The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsBrain Teaser....What minor crime has been virtually
eradicated in the last, say, 25 years ????
rug
(82,333 posts)Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)A person is guilty of fortune telling when, for a fee or compensation
which he directly or indirectly solicits or receives, he claims or
pretends to tell fortunes, or holds himself out as being able, by
claimed or pretended use of occult powers, to answer questions or give
advice on personal matters or to exorcise, influence or affect evil
spirits or curses; except that this section does not apply to a person
who engages in the aforedescribed conduct as part of a show or
exhibition solely for the purpose of entertainment or amusement.
Fortune telling is a class B misdemeanor.
It must have been enacted in quaint times.
Chan790
(20,176 posts)A large part of this is that most people earning a living as a psychic or mystic clearly state in writing and on their signs that their services are for entertainment only.
rug
(82,333 posts)But it is not illegal to have sex with a dead animal.
Go figure.
Chan790
(20,176 posts)trying to figure out how that set of circumstances came to be.
nolabear
(41,937 posts)There were some people with perfect pitch that could make long distance calls for nothing because they could imitate the signals.
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)jmowreader
(50,533 posts)Paulie
(8,462 posts)Chan790
(20,176 posts)Slugging for the unknowing is the act of using washers or foreign coins of the same size and weight to trick the subway turnstiles into thinking a fare token has been used and allowing admission into the subway.
Slugging has been eradicated for a simple reason...the turnstiles no longer accept fare-tokens, having been switched over for the most part to stiles that only have card readers installed.
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)cost more than a dollar - so more of bill thing.
No Vested Interest
(5,164 posts)No longer a crime in most places?
Denninmi
(6,581 posts)Caller ID put an end to kids doing it for kickd. Threatening phone calls now come only from people who know you and want to blow your fucking head off, not random psychopaths.
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)think it's a crying shame that teens can't make crank calls anymore. Geez that was fun
No Vested Interest
(5,164 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,684 posts)My daughter had a sleepover and I caught them making prank calls.
"You do know that your father's name is showing up on the Caller ID, right?"
"So?"
newcriminal
(2,190 posts)wait a couple of hours and call again asking for Jim. We would do that 3 or 4 times in the same day. Then later that night call and say this is Jim, have there been any messages left for me? We thought we were hilarious.
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)I grew up back then, when stuff like that was funny, vs. today
Jenoch
(7,720 posts)If someone hits *67 before entering a telephone number the caller ID will come up as 'unknown'.
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)someone could figure it out. don't know how...but just could
Jenoch
(7,720 posts)I tried it before I wrote the post. It was on Verizon and it came up as 'restricted'.
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)Jenoch
(7,720 posts)too often. The phone company can still figure out the number from which you are calling, not to mention the NSA.
JoeyT
(6,785 posts)you can also get a spoofing card and have your number show up as whatever you like.
As long as you're not threatening someone, committing fraud, or impersonating law enforcement, it's legal afaik. Of course if you're not allowed to threaten someone, commit fraud, or impersonate law enforcement I'm not sure what the point is either.
Jenoch
(7,720 posts)I have an answer that I believe to be correct, even if it is not the crime the OP came up with.
The crime that I am sure has been virtually eradicated is breaking into and stealing coins out of pay telephones.
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)Jenoch
(7,720 posts)Do you have a link saying crank phone calls are a thing of the past? I am sure there are a lot of crank and threatening phone calls made all the time. People are stupid and don't care or understand about caller ID.
I am also sure there are very few pay phones being broken into for the coins since there are few pay phones. I do not have a link for that.
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)trying to be scientific or serious here.
JoeyT
(6,785 posts)RiffRandell
(5,909 posts)and love the phony phone calls Richard and Sal make on Howard Stern. I laugh out loud in my car.
dawg
(10,621 posts)I don't want to embed the video, because the tag image might be offensive to some, but I highly recommend that those who are not easily offended click the link. This is fascinating stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=dQw4w9WgXcQ