Exploding Pagers

[Fishnut]

An article in the BMJ from 2021 says pagers are till used in UK hospitals. I haven't had a chance to get past the paywall yet to see why.

[Tristan]

An article in the BMJ from 2021 says pagers are till used in UK hospitals. I haven't had a chance to get past the paywall yet to see why.

Oh no. They should probably check whether they were provided by Hezbollah then.

[El Pollo Diablo]

Sorry if this is a daft question. But can't they use normal mobile phones?

They used to but found the Israelis were tracking them. (And I seem to remember at least one drone strike based on that)

Assume Bob's talking about hospital workers.

Yes.

[Boustrophedon]

An article in the BMJ from 2021 says pagers are till used in UK hospitals. I haven't had a chance to get past the paywall yet to see why.

If Grimsby hospital is anything to go by it's because the cell phone reception is shite. This is mainly because there are not enough 4G and 5G cellphone towers on the site and because of all the concrete and steel in the hospital's construction, according to the head of IT who took the trouble to phone me when I pointed this out on a feedback form. You can however use VoWiFi, if you are technical enough to turn it on. You do need to access the hospital wifi and that requires logging in with a code sent by text which you have to be able to receive...

According to Wiki the UK NHS uses 10% of the remaining pagers in the world. Apparently they are going to be replaced:

In August 2020, a new procurement framework for clinical communications was launched which was intended to phase out pagers by the end of 2021, replacing them with "dedicated clinical-facing communication and tasks management tools" from 25 approved suppliers

[headshot]

The folks on the Pod Save the World podcast were theorising that this might be the precursor to a full-scale invasion by Israel.

Trash their comms, get them on the back foot and fearing other means of communication, then push in with armour.

Ugh.

Well then...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... ct-expands

Israel preparing for possible ground offensive in Lebanon, military chief says

[jimbob]

Iran has attacked Israel with dozens of missiles. Many seem to have got through

[Woodchopper]

Iran has attacked Israel with dozens of missiles. Many seem to have got through

Looks to have been about 180 ballistic missiles. There’s video of tens of them exploding on the ground.

I don’t know yet about casualties.

Israel is likely to retaliate

[Grumble]

This feels more like it’s sliding towards full scale war than ever in my lifetime. Netanyahu is taking maximum advantage of the seemingly unlimited support from the USA.

[discovolante]

This feels more like it’s sliding towards full scale war than ever in my lifetime. Netanyahu is taking maximum advantage of the seemingly unlimited support from the USA.

Do you mean specifically in Lebanon? 40,000+ dead Gazans is quite a lot already.

[Martin_B]

This feels more like it’s sliding towards full scale war than ever in my lifetime. Netanyahu is taking maximum advantage of the seemingly unlimited support from the USA.

Do you mean specifically in Lebanon? 40,000+ dead Gazans is quite a lot already.

Yes, but apart from a single day's attack by Hamas Gaza isn't really a war, more of a one-sided slaughter. Lebanon (or Iran) could end up being in a proper war with Israel.

[Woodchopper]

This feels more like it’s sliding towards full scale war than ever in my lifetime. Netanyahu is taking maximum advantage of the seemingly unlimited support from the USA.

Support from the US is important, but Israel has also benefited from the indifference of almost all the other governments in the world. Aside from the legal cases, the response from the rest of the world has been limited to at most to symbolism, and mostly just sending thoughts and prayers.

[Woodchopper]

This feels more like it’s sliding towards full scale war than ever in my lifetime. Netanyahu is taking maximum advantage of the seemingly unlimited support from the USA.

Do you mean specifically in Lebanon? 40,000+ dead Gazans is quite a lot already.

Probably fair to say that the death toll so far has been terrible, but a wider war could be far worse.

[Grumble]

This feels more like it’s sliding towards full scale war than ever in my lifetime. Netanyahu is taking maximum advantage of the seemingly unlimited support from the USA.

Do you mean specifically in Lebanon? 40,000+ dead Gazans is quite a lot already.

As awful as Gaza is it’s hard to describe it as full scale war, which suggests some level of parity between combatants.

[Tristan]

Iran fires nearly 200 missiles at Israel. The response:

Netanyahu is taking maximum advantage of the seemingly unlimited support from the USA.