Here are this week’s 5 things you should know.
01. A person with a disabled placard…
A person with a disabled placard on their car may not always have a disability you can see. Lung disease, cardiovascular issues, and other non-visible issues like recent surgery, brain tumor, cancer treatment patients qualify (rightfully) for a disabled placard.
My 52-year-old uncle has had lung disease for six years, and his lungs only get around 45 mm/Hg. I’ve heard people commenting when he gets out of the car “HE doesn’t look disabled” insinuating that he’s faking a disease or has a fake placard.
02. When installing applications to your PC…
You should ALWAYS select “Advanced” or “Custom” installation unless it is a very advanced software. Many times programs will install add-ons or unnecessary plugins without permission through the “full” or “typical” installation (note that these installations usually say “recommended” and that’s how they get you). You can install this software too: unchecky.com. It will automatically uncheck all Potentially Unwanted Programs during installation. It’s a godsend for family computers that you defacto support.
03. Debt collectors can’t call reassigned numbers under FCC 15-72
This includes texts. So basically if you are getting annoying collections calls for someone that isn’t you, the collection agency is in violation of this rule. They have the leeway of being asked to remove the number once. If they don’t remove the number after being asked every call after is a violation. If you record the calls you could lead to the company facing huge fines via a forfeiture order. Here is an example of this.
The “one free wrong number call” applies whether or not you tell them they have the wrong number. For example, if they call and you don’t answer, and they call again, the second call is in violation of the TCPA, even though you never told them.
This part of the law and rule only covers calls to cell phones (or pay-per-call/minute VoIP type services). If debt collectors are calling your landline, you’re SOL.
While most debt collectors use the equipment covered by the statute, the statute is equipment dependent. Only calls made using an automatic telephone dialing system or prerecorded voice are covered. That said, 99% of calls use one or both of these systems. But it’s theoretically possible a one man collection agency is literally manually dialing numbers from its rotary phone.
Finally, this isn’t something that only the FCC can enforce. If you’re getting debt collection calls on your cell phone for someone that’s not you, you can sue for $500-$1500 per call (better argument for $1500 if you told them to stop or that they had the wrong number and they kept at it). Most attorneys won’t charge you anything out of pocket either. If you lose, you owe the attorneys nothing. This can get pretty big. I have seen people receive thousands of wrong number calls from the same agency.
04. During snow emergencies a lot of parking garages offer free parking
This is not true for all garages, but you can find out usually by checking their website or social media pages. It was devised to help clear out snow emergency routes, but it is also a great way to avoid having to shovel out your car.
05. A family history of breast cancer is also important for men to know
Not only could a hereditary breast cancer syndrome impact their female relatives, but men with certain genetic mutations are also at increased risk for cancers of the prostate, pancreas, and melanoma. In addition to this, men can also get breast cancer. It’s not something I’ve found to be well known or even taken seriously.
In addition to this, BRCA1/BRCA2 gene mutations can also lead to ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, and pancreatic cancer (in addition to male/female breast cancer).
