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https://www.geek.com/tech/trump-signs-anti-robocall-traced-act-into-law-1815129/?source
As one of his final acts of 2019, President Trump on Monday signed into law major anti-robocall legislation.
The TRACED (Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence) Act aims to curb unwanted interruptions and thwart the scammers behind them.
Despite its swift adoption by Congress and the White House, don’t expect immediate results: It will take at least 12 to 18 months for the ordinance to kick in, at which point it should begin to lessen the overall number of spammy calls.
Nearly More than 58.5 billion robocalls were placed nationwide so far this year—up from 48 billion in 2018, 31 billion in 2017, and 29 billion in 2016, YouMail reported. That’s equal to roughly 164.4 calls per person affected.
Following their passage in the Senate and House this summer, two separate anti-robocall proposals were reconciled as part of a bipartisan, bicameral agreement: the TRACED Act.
The bill requires that carriers adopt technology to help identify legitimate (or not) calls and let consumers opt in or out of blocking—at no extra charge. It also allows the government to step up enforcement actions against unlawful robocalls, prosecute the criminals generating them, and hand out penalties of up to $10,000 per call.
“I am glad that the agency now has a longer statute of limitations during which we can pursue scammers,” Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement. “And I welcome the removal of a previously required warning we had to give to unlawful robocallers before imposing tough penalties.”
I thought my twice-monthly “Unknown Number” calls were annoying.
But, as The Washington Post pointed out last month, these disruptions are more than a nuisance: They endanger hospitals, flood phone lines, and scare patients.
In response, Congress included a clause in the TRACED Act that protects patients, doctors, and hospitals from unlawful robocalls.”
“I thank the American people for never letting us forget how fed up they are with scam, spoofed robocalls,” Pai said. “It’s their voices that power our never-ceasing push to fight back against the scourge of robocalls and malicious spoofing.”
More on Geek.com:
As one of his final acts of 2019, President Trump on Monday signed into law major anti-robocall legislation.
The TRACED (Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence) Act aims to curb unwanted interruptions and thwart the scammers behind them.
Despite its swift adoption by Congress and the White House, don’t expect immediate results: It will take at least 12 to 18 months for the ordinance to kick in, at which point it should begin to lessen the overall number of spammy calls.
Nearly More than 58.5 billion robocalls were placed nationwide so far this year—up from 48 billion in 2018, 31 billion in 2017, and 29 billion in 2016, YouMail reported. That’s equal to roughly 164.4 calls per person affected.
Following their passage in the Senate and House this summer, two separate anti-robocall proposals were reconciled as part of a bipartisan, bicameral agreement: the TRACED Act.
The bill requires that carriers adopt technology to help identify legitimate (or not) calls and let consumers opt in or out of blocking—at no extra charge. It also allows the government to step up enforcement actions against unlawful robocalls, prosecute the criminals generating them, and hand out penalties of up to $10,000 per call.
“I am glad that the agency now has a longer statute of limitations during which we can pursue scammers,” Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement. “And I welcome the removal of a previously required warning we had to give to unlawful robocallers before imposing tough penalties.”
I thought my twice-monthly “Unknown Number” calls were annoying.
But, as The Washington Post pointed out last month, these disruptions are more than a nuisance: They endanger hospitals, flood phone lines, and scare patients.
In response, Congress included a clause in the TRACED Act that protects patients, doctors, and hospitals from unlawful robocalls.”
“I thank the American people for never letting us forget how fed up they are with scam, spoofed robocalls,” Pai said. “It’s their voices that power our never-ceasing push to fight back against the scourge of robocalls and malicious spoofing.”
More on Geek.com:
- New FCC Rules Target International Robocallers
- FTC, Law Enforcement ‘Call It Quits’ on Robocallers
- FCC Empowers Carriers to ‘Aggressively Block’ Robocallers
Writer: Gene Luen Yang / Artist: Sergio Fernandez Davila / DC Comics
In all this time, why has no one told me that DC has a series that features a black superhero couple leading a team through a series of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey adventures??
In no way is it remotely my fault for not being informed of this, even if it is my job, and the blame rests entirely on the shoulders of all of you for not telling me!
Anyway…
I checked out The Terrifics #23 on a whim. When I first started reviewing comics for BNP a long five years ago, I was reading The New 52: Future’s End every week — still shaking that one off, if I’m being honest. But one takeaway I had from that series was an appreciation for the genius that is Mr. Terrific. So, it was refreshing to see that he’s leading his own team-up series that’s a whole 23 issues in.
When I started the issue, my first thought was “Oh no… Bizarro!” Because reading a comic with Bizarro-speak can be a real test in mental fortitude and could possibly leave you with a feeling that you’ve developed a mild, temporary case of dyslexia.
But Gene Luen Yang knows this. So the conversations ran smoothly and bounced back and forth and even included a couple jokes as to how absurd the whole opposite language thing is. It’s all in good fun.
As far as emotional notes go, this story caught me by surprise. It opens up with Bizarro’s son telling us how he’s ultimately conflicted by his father’s decision to live in a time loop where he constantly tortures The Terrifics. But this is also his only way to spend time with him.
We then get more emotional resonance as Mr. Terrific gets a reminder that not every problem can be solved with logic, alone. Sometimes, you need to just feel things out. That’s when we get hit with some pretty good sci-fi, which is all you hope to get when you introduce complicated plot vehicles like time warps and such.
Overall, this was a good jumping in point for this series, and I’m going to stick with it for a while.
8.5 out of 10
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The post The Terrifics #23 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Dogs are people’s best friends, to paraphrase King Frederick of Prussia, and this video of a pooch playing Jenga demonstrates that sentiment perfectly. This Australian Shepherd (who’s possibly mixed with a Border Collie), has enough grace and focus to match any human game participant we’ve ever seen, and her brick-pulling skills are only the tip of the KONG toy.
Holy crap, this is incredible: A dog playing Jenga. Turn-taking, fine motor control, apparent understanding of the aim of the game. I would not have guessed a dog could do this. pic.twitter.com/cewL7wmaK5
— Steve Stewart-Williams (@SteveStuWill) December 29, 2019
The shockingly brilliant canine brain featured in this clip (via Buitengebieden on twitter) is named Secret, and she’s the pet, friend, and presumable confidant—considering that name—of Seattle teenager, Mary Peters. Peters has set up an Instagram account for herself and Secret, my_aussie_gal, and nearly every one of their videos features the frisky, furry genius pulling off some kind of feat that will make you stop and say: Dogs can do that?!
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(@my_aussie_gal)On top of playing Jenga, Secret can also dance, sled down hills, do yoga, dispose of her own garbage, place Christmas ornaments on a tree, mop, play the drums, draw, paint, ride a scooter, and help build the Dyson Spheres necessary for the development of a Type II Kardashev civilization. OK, there’s no proof of that last ability, but if there’s any dog who could pull that off, it’d be Secret. Just check out the little brainy beauty as she performs a trust fall with Peters. And as a fun thought experiment, imagine doing this with a cat—you’d have to have bags of donor blood on hand considering the scratching that would ensue.
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There isn’t a ton of information regarding Secret or Peters online aside from their Instagram account, and various tidbits of unverifiable information from a handful of news outlets like The Sun, so it’s hard to say exactly how Peters managed to teach Secret to be such a wunderdoggo. Although she does note on her Instagram that she’s an advocate of R+ and clicker training. For those wondering, according to Dogster, R+ is a form of positive reinforcement training; “clicker” refers to the use of a handheld contraption that makes a click sound, and is also generally used for positive reinforcement training.
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Even though Secret is obviously a maximum-level smarty paws, it should be noted that Australian Shepherds are, for the most part, some of the smartest dogs out there. According to the American Kennel Club, “Aussies are remarkably intelligent…” and are perfect for anybody “looking for a brainy, tireless, and trainable partner for work or sport….” They do love to be very active though, so if Secret has inspired you to make an Australian Shepherd part of your family, make sure you’re ready to keep up. Or at the very least have some of these back-flipping quadruped bots on hand to help make things interesting.
What do you think about Secret and her mad Jenga-playing skills? Are you desperate to pick up an Australian Shepherd after watching these clips, or do you prefer your pup be more of the derp variety? If your dog is as brilliant as this one, have it write out your opinions in the comments!
Feature image: Lyn Figura
The post Jenga-Playing Dog Is a Canine Genius! appeared first on Nerdist.