Düsseldorf, Tour De France, Kraftwerk, Air, Friends, Adventure, YES PLEASE!

Photo by @puthoor_photo via Flickr

In just a few hours, David and I will be boarding a plane to Frankfurt & then taking the train to Düsseldorf. Our wild Kraftwerk adventure is leading us to their home town to meet Jan Wiefels who wrote about our wedding in the Rheinische Post! He extended a pair of tickets for us to see Kraftwerk & Air & we booked our travel immediately. Who could say no to an opportunity like this (not us!)?!

Thorsten Schaar reached out to David and I, inviting us to take part in an International Press trip of Kraftwerk and the Grand Depárt (the start of the Tour de France). David is writing an article on the event for Electronic Beats magazine and I'll be their photographer for this story. I can't believe our good fortune. It all began with the pictures I took of David being posted to his Flickr photostream & now my own Flickr account was essential in establishing that I can shoot good pictures every now and then!

Friends of ours will be joining us in Düsseldorf (Marshall, Les, Hilde & our very own Scott Stapleton!) Friday, Saturday and Sunday we'll be with the press group. The members of the International press we're traveling with are authors, musicians, magazine founders, literary agents and sports writers. It's sure to be an interesting group of people.

Many, many photos will be taken. I'm bringing my Polaroid Spectra, Sony a6000 & my trusty Pentax 110 (of course!). My purse/camera bag is heavy with lenses, spare batteries, film and my FauxPro.

Gifts were made with my handy dandy new Cricut machine! So many t-shirts!!!

A Confluence of Divergent Interests - Interop ITX 2017

I'm inordinately excited to announce that I will be speaking at Interop ITX 2017 and leading two morning yoga classes this year! I couldn't be happier to combine my love of Wi-Fi and yoga at Interop.

You can find me Wednesday May 17th discussing "Wireless Security Gotchas to Avoid" and leading morning yoga classes (poolside) Wednesday and Thursday morning 7am to 8am.

You can save 20% off any Interop pass with the discount code HUBER.

See you soon at Interop at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas!

You can read more about my love of yoga over on my other blog www.JenTechYoga.com

Comparing the Power Output

So many 'news' sources online will compare the UV radiation of an incandescent lightbulb to the radioactive output of plutonium as if the output levels of these two things can even be indicated on the same data chart. The "radiation" power output level of the incandescent bulb is infinitesimally small when compared to legitimately dangerous radioactive particles.

I will attempt to chart the power output of devices often clumped in with one another in comparison conversations with no regard to normalizing the data in order to compare apples to apples. There are differences in spectral density measurements at different operational frequencies and I've calculated these for the common cellular networks (T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T) based on this Wikipedia entry.

The FCC RF Exposure Guideline document doesn't get into specifics, but gives estimations for typical cellular tower sites. I used my previous blog on Smart Meters and their power output for the links for mW to W calculators, and this Field Strength Calculator tool by Compliance Engineering (a EMC testing laboratory in Australia) just to see if there was any difference in the numbers when represented in V/m since Lloyd Burrell of ElectricSense has the opinion that we should use V/m instead of W/cm2. I found no difference in the chart data rankings using either numerical representation of the data as you can see in these charted data comparisons. The chart line shape (and the charted difference between the values) is equivalent regardless of which way the data is represented.

This document by the FCC "Questions and Answers about Biological Effects and Potential Hazards of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields" is a bit dated (1999) but shows the mathematical formulas used to derive spectral density metrics for many different types of devices.

I plotted the following devices: Microwaves, Smart Meters, Indoor Wi-Fi Access Points, four common cellular frequencies used today as well as a modern DECT 6.0 cordless phone.

Here is the table version of the data I gathered:

	W/cm2	V/m	mW/cm2
Microwave	0.0000005	1.37	0.0005
1920–1930 MHz DECT Cordless Phones	0.0000179	8.21	0.0179
Smart Meters	0.000018	8.24	0.018
WiFi Indoor	0.000063	15.41	0.063
100-400MHz	0.0002	27.46	0.2
400MHz	0.0002	27.46	0.2
500MHz	0.00025	30.7	0.25
600MHz	0.0003	33.63	0.3
T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T 700MHz	0.00035	36.32	0.35
800MHz	0.0004	38.83	0.4
T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T 850MHz	0.000425	40.03	0.425
900MHz	0.00045	41.19	0.45
1000MHz	0.0005	43.42	0.5
1100MHz	0.00055	45.54	0.55
1200MHz	0.0006	47.56	0.6
1300MHz	0.00065	49.5	0.65
1400MHz	0.0007	51.37	0.7
1500MHz	0.00075	53.17	0.75
1600MHz	0.0008	54.92	0.8
T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T 1700MHz	0.00085	56.61	0.85
1800MHz	0.0009	58.25	0.9
T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T 1900MHz	0.00095	59.85	0.95
2000MHz	0.001	61.4	1
FCC Limits Cellular	1.6	2456.01	1600

It is difficult to read the charts when including the FCC limits on cell tower output levels as that value (1.6W/cm2) is nearly 200% higher than the average spectral density measured at cell towers operating in the 1900MHz frequency spectrum (.00095W/cm2). The chart on the left includes the FCC limit and the chart on the right shows the graph of the common "wireless" devices used as comparative items in EMF articles.

I get frustrated when I come across people on the internet claiming to be experts and in the same breath they compare a cordless phone to a microwave to a cell phone agains your head for hours at a time. Just because these things operate "wirelessly" does not mean they all pose the same threat level. This is akin to saying that a house cat is as dangerous as a lion because they're both felines.

You may have noticed that I have not focused on localized exposure to cell phone signals, meaning carrying your cell phone close to your person or having your cell phone next to your head for long periods of time spent talking on the phone. These exposure levels are represented in measures of Specific Absorption Rate (SAR). I am not a mathematician and as such, I've found no way to correlate the power output/spectral density measurements in W/cm2, mW/cm2, V/cm2 to a SAR value. Mobile phones undergo SAR testing in a laboratory environment where the phone is placed near a representation of a human head and SAR absorption rates are measured at different frequencies and positions in which the phone could be held by the user.

The audio quality of the following video is terrible, but the explanation of how SAR testing is performed is quite good.

In the years I've carried a cell phone on my person, the first 6 were only intermittent (only having the cell phone when I was on call) and I'd carry it in my handbag. Since I've had a personal phone, I occasionally carry it in my back pocket, but more often than not - it's in my handbag. When I have long conference calls, I use wired earbuds and sit the phone on my desk. My friend Sam has developed a rash/burn on his upper thigh after many years of carrying his cell phone in his front pants pocket. I do not discredit the potential harm from long term exposure to cell phone signals, but let's not start wearing space blankets! There's a big difference between a psychological ailment and a physiological ailment even if they're both physically debilitating.

If you are curious what the SAR test show for your model of cellphone, you can find this information on the manufacturer's website. Here are links to a few major makes and models.

• Apple
• Samsung
• Motorola
• LG

The Making of a Kraftwerk Wedding

Photo - Jon Wolding

It all started with a challenge to take a memorable (and awesome) driver's license photo... I donned my platinum wig & got an excellent glamour shot. David decided to dress as Kraftwerk for his driver's license photo and the rest (as they say) is history...

Knowing we were going to have a Kraftwerk themed wedding, I came up with the "weddingbahn" concept, created the 'cover art' for the invites and mailed them out. We'd set the date for January 4th, a Wednesday which would pair nicely as a Kraftwerk themed Wax Wednesday at Ella's Americana Folk Art Cafe in Tampa, FL (our favorite local restaurant). We reached out to our pal Michael Donaldson (aka Q-Burns Abstract Message) to compose Kraftwerk-esque wedding music & asked him to be our DJ for the event.

Getting a red shirt made online was the easy part (even if I put it off too long and then had to expedite shipping). I ordered my red shirt from Sumissura and it fit perfectly! I couldn't be happier with their attention to detail. The shirt was beautiful.

I hadn't given any consideration to decorations until Chef Suz at Ella's told us we could come in and setup the night before. Decorations? We didn't have any decorations. Easy. Well, that didn't last long - David said we needed decorations! His brainstorming and my crafting/painting/gluing capabilities brought forth mini album cubes, hashtag/Instagram table toppers, mini traffic cones, a life-size Computerworld photo prop and two Kraftwerk podiums for us.

The mini album cubes would prove the simplest to Photoshop, cut and glue together. Searching online for mini traffic cones (akin to the first Kraftwerk album cover) was an exercise in futility. Small traffic cones with two stripes are not a thing that can be purchased, therefore mini non-striped cones were purchased & painters tape was used to mask off the two stripes. Biscuit colored refrigerator paint & Rustoleum pearl paint were used to give the look of reflective stripes.

I bought the last 40x60 sheet of white foam-core from Office Depot, photoshopped up the album art from Computer World so that the computer had a left corner(!) & would be 40x40 when printed. I printed it out in sections, used glue sticks to piece the sections together and David helped me with spraying the paper and the foam-core with spray adhesive and gluing the two pieces together.

 The podiums were fun to make! The top and bottom are slender Amazon boxes, the center column is from double wall cardboard from IKEA (they always have huge sections of double wall cardboard in their box bins out in front of the store). The boxes were stabilized internally with expanding foam and a few chunks of brick (David's idea). I found photos of Kraftwerk's equipment online and with some minor photoshopping, edited those images into usable replicas of their gear for the top of the podiums. The printout of the equipment was done in sections on 11x17 paper, glued together and then spray adhered to two sections of tempered hardboard. The tempered hardboard was then glued and clamped to the top of the podiums to create a flat, smooth stable top to the podiums. The finishing touch was applying reflective tape to the front and sides of the podiums to give the look of the luminescent edges on Kraftwerk's actual equipment podiums.

Photo - Jon Wolding

Our padre was none other than Keith Ulrey, owner of Microgroove Records (an obvious choice). The cake was a chocolate/chocolate fudge cake from Charlie's Bakery in Orlando (hands down the best cake on the planet) photo printed with a white Arp Odyssey synthesizer and dollops of icing made the sliders 'pop' on the cake. It was delicious and gorgeous all at the same time.

Many thanks to Scott Imrich of WMNF (and Ella's Wax Wednesdays) who put in some DJ time so Michael could eat and catch up with old friends who were in town for our wedding!

We hired Jon Wolding of Ground Up Films to do our photography and his work was stellar! Here are just a few of the great pictures he captured of our wedding.

Photo - Jon Wolding 

Photo - Jon Wolding

Photo - Jon Wolding

The retro-futurism aesthetic Kraftwerk embraced throughout the 1970s led me to choose the short black 1920's finger-wave styled wig from Paramount Wigs for a feminine Kraftwerk look. I booked a 45 minute makeover at Sephora with the lovely and talented Christine in Sarasota (that was the closest Sephora with a next-day makeover appointment!). I wore my wig but no makeup, showed her the Man Machine album cover and she helped me craft a look to match the feel of the album cover and the style of hair I'd chosen. She did a great job and taught me a few tricks so I could recreate what she'd done for the wedding day!

The biggest thanks goes to our friends and family who came to our wedding in red shirts and black ties to take part in the Man Machine absurdity! We couldn't have done it without you! We made the news in several places due to your willingness to play along!

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The Man Who "Changed" His Name to Kraftwerk Had a Kraftwerk ...

This Is The Most Kraftwerk Wedding Ever