Lee.org

I did a bad thing ;-)

I got yet another telemarketing call from “The Carpet Cleaning Company”. Over the last couple years I’ve tried getting myself off their telemarketing list, starting with being on the National Do Not Call Registry. I tried “press 9 to remove yourself from our list” maybe 3 times in the last year (they call a lot). I tried talking to the nice lady who comes on and have alternately been hung up on and told that I’d be removed. Let me also say that I have no carpets that might possibly be cleaned! The biggest rug in the place is the throw in the bathroom.

So today I signed up to have my carpets cleaned. They’ll be here Thursday between 8 and 10 am.

I gave a ficticious name and a ficticious address. They said they’d call before coming out. I’m debating whether I should call it off when they call to confirm. I mean, all I want is for them to realize it’s not in their interest to call me. I don’t want to put some guy in a van out.

What do you suggest?

Update 4-23-09: The Cleaners Arrive

I got a call at about 9:30 from “the carpet cleaners” saying they’d be arriving shortly. At about 10, there they were!

I took a few photos of their truck, waited a few minutes and then approached them.

The conversation started out like this as best I can recollect. I’m forgetting  some little bits but you get the idea (next time, I’ll record video of everything)

As I approached from across the street, the angry cleaner  immediately asked something like, “So what about the carpets you need cleaned?” I guess I had “clean my carpet!” written all over my face. I had been trying to be all nonchalant. Oh well. ;-)

Lee – I don’t have a carpet needing cleaning. It’s illegal for you to have called me because I’m on the Do Not Call List.

Cleaner – Hey but we’re here.

Lee – Your company has called me 10.. no 20 times in the last 2 years and I’ve tried to get off your list every which way.

Cleaner – Hey maybe it wasn’t us that called you. There are a lot of companies like us out there.

Lee – Well, you’re here so it must have been your company.

I heard his phone ringing for a while and he picked it up. He handed me the phone telling me that I could talk with his company about it. There was a woman on the phone that I told much the same story to. I gave her my real name and phone number and she said something like she’d look into it or remove me from their list or something. As we spoke on the phone, the cleaner got more agitated and I ended up talking to him more than the woman. He took back the phone and we talked more.

The cleaner was getting angry that I had photgraphed his truck and said he wanted the pictures back. I saw it was getting ugly and thought to turn on the video function of my camera.

Watch the video. NSFW: profanity:

Pay particular attention where at 1:13 in the video the cleaner commits assault, gesturing angrily and saying, “I’m gonna screw your ass. I know where you live. Ok bitch?”

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

Here is the contract from the video that the guy was so adamant about not giving me. (right-click to view a legible size)

Notes:The back of the truck has the email address  scrtysiltns@yahoo.com on the portable job box. It’s a Ford F-150 pickup truck, white with orange near the bottom. California licence plate 8T12730.

The invoice he kept waving at me has the following written on it “Rug Steamer  Tel: 888-587-5482”

Maybe I’m off their telemarketing list. It’s definite that their value proposition for using illegal telemarketing has decreased.

Update 12-10-09: I haven’t gotten a call from them in months. I think I’m finally off their list :-)

There isn’t.
It’s kinda funny how long that acronym is.

Charlie Gadeken wrote:

Tom Kennedy a great man, a great friend, a wonderful husband and world  class artist, passed away last night. We will miss him and the world  will miss him. He was caught up in a rip tide on Ocean beach and was  pulled out to sea, a friend was able to bring him back in but they
were unable to revive him.

he was love and he will never be forgotten.

 
More information can be found on LaughingSquid     and  TomKennedyArt.com

That’s it. I’m quitting my job and moving to… anywhere! How about the moon. How about Io? Construction on my massive space fleet begins tomorrow!

Here are scans of one of the three $100,000,000,000,000 bills I currently have in my possession.

previously,  previously,  previously.

Emails have been flying about HR 875. Here’s my 2 cents, as sent to Laurie and friends
 

I did some homework on this and it looks like the bill creates more government bureaucracy but doesn’t do anything against organic farmers persay. It increases the amount of record keeping required of a food producing organization, which is more of a bother for small farmers and food sellers than large ones.  

The bill has nothing to do with Monsanto. People want “complete safety” with regard to their food. One way of getting that is (ostensibly) to produce all food in a well run factory. I differ, but that’s where the bill is coming from.

Factcheck.org is a reputable site to check

Popehat says, “it’ll be bad for all small producers”

Here’s the whole bill  (I’ve only read parts of it)

I’m generally opposed to it because it increases paperwork requirements and is a burden on small business. At the same time, it’s useful because if you have a big factory farm that feeds tens of millions of people, it probably should be required that you know where that big pile of food is coming from and going to in case you find a problem with the food. One big mistake might bankrupt the company but more importantly it might kill thousands of people. Such disasters are very rare indeed so I’m skeptical that additional controls will help.

Personally, I’m not going to write to my congresspersons about this. But I encourage you to do what your heart calls for!

Lee
 

 
The letter sent to me:

Continue reading ‘HR 875: Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009’ »

I applied for a job yesterday on Craigslist. Here’s how it went

Craigslist listing

Delivery Man Needed !!!

Reply to: job-xzbze-1111112608@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-04-07, 7:56AM PDT

15 openings for Immediate Resume .

Must have valid drivers license and clean driving record
Must be friendly

Compensation: Good Pay +Benefits
This is a part-time job.
This is a contract job.
Principals only. Recruiters, please don’t contact this job poster.
Please, no phone calls about this job!
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

Compensation: Full Paid Job
Telecommuting is ok.
This is a part-time job.
This is a contract job.
OK for recruiters to contact this job poster.
Please, no phone calls about this job!
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.
PostingID: 1111112608

I replied and then I got this email today:

Dear Applicant,

Thanks for your email and enquiry about this Job. I have gone through your résumé and I must say I am impressed. However, the position of Delivery Man has been filled up by an earlier applicant. Nonetheless, the position of Personal Assistant is still vacant and from what I read in your résumé, you are the right person for the job.

I am Linda Jones, I am a Credit/Collection Agent and I have worked with various financial institutions. I work presently with some construction and manufacturing companies.

I want to employ you urgently as my Personal Assistant to handle certain aspects of my job till I return from a business trip to Spain. You do not need any fund collection or accounting experience to execute this job.

BELOW IS THE DUTY YOU HAVE TO TAKE UP UNTIL MY RETURN:

1. Make some minor calls and sometime attend some short meetings.
2. Receive funds from my clients either by Bank Transfer, Cashier Check, Business Check, E-Check,Money Orders and Western Union.
3. Disburse fund to my numerous clients either by Bank Transfer Cashier Check, Business Check, Money Orders and Western Union.

REMENURATION
You will be entitled to a basic salary of $1,300.00 weekly and a benefit of 10% on every fund collected and disbursed.

Get back to me with the following information if you are interested in this position:

1. Full name
2. Full mailing address
3. Contact phone number
4. Age
5. Sex
6. Scanned copy of your valid driver’s license

Otherwise, I must thank you for your time and my sincere apology if I wasted it in anyway.

With Regards,
Linda Jones.

Yeah, I’ll get right on that Linda.
If you can’t see it, the letter shows several warning signs of a scam.
I sent a letter back to her asking for more info about the company and a telephone interview but I’m sure I’ll never hear from this scammer again.

Warning signs include:

• non-company email address
• job duties that look a lot like money laundering
• salary discussion too early
• requiring personal information up front
• the whole Spain thing
• several small language cues
• more, difficult to name issues

I have to commend these scammers for setting a good trap for a mark like me.

• A craigslist job listing costs $75 to place so there is less spam in that channel
• The seemingly personal letter has sway
• “Sorry, that job is filled but here’s another” creates interest

Hey, I’ve got a software localization issue… ie translating software into other languages. If you’re a friend of mine and you have any experience with such things, could you give me a buzz. Thanks!

I just won an ebay auction for 3 100 trillion dollar Zimbabwe notes. That’s 100,000,000,000,000.00 dollars.

If those were US dollars, I’d be able to buy every human on the planet a used 2006 Chrysler Sebring Convertible in excellent condition with the sporty 2.7 liter V-6, A/C and alloy wheels. I’d have enough left over to chip in to cover the insurance, gas, and basic maintenance of those 6.7 billion vehicles for 3 years.

But I’m just going to buy a mansion and a yacht.

On Thursday the mouse….

• worked on electronics all day, filling the kitchen–>dining room table with electronics. And I didn’t clean it up!
• Made scalloped Russett potatoes in porcini and (macaroni and cheese) cheese sauce. And I (dare I say) boiled them! And they were fantastic
• Cleaned up the kitchen and it stayed clean. I used 1 fork, 1 spoon, 1 plate, 1 bowl like a true bachelor. And they got cleaned when I finished.
• I ate 1/2 of lunch and 1/2 of dinner standing up in the kitchen :-)
• Went to bed after 3, when I was too tired to keep my eyes open. Got up at 9:30 the next day
• Scheduled to go out to dinner on Friday and to a rockin NIMBY party on Saturday
• Played the music I wanted as long as I wanted all night
• Put together a RBBB Arduino and Serial Display LCD board

• Went to the Box Shop to pick up some things
• Had lunch with Kurt to tell him about SWARM’s experience at Coachella (Papalote on him!)
• Went back to the Box Shop to pick up some things (oops!)
• Finally installed electric outlet in garage so I can charge my car battery. I hadn’t run the car in a week and I couldn’t start it because the battery was low. :-((. So, after considering it for more than a year, I installed an electric outlet so I could use this fancy desulphating battery charger (BatteryMINDer BM12248)  that SWARM owns.
• Bed time: 5:30am :-)

Saturday…

     

• Went to NIMBY 5 Year Anniversary Party (note in the photo the metal tracked robot trouncing over the heap of wooden pallets, with large multi-colored flames dripping a flammable liquid onto the fire-ball and onto the pile of tinder. SQEEEEEE!) See the Life Size Mousetrap drop a safe on a cake (3mb AVI file)
• Tried to make a case for the T. Pen with plastic. Failed (so far)
• Bed time: 5:30am :-)

 

And then Charlotte came back.

More on the “Gah!”…

So a friend of mine twot an interesting question. Is there any way I can read the read the responses he received? I’m pretty sure the answer is “No, because Twitter is stupid. He should be using a better, more popular social networking site like maybe Xanga, Imeem, Skyrock, Wasabi, or Viadeco”

Here is the interesting question he posted, “With Hex or Grey Code optical encoders, can varying resistors be assigned to the pins to allow position to be read as an analog value?”