Slashdot Mirror
Tower Switch-Off Embarrasses Electrosensitives
Sockatume writes "Residents in Craigavon, South Africa complained of '[h]eadaches, nausea, tinnitus, dry burning itchy skins, gastric imbalances and totally disrupted sleep patterns' after an iBurst communications tower was put up in a local park. Symptoms subsided when the residents left the area, often to stay with family and thus evade their suffering. At a public meeting with the afflicted locals, the tower's owners pledged to switch off the mast immediately to assess whether it was responsible for their ailments. One problem: the mast had already been switched off for six weeks. Lawyers representing the locals say their case against iBurst will continue on other grounds."
The fact that the case still isn't dismissed apparently means the lobby of electrosensitives is rather strong there :(
There can well be something else that causes symptoms of area residents which is not related to microwave radiation. This may or may not be related to iBurst. For example, construction of the tower could have used toxic materials responsible for rashes, headaches and so on. The fact that symptoms appeared at the same time as the tower still bears investigation, but the world is full of coincidences.
Perhaps this proves that "electrosensitivity" is more mental than tangible....
The issue that remains is if a company can be held responsible for the mental anguish that it indirectly caused. (I mention indirectly, because the act of constructing a tower isn't directly changing peoples mental condition, it's simply "turning on" something that may have been there)... Either way, it should be interesting to see how this pans out...
If a man isn't willing to take some risk for his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he's no good
I had a physics professor who's wife was concerned about the EMF coming off the power lines that ran near the plot of land upon which they were contemplating building (through a common area behind their back yard). His solution? During the construction of his house he installed wire mesh in all his walls, ceiling, doors and floors. While he left his windows as standard windows, he said that he got no cell phone, radio, or TV over the air reception in the house.
The worst part was that he freely admitted that his wife was a loon.
see my gorgeous little child was at a restaurant and a heartless cruel waitress walked by with a thai peanut sauce dish and well my child got a good whiff of it. and now as a result every day for the last 3 months his intellectual development and emotional focus has been totally off. the swine flu shots have only made it worse, i swear he is borderline autistic now
i've gone to the principle of his school and insisted that all children's bags be searched and sniffer dogs bought in for the sake of peanuts destroying our children, but he babbled something about correlation and causation- completely uncaring and unsupportive!
to make matters worse afterwards i went to mcdonalds and ordered a big mac and felt nauseous a few weeks later. i didn't know what it was until a friend of mine told me there is a bad case of celiac disease going around. environment destroying corporations just don't care that they give people celiac disease and warm the atmosphere with cell phone waves. now i have to be on a gluten free diet for the rest of my life!
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
as it turns out, these dudes have egg allergies so being proved wrong is causing more symptoms.
---
Is this the MPAA? Is this the RIAA? Is this the DMCA? I thought it was the USA!
Why is this in Idle? It's a real issue, not because the electrosensitives are right, but because they cause real trouble. Good evidence against them is valuable.
Lost: one sig, witty, 120 chars, sentimental value. Reward offered.
Wtiches. That's al these lunatics are, the modern day equivalent of people who think they're being cursed by witches.
It's more likely just a kind of group psychology phenomenon (I'm sure someone with more knowledge of the terms involved will chime in eventually). A group of people convinced themselves that this was happening, and with more and more talking about it and believing it even more people believe they're sick from evil towers as well.
Hell, there were stories a few months back about men in other parts of Africa killing supposed witches, blaming them for shrinking genitals. These men actually believed they had the shrunk junk and killed for it. Not trying to pick on Africa in particular here, just the first story I recalled.
Come to think of it, I've heard of this exact same scenario played out somewhere in the US--A community complained of these symptoms only to find that the tower in question wasn't even finished and had never been turned on.
Clearly they are suffering not from the effects of radiomagnetic radiation, but from withdrawal! Quick, turn it back on!
Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
Accidentally, many places in Africa (so South Africa too, probably, especially with their number of immigrants from across the continent) still experience hunts for supposed witches .
Or "witchcraft" generally, for that matter.
One that hath name thou can not otter
Either it's placebo from seeing the tower (like a hypochondriac) or they're out for a quick buck. I Vote quick buck.
Go ahead and call me unreliable; reliable is just a synonym for predictable.
This limits the construction of any EMF emitting source including things like cell phone towers and power lines. There is enough belief in the idea that EMF causes medical problems that companies are pretty much unable to push construction projects ahead in the face of opposition.
The result of this is that building a new transmission line in a new area is pretty much off limits unless it winds around to avoid existing structures by miles and miles. If someone can see it, they can use this as an argument to prevent (or at least delay) construction. I have seen this happen in Illinois.
Anyone thinking that we are going to get all sorts of new "green" superconducting transmission lines for wind and solar power needs to understand the seriously wacked out nature of these protesters. Until these issues are really put to rest, they will prevent progress on many fronts.
Think the cell phone brain cancer rumors are over? This is the same people, and it keeps coming up every few years.
When ham radio operators erect a new mast in their backyard, they often leave it unconnected for a month or two. When the inevitable complaints of baby monitors malfunctioning, televisions going crazy, and other non-sense crap from their neighbors blamed on the mast gets reported to the FCC or the police,
the ham radio operator calmly leads them outside and shows them the disconnected cable that goes nowhere and does nothing.
Perhaps commercial entities should take note of this, given our remarkable slide into the cesspool of stupidity where we believe in 9/11 conspiracy theories, vaccinations causing brains to turn into jello and yellow smoke to pour out, and how we're being poisoned by EM waves, and a particle accelerator's going to cause the world to end.
Seriously... There should be an idiot tax on court filings.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
spray a giant amount of oven cleaner in the oven, and, most importantly, because this is what makes it work: put the magnetic bands on your wrists immediately. stick your head in the oven and take a few deep centering breaths while chanting the sacred mantras. i find myself going on deeply spiritual vision quests for a few minutes. i wake up on the floor and i can feel the magnetic bands vibrating in the negative chi energy dimension aligning with the crystals
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Clearly the culprit is mercury from flu vaccines
Incidentally! Incidentally! Incidentally! Incidentally!
If it's not on fire, it's a software problem.
I suspect that at least some of them are fully sincere. Hysterical and incorrect; but sincere. It wouldn't totally surprise me, though, if there is also a set of people who just think that the tower is an eyesore, or that some part of the planning process wasn't correctly followed, or otherwise just want the tower scrapped, who are happy to tell the first group "Oh gosh, yes. The terrible headaches, you should sue..." and use them as the useful idiots.
No one expects the African Inquisition!
Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
People claim to be Democrats all the time... what's the difference?
Look, these residents may be complete fucking loons but...
According to TFA, iBurst furnished technical reports proving the tower was turned off in early October.
In other news, British American Tobacco furnished reports showing that cigarettes have no negative health effects.
In other news, Exxon furnished reports showing that increases in CO2 are likely to transform the world into a tropical paradise.
In other news, CIA medical officers report that water-boarding releases calming endorphins in detainees.
I'm just saying...
There's a place where it IS a good idea?
cmd-q.co.uk - some sort of stupid fucking internet bullshit
How about a better lie? I say that the technical crowd starts telling people that towers that give off electromagnetic signals cause increased libido in laboratory mice. Then your biggest problem is people tresspassing to screw under the towers but you can also sell wireless routers in sexed-up packaging in adult novelty stores for a tidy profit.
If you didn't come to party don't bother knocking on my door. Prince '1999'
Sorry, EN is my 3rd language, and with this you sometimes get such linguistic atrocities...
No worries - incidents happen.
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
I thought it would be
Nobody inspects the African Acquisition!
..........FULL STOP.