Man Sues Neighbor For Not Turning Off His Wi-Fi 428
Scyth3 writes "A man is suing his neighbor for not turning off his cell phone or wireless router. He claims it affects his 'electromagnetic allergies,' and has resorted to being homeless. So, why doesn't he check into a hotel? Because hotels typically have wireless internet for free. I wonder if a tinfoil hat would help his cause?"
Retard. (Score:5, Insightful)
You can't be "Allergic to wi-fi"
Put him in a room, and turn the wireless on and off. Guaranteed he won't be able to tell the difference.
Re:Retard. (Score:5, Funny)
That can't stop you from suing. Look at Jonathan Lee Riches [wikipedia.org]. This is a guy who sued the Guinness Book of World Records for listing him as the man who's filed the most lawsuits in the history of mankind. ;) He's among others, he's sued Bill Belichick, George W. Bush, Martha Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Michael Vick, Steve Jobs, Perez Hilton, Somali pirates, Britney Spears, Benazir Bhutto, Pervez Musharraf, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Adolf Hitler's National Socialist Party, the 13 tribes of Israel, Plato, Nostradamus, Che Guevara, James Hoffa, "Various Buddhist Monks", the Lincoln Memorial, the Eiffel Tower, the USS Cole, the book Mein Kampf, the Garden of Eden, the Roman Empire, the Appalachian Trail, Plymouth Rock, the Holy Grail, the dwarf planet Pluto, and the entire Three Mile Island.
Re:Retard. (Score:5, Funny)
It's worth noting that the French, acting on behalf of the Eiffel tower, settled out of court for an undisclosed sum of money.
Re:Retard. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Retard. (Score:4, Funny)
Is there a term for when you make a joke on /., someone responds by making the joke more obvious, and then they get the funny mod instead of you? Maybe "whooshmodded?"
Anyway, two can play at that game:
?: "Knock knock?"
Frenchman: "Who is there? NEVERMIND WE SURRENDER BECAUSE WE'RE FRENCH AND EAT CHEESE!"
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It's because they're fat, stupid Americans.
...said the British guy with the bad teeth.
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Re:Retard. (Score:5, Informative)
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The fun part is that in Europe all those jokes feature the Italians instead.
What's the perfect war?
German comman
British soldiers
US supplies
in Russian amounts
and Italian enemies.
What's the three thinnest books?
The book of delicious British food.
The US-american "how to behave abroad" book.
The book about Italian war heroes.
Why don't the Italians fight harder?
Because they know they'll switch sides half way and don't want to have to do the work twice.
Why do Italians build foxholes with sandbags on both sides? Be
Re:Retard. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Retard. (Score:5, Funny)
It is suspected that this lawsuit was really a conspiracy just designed to get all named plantiffs one degree of separation away from Kevin Bacon (also named in the suit).
James Cameron announces a new movie. (Score:4, Funny)
It will star a Navvi' lawyer who gains fame suing the entire planet earth for deforestation of his planet and other environmental disasters caused by by 'drive by' visits by earthlings.
Budget for this mix of "Philadelhia" meet "Avatar" is estimated at over 330,000,000 and will use up the worlds' entire supply of "green screen" drop cloths, as soon as he learns how Cristo wrapped the Reichstag.
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Put him in a room, and turn the wireless on and off. Guaranteed he won't be able to tell the difference.
That's all well and good, and I'm sure the guy is full of it, BUT...
Many allergic reactions (like my own seasonal allergies) don't come and go like a light switch in the presence or absence of the allergen.
I could sit in a clean room for 2 or 3 days after getting really spun up from my tree allergies until the symptoms really begin to diminish.
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So, test to see if this guy's symptoms correlate with the beginning of exposure. And if that isn't definitive, there's another problem: Prove that its actually exposure to e.m. fields that trigger his symptoms. If their onset is slow, it may take months or even years to actually isolate the environmental factors to which he is sensitive. Months or years living in a controlled environment.
Perhaps he's just allegic to living in rooms without rubber walls.
Re:Retard. (Score:5, Insightful)
But all allergic reactions (including your seasonal allergies) occur when the body identifies proteins in the allergen as belonging to an attacking organism, and produces antibodies in response. To put it simply, if ridiculously, there are no proteins in wi-fi signals. So, even if wifi has any unusual effect on this guy, it isn't an allergy.
"I could sit in a clean room for 2 or 3 days after getting really spun up from my tree allergies until the symptoms really begin to diminish."
Of course. Antibodies remain in your blood well after exposure. But if you sat in a clean room until you had no symptoms, then inhaled a vial I gave you, and waited in the clean room to see what happened, you could tell me if the vial contained tree pollen or just something that smelled like it but wasn't. Can this guy do something similar with a box that might be a wifi router or not? I don't know, but a lot of other people have claimed sensitivity to wifi, and none of them have done it, so I'm guessing he can't either.
Re:Retard. (Score:5, Informative)
My mother in law has a medical condition where exposure to bright sunlight breaks down proteins in her skin. One of the breakdown products generates an auto-immune response. In other words, she's "allergic" to bright sunlight. True, sunlight contains no proteins, but the interaction of sunlight with her skin CREATES proteins to which she is allergic.
I seriously doubt that WiFi radiation could do the same thing, but these processes can't be oversimplified like that.
Re:Retard. (Score:4, Interesting)
Many allergic reactions (like my own seasonal allergies) don't come and go like a light switch in the presence or absence of the allergen.
Right, because your immune system is actually being agitated by the actual allergic response to the actual allergens, and it takes time to come down, plus there are probably still actual allergens like pollen stuck in your sinuses and continuing to irritate you.
Speaking of light switches, all I can think of is the case of a cell phone company that put up a new tower, and all the advanced [angryflower.com] folks in the neighborhood by it complained that the tower was irritating their EM allergies and giving them headaches and whatnot.
The company's response to their complaints? "Gee, we can only imagine how bad it's going to get when we actually turn the tower on!"
The tower wasn't on. There was no EM radiation that could have provoked any hypothetical allergy response. It was all in their extremely advanced heads.
The ultimate kicker to this story would be if the neighbor had actually turned off their wi-fi weeks ago but told the guy they hadn't just to keep cheesing them off and to show how the "allergy" only exists as long as they think there's evil wi-fi. Unfortunately I'm sure that's not true, because the neighbor probably finds their wi-fi useful and why the hell would you stop using a useful and harmless tool because the nutjob next door thinks it's bad for them?
As far as the "weird unexplained things happen!" reasoning... Yeah, weird things do happen, but it's not like wi-fi itself is some unexplained phenomenon. We know what the power densities of it are at any given range, and unless you believe in homeopathic E-M radiation, there's no way it's having the effects people claim. High voltage power lines? Maybe there's something to that. Wi-fi? Yeah fucking right.
Re:Retard. (Score:5, Informative)
I have an alergy to sunlight ... when I mentioned to a professional, apparently it's common but not normal and has been diagnosed as an alergy.
No you don't. Get a better professional, or at least spend thirty seconds Googling it.
It's a common genetic condition, probably related to some sort of signal crosstalk between the optic nerve and the nerve that causes sneezes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photic_sneeze_reflex [wikipedia.org]
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/527/why-do-some-people-sneeze-when-going-out-into-bright-light [straightdope.com]
Re:Retard. (Score:5, Insightful)
Bee Ess.
Sensitivity to sunlight is NOT an allergy. An allergy is a disorder of the immune system. A physiological response to physical stimulation is not an immune reaction, it's a physiological reaction.
If we redefined allergy to include that, then it would lose all meaning. E.g., Everyone would be allergic to being punched in the nose because it made your eyes water. It may even make you cry like a girl.
It's called "melanoma". It, too, is not an alergic reaction.
No. QED.
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Others have pointed out your reaction to light is not an allergy. But even if it was...
Because while science documents that the body has receptors sensitive to light - most obviously the eyes, but also the skin - there are no receptors sensitive to radio spectrum EMR.
Re:Retard. (Score:4, Insightful)
We live in a world that is constantly bombarded by radio waves, can't really hide anywhere.
Re:Retard. (Score:5, Funny)
he only resonates at certain frequencies....
Re:Retard. (Score:5, Funny)
he only resonates at certain frequencies....
No, it seems like a constant high-pitched whine to me...
Re:Retard. (Score:5, Insightful)
The existence of his allergies or lack thereof is irrelevant. The case should be dismissed because it is not his neighbor's resonsibility to go beyond FCC regulations in limiting radio emissions from his property. Turning off his cell phone will also do nothing about the cell towers in the area.
The guy with the allergies can take steps to block or at least seriously attenuate signals comming into his house. It may not be cheap, but since when is dealing with medical problems cheap.
He can also move to a rural area where such emissions are less in order to avoid them.
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I'm betting that if the neighbor merely stopped broadcasting his SSID, the "allergy" would cease.
Re:Retard. (Score:5, Interesting)
You can't be "Allergic to wi-fi"
Put him in a room, and turn the wireless on and off. Guaranteed he won't be able to tell the difference.
Maybe that's not what it is.
My neighbour's phone was giving me a nasty headache. I thought it was food allergies, but one time I was in the backyard and his window was opened. I noticed the throbbing was pointing directly at that opening. I went over to his house and explained what was going on. He thought it was really strange, but let me in to look around. Once I figured out it was the phone(took all of 10 seconds to find it), I told him. He was happy to accept the new phone that I gave him later that day. No more headaches.
Best bet... some sort of frequency that I can *almost* hear, but nobody else can? The new phone was the exact same frequency, so I suspect his was somehow defective.
The guy suing could be a hypochondriac, or maybe there's more to it. I can hear CRT TVs - but that's pretty common. I can also hear circuit breakers, capacitors, power lines (I try not to get too close), LCD monitors, battery powered clocks, some watches, etc.; but none of that stuff causes me to have a headache. I have a Wireless G network with the signal strength ramped up - Tomato WRT54GL - but no headache.
I think my (superior?) hearing might be genetic. I have an Uncle nearing age 60, and he can still hear that annoying Mosquito ringtone that's supposed to be Teen-only.
What I don't get is, why would this guy sue? My first line of attack would be begging them to let me network their whole house, if it was real physical discomfort. If it wasn't physical - just something audible like being able to hear their TV - then who cares?
Re:Retard. (Score:5, Funny)
But he should really watch out for doubles.
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Considering back in 2006 they did no less than 31 studies (probably more but I'm too lazy to google for them) and found that overwhelmingly, people couldn't even tell when they were around a electromagnetic device [badscience.net] like a cell phone:
"31 is a good number of studies, and 24 found that electromagnetic fields have no effect. But 7 did find some measurable effect, and because I have a reputation for pedantry to uphold: in 2 of those studies with positive findings, even the original authors have been unable to rep
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I call bull.
I'll put up $1,000 as a bet that you can't tell when xrays are passing through you in a true blind test. Find a hospital that will do the test, call me and I'll gladly put the money into an escrow. My email address is:
mr naz at hot mail dot com
If you're not BSing, then put your $1,000 where your mouth is.
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While laying in the CT machine with the spinning going on, while there is no xrays being emitted everything feels fine, but as soon as the xrays start I feel a tingling sensation on the side of my body closest to the emitter and it rotates around my body with it. The sensation isn't on the surface either, it is more sub dermal (about a cm or so deep I think).
After talking to the radiologist about i
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I can feel them, too. They aren't painful. In fact... Until today I didn't know that wasn't normal.
Now that I think of it, I don't think I feel them at the dentist. I wonder why...
I can also hear electronics when they break. It drives me crazy, because I'll hear a high-pitched squeal, at the very limit of my range of hearing, and I know that something is wrong. Also, there's a corner in Shimbashi (I live in Tokyo) that squeals, and I think it's the train track there. It's incredibly painful, but people
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"If (Firstenberg) cannot obtain preliminary relief, he will be forced to continue to sleep in his car, enduring winter cold and discomfort, until this case can be heard."
Someone might want to point out to this moron (or better yet, the guy he is suing) that his car generates NUMEROUS magnetic fields.
Alternator, ignition coils, speed sensors, actuators, every inch of energized wiring...pretty much the entire car is enveloped in magnetic fields unless the battery is disconnected, and even then, all the magnet
Re:Retard. (Score:5, Informative)
I'd just like to point out that high-pitched noises, often caused by the flyback transformers found in things such as CRT monitors, are a far cry from detecting x-rays and radio waves. Why? Because one is just a sound and we have ears to feel that; that some people cannot hear the sound while others can is related to the auditive acuity of the person, nothing more. Case in point, you can make the test yourself. Just Google for "mosquito sound" and look for the different frequencies. You have a whole array of higher and higher noises which different people will react to differently. I can hear them and it's annoying, but there was a girl in my physics course who'd immediately sense it the second I turned it on no matter where she was in the classroom. This is perfectly valid because we have ears and ears are supposed to do that.
However, as far as I know, the skin isn't supposed to be an x-ray detector. The closest we have to that would be our own eyes, since x-rays are EM waves just like visible light. The skin's only way of triggering a response would be to react adversely to the energy being transmitted (IE alpha/beta/gamma rays, but not as dangerous). I don't really see how this would be possible for extremely short exposures (although I'm not saying it is impossible, I don't know). However, I'd just like to point out: from what I gathered, the GP saw the x-ray scanner. Have you ever felt a tingling sensation when feeling like something's close, even though there isn't anything? It's a bit like a presence, as if you were about to get touched by someone. I'd argue that you might very well be reacting in this way and not because of the actual x-rays. Until you've been bombarded by them randomly with no visual or auditive cues, it's impossible to say whether you're reacting to the x-rays themselves or just to the thought of the x-rays.
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X-rays are most certainly detectable by humans.
The energy they contain is orders of magnitude higher than what a wireless router would emit.
Depending on the length of exposure you could determine whether or not you are being exposed to x-rays
Wi Fi is on the order of a GHz which is 10^9 Hz.
An X-ray is defined as a pretty large range but it starts at about 10^18 Hz.
Being that EM radiation energy is directly proportional to frequency you can see that the chances of experiencing thermal heating due to x-rays is
Allens (Score:2, Interesting)
One time, um, I read this trilogy of books by Timothy Zahn called Conqueror's Pride, and the aliens in it were susceptible to radio waves. So they thought the humans were attacking them, but really we were just communicating with radio waves, but it was hurting them so a war started. It was mostly a good trilogy. Mostly.
There is nowhere he can go (Score:3, Interesting)
There isn't. No place for him to go where he could find relief, unless he builds himself a Faraday cage to live in. Doesn't matter what his neighbor does or not.
Cosmic microwave background radiation is broadcasting at 2.4Ghz. [wikipedia.org] There is literally no place outside of a Faraday cage in this entire universe he could be happy.
Also, this is a good article. [wikipedia.org]
Microwave Ovens? Cordless Phones? (Score:2)
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better yet, does *he* nuke food?
average leakage out of an old microwave is vastly more than what radiates from an 802.11 AP.
-nB
Oblig. XKCD (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Microwave Ovens? Cordless Phones? (Score:4, Insightful)
He clearly needs to sue the Sun for giving such a constant stream of high energy particles. Then, of course, there's the galaxy, with those awful cosmic rays. Hell, there's the blackbody radiation.
I hope this guys has a lawyer with a pretty clear schedule.
On a more serious note, this guy needs to be sued into bankruptcy.
Sounds pleasant, actually. (Score:2)
You know, some days, I could really use a dark little Faraday cage. Would fit nicely inside my cube.
Seems oddly like... (Score:4, Interesting)
Don't live there (Score:5, Insightful)
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Your neighbor's dog doesn't radiate through the walls though. :P
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DNA evidence?
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Your neighbor's dog doesn't radiate through the walls though. :P
He is very good at using tunneling to get past them though. ;)
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If the dog sheds and goes outside, I bet I can find that dog's hair on his property.
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Are you sure? I would bet the dog contains a modicum of carbon-14 and potassium-40. (Of course, so do we all.)
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Even if we were to assume that these "electromagnetic allergies" did exist, no one is forcing that man to live there. As an example, I'm allergic to dogs, but I'm not suing my neighbor for owning one. It's my choice to live where I do and it's not my prerogative to tell him that he can't own a dog.
That's not how it works - homeowners legally entitled to some degree of peace and quiet. There are local ordinances for that sort of thing, as dogs are a potential disturbance. Your neighbor probably can't legally
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Even if we were to assume that these "electromagnetic allergies" did exist, no one is forcing that man to live there. As an example, I'm allergic to dogs, but I'm not suing my neighbor for owning one. It's my choice to live where I do and it's not my prerogative to tell him that he can't own a dog.
The law provides that it is unreasonable for someone to create a nuisance to another person that impinges upon their ability to enjoy their property.
You could sue your neighbor complaining about the allergies, but you likely wouldn't because it's not worth the legal effort. However, let's take a different example, your neighbor is now a manufacturing plant that came in after you bought your property, and has begun polluting the air. Guess what? They're not allowed to unreasonably pollute, and if it cause
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And in the case of EM, he could simply cover his walls with anti-EM wallpaper.
Is the cost reasonable though? One could argue that the person with the peanut allergy could put in a HIPA air filter system and wear a biological suit outside of her house... such things are unreasonable though for not only being annoying (bio suit) but as well, for being expensive (HIPA air filter).
Someone below posted something about EM-blocking paint, but it's about $400 for 5 liters. That's pretty obviously an unreasonable cost, when the barrier to his neighbor is just shutting the devices off.
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But his dog does not enter your house, right? and you expect your neighbour to ansure that he does not. So *if* (and it is a big if) wifi can be considered dangerous to this guy he can ask his neighbour to prevent EM waves from entering his house. Like, by covering the walls in metal.
More likely, if the currently harmless spectrum could be proven not harmless then a new one will be tested and allocated and old routers will be outlawed.
litmus test (Score:5, Insightful)
a) If he can demonstrate his ability to detect electromagnetic fields under reasonable experimental conditions, they'll consider his case.
b) If he can't demonstrate his ability to detect electromagnetic fields under reasonable experimental conditions significantly more than chance, he owes the plaintiff the same amount he's seeking.
I call this the `put up or shut up` principle. Although, it might be more widely known as the `Let's not be flaming idiots` principle.
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Re:litmus test (Score:5, Insightful)
Or let's actually be very fair.
Using WiFi is totally legal and within the other home owners rights. Even if he has this alergy it isn't up to his neighbor to do anything about it.
May his health insurance provider will offer to build him a Faraday cage. All he would need to do is cover his house with chicken wire, paint and stucco over it and connect it to ground.
That would protect him from not only WiFi but also radar from planes flying over head, TV and Radio broadcasts, and even Satellite transmissions.
Of course he would have to give up electricity all together to really have an EM free home but that is his problem.
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Unless, that is, he's not sensitive to squat.
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faraday cages do not block elecromagnetic waves. lhc will not create a black hole. antimatter cannot be transported in a suitcase. homeopathy has no scientific evidence. earth is not flat.
we are on slashdot for god's sake!
Re:litmus test (Score:5, Insightful)
we are on slashdot for god's sake!
You know what? You are right. Lets give that the Slashdot treatment.
faraday cages do not block elecromagnetic waves.
Depends on the meaning of the word block.
antimatter cannot be transported in a suitcase. Of course it can, just not transported very far. And it has the side benefit of transporting everything around it immediately afterward.
homeopathy has no scientific evidence. Of course it has scientific evidence. The evidence suggests that Homeopathy is bunk, but there is plenty of evidence.
earth is not flat.
You just need to look at it on the right scale.
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I have a way to be fair to this guy, as well as punish people abusing torts. It's very simple:
a) If he can demonstrate his ability to detect electromagnetic fields under reasonable experimental conditions, they'll consider his case.
b) If he can't demonstrate his ability to detect electromagnetic fields under reasonable experimental conditions significantly more than chance, he owes the plaintiff the same amount he's seeking.
I call this the `put up or shut up` principle. Although, it might be more widely known as the `Let's not be flaming idiots` principle.
There's a few issues here. First, the man may just be suing for equity, as in suing to obtain an order of restraint requiring his neighbor to disable his EM emissions. As well, there are situations where a court considering some complex issue where an order of restraint may result in unfair damages against the other party to have the initiating party place a bond against such damages.
This guy faces an uphill battle, since he has to prove to a better than 50% confidence that his neighbor's EM emissions are
Should we punish people for suing? (Score:2)
b) If he can't demonstrate his ability to detect electromagnetic fields under reasonable experimental conditions significantly more than chance, he owes the plaintiff the same amount he's seeking.
Why the amount he's seeking?
Wouldn't it be more fair to compensate the defendant for court fees (if any), lawyer salary, lost income/time and compensate the defendant for undue emotional distress? That is, make repairs exactly for the damage or losses you have caused, no more and no less?
Or should there be a disincentive towards filing suits? We all hate litigious bastards, especially the well-funded kind, but disincentives towards filing suits also impacts the little man.
I'm not saying I know the answer.
Re:Should we punish people for suing? (Score:5, Informative)
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b) If he can't demonstrate his ability to detect electromagnetic fields under reasonable experimental conditions significantly more than chance, he owes the plaintiff the same amount he's seeking.
Why the amount he's seeking?
Wouldn't it be more fair to compensate the defendant for court fees (if any), lawyer salary, lost income/time and compensate the defendant for undue emotional distress? That is, make repairs exactly for the damage or losses you have caused, no more and no less?
Or should there be a disincentive towards filing suits? We all hate litigious bastards, especially the well-funded kind, but disincentives towards filing suits also impacts the little man.
I'm not saying I know the answer. I'm just suggesting that we should consider all the options (or at least a handful).
"An idea is a dangerous thing to have if it's your only idea." (I can't remember who said it, but I think David Allen quoted that person in Getting Things Done.)
If a judge dismisses your case because it's frivolous, he will typically do two things, dismiss the case with prejudice (meaning the plaintiff/petitioner cannot ever bring the same facts into court again) and require the plaintiff/petitioner to pay reasonable legal fees incurred by the defendant.
The problem is that a lot of cases that people think are frivolous are based upon a lot of facts, where they do create a question of law.
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Re:litmus test (Score:4, Insightful)
The fact that it's psychological rather than physical doesn't make it any less of a problem.
But it DOES make it a problem that was neither caused by, nor can be relieved by, his neighbor's actions. Which makes it his own damn problem.
i'll half-assed troll this one (Score:2, Insightful)
If not, it must not be harming you.
Get off my Astral Plane! (Score:5, Funny)
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And the angel of the lord came unto me, snatching me up from my place of slumber. And took me on high, and higher still until we moved to the spaces betwixt the air itself. And he brought me into a vast farmlands of our own midwest. And as we descended, cries of impending doom rose from the soil. One thousand, nay a million voices full of fear. And terror possessed me then. And I begged, "Angel of the Lord, what are these tortured screams?" And the angel said unto me, "These are the cries of the carrots, the cries of the carrots! You see, Reverend Maynard, tomorrow is harvest day and to them it is the holocaust." And I sprang from my slumber drenched in sweat like the tears of one million terrified brothers and roared, "Hear me now, I have seen the light! They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers!" Can I get an amen? Can I get a hallelujah? Thank you Jesus.
From Disgustipated by Tool.
He will have a hard time proving his case (Score:2)
You can be sure that if any harmful link had been scientifically established to this point, even just on the
balance of probabilities, a class action lawyer would already be in there pursuing a billion dollar
case for the class of "neighbours of wi-fi basestations.
I'm still open minded about all this. I don't really think cell phone radiation is bad for me, but
I would move or protest if someone put up the cell transmitter on my roof.
And I ain't superstitious, but a black cat just crossed my path.
To the defend
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To the defendant: Make sure a judge hears the case, not a jury.
It's a sad indictment of the US's critical thinking skills that this is true. Juries are too willing to take personal testimony uncritically. "Well, Jane said she got better after rubbing her head with a ferret, so it must be true." Or something like that.
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Re:He will have a hard time proving his case (Score:5, Funny)
Ferrets are widely known to promote blood circulation, asshole. One of the landmark studies compared the orgonocephalic health of a man with a ferret strapped to his head against that of a control subject*, with many interesting results.
* tube sock full of mice
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I'm reasonably sure the health (the general health, not just the 'orgonocephalic' health) of a tube sock full of mice goes down when they are strapped to a ferret. While the ferret will promote blood flow, this will be one way flow, not circulation. Alternately, the health of a ferret will decrease if it is strapped to Zombie Dr. Reich. That's probably the cephalic effect you were thinking of.
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I'm still open minded about all this. I don't really think cell phone radiation is bad for me, but I would move or protest if someone put up the cell transmitter on my roof.
That's OK -- they can put one on my roof anytime they want. It will be nice to have the carrier sending me money every month, for a change.
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Simple test... (Score:3, Insightful)
I think this guy's full of it, but there's a pretty simple test. Blindfold him and drive him out to a nice, open, quiet country setting. Something with lots of fresh air, birds chirping, no cars, no people, etc. Somewhere where you can smell flowers from a mile away and it feels like you're on a country road in the middle of nowhere. Park under high tension lines. Then ask him how he feels. If he's not on the ground doubled over in pain, he's a POS and full of it.
And if this guy really does have that severe a reaction to all technology, then Darwin says he should go stuff. Let him join an Amish community and live the rest of his life in peace. He has no right to shut down every invention of the past hundred years everywhere he goes simply because he's a genetic disaster.
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That reminds me... at Cape Lisburne, we had a really old navy Beacon for the airstrip which gave off enough EMI to light a florescent tube (no really, there was one on the wall). I swear, you really could feel it when you were in the shack. So I think it is highly possible that some people could detect being under high tension lines (I think lower frequency is easier to detect). High tension lines are also known to be able to light up florescent bulbs at a distance. I think sitting him next to the router an
I want to sue as well... (Score:5, Funny)
Lost Money (Score:2)
I am so certain that this poor jerk's investment in a law suit will bring him good results. The settlement will be delivered in a car driven by Elvis with Jimmy Hoffa representing the defendant.
Only the ones he knows about. (Score:2)
So the popular radiowaves he knows/thinks about bothers him but not all the other sources.
Lets hope he does not park his car close to a cell tower, a tv or radio transmitter etc.
Better yet, give him a Wi-spy and let him scan 2.4GHz for all the other crap there like car alarms, baby monitors, etc. He well never find a place to sleep.
phobia (Score:3, Insightful)
If the neighbor's house was emitting dangerous levels of gamma radiation then the suit would definately have merit but this is a severe phobia not a physiological reaction to wifi "radiation." There is zero evidence what so ever that anyone has any adverse reaction to wifi and even if there was. it would not be an "allergy."
Don't sue, get $1M instead... (Score:5, Insightful)
As has been mentioned by others, WiFi sensitivity should easily count for paranormal under the James Randi Educational Foundation's $1M paranormal prize. http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/1m-challenge.html [randi.org]
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
WiFi sensitivity should easily count for paranormal
I suspect that Randi would call it "abnormal" rather than "paranormal", after all, WiFi scientifically exists, and there are various mechanisms for detecting electromagnetic fields throughout nature.
Re: (Score:2)
WiFi sensitivity should easily count for paranormal
I suspect that Randi would call it "abnormal" rather than "paranormal", after all, WiFi scientifically exists, and there are various mechanisms for detecting electromagnetic fields throughout nature.
I believe that if one were able to prove their paranormal activities in controlled conditions that it would simply be "abnormal" in the first place. If the guy has Wi-Fi sensitivity and can detect it without the use of a device, I believe that would qualify as paranormal... and hell, if such a person does exist, I think they deserve $1M just for being able to prove it in laboratory conditions.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Two Words (Score:3, Interesting)
Intel has equipped entire floors at Jones Farm with these (even coatings on the Windows). Yes, it makes cell phones unusable on those floors.
Maybe this is a dumb question, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
It'll be interesting to see if this goes on long. (Score:3, Interesting)
I mean, hey, my neighbor was just fined tens of thousands of dollars by the FAA for launching a homemade balloon. They're serving jail time now. I don't want to mess with organizations matching the F[A-Z]{2} regex.
Sean
Hoax? (Score:2)
Or maybe this guy's the real nutty deal.
If I was the person being sued I'd do this... (Score:2)
Man Sues Neighbor For Not Turning On His Wife!!! (Score:4, Funny)
That's what you get when you read /. at 2 am and you are falling asleep on the keyboard...
The PM says it's the WiFi (Score:4, Funny)
In other news, the Prime Minister released a press release today, explaining that recent government scandals were the result of "problems with the WiFi" which caused "mass delusions among Parliamentarians" which "made them do it." Mr. Brown promises that henceforth that the Parliamentary floor, retreats and other events will be WiFi-free in order to combat corruption. No word on Browning Street.
Re: (Score:2)
Turn off SSID broadcast on the router and tell the neighbor the WiFi is off. It may be slight nuisance since you will have to configure your WiFi clients manually instead of picking the network from a menu, but most of them will remember the network, so you only have to do it once.
That will not have the effect you think it has. It still shows up fine for clients, it just shows as "other network", "unknown network" or similar.
Re: (Score:2)
And quite possibly a douchebag.
If he really had "electromagnetic allergies" he could've painted his whole house (walls, floors, ceilings, everything) with this stuff [lessemf.com] and been fine. He's just an attention seeker, a possible nutbag, and like I said, a moron.
At about $404 for five liters, that's an unreasonable cost. He's just trying to get an injunction having the neighbor turn it off until the case can be heard. At that point, he could potentially get the neighbor to foot the costs for the paint.
I doubt such a thing would happen though...