Radiation (was: <Silly>: Help with question about web page access)

[Tony Duell]

> No Tony, you must be completely wrong. As lower as the
> energy gets, as more dangerous it is. You know, when

Many a true word is spoken in jest :-). In some cases the more 
'penetrating' radiation is less dangerous because it passes straight 
through you. I am told, for example, that it can be much more dangerous to 
swallow an alpha particle source than a gamma ray source because the 
alphas are absorbed by bits of your body and do naaty things, although 
sitting on the bench, the alpha source is the safer, since the radiation 
is trivial to screen out. Needless to say I have no intention of swallowing 
either

> Well, I had my most memorable moment when I bough my
> condo and had it redone. I hired a friend of mine to
> supervise it. She's an architect and did quite a lot
> of similar jobs. So while we where discussing what to
> do, she asked me if I want an 'all off switch' in the
> bed room. I think I must have looked quite stupid, so

Actaully, if I was planning a workshop from scratch (something I've never 
had the luxury of doing), I would include an 'all off' switch near the 
door and make sure everyone in the house knew about it. Not because I am 
worried about radiation, but in case I connected myself to the mains or 
something.

> she explained that this would be a switch to cut off
> power from the outlets and the light, and that a lot
> of people doing projects in a similar setting request
> that.
> 
> When I argued, that outlets where nothing is plugged
> in are already off, and the same goes for the light
> (when if I switch it off). She told me that there are
> 'experts' telling people that these lines still engulf
> you in low frequency radio waves, and only a complete
> cut off will help.

The normally-sane magazine 'Elektor' had a project that connected between 
a wall-ward and the mains, and between the wall-wart and its load. The 
idea was to power up the wall-wart evey 10 seconds or so to see if the 
load was drawing current. If it was, then leave the supply on, it's 
needed. If not, turn it off. Yes, it was claimed to reduce radiation from 
the wall-wart.

> Well, I could go on for hours.

Somebody really needs to give the public a decent scientific education....

-tony