Probably works better when the tape is further from the camera, and suspended in air for a bigger difference in refactive indices, as it would be in a typical camera enclosure with a shroud to make it less likely that objects touch the lens. The tape scatters the light - but if it's stuck on a thin piece of glass, not so much.

Plus in Europe, various jurisdictions have different tax rates on fuel.

It makes a lot of economic sense for truckers to have an extended tank and fill up in the place with the lowest fuel tax, and avoid places like the UK with high taxes.

Knight Rider : the car automatically drives up a ramp into the back of the truck where an attractive brunette personally sees to your charging needs while the truck continues toward your destination.

Gay Porno : The attractive brunette is David Hasselhoff.

In America, there would be a strong argument that this is in contravention of the Fifth Amendment of the consitution (as it would be self-incrimination). Not sure how that's played out though.

But yes, in the UK, there is a specific criminal offense of "Not disclosing your encryption key" which carries a 2 year sentence... and you can of course, be asked to disclose your key again once you've served it...

The price rapidly went up to £400 for the Model B (as the Wikipedia page states, lower down) due to supply issues.

This is true, but you had to go somewhere to obtain them.

I very fondly remember my trips to the public library with Mum (a lot of the time I would bring back these excellent Usborne programming books).

But you had a 3 book limit (and Mum was usually kind enough to let me get something on her card as well). I'd go through that very quickly. When the library is a 40-minute round trip on foot (and you're not allowed to ride on main roads on your bike by your parents), that's a major investment of time. Faced with that, the kids of today (and despite things being much safer... they're allowed out on their own much less..) are going to plump for instant gratification every time - visit the App Store for a new pesterware game, or YouTube.

Yeah, it cost £400, which is £1,400 adjusted for inflation.

The "inexpensive" version (the Acorn Electron) still cost £200. My grandparents chipped in to help my parents buy me one.

In real terms, the Raspberry Pi (which is a fair-ish comparison - not as much I/O, but still doesn't have it's own screen, like the BBC) costs less than £10 adjusted to 1981.

Price is not the issue. People found the money back then. Computing hardware is incredibly cheap now. You can get a full laptop with screen, for a small fraction of what the BBC cost.

The issue is the wealth of distractions available to youth BECAUSE computer hardware is now incredibly cheap and ubiquitous.

.. and I'm not sure what will.

The reason that kids of my age were "into computers" and we had a "great generation" of bedroom programmers who subsequently became tech workers was because simple, programmable computers were one of the few forms of entertainment available to the kids who didn't want to go out and kick a ball around or ride their bike.

This was an era when

* Things were more expensive (the toys cost.. about what they do, in numbers, these days. Only inflation means that £30 is not even 10 pints of beer for dad these days when it was more like 60 pints of beer back then.) A £200 home computer was a MAJOR expense rather than an impulse buy.
* There was an hour of kids TV on weekdays

And of course

* NO INTERNET - no personal portable devices of bottomless instant gratification

I saw a great article that explained that the no.1 quality a programmer needs is persistence - in the face of ridiculous odds of getting even simple things to work.

Back then you persevered with things because the only other thing to do was go and watch Coronation Street with mother, or re-read one of the few books you could afford this month. Even deciding to start playing a game wasn't exactly an impulse choice because to load it took about 5 minutes (from audio cassette tape).

Producing more simple, programmable computers these days is missing the point, although they are greatly appreciated by folks from that great generation of bedroom programmers who like a new toy to tinker with.

What's probably needed is better software. Better like A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer better.

My phone has a battery that runs out in a day (or three, if I'm very careful not to use it).

My watch battery has been going strong for over four years. Last week I thought it had expired ; it had just popped out of the contacts. Still going strong.

Given the enormous number of times I remove my phone from my pocket just to look at the time, lock it, and return it, having the watch for days when I'm travelling on a schedule makes the money I spent on it worth it. I don't have any overhead charging it, syncing it, etc, and it's just there, on my wrist, telling the time.

I don't wear it the rest of the time, because the strap catches on the edge of things while I'm typing.

I think the cunt ratio approaches 1 when you do PPE (politics, philosophy, and economy - a degree who's sole purpose is to prepare you to rule).

*ding*

> At least in open-source, if they don't you can try and fix it yourself.

I've had *excellent* support from OSS projects. I've had lead developers personally upload patched builds to my FTP server.

But I've fixed bugs for myself more. Even having the source is often enough to pin down the problem without havign to patch it.

That's why it's my policy that all things being equal (or even a little unequal) to choose open-source components.

And of course, illegals

* Prop up the economy
* Depress the working wage

If they actually managed to put up a proper border control, people might have to pay their gardener / maid / pickers a decent wage....

It must be hard being a right-wing politician. On one hand, wanting "American jobs for Americans!". On the other hand, not wanting to actually have to pay for them.

They wouldn't need a warrant canary - they are in Denmark and not subject to the force of a National Security Letter.

But as others have pointed out, if they come out and say their SIMs are compromised, the consumer outcry will cost them many millions. They have 2 billion units in the wild.

"Corporate responsibility" (to the shareholders...) dictates that they can't admit that, even if it's true.

Yeah, but that's a loss-leader.

They sell the SIM in the expectation that you'll spend money on service. It doesn't imply that the cost of the SIM is less than $1. The dollar is likely just something to incentivize the shop to sell them.

My provider will send you a package of multiple SIM cards to give out to people, for free. Doesn't imply that they have a zero cost.

Exactly.

The cost of antibiotics is where it is, because the first ones were developed on a socialist basis.

Penicillin production was boosted tremendously by the Second World War ; a serious effort was made to find a way to mass produce it cheaply so that it could save the lives of war wounded. There was no requirement to put it through an expensive double-blind clinical trial.

This established a low cost for antibiotic drugs, which meant that subsequent drugs also had to have similar prices.

The return on investment for society in general on these drugs is enormous. Alas, big pharma isn't interested in the benefit to society because of the way it's funded.

The return on investment for the pharmaceutical company these days would be small in comparison to a new cancer drug, but new cancer drugs typically only have a very small niche in which they can be applied. Antibiotics would have a large niche (particularly safe ones that kill MRSA), but entering the market would require the full double blind RCT and lots of paperwork. It just wouldn't be profitable enough for the taste of the pharmacy company, even if the benefits would be incalculable.

All in all, this is a strong argument to have a nationalised (or even a global-level multi-state owned) pharmaceutical company. Which would never be supported by capitalist governments, because of their incentive structure (politicians get into power on the back of corporate contributions, and thus will tend not to support actions that could benefit the whole of humanity without maximising corporate profits).