As seen at a mall in San Francisco, back* in the day:
Click to expand
Look closer:
Sometimes I just don’t know…
*RITZ CAMERA, RIP, probably, I mean, at this point in 2012.
Posts Tagged ‘radiation’
Someday, I’ll Save Up My Pennies and Then Get UV Teeth Whitening at the Mall – Giant Tentacle in Your Pie Hole
Wednesday, July 18th, 2012Wow, Those SmartMeter Crazies Almost Make Me Feel Sorry for PG&E, America’s Worst Big Utility Company – But Opt Out If You Want
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012Well, here it is, your brand new PG&E SmartMeter opt-out option.
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David R. Baker was on the scene at the big CPUC meeting yesterday, actually engaging with the crazies, so check that out if you want.
And if you think that a SmartMeter has ANYTHING AT ALL to do with your health (and, oh yes, you yourself are somehow particularly affected by infinitesimal amounts of additional non-ionizing radiation in your life, I hear what you are saying) you’re barking up the wrong tree. People who don’t tell you that are just patronizing you, just saying.
Now here’s what PG&E has to say. Enjoy:
“SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 1, 2012 — Residential electric and gas customers who have concerns about wireless technology can now choose either a new SmartMeter(TM) or a traditional analog meter, following the final decision today by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) supports the CPUC’s decision and will respond quickly to customers who opt-out of the utility’s SmartMeter(TM) program.
“We know personal choice is important to our customers when it comes to the meters on their homes,” said Helen Burt, PG&E’s Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer. “This final decision in support of analog meters is a positive step forward for those who have concerns over wireless technology. We understand some customers have been waiting for this decision, and we are actively reaching out to those who have expressed their desire for a SmartMeter(TM) alternative.”
PG&E is installing digital, wireless SmartMeters(TM) throughout its service area in Northern and Central California as part of a statewide effort to help customers save on their bills by offering them more control over their energy usage, improve reliability and customer service, and conserve natural resources to help the environment. As part of a global effort to modernize the energy grid and transform it into a digital network that will deliver more reliable power to homes and businesses, similar metering programs are now underway at utilities throughout the country and around the world. To date, PG&E has installed nearly nine million gas and electric SmartMeters(TM), on its way to about 10 million meters in 2012.
Independent studies repeatedly have affirmed the safety and accuracy of SmartMeters(TM). However, in response to comments from some customers, PG&E in March 2011 proposed offering them a choice to turn off the radios in their SmartMeters(TM), and then provided customers with the option to delay the installation of new SmartMeters(TM) pending the CPUC’s final decision. In December 2011, PG&E asked the CPUC to approve analog meters as another alternative to receiving a SmartMeter(TM), which was the central element of the CPUC’s decision today.
Burt added, “The vast majority of our customers are already seeing the many benefits of SmartMeters(TM). By choosing to stay with our program, our customers will continue having control by seeing where they can save energy throughout the course of the day and making simple but effective changes around the home to save money.”
PG&E customers who want to opt-out of the SmartMeter(TM) program can submit their request online at www.pge.com/smartmeteroptout or call 1-866-743-0263. PG&E plans to remove the gas and electric SmartMeters(TM) from the homes of those opt-out customers who already have SmartMeters(TM); those customers who still have analog meters will be able to keep them.
The CPUC’s final decision requires customers who opt-out of the program to pay a $75 initial setup charge and a $10 monthly charge. This will cover the costs of manual meter-reading and associated operational and billing issues. Income-qualified customers will pay a $10 initial setup charge and $5 a month.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to 15 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit http://www.pge.com/about/
SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company”
“CTIA -The Wireless Association” Explains Why Its Suing Us Over Gavin Newsom’s “Cell Phone Right-to-Know” Ordinance
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011Well, after saying it was going to do so, the cell phone industry is actually suing us.
All the deets are below.
The friendly face of the Cellular Telephone Industries Association, aka CITA, The Wireless Association. This fellow has a big beef with our little town.
CITA Vice President of Public Affairs John Walls
“CTIA-The Wireless Association® Files Challenge to San Francisco’s “Cell Phone Right-to-Know” Ordinance
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 2011 – Today, CTIA-The Wireless Association® asked a federal court to block the enforcement of San Francisco’s “Cell Phone Right-to-Know” ordinance. CTIA’s challenge argues that the Ordinance is barred under the First Amendment and conflicts with federal law governing the safety of wireless devices.
As CTIA explains in its motion, the Ordinance requires retailers to distribute misleading statements and graphics that send the false message that cell phones approved by the FCC are not safe. In fact, the FCC limits radiofrequency emissions from cell phones to ensure that phones sold in the U.S. emit RF energy far below levels shown in scientific testing to have any adverse health effects. The FCC’s standard includes a wide margin of safety for all users. Last year the FDA categorically concluded that there is “No Evidence Linking Cell Phone Use to Risk of Brain Tumors,” and earlier this year the Chairman of the FCC, Julius Genachowski, said that he was “confident that [the FCC's] standards are protecting the health of people.”
CTIA-The Wireless Association Vice President of Public Affairs John Walls released the following statement:
“The materials the City would require be posted and handed out at retail stores are both alarmist and false. The FCC and FDA have repeatedly found that cell phone use does not pose a danger to human health. The Ordinance recommends such things as turning the phone off when not in use, a suggestion that would render critical emergency communications unavailable to San Francisco residents.”
More deets after the jump
Giant Koi in Japanese Earthquake Mural on Fell: “For Japan and the Japanese Community in SF”
Friday, August 19th, 2011As seen on Fell near Scott:
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Oh, Thank Goodness PG&E and the CPUC Will Let Me Pay to Opt Out of Getting a SmartMeter – Hurray!
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011Now, one of these electricity meters four stories down is mine,* so of course I was extremely worried about the coming SmartMeter invasion.*
But now that I know that I can opt out of SmartMeters, I’m planning on spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to keep my old meter* (or get a new non-wireless meter, whatever.)
Can you imagine? I’ll certainly sleep better at night* knowing that I’ve played a role in reducing the non-ionizing radiation coming from the garage downstairs by about 2% during the few minutes a day that SmartMeters emit anything at all!
That means I’ll have more time to fret about all the other radiation sources what are killing me.
Hurray!*
*Not really
Know Your Bay Area Broadcast Towers: 1250 Clay Atop the Le Club Building – If Towers Sutro and Eiffel had a Baby
Monday, February 28th, 2011Well, lookie at what stretches 50 feet above the top of the residential tower at 1250 Clay Street at Talor in Nob Hill – it’s WNEQ991!
This structure combines the paint scheme of Sutro Tower with the build of the Eiffel Tower. Check it:
STATION, 1250 Jones St (Lat: 37.793250 Lon: -122.414111), Structure height: 94.5 m, Overall height: 109.1 m, Call Sign: WNEQ991
Assigned Frequencies: 21825.0 MHz, 23125.0 MHz, 23375.0 MHz
Grant Date: 08/07/2008, Expiration Date: 08/06/2018, Certifier: Deborah A Mcdermott
Registrant: Brooks, Pierce, Et. Al., Raleigh, NC 27602
The view from California Street near the western terminus of the cable car line:
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Is this where former NBC affiliate KRON Channel 4 transmits? Mmmm, could be. Maybe it’s a back-up or something.
Irregardless, it’s quite a handsome tower.
(Can you imagine what the anti-PG&E SmartMeter people would think if they had this monster humming just above their noggins? Man, they’d freak out.)
Try to spot it the next time you’re in the Specific Whites neighborhood – it will be the red-and-white tower obstructing your view of the Transamerica Pyramid.
Look to the Skies for Signs and Wonders
Don’t Bother Attacking the Installation Workers, SmartMeters are Already Here in San Francisco
Friday, January 21st, 2011See? Despite what the headlines say, they’re here right now. They’ve been radiating away in town for so long they’re dusty and stuff. And you haven’t died yet, right?
Remember when Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to bend the rules in order to spray you with chemicals from the air in order to fight the Light Brown Apple Moth in order to protect some industry that you don’t give a whit about? Well, that was a different situation, we can talk about that sometime.
But SmartMeters, they can’t hurt you. Yes, even you, even if you are “especially sensitive” to SmartMeters.
So don’t throw yourself in front of the fleet of trucks coming down Lombard or anything. You should allow the installation workers to come onto your propertah, cause, you know, you have nothing to fear.
And if anybody tells you any different, they are, best case scenario, patronizing you…
As seen in San Francisco back in 2010, broadcasting your private personal information about how much of the G in PG&E you’ve been using. The ‘lectricity SmartMeters look a little different:
When they knock on your front door
How you gonna come?
With your hands on your head
Or on the trigger of your gun?
Turns Out that Wireless PG&E SmartMeters WON’T Kill You – Imagine That!
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011If I thought there were a chance in Hell that you could possibly be hurt by microwave RF radiation from a PG&E SmartMeter, I might feel differently about this whole issue.
Anyway, you all wanted a study, so you got a study, right?
As seen on Van Ness:
So, if you want to fight the Battle of New Orleans, be my guest.
But this one is case closed…
Next!
Where Oh Where is the U.S.S. Independence (CVL-22)? Is It Filled With Nuclear Waste Sitting Next to the Farallones? Yep
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010We’ve had more U.S.S. Independences than you can shake a stick at over the centuries, but this one is the one we had during the bulk of WWII. She came straight out of Joisey in ’42 and survived The Pacific War only to get blowed up with atomic bombs during testing at South Pacific locales like Bikini Atoll in 1946.
Before:
Then after, after the big atomic kaboom at Bikini. Ouch:
Anyway, instead of sinking, the Independence kept on floating so the Navy towed her right to Hunters Point in south San Francisco. Now, let’s let Lisa Davis(?) of SF Weekly take over – here’s her bit from all the way back in aught-one.
So there you go. Most likely, this old-school baby aircraft carrier is down there resting with a cargo of nuclear waste not too far from our Farallon Islands, radiating away.
Oh well.
Here’s What You Need: A Ear Rest for Your Cell Phone – Presenting ‘Earos’ by Robert Potter
Wednesday, September 8th, 2010Here’s the latest idea to get attention from our Funk Seoul Brothers and Sisters in South Korea.
The Seoul Design Fair 2010‘s competition for “future technology and daily living” is called Design for All and it just shortlisted an ear rest for your cell phone.
It’s called “Earos” and it was dreamed up by Robert Potter. Check it:
With Earos, you can order more Latisse (aka Bimatoprost)* in comfort:
It’s new, it’s you:
Will it hurt your iPhone’s reception? Don’t know.
Will it keep your valuable brain a significant distance away from your brain-warming mobile? Hell yes.
Maybe you could use this at home or something.
Enjoy.
*Speaking of which, here are some of the possible side effects of listening to Brooke Shields about what to do with your eyelid hair. Wow:
- May cause blurred vision.
- May cause eyelid redness.
- May permanently darken eyelashes.
- May cause eye discomfort.
- May eventually cause permanent darkening of the iris to brown.
- May cause a temporary burning sensation during use.
- May cause thickening of the eyelashes.
- It may cause unexpected growth of hair if applied inappropriately, on the cheek, for example.
- It may cause infection if the one-time applicators which come with the genuine product are reused.
- Lashes may grow so long that they become ingrown and scratch the cornea.
- May cause darkening of the eyelid or of the area beneath the eye.
On November 19, 2007 the FDA issued a warning during the seizure of a bimatoprost-containing cosmetic. The warning stated that “the extra dose of bimatoprost may decrease the prescription drug’s effectiveness. Damage to the optic nerve may lead to decreased vision and possibly blindness.”
But aside from that….
