OT: Telemarketers 1, America 0

[Redwolf]

I use the Telezapper, too. Since I have the habit of screening my calls anyway, it works for me. It's rather satisfying to hear an incoming call get nipped in the bud.

I didn't buy the telezapper because i never believed it worked, and for over $50, i didn't want to get one to find out. I'm rather surprised to hear that it does work. Isn't this the little box that sends a signal that says that your phone has been disconnected? And would this mess up something that you might actually want to hear, such as an automated police bulletin?

I've never gotten an automated police bulletin (what are they for?), so I can't tell you if the Telezapper would block those or not, but they really do work with telemarketers. The first week or so you have one, you get a lot of "dead rings" (telemarketers' computers ringing in and then disconnecting), but that tapers off pretty quickly. I'm really happy with ours (had it for a little over a year now).

Caller ID wouldn't do me much good because I have (and answer) phones all over the house, most of which are "plain vanilla" (with no capacity to show caller ID). The Telezapper was a lot cheaper than replacing the phones would be.

Redwolf

[anniemcu]

After listening to the coverage all day, I think you're wrong this time. Congress has to weight the telespammers' money against the fact that FIFTY MILLION households signed up. No congressdweeb will EVER risk PO'ing that many voters, Money matters little when you're tossed out for being a butthead.

Boy, Chuck, I sure hope you are right. Although I wouldn't put much of a wager on it, I'm sure hoping to see the right thing get done.

[jim stone]

The idea that they won't listen to us because they'll cave in to Big
Money is a self-actualizing prophecy.
The idea that they will listen to us if we make a stink,
because otherwise we'll vote em out of office is another
self-actualizing prophecy.
You know it seems that more people die in cyclones and
storms in the South than elsewhere in the USA.
So some research was done as to why. Apparently
the disparity is that folks in the South tend to be
fatalists. They figure when their number is up,
it's up. So while other Americans would scurry into
the basement, they sit there in the living room
and await the verdict of Fate.

[JohnPalmer]

I rarely get telemarketing calls anymore, because I simply told them, whenever they call, to take me off their calling list. Now, I rarely get any. It's simple and it works. We didn't get any tonight, or last night, or the night before...

I just hate it that someone thinks they have the RIGHT to make a bell RING in my house! That's not freedom of speech.

JP [/url]

[Ridseard]

You know it seems that more people die in cyclones and
storms in the South than elsewhere in the USA.
So some research was done as to why. Apparently
the disparity is that folks in the South tend to be
fatalists. They figure when their number is up,
it's up. So while other Americans would scurry into
the basement, they sit there in the living room
and await the verdict of Fate.

I think those researchers weren't familiar with the sh*t habits of southerners. I would conjecture that they tend to stay in the path of a storm because either they're too lazy to move their ass or else they're too stubborn (or ignorant) to admit to themselves that they are vulnerable. But that surely ain't what they're going to tell no researcher.

[don]

As a Southerner, born and bred, I represent that remark.

In my neck of the woods, I've never heard of an automated police call. Perhaps they exist, and I just don't know. Perhaps, it's because the older people in the south don't stay close to a phone.

You know there is a possibility for tornadoes whenever the sky turns greenish, but since it hasn't bothered you for X number of years, you don't worry about it overly. It’s sort of like a soldier doesn’t think he can be shot.

If anyone sees a tornado bearing down on them, they do seek shelter. And perhaps they have a basement handy, or perhaps they have a house built on a slab without a basement and have to hide in a hall closet.

So perhaps building codes, which allow houses to be built with out tornado shelters, are part of the culprit.

But talking about a whole herd of people, and generally … isn’t that the very discrimination we should all trying to avoid?

[madguy]

According to the last news report I heard this morning, it will be overturned with no problem. And all people who work as telemarketers should find real jobs, even if it's just flipping burgers, instead of terrorizing unsuspecting people at home. I pay for my phone for my own use, not so someone who is uneducated and unemployable can invade the privacy of my home to hrrass me!!!!

~Larry

[jim stone]

But talking about a whole herd of people....and generally,
isn't that the type of discrimination we should try to avoid.

No, I don't think so. It isn't discrimination--that's where
you behave so as to disadvantage people on the basis
of something irrelevant (e.g. race) No discrimination here.

The research concluded that Southerners TEND to be
fatalists or more fatalistic. This isn't the claim that
all Southerners are fatalists.

I lived in the South for 17 years and there are some
generalizations one can make, regional differences
in attitudes and behaviour
between folks in the north and the south. Nothing wrong with observing them or doing
such research.

What matters is if they are true--and I take your
point that the conclusion about fatalism may not
be. Best

[anniemcu]

The idea that they won't listen to us because they'll cave in to Big
Money is a self-actualizing prophecy.
The idea that they will listen to us if we make a stink,
because otherwise we'll vote em out of office is another
self-actualizing prophecy.
You know it seems that more people die in cyclones and
storms in the South than elsewhere in the USA.
So some research was done as to why. Apparently
the disparity is that folks in the South tend to be
fatalists. They figure when their number is up,
it's up. So while other Americans would scurry into
the basement, they sit there in the living room
and await the verdict of Fate.

Well, dearie, you've mis-assumed (gee, that's a redundant term, isn't it? ) on several fronts here - first, I'm not 'Southern', fatalistic, or likely to be caught sitting out a storm calmly, and second, 'one comment does not a life's philosophy make'... LOL!

I vote, spend and live what I preach, as much as I can manage. I give 'em an earful when they do get through, and am not usually swayed (positively, that is) by advertising. I have written my congreess folk on this issue, and I'm not prone to sit back and just watch what happens.

I also have been around and paying attention long enough to know that money does tend to win.

beware the urge to make assumptions

[BrassBlower]

You know it seems that more people die in cyclones and
storms in the South than elsewhere in the USA.
So some research was done as to why. Apparently
the disparity is that folks in the South tend to be
fatalists. They figure when their number is up,
it's up. So while other Americans would scurry into
the basement, they sit there in the living room
and await the verdict of Fate.

I think those researchers weren't familiar with the sh*t habits of southerners. I would conjecture that they tend to stay in the path of a storm because either they're too lazy to move their ass or else they're too stubborn (or ignorant) to admit to themselves that they are vulnerable. But that surely ain't what they're going to tell no researcher.

Maybe this should be in its own OT thread, but here goes:

As a southerner and a trained storm spotter, I would say that the researchers didn't give enough credit to the storms themselves. Where I live, severe storms tend to form and move rapidly. Also, the base of the storm is usually very close to the ground, and tornadoes are usually obscured by rain. Add to this, they also tend to occur at night.

Having never visited many other areas of the south other than my own, I can't speak for them, but I can say that people where I live are far from being either fatalistic, lazy, or ignorant (I will admit to being stubborn). A few years ago, a tornado hit my town and a neighboring town. Despite the storm meeting all of the qualifications above, little or no advance warning, and much property destroyed, there was only one death.

Now, the way we clean off the shelves at the grocery store when one inch of snow is predicted? That's a different story!

[Steven]

I rarely get telemarketing calls anymore, because I simply told them, whenever they call, to take me off their calling list. Now, I rarely get any. It's simple and it works. We didn't get any tonight, or last night, or the night before...

That's my strategy too, and it worked very well before do-not-call lists were created. My problem is that I just moved, so I'm having to start all over again. As long as you ask to be taken off their call list, they are legally obligated to take you off and not call you again (I think for a period of a year). However, they know that it's a fruitless number, so they tend not to include your number on the lists they sell to other companies, so there is a snowball effect. Over a period of a few months, you'll find that you get maybe one call a week, often not even that. It's wonderful!


Steven

[Chuck_Clark]

As a southerner and a trained storm spotter, I would say that the researchers didn't give enough credit to the storms themselves. Where I live, severe storms tend to form and move rapidly. Also, the base of the storm is usually very close to the ground, and tornadoes are usually obscured by rain. Add to this, they also tend to occur at night.

I'll second that, but for the Midwest. Unlike hurricanes which can be seen coming for days, it's absolutely terrifying how quickly a tornado can pop up. With luck you might have, and learn of, a tornado watch (conditions are favorable, etc.) but the actual storms can come out of nowhere. I've seen it happen. Sometimes the only option is to dive into the nearest ditch and try to lie as flat as possible. That moster that smashed Texas and Oklahoma a couple of years ago gave almost no warning at all. within minutes, it dropped out of the clouds, killed many people, some of whom were in the basements of very solid houses, destroyed whole towns and disappeared as fast as it came. And add that in our more temperate areas many more people live in mobile homes or double-wide prefabs. If you've never seen what happens when a tornado hits a mobile home park or sales lot, you're lucky. Picture piles of toothpicks on flatbed trailers.

[glauber]

I rarely get telemarketing calls anymore, because I simply told them, whenever they call, to take me off their calling list. Now, I rarely get any. It's simple and it works. We didn't get any tonight, or last night, or the night before...

That's my strategy too, and it worked very well before do-not-call lists were created. My problem is that I just moved, so I'm having to start all over again. As long as you ask to be taken off their call list, they are legally obligated to take you off and not call you again (I think for a period of a year). However, they know that it's a fruitless number, so they tend not to include your number on the lists they sell to other companies, so there is a snowball effect. Over a period of a few months, you'll find that you get maybe one call a week, often not even that. It's wonderful!

This has never worked for me; i tried it for about 1 year with no apparent change in the call volume. Yes, they're legally required to comply with your request but:
<ul>
<li>try to find out what company is calling you...
<li>try to figure out how to log a complaint...
<li>the drone you're talking to (or the computer program, in some cases) probably has no idea of how to get you out of the list.
</ul>

Someone mentioned the calls that have nobody on the other side in connection with the telezapper. About half of the calls i get are like this, and i don't have the telezapper. I think the current theory is that companies are using machines that dial several numbers at the same time for each humanoid drone that they have in their dungeon, with the knowledge that only a few will actually answer the call. The lucky first one to answer gets connected to the drone, the rest get silence.

Anyway, the FTC is going on with the list, expecting that the legal problems will be overcome.

Next battle: spammers...

[Nanohedron]

Glauber, re: the Telezapper...

The model I use is the TZ900, also known as the TelezapperII, I believe. It set me back about $30 USD, if that's any less painful to your budget. At this time, I get almost no unwanted calls any more (of course, these things go in cycles). It's sorta small, and looks like a dark grey space pod.

BTW, what are automated police bulletins? If I may pry, do you work for Chicago's Finest?

[glauber]

BTW, what are automated police bulletins? If I may pry, do you work for Chicago's Finest?

No! But at least the place i live in (Carol Stream) sometimes broadcasts alerts about things like stolen cars or dangerous people through automatic phone calls (recorded).