Originally published at still a ways away. Please leave any comments there.

Another robodialer call; this time I pressed 1 and played along to see if I could social-engineer my way to enough information to file a formal complaint. No dice: they hung up on me again, after refusing to identify themselves as anything more than “Cardmember Services.”

“You’re interested in lowering your credit card rate?”

“Oh, yes, certainly.”

“Can you confirm your name for me?”

My name is Not Dumb Enough To Confirm My Name and Address To a Telemarketer, Ever. “You called me. You’re with my bank, right? I’m sorry, I’m just a little confused.” I am not at all confused.

“Yes, I’m with Cardmember Services.”

“Oh, is that, like, your division?”

And that’s when he hung up. He was not, needless to say, working for my credit union. If he had been, I’m sure he would have said, “No, I’m from the credit union,” when I asked if he were calling from my bank. I don’t do business with any banks; I do business with credit unions and brokerages.

I called the Oregon DOJ, which is supposed to handle Do Not Call violations; the man I spoke with there says they’ve been getting a lot of complaints about this. He recommended filing a complaint with the national Do Not Call people, so I did that, but somehow I doubt that “Cardmember Services” is an actual business name.

This is getting obnoxious enough that I’m really thinking about getting Caller ID. Though the bastards probably have blocked numbers.

And, on a basically unrelated note (er, robots -> science fiction -> conventions, look, there, it’s like a logical connection), after making cracks for weeks about needing a “Wiscon Next Year” icon, I’ve made some. Those of you who are, like me, not spending this weekend in Madison may feel free to avail yourselves (even if “next year” is not, in fact, 2009, but instead a sort of putative “next year” of the spirit).

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Link O' The Day

Sorry for the late posting - our power went out just about the time I woke up, and it just came back up again. It seems that a car with a possibly intoxicated person slammed into a schoolbus full of elementary school kids before taking out a power pole. Luckily, and only by about 3 minutes, it wasn't the bus carrying my kid. I'm not sure how bad anyone was hurt, but there sure were a lot of sirens. Scary stuff.

Anyhoo, here are some random things for this thoroughly thoughtful Thursday:

It only takes seven pounds of pressure to rip an ear off.

David Hasselhoff's Uncle, Karl Hasselhoff, was the inventor of the inflatable sheep.

Brooke Shields can trace her genealogy back to Lucretia Borgia.

And here's a glimpse of the future, courtesy of George Carlin:

In the future:

Children will be required to attend school only when something comes up in conversation that they do not understand.

All farming will cease and the land will be used for loitering.

All people will speak the same language, but no one will speak it well.

Man will learn to control the weather with a large hammer.

At birth, religions will charge people an initial fee of $50,000 and then pretty much leave them alone.

The insane will no longer be housed in asylums; instead, they will be displayed in department store windows.

And now for some links to wind this all up:

Of Interest

Viewed Through A Window

Play the slideshow

Make Notes

[I'm white...] ranging from glow-in-the-dark Irish legs to Roman-in-the-woodpile summer-tan arms and strong hints of Basque raccoon eyes. My body encompasses the whole of European genetic heritage (pre-Hunnish invasions and Jewish diaspora) in one bundle. And I voted Obama. Gasp! I’m a race traitor!