If you enjoyed the Wi-Fi song in our last post, you might enjoy more songs by hello-the-future.net. (My favourite is King of Town.) The singer / songwriter, Blue, has a great sense of humour. She is one of the most positive individuals you will find on the Internet. If you’re looking for someone to brighten your day, consider signing up to her weekly email list.
The timing of the Wi-Fi song was interesting. The next day the World Health Organization announced that it was moving radiofrequency electromagnetic fields into group 2B – possibly carcinogenic. The Times-Colonist has a great editorial about this. Dan Gardner (Ottawa Citizen) has a good column as well.
One factor to consider is that the strength of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) is not constant. It decreases in a manner proportional to the square of the distance between a source and an object. This is known as the inverse square law. 
If Alice is standing twice as far away as Bob, you might think she receives half the EMR. But that’s not the case. In fact, Alice receives one quarter of the EMR. And if Alice is standing three times as far away, she receives only one ninth of the EMR that Bob does.
This is important because cell phones use stronger signals and they are held directly to the side of the head. Wi-Fi routers are usually positioned a larger distance (say, between five to fifty feet) from the end users. From a safety perspective, the inverse square law favours Wi-Fi.
This may be one reason the Wi-Fi committee of the Greater Victoria School District has recommended no changes to wireless networks in schools. This decision still needs to be ratified at the Operations, Policy and Planning committee meeting on June 13, and then at the school board meeting on June 20th. Scientific Victoria will be at both meetings and we’ll let you know how they turn out.
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