Things that annoy you...

We just stopped answering the phone, (both the house phone and the cell phones), if we don't recognize the phone number on the caller ID. If it's a real call, they leave a message. If not, we can just ignore them.

Occasionally a scammer leaves a message, but they're easy to spot, so we just delete the message. I can't count how many times Apple Care has told me that my account has been hacked, and I shouldn't use my Apple device until I call them. We don't own any Apple devices.

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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

I like rain, as long as I'm not outside getting wet. When I lived in Texas, I used to sit outside on the balcony during rainstorms and just watch the lightning and the rain. I found it very relaxing.

its okay for the movies to watch inside while it rains. oh yea my ex boyfriend loved doing that aswell he take photos of them

your ex takes photos of people watching movies inside when its raining?
kuh-reeeeeeeeee-peee

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"My Dionne Warwick understanding of your dream indicates that you are ambivalent on how you want life to eventually screw you." - Joel

"Ever try to forcibly pin down a house cat? It's not easy." - Captain Steel

"I just can't get pass sticking a finger up a dog's butt." - John Dumbear

no he take photos of lighting

I tried to get my Mom to ignore them but i think she enjoyed yelling at them too much.

Oh yeah, I forgot the "your computer has a virus" scam - the calls that come from "Microsoft Customer Service" or "Apple!"

If I was to try to make a list of all of them (and only including those received more than once)... it would be a long list!

I find that the calls from India can be very aggressive. Always men.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

It seems like 99% of them are ultimately from India. I often wonder why... like why not a whole slew of other countries if the scams are so successful that they're still doing them over 20 years later?

(I estimate this all started roughly in the late 90's if not earlier - because I remember living in my apartment 1998-2008 and fielding these scam calls).

I want to say that the majority of ours are from America & a lot of women with cigarette-smoking wrecked voices. The woman from the “IRS” has a very gravelly voice.

I was proud of myself - years back, I was getting the IRS scam call. Their problem back then was they left a call back number - so I called back... all day long!

I spent a whole day calling them back, using different voices & scenarios - stretching them all out as long as possible. (I consider that the longer I waste their time, the less old people they can scam.)

After several hours, I finally got a scammer (who I'd probably talked to 10 times during my deluge) to break down and he literally begged me to stop calling them. What really got me laughing was when he took the role of victim and told me how I was "harassing them," driving them crazy and interfering with their "work"!

Too funny. I’ve always been afraid to call them back.

My brother Nigel used to be terribly bothered by Jehovah’s Witnesses knocking at his front door in England. Then he started inviting them inside & keeping them for hours discussing this & that. Eventually they stopped coming by.

So glad the Evergreen container ship has finally been re-launched, but nobody seems to care about the livestock (on at least one ship) that has been waiting for a week to get through the Suez Canal. And it will take several days to get all the ships through that have been held up.

Cannot imagine how frightened these animals have been. They’ve already been on the ship(s) for God knows how many days already. Worst scenario is that there isn’t enough food & water for them. I’m sure they are badly treated too.

Why can’t everyone stop eating meat!

In my last dwelling I was frequently visited by Jehovah's Witnesses. (I was always polite to them.) Then I read on line that all you have to do is formally request they take you off their "visitation list." (Apparently, if you're polite to them or engage them - you go on a list and they just keep coming back.)

I did make the request (as uncomfortable as it was to make face to face). It lasted about a year, then a couple different people showed up. I informed them that I'd asked the people who used to come 'round to take me off their list - they claimed they weren't aware - so I asked the same of them.

I wasn't visited by them again... but of course I had to move about a year after that.

Do you remember the telephone DO NOT CALL list? One could make a request that these pests put one on their do not call list and, IIRC, this worked for a long time.

Does it still exist, I wonder?

The National Do Not Call Registry does still exist and it does work...

Unfortunately, it works to keep legitimate companies & organizations from making solicitation calls - as they could be fined for violating the list.

But the scammers (criminals) don't care about the Do Not Call list because most of them are foreign and can't be traced or found to levy any fines against - which is why almost all calls you get (outside of personal ones or from legitimate businesses you actively engage with - such as your bank) are scam calls.

(It's much like the gun control argument - more laws will keep guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens, but won't keep them out of the hands of criminals willing to break any laws to get them).

Scammers also have all kinds of "go-arounds" now too - they use advanced technology and automated or "robo" callers, they now pirate existing phone numbers - so a number that shows up on your caller I.D. may appear as a local number, local business, a neighbor or even yourself! (This way the scammers get around phones with number blocking technology, robo-blocking apps, or simply people monitoring their caller I.D. to not answer numbers they don't recognize).

It's insidious!

⬆️ Good post.

I like the way Bonnie got rid of the Jehovah’s Witnesses on the TV show "Mom". (She invites them in at around 2:00 into the video, and she gets rid of them at around 3:15 into the video.)

Rain is great. Especially in the summer after a drought. The air becomes moist, fresh, the leaves on the trees become brighter, greener. Everything around seems to come to life.

rain is great to make the grass more green aswell