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Tuesday, July 01, 2003

A bit of confirmation: The Caller ID on my Sony Phone by the computer went nutso a few weeks ago. Instead of "Unknown Caller" it reports a hodgepodge of meaningless LCD segments. So I answered, since I was by the computer. It was, as I later learned, from Oromocto, NB - after I went to my still fully-functional backup Caller ID system. The voice on the other end said. "Hello, may I please speak to Paul..." and that's when he met Mr. Click and Mr. Dialtone. The assholes have moved to Canada. 8:47:50 PM    comment []

This one's a keeper. The re-subscribe notice came in the mail a day ot two before this issue, my last unless I act immediately. I will re-subscribe. Note the punched holes that make it easily suitable for binding in a notebook. That is just one of the features that make this magazine a keeper. Next to Cooks' Illustrated, this one is the best for no-nonsense kitchen magic. 8:34:42 PM    comment []

Hull, Hell & Halifax   Caller ID has been my first line defense against telemarketers for years. I’d still have to get up to check it out, but when “Unknown Caller” popped up on the LCD, I knew it was a ringer. Occasionally, I still get dinged by a call that comes in “Private”, which is used by a few friends who wish to suppress Caller ID, but sometimes also used by local newspapers trying to sell subscriptions. Sometimes, I’ll come home and see a whole slew of unknown callers in the system’s memory. Lately, however, as the countdown to National Do Not Call Registry approached zero, some strange caller origins began to show up – such as Halifax, NS and Oromocto, NB (which I first mistook for Nebraska – it is New Brunswick).   Could it be that telemarketers are moving the phone banks to Canada? A friend and I discussed the ways the law would be circumvented, but we both thought that the calls would come from India, where companies such as Sykes have call centers paying employees a whopping $174 a month. Those are tech support jobs, but Canada makes more sense when persuasive skills are required instead of technical skills. You have to keep the suckers on the phone, while tech reps only want to get rid of them. Outside the jurisdiction of US laws, they can call with impunity.   So, if you’ve signed up for the Do Not Call Registry, don’t be surprised if your phone continues to ring at dinnertime after September 1 – Hell, they might even use the Registry as a database!   This is all conjecture on my part and I might be wrong, but I’m hanging on to my Caller ID until I see what happens.   I realize I didn’t work “Hull” into these random thoughts, but Liz is a native of Hull. She’s the one who educated me on the expression "From Hull, Hell, and Halifax, Good Lord, deliver us." Here’s a good site about it.   Here's another good site, where President Bush modesty gives the FTC credit for this impressive legislation. Here is the official statement:   The President commends the Federal Trade Commission for voting to create a national "Do Not Call" registry to allow consumers the option to stop unwanted telephone solicitations. Time with family is a precious commodity, and families should be given the tools they need to help prevent unwanted calls from telemarketers. Today's action by the FTC to approve the creation of a national "Do Not Call" registry will make it easier for consumers to stop getting the sales calls they do not want. Do you smell another bait-and-switch? Let's see what happens before we pass judgment. After all, he is acting on the best evidence available to him - and I hesitate to suggest that he would put the Presidential Seal Of Approval on anything that had not passed the muster of his keen Ivy League trained mind. 5:08:42 PM    comment []

A Boring Summary of Section One of Jefferson’s Draft of the Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, for the Revised Code of Virginia:   Abstract: A state-established religion perverts the will of God, the free will he has given Man, and truth.   Summary: Religion cannot be imposed, to do so results only in hypocrisy. God realized this and gave Man free will; Man does not, and has a natural tendency to impose religion. It is immoral to force contributions to any religion because that money should follow the conscience of the donor. Our civil rights have no dependence on religion, physics, or geometry. If a public servant is required to accept or reject any religion to be considered fit for office, it corrupts the very religion it is meant to encourage. Neither party is innocent in this forced alliance. The real danger of it is that the forces of civil government will be marshaled against peace and good order, to the detriment of the people.   Quote: “truth is great and will prevail if left to herself…she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them.”   Astute readers (that is anyone who hasn't already hit the Back Arrow) will recognize that patriotism, when imposed, is also likely to produce these dangerous vulnerabilities. Jefferson's famous quote, from another context, "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." has a converse: When the power of government is used to pick your pocket in the name of religion, it is a moral offense. That's something to think about when someone suggests that a prohibition on tax subsidies to religious charities discriminates against religion. Jefferson's proposal was that all religions are treated equally by favoring none of them. 5:21:31 AM    comment []