MSGID: 1:153/757.21@fidonet eccda8cf   
   REPLY: 1:106/127 86f59fc8   
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   Hello Charles!   
      
   ** On Tuesday 26.01.21 - 09:08, Charles Pierson wrote to August Abolins:   
      
    AA>> ..Since I can't just grab a pile of my book stock and   
    AA>> trade that for food, drugs or booze, he probably realized   
    AA>> the same thing.   
    AA>>   
      
    CP> Much to my wife's displeasure, I'm sure, I'd likely be   
    CP> willing to operate on a barter system if books for food.   
      
   What I find disconcerting is that the gov't taxes me on stock as     
   if it has value, yet I can't use that stock and buy anything     
   with it.  :/   
      
   I get crazy people who bring in their used books and point out     
   specific ones are "brand new", and expect me to therefore pay     
   them full retail price.  Sheesh.   
      
      
    AA>> I am not necessarily willing per se.  I would not be   
    AA>> comfortable to involve the police.  I have the local   
    AA>> police emergency number plastered on my cash register so   
    AA>> it's nice and handy. But it has not been necessary for all   
    AA>> the years that I've operated.   
      
    CP> Why is that? I mean your not being comfortable with   
    CP> involving the poluce?   
      
   I don't like the idea that I would need to get the police     
   involved.  I wouldn't like to deal with the drama.   
      
   I had an incident of vandalism a few years ago. I reported it to     
   the landlord first. They inturn reported it to the police.     
   Apparently it was serious enough to report to the police. But my     
   first thought was not to bother with the police.   
      
   This winter, I decorated the outside of my shop with a couple of     
   seasonal potted decorations. I paid a local artist about $50     
   each. One morning, I found one of them missing.  I could have     
   taken those piece in every night (but they were heavy), so I     
   left them as is each night. It wasn't a problem for over a     
   month. But then, some punk decides to help themselves to one of     
   them.  I didn't bother reporting that either.   
      
   Prior to that, it was known that some punk was going around town     
   and turning off the propane tanks of the businesses. But I     
   didn't know that until I spoke to the propane company.   
      
   If the reporting is to be effective, it needs to be reciprocal.      
   In otherwords, it there is reason to suspect that someone is     
   going around town vandalizing things, then the store owners     
   should be notified by the police.  But that doesn't happen.  We     
   may only read about certain events a week later in the     
   newspaper.   
      
      
    AA>> The phone companies claim that spoofing is necessary to   
    AA>> support the callfowarding and re-direction features they   
    AA>> sell.   
      
    CP> I highly doubt that. More lijely they just don't want to   
    CP> spend more money on a bit of additional code to fix the   
    CP> problem.   
      
   I read into this matter some time ago, and it turns out that     
   their excuse is that different countries have different     
   equipment and it is therefore hard to unify everyone on a single     
   stategy or "code" to fix the problem.   
      
   But I also read that allowing such calls to come through is a     
   money maker. The receiving country has a billing mechanism to     
   charge the calling country.  So, why would the receiving country     
   deny *any* calls when there is opportunity to collect calling     
   fees. Blocking all those spoofing and spammng calls would be a     
   big loss of revenue.   
      
      
    CP> So now you have the problem of people calling back those   
    CP> spoofed numbers to complain instead giving some sweet old   
    CP> lady an earful.   
      
   Not sure what you mean by that.   
      
      
    AA>> I think people respect (or fear) people who are fit,   
    AA>> poised, and limber more than those that are not.   
      
    CP> Probably, Although at 6.5 feet tall or so, I have been told   
    CP> I tend to look intimidating even though I am thin.   
      
   Height is another plus factor.  There is probably less chance     
   that any punk will want to mess with someone who towers over     
   them.   
      
   --   
     ../|ug   
      
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