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I’m cooking dinner when my phone rings. The caller is local, according to my Caller ID. Or, maybe that’s a lie. Maybe it’s a scammer using whiz-bang telephone spoofing technology to steal my identity by promising a warranty on a car I no longer own.
“Hello, is this Michael Estrin?” a friendly voice asks.
Probably a scammer.
I consider telling him, no, this isn’t Michael Estrin. This is Christopher Walken, I want to say—Christopher “I gotta have more cowbell” Walken. But the caller sounds too earnest to troll. Or, my Christopher Walken impression is just rusty.
“Yes, this is the Michael Estrin.”
The man says his name is Geoff Williams. He’s running for the Chatsworth neighborhood council. We chat briefly about how neighborhood councils are supposed to work in Los Angeles. Basically, they’re a mechanism for local stake…
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