November 19-20 Safe Tech International News and Notes
Starlink, George Carlo, Mobile phone radiation affects parotid gland, Phone Bans and School Safety, Dopamine, Mining and Big Tech, 11/20 MA4SafeTech Meeting
Courtesy Environmental Health Trust Facebook
There are two important offerings in today’s summary. In a 34-minute clip from a longer interview, Keith Cutter interviewed Daniel Vasku, an EMF refugee in New Zealand, about his experience with Starlink. His observations are crucial to questions about the effects of Starlink on Earth. Please share widely.
Also, George Carlo speaks about the history of wireless.
FEATURED:
StarLink: Keith Cutter: The Ethical and Technical Landscape with Daniel Vasku I had the pleasure of discussing these themes with Daniel Vasku, a familiar voice to many and a passionate advocate for low-EMF living. Daniel, who resides in a unique location in New Zealand known for its low synthetic radiation environment, provided insights into how new technologies like StarLink intersect with the challenges faced by ‘electro-sensitives.’ The complete interview, which spans nearly two hours of rich dialogue, will be available exclusively on my paid audio podcast later this month. You can access this content through EMF Remedy Premium, where we unpack the complex interplay between connectivity and electromagnetic exposure. To ensure my Substack audience can benefit from our discussion, I’ll be sharing a key segment of the conversation here. This will provide an accessible way to engage with the vital topics we covered, emphasizing their importance for those navigating similar concerns. 34 minutes
FEATURED:
VIDEO 2024 Annual NSMA Conference: History of the Wireless Technology Research (WTR) History of the Wireless Technology Research (WTR), The World’s Largest Research Project into Wireless Safety with Dr. George Carlo, Chief Scientist of the WTR; Co-Author, "Cell Phones: Invisible Hazards in the Wireless Age"
2024 Annual NSMA Conference: History of the Wireless Technology Research (WTR)
NEWS AND NOTES
AI MILITARY: Zuckerberg gave the Pentagon permission to use META's AI, Llama. "Meta is not the only commercial technology company branching out to military applications of AI. In the past week, Anthropic also announced it is teaming up with Palantir – a data analytics firm – and Amazon Web Services to provide US intelligence and defence agencies access to its AI models." "...the latest version of Llama powers AI tools in Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. When using the AI functions on these platforms - such as creating reels or suggesting captions – users are using Llama." "The mutual use of open source AI tools marries two parties – the public and the military – who have historically held separate needs and goals. This shift will expose unique challenges for both parties." "The situation highlights the increasing fragility of open source AI software. It also means users of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger – some versions of which use Llama – may inadvertently be contributing to military programs around the world." https://theconversation.com/meta-now-allows-military-agencies-to-access-its-ai-software-it-poses-a-moral-dilemma-for-everybody-who-uses-it-243250
AI ADS: AI-Powered Buzzfeed Ads Suggest You Buy Hat of Man Who Died by Suicide AND Buzzfeed's AI Ads Take a Dark Turn Buzzfeed is using an AI-powered ad platform that recommends products that attempts to match objects in disturbing images on its site.
AI: David Attenborough Disgusted by AI Clone of His Voice "I am profoundly disturbed.
AI: OpenAI Reportedly Hitting Law of Diminishing Returns as It Pours Computing Resources Into AI This could be a major problem.
AI GARY MARCUS: On hype, and the unbearable banality of ChatGPT’s poetry
AUTOMOBILES UK: ‘Technology is replacing common sense’: everything Telegraph readers hate about modern cars Your dislikes also encompass multiple chimes and beeps, over-intrusive lane-keeping assist systems, pessimistic emergency braking and blinding LED headlights. That’s before we get to electrically-operated handbrakes and the disappearance of spare wheels. Here, Telegraph readers share their main gripes with modern cars. MSN
AUTOMOBILES LIGHTING UK: Dazzling headlights are ruining your journeys – here’s what can be done Nine out of 10 drivers say glare bothers them – so what is the cause of the problem and how might things improve? []Of the nine out of 10 drivers (91 per cent) who complain about being dazzled while driving, 74 per cent say it happens regularly. Two-thirds (67 per cent) reckon they have to slow significantly until their vision clears. Of these, 5 per cent claim to have nearly been involved in a collision because of headlight glare. The issue of dazzling headlights is even limiting drivers’ mobility: Road safety charity IAM Roadsmart recently surveyed its members. Among its qualified advanced drivers, 4 per cent said they had stopped driving after dark while one-third (31 per cent) claimed to drive at night less than they used to. Four reasons why headlights dazzle (Includes taller SUVs) Dazzling headlights are ruining your journeys – here’s what can be done
AUTOMOBILES CANADA Four Passengers Die in Burning Tesla After Electronic Doors Seemingly Won't Open "You couldn't open the doors."
BIG TECH The Honest Broker Ted Gioia: Strange and Dazzling Things Are Happening Right Now It's been a crazy week New details emerge about Substack. “Chris, I have a question. Has Elon Musk made an offer to buy Substack?” When the accountants all resign at the same time, you should pay attention. Tech stocks are skyrocketing, especially Nvidia and other companies participating in the AI boom. But in the last few days, smart analysts have started to smell hidden rot coming from inside these AI success stories. Let’s start with Nvidia, the darling of Wall Street. That company is using mark-to-market accounting similar to what Enron practiced before its collapse—which created the “illusion of higher current profits.”
BROADBAND INDUSTRY: The Regulatory Yoyo Continues We’re about to see the fourth change of the party in the White House in this century, and that means a fourth time that telecom regulations will flip-flop in what I’ve called the regulatory yoyo. Regulatory policies have always changed to some extent when the party in power changes, but in this century, the degree of change from administration to administration is more intense than what we saw in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. I’ve thought hard about why this is so. One clear reason is the explosion of broadband this century. At the turn of the century a conscious decision was made by the FCC and Congress not to interfere with the fledgling and growing broadband industry. In 2000, the FCC regulated telephone service, cable TV, and cellular service. 94% of homes had a landline at the beginning of 2000. There were 67.3 million cable households (64% penetration). There were 86.1 million cellphone users, about 41% of adults. Before the start of this century, the FCC had deregulated cable rates, although it continues to regulate issues like channel line-ups. The process of deregulating telephone rates started with the Telecommunications Act of 1996. While the cellular industry is regulated, it was never regulated to the same degree as landlines. [] broadband issues have become partisan. That’s an interesting change over time. Only a miniscule percentage of people in the U.S. could have named the Chairman of the FCC in 2001. Decisions by the FCC didn’t make big press and most people never heard of most rulings by the FCC. That changed over time, and there was 3.7 million comments made in the net neutrality docket in the 2015 net neutrality docket under Chairman Tom Wheeler. This grew to 22 million comments in the docket under Chairman Ajit Pai in 2017 (although many of them were faked). This interest can only be explained by the widespread use of social media and the Internet which allowed news of what the FCC is doing to spread widely. What is ironic is that the regulatory yoyo is not great for big ISPs. CEOs of big ISPs have said many times over the years that they like regulatory certainty. They can figure out a strategy to deal with known rules and still thrive. But the yoyo keeps resetting the rules. What’s particularly troublesome for big ISPs is that when the FCC kills regulations, states like California jump in to fill the void. California now has net neutrality rules and Internet privacy rules that are in place regardless of what the FCC does. The worst regulatory scenario for big ISPs is different rules in different states. POTS AND PANS
CELLPHONES HEALTH: Mobile phone radiation affects parotid gland n a publication hot off the press, scientists from Romania and Italy have shed light on how mobile phone radiation can affect these glands. The parotid glands are salivary glands located to either side of the mouth. They sit just 4 to10mm below the skin and in front of the ears – thus close to the position of a mobile phone. To gain insight into how the radiation from a mobile phone affects these glands and surrounding tissues, the researchers exposed or sham-exposed three groups of female rats to 4G mobile phone radiation, on one side of the head only, at frequencies of 2,100 MHz and 3400 MHz to 3800 MHz. Exposures lasted for 2 hours a day and for 30 or 60 days. Nor surprisingly, the researchers found that exposure caused physical changes in the exposed areas. These included changes to fibroblasts (cells involved with connective tissues), changes in lymph nodes, vascular congestion (swelling caused by vascular blood flow) and hyperkeratosis (skin thickening). Moreover, longer exposures seemed to exacerbated the effects. ‘These findings suggest that exposure to mobile phone radiation may lead to pathological changes in the parotid gland and nearby tissues of experimental rats’, the authors said. Mobile phone radiation affects parotid gland – EMR Australia
CELLPHONES YONDR POUCHES: Lock up your phones we’re not anti-tech as a company … It’s more how do we live with these tools in the future in a constructive way.” Dugoni wants people to live in harmony with smartphones rather than prohibiting them, though he uses a flip phone and doesn’t maintain any social media profiles for himself or his company. “Creating a phone-free space is a positive move forward. It’s not trying to take something away or pull back into a world in the past. It’s how we create a framework and societal etiquette around something that’s radically new and everyone’s trying to appreciate the internet’s potential and possibilities.” GUARDIAN TECHSCAPE
CHILDREN RESEARCH: Screen time and mental health: a prospective analysis of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study We analyzed cohort data of 9,538 adolescents (9-10 years at baseline in 2016-2018) with two years of follow-up from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. We used mixed-effects models to analyze associations between baseline self-reported screen time and parent-reported mental health symptoms using the Child Behavior Checklist, with random effects adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, household income, parent education, and study site. We tested for effect modification by sex and race/ethnicity. The specific screen types with the greatest associations with depressive symptoms included video chat, texting, videos, and video games. The association between screen time and depressive, attention-deficit/hyperactivity, and oppositional defiant symptoms was stronger among White compared to Black adolescents. The association between screen time and depressive symptoms was stronger among White compared to Asian adolescents. Conclusions: Screen time is prospectively associated with a range of mental health symptoms, especially depressive symptoms, though effect sizes are small. Video chat, texting, videos, and video games were the screen types with the greatest associations with depressive symptoms. Future research should examine potential mechanisms linking screen use with child behavior problems. Screen time and mental health: a prospective analysis of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study - PubMed
CHILDREN SCHOOLS SCREENAGERS: How Phone Bans Improve School Safety My school board friend, who incidentally advocates for phones away for the day at school, asked me to explain whynot allowing them might actually enhance safety. As I started to tell her the many reasons, I could feel my heart start pounding because this is such an emotional topic for me. I feel the importance so deeply. School safety is critical, along with all the other reasons that phones need to be locked away during school hours. I share some quotes here from my conversations that are featured in yesterday’s 20-minute Screenagers Podcast, Why School Safety Experts Want Phone Bans. This includes a police officer, an elementary school principal, a superintendent, and a school safety expert who consults with schools across the country.
CHILDREN AND SCREENS: Children and Screens is pleased to present a Memo to the Presidential Transition Team on Priorities for Helping Children Lead Healthy Digital Lives. The memo offers guidance for the first 100 days of the Trump-Vance administration, recommending innovative policies and decisive action to address the unique challenges, risks, and opportunities children face in the digital age. Memo to the Presidential Transition Team on Priorities for Helping Children Lead Healthy Digital Lives - Children and Screens
CHILDREN AND SCREENS (LISTEN): Parent Media Use, Technoference, and Its Effects on Children | Brandon McDaniel, PhD - Children and ScreensM 44 MINUTES
CHILDREN: Inside Big Tech’s Bid to Sink the Online Kid Safety Bill Tech giants and their allies lean on culture-war issues to splinter bipartisan support for the bill WALL STREET JOURNAL (PAYWALLED) https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/meta-google-lobbying-child-online-safety-bill-5ee63dcc
EHT NEWS DR. DAVIS NORWAY: Screens and health: Radiation as a complementary theory to social explanations Dr. Davis recently visited Norway, where she shared the newly updated version of her book Disconnect: A Scientist's Solutions for Safer Technology to a crowd of 150 people. The event was covered by Epiwaves, an English-language Norwegian blog on epidemiology and public health (author Mads Rohde snapped this dramatic photo too). The excellent summary links to some of the science Dr. Davis cited as well as EHT's revelations about the FCC's suppression of phone testing in 2019, at the same time EHT's lawsuit against it was pending. More to come on that, but for now enjoy the write-up of this stellar event. https://madsrohde.com/posts/en/davis-disconnect-oslo/ COURTESY EHT
ENVIRONMENT: China’s Ocean Drilling Vessel Aims to Penetrate the Earth's Crust China's First Ocean Drilling Vessel Aims to Penetrate the Earth's Crust China's first self-designed and built ocean drilling vessel, "Dream," officially entered service in Guangzhou on November 17, marking a major breakthrough in the country's deep-sea exploration technology and equipment. The vessel is a major technological innovation project under China's 14th Five-Year Plan. With a maximum drilling depth of 11,000 meters, it is the world's most powerful drilling vessel, with the most comprehensive scientific experimental capabilities, the highest level of automation, and the lowest comprehensive operational and maintenance costs. The vessel can carry out national strategic tasks such as ocean scientific drilling, deep-sea oil and gas exploration, and natural gas hydrate exploration and trial production. It is expected to be the first to achieve the human goal of "penetrating the Earth's crust and reaching the upper mantle" and "developing deep Earth resources."CHINA ACADEMY AND China’s ocean drilling ship Mengxiang aims to be first to reach Earth’s mantle, opening ‘gate to hell’ The massive ship, whose name means “dream” in Chinese, was created by the China Geological Survey along with over 150 research institutes and companies. It can carry about 33,000 tonnes of cargo and measures 179 metres (590 feet) long by 32.8 metres wide. It can travel 15,000 nautical miles (27,800km) and operate for 120 days per port call, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency. [] he vessel’s stability and structure are designed to withstand the strongest tropical cyclones, enabling it to operate anywhere in global waters. Its drilling power is the best in its class, with the ability to reach 11,000 metres (6.8 miles) below the sea’s surface. China’s new drillship to go to ultradeep waters in oil and gas quest The Earth’s structure consists of the core, mantle, and crust. Human activities and scientific exploration have been limited to the crust’s surface layer. The crust has an average thickness of 15,000 metres – minuscule compared with the Earth’s radius of 6,371km.Beneath the crust lies the mantle, the middle layer connecting the surface to the core. The boundary between the mantle and crust, known as the Mohorovicic discontinuity, or Moho, remains the final barrier for humans in exploring the mantle. The Moho lies about 7,000 metres beneath the ocean floor and about 40,000 metres below dry land. The Mengxiang is designed to penetrate the crust and reach the mantle from the sea surface, opening an unknown door for scientific research. Since the early 1960s, American scientists have tried to pierce through the Moho to reach the mantle, but the goal has yet to be achieved. While the Moho has yet to be breached, deep ocean drilling technology has provided new insights into the Earth’s structure.“Rock samples from ultra-deep boreholes have become crucial for understanding plate tectonics, oceanic crust evolution, ancient ocean climates and seabed resources,”said Li Chun-feng, a marine geologist at the Department of Marine Sciences at Zhejiang University in eastern China. [] The mystery of what lies deep under the Earth’s surface, beyond the “gates to hell”, has long captured the public’s imagination and is reflected in science-fiction such as Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth, which depicts underground worlds and exotic life forms. CHINA TODAY ON MSN (JAN 2024 ARTICLE)
FCC: Trump Picks Brendan Carr to Lead FCC Carr 'will end the regulatory onslaught,' Trump says https://www.newser.com/story/359651/trump-announces-his-fcc-pick.html
HEALTH THE POWER COUPLE LIGHT: 4 ways to beat the winter blues Amish | Nordics | Blue light | Infrared Here’s what we’ll learn in this article:
1. Why do people get SAD in the winter?
2. Why bright indoor lighting is darker than the gloomiest winter day
3. Why the quantity of light in our environment is just as important as quality
4. Hormonal impact of light + how much more light do the Amish get in winter?
5. Why are some Nordics happier in winter?
6. Four tactics Bohdanna and I use to beat the winter blues
HEALTH Gary Sharpe from Gary Sharpe's Articles Too Much Dopamine, Threat Perception, and Stress Why More is Not Necessarily a Good Thing I recently re-discovered a science article, “Dopamine Primes the Brain for Enhanced Vigilance” which, in re-reading has risen in importance since I first read it, because it confirms what Lilian Sjøberg of The HOPE shortcut has been telling for some time: the so-called orienting reflex or alert state in response to potential stressors/threats/dangers is mediated by dopamine release. [] So too much dopamine is a double whammy when it comes to over-active stress responses. Not only could it make one overly sensitized to threat perception, but also, because there is then more dopamine available to turn into adrenaline (recall adrenaline is made from dopamine). This makes it is more likely that the perceived threat will actually tip into more severe fight, flight, or freeze responses. [] A second ramification is for those of us in an acute stressful situation, or are having a lot of chronic stress or trauma to deal with, since we are likely to be on a hair trigger for threat perception and be hyper-vigilant. For example, a person suffering from noisy neighbours may be vigilant to noise starting up again, and not be able to relax, even when it is temporarily quiet. This stress or trauma induced vigilance towards potential threats could mean we will be constantly activating the threat detection switch and thus releasing surges of dopamine to this circuit. The dopamine surge then being available for turning into adrenaline. This frequent, repeated surging of dopamine will also quickly begin to eat up supplies of the building blocks of dopamine, l-tyrosine and l-dopa, so that then not enough is left for generating dopamine for other activities.
HEALTH/MENTAL HEALTH: Three Ways Tech Makes Us Lonelier New York Times columnist calls out binge-watching, texting, and social media comparisons
INDUSTRY: SoftBank first to receive new Nvidia chips for supercomputer | Reuters Nvidia, once best known as a designer of graphic chips for gaming, has gone on to become the world's most valuable company powered by insatiable demand for its chips. With telcos around the world look for new growth drivers, SoftBank has partnered with Nvidia to pilot a network that can run both 5G and AI services. COURTESY Tom
MINING: Millions of impoverished people dig for Big Tech minerals in open pits with picks and shovels Indigenous labour exploited for ingredients used in AI, war fighting, smart phones and renewables The top three countries producing critical minerals are China, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC.) Other countries include India, Indonesia, Chile, Ethiopia, Ghana and Burkina Faso. Case study: US Court greenlights child labor in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Cobalt has magnetic properties, and is used in a wide range of applications related to mobiles, wind turbines, hard disks drives, motors, sensors, actuators and magnetic resonance imagery. In 2022, former miners and legal representatives of child miners who lost their lives and suffered major injuries in DRC cobalt mining operations brought a case against Apple; Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google; Dell; Microsoft; and Tesla. The high techs were accused of ‘knowingly benefiting from and aiding and abetting the cruel and brutal use of young children in the Democratic Republic of Congo to mine cobalt.’ But last March the US Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia rejected the claim, stating that the corporations did not have anything more than an ‘ordinary buyer-seller transaction’ with suppliers in the DRC. [] Conclusion: Demand ‘the emancipation of the earth from capital’Forbes Magazine predicts: ‘Humans will no longer be employed doing jobs that robots can do safer, faster, more accurately and less expensively.’ This won’t happen in a world where millions of humans dig up Big Tech minerals with their bare hands. As a first step, there is an urgent need for international, national and regional action to formalise and legalise ASM. Countries like Burkina Faso that strive for self-determination, can lead the way.The Alliance for Responsible Mining works to ‘positively transform ASM and provide an ethical sourcing solution to the industry’ since 2004.
POLITICS: Reactions to President-Elect Donald Trump's Choice of Brendan Carr to Chair the FCC BENTON (with many additional links)
POLITICS TECH MILITARY THE INTERCEPT Trump’s Election Is Also a Win for Tech’s Right-Wing “Warrior Class” [] Technology was supposed to help, never harm. No more: People like Thiel, Palmer Luckey, Trae Stephens, and Marc Andreessen make up a new vanguard of powerful tech figures who have unapologetically merged right-wing politics with a determination to furnish a MAGA-dominated United States with a constant flow of newer, better arms and surveillance tools. Silicon Valley has successfully rebranded military contracting as a proud national duty for the industry. []To some extent, none of this is new: Silicon Valley’s origin is one of militarism. The American computer and software economy was nurtured from birth by the explosive growth and endless money of the Cold War arms race and its insatiable appetite for private sector R&D. And despite the popular trope of liberal Google executives, the tech industry has always harbored a strong anti-labor, pro-business instinct that dovetails neatly with conservative politics. It would also be a mistake to think that Silicon Valley was ever truly in lockstep with progressive values. []Trump’s election marks an epochal victory not just for the right, but also for a growing conservative counterrevolution in American tech that has successfully rebranded military contracting as the proud national duty of the American engineer, not a taboo to be dodged and hidden. Meta’s recent announcement that its Llama large language model can now be used by defense customers means that Apple is the last of the “Big Five” American tech firms — Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Meta — not engaged in military or intelligence contracting. Elon Musk has drawn the lion’s share of media scrutiny (and Trump world credit) for throwing his fortune and digital influence behind the campaign. Over the years, the world’s richest man has become an enormously successful defense contractor via SpaceX, which has reaped billions selling access to rockets that the Pentagon hopes will someday rapidly ferry troops into battle. SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet has also become an indispensable American military tool, and the company is working on a constellation of bespoke spy satellites for U.S. intelligence agency use. But Musk is just one part of a broader wave of militarists who will have Trump’s ear on policy matters. []Before, a tech investor or CEO who publicly embraced right-wing ideology and products designed to kill risked becoming an industry pariah. Today, he can be a CNBC guest. THE INTERCEPT
PRIVACY: What Google's AI knows about you Google knows all about most of us — our email, our search queries, often our location and our photos — but the search giant isn't using most of that data to train its AI models. The big picture: Google trains most of its models on content that's publicly available on the web — but free and experimental Google products do often come with caveats that your data could be used to train the company's AI. In this series on What AI Knows About You, Axios is looking, company by company, at how the data-hungry AI industry uses its own customers' information to create and refine its products AXIOS
SATELLITES BROADBAND Is satellite broadband good enough to deliver internet for all? Satellite broadband faces inherent bandwidth constraints, particularly in more urban markets But it’s cheaper than building fiber in many rural areas, and satellite users can still do “basic” online tasks like web browsing and even video streaming Data shows Starlink could be a viable alternative to cable and DSL-based services.
SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS: How Social Media Experiences Changed from March 2023 through May 2024 With new data through May 2024, we find that Reddit is increasingly informing users, while X isn’t across 5 survey waves conducted between 2023 & 2024 []Overall usage of social apps and platforms generally remained stable among US adults. Just two of the 16 largest platforms included in the Neely Social Media Index survey showed significant declines in their monthly users. X (Twitter) lost more than 17% of its US adult monthly users, most of whom left the platform in the middle of 2023. It appears that the platform has since stabilized with around 15.2% of US adults reporting using it in the past month (relative to 18.4% in early 2023). YouTube is the only other large platform in our survey showing a significant decrease in monthly US adult users in this time frame, with a 5.1% relative drop in users from the March-May 2023 survey period through the February-May 2024 period. In raw terms, monthly YouTube use among US adults dropped 3.4%. On the other side, Reddit is the only platform that showed a marginally significant increase in the percentage of US adults using the platform. No other platform showed significant growth or shrinkage. The overall rankings of the top 8 most widely used platforms remained the same. Two platform agnostic modes of social communication -- Email and Text Messaging continued their reigns as the top 2 most widely used services. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Facetime, TikTok, and Snapchat all maintained their relative popularity. WhatsApp showed the biggest climb in the ranked popularity, jumping 3 spots, followed by Reddit jumping 2 spots, and Pinterest climbing 1 spot. X (Twitter) dropped 3 spots, followed by LinkedIn, Online Gaming, and Nextdoor, which all dropped 1 spot.
SPACE: Auroral-Like Glow Produced By SpaceX Rockets Making Holes In The Ionosphere The damage is small and temporary, but one day it might matter. A 2018 paper in Space Weather (a peer-reviewed journal, not the helpful website) explores the impact of a SpaceX Falcon 9 flight the previous year to launch Taiwan’s FORMOSAT-5 satellite. It reports the rocket “Induced gigantic circular shock acoustic waves (SAWs) in total electron content (TEC) over the western United States […] The rocket-exhaust plume subsequently created a large-scale ionospheric plasma hole (~900 km [559 miles] in diameter).” Some would call this a thinning, not a hole, but over an area more than 500 miles wide, TECs were reduced by up to 70 percent compared to normal conditions. Not all the hole was equally affected, with just 10 percent TEC loss in some areas.
SPACE: A lot of people are mistaking Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites for UAPs "We were able to assess that they were all in those cases looking at Starlink flares."
SPACE: Starship's Sonic Booms Are So Powerful They Could Damage Structures on the Ground, Scientists Find FUTURISM
SPACE WEATHER: COSMIC RAYS JUST HIT A 10-YEAR LOW: New data from the Earth to Sky cosmic ray ballooning program show that atmospheric radiation is plummeting, with recent measurements of cosmic rays hitting a 10-year low. Ironically, the sun is to blame. Solar Maximum is causing the decrease, which is good news for both astronauts and air travelers. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.
TOWERS AND ANTENNAS: Residents of New Jersey Town Battle Verizon to Keep 5G Towers Off Beachfront Spring Lake, New Jersey, residents held a city hall hearing last week to fill the public record with comments opposing Verizon’s proposed installation of six 30-foot 5G towers along their beachfront.\
TOWERS AND ANTENNAS: NC BOS nixes cell tower east of Snowflake After two public hearings, the Navajo County Board of Supervisors denied the application for the White Antelope Wireless Communication Facility, a proposed 120-foot cell tower east of Snowflake, during their Nov. 12 meeting. The decision followed hours of public comments and extensive research presented by the applicant and residents, both those with multiple chemical sensitivity and those that live nearby, with deliberations weighing the rights and wellbeing of all involved parties. https://www.wmicentral.com/news/nc-bos-nixes-cell-tower-east-of-snowflake/article_83c4c49c-a691-11ef-bcbf-8719cf540071.html
EVENTS
11/20 MA4SafeTechnology Monthly Update Meeting Wednesday, November 20, 12 Noon ET Citizens and public servants are moving the needle toward safe technology in our communities. Join us to share your inroads and/or be inspired by others! Hear updates on science, legislation, legal actions, local progress, media coverage, events, tech tips and more! You needn’t be from MA to attend, all are welcome. REGISTER
11/21 MA4SafeTechnology Cece Doucette School Safety Meeting: Wireless Risks & Simple Mitigation Nov 21, 2024 06:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada) REGISTER
Jul 13, 2025 - Jul 16, 2025 2025 Digital Media and Developing Minds International Scientific Congress Washington, D.C.