LOL

Truth is that in early 1993 I was diagnosed with cancer.   5 rounds of chemo 
later - in the hospital each time - they "got it"

Electromagnetic radiation has to have enough energy to damage cell structures 
to cause cancer - that is, it must be ionizing.

Wifi radio waves are non-ionizing and thus non-cancer causing.

I'm sure you probably know that which is why I found your comment funny.

But it is surprising how many people don't understand the difference.  Years 
ago I got called into a special case with a client - they had hired an employee 
who was claiming she was being affected by radio waves given off by the 
equipment.  The client was completely at a loss on what to do about it.

I visited the employee and didn't even bother to try to explain anything I 
merely asked her how she knew the equipment was emitting radio waves, whereupon 
she pulled out the following:

https://www.amazon.com/PSB0H0-Detects-Electric-Frequency-Magnetic/dp/B0DST6XY5G/

These were originally developed to test transmitting antenna propagation auras 
(how you tell what a radiation pattern is) but the antivaxxers/conspiracy crowd 
has seized on them - thus you can see captions like:

"it is also ideal for office workers, pregnant women, and the elderly who 
require detection of electrical radiation for their own health"

I swear to God this is straight out of that Amazon listing.

Anyway, she waved her EMF meter around and with it I helped her identify the 
source of the radio waves - it was the external power bricks powering her 
monitor and PC.  I said "no problem I got this"

I then went to a paint store and bought several brand new paint cans and a pair 
of tin snips I used to cut a slot in the lid big enough for the wires to and 
from the power bricks.

I then put the power bricks in the paint cans and sealed the lids then asked 
her to test with her meter.  (I didn't even bother to ground them)  Naturally, 
waving the meter around near the paint cans now showed no more radio waves.

She was happy, my customer was happy, and the paint store was happy.  Problem 
solved.  Of course, my customer's jaw dropped to the floor when I showed them 
the pictures.

Sometimes you just can't fight the idiocy.

Ted

-----Original Message-----
From: PLUG <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Ben Koenig via PLUG
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2026 2:59 PM
To: Portland Linux/Unix Group <[email protected]>
Cc: Ben Koenig <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [PLUG] USB dongle accidental swaperoonie

True, but how are we going to get our daily dose of cancer without all those 
extra wireless devices? 


-Ben

On Monday, April 20th, 2026 at 8:38 PM, Ted Mittelstaedt 
<[email protected]> wrote:

> There's always the corded kind...lol
> 
> Ted
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: PLUG <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Russell 
> Senior
> Sent: Monday, April 20, 2026 5:28 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [PLUG] USB dongle accidental swaperoonie
> 
> 
> 
> On 4/20/26 14:31, King Beowulf wrote:
> > On 4/19/26 21:38, Russell Senior wrote:
> >> A fellow named Bryan came to the clinic today. I provided a 
> >> wireless keyboard he could use, but sometime when things were 
> >> getting sorted out when he'd finished, it looks like he got my USB 
> >> wireless dongle and I got his. This is going to be consternating 
> >> when he tries to use his keyboard or mouse when he gets home. I 
> >> asked him how he heard about the Clinic and he told me he'd been 
> >> referred to us by someone named Tom Price or something like that.
> >>
> >> Is anyone here that person or know who that person might be? I'd 
> >> like to try to get back in touch with Bryan to trade the dongles 
> >> back. I checked the mailing list membership and I didn't 
> >> immediately spot Tom's name, so maybe the email address doesn't contain 
> >> the name or something.
> >>
> >> Anyway, any suggestions welcome.
> > He'll no doubt figure it out and stop by the next meet up, or if 
> > these are Logitech unified transceivers, use something like ltunify 
> > or Solaar to reset/repair.
> 
> Bryan's is not labelled (i.e. no unify logo), but possibly still compatible 
> with unifying receivers.  My dongle was a "bolt" (apparently some Bluetooth 
> Low-Energy thing), which isn't compatible. I can easily replace mine (and 
> indeed, I don't need it until next month), but for Bryan not having a mouse 
> for a month seems somewhat disruptive, so I was hoping to reconnect with him 
> before then.
> 
> --
> Russell Senior
> [email protected]
> 
> 

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