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California's "Wireless-Free" Zone
pangur writes: "In Wired, there's the story about how Arthur Firstenberg changed Mendocino, CA into a 'wireless-free zone' as a safehaven for those deemed 'electrically sensitive'. His critics claim that he is driving away any chance of a significant economy."
Sensitive, luddite granola types spotted in California! Nose cut to spite face! News at 11:00!
That book of his sounds interesting. Is there an electronic version available?
There already is an area like this, It's called the Amish Country, Pennsylvania Dutch, etc. Seriously. The article describes being bothered by anything electronic, ranging from radio waves to hairdryers. May as well go back to the horse and buggy.
Don't Tread on Me
They should move to another universe, provided they aren't already living in one...
Eric
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
Mendocino had been attracting thousands of people due to their reduced levels of EMF exposure. It now seems that these people may have been actually endangering their mental health.
-bugg
I must be electrically sensitive too, because every time I put a fork on the wall socket I also get a "Burning pain" and "Electric shocks".
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
It's worked for kooks for many, many years. In fact, you might say it's a "proven" solution to the problems of wireless interference with your brain waves, at least to the same extent that it's been "proven" that wireless hurts your head!
development.lombardi.com
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
and how is this accomplished exactly? What credible research shows that one person is more likely to be affected by radio waves then someone else. Does this also mean that there are no TV broadcasts, no radio broadcasts, no police radios, no satellite reception. I mean... if you're going to cut one source of RF, you better cut it all, just to be on the safe side.
-Restil
Play with my webcams and lights here
The following can provoke symptoms:
Laptop computers using their mains adapters Computer monitors (VDTs, VDUs) Televisions Mobile phones Fluorescent lights Pylons, substations Electric fields due to house wiring Electrical 'noise' in trains, buses and cars Battery-operated appliances Telephones, answering machines and faxes Refrigerators, freezers, electric cookers, vacuum cleaners etc. Fire alarms and burglar alarms Underground electric cables Hearing-aid induction loops
If the "electrically sensitive" people can't be near any of those, they might as well become Amish...
-- Dr. Eldarion --
... is the aluminum-foil-covered hat to keep out the CIA mind control rays. There has never been a single piece of hard evidence for low-intensity radio waves causing the symptoms he and others describe. Considering how long radio-based devices have been in common use (just over a century) it's very hard to believe that this is real.
In fact, it sounds to me like classic mass hysteria, which (unfortunately) is a well-documented medical phenomenon. If this guy and his buddies are looking for a place to live that will satisfy their needs, may I suggest Salem, Mass.?
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
"This overexposure to pulsed microwaves has been a personal tragedy for me," Wagner said in an e-mail interview. "I'm left hypersensitive -- even my mouse burns my hand when I use my computer now."
Am I the only person who doesn't understand this? Why did he give an *email* interview if using computers is so painful to him?
Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
""This overexposure to pulsed microwaves has been a personal tragedy for me," Wagner said in an e-mail interview. "I'm left hypersensitive -- even my mouse burns my hand when I use my computer now."
Isn't a mouse a MECHANICAL DEVICE - virtually 99 percent electronics free...there may be a diode or two in there..but it can't be generating an electronic signal - it's probably only getting the barest of electricity from the PS2 port to power the thing. (unless you're using one of those new Infrared mice) -
If it's burning your hand, then that means it's probably IN YOUR FRIGGEN HEAD!!!!
Sounds like someone's setting themselves up for another juicy lawsuit. Glad I don't live in California right now or I'd be paying for it.
----------
ah honey, we're all resplendent - Bill Mallonee
"shocking and electrifying"
-- Knowing too much can get you killed, but knowing who knows too much can make you rich.
Why doesn't this guy build himself a Faraday cage, and leave everybody else alone?
Nope, don't like it. Too simple. Too clear cut...
The revolution will be televised. Blackout restrictions apply.
The guy's electrically sensitive, and yet he carries around sensors to tell him when he's in fields he's sensitive to. :) Funny, I'm thermally sensitive (anything over a couple hundred degrees causes intense burning pains), but I don't carry around a thermometer to tell me when I've stepped in the campfire.
And I have one all-important question: Have *any* of these people been tested within the confines of an experiment to see if they *really* experience these problems? Try putting them through an experiment in an environment secure & devoid of radio activity (say, a bunker somewhere with a guassian cage around it).
Such an experiment would entail:
Only with that kind of an experiment can their claims be given any sort of credence. Until then, its all quackery.
Not the CIA! Major League Baseball with their roving constellations of satellites...
Hypochondria is one word for it... The thing is that a lot of these people don't want to hear that what they have is really a mental imbalance. I've heard of people with imagined skin parasites too -- they will go to the dermatologist, present no obvious symptoms, and simply do not wish to be told that what they really need is a mild antipsychotic.
It's a bizarre situation. I feel safe in saying that these people's conditions are probably delusional; what has to be brought into account is that whether or not it's all in their heads, their suffering is certainly real. The problem is that they take any attempt to bridge the disconnect as a personal insult...
/Brian
What a f%cking nut job this Firstenberg is. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the nutburger preaching all the multiple chemical sensitivity crap. Its sad to see a local economy being devistated by the lunatic fears of a vocal whackjob.
Click on my link and read about real science and not this pseudo science cow manure.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Didja see the part where he doesn't disclose his diagnosis, so he can keep collecting disability benefits? His scam goes:
1) Whine a lot about a man-made phenomenon.
2) Get good at malingering.
3) See a doctor, claiming 1) makes you "sick".
4) Vote for your living from that day forward. (The louder you bitch, the more you cash in!)
Really, this guy deserves a kick from every Californian, because we are supporting this bullshit with our taxes.
That hyphen is entirely superfluous.
I object to that article, and to the next reply.
There is a communities of people who live wire and wireless free in the US, they are called the Amish. Nice folk, live a simple life. They don't try to remove radio stations from nearby communities.
Now if someone beleives that the transmissions are giving them trouble, move to Montana or North Dakota, don't stay in Ca and certainly don't try to move everyone backwards with you. There are alternatives, and they are feasable.
Burn Hollywood Burn
People in mendo are really easily swayed by hysterical rantings, especially if they're involved with conspiracies and anti-"The Man". Much the way /. is about Microsoft. Crackpot theories are a pretty big market there.
If I leave my laptop on my lap for more than a few minutes, I develop a burning sensation.
Bender: (points scanner at Fry)
Fry: Ouch, My Sperm.
Bender: (Scans Fry again)
Fry: Funny, it didn't hurt that time.
SD
âoeWho knew something as harmless as willful ignorance could end up having real consequences?â
TIA!
Curb CO2 emissions: Kill yourself today!
I was wiring a 3 phase 220 outlet and I got hit with 220. It thew me clear across the room. I guess this would qualify me as "electrically sensitive".
-ted
Prove a paranormal ability and Randi will give you one million U.S. dollars, baby.
Seriously. A million bucks. No kidding.
Well, Mr Firstenberg?
We're waiting.
We're still waiting.
We're going to be waiting forever, as usual, aren't we?
Just to save Mr Firstenberg some time, I'll list a typical collection of objections to the validity of Randi's offer, as proffered by various alleged levitators and mind readers, on Mr Firstenberg's behalf:
"There is no money. There is too little money. There is too much money. I want to see the money in a pile. Proximity to cash compromises my spiritual enlightenment. Randi is a powerful anti-psi ray emitter. Randi is a cannibal and I am afraid of him. The FBI will forcibly change my gender if I win. I want it in Tongan Pa'angas, not US dollars. Money is an illusion. Property is theft. I'm a teapot! I'm a teapot!"
Sensitivity of the emotional kind is called for here.
The tin-foil hat brigade need places to live, too.
--
E_NOSIG
If one were really serious (ly-screwed-up IMHO) about this, one could construct their home as a Faraday cage. Just lay chicken wire around the entire frame (through the double-paned windows and attached to the steel doors' frame, and use conductive weatherproofing in the door jambs) and connect it all together (solder/weld/twist all points of all corners together) into one giant grounded box. All RF with wavelengths less than about one-tenth the gap of the chicken wire will be blocked (the same principle is used for the window on your microwave oven, it's also why you can see through some satellite dishes). If you want this home to have power, you'll want to hook the breaker panel to a large iron-core transformer which will act as a low-pass filter. A similar low-pass filter can be used for the phone line.
Such a home would be unable to recieve TV or radio, DSL or power-line networking would never pass through, cellphones and government-planted transmitter bugs would be dead inside, and you wouldn't have to worry much about lightning strikes either. Of course it would be cheaper to move out into the boonies.
Pure bliss huh?
*groan*
Let's just compare the symptoms of the two...
(Dehydration references: here and here.)
ES: Unusual tiredness, Flu-like symptoms, Weakness
Dehydration: Weakness, Fatigue and/or loss of energy
ES: Problems with concentration, dizziness and loss of memory, Sound sensitivity, Sun sensitivity
Dehydration: dizziness, changes in mental state (disorientation, memory loss), Delirium, Irritability
ES: Unconsciousness
Dehydration: Loss of consciousness
ES: Cardiac palpitations
Dehydration: Rapid or weak pulse
ES: Headaches, Teeth and jaw pains, aches in muscles and joints, Burning pain
Dehydration: Headache or bodyache
ES: Nausea and digestive problems
Dehydration: Nausea, vomitting
ES: Dryness of the upper respiratory tract
Dehydration: Dry mouth
ES: Perspiration
Dehydration: Sweating
-------------
Dehydration doesn't account for all the symptoms, but it sure does cover a lot. Makes you wonder if Mendicino just needs a mandatory water consuption policy...
Police officer: sir, I noticed that your driving seems as if you are unusally tired and/or dizzy. Have you been drinking?
Guy: No officer, not a drop!
Police officer: I knew it! I can spot dehydration a mile away! Take this low life and put him in the tank until he sobers up.
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
It's probably front end overload of your reciever. If a signal is strong enough, you will hear it on every frequency.
There isn't much you can do. Try sticking a ferrite on any power cords attached to the reciever, and any other non-antenna cables.
As an unlicensed user of the radio spectrum, you pretty much have to accept any interference generated by any other part 15 device. It's possible his phone is malfunctioning, but it's more likely your reciever is just overwhelmed by it's signal.
You might want to ask him if he can relocate the base station part of it, or you can relocate the base station part of your equipment. That might help.
You could also just put metal screen inside all your walls, celing, and floor, that will solve all future interference problems for good.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Field day for all California Ham's should be held in Mendocino this year. Special emphasis on 23cm moonbounce operation requested. All HF ops with 1500 watt amps should bring their own generators, as an electrical shortage is expected.
Temkin
I remember in physics class in high school, we figured out the strength of the EM field around a high voltage wire. We calculated that even as close at 50 feet (like wires suspended in the air), the earth's natural field was like 100 times stronger.
:-D
Since then, I've always viewed these claims of EM radiation problems with a skeptical eye. My own suspicions is that this guy had a few too many REMs to the skull from his dental X-Rays and is a candidate for therapy.
Humorless sig goes here.
Another Wired article linked on that page, Wireless Harmless, More or Less?, talks about research doing just what you have suggested. I didn't search around for the references to the research, but here is what the article said:
A double-blind test, properly run, should be able to eliminate any psychosomatic effects which would bias the testing of "electronic sensitives".
Sapere aude!
As my friend Virtros suggests, don't use your mouse in a microwave!
For geek dads: Contraction Timer
After reading all the posts at my threshold, I was appalled to see a significant lack of 'interesting' or 'informative' comments. This is a serious problem for certain people, and just because you don't experience it yourself doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
My grandmother suffers from a psychosomatic disease that makes her very ill when around certain things (i.e. televisions, CRTs, anything with a strong or synthetic odor, etc.). She has been unable for many years now to watch an entire 30 minute TV show without turning the set off during commercials. But like I said, it's purely psychosomatic... in her head.
For example, a few years ago, our family bought her a computer for Christmas. Very slow, very lacking of features, but it allows for email, word processing, and checking of stocks, which is all she needs or ever will need. Problem was, it had a CRT, so she never used it. Ever. So as the LCD screens began coming out, I thought a change of monitors would let her use the computer. Prefacing the purchase of the LCD with information about how the screen doesn't emit the "harmful electrons" that TVs use, she agreed that it might be worth a try. Making sure that a return policy was in effect for the purchase, I bought the LCD and installed it at her house for a test run. She was able to use it without any problems and did not feel sick at all. "Sick," by the way, does not mean feeling a simple headache. We're talking shaking of extremities, loss of strength, vomiting. Even though it has been assumed (and probably proven) that electron emission has no harmful effects, my grandma doesn't care. As long as she thinks it's emitting stuff at her, she will get sick. Tell her it works like a LCD (my explanation to her: thousands of tiny light bulbs arranged in a pattern. just miniature versions of the ones that light your house), and she's completely fine.
So please, take this seriously. Our family has had to deal with it for years now. Say what you will about the author of the article, but people do suffer from the so-called electro-pollution. Even though it may be all in their minds.
IWARS.
People, in general, disappoint me. Politicians even more so.
Or just credulous fools of the same variety who believe newspaper horoscopes, consult telephone "psychics", or subscribe to any other of a million pseudo-scientific and superstitious belief systems.
Critical thinking should be a required subject from elementary school on up; Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark should be required reading for all high school students.
Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
I can't believe I missed this on the county's website - I believe it explains everything:
Official Mendocino RF Band Plan
The following band plan has been established to assist Mendocino residents in identifying their illness and subsequently locating the offending service provider. Should you require public assistance in notifying a provider to terminate service and initiate financial repairations for the harm caused, please contact our office at (707) 463-4480, or visit our website.
BANDPLAN (Revised January 4, 2002)
BAND: VLF
3-10 Hz - heart disease, cancer, diabetes, strange voices, ghosts, UFOs and other unexplained apparations (see this site for scientific proof and to learn about a special device that will protect your home from these evil VLF rays)
60 Hz - cancer, heart disease, mental illness, colds, flu, hairloss, rashes, psychotic episodes, ebola, gulf war syndrome
BAND: HF
26.965-27.405 MHz - Obesity, intestinal gas, intellectual stunting, unexplained cravings for tractor pulls, women with tatoos and very cheap beer
BAND: VHF/UHF
400-470 MHz - Uncontrollable sexual urges, strange thoughts, dishonesty, attraction to interns, voices, balding, interest in congressional office
800-950 MHz - AIDS, Herpes and other SIDs
BAND: SHF AND ABOVE
2400-2472 MHz - Cancer, blisters, warts, headaches, nausea
5300-5850 MHz - Blindness, body odor, night sweats, rashes
Frequency is important, too. The earth's natural field takes tens (or is it hundreds?) of millions of years to flip around; the power line's field is changing every 1/60 of a second. There's a reason you can wrap an inductor around the line to get juice, but can't do the same around the equator.
Don't get me wrong, I strongly doubt there's any detectable biological effects from power lines, but that's something that would have to be proven by double-blind experiment; your calculations aren't enough.
is by faking them out. Put them in a room with a fake transmitter and tell them that everytime the green light goes on, they are going to get zapped and you will watch thier reactions. Except, in reality, you actually zap them when the light is OFF. Then after they finish having thier seizures or whatever when the EMF radation is off and they seem to recover when it's on, go publish your report saying that too little radiation is bad for people's health.
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
Okay, I can't resist.
> Microwaves are intentional radiation and are used to TRANSMIT power, not always to simply carry a signal.
Microwaves are EM waves with a certain wavelength, not "intentional radiation" as you've stated. The largest generator of microwave radiation around is the Sun. Microwaves that are generated outside of microwave ovens are used almost exclusively for communications (which is not to say they aren't harmful, but not for the reason you state). Microwaves in ovens are EM waves with the specific wavelength that best transmits energy to water molecules. The microwaves used in tower transmitters is not. Also, microwave transmitters put out microwave beams that don't attenuate very much. It's why they're used; the signal can be thrown farther than a simple broadcast like radio waves because the beam stays cohesive, so most of your power goes down the transmit path, whereas with radio, most of the power goes everywhere but the receiving antenna. It's also why you need line-of-sight to use microwave communications.
The simple fact is that exposure to microwaves in the outside world is not increased to any real degree by the use of microwave transmitters. The exposure you get from standing in range of a microwave tower is smaller by powers of ten than the amount you're getting from the sunlight.
Of course, all of this discussion is offtopic to the original article, as they're not talking about exposure to microwave radiation. The original article is about someone working to eliminate broadcast transmitters to reduce public exposure to radio waves. The whole "electrically sensitive" thing seems to be a misnomer for sensitivity to induced magnetic fields, and I'm not sure why it's part of the discussion, but then sensibility never figured highly in these matters.
Virg
P.S. The law to which you refer has to do with preventing local governments from passing laws that would have excessive externalities. The main reasoning is the threat from a midwest community to prohibit satellite owners from sending down satellite transmissions within its confines. This would have precluded any satellite transmissions to anywhere in North America, as most satellites use a footprint of that size to transmit. And before you get all bent about how that exposes you to radiation, keep in mind that you need a concentrator (a dish) just to get enough signal to detect.
> Please, you idiots making fun of these people, you are true idiots and it is becouse you are not complaining on the companies instead. They should create products not transmitting harmful radiation. They should find alternative methods of doing same things that doesnt HARM humans.
There are some real problems with this. Creating products that don't create harmful radiation (based on this fellow's definition of "dangerous") would require them to build devices that don't use electricity, since he's complaining about any radiant EM field, and these fields are induced by electric current. Needless to say, few people (in the modern world, anyway) are willing to give up the use of electricity to protect themselves from EM fields.
> And becouse, you are the #1 on the list to become electricsensitive. And many of you are that already Your ears getting hot? It feels like sand in your eyes? Dry skin? And many more things that are signs of electricsensitivity.
The problem here is that of all of the sysmptoms listed, none of them (and no combination of them) seems exclusive to the condition. Moreover, the only backing information cited was a vague reference to a Swedish study, and the facts from the only study data the Swedes ever published stated that people who claimed to be electrically sensitive could not detect and were not demonstrably affected by EM fields in double blind tests. This would tend to refute Mr. Firstenburg's claims, but strangely the web site makes no mention of the results, only the study. This leads me to believe that more proof is needed about the causal link of bad health and EM exposure before it makes sense to start in on lifestyle changes.
Virg
Mendocino, the entire country, is an object lesson for every Californian. Humbolt the city, and the rest of the country, was once staunchly conservative with a thriving economy in lumber. Than Cal State Humbolt set up shop. Thousands of students with empty heads showed up. Ivory tower professors showed up to fill their heads with ivory tower thoughts. Then the students started voting. Humbolt became a liberal mecca. The cancer spread throughout the county. Now Humbolt's economy is based on lawsuits and welfare checks.
Don't let this happen to your community. It happened to Santa Cruz. It happened to La Jolla. It happened even to Berkeley and Palo Alto, both conservative havens in the liberal bay area...until the voting age was lowered to toddlerhood. It's going to happen to Merced with the new UC. The only place this hasn't happened is when the university is in a big city. The old saying goes "if you're not liberal at 18 you have no heart, if you're not conservative at 68 you have no brain." Well, move a major university to a small town and you suddenly get more heart than brains.
I'm sure the guy in this story has his heart in the right place, but he certainly has no brain!
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
Stories like this remind me of when my mother's friend's son got a cable modem in his room a few years ago, and suddenly was unable to get up at any reasonable time in the morning to go to school. Since they thought I was a computer expert, I was quizzed if the cable modem could be emitting "bad ions" that were damaging his health. I didn't have the heart to say that it wasn't bad ions, just staying up late downloading porn and playing Quake that was the problem.
It's people like this that define the phrase junk science. (shaking head!)
Personally, if electricity were causing cancer and other dehabilitating conditions, they would have found out like by 1910, twenty years after electric power generation and power transmission by overhead wires became common in the northeastern USA.
Another good example is the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. The radioactive release on a per person basis near that plant is the equivalent of getting radiation at altitude from a New York City to Los Angeles jet flight of 5.5 hours.
Now you know why I dislike the majority of the environmental movement--they don't bother to test their theories before making their conclusions at times.
There are some pretty big holes in this chart.
Nothing mentioned between 60 Hz and 27 MHz, so all those quacks on the AM band (535 kHz - 1605 kHz) are still able to talk to their gullible audiences about E-M sensitivity.
Also conveniently lacking are all your VHF TV channels. That gap between 27 MHz and 400 MHz is more than big enough for all channels between 2 and 13 (54 MHz - 88 MHz for channels 2 through 6, and 174 MHz - 215 MHz for 7 through 13). You may be sensitive to other parts of the spectrum, but at least you can still catch your Must See TV with no risk of odd sexual urges!
FM radio is also OK (88 MHz to 108 MHz), so NPR is still good for me. Thank heaven for little favors...
But some of you Dawson's Creek fanatics may be out of luck. The UHF TV channels are mostly harmless (470 MHz - 608 MHz for channels 14 to 36, 614 MHz - 806 MHz for 38 to 69), but as we can see, channel 69 may cause AIDS. Check your local listings!
New customers of satellite radio should be safe (they tend to sit in the S-band, between 2.31 GHz and 2.36 GHz, just under the frequencies for blisters and warts).
Unfortunately for Cox, Comcast and other cable companies is the way they get their feeds on the C-band (3.6 GHz to 7.025 GHz) Proof positive that too much late-night Cinemax can make you go blind!
Even worse for them, their competitors in the digital satellite market are sitting pretty in the ku-band (10.7 GHz - 14.5 GHz). Too energetic for any problems listed here.
On a slightly more serious note, I'm surprised they didn't mention the serious (proven) health risks of more energetic frequencies, like the severe burns that can be caused by EM waves in the 350 THz - 400 THz range, or the relation between skin cancer and frequencies over 750 THz. Hell, if you have too much of anything between 400 THz and 750 THz, you might go blind!
This guy is quoted in the article as saying he can't even hold his computer mouse anymore without pain.. whats he think is happening to him? magical ray eminating from the mouse are microwaving his hand.. out of all the computer equipment most people use, surely the mouse is the least dangerous..
Its like the one guy in the article said.. "you can't argue with zealots"
It disturbs me that this crazy person can collect disability for the fact that he thinks electronics harm him..
The Onion describes new technology that is bound to cure electrical sensitivity. Approved for your use by men in very white coats.
Why am I tempted to move to Mendocino and start a HAM radio hobby?
if ($it != $onething) {$it = $another;}
In a related anecdote, some guy (IIRC in the UK) was busted for stealing power from the power company. He did this buy winding a large quantity of copper coil around his garage, which was situated underneith a high voltage line. The garage full of coil was sufficient to induce enough power to run his house. Unfortunately, I can't find a link to the story.
Caveat: I still think the people trying to shut down the school radio are nuts. I just wanted to point out that short-range EM from high voltage lines is a much different situation than EM from cell towers.
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
While I agree the guy is, um, strange ... its not the presence of a EM field thats dangerous ... its more like being exposed to changes in flux thats a problem ... Either by moving *your* body through the field, or the field changing somehow, IE alternatic current :)
... the reason the earths field dosen't bother is us, because relative to us it is stationary.
You have to recall the universe is all about motion
Free Techno/Jazz/DNB/MI Music by guys obsessed with monkeys!
There already exists a "Radio Free Zone" in the United States that is far more free of stray electromagnetic fields than Mendocino could ever hope to be. It is a very large area around the Greenbank Radio Telescope facility (and some military facilities) in West Virginia called the National Radio Quiet Zone.
s at /nrqz.html
If these kooks really want to be "free" from the EM spectrum then they should stop trying to take over the politics of Mendocino and force the locals to give up their technology so these "sensitives" can all move there. Instead they should just move to the 13,000 square miles of land already covered by the National Radio Quiet Zone. That way the people of Mendocino can enjoy their wireless technology and cell phones and the "sensitives" can live as sheltered an existence as they could ever hope to have.
http://astrosun.tn.cornell.edu/faculty/haynes/a
I'd like to see how these people react in a thunderstorm. If they're really as bothered by radio waves as they say, their heads should explode. More likely they don't even react.
It's not just the strength of the field that matters (directly), it's the delta in field strength between the ends of the bulb.
At the same field strength, the larger source is further away and the field delta is lower.
Thus, the Earth's EM field could be vastly stronger, but still not cause a bulb to glow as brightly as a power line. (Unless the bulb stretched from here to the moon...)
However, the human body is likely affected in somewhat the same way as a bulb, so it's not totally silly to think that EM from a power line might cause some weird effects.
The people advocating this would get a lot farther if they didn't seem to be crystal-healing, acupuncture using, ginko-biloba eating freaks without a clue about the scientific method (or any discoveries since the 1920s for that matter.) But try to bring up double-blind studies with them and you'll get a rant about the ego of western science, etc, etc...
Since you claim to be a Ph.D...
If the Earth's magnetic field alternated its polarity 60 times a second, do you think ALL of the flourescent lighting in the world would glow?
From what I understand, from an article in Discover magazine years back (I know... biased and questionable... but...) which discussed magnetic fields around high-voltage power lines, and also electric blankets, the chief problem is the frequency of the field in question. The article states that the danger from a D.C. current is negligable no matter the voltage, but that 60 (and 50) hz A.C. can cause damage, in theory.
Me personally, I like electricity. A.C., D.C.... doesn't matter, just as long as my gadgets run.
Oh, and as far as I am concerned, it's not theft of service to tap inductively into high voltage lines that run over your property... It should be considered payment for the risk of cancer that some people think is there.
"Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
Does this use of inductive coils somehow reduce the available power at the other end of the wire, or is it just using "waste" energy and not affecting anything?
The inductive coils certainly will deplete the power from the power lines. In fact, those high voltage power lines are not even attached to anything directly at the near end, but run through a transformer, which uses two coils of wire to induce a lower voltage after the transformer.
They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security
What you entirely neglect to consider are the dangers inherent to your proposed therapy. Why, millions of people may have already died from dihydrogen monoxide poisoning!!
More information can be found at http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?