Ontario School Bans Wi-Fi 287
St. Vincent Euphrasia elementary school in Meaford, Ont. is the latest Canadian school to decide to save its students from the harmful effects of Wi-Fi by banning it. Schools from universities on down have a history of banning Wi-Fi in Ontario. As usual, health officials and know-it-all scientists have called the move ridiculous. Health Canada has released a statement saying, "Wi-Fi is the second most prevalent form of wireless technology next to cell phones. It is widely used across Canada in schools, offices, coffee shops, personal dwellings, as well as countless other locations. Health Canada continues to reassure Canadians that the radiofrequency energy emitted from Wi-Fi equipment is extremely low and is not associated with any health problems."
So in case it's not clear... (Score:4, Informative)
The Canadian government is saying "Whoa, seriously, people, wi-fi won't kill you."
It's the crazy admin folk in charge of these specific schools that are making the rest of us look bad.
Re:Microwaves (Score:1, Informative)
I have to wonder if they are also banning microwave ovens. The ISM frequency range used by WiFi is unlicensed because it is the same frequency used by microwave ovens, and so is full of junk and interference.
Not from microwave ovens, it isn't.
It may have escaped your attention, but microwave ovens contain all microwave radiation in what is known as a Faraday cage [wikipedia.org]. And it's a damn good thing that it does, lest you learn what it really means to have your blood boil.
Re:Rational decision by school administration? (Score:5, Informative)
Indeed there is, in fact I believe there are 2 of them. Mind you they only protect against a few varieties of HPV (with some overlap between the two I believe) but the ones covered include the ones that have the greatest chance of causing cervical cancer.
These vaccines have only been tested on women (no reason to believe they don't work on men, but last I checked that was off label) and your insurance generally wont cover the vaccine if you are over a certain age.
Sure, no reason to give the vaccine to 2 year olds, but kids get sexually active fairly early in life and cervical cancer is pretty bad, so why not vaccinate. I know if I had daughters I would have them vaccinated.
Re:Rational decision by school administration? (Score:4, Informative)
And yes, despite the fact that it can prevent cancer we still have opposition to it.
Re:It's not the energy (Score:3, Informative)
Microwave oven: 500-1000W (low-power oven; article mentions up to 2000W http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven [wikipedia.org])
(also note that it is concentrated within its shielding, i.e. the microwave, so the power density is quite huge in there)
Wifi: up to 1W ("normal" is 0.03W: http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/techtopics/techtopics10.html [fcc.gov])
So by comparing a wifi transmitter to a microwave oven, you're glossing over the fact that the microwave is at *least* 500x the power of the wifi transmitter (highest 802.11n power and lowest microwave power) *at the transmitter* (swallow 1/r^2 if you're not right at the transmitter) and more likely (using a midrange 1.33kW and "normal"-ish 33mW to keep the math easy) puts the microwave at 40,000 times the power of the wifi transmitter at the transmitter.
Re:Wait a minute... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:It's not the energy (Score:2, Informative)
They didn't get it wrong. Their statement is perfectly correct.
Exactly. The energy isn't a reference to the total energy output of the device but rather the energy of photons at that frequency.
Re:Wait a minute... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Wait a minute... (Score:5, Informative)
No. The sun does not have sufficient mass to overcome degeneracy pressure and collapse into a black hole.
And even if it did, the resulting black hole would be the same mass as the sun, so the Earth would maintain orbit. People tend to think black holes are cosmic vacuum cleaners and just grab anything and everything; they're not.
Re:Breaking News: (Score:3, Informative)
The chiropractor I visit provides me relief and improved health. He studies new techniques and gains new knowledge regularly, even monthly. He gets a lot more ongoing education than any 'gardener' I'm aware of, even the professional applicator I know well - that's pesticide and herbicide sprayer, for those of you who haven't needed to hire one.
The stereotype of chiropractors as quacks is out of date by at least 30 years in my personal experience, and probably 100 years in reality.
I never beleived in them either, but this one is a lot more helpful to me than the allopath I used to see for a sore back, and my chiropractor doesn't prescribe or recommend medication either. Nor supplements. Exercise is his preferred response to preventing my back from getting worse, and he's right so far.
Get into modern times, friend.
Re:Breaking News: (Score:3, Informative)
A doctor that prescribes ineffective pain medications and then gropes at anti-depressants is not a doctor who has a real understanding of the patient's ailment.
"Beating" the doctor in a case like that should not be regarded as surprising, something that you have to explain away.
Re:Wait a minute... (Score:2, Informative)
But that's close to the hole. At the distance of Earth, a black hole with the same mass and angular momentum as the sun would have the same gravitational effects as the sun. The region where those massive distortions would happen is inside the volume which currently is occupied by the sun.