Author Topic: The Library (Read 2326016 times)

mabel1015j · « **Reply #12440 on:** December 03, 2013, 11:50:19 AM »

The Library

Our library cafe is open 24/7, the welcome mat is always out.
Do come in from daily chores and spend some time with us.

We look forward to hearing from you, about you and the books you are enjoying (or not).

Let the book talk begin here!

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*SeniorLearn's Archives

That's good to know Barbara, thank you.

Frybabe · « **Reply #12441 on:** December 03, 2013, 12:38:57 PM »

I rarely answer numbers I don't recognize either. "John" has called here several times. I just hang up.

Steph · « **Reply #12442 on:** December 03, 2013, 12:54:52 PM »

darn,had a long post ready to send and it disappeared. I hate that..

JeanneP · « **Reply #12443 on:** December 03, 2013, 01:50:36 PM »

That do not call list is a waste of time.
I have had at least 3 calls a day for month. 2 already today. Yes John one of them.
I think today I am going to call ATT about my service. Those calls are about the only ones I get on my home phone but I have to have it for my family in UK to reach me.
ATT. stopped allowing the phones for use of 800 number if you don't have Long distance on your Home line. I took it off last year. Use Mobile phone for Long Distance. I did use the line for 800 number calling to use the Phone cards. Now won't work. Going to have to make a better deal with me or I take it out.

bellamarie · « **Reply #12444 on:** December 03, 2013, 02:10:40 PM »

I rarely answer my landline phone anymore. All through the day I get telemarketers even though I am on the Do Not Call list. That is a joke, they get through anyway. I have caller ID and an answering machine, so I have decided if it's important they will leave a message and I will call them back. Since my hubby retired, every time the phone rings he starts to go answer it and I say, don't bother. At first he thought I was crazy, now he sees why. I would love to eliminate my landline altogether but I have had the same number forever, and just feel funny leaving it. Maybe I will learn I can do without it. My married kids have no landlines anymore. Just cell phones.

Ciao for now~

JeanneP · « **Reply #12445 on:** December 03, 2013, 06:51:09 PM »

That is my reason. I have had this same Tel. Number for 46 years. I always forget to give my Mobile number (also don't like to give it to everyone). Thing is I forget to leave the Mobile on all the time. It always down in my purse and I just like to have it when traveling. ( I hate talking on a phone).

nlhome · « **Reply #12446 on:** December 03, 2013, 07:36:48 PM »

I have kept track of the calls and reported the numbers to the government - The only way they can track those numbers is if people complain. A pain, yes, but I did get a response on one of my complaints. And the gal who kept calling me about my credit card finally stopped.

Really, if the NSA can track so much, why can't they do something about those stupid calls?

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #12447 on:** December 03, 2013, 08:44:33 PM »

Non-profits are immune from the Law AND any company you have conversed with in the past 6 months by clicking on their web site or actually exchanging emails that automatically gives them permission to contact you for 6 months - many of these companies including the non-profits sell your email name and whatever other information they have about you and that then transfers to them the right to call you within the 6 month window - the law started as giving them permission but since the permission is assumed when you clicked on their site or exchanged an email with them.

example anyone that comes to one of the open houses I hold on a listing and signs the guest list I can follow up for 6 months - if they respond even by picking up the phone within that 6 month window it simply extends the time as if the 6 month window started fresh.

jane · « **Reply #12448 on:** December 03, 2013, 09:28:24 PM »

This "emergency medical supplies" company meets none of those criteria. We have not contacted them in any form, they are not "non-profit" and they are in violation of the law. I would not be surprised to learn they are, in fact, a scam.

I hope everyone who gets one of these calls will take the time to file a complaint at the Do Not Call website.

Jane

Frybabe · « **Reply #12449 on:** December 03, 2013, 09:55:24 PM »

The Do Not Call list won't stop all the calls, especially not scammers. If I remember correctly, it does not apply to numbers outside the country, nor does it apply to companies that you do business with (unless you request them not to call, separate from the DNC list). It can't do anything about the computer generated false numbers that scammers like to use, and businesses must sign up to the list of "do not call" numbers in order to compare them to their databases. So that means all the international calls, all the phishers and scammers, and any business that doesn't sign up to get the do not call list and companies you have done business with but not specifically requested that they don't call will still be calling. Still, it does (or once did) have some small effect on the number of calls we would have gotten otherwise.

Anytime you sign up for a newsletter or become a "member" of a website (like recipe sites, for example) where they request your phone number and address, please read their Terms of Use. Sometimes you will find that you are giving them permission to call you or pass your address on to other "affiliates".

CubFan · « **Reply #12450 on:** December 03, 2013, 10:02:15 PM »

After we had a hail storm and the roofing company calls started "pouring" in, I finally told one of the places that I was on both the federal and state do not call lists & I was going to report them for violation. Their response was that they were not in violation as they were not trying to sell me anything, they were offering me a free inspection of my roof which was an emergency service. Semantics!!! Guess what went on after every inspection in neighborhood.

I too do not answer my phone until it goes to the answering machine and the callers identify themselves. My daughters don't like it --- but --- they just say Mom it's me & wait for me to pick up. Ninety percent of my calls are robo calls. Most of the calls my neighbors & I get are "stimulus package", or "interest rate reduction". The caller we refer to by name is Rachel. My friends in Iowa also get calls from her. In all cases, annoying.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #12451 on:** December 03, 2013, 10:13:06 PM »

Jane if you subscribe to AARP that may be where they got your name and number. Since AARP sells its member list that is probably how they feel they are not breaking the law. Just because a company says it will keep your number private does not mean they will not sell the number which is not making it public - it is sold to another private company. They have to specifically say they will not sell your name and number.

PatH · « **Reply #12452 on:** December 03, 2013, 10:20:13 PM »

I try to report all my calls, even though it's a nuisance. I finally got rid of Rachel--haven't heard from her for 6 months or so. If there are enough reports, this will show the magnitude of the problem, and maybe the laws will be tightened.

Steph · « **Reply #12453 on:** December 04, 2013, 09:03:14 AM »

I keep my landline because I live in a gated community and the security rules for the gate are landline phone for gate calls..But I know how dangerous it can be to not answer a landlineWhen we were in the accident four years ago, the hospital called my older son who never answers his landline, just checks who is calling.They finally got my younger son who had to come upto his brothers house and pound on the door to alert them as to start up to Orlando where we were in intensive care. He was in massive shock..but it was his fault.

JeanneP · « **Reply #12454 on:** December 04, 2013, 01:09:38 PM »

Looks like it should make it illegal to make those calls on weekends,holidays.after certain times of day. They break all those rules now. I had2 on thanksgiving day. One last night after 9:30pm. One at 9am this morning. I req. insurance quote awhile back and I had 4phone calls and 3e mails in 2 days.

Awful weather here today. Icy rain. Need to return things to library but hate to go out. Hope it clears.

nlhome · « **Reply #12455 on:** December 04, 2013, 02:01:17 PM »

Rachel and many of those other calls are automatic - have nothing to do with whether or not you are a member of some organization or responded to a web site. They just call numbers. They use deceptive terminology to get your attention - like saying that your credit card needs to be reviewed or your computer has a virus or you are going to win a prize.

Just because a caller says his company is not subject to the Do Not Call list doesn't mean that's true. And, as I understand it, you can tell them to add your name to their do not call list and they are supposed to do that.

PatH · « **Reply #12456 on:** December 04, 2013, 03:43:20 PM »

Sometimes that works, but often they just hang up when you ask them not to call.

MaryPage · « **Reply #12457 on:** December 04, 2013, 03:44:58 PM »

I keep my land line because I frankly prefer to talk on the phone with it. The only reasons I have that pesky little cell phone is (1) my children insist upon it in the event of an emergency and (2) it sure is handy when the power goes out in a storm. But honestly, I hate to either call out on it or use it to speak to anyone. So it stays turned off in my purse. And yes, I have used it in a number of emergency situations.
I love a good old handle to hold on to and good hearing and easy speaking into. And I, too, am now in the habit of noting who is calling from my television, if I am watching something, or going and looking at my caller ID. I just do not answer any "unknown caller" or 800 number or anything like that or any name I do not know. Works for me!

JeanneP · « **Reply #12458 on:** December 04, 2013, 04:29:09 PM »

Just another annoying thing we have to contend with. Technology has given us some great things but so many others came along to spoil things. Everything has to be double checked now and read through. So many mistakes made. Find them on your banks, grocery checkouts. Etc. World just depends on Technology to be perfect.

I just can't figure out why people need to be on a phone all the time. The young ones never seem to put them down.

nlhome · « **Reply #12459 on:** December 04, 2013, 05:08:58 PM »

I guess phones are for our convenience, but ever since I missed a call from my son who was in Afghanistan because I didn't recognize the phone number, I answer calls, whether on my land line or my cell. I do not want to miss an important call such as when my daughter called me from a friend's phone when she was stranded and no one else closer in distance to her would answer an unfamiliar number.

I do not use my cell phone for for much and do not give out the number except to friends and family, so those few junk calls I get are clearly not related to any company I may have an affiliation with - I am sure they are random calls by a computer.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #12460 on:** December 04, 2013, 08:04:05 PM »

The History Channel2 is showing two great programs on American slang, 8 to 9 now.

Steph · « **Reply #12461 on:** December 05, 2013, 08:24:46 AM »

I get most of my junk calls on my landline..not my cell.. Interesting because I mostly give out my cell number since I am more likely to answer it and have it with me.

CallieOK · « **Reply #12462 on:** December 05, 2013, 12:36:39 PM »

For some unknown reason, I once listened to a robo-call all the way through. At the very end, I was told I could opt out of future calls by punching a certain number. I don't remember if I did and, if so, don't remember if it worked.
I've never done that again - but, apparently, this "opportunity" may be "provided" IF you listen to the entire spiel.

Sometimes the Caller ID has the name of a state. I have a list of Area Codes and most of the robo-calls I'm currently getting (and letting go to "message" and the automatic hang-up from the caller) seem to be from New York, Washington D.C. and Florida.

I searched for one number - found an address - looked for that on Google maps - and found it was an apartment building in NYC.
(Think I might have too much time on my hands?

)

PatH · « **Reply #12463 on:** December 05, 2013, 01:28:39 PM »

Interesting--I live just outside of Washington DC, and none of my robo-calls have local area codes.

CallieOK · « **Reply #12464 on:** December 05, 2013, 03:57:26 PM »

PatH, you're probably getting them from the other locations. I don't get any from Oklahoma area codes.

ursamajor · « **Reply #12465 on:** December 06, 2013, 10:38:54 AM »

The "free" phone niumber lookup that appeared just below the posts isn't free. It costs 95 cents to get the information on the number entered and $19 a month if you want to subscribe. This kind of offer irritates the daylights out of me. I am surprised at SeniorLearn for permitting it.

jane · « **Reply #12466 on:** December 06, 2013, 10:47:34 AM »

I haven't seen that one, ursamajor. I don't know how the Admins can check to see what Ad choice is showing for ads, but I'm sure someone will look into it. I'd been doing a search about single mothers, and suddenly all the ads I saw dealt with single women/mothers/dating sites and some that caused me to raise my eyebrows, too. I haven't seen them since.

The ads I get seem geared to what I've searched for or words I've used. If I talk about Paris, suddenly I seem to get a lot of ads for Paris hotels, tours, etc.

So...here we're talking about phones and cell phones and DO Not Call lists...and ta da...telephone related ads appear.

jane

Frybabe · « **Reply #12467 on:** December 06, 2013, 11:09:02 AM »

Interesting, I hadn't noticed the ads other than Amazon on here.

There are a lot of so called free phone or address lookups that aren't. I just keep looking until I find one that truly is free or, if the so called free ones give any info at all, I add the to my search list until I find what I am looking for. It takes awhile, but sometimes I get lucky.

pedln · « **Reply #12468 on:** December 06, 2013, 11:37:06 AM »

My landline is a captioned telephone because i do not understand speech well on the telephone. As with TV, there is a lag between what is said and the captions showing up. Many of these callers go so fast that by the time I say "Is this a real person?" they are long gone and I don't have a clue. But it seems to me that most of the time they are all recordings, which I think should be totally eliminated. What purpose do they serve other than to annoy people.

As for the computer scams -- "hackers have taken over your computer" or "we do not represent, ma'am, we are windows" -- one of them actually said, in response to my telling him off, "calm down, old lady."

Now I finally have a cell phone that can do captions from Hamilton Relay (they have an app), and it has two numbers -- a regular number for texting and regular calls, and a CallMe# for captioned calls.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #12469 on:** December 06, 2013, 01:16:51 PM »

Well I think I may have solved something that was getting more and more annoying - here I pay for high speed and using the internet has become anything but high speed. The more I thought about it after using Spybot every week and coming up with nothing and using the Defragmenter that still did not solve anything - at times it was feeling like someone else had to read my stuff before it would allow me to the next link I was clicking.

Well it hit me - the cookies - hate getting rid of them all but many I cannot tell what they belong to and of course the temporary cookies was loaded. So I changed accepting cookies from everytime to when visited AND to alert me everytime. Holy hannah - I am denying cookies left and right and others I am saying only allow one time with a few allow - what a difference - unfortunately I lost all my history and had to come up with a new password to get here since I forgot my old one but denying so many of these cookies may be a pain everytime I open a new web site but I am finally in control and my computer is not slower than molasses.

I was shocked how many companies or web sites were putting cookies on my computer when I visited some of my regular links. There is this new neighborhood group that is going all over the nation where they divide up the town into several streets of close by neighbors and get them to sign on to pass along information or ask for help like one wanted a regular baby sitter two days a week and another wanted some recommendations for a dentist - well with my changed system I realize all it is is a way to capture your computer for loads and loads of other companies to fill up your email and advertise on your regular use of your internet face - I must have denied 20 different cookies - amazing - then I wondered why my computer was so slow?

Steph · « **Reply #12470 on:** December 06, 2013, 03:00:04 PM »

Hmmmm Cookies.I bet that is why my laptop was so slow all summer.

JoanP · « **Reply #12471 on:** December 06, 2013, 07:15:19 PM »

This is probably a silly question - but I've been wondering if cookies are being stored on my iPad? I wouldn't know where to go to remove them.

PatH · « **Reply #12472 on:** December 06, 2013, 08:06:18 PM »

They've got to be. I don't know how to remove them, though. Unfortunately, you need some of them.

bellamarie · « **Reply #12473 on:** December 06, 2013, 08:06:28 PM »

I clear my history/cookies at least 3xs a week faithfully. Any time I ever do any banking online, I immediately clear the history/cookies. I also make it a habit of changing my passwords often. I keep a pad and write down the new passwords and the date I change them. If I make a purchase online, after I have completed the purchase with my credit card, I immediately go back to that site and make sure I have removed the credit card # from the site. Many sites keep your credit card # stored for future purchases, but hackers are able to access these sites and get to the credit card #s. I know I can't be guaranteed 100% safety on the internet, but I can be proactive in doing things that will lessen the opportunities to be hacked. And at this time Consumer's Report and all Computer programmers, hackers and anti virus experts are advising people to stay away from the Obamacare.gov site because it has NO security built into the program as to date which leaves you ripe for identity theft.

Jane, "The ads I get seem geared to what I've searched for or words I've used. If I talk about Paris, suddenly I seem to get a lot of ads for Paris hotels, tours, etc."

I just heard on a show last night how Google, has a built in program to keep track what you look up, and then send your info to these companies/sites, so they have your email address/phone #, etc. so they can contact you. It's damned if you do, damned if you don't. I am getting flooded in my spam with ads from me using Google to look up things, and endless telemarketer calls per day.

Ciao for now~

ginny · « **Reply #12474 on:** December 06, 2013, 10:16:55 PM »

I've finished You've Done What, My Lord? and enjoyed it. The more you read the better it gets and it really got laugh out loud funny at the end as the author's style improved. It's got enough verisimilitude to seem real and apparently it was. I kept thinking I recognized the family he was working for, of course all the names are changed, and so forth, but the Lord of the Manor has had a stroke, the wife ( 2nd wife or whatever) is a shouting demanding harridan, there's a brother and heir but he's away a lot, and the daughter has married a prince, does any of this ring a bell?

If you guessed Princess Diana, you'd be right.

Turns out he was an estate agent at Althorp, and the only way I found that out was by reading up on the author, because he does not mention it in the book. They are like the James Herriot veterinarian books, fictionalized accounts of real people and his adventures as an estate agent on a huge English estate. I'd bought three of them, from Daedalus Books which are extremely cheap, I don't know how they do it, they are new books and apparently there's a store in DC you can go to , but the prices are unbelievable, 3 bucks or 4, and they are nice new good size books. I like their catalogs as much as Bas Bleu, I think perhaps better.

At any rate, the series is charming, and very enjoyable. He's really had some adventures with some of the grand people he works for. Explains a lot about Downton Abbey too, indirectly.

Steph · « **Reply #12475 on:** December 07, 2013, 08:46:33 AM »

Since I am working my way through the third season of Downton Abbey and we are at the point where Tom becomes the estate agent, that was interesting.. May look for the book.

ginny · « **Reply #12476 on:** December 07, 2013, 10:48:43 AM »

Oh really, did he? I did not see the last of the series, I don't know why. Maybe I can catch it coming up as they are starting reruns. That would be interesting, now that I know what one is.

Dana · « **Reply #12477 on:** December 07, 2013, 11:15:42 AM »

Have just finished "Dragonseed" by Pearl S. Buck.
Quite an eye opener for me. I had no idea of the Japanese war on China in the 30s, the massacre of Nanking and of the outrages perpetrated by the Japanese on the Chinese. Just awful. Its funny how the only holocaust we seem to hear about these days is the Nazi Jewish one. So many others, .... I feel quite guilty I didn't even know about this one. Then this am I was just reading about how the N. Koreans are making crystal meth for export. Reminded me of how the Japs pushed the use of opium on the conquered Chinese.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #12478 on:** December 07, 2013, 11:17:09 AM »

I bet Steph is talking about season 4 - Steph did you receive the complete set that starts for us in January?

marjifay · « **Reply #12479 on:** December 07, 2013, 11:50:33 AM »

Dana wrote, "Have just finished "Dragonseed" by Pearl S. Buck.
Quite an eye opener for me. I had no idea of the Japanese war on China in the 30s, the massacre of Nanking and of the outrages perpetrated by the Japanese on the Chinese. Just awful."

Yes it certainly was. You might want to read THE RAPE OF NANKING; THE FORGOTTEN HOLOCAUST OF WORLD WAR 11 by Iris Chang.

Marj

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Author Topic: The Library (Read 2326016 times)