Geekly Update - 15 November 2018

Now, if only there were some way to get Mr. Pai's personal phone number into some of the lists the callers are using....

UFO's or not, the human race is for the most part very gullible. We can be so easily controlled by propaganda and have been throughout mankind's history. You would think after all of this time the masses would learn something about mob mentality, but evidently not. In the last 200 years, Americans have gone from "Burn her!" to "Lock her up!" We're still putty in the hands of those wielding power.
That being said, the ultimate propaganda would be for us to be deviously "contacted" by alleged aliens and coerced into whatever they allegedly wanted us to do.
Hollywood wouldn't even be needed or required to pull this off.

If the government really wants to stop robocalls, the solution is simple. Instead of handing out multi-million dollar fines, hand out ten year prison sentences.

Scammers will pay the fine but don't want to do the time. Throw them in prison for ten to twenty years and poof, no more robocalls.

Spam phone calls will never be eliminated until the phone companies can be forced or persuaded to use their existing / developing technologies to identify them at the origin and cut them off. At this point the phone companies have zero financial incentive to stop this - they make money from all their users, regardless of intentions. They are not partners with consumers and law enforcement, but involved enablers who take the posture of aggrieved but helpless bystanders.

The technology is there, but not the corporate will to intervene. Spammers may be able to spoof me as to who's calling, but they can't spoof the phone company. And how hard is it to spot and identify a spammer that makes continuous phone calls that typically only last for a few seconds before the party called hangs up?

the e-bike naming contest is closed now.

Just want to make one comment about Landline Phones ...

Most people really do not realize that when your electricity goes out and you don't have a Landline Phone... You just may not be able to call anyone, even with a Cell Phone. Why you may ask?

Well, the real truth is ... Most times when your electricity goes out it is due to either a good size storm or some car or vehicle has slammed into a telephone pole. Now, in my case, this just happened when Hurrican Michael came through Georgia. It was still a Category One Hurricane, even when it came through Atlanta, GA.

The night Michael was starting to come into Metro Atlanta area ... I was outside talking with my daughter on our Cordless Phone, not Cell Phone. The wind was blowing hard, but there wasn't any thunder and lightning ... So, I continued talking.

All of a sudden, a huge wind came around my carport, I heard a loud cracking noise and then out of the corner of my left eye ... I saw sparks from the transformer on the telephone pole. Then there was a huge crash!!! I do mean a huge crash.

A tree from one of my neighbor's property fell, hitting the electrical wire to my house and landed across my driveway!!! Of course, ONLY our house lost electric power and my Cordless Phone was dead. Then, I kept trying to get to the Power Company to report the outage ... I could NOT get any "bars" on my Cell Phone. As I kept trying, my Cell Phone's battery died and I had no way of charging it.

I forgot that we still had old landline phones and one good connection in the kitchen. Now, my Hubby has 11 Coronary Stents in his heart, as well as a Bi-Ventricular Pacemaker with 3 leads. I need to have a phone available at all times ... Just in case something happens. He is 78 years old and I am 75 ... We both do not drive anymore. He hasn't driven in about 10 years, due to bad eyesight ... About 2 years ago, all 3 of my daughters told me I did not need to drive anymore, either.

I have honored their wishes. So, we truly need to have a phone available in case either of us needs an ambulance.

My power was turned on about 24 hours after the tree fell. My power company's linemen did an awesome job in the torrential rain and in the dark. Yes, they had a big truck with super bright lights that can be aimed anywhere they need to work, thankfully, the technology is good these days even for power linemen!

I never would have thought that a real hurricane would come that far inland to Metro Atlanta ... But it did. Thankfully no one was hurt in my neighborhood. Again, as luck would have it ... Only MY house lost power.
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