Fall Arrived Yesterday... Maybe

Though fall doesn't officially start in the US for another few days, on the day of the autumnal equinox, it started yesterday by my own personal definition. Maybe.

I say maybe because while I've defined three (semi-flippant) indicators for the start of fall I never defined whether it took the presence of any one, a majority of two, or all three to signify the start of fall. Yesterday two of those indicators occurred. One, the weather was cool enough that I chose to wear long pants— not for fashion's sake but for comfort. Two, it rained more than a trace amount. Official statistics collected at SJC airport about 9 miles away measured 0.51 inches.



I think it may have rained less here, probably about 0.3" (0.75cm) based on nearer-by sampling at Moffett Field. (The heaviest rains occurred in coastal mountains, with measurements of 2"/5cm in places.) Either way, it was pretty after the rain stopped and the clouds cleared... though they returned throughout the day.

The third indicator, turning on the heat in the house, has not occurred yet. While outside temperatures have dropped into the mid 50s overnight (around 13° C) and yesterday's high barely passed 68 (20° C) it has stayed warm enough to be comfortable in the house without heating. It's going to be warmer today and even warmer later this week— next weekend's forecast calls for highs of 87 (just over 30° C)— so it's unlikely we'll have reason to turn on the heater.

So, welcome to fall. Maybe.

Easy Weekend, Week off from Work

I am at home today, Monday, not working from home but taking it easy it home. I've taken the whole week off from work!

Normally I travel when I take time off, so it's a bit odd that I'm home today.. and was home all weekend. Well, not home-home, as I did go out to eat a few times, and we visited the Santa Clara Art & Wine Festival on Saturday afternoon. Compared to the similarly named street fair we visited in neighboring Mountain View just the weekend before, this one had a smidge more wine and a smidge less art. (BTW, we went to two fairs on successive weekends because there are basically two organizations that run all these festivals in the SF Bay Area, and these two events were one from each.)

Fear not, though; I am traveling this week. We leave tomorrow! We'll spend 5 days at a beach resort in Florida around our anniversary.

New Anti-Spam Technique: Answer the Call!

I've been getting more spam calls lately. Well, potential spam. It's easier than ever to avoid it because the phone companies have added spam detection to their smartphone software. Now I see stuff like this when a potential spammer calls:



The thing is, while it's easier than ever to avoid spam, it's also easier than ever for spammers to... well, spam. Auto-dialer software is really cheap now, phone lists are cheap, bandwidth is cheap... basically a few scammers in a garage can stage a nationwide spam operation placing a billion calls. That's what's behind the notorious extended-car-warranty spam, authorities believe.

I get 2-3 spam calls every weekday now. The government seems powerless to stop them. What to do?

The old conventional wisdom is "Just ignore them, maybe they'll go away." Also, "Don't answer! That just proves your number is real and they'll call you more!"

The thing is, spammers are not going to just go away. It's too cheap for them to keep trying. And they're not dialing random strings of 10 digits; they're buying lists of phone numbers. "Proving" your number is real is not really a thing. (OTOH, actually falling for a scam supposedly does get you onto a hot list of known suckers the scammers sell to each other.)

So I came up with a new conventional wisdom: Answer the call. Answer it, let them start the pitch, then hang up. Maybe then their system will mark your number as already contacted and stop trying.

I did that today with two spam calls. Both were actually a live person trying to sell me something! Well, one was a charity asking for money; the other was trying to pitch me business software. I know they've been trying repeatedly because I recognize their location. I told both of them politely I would not donate/buy and asked them not to call again. Maybe now I'll get fewer spam calls per week, at least for a little while.

Update: It worked! Once I finally answered these organizations' calls they stopped trying. I went from several spam calls a week to one or none.