• 11 MAY 24

    Smart meter changes – have your say ( From EMR Australia)

    The Australian Government is considering changes to electricity metering that would see smart meters deployed much more widely by 2030 – and you can have a say about it. The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has released its plans in draft form and is seeking submissions until 30 May 2024.
    The draft legislation sets out details about how the accelerated smart meter installation can be achieved. At present it will apply to New South Wales, Queensland, Australian Capital Territory and South Australia. (Victoria already has almost universal smart meter coverage; Tasmania has its own accelerated smart meter program and Western Australia and Northern Territory have their own meterage regulations.) Most smart meters emit radiofrequency (wireless) radiation, but there will still be an option for using Type 4A non-communicating meters.
    EMR Australia believes there are some significant flaws in the draft legislation. SNIP

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    • 23 FEB 23

    Smartwatches and wearable fitness trackers could trigger heart attacks in vulnerable patients

    Excerpt: SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Smartwatches and wearable devices like a Fitbit or Apple Watch could trigger a heart attack in vulnerable patients, a new study warns. Scientists with the University of Utah say these wearable gadgets can interfere with medical devices such as pacemakers.

    “This study raises a red flag,” says lead author Dr. Benjamin Sanchez Terrones, a computer engineer at the University of Utah, in a media release. “We have done this work in simulations and benchtop testing following Food and Drug Administration accepted guidelines, and these gadgets interfere with the correct functioning of the CIEDs we tested. These results call for future clinical studies evaluating the translation of our findings to patients wearing CIEDs and using these wearable devices.”…SNIP

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    • 17 DEC 22

    Reflections on a Russian Neverland

    Excerpt: In September 2004 I was fortunate enough to receive funding to attend a Russian International Conference, titled: Mobile Communications and Health: Medical, Biological and Social Problems. It was held in Moscow and was attended by a wide range of international scientists including researchers from the USA, Great Britain, Europe, Ukraine, Poland and Australia. Russia was represented by The Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (RNCNIRP), The Russian Academy of Science, and The Russian Academy of Medical Science.

    What was interesting about the research papers presented at the 3 day conference was the high quality of the biological research that had been carried out by Russian and former Eastern Bloc scientists – and that was a high point of the conference. However, much of this research seemed to be largely a product of the past, before the break up of the former Soviet Union.

    As part of the conference we were taken to a Moscow based research institute which was to showcase Russia’s research activities. The building itself was built in the 1960s and was designed to be an impressive structure, but after some 50 years use it was in poor condition from an obvious a lack of maintenance. Upon arrival we had to use a side entrance as the large main doors had fallen off their hinges due to rust and were being hastily repaired by a construction crew. Not a good first impression….SNIP

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    • 16 OCT 22

    Microsoft goggles left soldiers with headaches and nausea during tests

    EXCERPT:

    Bloomberg News

    U.S. soldiers using Microsoft Corp.’s new goggles in their latest field test suffered “mission-affecting physical impairments” including headaches, eyestrain and nausea, according to a summary of the exercise compiled by the Pentagon’s testing office. More than 80% of those who experienced discomfort had symptoms after less than three hours using the customized version of Microsoft’s HoloLens goggles, Nickolas Guertin, director of Operation Test and Evaluation, said in a summary for Army and Defense Department officials. He said the system also is still experiencing too many failures of essential functions. The problems found in the testing in May and June were outlined in a 79-page report this month. The Army marked it “Controlled Unclassified Information” to prevent public distribution, but Bloomberg News obtained a summary.

    Despite the device’s flaws, Guertin doesn’t deem it a lost cause. He recommended that the Army “prioritize improvements” before widespread deployment to reduce the “physical discomfort of users.” He said improvements are also needed to the goggle’s low-light sensors, display clarity, field of vision and poor reliability of some essential functions. On the positive side: The latest model’s reliability has improved for a key metric – the mean time between failures that render the whole system inoperable, according to the report. Leaders and soldiers also reported that the latest version “enhanced navigation and coordination of unit movements,” Guertin wrote. Microsoft’s Integrated Visual Augmentation System, or IVAS, is expected to provide a “heads-up display” for U.S. ground forces, similar to those for fighter pilots. It would let commanders project information onto a visor in front of a soldier’s face and would include features such as night vision. The Army projects spending as much as $21.9 billion over a decade on the goggles, spare parts and support services if all options are exercised. The test results will be closely assessed by lawmakers as they decide whether to approve $424.2 million the Army proposed to spend on the program this fiscal year. The House and Senate appropriations panels separately proposed deep cuts to the Army’s request pending the outcome of the testing….SNIP

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    • 09 NOV 20

    An Electric vehicle may not be as safe as thought.

    Excerpt: In the latest Wall Street International Magazine, in the section on Science and Technology there is a very interesting article on emissions from the production of Electric vehicles (EV). What I found of particular thought provoking interest, is the following:
    An EV’s computers, power systems, motors, active sensors and antennas emit electromagnetic radiation (EMR). The U.S.’s Federal Communications Commission determined that EMR exposure from such devices is safe because it has no significant, immediate effect on body temperature. However, EMR-exposure can cause non-thermal effects: it can damage DNA and increase risk of cancer and other diseases. A vehicle’s EMR emissions can cause a deep brain stimulator (DBS) (a medical implant for neurological diseases like Parkinson’s) to shut off or reprogram. I know a woman who drove her hybrid car after she had a DBS implanted. Each time the car’s battery-charger turned on at stoplights, the computers’ magnetic fields shut off her implant. In 2000, 8-10% of the U.S. population had an implant. If someone has a DBS, they cannot ride in an electric vehicle….SNIP

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    • 14 FEB 20

    Is the outbreak and increasing cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan linked to the ship’s air conditioning system?

    Building air-conditioning systems have previously been found to be responsible for the spreading pathogens, such as Legionnaires’ disease. According to the U.S. CDC , Legionella bacteria can be spread in buildings by occupants inhaling water vapor from air conditioning units, where the legionella bacteria are infesting cooling towers. Then why not coronavirus as well?

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    • 22 MAY 19

    Smart nappies will save you from getting poo on your finger

    While searching through the Internet for absolutely unnecessary and possibly dangerous ‘smart” devices that will be part of the Internet of Things (IoT) I came across this great example. No longer will you have to risk getting nasty baby poo on your fingers when you check to see if your baby has done a dump. Just wait for the message on your smart phone! Note where the bluetooth transmitter is placed. As the old saying goes a picture is worth a thousand words…. SNIP

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    • 18 JAN 19

    Australian residents and councils raise health concerns about “small cell” installations

    From Stop Smart Meters Australia

    Excerpt:
    Australian residents and councils raise health concerns about “small cell” installations
    Posted on January 18, 2019 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

    The ABC reported earlier this month that residents in NSW have petitioned for the removal of small cell boxes. “In a move that experts say will become more common as Australia prepares itself for the 5G rollout, TPG, in conjunction with China’s Huawei, has begun placing the transmitters – roughly the size of two shoe boxes – on power poles across the suburb of Ryde, in Sydney’s north-west.”…SNIP

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    • 08 OCT 18

    Get your anti 5G, etc. stickers here!

    I normally have a policy not to promote products (other than the excellent book, Corporate Ties that Bind) on my web site but the range of products aimed to increase public awareness of the downside of the wireless age, such as 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT) is a great idea in my opinion! AND they do not sell protective devices! 10% of sales through the link below will go to my nominated charity. In this case Stop Smart Meters Australia. Note that I make no money from this. Read on….

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    • 02 AUG 18

    Microwave News on the death of Joe Bowman

    From Microwave News:

    Hail and Farewell
    NIOSH’s Joe Bowman Dies at 73
    An Expert on Exposure Assessment, He Never Gave Up

    Members of the EMF/RF research community are not known as risk takers. Some have sold their souls, but most simply follow the prescribed dogma: Keep a low profile and eke out a grant or contract here and there.

    Joe Bowman, who died on July 14, was different. As one colleague told me on hearing the news last week, “Joe was honest and he had guts.” These are two qualities in very short supply in the world I cover. Importantly, Joe knew what he was doing. His expertise was exposure assessment, a critical part of epidemiology….SNIP

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    • 21 JUL 18

    Must see documentary: “Sugar Coated- How the Sugar Industry Managed to Dupe the World for Decades”

    While viewing this excellent documentary of how the sugar industry has spun the science to maintain their profits at the expense to public health, and how it mirrors the same tactics used by the tobacco industry, I am reminded of the PR tactics now used by the telecommunications industry to try and convince us that all is safe.

    Quoting in part from Dr. Christin Kearns now at the University of California as a Postdoctoral Scholar: …”the goal [of her research] is to be demonstrating the tactics used by the sugar industry and the tactics used by the tobacco industry”… “history is repeating itself absolutely unless we truly understand the industry practices the debate will continue to go on.” Recommended!

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    • 09 JUN 18

    More Americans flee US consulate in China as mysterious sonic sickness linked to Cuba illness spreads

    Excerpt:
    More US citizens have been evacuated from a US consulate in Guangzhou, China, after suffering what appears to be the same strange, sound-related illness that befell Cuba consulate workers in 2016, it emerged on Wednesday.

    Consulate worker Mark Lenzi and his wife heard strange noises over the course of several months before falling ill with what they described as neurological symptoms, The New York Times reported.

    On Wednesday night they were flown to the US with their children, including a three-year-old boy who was also affected.

    Speaking to The Washington Post that same day, Lenzi described the sound as being like “marbles bouncing and hitting a floor then rolling on an incline with a static sound”. They asked their neighbour if he was responsible, but he denied it. Months later, the couple began to develop excruciating headaches and suffer sleep deprivation – as did their son. Consulate doctors prescribed painkillers and sleeping tablets, they said.

    Then, last month, he found out that their neighbour had been evacuated from the consulate, having suffered similar symptoms. Those included “subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure”, the State Department said at the time.
    He was checked and diagnosed with a “mild traumatic brain injury”, the State Department said…SNIP

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    • 21 MAY 18

    Alzheimer’s The Number One Killer: Prevention and Reversal of Cognitive Decline Paperback – May 14, 2018

    New book on Alzheimer’s Disease by Tenzin Dawa PhD (Author)

    From Amazon:

    There are 5 million Americans with Alzheimer’s disease, 30 million in the world. 99% of 75 million Americans don’t know that they are positive for the allele ApoE4 which is carried by two-thirds of Alzheimer’s patients. – 45 million of young Americans today, about 15% of the population, do not know they are destined to get Alzheimer’s disease during their lifetime, bankrupting Medicare, if no prevention is instituted. Alzheimer’s was a rare disease before the beginning of the modern consumer society and introduction of processed and fast foods, and all these conveniences of transportation and combustion engines and turbines, and, most of all, communication by pulsing microwaves used in mobile phone and TETRA communications impacting our brain cells and tissue, destroying them. We will eventually, perhaps in 30 to 50 years, have killed a sufficient number of our children, youth, grown-ups, particularly in the heavy polluted metropolitan areas of New Delhi, Mumbai, Beijing, Shanghai, Manila, Jakarta, Cairo, London, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, and other metropolises, creating an unmanageable backlog of Alzheimer’s patients, burgeoning cost of medical care which is bankrupting private and socialized health care insurers…SNIP

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    • 30 APR 18

    Ladybird beetles swarm on radio tower in South Australia

    Excerpt:
    Millions of ladybirds are massing under a remote radio tower near Mount Burr in South Australia, with the location also attracting visitors keen to see the unusual sight. Steve Chapple came across the mass and was taken aback by his find. “I’ve always been astounded by the numbers out there but this year was just phenomenal,” he said. “They’re four inches deep and the base of the tower is about five metres by five metres, so you’d have to talk in the millions. “This is the first year that the netballers at Mount Burr have them landing on them and poles during their game. “They’re there all day. “They swarm during the middle of the day and then they land back in the crevasses, the cracks, the pipes during the dark.”..SNIP

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    • 05 APR 18

    Did wi-fi hotspots bring down Russian mail drone?

    Someday, in the future, our skies will be full of whirring machines delivering anything we could ever want or need, from medical supplies to pizzas to the latest item from our Amazon overlords.That day is not today.
    On Monday, Russia’s postal service tested a delivery drone in the city of Ulan-Ude, Siberia. Instead, though, the drone crashed violently into a wall of nearby building, turning the UAV into a mess of jumbled parts… SNIP

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    • 29 MAR 18

    Virtual Reality Can Leave You With an Existential Hangover

    From The Atlantic

    After exploring a virtual world, some people can’t shake the sense that the actual world isn’t real, either.

    Rebecca Searles, Dec,21, 2016

    Excerpt:
    When Tobias van Schneider slips on a virtual reality headset to play Google’s Tilt Brush, he becomes a god. His fingertips become a fiery paintbrush in the sky. A flick of the wrist rotates the clouds. He can jump effortlessly from one world that he created to another.When the headset comes off, though, it’s back to a dreary reality. And lately van Schneider has been noticing some unsettling lingering effects. “What stays is a strange feeling of sadness and disappointment when participating in the real world, usually on the same day,” he wrote on the blogging platform Medium last month. “The sky seems less colorful and it just feels like I’m missing the ‘magic’ (for the lack of a better word). … I feel deeply disturbed and often end up just sitting there, staring at a wall.”Van Schneider dubs the feeling “post-VR sadness.” SNIP

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    • 28 MAR 18

    Is our smart technology contributing to the Antarctic melting?

    Continuing on from the last two blogs, consider the possibility that our ‘smart’ technology is a not-insignificant contributing factor in the rapid and increasing melting of the Antarctic ice shelfs – with dire consequences for our modern high-tech world. The following article appears in the July 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine. It was first published on June 14, 2017 and updated on July 12 with news of the Larsen C break…
    The Larsen C Ice Shelf Collapse Is Just the Beginning–Antarctica Is Melting. The massive iceberg that broke off the Larsen C Ice Shelf may be a harbinger of a continent-wide collapse that would swamp coastal cities around the world.

    Excerpt

    Seen from above, the Pine Island Ice Shelf is a slow-motion train wreck. Its buckled surface is scarred by thousands of large crevasses. Its edges are shredded by rifts a quarter mile across. In 2015 and 2016 a 225-square-mile chunk of it broke off the end and drifted away on the Amundsen Sea. The water there has warmed by more than a degree Fahrenheit over the past few decades, and the rate at which ice is melting and calving has quadrupled…SNIP

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    • 21 FEB 18

    The Mystery of “Sonic Health Attacks” on Havana-Based Diplomats may have been from high-power microwave radiation

    Published in Radio Science Bulletin, No. 362 (September 2017) and available online through IEEE Xplore

    By James C. Lin, University of Illinois at Chicago

    Excerpt:

    The Mystery of “Sonic Health Attacks” on Havana-Based Diplomats

    For the past few weeks, media outlets have been reporting on the US State Department’s disclosure that Havana- based US diplomats were experiencing health issues [1-5]. Their residences were described to have been targeted with bursts of sound waves….Wait a minute. There actually may be a scientific explanation. It is plausible that the loud buzzing, burst of sound, or acoustic pressure waves may have been covertly delivered using high-power microwave radiation, instead of blasting the subjects with conventional sonic sources. SNIP

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    • 18 FEB 18

    A psychological perspective on the Havana “Sonic attack”: Its all just a mass psychogenic illness (Psychology Today)

    It’s perhaps inevitable that if you are a psychologist you would tend to be biassed towards considering the strange sonic occurrence at the US Embassy in Havana as a possible psychological problem, especially given that there is no explanation on what really happened. According to New Zealand sociologist and skeptic Robert Bartholomew, writing in Psychology Today (below), a likely explanation is a mass psychogenic illness (MPI). This is essentially mass hysteria or a mass nocebo effect which can tend to be diagnosed when a number of people exhibit strange behavior and those who are making the diagnosis do not know why. So, with no known reason why these 20 or so people in Havana have had these strange symptoms the psychologist’s viewpoint rides to the rescue – ‘Something is affecting these people and as there is no known cause for their affliction, it’s most likely a mass psychogenic illness!’

    An all too convenient label to a dismiss any number of environmental health issues, not just whatever is happening in Havana.

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    • 18 FEB 18

    “Sonic Weapon Attacks” on U.S. Embassy Don’t Add Up–for Anyone (Scientific American)

    HAVANA–Heated charges have flown back and forth for months between the two countries that bracket the Strait of Florida. U.S. State Department officials contended Cuba staged a sonic attack on employees of the American embassy, causing a variety of neurological symptoms. Cuba has not only denied such an attack ever took place but has also emphasized the physical impossibility of a sound wave causing neurological damage trained on such a distant target.

    But physicians and scientists from both countries now appear to be in agreement on one critical point: Both sides acknowledge they are baffled as to what happened to 24 embassy employees who were diagnosed with mild traumatic brain damage between November 2016 and August 2017. SNIP

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