Given the amount of handshaking which goes on, you can put the IMEI in those too.

Most modern cars have something like this in all their management systems. if breaking one up for parts, the components have to be electronically divorced from each other (while still connected to each other) or they'll refuse to work in another system (there's a marriage procedure too)

That setup was deliberately introduced to combat stolen parts rings and chop shops, but has only been partially effective (savvy operators steal entire cars and do the necessary procedures before commencing the chop, but many small legit breaking/recycling firms don't have the kit to do it, so are effectively selling electronic junk)

"Phones with blocked IMEI's still have value as parts"

In some cases they're worth more as parts than as phones.

It's a pity the Beeb didn't think to followthrough on the stories to find out what the fences were doing next. It'd a be a good "Kenyon" style undercover story.

> At least with this setup, the thieves would have to crack the phone open,....

fusble link proms are both tiny and extremely cheap. They can also be embedded _in_ the circuit board.

One of the original design criteria for mobile phones was that the electronic serial number should both be electronically immutable and impossible to physically without destroying the handset. At some point that went out the window.

Indeed.

The main (formerly govt monopoly) telco in New Zealand shut down virtually all media reporting of major fines it'd been hit with for illegal anticompetitive activities by threatening to pull all ad space in the time between the story was reported as "late breaking, more at 10" on the 6pm TV news and the 10pm news (both channels which ran news programs at the time ran them at 6 and 10pm)

Only IDG computerworld ran the story - and it's no coincidence that the telco didn't advertise in that.

It wasn't the first time a large company had shut down unfavourable press by thrreatening to withhold adverts, but it was the first time it had been done so effectively and across all mass media.

There's no reason most vaccines can't be combined in the same syringe.

Even if not: I can clearly remember getting shots at 4 years old. It hurt less than being pinched.

I had to do a bunch of vaccinations last year for travel. They hurt less than that.

OTOH Flu shots *throb* for days.

As far as autism goes, the withdrawing always seems to happen between 2 and 3, regardless of any given country's vaccine schedules. Correlation doesn't imply causality.

He was saying it in the 19th century.

"Survival of the fittest" was misused back in the day to justify mistreatment of workers, etc.

You might think that the worst effect of chicken pox is "a few scars, like acne", however:

Complications of chicken pox run at 1 in 100 and include:

1: Death (yes really!)
2: pneumonia, meningitis, encephalitis ( inflammation of the brain), inflammation of the heart and toxic shock
3: Cateracts (the virus can scar there too)
4: Limb growth problems.
5: permanent brain damage

Lest you think these are theoretical: A childhood friend of mine is legally blind thanks to chickenpox when she was 7 years old and the problems are more complex than cataracts.

So yes, it IS worth vaccinating against.

FWIW when I got chicken pox as a kid, there were 6 spots. 25 years later when shingles erupted across the left side of my face, medics were quite worried I'd lose an eye (I was lucky, but vision is slightly impaired).

Why would the homecooked meal be more likely to kill the OP than it is for unvaccinated people?

Any disease which can badly affect 5% of th epopulation and cripple 1% of those is worth vaccinating against.

The death rate from Measles is 1 in 9000 and serious complication rate (which range from blindness to brain damage to "confined to an iron lung for the rest of your life") about 1 in 5000.

I'll take the frigging vcaccine and the 1 in 3millon chance of a reaction, TYVM (Actually, though no choice of my own, I didn't get vaccinated - and have had measles (both types) [local outbreaks whilst I was too young to be vaccinated], mumps, varicella+shingles [no vaccine available at the time for both] and a couple of other nasties. Trust me, you DO NOT WANT 'EM)

It's no great surprise that the vast majority of antivaxxers havn't suffered the diseases in question, because _their_ parents were sensible enough to vaccinate them.

Sensible schools _require_ vaccination certificates for children and exclude those who don't have 'em.

Most journals wouldn't allow the kind of claptrap Wakefield foisted on the world without preliminary reviews.

The Lancet failed miserably at the first hurdle.

I am still surprised that Wakefield hasn't faced criminal charges (or been sued into oblivion) for the damage he's caused and with any luck someone will take on Jenny McCarthy (endangering public health?)

For slightly less purile fun, look at https://www.youtube.com/watch?... (The large haddock collider)

When you're stationary, _nothing_ beats large lead-acid traction batteries for longevity and low maintenance requirements. That's why Telcos still use them.

Mass and volume efficiency are irrelevant if you're siting 'em next to a wind turbine.

It's a different matter in your home and the economics are just in favour of not doing it, vs buying offpeak power and staying disconnected in peak hours.

"It is possible that simply to be connected to a power grid there might be a monthly fee dedicated to paying for the distribution infrastructure"

This has already happened in the UK (and a number of USA jurisdictions. Supply and usage charges are separated. (The net effect is a substantial increase in pwer charges over the last few years, but if you generate, you don't get credits on the supply charge)

"You can always pull over in a car when the weather gets rough."

And you can always _land_ and wait it out if you see you're coming up to shitty weather, or turn back. I've done both.

VFR flying means staying away from such stuff if possible and staying the hell out of clouds. If you're caught in weather bad enough to cause problems then you're most likely outside your license conditions anyway (IFR pilots are a different ballgame but in GA you _must_ take account of the weather no matter which conditions you're observing)

I've known 3 pilots who got themselves killed in bad weather. All three exemplified the saying about there being "no old, bold pilots"

It might be something as simple as an oxygen fed fire in the forward cargo hold. The cargo manifest hasn't been published and liekly wouldn't include "internal" items being shuttled around for maintenance. (It was oxy generators and a tyre which downed Valuejet)