April 14-15 Safe Tech International News and Notes
IARC, Katie, Keith, Roman, Monday: NISLPP re: Solar/Smart Meters
FEATURED
Featured Louis Slesin: IARC Again Asked to Review RF Cancer Risk, Just Not Right Away Same Advice Was Given in 2019 An advisory group to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has —once again— recommended a new assessment of the cancer risk posed by RF radiation. RF is one of about a hundred agents listed as “high priority” for evaluation over the next five years, 2025-2029. [ ] In 2019, this same advisory panel (albeit with a different membership) put RF on the list of high priority agents for reevaluation during 2020-2024. Here again, the panel asked that a new review wait until the second half of the period. This was said to be a political compromise among the panel members, as is likely the case for the new list. But the reevaluation never happened. https://microwavenews.com/news-center/iarc-again-advised-review-rf-cancer-risk
Featured KATIE SINGER: Keeping human in a techno world (“Meanwhile, here’s what I’m reading” – links to a large number of recent articles) https://katiesinger.substack.com/p/keeping-human includes: “Failure to Charge: A Critical Look at Canada’s EV Policy,” by G. Cornelis van Kooten, Fraser Institute. Looks at EVs’ electricity demands. “In this section, we explore the potential strain that EV adoption puts on electrical systems across Canada, with particular emphasis on BC, Ontario, and Quebec. In addition to determining the electricity required by EVs, there is the problem of what the ultimate energy source might look like. We begin by considering possible sources of energy for generating the power required by EVs. [ ] In conclusion, many obstacles have still to be overcome in switching to a completely electric vehicle fleet. Internationally, they include the costs of externalities related to pollution from mining and manufacturing processes. Locally, the major obstacle relates to the likelihood of constructing sufficient power generating capacity to meet the anticipated demand EVs would impose on electricity grids. The type of electricity that goes into the grid would also be a big consideration when switching over to EVs, as jurisdictions will need to increase their electricity production capabilities with green sources that meet the additional hourly load requirements and can be employed quickly to balance intermittent renewable energy sources. These would primarily have to be storage and the development of hydro and nuclear power—which are challenging to deploy in a timely way. The real[1]world situation is not as easy as merely replacing current ICE vehicles with EVs, and there are many obstacles to be overcome on the path of electrifying the personal vehicle fleets within Canada. https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/electric-vehicles-and-the-demand-for-electricity.pdf many more thought provoking articles at link
Featured: BUILDING BIOLOGY: EMF REMEDY: Keith Cutter Interviewed by Decentralized Radio Keith Cutter Interviewed by Tristan and Ryan of Decentralized Radio 1 ½ hours interview, excellent overview
NEWS AND NOTES
AI is repeating A-bomb's story, says EU tech overseer Artificial intelligence is ushering in a "new world" as swiftly and disruptively as atomic weapons did 80 years ago, Margrethe Vestager, the EU's top tech regulator, told a crowd Tuesday at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Threat level: In an exclusive interview with Axios afterward, Vestager said that while both the A-bomb and AI have posed broad dangers to humanity, AI comes with additional "individual existential risks" as we empower it to make decisions about our job and college applications, our loans and mortgages, and our medical treatments. "If we deal with individual existential threats first, we'll have a much better go at dealing with existential threats towards humanity," Vestager told Axios. Humans have never before been "confronted with a technology with so much power and no defined purpose," she said. The Institute for Advanced Study was famously led by J. Robert Oppenheimer from 1947 to 1966, after his Manhattan Project developed the world's first nuclear weapons. The big picture: In her lecture, Vestager — whose full title at the European Commission is "executive vice president for a Europe fit for the digital age and competition" — forcefully argued that "technology must serve humans." https://www.axios.com/2024/04/10/ai-artificial-intelligence-china-eu-vestager
AI: AI-powered 'sonar' on smartglasses tracks gaze, facial expressions Both use speakers and microphones mounted on an eyeglass frame to bounce inaudible soundwaves off the face and pick up reflected signals caused by face and eye movements. One device, GazeTrak, is the first eye-tracking system that relies on acoustic signals. The second, EyeEcho, is the first eyeglass-based system to continuously and accurately detect facial expressions and recreate them through an avatar in real-time. The devices can last for several hours on a smartglasses battery and more than a day on a VR headset. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-04-ai-powered-sonar-smartglasses-tracks.html
AI: Ethical questions abound as wartime AI ramps up As seen with Lavender, AI can be particularly useful for selecting targets, with its high-speed algorithms processing huge amounts of data to identify potential threats. AI can also operate in tactics. For example, swarms of drones—a tactic China seems to be rapidly developing—will eventually be able to communicate with each other and interact according to previously assigned objectives. At a strategic level, AI will produce models of battlefields and propose how to respond to attacks, maybe even including the use of nuclear weapons. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-04-ethical-abound-wartime-ai-ramps.html
AI: To understand the risks posed by AI, follow the money We ought to heed Collingridge's warning that technology evolves in uncertain ways. However, there is one class of AI risk that is generally knowable in advance. These are risks stemming from misalignment between a company's economic incentives to profit from its proprietary AI model in a particular way and society's interests in how the AI model should be monetised and deployed. The surest way to ignore such misalignment is by focusing exclusively on technical questions about AI model capabilities, divorced from the socio-economic environment in which these models will operate and be designed for profit. Degrading quality for higher profit. It is instructive to consider how the algorithmic technologies that underpinned the aggregator platforms of old (think Amazon, Google and Facebook among others) initially deployed to benefit users, were eventually reprogrammed to increase profits for the platform. The problems fostered by social media, search, and recommendation algorithms was never an engineering issue, but one of financial incentives (of profit growth) not aligning with algorithms' safe, effective, and equitable deployment. As the saying goes: history doesn't necessarily repeat itself but it does rhyme. Amazon is one the most striking examples of a company pivoting away from its original "virtuous" mission ("to be the most customer-centric company on Earth") towards an extractive business model. But it is far from alone. Google, Meta, and virtually all other major online aggregators have, over time, come to preference their economic interests over their original promise to their users and to their ecosystems of content and product suppliers or application developers. Science fiction writer and activist Cory Doctorow calls this the "enshittification" of Big Tech platforms. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-04-posed-ai-money.html
AUTOMOTIVE (Run Away tech): Wake-up call: Reducing road accidents with customized driver alerts The information collected during the first two sets of tests came from cameras watching the drivers' faces and headsets to monitor brain waves. The data will feed into an algorithm that, combined with an electronic bracelet, can detect when a driver is getting tired. The bracelet will monitor things like heart rate, arm-movement patterns and perspiration to note when a driver is becoming weary. The algorithm will keep learning and adapting itself to each individual driver. The system fine-tunes itself by continuously collecting data to build up a picture of each driver and assess risks during a particular driving session. In this way, it can detect individual cues of tiredness—such as when Polidori touches the back of his neck. []The current technologies that can recognize when a person is driving erratically or swerving from a lane are based on tests carried out on large numbers of volunteers and feature a one-size-fits-all algorithm for drivers. Because everyone has a different driving style, these methods aren't always accurate enough. []Using data from the vehicles, the driver and the surrounding environment, the project team created a statistical measure of when a driver was in control and, if not, sent the person an audio alert via a smartphone app. When a person drove too closely to the vehicle in front, particularly when the road was wet, a signal would be sent. The app can also coach drivers to do better. During the project, points were awarded to test drivers based on how well they drove.https://techxplore.com/news/2024-04-road-accidents-customized-driver.html
BROADBAND: As Broadband Deserts Recede, Cost of Service Still a Question A new report by BroadbandNow indicates as many as 22 million U.S. residents still lack access to broadband, an improvement from 2020. But as Internet service improves, affordability in rural areas remains an issue. https://www.govtech.com/network/as-broadband-deserts-recede-cost-of-service-still-a-question
CELLPHONES LEGAL: CHD Files FOIA Requests: Why Did Government Shut Down Studies on Cellphone Radiation and Cancer? The requests are for key communications and research documents related to studies that were underway and the factors that led the National Institute of Environmental and Health Sciences to discontinue the studies, despite previous research finding evidence of cancer and DNA damage related to cellphone use. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/chd-foia-requests-nih-studies-cellphone-radiation-cancer/
CELLPHONES: Why won't some people use a smartphone? And is that difficult? New research from Aalto University has explored why some people choose not to use smartphones and what the consequences are. The study, which will appear in Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, is based on interviews with participants who chose to give up their smartphone or never had one—a decision that can make daily life more burdensome, limit choices, and sometimes even increase risks. Their reasons for turning them down varied. Some wanted to get away from the distractions a smartphone unavoidably causes, while others wanted to avoid online surveillance. For parents of under-age children, the main reasons were a desire to keep their offspring away from social media and to avoid the temptation of a smartphone interrupting time with their kids. For a few, there were religious principles behind the choice. Some of the participants chose to use technical workarounds, such as stand-alone devices that replaced individual smartphone functions. Many also used a family member's or acquaintance's smartphone when the need arose. Thus, in practice, leading a smartphone-free life requires either technical know-how or flexible friends and family. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-04-wont-people-smartphone-difficult.html More information: Preprint paper: Swapping 5G for 3G : Motivations, Experiences, and Implications of Contemporary Dumbphone Adoption
CELLPHONES: Research team reports on effect of mobile phone use in parent-child interactions Preschoolers who use mobile devices more frequently have lower quality and quantity of parent-child interaction than their peers who do not use them. Researchers from the Alpha Generation Lab at the Department of Ethology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, hypothesized that mobile phone use takes time away from and interferes with social activities, thereby degrading the quality of time spent together, according to their article published in the journal Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-04-team-effect-mobile-parent-child.html
CELLPHONES INDUSTRY: Phone batteries could last 50% longer if more 5G towers are built Adding more masts could reduce the overall energy use of phone networks by two-thirds and boost handset battery life by 50 per cent https://www.newscientist.com/article/2423849-phone-batteries-could-last-50-longer-if-more-5g-towers-are-built/ And Lots of Tiny 5G Towers Could Increase Your Battery Life by 50% Researchers found that a network of small 5G towers, instead of one big tower, could improve the battery like of all phones in an urban area. https://gizmodo.com/lots-of-tiny-5g-towers-could-increase-your-battery-life-1851399778
CHILDREN/ SOCIAL MEDIA INDUSTRY CRITICSM OF JOHN HAIDT’S WORK: What the evidence really says about social media’s impact on teens’ mental health Did smartphones actually “destroy” a generation? The case against the case against smartphones Haidt’s theory has attracted many critics, who have collectively raised objections to virtually every premise in his narrative. Their case can be distilled into four arguments. 1) It’s not clear that there has actually been an international increase in mental illness among young people 2) The survey data doesn’t actually support Haidt’s thesis. 3) Haidt’s experimental evidence is weak and unreliable 4) Haidt’s natural experiments are contradicted by better data So, are smartphones really poisoning Gen Z’s brains? I’m not a social psychologist, nor a parent of a TikTok-obsessed tween. So I shouldn’t be trusted as the final arbiter of this dispute. But in my view, the case for believing that smartphones are undermining teens’ mental health is significantly weaker than Haidt suggests — yet stronger than his most ardent skeptics allow.[] To say that Haidt’s evidence for a global decline in teen mental health isn’t conclusive is not to say that it’s insignificant. It’s not clear that an international crisis of teen mental health even exists. []Taken together, it seems clear that Haidt’s rhetoric is much stronger than his evidence. [ ] I still suspect the phones are bad [ ] [ ] Haidt’s work on teen mental health might be biased by his preexisting contempt for social media; he had initially intended to write a book lamenting Twitter’s impact on our politics before shifting his focus to Gen Z’s psychological woes. But his critics may have biases of their own. Ferguson and Przybylski have both spent much of their careers debunking alarmist theories about video games’ corruption of the youth and are inclined to view the discourse around social media through that lens. https://www.vox.com/24127431/smartphones-young-kids-children-parenting-social-media-teen-mental-health
Repost of John’s work here: Yes, Social Media Really Is a Cause of the Epidemic of Teenage Mental Illness
CHILDREN SCHOOL BUSES: Sen Cruz Leads Amicus Brief Opposing Biden’s Effort to Subsidize TikTok on School Buses The Fifth Circuit lawsuit, Molak v. FCC, was brought by parents concerned about the federal government subsidizing children’s unsupervised access to social media sites, like TikTok and Instagram, on bus rides to and from school. In the amicus brief, the senators argue the FCC’s decision to expand the E-Rate program beyond schools and libraries exceeds the agency’s statutory authority and unlawfully extends a lapsed COVID-era program—the Emergency Connectivity Fund—that Congress did not renew. The brief also argues the FCC’s ruling will harm children by enabling their unsupervised access to the internet. Joining Sen Cruz in submitting the amicus brief are Sens Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Braun (R-IN), Ted Budd (R-NC), James Lankford (R-OK), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and Pete Ricketts (R-NE). https://www.benton.org/headlines/sen-cruz-leads-amicus-brief-opposing-biden%E2%80%99s-effort-subsidize-tiktok-school-buses
CLIMATE OT/precedent? European court rules human rights violated by climate inaction A group of older Swiss women have won the first ever climate case victory in the European Court of Human Rights. The women, mostly in their 70s, said that their age and gender made them particularly vulnerable to the effects of heatwaves linked to climate change. The court said Switzerland's efforts to meet its emission reduction targets had been woefully inadequate. It is the first time the powerful court has ruled on global warming. Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg joined activists celebrating at the court in Strasbourg on Tuesday. [] The ruling is binding and can trickle down to influence the law in 46 countries in Europe including the UK. The Court ruled that Switzerland had "failed to comply with its duties under the Convention concerning climate change" and that it had violated the right to respect for private and family life. It also found that "there had been critical gaps" in the country's policies to tackle climate change including failing to quantify reductions in greenhouse gases - those gases that warm Earth's atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas. The Swiss women, called KlimaSeniorinnen or Senior Women for Climate Protection, argued that they cannot leave their homes and suffer health attacks during heatwaves in Switzerland. On Tuesday data showed that last month was the world's warmest March on record, meaning the temperature records have broken ten months in a row. More than 2,000 women are in the KlimaSeniorinnen group. They launched the case nine years ago, calling for better protection of women's health in relation to climate change. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68768598 Editor note: Does this criteria also apply to EHS?
EMF ACTIVISM: ACTIVISM: Swedish Stop Electrosmog Song about the dangers of Wireless Technology. It is titled "Detta angaar os alla" - "This concerns us all" - even if you don't speak Swedish, the pictures are quite explanatory, view here. – courtesy Tanya
EMF HAZARDS SUMMIT REVIEW, COMMENTS, LINKS: courtesy Einar FLydal (Norway) Translates at site into English”
https://einarflydal.com/2024/04/12/mitt-lille-sammendrag-fra-emf-hazards-summit-2024-dag-1/
https://einarflydal.com/2024/04/13/sammendrag-fra-emf-hazards-summit-2024-dag-2/
https://einarflydal.com/2024/04/14/sammendrag-fra-emf-hazards-summit-2024-dag-3/
EVs: Bumpy ride for electric cars in Europe https://techxplore.com/news/2024-04-bumpy-electric-cars-europe.html
FCC Seeks Input on Proposal to Expand Wireless Broadband in 900 MHz Band https://insidetowers.com/fcc-seeks-input-on-proposal-to-expand-wireless-broadband-in-900-mhz-band/
FCC proposes opening 5GHz spectrum for drones to enhance emergency and commercial uses https://wirelessestimator.com/articles/2024/fcc-proposes-opening-5ghz-spectrum-for-drones-to-enhance-emergency-and-commercial-uses/
5G industry; Deals, demos, delays and disappointments in 5G NTN (Part 1) As Apple describes it, “When an iPhone user makes an Emergency SOS via satellite request, the message is received by one of Globalstar’s 24 satellites in low-earth orbit traveling at speeds of approximately 16,000 mph. The ground stations use new high-power antennas designed and manufactured specifically for Apple by Cobham Satcom in Concord, California. Cobham’s employees engineer and manufacture the high-powered antennas, which will receive signals transmitted by the satellite constellation.” Globalstar has said that Apple is allocated 85% of the capacity on its satellite constellation, with the satellite operator continuing to offer legacy services, including IoT connectivity, with the remaining 15%. []However, even as AT&T and AST conduct additional direct-to-cellular testing using 10-megahertz blocks of FirstNet and 800 MHz spectrum in Texas and Hawaii, ASTSpaceMobile said during its most recent quarterly call that the first five Bluebird satellites of its anticipated constellation have been delayed again due to supplier issues. The company had first planned to launch them before the end of 2023, then expected to launch in the first or second quarter of 2024; Chairman and CEO Abel Avellan said that the satellites are now expected to be transported to the launch site between July and August 2024. https://www.rcrwireless.com/20240408/fundamentals/deals-demos-delays-and-disappointments-in-5g-ntn-part-1
5G iNDUSTRY; Deals, demos, delays and disappointments in 5G NTN (Part 2) The interest in cellular non-terrestrial network technology and the business opportunity is reflected in the amount of activity in the space in recent years, as 3GPP 5G standards work has built momentum toward convergence of satellite and cellular networks and raised the possibility of true, ubiquitous (and maybe eventually, high-speed) connectivity. -On the regulatory front, the Federal Communications Commission last month unanimously approved a new rules framework for satellite-based, cellular communications directly to end-user devices—or “supplemental coverage from space” (SCS), using terrestrial spectrum. The SCS framework enables satellite operators who are working with terrestrial service providers to ask for FCC authorization to operate space stations in spectrum that is currently allocated for wireless services—as long as they meet conditions like having a spectrum lease in place. Once they get authorization, the satellite operator can then serve that MNO’s customers within the specific geographic area, if they are out of terrestrial network coverage. However, there are some issues around 911 emergency calling that need to be addressed. For now, the FCC established that terrestrial MNOs have to route all 911 calls made through SCS to a public safety answering point (PSAP) using either location-based routing or an emergency call center, and the agency put out a further rulemaking asking for input on making sure that SCS calls get routed correctly. https://www.rcrwireless.com/20240410/network-infrastructure/deals-demos-delays-and-disappointments-in-5g-ntn-part-2
5G;INDUSTRY 5G technology could cut time it takes to get a pint or food at sports stadiums The roll-out of the technology will also boost the revenue of food and drinks sales in rugby and football stadiums by millions of pounds within the next five years https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/5g-technology-benefits-sports-stadiums-32554739
5G MERCOLA: Ten New Studies Detail Health Risks of 5G Cancer. Dementia. Anxiety. Depression. These are all risks linked to 5G technology according to these eye-opening studies (published between 2022-2024). 1 hour video
5G LEGAL STANFORD LAW SCHOOL; Harmful 5G Fast Lanes Are Coming. The FCC Needs to Stop Them The FCC is set to vote on April 25 to restore its authority over the companies we pay to get online, and reinstate federal net neutrality protections that were jettisoned by the Trump administration in 2017. Net neutrality protections are supposed to ensure that we, not the internet service providers (ISPs) we pay to get online, get to decide what we do online. The FCC released its draft rules early in April and there’s much to celebrate in them. Mobile carriers like T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon that have been degrading video quality for mobile users will have to stop. The FCC kept in place state neutrality protections like California’s net neutrality law, allowing for layers of enforcement. The FCC also made it harder for ISPs to evade net neutrality at the point where data enters their networks. However, there’s a huge problem: the proposed rules make it possible for mobile ISPs to start picking applications and putting them in a fast lane – where they’ll perform better generally and much better if the network gets congested. T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon are all testing ways to create these 5G fast lanes for apps such as video conferencing, games, and video where the ISP chooses and controls what gets boosted. They use a technical feature in 5G called network slicing, where part of their radio spectrum gets used as a special lane for the chosen app or apps, separated from the usual internet traffic. The FCC’s draft order opens the door to these fast lanes, so long as the app provider isn’t charged for them. https://law.stanford.edu/publications/harmful-5g-fast-lanes-are-coming-the-fcc-needs-to-stop-them/
5G industry: Researchers Find More 5G Small Cells Equal Half the Battery Drain “We show that such a densification strategy conquers two key problems,” said UC San Diego researchers in the “Densify & Conquer” study. “It can potentially save about three times power savings by avoiding large wireless signal losses due to [long] range [transmissions], and also lead to 50 percent improved battery life for the connected smartphones on the dense network as a consequence of being located closer and at a smaller height to them.” https://insidetowers.com/researchers-find-more-5g-small-cells-equal-half-the-battery-drain/
5G Towers Antennas Monks Not Keen on Cell Tower Pointing to the need to increase public safety, T-Mobile has proposed constructing a 90-foot cell tower in the desert community of Florence, AZ. While the structure would be 11 miles outside of downtown Florence, it would be a mere two miles away from St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery. As The Florence Reminder Blade-Tribune reports, the plan has upset neighbors and monks alike who have contacted the Pinal County Board of Supervisors to share their objections. “Please protect the monastery,” Father Cyril implored the Board. South Florence Volunteer Fire Department member, Perry Roumbos, was among the opponents, saying that he did not believe poor cell service was an issue. He suggested that if the Board were truly committed to saving lives, they would invest in another fire station. https://insidetowers.com/monks-not-keen-on-cell-tower/
HEALTH: Mobile telephony radiation exerts genotoxic action and significantly enhances the effects of gamma radiation in human cells Panagopoulos DJ. Mobile telephony radiation exerts genotoxic action and significantly enhances the effects of gamma radiation in human cells. Gen Physiol Biophys. 2024 Mar;43(2):103-120. doi: 10.4149/gpb_2023036. Conclusions:
(1) MT EMF exposure, apart from the fact that it is genotoxic by itself, significantly enhanced the genotoxic action of gamma radiation in combined exposure;
(2) People/patients who are subjected to diagnostic or therapeutic treatment with ionizing radiation should be prudently advised to avoid using Wireless Communication (WC) devices (mobile/smart phones, wi-fi, cordless domestic phones, etc.) for a few days before, during, and after such treatments;
(3) Medical/radiology practitioners should be specifically educated on the risks of anthropogenic EMF-exposures in addition to those of ionizing radiations;
(4) Comparison with caffeine and gamma radiation suggests that the ICNIRP (2020) limits for WC EMF exposure should be lowered by 40,000 and 45,000 times respectively;
(5) The limit for short-term (acute) exposure should then become 0.1 μW/cm2 and accordingly for long- term exposure 0.001 μW/cm2;
(6) The combined effects of real-life man-made EMFs with a variety of other environmental stressors should be examined as a priority by next studies. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38099580/
HEALTH: Autism and How Cell Phone Radiation and Other Sources of Wireless Damage the Blood-Brain Barrier https://www.activistpost.com/2024/04/autism-and-how-cell-phone-radiation-and-other-sources-of-wireless-damage-the-blood-brain-barrier.html
HEALTH: What you don't know about oxytocin How we can harness benefits of the love hormone 22 MINUTES
On this episode, we discussed:
What is oxytocin?1
Why what you’ve been told oxytocin2 is only half-truth
How oxytocin curbs our appetite
How we like to get our oxytocin
How texting can decrease oxytocin3
We are more powerful than we know.
(New episodes every Friday)
HEALTH: Scientists use wearable technology to detect stress levels during sleep
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-04-scientists-wearable-technology-stress.html
HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY: GE Healthcare Inaugurates its First ‘5G Innovation Lab’ Aimed at Transforming Remote Care https://www.gehealthcare.com/about/newsroom/press-releases/ge-healthcare-inaugurates-its-first-5g-innovation-lab-aimed-at-transforming-remote-0
HEALTH: Depression in young people being driven by internet addiction, say researchers Dr. Hassam Waheed, from the University's College of Business, Law and Social Sciences, worked with Dr. Peter Macaulay, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, and colleagues in Malaysia and Australia on a meta-analysis of 52 published studies. The results have been published in a report, "Caught in the web: a meta-analysis of internet addiction, excessive daytime sleepiness and depressive symptoms in adolescents," in the journal Information Technology & People. The study looked at adolescents aged between 10 and 19 years who are more prone to internet addiction given their transitional stage of physical and psychological development. It found that internet-induced daytime sleepiness displaces a host of activities that are known to be beneficial for maintaining mental health, such as day-to-day social interactions and physical activities. This in turn exacerbates their depressive symptoms. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-04-depression-young-people-driven-internet.html
LIGHTING ORGANIC CONSUMERS/Dark Sky: Every Light Impacts the Night DarkSky writes: “This international Dark Sky Week you can celebrate the night by doing your part to protect it. Too often, outdoor electric lighting installations at night are over lit, left on when not needed, and harmful to the environment. As a result, light pollution is a growing global issue that can negatively affect our environment and impact our quality of life. DarkSky and the Illuminating Engineering Society jointly published the Five Principles for Responsible Outdoor Lighting to prevent and reduce light pollution through the proper application of quality outdoor electric lighting. By applying these principles, properly designed electric lighting at night can be beautiful, healthy, and functional. Projects that incorporate these principles will save energy and money, reduce light pollution, and minimize wildlife disruption.” Five Principles for Responsible Outdoor Lighting https://organicconsumers.org/five-principles-for-responsible-outdoor-lighting/ AND https://organicconsumers.org/bright-outdoor-light-at-night-may-increase-stroke-risk/ See also: Satellite Megaconstellations and the Night Sky | DarkSky International (2020)
OCEAN INDUSTRY: Waterproof 'e-glove' could help scuba divers communicate Now, researchers reporting in ACS Nano have constructed a waterproof "e-glove" that wirelessly transmits hand gestures made underwater to a computer that translates them into messages. The new technology could someday help divers communicate better with each other and with boat crews on the surface. E-gloves—gloves fitted with electronic sensors that translate hand motions into information—are already in development, including designs that allow the wearer to interact with virtual reality environments or help people recovering from a stroke regain fine motor skills. However, rendering the electronic sensors waterproof for use in a swimming pool or the ocean, while also keeping the glove flexible and comfortable to wear, is a challenge. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-04-waterproof-glove-scuba-divers-communicate.html
OCEAN: Smart vest turns fish into underwater spies, providing a glimpse into aquatic life like never before https://phys.org/news/2024-04-smart-vest-fish-underwater-spies.html
SECURITY: AT&T emails 70M customers, causes massive traffic spike at Experian. Here's what happened. https://www.zdnet.com/article/at-t-blasts-email-to-70m-customers-causes-massive-traffic-spike-at-experian-heres-what-happened/
SMART METERS: PENNSYLVANIA: Take Action Against Hazardous Smart Meters https://alignact.com/go/pennsylvania-take-action-against-hazardous-smart-meters
SPACE PARIS MARX DISCONNECT (repost): What if we never live on Mars? Tech billionaires sell us the dream of realizing sci-fi fantasies, but that distracts us from building a better society on Earth (repeat post) Mars is no backup planet. It’s a hostile world where humans can’t breathe without technological assistance, can’t walk freely on the surface without a space suit, and would have to live far underground to avoid developing cancer from the radiation on the surface since the world has no magnetosphere. As Zach and Kelly Weinersmith explain in A City on Mars, the soil on Mars is toxic and not as easy to clean as boosters of space settlement like to suggest. There’s also very little research on the social and biological considerations of long-term habitation in space, particularly reproduction and child rearing in a hostile environment that lacks the gravity we’ve evolved to live with. And that’s before considering the legal questions that people like Musk pretend don’t exist. https://disconnect.blog/what-if-we-never-live-on-mars/
SURVEILLANCE: House Votes To Extend Warrantless Spying Powers https://www.activistpost.com/2024/04/house-votes-to-extend-warrantless-spying-powers.html SEE ALSO: PRIVACY: Warnings of 'Patriot Act 2.0' as House Prepares to Vote on Mass Spying Authority An amendment headed for a vote Friday "would put in place the largest expansion of domestic surveillance since the Patriot Act," one privacy advocate warned. https://www.commondreams.org/news/patriot-act-section-702
TECH SAFE Podcast: Tech Safe 22 Sidnee Cox On this episode of Tech Safe, host Cecelia Doucette interviews Sidnee Cox, a retired educator and safe tech activist from California, Director of the EMF Safety Network and member of Safe Tech for Santa Rosa. They discuss DIY safety measures that can help protect loved ones, both human and animal, from dangerous exposure to EMF radiation https://www.wccatv.com/video/tech-safe/tech-safe-22 27 minutes
UTILITIES: Xcel Energy hopes charging more for electricity during peak hours will encourage customers to shift energy use CUB hasn’t taken a position yet on Xcel’s plan. But Levenson-Falk said time-of-use rates could more fairly price the electricity customers are using. She cited a Chicago-area study that found lower-income households tend to use less peak energy. “If everybody is paying a flat electric rate at all times of day, what that means is that lower-income households are actually paying probably more than their fair share of the electric system,” Levenson-Falk said. “They’re actually subsidizing their higher-income neighbors.” Xcel tested time-of-use rates in a two-year pilot project with about 10,000 customers in south Minneapolis and Eden Prairie. The results showed a modest shift in customers’ electric usage and a resulting decline in their energy bills, Long said. Xcel officials concluded they might be able to encourage more shifting by differentiating the rates more, he said, which led to the current proposal. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/04/10/xcel-energy-charging-more-electricity-peak-hours-time-of-use-rates-utilities
UTILITIES industry: US Could Update Grid With Technique Other Nations Use 'Reconductoring' can double lines' capacity, adding room for wind and solar Two reports issued Tuesday suggest the US is overlooking a technique used in other countries that could double the electric grid's capacity in many parts of the country, the New York Times reports. "Advanced reconductoring" basically refers to replacing old power lines with newer models that have smaller, lighter cores such as carbon fiber and hold more aluminum. These lines can carry twice the current that older lines do. The change is being made in Belgium, the Netherlands, and other nations to provide room for more wind and solar power. "We talked with the transmission system planners over there and they all said this is a no-brainer," said Emilia Chojkiewicz of the University of California, Berkeley, who cowrote one of the reports. "It's often difficult to get new rights of way for lines, and reconductoring is much faster." https://www.newser.com/story/348811/us-could-update-grid-with-technique-other-nations-use.html
WARFARE: https://www.stopkillerrobots.org/news/
WARFARE: US Space Force to perform world’s first military exercise in orbit During the mission, a spacecraft built and launched by Rocket Lab will chase down a satellite made by True Anomaly. https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/us-space-force-to-perform-worlds-first-military-exercise-in-orbit
EVENTS:
Monday, April 15th at 7:00 pm Eastern, EMFs, Harmful Wireless Smart Meter Use in Solar, Pressing Electricity Grid Capacity Constraints --and the Urgent Need to Support Rapid Roll Out of Safe Distributed Solar There will be a panel discussion with Camilla Rees and colleagues at the National Institute for Science, Law and Public Policy in Washington, D.C. on the biological and health effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs), harmful wireless smart meters used unnecessarily in rooftop solar today, and the need for greatly expanded distributed power generation and related home-based energy management and measurement technologies. They will be guests of Harvey Wasserman who is initiating a movement supporting safe solarization of Los Angeles. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYqfuygpjIiHtc20uIOxdeqYRiAicjSLWUc The impact of the tremendous electricity usage of telecommunications and AI on grid capacity and resilience is the subject of a forthcoming NISLAPP briefing paper by Dr. Timothy Schoechle, reinforcing the need for rapid expansion of solar and other renewable technologies. (See recent NYT article March 14, 2024, "A New Surge in Power Use Is Threatening U.S. Climate Goals - A boom in data centers and factories is straining electric grids and propping up fossil fuels.")
MA4SafeTech Monthly Update Meeting via Zoom: Register: Wednesday, April 17, 12 noon ET All are welcome to share inroads being made in MA and beyond! https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIqf--srj8sHtwVnBQhOsmpW8enmmewysn9#/registration
April 2024 Open Federal Communications Commission Meeting Federal Communications Commission Thursday, April 25, 2024 - 10:30am Promoting a Fast, Open, and Fair Internet – The Commission will consider a Declaratory Ruling, Order, Report and Order, and Order on Reconsideration that would reestablish the Commission’s authority to protect consumers and safeguard the fair and open Internet by classifying broadband Internet access service as a telecommunications service and classifying mobile broadband Internet access service as a commercial mobile service; exercising broad and tailored forbearance; and reinstating straightforward, clear rules to ensure Internet openness. https://www.benton.org/event/april-2024-open-federal-communications-commission-meeting
Thank you Patricia for linking to our podcast episode! Katie Singer does some great investigation as well - so thanks for sharing her common-sense take on EVs and the power grid.