I've been looking into (just a bit) the most annoying of the ones that gets to me -- the fake "CARD SERVICES" calls. These are the ones that robocall numbers, ignoring the donotcall lists, play the recording calling themselves "card services" and offer a lower rate. Pressing to be removed does no good. If you do hold or press to talk to an operator, if you try to ask for a supervisor, a company name, a call back number, or to be removed from the list, they hang up (often cursing at you first).
If you do play along, they will pre-screen you and eventually pass you on to some kind of debt consolidation company. I don't yet know if it's one company or a group of them, but I do know that the telemarketers are not employees of that company. I believe they get paid either based on the number of successful transfers, or more standard "lead generation" once they capture your information.
The problem with playing along to find out who is ultimately making the money from the scam, is that to get to that group of people requires you to turn over too much private information to be worth the risk.
The company which profits from this kind of activity should, IMCO, but subject to RICO forfeitures.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act
You have to go after whoever profits from the calls, and do it aggressively.
I don't know if the Tata is the right way to go, but I do think there is a market for commuter car that's small and safe enough for surface roads, may be prohibited on highways (like a moped) but is enclosed and heated. I think there are plenty of in-town commuters who would opt for such a high mileage vehicle if it were done well enough and still stay cheap.
You nailed it. I wish I had mod points today to mod you up.
It's far too much detail on the surface. TheSteve wouldn't like it. They should simple do a wax image of a black turtleneck folded, on a pair of folded jeans, with a pair of thin glasses neatly folded on top.
It's great for the very small number of home consumers able to make real use of the programming oriented amazon api. More likely you (or your less tech neighbor) will be looking at a few bucks a month to a middle man company that builds a nice UI front end to Amazon's glacier tools.
Somebody ought to cross ball point pens with coat hangers so that the pens will multiply instead of disappear.