ARE YOU BEING ZAPPED? DO YOU CARE? MICROWAVE RADIATION FROM WIRELESS DEVICES

Watch this YouTube video and think about it. The Swiss government is warning its citizens about cordless phones and other wireless devices - why isn't every government doing the same? Obvious answers:

1. Because there's really nothing to worry about, folks. This level of radiation is perfectly safe. Anyone who thinks different is either ignorant, hypochondriac, a conspiracy-theorist nutcase, or all of those.

2. Because there might be plenty to worry about but the industries producing all of this technology are far too profitable and far too advanced to stop their progress or to go back to drawing boards and re-think the whole thing. And they are certainly not keen to publicise any data which points to the dangers. 

3. Because hey, life is brutish and short! So why not enjoy our dangerous and delightful gadgets while we can? And if we, or our children, or grandchildren, die from cancers caused by constant and close contact with such gadgets.....oh, too bad! That's life! Deal with it! 

We've all seen young children (and of course adults too) with mobile phones pressed against their heads, having hours-long conversations. And pregnant women resting their laptops (or iPads) on conveniently swollen bellies as they surf the net. And men with laptop between their legs as they sit on a train working or playing computer games. All perfectly safe? I don't think so. And yes, I do care.

I'm getting rid of my one cordless phone. I've never liked it anyway, sometimes it sort of buzzes against my head. And I don't have an iPad or a SmartPhone. And I've never rested my laptop on my lap. Anyway I mainly use a desktop and have no WiFi devices. Whew!

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MOVED AGAIN

This morning my sister and I travelled by ambulance out of the big Roussy hospital to a convalescent clinic further out of the Paris periphery, near a small provincial town. The doctor wants her to stay two or three weeks but Annie has never been one to do what she's told or to accept that she is not Superwoman. Her recovery from the operation, thanks to the brilliant skill of the surgeon, has been astonishing but she is still not fit enough to go back to 'normal' life. Arriving at the clinic, there was a bit of a kerfuffle - to use a gentle British euphemism for one hell of a drama - because the lady was not well pleased with the place or with anything, really.

Never mind. Things have calmed down now and I am installed in a cozy room in a small hotel in the town centre, with a WIFI connection that actually works. I like this area much better than where I was before, at least there's human life out there, not just cars. There are shops and restaurants, boulangeries and boucheries and coiffeurs (more coiffeurs than anything else, for some reason - maybe the ladies of the town are particularly hair-conscious). My hotel is one of those typically French romantic petits hotels where things that don't work (like the missing top of the hot water tap) are quite charming and attended to with casual good humour by the proprietor. I much prefer this to mass-produced anonymously efficient tourist-oriented establishments. My room is the kind where one could probably write a book, should one be so inclined. One is not, pour le moment, so inclined.

Pictures of some sort will be forthcoming, soon I hope.

TECHNICAL REPORT

Have been struggling for the past few days to make my new MacBook behave exactly the same way as my familiar and friendly desktop iMac but this is beyond the realm of possibility. The new baby has its own personality and refuses to be a clone. There's also my ignorance of all things laptoppish and WIFI-ish. To make a very long boring story short, it looks like the only way I'll be able to blog from Paris will be on my my mirror blog (assuming I'll succeed in getting a connection) and not here in your familiar Blaugustine page. No problem if you're already reading me on Blogger. Anyhow, wish me technical success and many thanks for all kind messages regarding my sister's op.

A bientôt.

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