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Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

riedel.wtf

171–180 of 208 posts

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People don't realise how high incomes in the US are relative to the rest of the world. Gross definitely, but net (after taxes, healthcare, housing and other fixed costs)... not so sure. High CoL - seriously even as someone who lives in Munich, US housing prices are utterly incomprehensible , just how the fuck do y'all even manage to survive?! -, high costs for transportation, the utter madness that is US healthcare…

> Gross definitely, but net (after taxes, healthcare, housing and other fixed costs)... not so sure. Actually, EU individual tax rates are on average similar to those of US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_rates And yes, we also pay for healthcare one way or another.

Tax rates might be similar but income is way higher. It is relatively common to earn 6 digits in tech in USA. In Western Europe, not so much. Besides cost of living, which might be higher in US, finding 1000 for a new iPhone is way easier there.

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Ordinance" is legislation. "Ordnance" is the explosive stuff. Old ordinance can also be troublesome, but is rarely deadly.

Also, at least in American English, “ordinance” is not a mass noun. An ordinance is a piece of legislation. So I would say “ an old ordinance can also be troublesome…”

Ahh, a fellow soul feeling the burden of knowing the difference between mass and count nouns.

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#173
post #25
post #2

I've gotta give them props for the persistence. I would have just given up and bought a new iPhone. It's impressive that the iPhone survived the whole ordeal, without even turning off. And the amount of stuff they found makes me wonder why people don't use magnets on strings to search for lost things in European canals more often. Could be an interesting hobby.

My 12 year old niece fished a handgun out of a canal couple months back, that is pretty uncommon heren in the Netherlands

It's also pretty uncommon in the U.S, largely due to there not being a lot of canals relative to land area.

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#174
post #2

I've gotta give them props for the persistence. I would have just given up and bought a new iPhone. It's impressive that the iPhone survived the whole ordeal, without even turning off. And the amount of stuff they found makes me wonder why people don't use magnets on strings to search for lost things in European canals more often. Could be an interesting hobby.

It's become quite popular in the UK. People frequently pull out guns or munitions like grenades and cause streets to be closed by the police. I'm not sure if they ever pull anything useful.

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#175
post #44

How much volume of air must be inside a standard phone these days to make it buoyant?

An iPhone 12 weighs 164g [1], so, through the magic of the metric system, it needs to displace a minimum of 164ml of water to float. The iPhone has an external volume of 14.67cm * 7.15cm * 0.74cm = 77.62cm^3 = 77.62ml. So it would need to be about 2x the volume to float. [1] https://www.apple.com/iphone-12/specs/

Might be an idea for a magsafe attachment: a floater :)

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#176
That makes one think whether there is a market of a magsafe attachment which can be used as a "hook" to grab phones in situations like this. A proper attachment (with some anti-skid surface) could grab the phone much stronger than a plain magnet.

In any case, they could have used a magsafe charger as the hook, that should also work well.

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#177
post #2

I've gotta give them props for the persistence. I would have just given up and bought a new iPhone. It's impressive that the iPhone survived the whole ordeal, without even turning off. And the amount of stuff they found makes me wonder why people don't use magnets on strings to search for lost things in European canals more often. Could be an interesting hobby.

Magnet fishing in Germany is of questionable legality. In any case you have to dispose of everything you pull out, leaving it or throwing it back in is definitely illegal.

Interesting. On the one hand the bikes and miscellaneous scrap people leave on the sides in the UK is an eyesore, but on the other hand it was already there, it was just hidden. Is scrap metal harmless at the bottom of a canal or river? Are they not doing a public service by exposing it and allowing more easy disposal by local authorities?

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#179

iPhones 7 through 11 felt increasingly easy to destroy with the slightest touch - not so the iPhone 12.

They're easier to drop, but I haven't found mine to be excessively fragile. My iPhone 8 Plus is four-years old and has been dropped many times. It has few chips off the corners but is otherwise going strong.

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#180

My GF dropped one of her airpod pro’s in a storm drain. I taped some rare earth magnets (extracted from some old e-junk) onto a foldable ruler. The airpods end snapped onto the magnets and I fished it up!

You can also buy earth magnets at local woodworking stores. They're super fun!
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