The Gauntlet — A Little Help
Welcome to October. For those of you that are new, Why Living Today Rocks tries to celebrate the wonders of the modern world and quashes conspiracies that stand in our path to serenity. All with some links, fun images, a silly poll, and some music in about eight minutes or so.
I enjoy writing for me and you. I’m grateful that EACH of you takes the time to read this occasionally or regularly. I’ve tried hard to shorten the posts and mix in an eclectic range of topics. Here’s what I’m asking today: press EITHER [Share Why Living Today Rocks] or the [Share This Post] button and forward it to ONE person you think MIGHT like it. The joy of writing has been connecting with the anonymous out there who just gave it a shot! If you decide this post was lame, press [Share Why Living Today Rocks]. If this post was worthwhile, just try the [Share This Post] button. Either way, I GREATLY appreciate a chance to reach a few more souls. I hope that as a result of your effort my writing will end up in the inboxes of a bunch of new eyeballs. Thanks in advance!!!
I wish Substack had something akin to Yelp restaurant reviews wherein readers could give it 0-5 stars. Be careful what you wish for as the saying goes. Thanks a LOT to those of you that take the time to comment on the application. The comments can often be the window to all of us discovering new writing. I had no expectations when I started. I truly enjoy the writing and appreciate it when any of you check-in. Thank you.
I am happy and mildly celebratory with each artificial milestone. I am also wired to discount milestones. I am well past 100 posts and heading for 200. Those numbers sound pretty cool to me. However, I am in the camp where we count by tens mostly because we have four fingers and a thumb on each of the two hands. There is nothing more to it than that so the “magic” of 100 or 200 is arbitrary. It makes the foolishness of the Year 2000 concerns seem absurd in context. Something “big” is going to happen in the year 2000…why exactly??? Would things be different if we were more closely related to the sloth?
Today’s post comes in at 8 minutes and that has become a habit. We all get 1440 minutes in a day and we have to sleep. Thanks for giving me 8 a couple of times per week!
A while back, I made a cool widget that logs all of the music and posts I’ve published to date without needing to go to Substack! Here’s that silly way to see my posts if you are interested. If you bookmark it you don’t even have to go to Substack! The back button will bring you back so fear not!
Today’s Topic — EMF Time
For as long as I can remember I have been hearing about people and their fears of magnetic fields. EMF is short for an electromagnetic field. When I choose my titles and subtitles, I enjoy it! Conspiracy theories are not going away. Facebook and Twitter continue to be a place people will turn for information. It is convenient and the barrier to entry is zero. Anyone and everyone are on equal footing with “I think” shares. We have arrived at a world where legions of people turn to Kim Kardashian, Alex Jones, Rachel Maddow, or Tucker Carlson as sources of information. What each of them has in common is they are opinion merchants with varying degrees of preparation and qualification. What, in my opinion, is the harm? All of them go out of their way to only appeal to us emotionally and ratify garbage in our heads that has not quite solidified. You are granting unbridled access to the very gift that makes humans special. It is sad to give up without engaging. It is the peak of irony to me that people are (1) doom scrolling on a device (2) while following their favorite influencer or absorbing a Newsfeed that advises that the device they are using might give them brain cancer with heavy use. What is wrong with this picture?
I read a few random articles and they ALMOST ALWAYS take us to the deepest recesses of our brains where fear and survival lurk. Implying that cell phones, living near a power line, or operating your microwave is the express route to brain cancer overwhelms me with sadness. This is all about EMF.
Today is going to be a READ MORE day for better understanding. I hope you enjoy the links (at least some of them). There is a mix of articles and videos today. Please enter in with the right level of skepticism.
Read More
An overview of REAL STUDIES about EMF and its impact on human health
Comprehensive Explanation — maybe more than you want to know
Read Less
Tucker Carlson on cell phone radiation — scare-mongering for the win
The Nation is certainly a left or far-left “source of information” — a bit of innuendo for all
What I Learned
Table saws emit a lot of radiation. Don’t work next to them naked and don’t press your body up against one even if the vibration doesn’t bother you.
Electric can openers emit a lot of radiation. Stick with the manual one or don’t buy canned food.
No human studies have shown an effect of EMF at anything close to the levels we are exposed to, including linemen, who work on electrified 335K high-tension power lines.
The biggest risks, especially to the young remain environmental exposure to lead, air pollution, and bad water. It is tragic we are (1) still dealing with lead, (2) sentencing places like Flint, MI, and Jackson, MS to third-world conditions while (3) a smallish faction of mostly Ivy League lawyers (SCOTUS) assure us that the marketplace and lobbyists are best equipped to keep the environment safe in the short and long-term. I’m guessing they are out of their league helping their grandchildren with middle-school chemistry. Many people qualify for my word of the post, mendacious.
The Science
In my subtitle today I went with the power of three. One of the fortunate facts about radiation of all sorts (like radio) is that it dissipates VERY QUICKLY with distance. It shrinks with the third power of the distance away (the power of three). There is a cottage industry that capitalizes on our fear and ignorance. There are even folks selling services to convert your home into a non-EMF nirvana. My great-grandparents lived in such a nirvana with no electricity, boiling their water presumably with wood fires. No thank you. Taking modest measures like not putting a power saw in your kitchen where everyone congregates and sticking with a hand can opener might be reasonable. What does the power of three mean in practice?
Being 1 inch versus 10 inches away means ten inches is 1/1000 the energy compared to 1 inch. This is why even a VERY HIGH output powerline with a dairy cow underneath on the ground is not dangerous. This is mostly because the lines might be 100 feet above Daisy’s head. There are all sorts of rational things to worry about…this is NOT one of them.
The Poll & Music
I RARELY try to guide answers as that spoils the fun. Something to consider. The most heavily followed folks to understand if magnetic fields are bad for us are utility company linemen. They have been at it for over a century and have no ill effects. With that, enjoy tonight’s poll.
There was limited music of note to find related to magnets. Here’s one song but I was not satisfied. I decided that electricity causes a magnetic field so that is fair and sufficient for a tune. I’m sure my choice of topics gives some of you pause. I picked this subject because ONE OF THE ABSOLUTE WONDERS of this amazing planet we live on is that it has a liquid core. Because of that, we have an electromagnetic field that protects us from the rays of the sun. Without it, life would not be possible. It is a BIG MAGNETIC FIELD! It saddens me that a subset of people have been taken advantage of and scared into thinking that the VERY THING that makes life possible here is worth being terrified of. Live in the light!
What’s Next
Next time we are going to explore what “IPO” means and it is not an Initial Public Offering. As usual, the link to IPO will only be active after it publishes. Today was a little too similar to my last post so the next one will just be a kick! Have a great day and perhaps we’ll meet again on Tuesday.
Ok. No working with table saws while naked. Got it!
One of my favorite things is knowing that the poles switch every few hundred thousand years or so, and experts can tell when by looking at the direction of iron filings in soil sediment. So cool!