What with THIS? (URL)

On Wed, 22 Nov 2006 21:44:52 -0600, "j" wrote in :

Same folks that think fluoridating water is a Commie plot!

Oh, the usual. Fear, uncertainty and doubt. Not much new here.

Personally, I agree with the skool policy. If there's an alternative to wireless available (wired ethernet), it should be a local decision as to how one connects to the internet. I don't see wired internet as a major inconvenience to the students and teachers.

Of course, there are those that want to ban laptops with or without wireless:

Just add it to the list of skools that ban iPods, cell phones, cameras, camcorders (to video tape lectures).

In the People's Republic of Santa Cruz, we have something similar:

Don't forget that you can also risk infertility by using a cell phone:

I like the concept of cell phones for birth control.

So, let's see what the National Cancer Institute has on brain cancer incidence statisics:

Start here:

and select "incidence" and "brain and CNS". Page 62 shows the trend for incidence and deaths for various types of cancer. The overall brain cancer incidence trend is -0.3% annual percentage change from

1994 to 2003. In other words, brain cancer incidence is not increasing. It's decreasing.

Digging a bit deeper, there were 58 million cell phones in 1995 which tripled by 2003 to 159 million. My guess is the minutes per customer increased far more than triple. So much for the correlation between cell phone use and brain cancer.

For 2006, there are predicted to be about 18,820 new cases of brain cancer. That's an annual incidence of about 6 cases per 100,000 population. Yawn...

On Thu, 23 Nov 2006 05:17:09 GMT, Jeff Liebermann wrote in :

I know of many schools, particularly those in old buildings, where wired Internet isn't a practical and viable option. And you've never seen bored or bratty kids yank on network cables? I sure have.

Yep. Been there at the local (brick building) university. They originally rewired the dorms to provide both POTS telephony and internet access. This was before cheap wireless. It cost so much to do the wiring that the university elected to cease the wiring and switch to wireless. Several generations of technology and a few vendors and it was done. The existing part of the wired part is still being used, but the wireless carries more traffic. Interestingly, the biggest headaches were insurance on the underground conduits and where to put the wired switches. The backhauls had to go through conduit that was absolutely stuffed full of spagetti and where various contractors owned the wiring (and insurance). Adding wire was risky, messy, and politicized. Locating the switches was another mess. There just wasn't any room available where all the CAT5 could conveniently come together. Telco and CATV closets were available, but they were already crammed full of antique hardware. The nice thing about wireless is that it doesn't involve much of any of these problems.

However, methinks it's still the decision of the skool. If they consider their perceived risk of health issues sufficiently important to justify dealing with the costs and problems of wiring an existing structure, then it's their time and money.

On Thu, 23 Nov 2006 05:55:54 GMT, Jeff Liebermann wrote in :

Actually it's our money, and (sadly) they don't get all that much of it. California schools have fallen far from their former luster.

We (Winona State University) have two campuses. The main campus was easy to wire because the entire campus has a good underground infrastructure - large tunnels with accomodations for fiber. (In fact, the tunnels are so large, that the maintence folks use bicycles to commute between buildings.) and the buildings' heat are all hot-water which left lots of room for cabling.

The other campus was, at first, a horror - we purchased it from a Catholic college that failed financially. I swear they built the place to withstand a nuclear attack. So much cement and steel. But the guys drilled 3' of concrete to feed fiber in, and wire throughout.

And we have wireless, of course. Students do prefer wire for media. So, given the option they plug in where they can.