Sascha Aleksich

   An automated robotic voice can be heard all over America, and now it seems the IRS is cracking down on the entire population for not turning in their tax money. Robotic spam callers have become something of an issue for America and do not ever seem to let up. 

     There is not much that can be done to stop the calls, but there are a few apps that can help limit the amount. 

     First of all, a robocall is an automated message. According to Federal Trade Commission the messages that try to sell something are illegal but political messages are legal. Many of these messages come from overseas, so it is harder to crack down on the main offender for these calls. 

     Robocalls work by either buying numbers illegally to call or they dial at random. This is one of the reasons why signing up for the National do not call list does not work because robocallers often work with illegal methods. Scammers will also use spoofing technology to route fake caller ID information, and they will use this to match someone’s area code number.

      Then they will pre record a robotic message, because it is cheaper than an actual person, Robokiller said, an app made specifically to stopping robocallers. 

     There are various different types of robocalls says “New York Post” these types of robocall scams includes neighbor spoofing where a number imitates numbers from someones area code. There is also a chinese constitute scam where a caller calls in mandarin asking for the victim to help pick up a package, usually the trick is to get someone to reveal their credit card number and bank info. 

     A SEO scam posing as a small time business owner that needs help from being listed as “close” on google and are hoping to get money to keep themselves open. There is also a health insurance scam that will trick people into sending them money, and also the infamous IRS scam that misleads people into sending them money by saying they owe them a huge amount of dollars. 

     “I get them once a week,” sophomore Haleigh Harris said. 

     There is really no way to prevent getting these calls, but having a number up on social media can leave someone more susceptible to spam calls, according to Robokiller.

     However, there are still some ways to help stop the amount that comes in, and this is dependent on the type of service someone has. Usually a phone will come with these apps pre installed.

     “I usually just delete them or do not answer them,” freshman CallieDiatrich said. “I usually get a lot of credit card ones or sometimes I just get random ones from companies, like insurance.” 

      AT&T, has a post-paid service that provides fraud warning, spam call screening and blocking for free. Sprint also has a similar service but costs 2.99 dollars a month. T-mobile will tell when a call is fishy, or by dialing #662, there is a free ScamBlock app TechCrunch said.

     Verizon has a preinstalled spam blocker for free that detects spam calls, but paying for premium gives more info on the caller. Which does not help much considering the robocallers spoof their number, and the premium might filter important callers too. For third party spam blockers, there is Nomorobo and Robokill.

     It is best just to block or ignore the number as well. Answering a call will cause more spam, and spam filters will not cover everything according to TechCrunch.

    Robocallers have been a huge issue nowadays, and although there are measures to take against them, they are not always effective, so it is  better to try and ignore the calls all together. 

Ashley Hutchinson

   On Saturday October 12, 2019, a new world record was set. Eluid Kipchoge ran the fastest marathon time in history, taking exactly 1:59:40 to run 26.2 miles.

     Eluid Kipchoge is a 34 year-old runner from Kenya, Africa. He always grew up running, but never took it seriously until he met his coach, Patrick Sang, in 2001. 

     Kipchoge started to win various races in 2002. His first gold medal was at the Kenyan trials for the World Cross Country Championship, even though he placed fifth individually at the actual race in Dublin, Ireland. 

     By 2004, Kipchoge was already competing in the Olympics. He won a bronze medal in Athens, and later moved his way up to a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. 

     Finally, on August 21, 2016, Kipchoge won his first Olympic gold medal. This event was also a marathon, but his time was only 2:08:34. 

     Out of all the marathons he has run, he has won all of them but one. In fact, he previously has tried to break the work record in May 2017, but was 26 seconds behind. 

     As of last year, he had finally created the new marathon world record of 2:01:39.

     Fast forward to today, where he shattered that previous time by over a minute. He is the first man ever to run an entire continuous marathon in under two hours. 

     However, this time will not be ratified by record books because he had all variables under tight control, in order to maximize his success as much as possible. 

     Kipchoge had a window of nine days that he planned to run this race, so that he could have the best weather possible and minimize unnecessary distractions. 

     Along with perfect conditions, Kipchoge also ran with pacemakers. There were a total of 36 pacemakers that ran with him in alternating groups. 

     The groups of pacers were formed to keep Kipchoge at the precise pace to beat this record and create a simulation of an actual race. 

     After training for 4.5 months, Kipchoge was finally able to see his hard work pay off in Vienna in front of hundreds of amazed spectators.