Beyond Creativity

Robert O. Becker: Cross Currents + Off-line June-August 2009

For all medical doctors, engineers, researchers and (e)inventors I have a book recommendation:

  Cross Currents from Dr Robert O. Becker. 

Dr Becker early understood  that a human being is an electromagnetic entity. The first edition of this book was written in 1990 and now it is more actual than ever.

For example: The healing of wounds and bones is based on electric currents inside of us. Our cells communicate with electricity. Our body functions and rhythms (including circadian) are based on changes in natural(!) electromagnetic fields. Becker also showed how acupuncture and many other alternative treatments work.

Artificial electromagnetic fields and mobile devices/basestations/powerlines distort this communication inside of us. Being concerned about life on earth, Becker tried to inform military and industry about safer technologies (without immediate success).

A nice short review of this book is written by Andrew Eriksen. Still, remember, by reading the whole book you will get the Heureka! moments ;-)

 

In case you have difficulties in getting the 'Cross Currents' book, try Robert O. Becker and Gary Selden’s earlier book Body Electric in eBook, PDF-format.

Update 18th June 2009: Talking about environment: The chapter called Maxwell's Hammer is worth reading. I hope that soon the environmental discussion will focus on the bombardment of ionosphere + abnormal growth/changes caused by microwaves (before it is too late). Hopefully Green Party(ies) and Greenpeace will finally get it: climate change is NOT only about increased CO2-levels. Constantly growing powerline grid and dense base station network has an effect on weather, nature and ionosphere. Not to mention the risky HAARP installation in Alaska :-(

Becker was twice nominated for Nobel prize in medicine. For very good reasons.

It would be great to hear your comments about Becker’s books.

+++

I will be off-line writing in June, July and August. Time to ... read books and write. So, please, in the meanwhile do not expect quick answers from me ;-)

Moscow - Return to Russia's Creative Dynamo + RNCNIRP

20 years ago, in 1989, I visited previous time Moscow. It was a summer full of strong emotions, youth and great adventure in Soviet time. Now, when I returned in May 2009 the landmarks like Moscow State University (Московский государственный университет имени М.В.Ломоносова) were still in my mental map and my expectations from the new visit were high. To understand Russia, you just need to understand the Russian soul [душа], music and culture. I am slowly learning these elements and perhaps my Carelian roots help me in this process ;-) So, I had a feeling like coming home :)

During my life I have had the honour to have many excellent mentors and hosts. This visit was no exception. Professor in physiology, Osmo Hänninen originally invited me to Moscow in the Environmental BioIndicators conference and the Kotelevtsev family was a great host on site.

Update 25th May 2009: My presentation in the Environmental BioIndicators conference partly focused on:

A) Abnormal growth caused by RF radiation in plants, insects, animals and humans

B) The consequences of ultra-high guidance levels in fostering abnormal growth and other side effects

C) Siting and configuration of base stations and other wireless technologies to minimise damage

D) Interplay of chemicals and RF radiation (and how little we know about it and why for example EU's NORMAN-network and ECHA (European Chemicals Agency) should focus on it).

So, I didn't choose the easiest topic and the knowledgeable audience provided me important feedback and new insights.

Meeting with professor Yuri Grigoriev (Юрий  Григорьев) was  memorable, we talked (in Russian), eat and drink for many hours. As the head of Russian National Committee of Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (RNCNIRP) Yuri has amazing experience:
- Being a medical officer already in the 2nd World War
- Developing artificial electro-magnetic fields to space ships (Sputnik-programme)
- Being one of the first doctors/professors in Chernobyl in 1986 to investigate the catastrophic situation
- Understanding early how the effects of non-ionising radiation are not just ... thermal [Russian research about biological effects, examples: [1],[ 2],[3].

Update: Many times during our discussion Yuri emphasised that children's risks are much greater when it comes to microwave and especially mobile phone exposure [1],[2].

So, we had both serious and non-serious topics.

ITK 2009 Hämeenlinna and Environmental BioIndicators Moscow -conferences

In 2 conferences I will talk about healthier, more sustainable practices in using educational technologies:

1. Mobiilioppiminen – miten mahdolliset terveysriskit vaikuttavat
opetuksen käytäntöihin

[Mobile learning - What kind of impact do health risks have on educational practices]

 

Together with professor in physiology, Osmo Hänninen and with researcher Antti Syvänen.

On Thursday, 23th April 2009 at the ITK-Conference, Interaktiivinen Tekniikka Koulutuksessa, Hämeenlinna, Aulanko, Finland.

Esitysrunko + Lataa koko ITK-esitys, päivitetty versio 17.5.2009 klo 8:45.

2.  Schools, Wireless Technologies and Health Risks - How to Minimise Radiation Exposure

In the 17th International Conference on Environmental BioIndicators

 

On 17th-22nd May 2009 in Moscow, Russia

Abstract (draft)

In this presentation I will also discuss about mobile phone base stations and their proper siting.

It will be great to meet (again) professors Oleg and Yuri Grigoriev in Moscow from the RNCNIRP (Russian National Committee on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection) :-)  Please, check the latest recommendations of RNCNIRP in English: [1],[2].

What is your opinion: Are health risks of children properly addressed in today's schools? Do you happen to know good educational practices to reduce microwave exposure?

EU Parliament: No base stations close to schools and no mobile phone marketing to children

Press release: Avoiding potential risks of electromagnetic fields, European Parliament, Public health - 02-04-2009 - 12:34

"Antennas, mobile phone masts and other electromagnetic emitting devices should be set within a specific distance from schools and health institutions, according to a report adopted by the European Parliament. The Commission should make more reliable information available about the effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields to citizens who feel that they are not well informed. The report was adopted with 559 votes in favour, 22 against and 8 abstentions."

A video by the European Parliament:

MP Frédérique Ries has done excellent job :-)

Previous, historical steps:

Deezer - Social Media Service for Music

Quite often I have talks and presentations about Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing. The Deezer service is a good example of users recommending content and remixing content. In that sense Deezer is a basic example of Social Media as well. Try it:

My earlier favourite: Musicovery. Waiting for an invitation to Spotify ;-)

With Deezer I will be curious to:

A) add my own music to service (as MP3s)
 
B) add friends to my profile and see how the recommendation part works.

C) sing karaoke through it (just kidding/dreaming :)

Irradiating skiers in Lapland, Saariselkä

"Around Saariselkä, the vastest fell highland of northern Europe can be discovered, where clean nature, its beauty and the silence of fells allow you to relax"

Think again.

Every year, there will be more transmitters and antennas on the top of the Kaunispää mountain (fell), in Saariselkä, Lapland.

Well, that's not all. This active radiating continues in the ski lift of children:

Disruptive Innovation - Some Quotations

How would you describe a disruptive innovation? I am not satisfied with Christensen's explanation or Dogbert's way of pursuing :) ,so, I am looking for new explanations.

I admire the work of Joseph Schumpeter and his ideas about the 'creative destruction'. According to Schumpeter: 'creative destruction causes continuous progress and improves the standards of living for everyone'. Well, isn't that a bit too optimistic?

ICNIRP - History and Industry Connections - a Video

Those ICNIRP (International Comission of Non-Ionising Radiation 'Protection') guidance levels [1],[2] for electromagnetic radiation exposure are ridicuouly (and dangerously) high in our environment.

Please, watch the marvellous 'A Radiant Day'  video. It describes the historical origins of ICNIRP guidance levels. Video contains also interesting interviews: Igor Belyaev, Eva Markova, Gerd Oberfeld, John Osepchuck, Michael Repacholi,  etc. 

Description of the Norwegian TV NRK1 video

Update 7th March 2009: Dr Neil Cherry once wrote:

"The standard based on the ICNIRP Guidelines is focused on avoiding tissue heating, not based on biological and epidemiological evidence. The maintenance of the standard is obtained by ignoring or rejecting any and all evidence that contradicts it."

I am amazed how accurate his following critique of ICNIRP is now, almost ten years after the first publication!

Meta-Model of Creativity

Creativity or creativities? That is what Robert J. Sternberg asked in 2005.

Defining creativity is a difficult task. Sternberg suggests to start this by asking... more questions:

Finland limits mobile phone use of children + Genotoxic effects

I am relieved!

Säteilyturvakeskus, the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority Finland (STUK) announced 7th of January 2008 a recommendation [1]:

 - "Children's mobile phone use should be limited" (Lasten matkapuhelimen käyttöä on hyvä rajoittaa)

After several (years of) warnings from Osmo Hänninen (professor in physiology), STUK finally listens. Maybe Osmo's book (in Finnish) and our little TV tour in the summer 2008 helped? Or maybe professor Dariusz Leszczynski finally managed to explain to those Warm-Only-Fellows in the STUK what biological effects mean?

Update 26th June 2009: Professor Osmo Hänninen and I met the Minister of Health, Paula Risikko, in October 2009 in Helsinki and discussed about the risk of children, among other topics. I highly respect Mrs Risikko because after our meeting she visited the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) and most likely she was able to influence STUK representatives to give the recommendation in January 2009.

Additionally, I submitted through Mrs. Terttu Savolainen an Official Inquiry (In Finnish) to the highest doctor in the Ministry of Health, Dr Mikko Paunio. This Inquiry (dated 23th September 2008) was related to DNA-damage of mobile phones and I asked whether the Ministry of Health will advice the Ministry of Transport and Communication to stop the shut down of landlines in counties in Finland. My Inquiry was so sensitive, that so far (June 2009) I have not received any answer. I have twice asked Mr Paunio about it, without response from him or from STUK.  

 Update 10th January 2008:

- Please, check a large selection of biological effects related papers.

- What about children in the countryside (of Finland and Sweden) where the operators have been allowed to shut down the POTS networks? How does the STUK Finland recommendation protect these children (any more)? Please, see my story about the Nordic Health Disaster.

Good to know: Our cells in our body use minimal currents (=electricity) for communication and regeneration. All this is dependant on Earth's magnetic field and Schumann resonances.  Mobile phones, base stations, electrical devices and power grid induce thousands of times stronger currents to our body. Additionally, some of these devices work at the same frequencies as our brain waves. Microwave radiation is more effective (damaging) than ELF (powerline) radiation. The following (rough) picture by Neil Cherry describes these microwave effects versus official ICNIRP radiation guidance levels. No wonder people (and especially children) get sick :-(

Russian researchers have known these biological effects for decades [1, 2 ,3 ], therefore the official warning of Russia is worth reading (included in my previous posting). The current, acute heat-shock focused ICNIRP radiation guidance levels [1, 2, 3] in most western European countries do not protect population from continuous, chronic exposure. 

I welcome you to read the following paper from Neil Cherry:

Evidence that Electromagnetic Radiation is Genotoxic -  PDF 1 Mb

This paper nicely explains those biological mechanisms and it was presented in the European Parliament in 2000 and extended in 2002.

European Parliament announced a warning in September 2008 in it's Mid-Term Review. Please, check chapters 21-23. European Environmental Agency (EEA) has cleverly indicated these risks in 2001 in their book 'Late lessons from early warnings' . BioInitiative Report contains thousands of EMF&Health Risks -related references. What a pity that European Commission is so heavily influenced by industry that fast actions have not followed (yet) :-(

To understand all this, I recommend the book 'Cross Currents'. Dr Robert O. Becker showed in his pioneering work of how regeneration and healing takes place in our body. And how this is all dependent of electromagnetic forces. Becker was twice nominated for the Nobel prize in medicine.

Did I manage to describe a radical innovation? Is this a paradigm shift ala Kuhn? Any comments about the STUK-Finland announcement?

Starting year 2009 - Book and music recommendations

Thank you for reading this blog and commenting it in 2008. 

I will start year 2009 with  ... music and book to recommendations :-)

MUSIC

Seal has a new CD, Soul. It is all about soul music. Soul is very much about interpretation and 'feeling'.

As an (amateur) singer, I find German Lied songs challenging and enjoyable. Propably the best master is Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Still,  Ian Bostridge is really good as well. I recommend his Schumann Liederkreis & Dichterliebe -album.

I am also famous for my 'bad' taste. I am so glad that lovely Britney Spears is performing again :-) I have not yet listened her newest album, Circus, but I still dare to recommend it. The Wizard of Sweden, Max Martin, writes usually her best songs. If you don't like Britney, at least her performance does not leave anyone ... indifferent ;-) Lately, she has been kind in promoting Finnish Sauna for free :-) (What is the real Finnish sauna? An orthodox explanation.).

BOOKS

Bodil Jönsson: Ten Thoughts about Time. Some years ago, this small and simple book changed radically ways how I consider time and spent time . Nowadays:
-  I don't wear a watch ("Western people are slaves of digital time")
-  I am not reachable and available all the time ("We should have time to "stop and stare")

... and my wife is desperate ;-)

I remember when I was in 2003 walking with professor Mike Sharples and his father Alan on a hill, north of Birmingham, UK. In the highest spot, Mike took ...  a kite from his bag. I was surprised and Alan commented "Every true scientist has a kite". In winter time, you can not always fly a kite.  Therefore, I recommend this Kid's Paper Airplane Book. You can always fly a paper airplane indoors ;-) I am so clumsy with miniature models, so this is good building exercise as well. And it always nice to build together with my children :-)

This current recession can be (perhaps) explained with terms of Peter Drucker?! His book 'Innovation and Entrepreneurship' could explain the Dot.com -bubble 15 years ahead in 1985.

- "Systematic innovation therefore consists in the purposeful and organized search for changes, and in the systematic analysis of the opportunities such changes might offer for economic and social innovation. "

His '7 sources of innovative opportunity' are always worth reading and thinking ;-)

FUTURE

As you might have noticed, I am (we are) working with disruptive innovation and paradigm shift ala Kuhn. Year 2009 will be interesting, even revolutionary. Stay tuned!

But now: Happy New Year!

    Mikko

Nordic Health Disaster - Any chance to avoid it?

Teleoperators (carriers) in Nordic countries (Finland and Sweden) are allowed to shut down landlines and (A)DSL-connections in the countryside. This means that even little children in the countryside are forced to use a) mobile phone and b) wireless Internet connection.

As you probably know, countries in the North are quite...large. So, the distance to the closest base station may be several kilometers. A mobile phone increases it's power extensively, far from a base station. This is already a documented health risk [1],[2],[3],[4]. Additionally, the operators are solving bandwidth problems by adding many overlapping technologies (like UMTS-900, @450, WiMAX). Where is the pure Nordic nature when air is packed with microwave pulses?

The Ministry of Transport and Communication (LVM, T&C), Finland, requested comments to their broadband (laajakaista) plan. I provided them a reply (PDF).

I looked at:

1. Health risks of mobile phones
2. Effects of base stations on plants, insects and animals
3. Effects of base stations on human beings

(The plan is in Finnish, but the references starting at page 2 might be interesting?!?)

In Finland, the government (under pressure) has planned to provide fiber optics network to the whole country by the year 2015.  Well, 7 years is a long time for a child to make mobile phone calls with bad reception / limited coverage :-(  So, in my proposal I suggested that the fiber optics network should be built first, already in 2009.

According to the original plan of T&C, by the year 2010 the Finnish government tries to cover the whole country with multiple, overlapping wireless networks (@450, UMTS-900, WiMAX). Similar plan is in Sweden. I suggested that they would look closely at health risk in wireless technologies before implementing that plan. Update 16th December 2008: An Overview on Base Stations and Health Risks. 

This is also an equality question: which families with children want to live in the countryside any more? (Please, check my previous posting about children and their specific risks).

Afterword: While governments own shares of teleoperators, can those T&C ministers really make informed decisions? Update 23rd November 2008: These politicians are effectively misled .

Finland and Sweden have lot to learn from Norway [1],[2], [3],[4],[5]. Currently in Norway, there is a lot of discussion about health risks of mobile phones and ICNIRP guidance levels for base stations. In Finland and Sweden, there is hardly any discussion at all! Any idea, what might be the reason :-\ Please, check those Norwegian links!

Every comment is welcome!