- Check caller ID. If not recognized, don’t answer.
- When phone stops ringing, call back. If busy, it is likely robocaller or telemarketer attempting there next call. If they answer, if it is a business they will likely answer with 1. A recording 2. A business reply identifying their business 3. Some poor college kid might reply with no idea what to do. They generally are not trained to receive calls. Your choice as to what to do, most probably tell them to stop calling. Alternatively, you can simply hang up.
- Of course it could be Mom on a borrowed phone wanting some help. Apologize and tell her you’re on the way.
- If it is a telemarketer, refuse to do any business with them. It is the ultimate solution. If telemarketing doesn’t work, they will stop doing it. My guess is the phone companies will be the losers. They know when these guys set these things up & they know they are going to make a bundle on it. As. Long as the phone companies permit it, it will not stop, especially from foreign shores.
Category Archives: experience
All You Have to Do….
During a phone conversation, the young man was trying to sell me something. I don’t remember what it was. Maybe he was trying to get me to donate for something. It doesn’t really matter.
I do remember the last two things said. He said, “All you have to do is….”
I said, “I don’t have to do anything! ” I put the emphasis on the word have and hung up.
It seems to be, unfortunately a very overused very inaccurate phrase. When I was a private in the Marines, there were many things I had to do. When I was a child, there were many things I was required to do. Even today, as a citizen, as a driver, as a taxpayer there are things I must do. Last time I checked, as a potential customer, I don’t have to do anything other than pay for my purchases.
To be sure, there are things that are customary. There are things that are contingent. I mean, I do fill my own basket in a grocery store. Nowadays, I do my own scanning. Nowadays, I pump my own gas.
Before l can leave the store, I must make a valid payment. That is not just conventional but legal.
However, more and more these days I become angered when someone says all I need to do is….
It is wrong and it shows a wrong idea. As a customer, there are things reqired of me, to be sure. However, when this phrase is used, most of the time, it’s simply not true. It is very rare to be accurate by telemarketers and it is never appropriate for those representing charities.
Hence, unless a person wants to anger me, they should really avoid using the phrase, especially when not accurate. If on a phone the next sound they will likely hear is the click of a hangup. If in person, they will likely see me turn on my heel and leave. I’d suggest others do the same. Just maybe we customers might regain some of the control we deserve.
A New Wonder Plane
Just saw it on the web…an electric powered seaplane capable of a hundred miles with 19 passengers. Now let’s see. That means it can go between L.A. or San Diego and Catalina. maybe without a recharge. That means it can go from L. A. to San Diego. I suspect it would take a few stops to go from L. A. to San Francisco.
That is a somewhat limited range though there is an advantage. Should the fuel…er, the charge, start running low, as long as it is over water, it can just about sit down anywhere. No need to look for a runway. On the other hand, it could be a long swim to shore.
I kind of like the idea of seaplanes. If I were a billionaire, I just might buy one. However, I think mine would be powered by gas. Much better to fly than swim.
Okay. That is just over the edge. I shouldn’t say things like that when people are doing what they can to save our planet. However, sometimes a person has to go over the edge a little to get people to that we are a long ways from truly practical electric planes. I did see the photo of the plane, though. It looks nice. Put a couple of gas guzzling engines on it, and they just might have a product they can sell.
Unwinnable
Over time, I’ve come to the conclusion that the US will never win another war. The reason is more than clear. We have forgotten how to fight to win. That makes it logical that we cannot win if we continue to fight only enough to keep from losing.
Then, over time, we inevitably tire of the fight and we lose. More accurately, we give up and withdraw.
When we went into Iraq, it was said we learned the lesson of Vietnam. Yet, about 10 years later, we abandoned the Iraq people and watched the massive killing of over a million. We did even worse in Afghanistan.
How much worse can we do? I think we are going to find out soon.
Getting the A/C Ready for Summer
You might want to reconsider having that central unit serviced for 1 to 3 thousand dollars. It seems every year it’s time to break out the old checkbook. On the other hand, you might not have enough cash to cool your primisis. You might have to pull out the credit card.
I have two window units that keep my 900 sq ft home cool withplenty to spare. 1 is 1000 btu and the other is 12000 btu. The little one I’ve had for over a decade. The big one is 3 years old. I’d guess I won’t put out one dime to have them serviced. If one or the other, or both fail me, it won’t cost me more than 800.
They are a little noisy. They don’t distribute the cool as much. But I can put up with a lot for 1 to 3 thousand a year. Then, of course, you likely have a larger income. You just might not mind the yearly cost.
The way I see it, they do it on purpose. They build the central units difficult and expensive to service. Most likely, they will continue to until enough people like me go to window units. Then, just maybe they will figure out how to avoid the big yearly charges.
To me, it’s time we tell those AC folks that we are tired of repaying for our ACs every few years.
Omnibus Bill Not Funny!
The omnibus bill would be hilarious but for 2 things. They are spending our money carelessly and the vast amount of it will end up going into the pockets of those who do not have any need of it. It will end up enriching the rich and powerful.
If you doubt me, look at the results. After it is all dispersed, the poor won’t be any better off but the rich will will be richer. Their fortunes will swell with US taxpayers’ dollars.
Meanwhile, our children will be stuck with the debt. I can tell the future by studying the past. I learned by experience. So have the dems. They know that they can get away with it.
A Word of Advice for All Advertisers
I know. I have no degree in advertising. I have no degree in higher learning at all. However, I do have eyes in my head and I have likely a little better mind for reasoning than most. That is to say, I can observe and draw reasonably sound conclusions.
Now, let’s say I’m watching a TV show and one of those irritating, highly over repeated ads come on. You know the ones. The ones by the lawyers seeking their 40% for legal fees; the ones advertising for Medicare part C; etc, etc and so forth.
Instead of leaving the room to make a sandwich, I change the channel to avoid the obnoxious blather. Then, no matter the reason, I don’t change the channel back. Maybe I forget. Perhaps I decide I like what’s on the other channel. I don’t know. Maybe the remote breaks or gets lost.
Your ad, which is immediately after the repetitive gibberish is not watched…the one for which you paid good money. The money, goes down the tubes, never to even be seen again. I imagine the ad agency as well as those writing the check don’t like like my little story.
Based on the above, it would seem to me that advertisers would not want to pay prime prices for time following “such fantastic works of art.”
Odd. While watching TV just now, one of those irritants came on. I’m not sure I’ll change it back. I sort of like this program better.
I mean, there are irritating commercials. Then, there are just irritating blabbing, if you get my point. I mean, I do believe we are all now well educated on bad water at Lejeune and the benefits of part c Medicare.
Surprise, Not All Stove Are Hot
It is something, likely, as old as stoves. Most folks quickly learn not to touch hot stoves.
Actually, it is not so important today as it was a couple of centuries ago when ole Ben first started building stoves. Generally speaking, when someone would touch a hot stove, they were not apt to repeat it.
Actually, I suspect it went back even farther than that. Before there were stoves, there were fireplaces. Before fireplaces campfires, or their equivalent.
I even heard a tale of one of the big wigs at Levi learning not to kneel next to campfires…first time. It was then that they decided to remove one or two of the rivets from the area just below the fly of their famous canvas trousers.
The one thing brought away from the first experience was the probability of pain, sometimes a little embarrassment too. However, here’s the news. Not all stoves are hot. Not all rivets are hot. It just is that once exposed to these experiences we mostly come away thinking they are, or at least can be. It is referred to as inductive reasoning. Because the first stove we touch is hot, we assume all stoves are hot.
What if the reverse is true. What if the first stove you touch is ambient temperature? Do we then assume that all stoves are cool to the touch. If we do this, we expose ourselves to many painful experiences. This is called inductive reasoning.
While it is useful, it can easily lead to errors. For instance, if we see a brown Labrador retriever, it would be wrong to assume that all dogs are brown and weigh eighty pounds. Indeed, it would be wrong to assume that all Labs are brown. Oddly there are some that are black.
On the other hand, suppose we touch a hundred cool stoves. Can we then assume are stoves are cool? If we see a hundred brown Labs, are we to assume that all labs are brown.
You see, even though we see a large number of examples, we cannot truly assume anything.
Until we see a large enough number of examples, we cannot positively say that we know all labs are brown and that all stoves are cool. Even when working with large numbers, inductive reasoning can lead us astray.
I wish that kids in the eighth grade were required to spend a few hours learning about inductive and deductive reasoning. I am convinced the concept is extremely important in so many parts of life.
Let’s take for instance, the woman that is robbed by an African American. Is it right for her to be afraid of all African Americans? Of course, not. Yet, it may take her years to get over the experience. Our fears are not always founded on good logic. Indeed, her fear might keep her from many good friendships.
The somewhat opposite of inductive reasoning is deductive reasoning. In deductive reasoning, we draw conclusions from many, perhaps exhaustive numbers of examples. It is best that these examples are at random. It is the way that medical research is done. I suppose we can say that statistics and deductive reasoning are interrelated. The more the examples and the more random, the more accurate will be the stats deductive reasoning that depends on the stats.
If we have a random selection of a million dogs, it is likely that only a few will be Labs and we will likely see a few black dogs, white dogs and even a few multi-color dogs. Therefore, we can have a more accurate idea of the coloring of dogs. If we take a random measurement of a million stoves, we might actually find that only 30% are hot enough to cause pain, or even discomfort. (only a wild guess, not am actual statistic)
I’m not going to try to create an equivalent example with the thievery. It’s far too complex and there are too many ways it can go wrong with my imaginary statistics. Moreover, I am not going to suggest that a woman should get robbed a million times. Two or three maybe, but no more. Still, the principles remain firm. With a larger number of examples, we would be able to draw more accurate deductions.
However, we need to be careful about drawing snap conclusions. When we go from the millions of examples and try to derive a single situation from millions of examples, we can still be wrong. For instance, if I may. It would not indicate that a thief is of any ethnicity, and it would be wrong to make any such suggestion.
Yet, every day, I see some people blame Black men because of individual as well as vast statistical data. Those methods just don’t work. And, by the way, the methods don’t work on Caucasian policemen, again, regardless of past inductive or deductive reasoning. You cannot convict a policeman based on past experience just as the woman cannot convict based on past thieves.
Perhaps the most horrible example of inductive reasoning is when the person says, “Single parent families are just as good as two-parent families.” Then they go about calling out two, three or four examples of good kids brough up by single parents. That logic has two holes. First, it is based on a very small count of examples. Second, there is the probability that, if there is a second parent, the child would likely have turned out better. The statistics back it up. We are talking millions of examples not just two or three.
On the other side of the coin, I see people say that a particular person turned out good or bad because of his parent(s). The stats prove that some good kids come from bad or broken homes and bad kids come from homes with good parents.
In this case, the inductive logic gets us nowhere and the deductive logic only shows trends. The trend shows overwhelmingly that two parent homes are better. But logic tells us that it is only true if they are good parents. Abusive and or alcoholic parents rarely qualify as good parents. Yet, again, some good kids come from homes with abusive parents. Sorry. I have no explanation for that. I’m not sure there is one.
For those who are not truly familiar with the terms inductive and deductive reasoning, may I suggest you take an hour or two and look into it on the net. Most will find it far more complex than most of us realize. For instance, one thing that must accurately be determined in inductive reasoning is an accurate correlation. For instance, that dance by that Voo-do doctor likely has nothing to do with that solar eclipse. On the other hand, all that rain I dumped on my lawn the other day likely had nothing to do with the thunderstorm we got the next day, though it did seem a little coincidental. If we collected enough data, it is likely to be proved that the one thing had nothing to do with the other.
Almost Paradise
As I considered the title to this post, I realized I came up with something of a good book title. At least, it seemed that way to me. Now, I need is a good book to go with it. Come to think of it, maybe someone did already. It would be a shame if someone else beat me to it.
The point is that the place I moved to in 1977 was really nice and had been for decades. It was almost paradise, though there were a few problems.
Some of the roads were spread with pot holes. My poor little car had a real problem with the little trailer bouncing around behind us. There were but a small smattering of places to eat and we could find but 1 doctor office, 1 dentist and one pharmacy. The closest hospital was 15 or 16 miles away.
However, the schools were nice and there weren’t many police. Wasn’t much need for them. It truly was almost paradise.
In this world there are problems with paradises. Southern California, before 1950 was an almost paradise. Now, look at it. I won’t go through the list of problems there now. Everyone knows. The desire to live in paradise has destroyed it. Now the U-hauls are leaving and the people are going to other paradises; as Texas, Florida, etc.
in all likelihood, those paradises will be spoiled too. It almost always happens. Unfortunately, paradises draw the unsavory element as well as the exemplary.
It’s happened and is happening where I live. If I possible, I’d leave as soon as i could. If there were an army of police, it would not be enough. The undesirable element is drifting south from Memphis. It does say something about Memphis. No one wants to leave a good place for a worse one.
We now have doctors hospitals dentists, the whole works. Even the streets are smooth. However, it seems that every fourth car I see nowadays has Shelby County plates.
Don’t actually have too much of an objection if they want to spend Tennessee dollars in Mississippi, but they bring their driving habits too. Not only that but they bring their crime, mostly drugs, and robbery too. A couple of years ago, I posted a story about a break in in my house. Dumb thief! One look at my little 900 square foot house and he’d have known I don’t have anything.
The area right across the state line had two big thriving malls and the area around it had a multitude of stores, restaurants and businesses. The malls are now all but closed and the parking lots are all baren.
Needless to say, the value of my little house has skyrocketed. Every time Memphis comes up with a bad idea my property value goes up.
The problem is that as they leave what used to be a near paradise, they bring their stupid ideas with them, and ruin our neighborhoods.
It is not just a local problem. It won’t be long that the illegal aliens will bring their ways to our nation and destroy our national paradise.
This reminds me of a passage in the Bible in which it says that murderers, thieves, liars, adulterers, etc, etc, and so forth will never go to heaven (paradise).
At the time I first read it, I did not see the full significance as I do now. You see, any place where such people are allowed would not be paradise. It would not be long before even the steets of heaven would be ruined. When the corrupt are denied access, about anywhere would be great. Then, with Jesus there too, it will be perfect.
If you would like to go there, you need a reservation. The only way to get the reservation is to accept Jesus as your savior. Then, he will cleanse you. Those not born again are not cleansed. They will not enter paradise. They will only see eternal punishment.
if you think about it, it makes sense. Who wants a paradise full of corruption and the corrupt. Certainly, God doesn’t.
Now if I could just get all these liberals to go back to Memphis where they belong!!
History of TV Reception
When TVs first came out, the TV antenna soon followed. After just a short time, a person could pan the rooftops and see the antennas sticking up from most of the houses.
Some had to settle for rabit ears. Some, me included had broken antennas and settled for wire clothes hangers. My clothes hanger worked very well. I wish I could say it was because of my great knowledge of electronics but, in my case, I had a good picture without having to alter the hanger at all.
On the other hand, some needed 40, 50, or even 70 foot masts to receive signals from a 100 or more miles away. To complicate matters, some received signals from 2 or 3 different directions. To do this, they had what they called rotors and they worked well. It was a tad on the pricey side though. Not only did one need the equipment, but it also had to be installed.
I don’t know who first thought of the idea of cable, but I noticed it being installed in rural areas in the late 50s and early 60s. It was good for the stations and sponsors as it increased those receiving their programming and ads. There is no need to say it was good for those receiving cable. That’s obvious.
Over the years, those selling cable found more customers and types of customers. People in apartments and folks who hated ugly antennas sticking up all over the neighborhood. Also, the reception quality improved.
Perhaps one of the main reasons the cable idea spread so rapidly was the increase in channels available. People in San Diego watched L.A. channels, for example. In addition, what I call pseudo-stations started popping up.
Then, to improve reception and increase features, they went to digital. I never liked that much in the past, even less now. What started out to be a way to receive a good picture for 15 or 20 a month has turned into a huge conglomerate (if I may misuse the word) of sations, most of which are mental wastelands that I spent 226 a month. That is a big bite from my social security.
I just had my cable disconnected and I am now aware of why I don’t like digital TV. If a person buys an expensive antenna, after spending hours adjusting it and fussing with it, it almost works, almost doesn’t. Mostly, gone are the days of using a hanger. Now we must use 39.95 antennas that I can’t even receive all the local channels I received just fine in the old analogs. Moreover, I keep losing the picture into wild pixelations.
I guess the FCC had us in mind as they made the decision to digitize broadcasts, or at least I hope so. Then again, maybe it would help if the 39.95 antenna worked better than a clothes hanger.
(Does anyone know where I can get a metal clothes hanger? )
bfrhodes99 