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"Wi-Fi Refugees" Shelter in West Virginia Mountains

The 13,000 sq mile U.S. Radio Quiet Zone is an area in West Virginia where all wireless transmissions are banned because of the large number of radio telescopes located there. (This official page shows a map of the Zone; an old Wired article is fascinating reading.) These high-tech telescopes have attracted unlikely neighbors, people who claim to have Wi-Fi allergies. In recent years, scores of people have moved to the area to escape the "damage" that electromagnetic fields can cause them. From the article: "Diane Schou is unable to hold back the tears as she describes how she once lived in a shielded cage to protect her from the electromagnetic radiation caused by waves from wireless communication. 'It's a horrible thing to have to be a prisoner,' she says. 'You become a technological leper because you can't be around people. It's not that you would be contagious to them — it's what they're carrying that is harmful to you.'"

2 of 627 comments (clear)

  1. It's contagious, all right by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sorry, Diane, but you are contagious. Just as you learned of this invented disease from someone else, you've undoubtedly passed it along to another hypochondriac. Just because it's not transmitted by biological vectors doesn't mean that it can't spread from person to person.

    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  2. Logical treatment. by UncHellMatt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Really the best remedy would be homeopathy. What better way to treat an imagined allergy than an imagined cure?