case of a kid who accidentally inhaled glitter and had lots of tiny flakes lodged in his lungs. The poor guy agonized for a month and there was nothing that the doctors could do, except try to ease his pain and wait for a miracle. I thought Joe would talk about stuff like that in this video.

@keithmichael112 11 месяцев назад

so you're saying strippers work in hazardous conditions

@jdsmith5060 10 месяцев назад

It's called dusting , a tracking system! Used in highly sensitive indoor areas to track personnel location. The sad part about the glitter industry is the fact that the glitter can get into your tissues and cause cancer😮

@alyssagriffin5781 10 месяцев назад

You mentioned the Space Launch System! My job is making the Space Launch System! I feel special!

@ringkunmori 11 месяцев назад

I like to believe Glitter is actually sold as a drug substance to Aliens, because it's basically space meth to them.

@bloodyneptune 11 месяцев назад

I'm probably going to think "space meth" everytime I see glitter for the rest of my life, now.

@kidkarate3501 11 месяцев назад

sounds reasonable

@samuelmatheson9655 11 месяцев назад

Lmao

@stash2823 11 месяцев назад

Can you imagine that aliens dont have pizza or popcorn

@loke6664 11 месяцев назад

That sounds unlikely, who would get high on aluminum and plastic? I could see some cartel cutting their cocaine with it though (the tiniest micro glitter) but I don't think they would inform the company that is what they are doing in that case.

@MakesCache 11 месяцев назад

I worked for a countertop manufacturer, and the majority of what they used for the iridescent and glitter effect was actually ground seashells from mussels other things. That was just one company though.

@kimberlyaikens7642 11 месяцев назад

Mussels. And yeah that makes a lot of sense!

@wideawake5630 11 месяцев назад

Muscles? Eewwwww! I hope you mean mussels.

@MakesCache 11 месяцев назад

I did this on my phone...guess it corrected it to human muscles, and that would be weird.

@figsille 11 месяцев назад

"seashells" That's exactly what big tile wants us to think 😂

@michaelkirschner7471 11 месяцев назад

So your countertops are not vegan

@lostsock9852 9 месяцев назад

As my daughters were growing up, I made one major discovery: a little glitter goes a long way!

@okeydokey3120 11 месяцев назад

Wow. I think I now know why the earth can be seen from so far out in space. We've glittered everything.

@isaacbarnes3764 11 месяцев назад

I have been Frantically trying to tell people about the hazards of glitter for years, nobody ever takes me seriously.

@GaryBarclay 11 месяцев назад

It really is the dullest of whines!

@CaedenV 11 месяцев назад

Seriously, it seems silly, but it is actually important to use a respirator when working with fine grained glitter. Not so much the chunky craft stuff, but the kind that is used for mix-ins for various paints and epoxy materials is a health hazard. It can get airborne and cause all sorts of issues with prolonged exposure. This is also true of sanding practically any material. It seems like overkill, but the health risks are finally getting noticed, and the few studies on the matter that have come out are kinda terrifying. It is too fine for a simple dust mask, you need a legit well-fitted mask to capture that stuff.

@hafor2846 11 месяцев назад

@@CaedenV That's true for essentially everything that gets mixed up with the air. Vulcanic ash, flour, wood filings...

@BoogieBoogsForever 11 месяцев назад

Maybe it's all the glitter you wear?

@lulumoon6942 11 месяцев назад

It's just logical.

@JosephTheRocker 11 месяцев назад

Honestly what makes the most sense to me is paper currency. i cant see a more practical use of the product with an equally important emphasis on obscurity. In that interview, that person was totally comfortable talking about how there's one company who buys a majority of the glitter, and will give away all the info but the buyer themself. the US govt. makes sense here.

@Kremit_the_Forg 11 месяцев назад

Don't know about the US but I had a friend who is working in the federal printing office. He can talk briefly about the security implemented in currency but obviously can't say what exactly is used, because it's classified government data. But I think this is the most plausible answer, sure everyone knows that there IS security build into it. But that's about it. Same for nuclear warheads. Everyone knows (theoretically) how it works but if you are involved (even in the slightest) in the process, you better keep your mouth shut, because the company will loose the contract. And you'll propably go to prison for treason.

@Mitch-xo1rd 11 месяцев назад

This makes sense to me. Even North Korean super notes can be identified as fake somehow, might one certain type of glitter in the paper be one of the distinguishing factors?

@placeholdername0000 11 месяцев назад

@@Kremit_the_Forg Is this your way of informing us that glitter is a secret ingredient in "fogbank"? The NNSA wants to know your location lol.

@autohmae 11 месяцев назад

I was think along the same lines...

@ericnelson4540 11 месяцев назад

This is what i was thinking, too. The spakly denomination on each and every bill printed would certainly use a large amount of glitter. It would have to be very specificly manufactured and specifications kept very secret.

@rykloog9578 10 месяцев назад

I can imagine she also might not want to reveal Gliterex’s biggest customer out of fear for a competitor poaching their marketshare.

@ABetterName22 7 месяцев назад

I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that the US military is one of the largest purchasers of glitter.

@joshentheosparks7492 11 месяцев назад

In 2011 the answer was: New York City sidewalks. I had a room-mate who was a member of the MIT media lab who attended a talk on glitter in fabrication and partied with the speaker who let this gem slip. Why? It functions as a flexible aggregate that adds tensile strength and increases heat disapation to inhibit cracking.

@CloudObsolete 10 месяцев назад

lol, they are trying coffee grounds

@JLocke573 11 месяцев назад

My first thought was chaff. Any time there's a bunch of money going toward something and people can't talk about what it is I feel like it's usually something to do with the military. And it definitely checks the box as far as the glitter company not wanting to talk about it. Glitter is often associated with art, creativity, and fun. I can imagine that people might be upset to know that the glitter they are using for their arts and crafts is also used in a military plane that can kill people. It's probably not good PR for the glitter company.

@Sarappreciates 11 месяцев назад

Our aircraft carriers can be huuuge, like the size of a small town. Not sure how sparkly they are, I never paid attention when I was visiting before, but I will if I get to in the future. Anyway, all those vehicles, missiles, satellites, and even our officers' uniforms have sparkly bands around their hats, sleeve cuffs, and collars. The marble counters, award cases, memorials, and flooring in and around all our military monuments, gravestones, and other structures...

@Cattat2goddess 11 месяцев назад

I can see military usage as well.. wonder if it's useful for cloaking or holographic things.. 🤔🤐🫡😶‍🌫️👽🤯

@FreeSpeechXtremist 11 месяцев назад

Quartz and granite for decoration is most plausible but get a feeling it will be a military purpose key national security assets need multiple suppliers so could well be they produce "glitter" and sell it as the militaries secret source for chaff. I don't think people understand that wars are fought by disruption of supply chains mainly China would know where US military supplies are made and these would be primary targets at outset of war. If things are obscured it's generally the military industrial complex.

@flamencoprof 11 месяцев назад

My initial thought was "chaff", which is released from airborne vehicles to confuse the radar of attackers. However, I looked it up, and, though it used to be particles of foil, modern chaff is made of glass fibres. Dang. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaff_(countermeasure)#Modern_chaff

@Napoleonic_S 11 месяцев назад

IMO one possible hole with this is that AFAIK chaff dusts are not as small as glitters?

@mikestillshreddin7636 14 дней назад

Joe, your a great speaker.. down to earth and seemingly aproachable.. well, c ya round

@cRaZyGiRlGoNeMaD 9 месяцев назад

my theory has always been shampoo etc., maybe that's not that surprising of an industry, but i've always noticed that weird super fine shimmer in various shampoo brands wondering what exactly it was. Could be a very subtle effect that makes your hair look much shinier and healthier somehow that you can't quite place, that is cheap for them. Certainly now with concerns over microplastics in our bodies and the environment, they wouldn't want people to know, but the legislation mentioned in the toothpaste argument should eliminate that theory

@piccalillipit9211 11 месяцев назад

*I WAS ONCE ON MDMA* on a bright sunny day - I walked around the corner and some kids had dropped a whole packet of glitter on the pavement - *WOWOWOWOWOWOOWOWO* It was an astonishing experience - I was stuck there for about 3 hours

@Sweetheart_Silkies 11 месяцев назад

I'm rolling. Thanks for the laugh! 😂

@piccalillipit9211 11 месяцев назад

@@Sweetheart_Silkies - Im not making it up - people kept asking if I was ok, was I having a medical incident. Eventually, the sun went behind a cloud and I could leave.

@Vile_Entity_3545 11 месяцев назад

@@piccalillipit9211Imagine if you had about 200 mushrooms 😂

@piccalillipit9211 11 месяцев назад

@@Vile_Entity_3545 - Ive never had shrooms. I want some but I live in Bulgaria now and I dont trust people to be selling the right shrooms

@tnijoo5109 11 месяцев назад

Please don’t ever take any hallucinogens by yourself. Please always have a sober person to be with you. If hallucinogens have any chance of being legalized, people need to treat them responsibly. Thank you for your attention.

@jaymzx0 11 месяцев назад

My first thought is cosmetics. There's lots of shimmering 'glow' makeup out there. I'm not sure if the microbead legislation would prevent their use, but as you pointed out, maybe it's illegally included (unlikely, considering if exposed it could bankrupt the companies) or more likely, it's exported to countries that don't have these environmental protections. If it is indeed something used for defense, the security clearance requirements mean that if something - no matter how mundane - is classified as a secret, it's a federal offense to disclose the information and it's not a good idea to even tiptoe around it - especially to the New York Times. At a minimum it could mean losing their juicy government contract and being banned from future ones. She mentioned she couldn't even mention the industry involved, which could lead one to believe it's an industry controlled by a handful of commercial interests and would therefore 'out' those individual companies. Many companies have disclosure agreements with their suppliers to prevent industrial espionage. Given the fact that glitter has so many niche uses, I assume some of those companies would prefer their competitors not know who their supplier is, especially if that supplier is manufacturing a proprietary formula.

@JosephTheRocker 11 месяцев назад

makeup here doesnt exactly make sense, since its usage isnt exactly a secret (nail polish, balm, etc). defence makes sense, but again, cant see how it protects the integrity of the product to know otherwise.

@Snp2024 11 месяцев назад

It's used in KFC as secret ingredient

@oliviasvanity 11 месяцев назад

There definitely is a lot of glitter used in the cosmetics industry, but based on my own experience, I would say the majority of “shimmery” products use mica - supposedly. At least that’s what’s on the ingredient list. 👀👀 Also, related fun fact/life tip, if you are in a situation where you want to put glitter on your face, do not use regular glitter - the glittery stuff marketed as makeup is supposed to be “cosmetics grade”, meaning the edges of the glitter pieces are less sharp. Regular glitter can scratch your corneas.

@piccalillipit9211 11 месяцев назад

ITS CHAFF for distracting anti-aircraft missiles - lets be real - that's what it is I "know" this cos some boat flairs have radar reflector in them to help them find you and that is glitter

@TheMunchkinita2509 11 месяцев назад

@JosephTheRocker makeup does actually make sense. There's been a been informative push about how dangerous it is to have glitter used in makeup that goes around your eyes. Certain shapes and thicknesses can cut your cornea and leave you permanently blind, or cause infections, or just leave partial blindness. So now, something called "eye safe" glitter is being used, but if you ask experts (ophthalmologists), NO glitter is safe. Mica is what is being said to be mostly used, but with some formulas you can still see micro glitter in them, and it's not being advertised as such. It's a whole big thing (especially when you also bring in ethically sourced/synthetic mica, but that's a whole other topic). I haven't even touched on glitter in lipstick and how "safe" that is to ingest. Or how it's even used in some skincare. So yeah, beauty is an industry that brings in billions every year, worldwide, and it impacts every person on humanity's totem pole.

@nunyabidness674 10 месяцев назад

Personal vote: Food Packaging. The particle size isn't small (aka 1 wrapper = 1 particle) but think about how many packages you open up that seem "Foil lined". The same material used to make glitter can be cut larger to make food packaging. The fact that the primary material is still a plastic means that light heat can seal joints while still leaving an aluminum layer as a visible barrier. For comparison: Automotive paint. Takes about 3 gallons of paint per car, of which maybe all of 2.5 grams of metal flake (glitter) is added. One box of pop-tarts (4x packages of 2 tarts per box) has enough aluminized plastic to paint a car. Seals on your peanut butter or ketchup, layer of glitter glued to a backing material. Plastic can of coffee? sealed with glitter...

@ammosophobia 10 месяцев назад

I'm very proud that upon seeing the word "Glitter," I immediately thought of the movie.

@hazonku 11 месяцев назад

It's funny that you added the quartz countertop industry in there after the fact. My first thought was, 'I bet it's the countertop and tile business' because that's exactly what I use to make "natural" looking stone resin pours & wouldn't be surprised at all to find out they do it even with the real deal because natural stone isn't that sparkly no matter how much you polish it. If it aint them, it's definitely the makeup industry.

@biosparkles9442 11 месяцев назад

The makeup industry is totally upfront about things being full of glitter

@linnns7104 11 месяцев назад

Quartz is marketed as a manmade material, so I don't think anyone would be surprised it has glitter in it.

@InservioLetum 11 месяцев назад

Nope, they use bismuth for that effect. Found that out in science class due to an odd combination of ditzy classmates and a "well let's find out!" science teacher. RIP Mr. Stewart, you were a beacon of light.

@NedRigNerd 11 месяцев назад

As a carpenter. Glitter in countertops and tiles is not a secret at all. Even the custom epoxy countertops are made with glitter. Like it's not some big secret in the construction world. Some products have glitter in it.

@bzuidgeest 11 месяцев назад

Something can be an open secret inside a trade and be totally unknown outside it. To the professional is common knowledge, the rest don't ask. Creating a knowledge devide. As said they might not want the expensive tabletop to be associated with cheap glitter. If you really wanted to know just track the cars leaving glittorex. You'll know soon enough.

@wa5657 11 месяцев назад

i thought the point was that it's quartz, like people pay a lot of money to get the shiny rock, and they wouldn't pay so much if they knew that the shininess comes from simple glitter

@I.____.....__...__ 11 месяцев назад

I absolutely despise it. Every time I look at my black stone countertop, I think it's dirty because the glitter in it sparkles and looks like dust or crumbs or something. 😒

@I.____.....__...__ 11 месяцев назад

@@wa5657 If that were the case, they'd be committing fraud, and the glitter company would be complicit in the crime by knowingly abetting them. That's not likely to be it.

@Lissbirds 9 месяцев назад

Someone on Reddit said it might be mixed into sand on luxury beach resorts. It lines up with being able to see it but not recognize it.

@JazzyJae88 10 месяцев назад

As a serious crafter, I was always wondering the same thing. Especially since we have these content creators on YT and they all have their own line of glitter. Different colors, shapes, sizes.

@robertgaines-tulsa 11 месяцев назад

I remember the Micro Beads thing not that long ago. I actually got some when my mother mistook this face scrubber stuff as hand lotion. It felt really gritty. It was loaded with micro plastics and banned a little later. This crap was just being washed down the drain. It makes you wonder what the heck they were thinking. Well, they were thinking of profits and not of responsibility.

@Yezpahr 11 месяцев назад

Yea that was some sick lapse of judgement from their part. They probably poisoned people they loved for profit. The worst thing I heard in this episode is the glitter in animal food. Just use fluorescent dyes. Not nearly as damaging as aluminum straight into the stomach.

@azmanabdula 11 месяцев назад

In Australia there was a body gel that used sand Im not even sure if they are even allowed to do that anymore

@ItsJustMe0585 11 месяцев назад

I loved that stuff, but I always assumed it was something biodegradable. Like they did some process on the soap which caused it to harden, then crushed it up and put it in the liquid soap. When I learned it was micro-plastics I felt insanely guilty. That's what I get for trusting corporations to not put dangerous crap in their products. I also live in the country, and have a septic field. I'm curious if there's just a thin slab of melted plastic under the ground in my back yard. heh... I mean at least it's not choking fishies.

@spottedkangaroo 11 месяцев назад

sand seems fine to me. it's not great for your drain and gas traps and things, but it's not any worse than sand anywhere else.

@jtjames79 11 месяцев назад

@@ItsJustMe0585They advertised it as biodegradable. It was one of those technically correct things. Those microbeads were made out of a biopolymer. Plastic made out of plants. That doesn't really make it much different than all the other plastics though. And it's degradable, sure it degrades into much more toxic compounds, that "turn the frogs gay". Therefore "biodegradable TM".

@rhdb1671 11 месяцев назад

Chaff was the first thing that came to mind. A single contractor will get credit as being "the" supplier of a weapon/countermeasures system, even if all they do is final assembly of sub components. For example, there's at least a couple dozen suppliers contracted by Electric Boat, who then does final assembly of certain military watercraft, but EB is the listed as the sole supplier.

@phladjki 11 месяцев назад

Thought the same thing

@leninalopez2912 11 месяцев назад

Yeap! So much so that I just made text search on the comments ... and came across your comment :P

@corypage6016 11 месяцев назад

That's my guess

@slickbillwilly 11 месяцев назад

It’s not chaff. It’s way too small to scatter radar waves (aka ~10cm wavelength for guidance, meters for search radar). Maximum scattering occurs with stuff around the same size as the wavelength. For things less than the size of the wavelength, they are invisible.

@youtubeuser206 11 месяцев назад

@@slickbillwilly the inventor of glitters son said it's chaff. Military is biggest customer.

@TAMIKKOBEASTY 10 месяцев назад

This forced me to Google. The top 3 secret uses for glitter are: *Explosives* *Foods* *Toothpaste* I think glitter is beautiful and I'm glad i grew up on a Planet that has it. I would think it's popular because it's so beautiful and adds happiness to the planet.❤️.

@6wild6flower6 9 месяцев назад

I ignored this video for a month because I thought I didn't care about glitter. Turns out this video is actually super neat!

@rdlinatl 11 месяцев назад

I worked for a company that made "engineered quartz" countertops. LG Hausey to be specific and everything about the process was very hush so I could def see that. Glitter was def a huge part of the mold especially for the darker countertops. They were marketed as engineered quartz and maybe it was obvious to me because I worked most aspects of the process but it was definitely noticable that they were little pieces of glitter and not real mica or w/e but I could def see why they wouldn't want it getting out to the customers since it might make the product seem "cheap".

@clayel1 11 месяцев назад

interesting...

@ac.creations 11 месяцев назад

At the very least don't get counter tops with the fake marbling printed on. It's so cheesy.

@kathleenyes-cp2uf 11 месяцев назад

Im pretty sure my “granite” countertop is glitter-born after watching this

@rdlinatl 11 месяцев назад

@@kathleenyes-cp2uf You can tell engineered quartz from real granite or marble countertops by looking at the relfection. If you see lots of pores and small cracks its likely real granite or stone (which is why ur suppose to reseal them every once in a while to avoid mold etc) while EQ will be almost completely smooth and doesnt ever require sealing.

@Aelffwynn 11 месяцев назад

@@rdlinatlmanufactured "quartz" counters are also very susceptible to heat. Whereas granite can basically handle anything. (I think I read somewhere that it can get stains and scorch marks but it doesn't hurt the integrity of the stone anyway. And I never had any problems putting hot pans on real granite.)

@nasis18 11 месяцев назад

I didn't know there was a Glitter industrial complex.

@andrewrife6253 10 месяцев назад

I woukd expand to use in transportation. Think of high visibility paint, decals, and paving materials used to make the reflective stripes on the road, reflective roadsigns, traffic cones, high visibility striping on emergency vehicles, etc. We could be literally saving lives by using glitter to make stuff easier to see. The granite countertop/building material suggestion is a good one. I think they have their sparkly hands in a ton of industries.

@Ammo08 8 месяцев назад

We went through a lot of chaff when I was in the Air Force. Theoretically, if the enemy could get ahold of some of the chaff in the factory, they could figure out which wave lengths are blocked and go around that.

@adamrou12345 11 месяцев назад

It's definitely gel coat/marine paint. Companies that produce this type of paint are incredibly secretive about there formulations and the markup charged for metallic and pearlescent pigments is truly insane.

@sortasurvival5482 11 месяцев назад

I would argue its a supplier for auto and boat paints.

@samueljohnston9639 11 месяцев назад

My thinking on what she said is that the industry is supposed to be producing a high quality product and instead is using a cheap addition or alternative, marine paint doesn’t make sense for that, because your not going to think that the paint isn’t high quality because it has glitter, but quarts is a high quality material, so quarts makes a lot of sense

@gmansplit 11 месяцев назад

@@samueljohnston9639quartz* quarts is an imperial unit of volume

@jgulner 11 месяцев назад

My main problem with the boat answer is there's no way the marine industry is a bigger user of glitter paint than the automotive industry.

@blessedbow720 11 месяцев назад

@@jgulner there is a lot more larger boats, yacht and ships hell the cruise ship market alone might cover a significant part of the automotive industry in terms of paint but yeah not sure they would fit the bill for keeping it secret i'm more on the chaff or quarts cruise

@sebastianfiel1715 11 месяцев назад

Glitter become one of my phobias since Ive read the story of a kid who accidentally inhaled a bunch of glitter and died a few days later from aphixiation. Apparently, the glitter cloggled the alveoli in the kid's lungs, producing a long agonizing death. Nope.

@Snp2024 11 месяцев назад

So u mean I can't eat glitter no more 😢 damn

@Blakearmin 11 месяцев назад

wtf that's horrific

@madrandomize5115 11 месяцев назад

@@Snp2024No , it just means that the limit is "a bunch".

@Snp2024 11 месяцев назад

@@madrandomize5115thanks u just saved my dinner

@curiodyssey3867 11 месяцев назад

I would imagine he would've died either from fluid build up or infection. You'd have to inhale A LOT of glitter to completely cover enough alveoli to asphyxiate you...not to mention over a period of days. I imagine they'd do surgery and blow jets of air into the lungs to sweep as much out as possible, or there's at least something they could do other than just sit there and watch him die. Either that or it just sounds like an urban legend. I'm not buying it. That being said, I could definitely see the kid getting pneumonia due to fluid build up/inflammation that could definitely do some damage/kill him over a period of days.

@adventureswithfrodo2721 10 месяцев назад

When I worked for IBM we were told we could not disclose anything about the facility.

@konrad7492 10 месяцев назад

The quartz tops theory makes a lot of sense, spreading the knowledge of the fact that the shimmering effect is just glitter could kill the trend, but i am not convinced as to that being the biggest client they have

@Sk0lzky 11 месяцев назад

Yes I have thought about glitter. I do it each time I encounter it. It's literally microplastic pollution which doesn't serve any other solid purpose for most people

@BoreasCastel 11 месяцев назад

It's like Facebook. 1% utility, 99% harm, 0% responsibility.

@Souchirouu 11 месяцев назад

The fact that glitter isn't illegal worldwide is insane considering the (micro)plastic problem. Then again, there is a lot of profit involved and when profit is involved the greater good is something that gets in the way. In general I believe there should be significantly more transparency in business we have seen that they can't behave themselves without it. Who knows, maybe one day we will be a society with a real democracy... until then it's the rich that make the laws not the people.

@kidkarate3501 11 месяцев назад

money talks.

@johannageisel5390 11 месяцев назад

If you really wanted to do something about microplastic, you'd also have to ban all clothing made from artificial fibers. I can imagine if somebody tried to ban glitter, the glitter industry would point to this and demand equal treatment. And no politician would dare trying to ban plastic clothing. Of course all of those things need to be banned, and probably many more. But the political will is not there.

@tnijoo5109 11 месяцев назад

@@johannageisel5390definitely need to ban certain types of clothing and fabrics. In Europe you can get a filter for your washer draining to filter micro plastics but I don’t live in Europe. Hopefully there will be something in the USA for that soon. I could see glitter easily becoming so polarized and Republicans talking about how Democrats are trying to take your glitter and ruin your kids’ birthdays. And then they’ll ask, “what’s next? Fireworks?!” And we’ll say yeah, probably that would be good to get rid of too. And then the Republicans will say that if you don’t like glitter and fireworks you’re not patriotic, so dumb people will start lighting off fireworks more than ever before trying to make a stand. And then the planet will be fucked more than it already is. Oh my gawd. That’s actually exactly what would happen. I’m horrified by how accurate this probably is.

@pvic6959 11 месяцев назад

wait... iswear i saw a video about this somewhere else and i cant remember who made the video. the conclusion of that video was the boating industry

@Strideo1 11 месяцев назад

If you think the environmental issues surrounding glitter are bad check out the textile industry because that's way way waaaay worse. There's tiny micro plastic fibers in most of our clothes. The overwhelming majority of carpeting in people's homes are 100% tiny plastic fibers that shed and get tracked out into the environment and get thrown out when they're old and worn. And the manufacturing process for textiles can be dirty and hard on the environment too. Yeah, I'm not saying glitter is okay but if I could only clean up one industry at a time I'd tackle textiles first (not that we can't do more than one thing at a time). The thing is people love stretchy clothes so...

@B0BBYL33J0RD4N 10 месяцев назад

My money is on 'it isn't a secret, their biggest customer just doesn't want their name associated with anyone or anything else'. When they were asked who it was, the responded just gave a 'it's top secret' as a joke. If I had to guess, it's probably some other glitter company that has some obscure patent that they are lending to GlitterX, GlitterX makes it and sells it to that company at a markup, and that company marks it up again for their bottom line. The other company doesn't want 1- to be associated, and 2- to have another investigative avenue to latch on to.

@alexia3552 8 месяцев назад

This is a very clever answer. I'm leaning on this or something very like it being the answer because real life is more often banal than titillating.

@anniegerlach2563 10 месяцев назад

This is interesting to me because I watched a video from a woman with a nail polish brand and she says that while procuring glitter for her product she caused global shortages

@MarkParkTech 11 месяцев назад

The chaff I knew about, the quartz countertops, that sounds plausible, and I hadn't considered it. Plus, countertop makers really wouldn't want to hype that they weren't using 100% stone for your countertops. The reflective paint and road signs I know is not glitter, it's made of retroreflective materials produced by 3M - and their patent hasn't expired yet. It's basically glass beads for the road paint. They use something else for the signs but it's not glitter.

@mikes-wv3em 9 месяцев назад

and people are getting sick from cutting and working with its dust

@alexia3552 8 месяцев назад

Faux "authentic" materials, that would seriously cut into your bottom line if people found out you were lying to them

@davidconner-shover51 8 месяцев назад

Signs are similar to glitter, at least in the forming process but is rows upon rows of cube corners

@joelcarson4602 11 месяцев назад

I used to work at a commercial screen printing company, we didn't print t-shirts, it was a lot of large size banners, window clings for fast food stores, in-store display graphics and specialty items. We could use a really coarse mesh screen and print glitter. Yuck! We did a huge order of Christmas graphics once, it took several weeks. There was glitter everywhere, there was glitter on the cooler handles of a convenience store up the road, glitter in our homes, argh. There was a flood that drowned the print shop a couple of years later and afterwards when cleaning up the mess we still found glitter. Glitter is a harbinger of the end times I tell you.

@zombiasnow15 11 месяцев назад

I don’t doubt it!

@erictaylor5462 7 месяцев назад

5:15 Pure guess here. My theory is the secret client is the US Department of Treasury and the glitter is used in the printing of bank notes as an anti-counterfeiting measure.

@silver_the_rowlet2521 10 месяцев назад

One of my theories was that it was being used in fast food restaurants as an additive in salt for fries, as a way to reduce the amount of sodium but still look yummy to eat

@jbeansillyfella 11 месяцев назад

Quartz countertops was literally my first thought, because we just got those in my home and they sparkle sooo much. Glad to see I may have had my hunch down

@SongSteel 11 месяцев назад

Quartz countertops is a strong theory, but unfortunately it's incorrect. The largest buyer of glitter has been shown to (most likely) be the government, the Department of Defense.

@billymanilli 11 месяцев назад

@@SongSteel Do you have a link or any proof?

@gavinhill3164 10 месяцев назад

Quartz has mica in it. They crush it and use it in a lot of pigments for makeup etc

@zeke7515 11 месяцев назад

I was a munitions guy. I worked with chaff and flare daily. From the chaff I saw and had the misfortune of dumping onto myself/work tables, I never saw anything resembling glitter. It usually resembled fiberglass. Given various sizes of glitter it could probably work but the fibers allow vastly different sizes where square pieces of glitter wouldn't fit in a tube nearly as well. I have quartz countertops and can believe that 100

@nosondre 10 месяцев назад

“Glitter doesn’t go away. Glitter is the herpes of craft supplies.” -Demitri Marten

@caw7007 11 месяцев назад

Love this!! 💖

@basementdwellercosplay 11 месяцев назад

I worked at a craft store and we already were getting ready for Christmas in August so we would be covered on green, red, silver, white, and similar color glitters every day. It was like each ornament and floral pick had a whole container of glitter on it but only a few drops of glue. Anyone who I know who worked with glitter hates it

@cynvision 11 месяцев назад

Our product prep area is a glitter zone once holiday product rolls in. It lingers. Makes me wonder what the factories in China look like all year. And how healthy are the people working there?

@kirk1147 11 месяцев назад

If nobody else is going to do it I will... Thank you for this episode Joe. It sparkled with mystery and intrigue.

@AmaraJordanMusic 11 месяцев назад

~snort~ Nice.

@joescott 11 месяцев назад

(slow clap...)

@TheCangar 11 месяцев назад

Heh

@jwb2814 11 месяцев назад

One clap achievement award 🥇

@krashd 11 месяцев назад

Sometimes I doubt your commitment to sparklemotion.

@annetteysquierdo 10 месяцев назад

“I’m silently correcting your grammar.” -I need that shirt!

@auzzygirl8175 10 месяцев назад

I don't recall where I heard this but it was that the biggest market for glitter was automotive paint, which is used for more than cars, think airplains, trucks, boats, military vehicles etc. Maintaining an air of mystery helps to keep the product high in the public conciousness and the topic of conversation which can sometimes helps sales.

@GizzyDillespee 9 месяцев назад

Also road and signage paint, tho that sometimes uses tiny glass beads, believe it or not.

@lemondroid 11 месяцев назад

My best guess is the biggest customer of GlitterX is the US Military, not only chaft and stuff like that, but also as far as I am aware certain types of glitter can be used in automotive paints like mentioned; for stealth reasons like stealth planes and jets, when painted with certain secret formulas and techniques the paints refract light, radar and etc making the planes, jets, submarines or etc harder to detect or invisible to radar in general. I remember hearing about this first in some documentary that was discussing the stealth fighter plane (the black triangle looking one) developed in Area 51 before it got too well-known as a centre for conspiracies. In the documentary they mentioned using a specially designed secret paint that when used not only refracted light in a certain way to achieve the goal of stealth but also it was noted it was designed to increase the surface area drastically by adding micro triangles across the area to stop the radar waves instead of reflecting them back, if I remember correctly it was so the waves would bounce into the triangles and instead of being able to bounce back out they would just bounce back and forth between the triangles until they lost all of there potential energy.

@03ai_ey 10 месяцев назад

I agree with your theory, i have done research into different effects you can get from automotive glitter paint and some sources talk about using very thin layers and up to 50 coats to achieve the desired color shifting effects. Yknow like those pearlescent colored cars that look dark green from one angle but have an orange reflection from another angle. Theres no telling what other effects could be achieved if you used more coats or different sized particles. The only hole i can think of in the theory is how many planes does the us military have in their fleet? Does it really take more glitter to paint these aircraft then any other client would use? Perhaps they are the biggest client because they use glitter for a multitude of things.

@Demi.d3mi 10 месяцев назад

Thats exactly what i was thinking

@ARUSApacecarHAMPTON 10 месяцев назад

It’s most logical explanation. The military uses almost every type of product known to mankind.

@alyssalauren8088 10 месяцев назад

I agree I think you’re right

@FR-tb7xh 10 месяцев назад

Actually, glitter makes every surface reflect, not absorb! That’s why it’s good to be chaff - chaff clouds redirect attention from the actual threat, challenging ‘traditional’ discrimination techniques.

@trevormacintosh3939 11 месяцев назад

The fact that the person being interviewed was so nonchalant about this tells me that it's not as big a deal as we think it is. She's all like "You'll never guess it." and "You'd see something all right." If this really was a serious secret, she wouldn't be allowed to say anything about it. Maybe she would have just lied and said, "Well, gee. I'm not sure who our biggest client is. I guess I've never thought about it."

@miroslavhoudek7085 11 месяцев назад

Agreed, this is probably just a default attitude of an employee who signed many NDAs. She doesn't quite remember what was in all those NDA she signed and her company signed, so she rather doesn't say. But at the same time, she's not worried very much, because it is unlikely that anyone would really mind and sue.

@nicksurfs1 11 месяцев назад

For sure. I have family that we learned decades later were big secret holders and back when the secrets actually mattered they would straight up lie if we got anywhere near it. You're not gonna dig too deep if you don't know there's anything to dig for

@EternalResonance 11 месяцев назад

Chemtrails

@magnemoe1 11 месяцев назад

Agree, and quarts counter tops makes sense to, they don't want people to know its looks good because of glitter in it. Chaff could make sense but you mentioned plastic fiber with aluminium who would probably spread out more than rolls of glitter.

@jack1701e 11 месяцев назад

Yeah. It's like the secret ingredient of the Krabby Patty, there isn't one, it's just marketing. This keeps people talking about it and keeps it in the media, its free advertising.

@andyc1909 10 месяцев назад

Who knew, fascinating

@lauran6184 9 месяцев назад

Its Teflon or other coatings. I agree with the countertop flooring theory.

@AngryQuokka 11 месяцев назад

This is now one of my top five favorite episodes on your channel. Who makes glitter, who is the largest user of glitter, and why are they secretive about it? These are things I have never pondered and now, because of you, I have an overwhelming desire to know more!

@jtjames79 11 месяцев назад

My guess is It's for weapons. Either propulsion and/or "thermite". Just add a little iron oxide. Vapor deposited aluminum's going to have a lot of surface area and burn really really quick. And the backing doesn't have to be boring PET, can you can use something really fun like cellulose nitrate. I'm thinking instead of chaff they might be making flairs and incendiary munitions.

@Razmoudah 11 месяцев назад

@@jtjames79 I'd been thinking chaff as where most of it goes, but you've got a solid point there. Either way, military use would be a solid reason why they're being secretive about it.

@jtjames79 11 месяцев назад

@@Razmoudah Funny twist would be if the MOAB is actually a glitter bomb. Thermobaric weapons were inspired by grain explosions. I imagine finely powdered weaponized glitter could be a lot easier to properly disperse than a liquid or a gas.

@Razmoudah 11 месяцев назад

@jtjames79 A somewhat frightening thought, but it would certainly work well. Mix in the right amounts of other micro-scale materials to modify the blast power and burning temperature and you could even potentially have mission specific variations that all rely on the same primary material. Damned, now I'm seeing it as a highly effective use and being rather practical.....now I just need to keep that from mixing with images of the Doki Gurlz from Behold: Humanity!

@jtjames79 11 месяцев назад

@@Razmoudah I've always had a frightening ability to MacGyver "energetic combustion" from random materials. Do a search for "fire piston" for the ultimate primitive blasting cap, I mean "fire starter".

@theexchipmunk 11 месяцев назад

Chaff was my first thought too. And there would be a good reason to keep it on the low, because if you can manage to get the exact properties of the chaff, there is a possibility to work around it.

@sheepyclick 11 месяцев назад

Yep, was my initial thought as well, military contracts wouldn't be to chuffed with you blabbing away about details.

@EyeballOrigami 11 месяцев назад

I remember the article in the NYT. The security at Glitterex far surpassed anything I expected for a company whose main business would be Michael's and elementary schools. My thought was chaff and the radar diffusing paint/coating on stealth fighters like the F-35. The coatings are proprietary, expensive, require special skills to apply and can only be applied by the company at their factory. I don't even know if they can be applied in the field or by nations that have bought the fighters. Exterior parts that lose their coating are sent to the factory to get reapplied every couple of flights.

@ckl9390 11 месяцев назад

True, but it's still no secret that glitter, or glitter like material, is used in chaff and diffusion paints. The exact specifications would be secret and would explain the security measures inside the factory, but that that use still wouldn't explain the volume of being the "single largest" customer. Consumer automotive paint, which also uses glitter like material openly but in proprietary formulas, would presumably far exceed what any military could use. Though this still would't meet the parameter of not being able to admit to it's use in that application. I think the "Quarts" building products have the win, knowing this makes them sound cheaper and less appealing so simple use would be a secret and would also explain volume.

@holdintheaces7468 11 месяцев назад

Chaff is alluminum coated glass, not plastic. And as @ckl9390 pointed out, the military isn't exactly building hundreds of thousands of planes every year. The counter top, automotive, and marine industries each dwarf the military in terms of product sales (not going by inflated technology driven prices of military spending).

@asherdie 11 месяцев назад

@@holdintheaces7468 the military is constantly repainting.

@avjake 10 месяцев назад

Retro-reflective road sign paint is made with tiny glass beads that reflect light back to where it came from.

@hambeastdelicioso1600 8 месяцев назад

I worked in telecommunications in the US military back in the 80s so I knew about chaff, it was my first guess. But we also referred to the punch out from the teletype machine as chaff, too. It consisted of tiny circles about 1mm in diameter and would stick on and in stuff just as effectively as glitter but without the reflective qualities so I doubt anyone ever dumped it out of an airplane.

@rosemadder5547 11 месяцев назад

😂 I love that Joe is still looking at theories AFTER the episode is done. He's just as interested as we are maybe ♡

@toneddef 11 месяцев назад

He stopped researching but Google just kept suggesting. Joe is going to be glitter-bombed by Google for weeks. Or months.

@emmanuelweinman9673 11 месяцев назад

More interested… He made a whole video on it 😂

@383_Manual 11 месяцев назад

I used to work inside sales at a countertop wholesaler and the majority of what went into these countertops (at least our brands, which were made in China) are crushed stone, crushed quartz, resin and dyes. Most of the more sparkly variants are sparkly due to mirror and glass chunks. Also, these days, most of the more popular colors people are building with have no sparkle anymore as the trends are changing towards marble look-alikes.