chelsea headingIt seems to me that some of, if not most of, our problems are caused by misused modern technology. AND I am not a troglodyte saying we need to go back to “the good old days.”  Most of the good old days exist only in the imagination of many people. If you don’t believe that, check out what your parents or grandparents think of as “the good old days” and what you remember and then compare them.
Modern technology for my childhood was listening to the radio news cast and hearing Leon McCauliff during the lunch period. Later on, TV began to make an appearance in some friends’ houses but not in ours. Having year round electricity and gas heat in the winter was enough for us. My dad did not have that much. We got a telephone when I was about eight or nine years old. Jumping ahead, one of the first things I did when I got to Central State and got an apartment was get a telephone. That was hugely uncommon as I had friends who were not able to convince the telephone company to install one for them. I suppose it is all in the way one talks to a pretty operator voice.
And today, wellsir, the telephone is a major problem. Herself and I each have a cell phone but have stubbornly hung on to our land line telephone. I am not at all sure how much longer that is going to last. Before going any further, allow me to insert there are many things that are good about having a land line.
As I understand it, if one dials 9-1-1 from a cell phone one has to go through the ritual of being identified, giving your address and then the problem or emergency. When one calls on a land line all your information is displayed on the screen at the 9-1-1 office and you will be asked what is the emergency.
Also, one can have caller I.D. set on your television so the name and number of any caller will be displayed for you when someone rings your telephone. Yes, I know, your TV has to be on. Our land line even has a voice which tells us who is calling and sometimes the names are mispronounced laugh-out-loud funny. But the cell phone shows only who is calling and you have to take it from your pocket to see that.
So, you may ask, if land lines can do all those things, what’s the problem. A big problem is evil people have taken over and are using modern technology to ruin a pleasant afternoon or evening. Some very evil person invented an auto-dialer which starts dialing different numbers at the same time until someone answers. Then there is a pause while the call is switched and the scammer starts in on their spiel. If the voice sounds Indiaish or Pakistani, you can hang up immediately or have some fun by getting them completely off their prepared lie.
Not answering will not discourage these scammers as their auto-dial will call you everyday. One thing the machine will do is change from where the call originates. A couple of times I have called back the number and found some perplexed person who had no idea of what I was talking about. I quit doing that.

In the past two or three weeks we have received several calls a day and I do mean to stress “several.” None of these were from people we know or want to talk to. None - zero- nada- not any. I have answered some of the calls just to  see what amazing thing I was being offered or to just mess with some scammer’s mind.
One India accent was just a little strong when he said he wanted to speak to Chelsea. I asked him why and then had to repeat that for him. He said, quite rudely, “That is none of your business.” Yessir, big mistake. Fortunately,  he hung up before I got to complete why it was my business so the phone didn’t melt. It did, however, become quite heated.
One Facebook friend handles these fake calls in a different manner. He notes the calling number and enters it in as many “drawings” as possible. That would work except now with the device which uses other area codes and other people’s numbers, that won’t help. Actually, I think a firing squad should be called.