dangerous 'electronic smog'

[jon]

The Independent newspaper here in the UK (a 'serious' paper) recently ran a story and leader about the dangers of electronic smog - http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article362465.ece http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article362557.ece

Sounds pretty dodgy, and can't figure out how this 'smog' would have these nasty effects. Then again, what do I know about electronic smog Has the Inde been sold some woo, or is there a reason to be worried about electronic smog?

 

[Phil]

I've heard it causes all sorts of bad things, like hiccups, binding underwear, the sniffles, and short attention spa- . . . look, a paper clip.

 

[andyandy]

yeah...its in the guardian too.. http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1770538,00.html but reported a bit more sceptically...

amazingly i cant find any reference to it on "it's the end of the world - panic panic!" Daily Mail - who usually love to scare its readers....

sounds a bit woo to me....but then the government are investing in studies to investigate it.....oh wait....they've just finished a four year study about UFO sightings http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=385432&in_page_id=1770
they must have a gap in their woo budget.......

 

[jon]

Yeah, other papers (including, surprisingly, the Mail) do not seem to have swallowed this.

For most of my working day, I have a powered microphone over my head -- so that's why my underwear is always binding

 

[lenny]

Has the Inde been sold some woo, or is there a reason to be worried about electronic smog?

story also made radio 4; they presented "both sides" of course, but did note that all double blind tests had failed...

what is the ethical course for a newspaper: to run a competitive headline and then disappoint its readers in the main text, or to avoid the headline (and thus effectively the story), and given the hook to a competitor?

mark twain would have said...