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Banning Wi-Fi From Schools

theness.com

21–30 of 33 posts

Re: Banning Wi-Fi From Schools

#21

I am always surprised by people's lack of critical thinking capabilities. I saw Michael Shermer (founder of Skeptic Magazine) speak at a conference recently. It was a little frightening how much data he has on the irrationality of our fellow man. The thing that frightens me the most is the areas I personally exhibit irrationality in that I don't know about . I'm actually OK being irrational if I know I am (I can make…

Curious is there is a transcript or video of the talk you mention...?

Not that I'm aware of, though it was pretty much a repeat of what he presented here (iTunes link): http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/michael-shermer-on-why-pe...

Re: Banning Wi-Fi From Schools

#22

Happened in the UK, the same parents also overturned a ban on kids having cell phones. Apparently it's vital for their safety that they keep a 1W 1.8Ghz transmitter glued to their head at all times, but it's lethal to have a 100mW 2.4Ghz transmitter in another room.

Not to mention all the 10-100 W 400-800 THz transmitters they have in all the rooms. Worryingly, there are two structures in children's skulls, near the brain, that are particularly sensitive to these frequencies! And I expect the average child emits more electromagnetic radiation than a wifi transmitter. Children should obviously be banned from schools then.

To what Thz transmitters are you referring?

Re: Banning Wi-Fi From Schools

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention all the 10-100 W 400-800 THz transmitters they have in all the rooms. Worryingly, there are two structures in children's skulls, near the brain, that are particularly sensitive to these frequencies! And I expect the average child emits more electromagnetic radiation than a wifi transmitter. Children should obviously be banned from schools then.

To what Thz transmitters are you referring?

GP probably means high-bandwidth ones like these:

https://www.storesonlinepro.com/files/1974975/uploaded/Phili...

Re: Banning Wi-Fi From Schools

#24
I remember seeing some research (with positive findings) that encoding techniques such as pulse-width modulation (PWM) create beats at ~10-20hz and can affect the brain. This was like 3 years ago. Has anyone read about this recently?

I want to know if i can iDose with my wifi...

Re: Banning Wi-Fi From Schools

#25

I am always surprised by people's lack of critical thinking capabilities. I saw Michael Shermer (founder of Skeptic Magazine) speak at a conference recently. It was a little frightening how much data he has on the irrationality of our fellow man. The thing that frightens me the most is the areas I personally exhibit irrationality in that I don't know about . I'm actually OK being irrational if I know I am (I can make…

> wrap our houses in faraday cages Hmm... I am concerned that the big solar flare might come one day and usher the world into a new dark age... or at least a victorian period of about 20 to 30 years.

You'll have to cut your access to your power supply and go on generator (anything outside the faraday cage risks frying anything electrical inside), you'd also have to disconnect any groundings to pipework. Long runs of copper will be inducted during a huge flare, so the ground/earthing connections can at best knock off all your breakers and your generator, but at worse can surge from ground->neutral (frequently connected as a double safety) and fry things that way (note: I only heard of this happen from a lightning strike, but we're talking end-of-civilization-solar-flare here so it's worth note).

If you need internet ensure it's connected outside your faraday cage, run the Ethernet through a surge protector (with the modem or other devices power supply, which is essentially just for kicks at this point) and run the Ethernet inside the cage and connect it to a wireless router powered from outside. Connect all computers via wireless and your systems will be safe.

However, if everyone elses shit dies, your screwed as it is. You'll be one of the only people trying to connect to HN.

Re: Banning Wi-Fi From Schools

#26
post #2

It sounds to me like a psychogenic illness similar to the Tanganyika laughter epidemic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanganyika_laughter_epidemic It is extremely unlikely that wifi would make kids sick. These same kids probably get wifi exposure at home too, even if it is just spill over wifi signals from their neighbor's homes. The parents clearly don't know enough about psychology or electronics. Chances are the pa…

From what I've read the main behavioral changes are dropping a grade point, falling out with friends, misbehaving in school or increased truancy.

During my day (I'm 22) this was called "falling in with a bad crowd".

For the actual medical symptoms, these are so average run-of-the-mill symptoms that it shouldn't be randomly attributed to wifi. I know in my school my greatest cause of nausea was fresh paint, a stink bomb going off or bad food in the caf.

IMO these parents are ignoring the simplest and most obvious answer: their kids are being kids and their illnesses are them trying to skip school. I had my fair share of nausea when new games came out; I even had a bout of 'nausea' during college when I picked up the Firefly box set (I'm from the UK, never saw it on TV but had a mega-huge recommendation from someone I trusted), I watched 1/4 of the first episode before I called in sick.

Re: Banning Wi-Fi From Schools

#28
post #24

I remember seeing some research (with positive findings) that encoding techniques such as pulse-width modulation (PWM) create beats at ~10-20hz and can affect the brain. This was like 3 years ago. Has anyone read about this recently? I want to know if i can iDose with my wifi...

I think that you are refering to binaural beats : http://gnaural.sourceforge.net/

You need a stereo headset to listen to this. There is a frequency in one ear and another one slightly off in the second ear. Your brain then merge the two sine waves and intepret both as a single, low frequency "beat" of the difference.

Re: Banning Wi-Fi From Schools

#29
post #28
post #24

I remember seeing some research (with positive findings) that encoding techniques such as pulse-width modulation (PWM) create beats at ~10-20hz and can affect the brain. This was like 3 years ago. Has anyone read about this recently? I want to know if i can iDose with my wifi...

I think that you are refering to binaural beats : http://gnaural.sourceforge.net/ You need a stereo headset to listen to this. There is a frequency in one ear and another one slightly off in the second ear. Your brain then merge the two sine waves and intepret both as a single, low frequency "beat" of the difference.

No, i'm saying that PWM-encoding data in microwaves produces low frequency beats in the final transmitted wave, similar to the frequency of binaural beats (~10-30hz alpha and beta brain wave range). I was joking that i could iDose with wifi in the same way as binaural beats. I'll try and find one of the papers.

Re: Banning Wi-Fi From Schools

#30
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To what Thz transmitters are you referring?

GP probably means high-bandwidth ones like these: https://www.storesonlinepro.com/files/1974975/uploaded/Phili...

Yes, although in UK schools they tend to be the ones more like this: http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/LAFL16.html
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