Hippies Say WiFi Network Is Harming Their Chakras 432
Anti-Globalism writes "A group of hippies is complaining that a recently installed WiFi mesh network in the UK village of Glastonbury is causing health problems. To combat the signals from the Wi-Fi hotspots, the hippies have placed orgone generators around the antennae." Although there have been many studies that show no correlation between WiFi and health issues the hippies say, "Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man."
"Orgone Generators" (Score:5, Informative)
One man has even begun making orgone generators, which use crystals, semi-precious stones and gold to purportedly put out positive energy to combat the negative vibes flooding the town from the Wi-Fi base stations.
Elsewhere: [orgonegenerators.ca]
Orgone Generators change negative energy from microwaves, TV's, cell phones, computers, fluorescent lighting, automotive wiring, large electrical structures, high voltage lines and step-down electrical transformers, etc. into pure or positive life energy.
Positive Orgone is also known as Chi(China), Prana(India), and Ki(Japan).
The basic and simplified theory of how the orgone devices work is that the negative energy is attracted into the device by the organic component and then it gets bounced back and forth between the resin and suspended metal particles. Crystalline structures within the mix cause the energy to get organized and re-radiated as a positive, clean energy.
Oh yes, these sound like reasonable people.
Re:"Orgone Generators" (Score:3, Informative)
Martin Gardner's essay "Wilhelm Reich and the Orgone" is highly recommended reading on the topic (as is, well, pretty much anything he writes debunking pseudoscience).
Re:Very sensitive people? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Million-dollar idea for somebody (Score:5, Informative)
See "Bad science" (Score:5, Informative)
The local paper (Fosse Way) published this story without the slightest critical analysis whatsoever. As someone who has worked on, inter alia, the EMC Directive, I wrote to them asking whether the person complaining of headaches had taken part in a blind test. Perhaps needless to say, the letter has not been published and indeed I've had no acknowledgement of it.
BTW, they do not have a "way of life which draws on 5000 years of hocus pocus". The Glastonbury thing dates back to no more than the 19th century: it's as fake as Druidism in Wales. Glastonbury is just a small town in Somerset that used to make its money from the leather industry till it went bust under Thatcher. Now it's a retirement suburb, the most Conservative part of the district. Currently a few protestors are trying to stop the demolition of the old factory buildings to put up an industrial estate - the old buildings cannot be brought up to modern standards and are a complete eyesore.
Why do I complain about this? Because I live in the part of Somerset that is a net contributor of taxes to keep the residents of Glastonbury from having to have industry and jobs, that's why.
Re:"Orgone Generators" (Score:5, Informative)
Microwaves aren't new. There's a good deal of microwaves floating around the universe (including at ground level on Earth) from natural sources. And there have been both mobile and fixed location broadcast microwaves in use for decades, at much higher power levels than WiFi installations. Not to mention all the nuisance sources of microwaves like, you know, microwave ovens. A typical household microwave puts out almost 1 kW -- even if you assume 99% of that is contained in the appliance, it's still 10 times more power <I>leaking</i> than a 6dbi omnidirectional WiFi transmitter (legally) intentionally emits.
Moreover, we actually <i>have</I> studied the interaction of microwaves with the human body. First, there's about a 10 dB reflection loss at the human-air boundary at WiFi frequencies, and attenuation inside the body is about 2 dB/cm. Therefore there is very little interaction beyond the first couple of centimeters, assuming the signal is strong enough to overcome the reflection losses in the first place. And guess what those microwaves do when you interact with them -- I know it's tricky, because science hasn't caught up with the human body -- but studies suggest that a typical interaction involves energy transfer via polarization in molecules with a strong dipole moment. Which, you know, is a lot like what happens to the flesh-like materials you might try to heat with a microwave oven.
So in summary, you can sense microwave fields. If they are sufficiently strong, you should be able to detect them by the heat generated when you absorb the EM energy. Not that you'd be able to distinguish microwaves from infrared radiation, or from simple conduction, but you could detect the presence of an energy source.
Also you example of "in the past, some people didn't believe new, poorly understood science, but most people believe what is now well-established science" doesn't really support the idea you're trying to defend -- that the totally invented beliefs of hippies might be true in spite of science. It's possible for totally invented beliefs to be true -- even a broken clock is right twice a day -- but the "in spite of science" part makes it hard to take them (or you) seriously.
Re:Million-dollar idea for somebody (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Residents, not hippies (Score:2, Informative)
sounds like something an orgone generator could have easily cured because 1) due to parts shortage the station was OFF and 2) it was a RECEIVING station.
Re:Ironic (Score:4, Informative)
The UK is being cited as the cause of the delay in eradicating Measles from Earth because a medical quack decided that he would fake evidence that the triple MMR vaccination caused autism. The gutter press got hold of it and screamed "save the children" thereby convincing concerned parents everywhere to not vaccinate their children. I'm hoping a few of them will die of measles in order to help sharpen up peoples discrimination between nutjobs and science. I'm perfectly happy for the people of Glastonbury to do without the 21st century but I strongly object to their invocation of psudo science and trickery to condemn the rest of us to their unenlightened state. These people are wrong and should be told so in VERY large letters.
Re:That's odd... (Score:4, Informative)
No it doesn't; chain link fences and chicken wire are both smaller than that.
No more so than hippies, really. Christians just have more social inertia.
Sorry, no way. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:That's odd... (Score:2, Informative)
And why not toss a few Jews into ovens while you're at it. After all, we all know that Christians and Jews are the bane of the world /sarcasm
Re:"Orgone Generators" (Score:1, Informative)
Incidentally, does anyone else find it ironic when hippies loudly proclaim that pot is harmless and then show signs of serious paranoia when they explain that it is only illegal because of some complicated conspiracy?
Actually more of a convergence of 3 big industries. Cotton,Tobacco, and Oil. Hemp competes with all three.
Re:Too much pot? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Very sensitive people? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:That's odd... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:That's odd... (Score:3, Informative)
Firstly that book is not 2000 years old. Its about 1600 years old.
Secondly its *only* 1600 years old. Some concepts of basic British law do predate Christianity. And then the basic concepts of freedom which were first enshrined in the Magna Carta were there *despite* the Christian King of the time.
Thirdly that book tells us that blind people and other disabled people will not go to heaven, its wrong to eat shellfish, you can stone bald people, and more importantly is the main cause for bigotry against me. For everything good in there there's a conflicting bit of madness. On the whole the general teachings of the Jesus character are good but you need to throw away the whole of the old testament and St Pauls letters to the Corinthians since he was a born again rabbid nutter. Oh yes get rid of the Book of Revelations, surely that's mushroom inspired!
But basically yes it does teach
- Personal responsibility
- Treating others with love and respect
- Not being a greedy selfish twit.
But also that you should be a complete arse to anyone who's gay or transgendered, oh yes, and put women in their places. So I'm screwed on three counts. The are plenty of other religions that teach the good bits without the fuckwittery.