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random chitchat
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W.Petefish
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W.Petefish
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I've done that quite a few times also, with dry ice and water in the bottle. Never problems with police. I did have one that didn't burst, and I didn't bring my slingshot to break it from a distance. So I spent about 1 hour chucking rocks at it, from behind a wall, at about 50 feet before I got it to explode.
bonnie
I play a nice person on twitter.
Here's a great time waster - watch bears fishing for salmon on a live cam:
The Riffles - Brown Bear Salmon Cam - Bears - explore
(I have four hours to waste in the Phoenix airport ... so expect more of these posts.)
The Riffles - Brown Bear Salmon Cam - Bears - explore
(I have four hours to waste in the Phoenix airport ... so expect more of these posts.)
Yesterday I got SEVEN calls on my cell phone plugging a political candidate. The calls begin with the line "Not paid for my any candidate or candidate's committee." But they don't say who did pay for them. I thought the law said they have to disclose who is paying????
Of course political advertising is exempt from the Do Not Call list. Not surprising, since the criminals in the legislature make the laws, they exempt themselves from following those laws. There are now two area codes I just don't answer. I'm sick of the despicable, negative lies, and impossible promises in those calls. At least, since I don't have a TV and don't listen to commercial radio, I don't have to watch or listen to their mealy-mouthed verbal diarrhea. And now I know which area codes to not answer.
I've been in prison, and I can tell you from personal experience that 99% of the people in American prisons are far less dangerous, far less anti-social, far less criminal than the people in elected office and candidates for elected office. Too bad we don't live in a real democracy, where people without the support of billionaires could get elected.
Of course political advertising is exempt from the Do Not Call list. Not surprising, since the criminals in the legislature make the laws, they exempt themselves from following those laws. There are now two area codes I just don't answer. I'm sick of the despicable, negative lies, and impossible promises in those calls. At least, since I don't have a TV and don't listen to commercial radio, I don't have to watch or listen to their mealy-mouthed verbal diarrhea. And now I know which area codes to not answer.
I've been in prison, and I can tell you from personal experience that 99% of the people in American prisons are far less dangerous, far less anti-social, far less criminal than the people in elected office and candidates for elected office. Too bad we don't live in a real democracy, where people without the support of billionaires could get elected.
@daniel, you should consider moving to small-town New England. Outside of the (very few) cities, towns operate on the "town meeting" approach: any resident who wants to shows up and can speak his or her mind. All local decisions of any consequence are made in the meeting. The town manager carries out the decision, but has very limited executive control. Of course, even New Englanders have to put up with state and federal officials, but having a direct forum to run the town is at least a taste of true democracy in action.
Example: The annual report from my town in Maine lists the property taxes paid by each property holder (by name), lists unpaid or late taxes (by name), and the exact payments to each town employee and contractor, salaries and expenses. This report is mailed directly to each taxpayer or resident of the town. Talk about transparency in government!
Example: The annual report from my town in Maine lists the property taxes paid by each property holder (by name), lists unpaid or late taxes (by name), and the exact payments to each town employee and contractor, salaries and expenses. This report is mailed directly to each taxpayer or resident of the town. Talk about transparency in government!
Town Meeting means nothing big ever gets accomplished. Town Meeting is held once, maybe twice a year. If you cannot attend , you cannot vote. Due the that lovely Grover Norquist inspired prop. 2 1/2 that Mass. passed a while back, towns cannot raise income above 2.5% without a town wide 50% +1 wins vote. With fuel and health care costs rising way faster than 2.5%, and tax incoming dropping due to decreased home property tax valuations, towns are cash strapped. But there is no way to "deal" and "horse trade" and all the ugly but needed things that make a representative system work. Instead, it's he who shouts the loudest wins--literally--as most votes are voice "yay/nay". It might be transparent, but it isn't functional.
Don't like the climate. And it's too far from my favorite place in the world: southeastern British Columbia. Other than that, your post is intriguing. (I considered moving to B.C., but the hiking season is short and the winters are long, and I don't do winter sports.)
I did this when I had a land line about 5 years ago. Just tell them it is a cellular phone, and you will report them, and you are on the do not call list. It worked for me after about 3 or 4 days. As they are not allowed to call cell phones. Sure they don't know if it is or isn't a cell phone. And most of the times they will purge it from their own records.
One night I was called by a telemarketer offering me some kind of trip. As I was in a particularly good mood, and had at least one beer in me already, I decided I would go ahead and talk to this woman. I spent about ten minutes talking to her, giving her all the reasons I wouldn't be able to go, and maybe if it was such a great trip, I would authorize her to go in my place if only she would let me talk to her boss. I was having a blast, and eventually she hung up on me!
I cannot even tell you how much satisfaction that gave me, to have wasted her time and turned the tables. I encourage everyone to try it at least once.
I cannot even tell you how much satisfaction that gave me, to have wasted her time and turned the tables. I encourage everyone to try it at least once.
While I'm sure this was fun and satisfying, please be aware that the person on the other end of the phone is likely being paid by number of calls and number of successes, not by the hour. While I would love to stick one to the companies that engage in telemarketing, I don't think it's fair to stick it to the individuals who they employ. So, I just hang up fast.
So then if she was better at her job, she would have convivnced me to take the trip, and gotten her money.
I usually just hang up too. So no offense, but spare me the self-righteousness. It's one thing if Comcast calls to try to get me to upgrade my cable service. But no one gives away a trip for free, especially when no contest has been entered. It's a scam, and the people involved know it. In any case I think we can agree that the success rate of such calls for even a legitimate concern is exceptionally small, and a successful call would probably not have taken much less time than what she spent on me. I hardly think I made a dent in her earnings that day. If nothing else hopefully she had a story to tell her coworkers about this idiot she called.
So your counterpoint to make me feel guilty, although well founded, has been unsuccessful.
I usually just hang up too. So no offense, but spare me the self-righteousness. It's one thing if Comcast calls to try to get me to upgrade my cable service. But no one gives away a trip for free, especially when no contest has been entered. It's a scam, and the people involved know it. In any case I think we can agree that the success rate of such calls for even a legitimate concern is exceptionally small, and a successful call would probably not have taken much less time than what she spent on me. I hardly think I made a dent in her earnings that day. If nothing else hopefully she had a story to tell her coworkers about this idiot she called.
So your counterpoint to make me feel guilty, although well founded, has been unsuccessful.
Robert's legitimate objection notwithstanding, I do this any time I'm not busy. I consider it a public service, the same as talking to door-to-door evangelists as long as possible, because while they're talking to me they're not pestering someone else.
The problem with the current flood of Romney's calls is that they are automated. There's nobody to talk to.
On the "free trip" calls, they offer you a "free" cruise, but you have to pay "docking fees," and you have to pay at the time of the phone call. You cannot think about it overnight, and you cannot place a tentative booking and then pay the fees when you actually take the trip. If you research it first, you find that the ship is a converted ferry boat, not a cruise ship, and that the company is not that other company whose name it is almost identical with. It's a scam, and the poor folks making the calls, abused and underpaid though they are, are participating in a scam. I'm not going to make it easier for them to scam someone else by letting them off with a fast "No thank you."
I get very few of these sorts of calls, however, because I'm on the Do Not Call list. But political parties are exempt from that list. And though they could respect the list, one party in particular chooses to disregard the list and phone people who've explicitly stated that they do not wish to receive calls, and barrage them several times a day with lies about the other candidate, without ever giving you the courtesy of a live person to whom you could request that you be removed from their calling list.
Fortunately, up until now (I hope the clowns don't read this) they've restricted themselves to calling from just two numbers, and I no longer answer calls from those numbers, though I still have to get up and look at my phone.
I strongly suspect that if "None of the above" was offered as a ballot choice, it would win. If I had my way, anyone who expressed a desire to run for office would immediately be thrown in prison for ten years. It would do them good. I actually found prison to be a positive experience overall. But then, I went to prison for doing something I felt was right, knowing in advance that I'd probably go to prison for it.
dflye
S Sig Perf 414, VIN 814
Ketchup versus Mustard
Democrats vs Republicans and their respective tunnel visions is very similar to Ketchup (Catsup) vs Mustard when it comes to the One True Condiment for hot dogs.
In that condiment arena, your choice makes perfect sense to you, and anyone choosing the other condiment is obviously a <redacted> <eradicated> <obfuscated> person!
And lest there be any confusion on which side of the ball-park I'm on: National Mustard Museum | Learn. Taste. Shop. Laugh!
Democrats vs Republicans and their respective tunnel visions is very similar to Ketchup (Catsup) vs Mustard when it comes to the One True Condiment for hot dogs.
In that condiment arena, your choice makes perfect sense to you, and anyone choosing the other condiment is obviously a <redacted> <eradicated> <obfuscated> person!
And lest there be any confusion on which side of the ball-park I'm on: National Mustard Museum | Learn. Taste. Shop. Laugh!
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