Your WiFi router and mine could be next.

JoeEkaitis · May 24, 2008

It always starts in public places, and if they succeed, they won't stop there.

Deleted member 42 · May 24, 2008

Umm . .. no.

Phobias are not really cause for discrimination cases -- and if they object to WiFi, they damn well better not have radios in their house or car, or baby monitors, or cell phones . . .

JoeEkaitis · May 24, 2008

And how are they going to sue the sun and Big Bang residual radiation?

Medievalist said:
Umm . .. no.

Phobias are not really cause for discrimination cases -- and if they object to WiFi, they damn well better not have radios in their house or car, or baby monitors, or cell phones . . .

Mac H. · May 24, 2008

Radios would be OK, because they receive, rather than transmit. (Thus the radiation is orders of magnitude lower)

There have been some nice studies done on electro-sensitivity to see if it is a real affect or not.

To quote 'badscience.net' :

There have now been 37 such double blind “provocation studies” published in the peer reviewed academic literature, and they are almost all negative, although you could argue that the evidence is unanimous. There are, to be clear, seven studies that did find some statistically significant effect for electromagnetic signals: but for two of those, even the original authors have been unable to replicate the results; for the next three, the results seem to be statistical artefacts (one tailed t-tests ”presumptuous, you might say” and problems with multiple comparisons); and for the final two, the positive results are mutually inconsistent (one shows worsened mood with provocation, and the other shows improved mood: still sure a one tailed t-test is reasonable?).

The unfortunate thing is that the poor patients are being treated by some as if they are mad, and that the suffering is all in their head.

Unfortunately, though, the suffering in many cases seems to be real. It just has nothing to do with electrical fields.

This kind of thing isn't unusual in medicine. People still talk about 'Tendinitis', even though we now know no it has absolutely nothing to do with inflammation of the tendon.

Just try telling a sufferer of tendinitis that since you've shown that their suffering is unrelated to what we thought it was due to .. you've concluded that the pain must be all in their imagination !!

Mac

benbradley · May 24, 2008

TFA said:
"It's not 1692, it's 2008. Santa Fe needs to embrace this technology, it's not going away," Trujillo said.

Just to be devil's advocate, that's reactionary in the other direction. If there's any real danger to it, then they should not only not do it, but investigate what other wi-fi installations are doing, possibly shutting them down (which would be just what those ~~watermelons~~ Concerned Citizens would want them to do).

Personally, I use a "plug-in only" router and Ethernet cables to all my online computers, not out of any fear of low-level microwaves, but so I don't have to figure out how to add a password and guess if I got it right to prevent the next door neighbor from DLing kiddie porn through MY Internet connection.

Mac H. said:
Radios would be OK, because they receive, rather than transmit. (Thus the radiation is orders of magnitude lower)
Well, that would depend on how close you are to the transmitting antenna. Must urban areas are chock-full of high-power radio and TV station antennas.

Mac H. said:

The unfortunate thing is that the poor patients are being treated by some as if they are mad, and that the suffering is all in their head.

Unfortunately, though, the suffering in many cases seems to be real. It just has nothing to do with electrical fields.

This kind of thing isn't unusual in medicine. People still talk about 'Tendinitis', even though we now know no it has absolutely nothing to do with inflammation of the tendon.

Just try telling a sufferer of tendinitis that since you've shown that their suffering is unrelated to what we thought it was due to .. you've concluded that the pain must be all in their imagination !!

Mac

Click to expand...

There's the Frontline episode on this (this page is a summary - click the Transcript link on the right to read the whole thing):
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/info/1319.html
People really did get cancer, and they really did live near power lines and/or an electric power substation. And I'm not saying categorically there's no connection - a big power transformer could have overheated years earlier, spewing out lots of PCB-based oil (known to cause cancer) all over the neighborhood. But I saw no indication than any 'alternate cause' (other than the VLF electromagnetic radiation that power lines and substations would give off) was investigated.

Here's a group that disputes Frontline's conclusions (IMHO, in a conspiracy-theory sort of way):
http://www.microwavenews.com/front.html

maestrowork · May 24, 2008

allergic to wifi signals? yeah, and i pee milk.

Storm Dream · May 24, 2008

I can sorta imagine people being sensitive to the signals -- aren't some folks very sensitive to electro magnetic fields, or something like that? There's a certain electrical output that can actually make you feel things (I think that much is true...but then again I might've picked it up from Ghost Hunters).

But...if it's an allergy, how does that make it a disability?

I have hay fever. I demand all plants and trees and bushes be banned from all places I walk, so that I may go to Starbucks without sneezing. I would come up with something wittier, but I'm pooped.

All kidding aside, I do wonder if there might be some yet-undiscovered side effects from all these signals flying through the air.

sportacus · May 25, 2008

Whoa, for a second, I thought the guy in the article's name was 'Rob Trujillo'.

GeorgieB · May 25, 2008

As soon as I turn on my wi-fi router I reach for the foil and make a hat. It works, I'm only half-mad and not nearly a watermelon (yet).

Seaclusion · May 25, 2008

Help, the microwaves are eating my brain!!

Richard

choppersmom · May 25, 2008

maestrowork said:
allergic to wifi signals? yeah, and i pee milk.

Um...TMI, much?

maestrowork · May 25, 2008

These people should really worry about cell phones, laptop computers, microwave ovens, cordless phones, two-way radios..... wow, the world we live in really is a death trap!

Additionally, other devices use the 2.4 GHz band: microwave ovens, security cameras, Bluetooth devices and (in some countries) Amateur radio, video senders, cordless phones and baby monitors, all of which can cause significant additional interference.

Nobody is complaining about microwaves, cameras, radio, phones or baby monitors. I wonder why.

choppersmom · May 25, 2008

They figure, what the heck? There's a guy under a bridge peeing milk, that's the seventh sign anyway, we're all dead.

maestrowork · May 25, 2008

you don't even want to know about the honey...

choppersmom · May 25, 2008

*cowers in corner*

There's...HONEY??

JoeEkaitis · May 25, 2008

choppersmom said:
*cowers in corner*

There's...HONEY??

Heck, EVERYBODY sneezes.

Fingers · May 25, 2008

maestrowork said:
allergic to wifi signals? yeah, and i pee milk.

Would that be 1%, 2%, lowfat or what? Can you deliver each type on demand?

The talent you can find on this site is amazing. Really.

yer pal Brian

choppersmom · May 25, 2008

JoeEkaitis said:
Heck, EVERYBODY sneezes.

Oh, eeeewww. But funny!!

Yeshanu · May 25, 2008

A group in Santa Fe says the city is discriminating against them because they say that they're allergic to the wireless Internet signal. And now they want Wi-Fi banned from public buildings.

I'm asthmatic, and allergic to tree pollen. Can I sue because the government is discriminating me by planting trees in public places, and by allowing cars and industry to pollute the air, worsening my conditions?

Unlike those folks, there is scientific evidence that I'm being discriminated against! I want lots of money! I want equality! I want a cheeseburger!

(Okay, so that last has nothing to do with the thread, but I thought that since I was demanding things, I'd throw that in.)

JimmyB27 · May 26, 2008

Storm Dream said:
There's a certain electrical output that can actually make you feel things (I think that much is true...but then again I might've picked it up from Ghost Hunters).

Well...if you stick your finger in a power socket, you'll certainly feel something from that electrical output.

HeronW · May 26, 2008

Wet the finger first before sticking it in light socket :}
News flash for the 'allergic' to wifi folks--your body runs on electricity via the afferent and efferent neurons. Electricity has been around with oodles of lightning since forever. Your chances of been zapped--read fried or dead, by current: 'wild' or harnessed in power lines are far greater than the 1:50,000,000 of being twizzled by the loose electricity coming from wifi.

Is twizzled a word?

Maryn · May 26, 2008

HeronW said:
Is twizzled a word?

It is now.

Maryn, using her word-status-granting authority

Joycecwilliams · May 26, 2008

maestrowork said:
allergic to wifi signals? yeah, and i pee milk.

Wow, must save a lot of money at the grocery store..

However I don't think I'll go to your house for coffee..

maestrowork · May 26, 2008

Joycecwilliams said:
Wow, must save a lot of money at the grocery store..

However I don't think I'll go to your house for coffee..

I said milk, not cream. But then again...

Never mind, I don't want to get banned.

Joycecwilliams · May 26, 2008

maestrowork said:
I said milk, not cream. But then again...

Never mind, I don't want to get banned.

I get the point...

Your WiFi router and mine could be next.

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