There’s yet another book out attempting to inspire what ÆtherCzar has dubbed “antennaphobia:” Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Has Done to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family by Devra Davis, Ph.D. I haven’t had time to read it, but I’ll pass on this […]
Antennaphobia
Previously on ÆtherCzar, I’ve discussed the aspect of antennaphobia that compels cell phone antenna towers to be hidden so antennaphobes don’t realize they are there. Botanist Wayne Armstrong provides an extensive field guide to these cell phone “trees.” Now there are additional extensive collections of cell phone “tree” photos from […]
In 1905, an obscure patent clerk in Switzerland wrote four scientific papers, any one of which would have guaranteed his future fame. The clerk’s name was Albert Einstein. His four papers: proposed that energy exists in discrete levels called quanta (the photoelectric effect), demonstrated that the microscopic quiverings of small […]
Our friends at CTIA confirm what I always suspected: that cell phone signals really aren’t likely to ignite gasoline. In fact, there is no documented case of a cell phone ignited gasoline fire. That myth has been thoroughly busted by the “Mythbusters” (Part1 Part2). This urban legend is also covered […]
Mathew Lasar writing over at Ars Technica has an update on San Fransisco’s new cell phone law requiring cell phone vendors to post Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) data for all models. The SAR is rate at which a phone can dissipate power as heat in the head of a user. […]
Long before the sixth century B.C., trade and commerce brought about an exchange of ideas among the cultures of the Mediterranean. The ideas of the time are somewhat sketchy. We have to rely on fragmentary evidence, on quotations (perhaps taken out of context) that were preserved in the work of […]
While I’m on the subject of antennaphobia, the following excerpt from R. N. Vyvyan’s Wireless Over Thirty Years (London: George Routledge & Sons, Ltd., 1933, pp. 19-20) may be of interest:
T-Mobile needs to add capacity to its San Fransisco Bay Area networks. The Boy Scouts have a camp on an elevated site perfect for a tower. And a little cash to keep their camp maintained wouldn’t hurt, either. T-Mobile offered to pay $2200/month for a 30-year lease to the tower […]