Aristo! Aristo! A la lanterne!: Here's an idea... if it is workable.

Thursday, July 8, 2021

Here's an idea... if it is workable.

An app that keeps track of the phone numbers you block, along with the blocked numbers of everyone else that uses the app.

If a number is blocked by X-thousand people, the app adds that number to every app users block list.

It would be crowd sourcing judgements on scam and spam callers.

3 comments:

thinkingman said...: NICE. I'm in, for what it's worth. The Do Not Call List is worthless and unenforceable for robot calls made with the fake phone number disguises that show up on caller ID.; July 8, 2021 at 1:30 PM
Glypto Dropem said...: I already use such an app, called "Should I Answer?" It works great on my Android. My phone only rings when it is someone I would want to talk to.; July 8, 2021 at 2:32 PM
Carteach said...: Herself has gotten her number on a specific list used by a group of 'charity scammers'. They purport to be calling from police, firemen, and such groups. Not a word of it is true. I've tracked some of their info through multiple layers and come to find they are a AFLCIO fundraising scheme, and not a cent goes to actual front line people.

She was getting several calls a day. Sometimes up to five. A short while ago she just began handing the phone to me, as she knows I adore a self presenting flagellant to abuse.

The tack I enjoy most is insulting their manhood:
"If you aren't the rear echelon chickenshit coward I think you are, you'll give me your real name and address right now".

I'm welcoming any inventive wording that other folks may wish to share, as they don't seem to be going away.; July 8, 2021 at 2:41 PM

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I have this philosophy.... All humans are faced with a choice.

They can become students of human nature, trying to recognize the good and bad within themselves... or they can choose to ignore human nature, and act simply on drives, desires, and instincts. The former is what sets mankind aside from animals, and the latter is to act as an animal.

Making the first choice is harder, more complicated, and creates a difficult path to follow... for it's the basis of knowing right from wrong. There are those who study human nature, and themselves, and actively try to better themselves and do what is right. There are others... people who study human nature, note the flaws inherent to the unthinking herd, and use them as a means to control.

There is no danger greater than the refusal to see, and to think. Doing so leaves one a pawn to anyone awake, aware, and driven to power over others.

Robert Heinlein

"Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please — this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No — and to be rude about it when necessary.
Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you.

(This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)"

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.