djcl@contact.uucp (woody) (12/13/90)
Each year, the Thunder Bay (Ontario, Canada) telephone directory contains the following curious notice with the latest 90-91 directory being no exception: "THE WRONG WAY TO 'FOIL BURGLARS'" "Leaving the telephone off the hook may alert burglars that you're not home. A continual busy signal is a give-away. Lights activated or turned on and off by a timer are better ways to discourage break-ins." Now let's see if this comes through straight ... a "continual" busy signal (whatever that means) will indicate to someone that you're not home, as opposed to an unanswered series of rings on just one dial... does the average robber really think that a busy signal would indicate that someone is not home as opposed to having a conversation (or one in a series)? Is there a Deep Concept of logic at work here, or did I stumble onto something quite laughable? Needless to say, there are good technical reasons to discourage people from leaving their phones in an off-hook state, although one presumes that new electronic exchanges will counteract some of the problems of the past. However, there are more straightforward ways of getting that message across than the one above.
cramer@uunet.uu.net (Clayton Cramer) (12/19/90)
In article <15406@accuvax.nwu.edu>, djcl@contact.uucp (woody) writes: > "THE WRONG WAY TO 'FOIL BURGLARS'" > "Leaving the telephone off the hook may alert burglars that you're not > home. A continual busy signal is a give-away. Lights activated or > turned on and off by a timer are better ways to discourage break-ins." > Now let's see if this comes through straight ... a "continual" busy > signal (whatever that means) will indicate to someone that you're not > home, as opposed to an unanswered series of rings on just one dial... I used to see it claimed that professional burglars (of which there are darn few -- most are teenagers supporting drug habits) would call a home they intended to burgle to see if anyone was home. A busy signal, of course, would be interpreted as, "Someone's home -- let's not break in." I can see how a permanent busy might be interpreted by a burglar as "No one's home, and the phone's off the hook", but it could also be interpreted as "teenager at home". My solution? Well, you can always leave the following message on your answering machine: "Hi, we're not home right now, or if you're a burglar, we might be home, sitting in the living room in complete darkness, with a shotgun. 'Do you feel lucky today, punk?'" (Not applicable in Canada or Britain). Clayton E. Cramer {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!cramer You must be kidding! No company would hold opinions like mine!