The Core

Has the Do Not Call list actually cut down on calls?

I suppose it has cut down on calls from legit businesses, just not from all the scammers, which is useful - you can basically know a robocall is a scammer

I think you nailed it.  Do Not Call list cut down on sales calls from legit businesses for me when it was first enacted, but as robo calling tech has gotten cheaper and more capable the scammers and robo scam calls have increased over the past few years. Heck, sometimes I think the scammers purposely call the numbers on the Do Not Call list.  There is very little downside for them, the Feds don't care and most US states just don't have the ability to enforce.

>cow and pig poo

We'd be doing the planet a big favor if we could pump all those huge ponds of pig poo dry on big corporate swine farms and put it to use.

>human poo

No shortage there.  Most people are full of s##t. 

>GMX

I knew GMX used Google, what it didn't know was there was a difference in final results.  Interesting.

I have no idea how they make money, ads or subscriptions?  They may have paid tier of email.  I think GMX was on the EU choose a search engine screen for new Android devices in the EU.

Sources are a bit weak but the rumor is:

https://www.androidcentral.com/apps-software/openai-chatgpt-search-engine-rumored

Maybe even this month, May 2024.

Thanks, littleman!

If what the author says is true, first Raghavan screwed up Yahoo search and now he's screwing up Google search.

Not that I care:  I hope Google stays in it's death spiral and augers in.  It's better for the Web if we don't have monopolies.

I keep listening to this show and finding amazing marketing facts like:

Search engines (read Google) had a better handle on who would win the 2016 presidential elections than the political surveyors.  The search engines knew that in searches, people tended to put their favored candidates name first in a query ie. Clinton vs Trump debate.  Of course they also knew where the searcher was from and a ton of other tracking info on the searcher.

That was 2024: Ep. 22 Pants on Fire: When Customers Lie to Marketers

Also in that episode:  Walmart has learned that when a weather disaster is approaching people tend to stock up on Strawberry Pop-Tarts.  So when a hurricane is on it's way, Walmart ships in extra Pop-Tarts and particularly strawberry ones to local stores in the path.  Nobody knows why strawberry.

Today's Ep. 23: Ham on Wry: Sandwich Board Advertising: talked about how advertising took off in the 19th century in London.  Soon every surface was plastered with bills and signs that it got out of control.  So the government put a tax on advertising which brought things under control - sorta.   I kinda like the idea of taxing advertising.

Repeating it: I really love this show.  You should try it.

That was well written.  And, yeah, we've talked about this many times before, so just yeah.