Do Not Call!

That's it! I've had it. I signed up on the Canadian Do Not Call List. I am so sick of getting umpteen calls a day from telemarketers - half of them fraudulent - that I could scream. Registering on the DNCL was the first proactive step I have taken. Unfortunately it was just a small one.

The problem is that most of the telemarketers are calling me from the US, and the American DNCL won't let me register. I know, I tried. It keeps telling me to correct my area code.

I used to see advertisements on TV, back when I still watched TV, for a doohickey that would detect computer-dialed phone calls and automatically block them, sending back a message that your phone number is invalid, which would delete you from their database. Are those gadgets still on the market? What are they called and where do I find them?

I've tried a google search, but all I'm finding is the machines to MAKE those annoying calls.

Or do you have any other tips for me, other than systematically asking every telemarketer to remove me from their call lists? And how do you ask a recording to do that?


Technorati tags: Telemarketers, Do Not Call

Gleanings from the blogosphere, Aug. 31

Amba at Ambivablog tells us about an Irish company, Steorn, that claims to have invented a technology that produces free, clean and constant energy. Skepticism is allowed. Read the Wikipedia article too.

Something perhaps a little more credible, but almost as fantastic:
University of Arizona physicists invent single-molecule transistors, which could result in a microprocessor as powerful as the top-of-the-line workstation small enough to fit on the back of an E. coli. Ed at Hassenpfeffer has his eye out for this kind of thing, as befits a science fiction writer.

High tech, low class. Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters takes Radio Shack to task for its recent firing by email - effective immediately - of 400 employees. Callimachus at Done With Mirrors treats the subject with similar disdain.

Technorati tags: Steorn, Micro-transistors, Radio Shack