Over the past couple days I have been getting telemarket calls on my cellular, so I traced one of the companies back to Ft. Lauderdale. I took the trouble to publish their full name, address and local phone number on the Internet, plus the same information on the registered owners of the company. They are screaming like little babies. It seems the calls at home are bothering them. Imagine that.Today’s trivia is telemarketing. There are not that many companies out there that cause all the misery and interrupted privacy, and the Feds fined some of the worst abusers. In this part of the world, that means “Coastal Vacations”. That outfit was running a fake “survey”, in which the fine print gave permission for the calls. The theory makes sense. Anybody stupid enough to give their phone number on a survey is also stupid enough to buy from a telemarketer.
In a related incident, Verizon was awarded $1 million in damages. They sued a telemarketing company. Verizon isn’t doing you any favors, they sued because the robot used to make the calls (one every 0.36 seconds) tied up Verizon’s switching equipment. Don’t go thinking for even that split second that Verizon gives a hoot about the inconvenience they otherwise wholeheartedly sanction. Did you know if the Feds ever get around to banning spam, the Internet will be almost four times faster? Some say it will never happen, but they banned junk faxes, didn’t they?
I think the fax ban only happened because the government has so many fax machines. I doubt it was in response to public pressure. April 1 is teabag day. Everybody who disagrees with the government bailing out losers is requested to mail a teabag to Washington. I think I’ll participate. This country needs another tea party. Government by representation does not work unless the representatives are held accountable. I do believe I have some stale orange pekoe they will really like.
The car is still out of service. That radiator hose is a major repair. I suspect I will need a hoist to get at it properly. I had to miss my gig at Jimbo’s because of no way to get my equipment there and back. Failing the bicycle, I mean.
Teresa found me a newspaper article where somebody else had written asking the same question I did—what does the “characters welcome” phrase mean during USA Network shows. Nobody seems to know. The response was vague, to the effect the network “celebrates distinctive, offbeat individuals”. Funny, I haven’t heard a peep out of them, much less anything bordering on celebration. So again, I was the first to ask a question that had no ready answer.
Wallace writes that there was a foot of ice-water and snow in the back yard this week. His daughter is visiting this area and I hope she stays long enough to appreciate what is here. I would really like if she came to visit and look at this place so she would know what a great situation it is. For the first time this year, I had to turn on the air conditioning this evening. Wallace belongs here, I think, but he is still in recovery mode and the doctor knows best.
Time for a “Sopranos” update. The series still moves fast enough to keep me uncritical. I’m starting season five (of eight) and read an article in www.mybeachfrontnews.com, at least up to the point where it began to tip me of on parts I haven’t seen. (I can’t find the author’s name, but he is an editor who refers to himself as “Boomer”.) The author makes the point that “Sopranos” can keep you watching scenes that would be boring in any other script. I thought he’s right because I actually watch the parts with the 30 year old hookers and the family arguments which would normally cause me appreciate the sincere reality of “The Simpsons”.
