Friday, December 26, 2014

Letter: NV Energy statements show arrogance

Letter: NV Energy statements show arrogance

I was interested in NV Energy's release of information of the smart meters they use and the fires related to them. I worked with a company years ago that developed a line of smart meters.
After reading the article in (the Dec. 19) RGJ, I was disappointed. It demonstrated the arrogance of most regulated utilities.
The article began with the NV Energy standard apple pie and motherhood statement about their concern for customers and employee safety and that they have begun safety upgrades. They said the meters were not the problem and did not cause flame outs. Their first improvement will be installing a firmware update that will allow the meter to send a signal to shut down when it overheats — not if it should overheat. Then Rob Stillwell began referring to the fires as "flame outs," never using the word "fire." He fails to mention the fire that killed a person, only addressing those that caused minor damage.
Further, NV Energy's investigator states the meter was working because arcing was found throughout the house. The electrical meter was likely working but I will bet you a dinner that the electronic circuit board that made it a smart meter was burned out. Finally, Stillwell stated NV Energy is changing smart meter companies. The statements from NV Energy do nothing but raise my stink meter very high about what NV Energy is covering up on their taxpayer-funded smart meters.
Carl Fishel,
Sparks

Smart Meters are not so smart

Smart Meters are not so smart

Posted: Friday, December 26, 2014 3:07 pm
In response to Ian Dyck’s recent letters supporting FortisBC’s smart meter installations (AMI), Okanagan people need to know that what you can’t see will hurt you.
Eminent, independent, non-industry-funded scientists with expertise in the area of electromagnetic radiation have warned us now for many years that:
a) long-term, low-level, pulsed, non-thermal radio/microwave frequency radiation is harmful to humans and all living things;
b) power line (60 Hz) electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation given off by household wiring, electrical appliances, high voltage power transmission and distribution lines, etc. is equally harmful to humans and all living things.
Deployment of smart meters and their imposition on an unsuspecting population will eventually cause a crisis in human health unseen before in human history.
It wasn’t the firestorm that killed the victims of Dresden, it was the lack of oxygen. It wasn’t the mushroom cloud that killed the victims of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombing, it was radiation exposure.
Oxygen and ionizing radiation are invisible, proving that what you can’t see can kill. Oxygen and radiation are invisible, as is non-ionizing radiation at the lower end of the spectrum, i.e. microwaves emitted from cellphones, any wireless gadget, including smart meters.
We’re facing what Dr. Devra Davis, distinguished epidemiologist, author of Disconnect and founder of the Environmental Health Trust in the United States, calls “the slow roll-out of an epidemic.”
Around the world, people are already suffering. They are going to their doctors with symptoms consistent with electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), yet doctors are untrained in the biological effects of electromagnetic radiation and treat patients according to their symptoms.
This violates the first rule of medicine, which is to remove the patient from the cause of their disease.
Scientific evidence is being swept under the carpet. Confusion over scientific results is being created by people like Dr. William Bailey, of Exponent, a product defence
consultant for FortisBC in last year’s smart meter hearing before the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC).
The BCUC and government officials such as Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall are turning a blind eye to the unfolding carnage. FortisBC Smart Meter Project Director Ian Dyck is a businessman.
His sole purpose is to increase corporate profit. BC Hydro is a Crown Corporation. As a government body, BC Hydro is breaking the social contract that binds our society for the benefit of everyone.
A broken contract means that both partners will suffer. Those responsible for implementing wireless technology — especially smart meters — will not escape.
I have decided not to have any smart
meter installed on my house. This after also having read the concise and precise power point presentation by Jerry Flynn, a retired Canadian military officer who spent more than 22 years in Electronic Warfare:
To my knowledge, this presentation so
far has not been refuted nor rebutted by
authorities.
Dr. Kendall and Dr. Bailey refuse to meet Jerry Flynn in an open discussion about the controversial smart meter issue.
Your readers are also referred for more independent to citizensforsafetechnology.orgstopsmartmetersbc.com.
Remember: “A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of the truth.”
(Albert Einstein)
Hans Karow,
Coalition to Reduce Electropollution,
Summerland

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

EXPERTS FORECAST THE END OF PRIVACY AS WE KNOW IT

EXPERTS FORECAST THE END OF PRIVACY AS WE KNOW IT

2,500 Internet experts weigh in on the future of privacy
Experts Forecast the End of Privacy as We Know It
by JOHN P. MELLO JR. | TECH NEWS WORLD DECEMBER 18, 201

Privacy’s future appears muddy at best, judging from a survey released Thursday by the Pew Research Center and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center.
More than 2,500 Internet experts and analysts were narrowly divided on whether policy makers and technology innovators would create a secure, popularly accepted and trusted privacy-rights infrastructure by 2025.
Fifty-five percent didn’t believe a structure to protect privacy would be in place; 45 percent believed such a structure would be created.
“There’s lots of contention about how the future will unfold,” Pew’s Director of Internet, Science and Technology Research Lee Rainie told TechNewsWorld.

The Health Risks of WiFi Devices Such as Smartphones Are Being Willfully Ignored by Millions. Are You Among the Damned?

The Health Risks of WiFi Devices Such as Smartphones Are Being Willfully Ignored by Millions. Are You Among the Damned? 

By Ken Adachi, Editor
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/wifidangersignored20dec14.shtml#top
December 20, 2014

The Health Risks of WiFi Devices Such as Smart Phones Are Being Willfully Ignored by Millions. Are You Among the Damned? (Dec. 20, 2014)

This article is intended to be read by responsible people, young or old, who care about life and want to see future generations enjoy a long life on earth in good health. A silent epidemic of cellular damage is underway that is adversely affecting the lives of millions of people who are exposing themselves to high level, WiFi microwave energy fields daily and yet remain oblivious and unconcerned about the biological effects created by those energy fields. 

If you are a smartphone user and carry it around with you every day, consider yourself lucky to be reading these words. A small possibility exists that you may stay on this page long enough to read through my comments and then click on one or more of the linked articles below. If you do that, you have a chance of reading enough scientific data and looking at enough graphs explaining to you the damage being inflicted on your cell walls, your DNA, your nervous and your reproductive tissues, that you may say to yourself: "Hey, wait a minute. What am I doing?"

If that serendipitous, awakening moment occurs, then you should also consider yourself a recipient of divine grace, for your Higher Self is trying to tell you something--and lucky for you--you are listening (or at least beginning to listen). 

Let me tell you the Bad News up front: You have to get rid of your smartphone permanently and never go back to using one again. You have to remove yourself from any and all WiFi energy field environments as much as possible, whether at home, school, work, internet cafes, Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, etc. Stay out of WiFi energy fields as if your health depends on it ~ because it does. You also have to shield yourself in your home from incoming microwave energy from smart meters or cell phone towers or external microwave transmitters. If you're going to occasionally and rarely use a cell phone to talk to someone for an urgent reason, then NEVER hold it up to your ear as most cell phone users do. Use an air tube style plug-in ear piece with microphone or use the speaker phone and hold the cell phone away from you, or better yet, put it down on something and don't hold it at all. 

Most people don't understand that there is a HUGE difference in the microwave energy fields associated with a smartphone versus that of a cell phone. With a smartphone, your are carrying around the microwave energy equivalence of a cell phone tower (mast) in your pocket. With a cell phone, you are getting about 1/100th the amount of microwave energy - and only when you are actually talking on the cell phone (mobile for European readers).

Here are the comments I just posted today to the commentary section of a very good article on the dangers of WiFi energy field exposure. The article is titled: 

http://www.wakingtimes.com/2014/01/31/wifi-invisible-killing-fields/#comment-6747815
"I am responding to these comments 11 months late because I didn’t see the article until December 20, 2014. I notice here that two commenters at least are confusing the issue of ionizing nuclear RADIATION and electromagnetic microwave RADIATION used by WiFi devices. Furthermore, it is being suggested that worries about the supposed threat of the supposed ionizing radiation supposedly pouring out of Fukushima or Chernobyl or nuclear power plants is a greater risk to our future health and well being, when the fact is that personal WiFi devices such as smartphones and WiFi environments in the home, school, or office, or from Smart meters, pose a FAR GREATER and IMMEDIATE risk to our future health and well being that seemingly billions (?) of WiFi users around the planet are simply choosing to IGNORE or are oblivious to. I’ve never witnessed such a widespread and wholesale attempt to ignore the dire warnings issued by dozens of authors and made available on thousands of web sites of the VERY REAL dangers and destruction posed to biological systems from WiFi technology. Are so many people on this planet really THIS stupid and brain dead? When do they wake up? When THEY get the surprising and unexpected diagnosis of a brain tumor?" Ken Adachi
If you are among the willfully ignorant who are giving or are anticipating receiving a brand new, all the latest bells & whistles, smartphone this Christmas, then you are indeed, I'm afraid, among the damned. For giving someone a gift of a smartphone is like giving them the "gift" of damaged health or the "gift" of infertility, or even the "gift" of an early death. 
I was recently made aware of a series of Skype video recorded interviews with a number of people who are well informed on the dangers of WiFi devices. I've included here three audio files of those interviews which you will find highly informative.

(To prevent too many streaming mp3 files from overloading the server, it's better to download the zip file, unzip it, and then listen with Windows Media player or other media players installed on your computer. To download, simply right click the zip link and click "save as" into your folder of choice. After it downloads, right click the file and choose "upzip here." The extracted file will appear as an mp3 file which you can then play on your computer or upload onto an mp3 player. For people who find it too complicated to download the file, I've included an mp3 file so you can stream directly but it's better to download and keep the file on your own computer for future use.) 

A)  Dr. Ross Anderson September 9, 2014 with EMF Summit host Alison Heath. 


B) Dr. Magda Havas September 16, 2014 with Alison Heath

C) Barrie Trower November 4, 2014 with Alison Heath

Articles on the dangers of WiFi technologies
1) Wifi ~ A Thalidomide in the making. Who Cares? by Barrie Trower (pdf)
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/WiFi-a-Thalidomide-in-the-making-who-cares.pdf
Wi-Fi – A Thalidomide in the Making. Who Cares? (html)
http://boilthefrogradio.com/wi-fi-a-thalidomide-in-the-making-who-cares/

2)  WiFi – The Invisible Killing Fields
http://www.wakingtimes.com/2014/01/31/wifi-invisible-killing-fields/#comment-6747815

3) WiFi to Kill Millions Whistleblower Says (July 7, 2014)
http://www.whale.to/a/wifi_to_kill_millions.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z99_SzoXZdY

5) Is Wi-Fi frying our brains? Fears that cloud of 'electrosmog' could be harming humans (Nov. 30, 2010)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1334291/Is-Wi-Fi-frying-brains-Fears-cloud-electrosmog-harm-humans.html

6) Germany warns citizens to avoid using Wi-Fi (Sept. 30, 2007)
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/germany-warns-citizens-to-avoid-using-wifi-401845.html


http://educate-yourself.org/cn/microwavedangersindex.shtml
Ken Adachi
© Copyright 2014 Educate-Yourself.org  All Rights Reserved.

Ontario Auditor General: Smart meters a total flop, $900M over budget

Ontario Auditor General: Smart meters a total flop, $900M over budget



by Allison Jones, The Canadian Press | see original article
TORONTO – People in Ontario are paying billions of dollars extra for electricity thanks to a flawed smart meter program and the above-market rates the province pays most power generators, Ontario’s auditor general reported Tuesday.
Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli disputed the auditor’s conclusions, suggesting her numbers were inaccurate because she didn’t understand the “complex” electricity system.
“The electricity system is very complex, it’s very difficult to understand,” he said. “I can tell you that some of our senior managers in discussing some of these issues with some of the representatives from the auditor general’s office got the feeling that they didn’t understand some of the elements of it.”
Ratepayers will pay $50 billion between 2006 and 2015 because of an extra charge on their electricity bills that covers the gap between guaranteed prices paid to contracted power generators and the market price, auditor general Bonnie Lysyk wrote in her annual report.

The report also highlighted a “high-risk” loan to a MaRS real estate project in Toronto that left Lysyk uncertain about its benefit to taxpayers, as well as public-private infrastructure projects that are costing billions more than if they were delivered by the public sector.

Lysyk also flagged Ontario’s growing debt as a concern. The net debt was more than $267 billion as of March and even if the Liberal government meets its goal of eliminating the deficit in 2017-18, net debt will have risen to $325 billion, Lysyk projected.
In her analysis of the smart meter program, Lysyk found the extra electricity charge, known as global adjustment, has increased by 1,200 per cent between 2006 and 2013 – meanwhile, the average electricity market price has dropped by 46 per cent.
Most residential and small business ratepayers pay time-of-use pricing, enabled by a $2-billion smart-meter program that has so far spent double its projected cost and has not led to the government’s electricity conservation goals being met, Lysyk wrote.
The global adjustment makes up about 70 per cent of the electricity charge on those customers’ bills and as a result the difference between on-peak and off-peak pricing narrowed to the point where it is “undermining time-of-use pricing as an incentive for ratepayers to shift to off-peak,” Lysyk wrote.
Peak electricity demand actually rose slightly between 2004 and 2010, the auditor general wrote.

The energy minister hit back hard, saying the global adjustment is “irrelevant” because it would be on people’s bills with or without smart meters, and he said Lysyk got the numbers wrong.

“Why are my numbers more credible than hers?” Chiarelli said, in response to questions after the report’s release. “First of all the electricity system is very complex. It’s very difficult to understand.”
He pegged the smart meter cost at closer to $1.4 billion, and said Lysyk’s conclusions are premature.
“It remains likely that some significant charges will not be passed onto ratepayers after the Ontario Energy Board has an opportunity to review the appropriate regulatory submissions,” Chiarelli said.
The government decided to mandate smart meters in Ontario before it did a cost-benefit analysis and when the analysis ultimately was done, it was flawed and its projected net benefit of $600 million was overstated by at least $512 million, Lysyk wrote.
“As a result, electricity ratepayers in Ontario are paying significantly more for this initiative in their monthly electricity bills than was originally intended,” she wrote.
ONTARIO AUDITOR ELECTRICITY
The leaders of both opposition parties called Chiarelli’s reaction to the report “unprecedented” arrogance.
“Billions and billions of dollars piled up and what do they do? Turn around and say the auditor isn’t accurate. Yes, Mr. Chiarelli should resign,” said Interim Progressive Conservative Leader Jim Wilson.
“You’ve been ripping off consumers and someone’s head has to fall for it.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called the auditor’s report “troubling” and said the government should take it seriously.

“While we’re entitled to our own opinions, the Liberals aren’t entitled to their own facts and trying to trash the auditor simply doesn’t change that.”

Media Release: NDP says it's past time to ditch smart meter manufacturer Sensus

Media Release: NDP says it's past time to ditch smart meter manufacturer Sensus


It's time to walk away from smart meter manufacturer Sensus and demand a full refund, according to the NDP after yet another smart meter fire Tuesday.

WireService.ca Media Release (12/17/2014) Regina, SK - NDP Deputy Leader Trent Wotherspoon also called on the government to come clean about the dangers of smart meters on homes over the winter. It claimed Saskatchewan families would be safe because the rash of smart meter fires had been caused by rain, but with Tuesday's fire in sub-zero temperatures, that's obviously not true.
"It's time to break it off with this company that has created one fire-prone dud model after another," said Wotherspoon. "Get our money back, and get Sensus meters out of Saskatchewan permanently."
The government signed a secret settlement with Sensus, promising to give the American company another $18 million of Saskatchewan's money, or buy more of the company's smart meters in the future.
"That's not on," said Wotherspoon. "Sensus version 3.2 started fires in Saskatchewan and across North America. Sensus version 3.3 started fires in Saskatchewan and across North America. Now the government is actually using taxpayer money to pay Sensus to come up with version 3.4, and expecting different results. That's ludicrous.
"I don't want a Sensus smart meter on my home - ever - and I don't think other Saskatchewan families do, either."
Wotherspoon said the NDP wants the government to recover the $5 million gift it gave Sensus to develop a new meter, and the $18 million being held for the purchase of new Sensus smart meters. He added that the government should not rule out taking legal action to recover Saskatchewan ratepayers' money if necessary.
Wotherspoon also reiterated his call for the government to make the removal of the dangerous smart meters an urgent priority, getting them off families' homes much quicker than their current timeline.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Smartphone use 'changing our brains'

Smartphone use 'changing our brains'

By Michelle Roberts

The scientists used something called electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain activity. 

They found distinct differences between smartphone users and people who used 'conventional' cellphones.

Smartphone users had more attuned fingers and thumbs, based on their EEG readings. 
Of the 37 volunteers, 26 were touchscreen smartphone users while 11 used 'old-fashioned' mobile phones. 

EEG
EEG EEG measures and records the electrical activity of the brain

The EEG readings looked at the electrical messages sent back and forth between the brain and the hands via nerves.

Multiple electrodes placed on the volunteer's scalp recorded these exchanges about sensation.

From this, the researchers were able to build up a picture or map of how much brain tissue is devoted to a given body region. 

The results revealed discernable differences between touchscreen smartphone users and people with conventional cellphones. 

Smartphone users had bigger EEG brain activity measurements in response to mechanical touch on the thumb, index and middle fingers. 

And this appeared to be linked to how often they used their touchscreens - the more frequent, the greater the EEG response.

The researchers say their findings, published in the journal Current Biology, make sense given that the brain is malleable and can be moulded by experience. 

For example, in violinists, the brain area representing the fingers that play the instrument is larger than in non-musicians. 

The researchers suspect the same is true with smartphones - repeated use sculpts the brain. 

Study author Arko Ghosh, from the Institute of Neuroinformatics of the University of Zurich, said: "I was really surprised by the scale of the changes introduced by the use of smartphones."

He said the discovery underlines how commonplace smartphones have become in our daily lives.

Peevey Farewell Love Fest Disrupted by Smart Meter Protests


Peevey Farewell Love Fest Disrupted by Smart Meter Protests


Screen Shot 2014-12-23 at 21.15.32
Anti- smart meter demonstration and press conference outside the CPUC Dec. 18, 2014 photo credit: Justin Mears

The December 18th 2014 meeting of the CPUC (a.k.a. the utility/telecommunications industry now acting as the California Public Utilities Commission) was the last for Mike Peevey- former SoCal Edison CEO and “mob boss” – a man who has driven the forced deployment of smart meters in California- and violated disability, privacy, and safety laws repeatedly to benefit his industry clients.

Screen Shot 2014-12-23 at 21.15.05

photo credit Justin Mears

Outside the CPUC, on busy Van Ness Ave., mourners in black had gathered around a coffin representing victims of the smart grid, listening to eulogies to the lost and naming those responsible.  A press release had been issued and the media invited.  The press however turned their back on the funeral and were clustered instead around San Bruno mayor Jim Ruane and Senator Jerry Hill, their attention on PG&E’s other, more blatant, obvious, and sudden victims.

IMG_5344
Death attends the press conference at the CPUC in SF to thank Michael Peevey and the PUC for lots of new customers

Inside, nauseated attendees suffered through an orchestrated Peevey-love-fest that droned on for 2 1/2 hours and quickly discovered that the public comment period was an opportunity for the corporate state to crow about how wonderful the man is––and how wonderful they are.

Their gushing praise an attempt to insulate him and thus themselves with their seedy entanglements from future prosecution for the deaths in San Bruno and deaths and injuries from hazardous smart meters.  After all, Michael Peevey, an early architect of the smart grid, is now facing investigation and possible prosecution by the US Attorney’s office and California’s Attorney General.

An entire section of public seats had been reserved for the pro-Peevey speakers and time limits were waived––as long as you had nice things to say…

This is the same crowd who flew Peevey around the world on the utility company dime in exchange for close access and influence with the top regulator.

Circle the wagons!
Isis-Toni-SSM-sign-CPUC-18Dec2014
Stop Smart Meters! Banner Drop Inside the CPUC
While Peevey’s praises were being sung, I was thinking about the many families that have an empty place at the table this Christmas because of his lax to non-existent regulatory policies.  Deaths from fireresulting from second rate equipment being installed by second rate temp workers- it all could have been prevented.  How many are suffering in what used to be a home and what is now just a place to tolerate?

The endless stream of people harmed by smart meters parading to the podium in the last 5 years will certainly cloud Peevey’s legacy.  Yet, as usual the public uprising was only lightly touched upon by the media.  In fact, as Sandi Maurer of the EMF Safety Network has pointed out, the San Jose Mercury News appears to have censored a reporter who went into some detail about the smart meter protests at the meeting, with large portions of the coverage having been removed from the original online article.

The AP ran a story that incorrectly stated there was only one person there who condemned Peevey.  In reality there were dozens.  It doesn’t make you paranoid to think that these omissions are intentional and part of a pattern.  We deserve a better press.
Representatives from state government agencies, financial beneficiaries of his policies on Wall Street, and corporate groups like EDF and NRDC crowed at the public’s podium about how compassionate to those less fortunate Peevey is, what a defender of the environment—a leader on climate change!

Returning to their reserved seats, they checked for updates on their melting-ski slope-holidays, pawing at their wireless devices as one by one, speakers went into grim detail about the misery, illness and suffering caused by exposure to wireless devices.

Screen Shot 2014-12-23 at 21.14.37
photo credit: Justin Mears
Members of the public (many of them injured by smart meters), were forced to sit through the hours-long, back-slapping-love-fest and thick electrosmog so that they might finally have a chance to address the commission (strictly timed of course). Yet should they speak over their allotted time, or bring up unacceptable subject matter they risked being escorted out of the room by one of the armed state police, standing by and ready to protect—should things get out of hand.

What a corrupt sour mess!

Pay for Protection: The Utility Scam and Growing Public Revolt
Approving smart meter extortion fees and denying ADA rights was also on the agenda that day.



Credit: Labor Video Project http://www.laborvideo.org/

In response, we carried out a coordinated public demonstration of disgust and revulsion against Peevey’s CPUC, standing up in the meeting and holding signs naming the crimes and reading aloud the names of smart meter victims – including testimonies from thousands of California residents and those who spoke at public hearings all over the state who were ignored in the smart meter “opt out” proceeding.

Screen-shot-2014-12-22-at-12.23.22-PM
While corporate patrons of Mr. Peevey were given up to ten minutes and allowed to wax lyrical, some smart meter and corruption critics were cut off after a few seconds- even surrounded by 3 state police when one speaker suggested that Peevey “belongs in prison” (it may not be far off- he is currently being investigated by the US Attorney and state Attorney General….)

The ones really protecting health and safety are never welcome at an agency tasked with “protecting health and safety.”

After lunch, without any debate or discussion apart from the usual platitudes, the commission approved a plan to charge every California customer of an investor owned utility who uses an analog (rather than a “smart” meter) to measure gas or electricity $75 and $10/ month ($10 and $5/ month for low income).   

Those living with a bank of meters on their wall, businesses and communities as a whole would not be allowed to “opt out” at all, and even those with letters from their doctors and diagnoses of electro-hyper-sensitivity would not be permitted to retain basic utility service without paying the “opt out” charges if this decision is allowed to stand.



Peevey laughing, "I surrender!" Apparently all just a big joke...The commission then unanimously approved Peevey’s version of the proposed decisionwhich added a 3 year limit to (or sunset on) individual residence opt out fees.  Questions persist about the details and rationale for this.


Peevey laughing, “I surrender!” Apparently it’s all just a big joke…
Today, it’s been reported that new e-mails have come to light further implicating Peevey in smart meter related corruption and collusion with PG&E to undermine local democracy.

We agree with the EMF Safety Network:

This is the Stuff of Crooks

Credit: Justin Mears
And now today- December 23rd- Gov. Jerry Brown has announced a replacement for Mike Peevey to chair the CPUC- ex SMUD Director Michael Picker- and we do mean replacement.  

Happy Holidays and a rebellious new year to all of you!

Credit: Justin Mears
Media Coverage of Peevey’s Coup de Grace
Reading of names and symptoms of smart meter victims. 
The video can be seen starting at 2:26 on Video part 1, Dec 18, 2014

KPFA Coverage Start at 13:16 minute mark.
“Some fireworks at the California Public Utilities Commission…

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