That is one of the problems, since it is handy for kids to have cellphones, in order to get messages, allow parents to track them, etc.
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That is one of the problems, since it is handy for kids to have cellphones, in order to get messages, allow parents to track them, etc.
Shiftless2
Well-known member
My son's former boarding school instituted a policy that said all cellphones had to be turned in to their housemaster/housemistress before classes started in the morning and wouldn't be returned until after the last class of the day. Students were getting around this by the simple expedient of purchasing a second phone (often paid for by their parents).
I remember speaking to the Headmaster about this and he said that no matter what rule the school put in place the kids were always two steps ahead of them.
Can either of you help clarify?
Faraday cage
n.
A container made of a conductor, such as wire mesh or the metal frame of an aircraft, forming an equipotential shield around what it encloses and protecting it from external electric fields. Also called Faraday shield.
[AfterMichael FARADAY, who constructed one in 1836.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
Perhaps you've seen B&W vid of a person inside one of these while high voltage, synthetic lightning is applied to the outside.
The notion being, if during construction of a school building electrical conductor is built into the external shell of the building, would that block cell-phone signals?
I thought it should, but it seems (even if against FAA regs) passengers at altitude can use cell-phones to communicate with Earth. Todd Beemer comes to mind.
I figured by now they were building cinemas like that. Apparently not?
My reason for asking: if that worked, inside the Faraday school the smartphone becomes a PDA (remember "Palm Pilot"?).
Reportedly occasionally an airliner is stricken by lightning mid-flight. It seems passengers & crew are spared electrical shock from lightning *, but that delicate avionics can succumb to the voltage transient, EMP.
* From the Aluminum skin on the fuselage. Not sure what happens if they switch to Carbon fiber.
I am not an expert, but I believe you can use a cellphone in a metal airplane because the metal is passive and just transmits the signal through at full strength.
What you need to do is weaken the signal.
And what I understand works is to shorten the antenna, with a bundle of short metal wires like mesh.
In fact, I believe that powdered metal would work the best.
Parents say teens are addicted to social media. Now, a jury will decide.
Naomi Nix, (c) 2026 , The Washington Post Mon, January 26, 2026 at 6:36 PM GMT-5
For years, parents alleged that top social media companies had gotten teens hooked on their products with addictive design features, arguing in legal filings that these choices led to depression, anxiety, eating disorders and, in some tragic circumstances, death.
These stories helped spur a sweeping regulatory movement that has led states and governments around the world to pass laws restricting teens’ use of social media and forced tech companies to take bolder actions to protect young people.
Parents say teens are addicted to social media. Now, a jury will decide.
For years, parents alleged that top social media companies had gotten teens hooked on their products with addictive design features, arguing in legal filings that these choices led to depression, anxiety, eating disorders and, in some tragic circumstances, death. These stories helped spur a...
In one of the most expensive advertising venues in the solar system?
Why?
If it wasn't effective publicity, would it be focus of discussion here now?
CEO of the American health insurance company UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson was shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on December 4, 2024.
en.wikipedia.org
Luigi Mangione now in prison for this murder.
A Minnesota man was charged Thursday with impersonating an FBI agent after he showed up at a federal prison in New York City claiming to have a court order to release an inmate, identified by a law enforcement source as accused killer Luigi Mangione.
Mark Anderson, 35, was arrested at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn late Wednesday after prison workers asked to see his credentials and he produced a Minnesota driver’s license and “claimed to be in possession of weapons,” according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Anderson also claimed “that he was an FBI Agent in possession of paperwork ‘signed by a judge’ authorizing the release of a specific inmate,” the complaint says.
The court document does not name the inmate.
“Anderson also displayed and threw at [Bureau of Prisons] officers numerous documents,” the complaint says. “They appear to be related to filing claims against the United States Department of Justice.”
In his backpack, BOP workers found a barbecue fork and a “round steel blade” that resembled a pizza cutter.
source: NBC
Jan. 29, 2026, 3:05 PM GMT-5 / Updated Jan. 30, 2026, 9:28 AM GMT-5
By Ryan J. Reilly, Emma Caughlan, Chloe Atkins and Corky Siemaszko
According to a criminal complaint -- cited by NBC News -- Anderson was arrested after prison workers asked for his credentials ... and he only handed over an MN driver's license.
Anderson allegedly claimed he was an FBI agent and was "in possession of paperwork 'signed by a judge' authorizing the release of a specific inmate." We've confirmed Luigi is that specific inmate.
www.tmz.com
How much if any involvement did Mangione have in plotting this embarrassingly botched prison break attempt?
If none, on whose initiative was it executed?
For what purpose? What was Anderson's motive?
Killing of Brian Thompson - Wikipedia
Luigi Mangione now in prison for this murder.
A Minnesota man was charged Thursday with impersonating an FBI agent after he showed up at a federal prison in New York City claiming to have a court order to release an inmate, identified by a law enforcement source as accused killer Luigi Mangione.
Mark Anderson, 35, was arrested at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn late Wednesday after prison workers asked to see his credentials and he produced a Minnesota driver’s license and “claimed to be in possession of weapons,” according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Anderson also claimed “that he was an FBI Agent in possession of paperwork ‘signed by a judge’ authorizing the release of a specific inmate,” the complaint says.
The court document does not name the inmate.
“Anderson also displayed and threw at [Bureau of Prisons] officers numerous documents,” the complaint says. “They appear to be related to filing claims against the United States Department of Justice.”
In his backpack, BOP workers found a barbecue fork and a “round steel blade” that resembled a pizza cutter.
source: NBC
Jan. 29, 2026, 3:05 PM GMT-5 / Updated Jan. 30, 2026, 9:28 AM GMT-5
By Ryan J. Reilly, Emma Caughlan, Chloe Atkins and Corky Siemaszko
According to a criminal complaint -- cited by NBC News -- Anderson was arrested after prison workers asked for his credentials ... and he only handed over an MN driver's license.
Anderson allegedly claimed he was an FBI agent and was "in possession of paperwork 'signed by a judge' authorizing the release of a specific inmate." We've confirmed Luigi is that specific inmate.
Man With Pizza Cutter Allegedly Tries to Break Luigi Mangione Out Of Jail
Luigi Mangione has a ton of fans rooting for his release ... and at least one of them who allegedly tried to take matters into his own hands by busting him out!
www.tmz.com
How much if any involvement did Mangione have in plotting this embarrassingly botched prison break attempt?
If none, on whose initiative was it executed?
For what purpose? What was Anderson's motive?
CEO of the American health insurance company UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson was shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on December 4, 2024.
Killing of Brian Thompson - Wikipedia
Luigi Mangione now in prison for this murder.
A Minnesota man was charged Thursday with impersonating an FBI agent after he showed up at a federal prison in New York City claiming to have a court order to release an inmate, identified by a law enforcement source as accused killer Luigi Mangione.
Mark Anderson, 35, was arrested at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn late Wednesday after prison workers asked to see his credentials and he produced a Minnesota driver’s license and “claimed to be in possession of weapons,” according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Anderson also claimed “that he was an FBI Agent in possession of paperwork ‘signed by a judge’ authorizing the release of a specific inmate,” the complaint says.
The court document does not name the inmate.
“Anderson also displayed and threw at [Bureau of Prisons] officers numerous documents,” the complaint says. “They appear to be related to filing claims against the United States Department of Justice.”
In his backpack, BOP workers found a barbecue fork and a “round steel blade” that resembled a pizza cutter.
source: NBC
Jan. 29, 2026, 3:05 PM GMT-5 / Updated Jan. 30, 2026, 9:28 AM GMT-5
By Ryan J. Reilly, Emma Caughlan, Chloe Atkins and Corky Siemaszko
According to a criminal complaint -- cited by NBC News -- Anderson was arrested after prison workers asked for his credentials ... and he only handed over an MN driver's license.
Anderson allegedly claimed he was an FBI agent and was "in possession of paperwork 'signed by a judge' authorizing the release of a specific inmate." We've confirmed Luigi is that specific inmate.
Man With Pizza Cutter Allegedly Tries to Break Luigi Mangione Out Of Jail
Luigi Mangione has a ton of fans rooting for his release ... and at least one of them who allegedly tried to take matters into his own hands by busting him out!
How much if any involvement did Mangione have in plotting this embarrassingly botched prison break attempt?
If none, on whose initiative was it executed?
For what purpose? What was Anderson's motive?
What is so very odd is that United Healthcare has murdered millions of people by denying obvious claims that could have saved their lives.
Since United Healthcare runs a monopoly of owning both the insurance companies and the hospitals, they are violating the contracts with those paying in, and illegally denying legal payouts.
But no individuals can afford the legal teams it would take to use the courts legally.
Obviously the DOJ should have prevented horizontal and vertical monopolies like this, but then obviously are also guilty since they did nothing to stop it.
Since we have all seen videos of police pulling over federal agents who then show metal ID tags, the impersonator should have at least made something like that.
The pizza cutter and barbecue fork are even more bizarre.
Shiftless2
Well-known member
Interestingly enough, while many (most?) insurance companies denied a lot of claims on a regular basis after Thompson was killed many doctors and hospitals reported that none of their claims were being challenged, let alone denied.
The fox supervises hen-house security?
What's the low cost / high benefit solution? Get government out of the insurin' bidness, and back to its rightful role as regulator of the private sector providers?
Is this an actionable antitrust issue?
So who then?
The FBI authentication identification, a Minnesota driver's license? dim bulb
In case he needed a snack mid-crime?
Or in case he blundered into a pizza party?
Anderson undermines my confidence in bad guys.
Mexican recreational drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman escaped a maximum security prison on a motorcycle, through an underground tunnel. Anderson's answer to that is a barbecue fork?
It is my opinion that insurance is just too fragile.
Insurance forces you to prepay, and once you have done that, it is always inherently difficult to force justice for payouts later.
If nothing else, they can just decide to drop you once you get to the age where payouts are more likely.
And more regulations are not likely to work once there is all that collected wealth working against any reasonable regulation legislation.
The history shows regulation does not work.
Like in 1957, when the IRS was bribed to allow employer benefits to employees to be tax exempt.
When clearly all benefits should reasonably have still been taxed, since poor people to not get these benefits, like employer health insurance.
So it is my opinion that Europe has the right solution, and have the health care industries work for the people directly, and not for the insurance companies.
There is no advantage to allow a middleman to insert themselves between the doctors and patients.
So run the health care provider through a public framework directly.
We do not need to make a profit from health care.
The combination of per capita healthcare costs, and patient life expectancy determine my opinion on that.
I haven't read much about it lately, but when it was prominent in the news the U.S. reportedly had both higher per capita costs, and also less favorable patient outcomes. If true, seems to me considering change is warranted.
The beneficiary is the middleman, the one represented by the lobbyists that wrote the legislation for our legislators, common practice in such legislation.
I get my healthcare through the VA. It's a mixed bag.
I don't recall having that problem, but I have little use for healthcare generally.
I wouldn't prejudice it, which ever model produces most favorable healthcare outcomes at lowest per capita cost.
In my opinion, similar deal with other private alternatives such as prisons.
Whichever provides humane warehousing of these sequestered humans at lowest per capita cost.
The private sector may not be a panacea.
But privatizing space by public / private cooperation at NASA has reduced ocean floor littering of spent lower rocket stage housings.
Shiftless2
Well-known member
You just have to look north of the border to Canada to see that. Not only does that country have greater life expectancies than the US but they insure EVERYONE at roughly half the US cost per capita.
There are few plausible explanations for such disparity, none of them flattering to the U.S. policy makers responsible.
The difficulty for the doctors is increased exponentially when they are forced to learn all the different systems the insurance companies require be use in order to get authorization for a procedure the doctor already knows is appropriate.
US health care costs over twice what public health care costs in places like Europe.
And we have a lower life expectancy by several years.
But you do have a point in that private enterprise can inspire more innovation, like with the space programs.
However, with most things, like health care, innovation is not the purpose or useful goal.
I thought doctors left that to their administrative staff.
I'm all for standardization.
50 years ago I might have found that a little less implausible.
But the rate of change is increasing exponentially. Diseases previously regarded as incurable are not merely being treated, but cured.
In 2026, while healthcare should not be subordinated, innovation can literally cooperate, refining the art, and providing healthcare simultaneously.
With health care, innovation happens at university research centers, not average providers, and is not profit motivated.
Indeed.
Right, the street corner VD clinic isn't likely to find a new cure for cancer.
But they too benefit from lowering operating costs by improving operations.
Simple example, perhaps not developed at university research centers, having patients complete forms online, to reduce hard-copy backlog.
I've never applied for a grant. Perhaps you or S2 have.
It's not a mirror image of Girl Scouts selling cookies (for profit).
But without grant money, university labs would be less robust innovators.
Today there are no human aboard automobiles including tractor trailers on public roadways.
iirc the inception of this "driverless" technology was catalyzed by university grants, and a competition between universities,
to produce an automobile that could autonomously navigate a stretch of unoccupied desert.
University entries included automobiles as small as a motorcycle, up to a Humvee.
This may not constitute - now we can buy more Leer Jets ! - type profit,
but may for example enable universities to lower tuition, because grant funding helps carry the cost of the university lab.
Shiftless2
Well-known member
With universal health care doctors no longer need that massive back office to process payments. Not only don't they have to deal with multiple insurance companies (each with their own accounting systems) they don't have to chase after patients for payment. They just send the bills directly to the universal insurer (and they don't have to argue with insurance company claims people as to what is and is not covered).
That's a substantial reduction in the doctor's overhead.
Thank you R5 & S2,
If you'll pardon the narrow "bean-counter's" conclusion,
without changing the %GDP spent on healthcare, significant reduction in administrative costs mean significantly $more available to actual healthcare, band-aids and pelves and stuff.
Things like online patient databases requires join cooperation instead of individual company profit motivation.
Grant money for research is the opposite of the profit motive.
It is voluntary money invested in the hope of later voluntary benefits in return.
That is why almost all research and development happens at universities, and private companies almost never achieve anything themselves.
Which should have us questioning why even bother with private companies?