• Update on the Olympic Peninsula’s fight against the US Navy’s plans for EMR wargames. We’ve still heard nothing from the Canadian federal or provincial governments.

http://savetheolympicpeninsula.org/

 

• In Pennsylvania, an application for a Verizon cell tower close to a school was rejected AFTER earlier approval and signing of a contract, based on health concerns and property values. Verizon agreed to accept the denial so it didn’t “make enemies”.  No doubt agreeing to find another site would make for better publicity than a battle with parents over their children’s health, arguments not allowed by the FCC or Industry Canada.

“While no one protested the in-city tower at the garage that needed a variance for its construction — since it was built closer to apartments than the recommended industry standard — the Valley parents acted quickly and achieved their goal, citing health concerns and the impact that cell towers have on lowering real estate values.”

http://standardspeaker.com/news/plans-for-cell-tower-halted-1.1997747

 

• We get letters all the time from hydro, BCUC, the govt that make so sense, but too often we trust that we are just too ignorant to understand. The same thing happens, but even more often, when trying to get answers about computers, software, and the “internet of things”.  Here is a great article from the industry about this gobble-dee-gook. We have to have the confidence to call it what it is:  JUNK.

“The level of linguistic nonsense used to hype the idea is reaching an all-time high. Let me relate a few gems…

 “But in the big data era data lineage is a must-have because customers are mashing up company data with third-party data sets.” Translation: We will try not to lose data in a simple merge-purge operation.”

 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2497176,00.asp

 

4)    Wireless Technology and Public Health: Health and Environmental Hazards in a Wireless World

RSVP for this call On this call Dr. Joel Moskowitz, Director of the Center for Family and Community Health at UC Berkeley School of Public Health, will discuss new research related to wireless technology, public health and the implications for policy. As wireless technologies, particularly cellphones, become ever more ubiquitous in our culture and communication systems, researchers have been asking the question: what, if any, impact is there from this technology on our health? Research has been conducted concerning wireless technology and cancer, reproductive health, fetal development, children’s health and electromagnetic sensitivities, to name a few areas of concern.

• A recent study re. cell phones leading to reduced sperm count and deformed sperm:

“The researchers found that talking for an hour a day or more and during device charging were associated with higher rates of abnormal semen concentration Among men who reported holding their phones within 50 centimeters from the groin, a higher rate of abnormal sperm concentration was found. Semen concentration was abnormal among 47% of those who held the phone in their pants pockets, while it was abnormal in only 11% of the general male population. Other factors in reducing fertility included smoking.”

 http://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/Health-and-Science/Talk-too-long-on-cellphone-Your-sperm-may-be-at-risk-Israel-researchers-find-443614

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261993721_The_influence_of_direct_mobile_phone_radiation_on_sperm_quality     abstract of the study.

 

• Surveillance people  are happy with the wireless/digital world – more “opportunities” for seeing what they can find out about us.

“But the Harvard report (which was funded by the Hewlett Foundation) argues that “going dark” is a faulty metaphor for the surveillance of the future, thanks to the raft of new technologies that are and likely will remain unencrypted — all the Web-connected home appliances and consumer electronics that sometimes get dubbed the Internet of Things….

“When you look at it over the long term,” says Zittrain, “with the breadth of ways in which stuff that used to be ephemeral is now becoming digital and stored, the opportunities for surveillance are quite bright, possibly even worryingly so.”

http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/02/02/465278086/encryption-may-hurt-surveillance-but-internet-of-things-could-open-new-doors

*************************

Letters:

Are digitals really more accurate and reliable than analogs?
http://www.kelownacapnews.com/opinion/letters/367388691.html

 

********************

Newsletter prepared by Sharon Noble

Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground.” ~ Wilferd A. Peterson