EHS
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West Virginia's 'Quiet Zone' becomes refuge for those on the run from wireless technology
There's a 13,000-square-mile section of West Virginia known as the Quiet Zone where there's no WiFi, no cell service, and strict regulations placed on any device that could pollute the airwaves. Those unique conditions are enforced (and aided by the surrounding mountains) to protect the radio telescopes in the area from interference, and it's hardly anything new -- as The Huffington Post notes, Wired did an extensive profile of the zone back in 2004 (the area itself was established in 1958). But as the BBC recently reported, the Quiet Zone is also now serving as something of a refuge for people who believe that wireless technology makes them sick -- a condition sometimes called Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (or EHS). Those claims are, of course, in dispute by most medical professionals, but that apparently hasn't stopped folks from calling the local real estate agent "every other week or so" to inquire about a place in the zone. [Image courtesy NRAO]
RCN bringing HDTV to student residence in New York City
We told you that kids these days had it made, didn't we? The latest episode of college students getting more than just ample amounts of study time comes courtesy of RCN, which is delivering triple-play services to student residence rooms at 1760 Third Avenue in Manhattan, New York. The agreement with Educational Housing Services will enable the carrier to offer high-speed internet, digital phone and HD programming to over 1,100 students representing "a variety of institutions of higher learning, including LIM (Laboratory Institute of Merchandising)." U-verse in a University of Houston dorm, RCN here -- what's next, FiOS TV in Corvallis?
Swedes hit hard by WiMAX waves
In what can only be described as extreme paranoia or as an extreme health risk, a Swedish town had a bit of a health scare upon the activation of a WiMAX base-station a few weeks ago. According to Sweden's SVT, which reported on the incident, the local hospital emergency room was flooded with calls regarding various symptoms such as headaches, difficulty breathing, blurry vision and even two cases of heart arrhythmia. All of this was mere hours after the base station was activated, and the symptoms went away once the station was deactivated, or if the sufferer moved away from that radio tower of death. Apparently Sweden was the first country to recognise electromagnetic hypersensitivity as a valid medical condition, and there are already talks of getting the government to shut down the nation's WiMAX networks while the claims are investigated. The UN recognises EHS as a "real and sometimes disabling condition," and say that around 3% of the world's population is effected by high frequency magnetic radiation in such ways. We'll wait for a few more studies to come through and completely conflict with each other so we can go on with our happily ignorant mobile lifestyles.[Via The Inquirer]
