Break the Chain (letter)

Okay folks, I've heard several of these enough times, or gotten them in forwards, that it's time to respond and stop this stuff from going any further. Some email chain letters that give advice are so wrong that you could actually be endangering someone by forwarding it on. If you get an email that offers wonderful advice or secret tips, try googling them before you send it on. Most of the time you'll discover that it's either based on fact but seriously misinterpreted or simply WRONG. Below is an example of and my response.

PLEASE DO NOT SKIM THIS POST AND THINK SOME OF THIS IS POSSIBLE WITHOUT READING MY RESPONSE.

The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile; network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday.
Wrong. In SOME European countries, on some GSM phones it MIGHT work to dial this. This doesn't work in all countries for all service providers. For you Americans, you can try another super secret number if you have an emergency: 911. That's more likely to work. If you're traveling, maybe you should do some research before you go.

If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).Editor's Note: "It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our carover a cell phone!"
This is physically impossible. Cellphones operate at an entirely different frequency from car remotes so there's no way they could replicate the signal. People who have claimed to do tests probably were too close to their car with the remote and the remote itself unlocked the vehicle. Wifey and I conducted a controlled test from far outside the range of the remote and, all science aside, it just plain doesn't work.

Hidden Battery PowerImagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.
Nope. This might be an okay idea but it hasn't been implemented. This probably came from the fact that on some Nokia phones you can use a similar menu combination to lower the voice quality on your phone and save some battery life. Either way, it's wrong. If you're really into this idea, when you're down to one or two battery bars you can just pretend like your on reserve and plug your darn phone in. If I found out that my cell phone maker was preventing me from using 50% of my battery for the sake of a reserve I'd be ticked. Think about it, it's ludicrous.

How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone? To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless.You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.
Does it work? On some phones for some providers, maybe. But who cares? Your phone is already gone, do you think they're going to bring it back? You can always disable your phone by calling your provider and reporting it stolen. In some cases if you leave it working they can triangulate the signal and figure out the thief's location. I doubt that they would be willing to do this for your dumb cell phone though. Even if it did work, do you think you could keep me out of your phone by sending some code? I would enjoy the challenge. That's called a software lock and most of those are not very secure. If you DO want to disable your phone permanently you can press any button combination on the keypad firmly with a ball peen hammer or the heel of a boot.

Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simplydial(800) FREE 411 or (800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all.Program this into your cell phone now.
Okay, this one might actually work for now but you still get charged for airtime. If you have txt messaging you can use Google SMS to find weather, news, directions and many other useful things at no cost (except for the cost of the txt message itself). Or you can just call a buddy who has a phone book or a computer.

The point of all this? If you're going to waste your friends' time with an "informative" forward at least verify the truth before you send. Otherwise, help break the chain and kill the email in your inbox. On the other hand, if you send these to me, it gives me good fodder for a blogpost :)

PS: Did you know, in a pinch, that battery acid works great as eye drops for allergy sufferers? Try it! You will never have problems with your eyes again. (Disclaimer: I hope I don't really need to tell you that battery acid should never be put in your eyes.)