Pod Insights Stuff You Should Know Selects: 911 Is Not a Joke About this episode Josh and Chuck delve into the world of 911 in this classic episode.
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Transcript 11,121 words · 7 speakers
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1:35 Speaker 02 Hey, everybody. Chuck here on your Saturday selects. And hey, guys, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna take us on a little walk down memory lane from 2020. And my picks for the next, geez, maybe up to 20 weeks for me. And then Josh picks his, so maybe 40 weeks, almost a year, are gonna be walking back through the year of COVID, kind of what was going on thematically that year and before and after. And we'll see if there's, there's any fruit to bear as far as looking back. I hope this is more interesting than your usual select, but we're gonna start it off with February 13th, 2020, pre-COVID, by about a month-ish, with our episode, 911 is not a joke, all about 911 and how it works. Great episode.
2:21 Speaker 02 Check it out.
2:25 Speaker 03 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.
2:34 Josh Clark? Hey and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant over there. There's guest producer Josh T. rocking it out. And this is Stuff You Should Know.
2:47 Speaker 02 Take two a dish.
2:49 Josh Clark? Yeah, one of the rare second takes.
2:52 Speaker 02 That's right. We lost a whole 14 seconds of try number one.
2:57 Josh Clark? Right. It wasn't any good, anyway. That's what it was. Josh turned into like Elvis Costello. It was like, no, no, stop, stop.
3:04 Speaker 02 Oh, wow. Look at that reference. A little SNL callback?
3:09 Josh Clark? Yeah, it was.
3:09 Speaker 02 Nice.
3:10 Josh Clark? So, as you can tell Chuck, I'm pretty excited about this episode, which is kind of surprising because talking about 911 seems like it might be the most boring thing we could talk about.
3:21 Speaker 02 Oh, you think?
3:22 Josh Clark? Untrue.
3:23 Speaker 02 What, with all the people dying and cats stuck in trees?
3:27 Josh Clark? Sure.
3:29 Speaker 02 What else? I should name everything you shouldn't call 911 for.
3:32 Josh Clark? Uh, let's see. Neighbor's playing his music too loud? That's one.
3:36 Speaker 02 Exactly.
3:38 Josh Clark? Yeah, there's a bunch of stuff you shouldn't call 911 for, which we'll talk about.
3:42 Speaker 02 Sure.
3:43 Josh Clark? But one thing, like I'm familiar with 911. I remember growing up as a child in the 80s. And I was like, I remember hearing about this new system that was coming around when I was growing up in Toledo.
3:55 Speaker 02 Yeah.
3:56 Josh Clark? And I was like, that doesn't make any sense because 911, it turns out, has been around at least since 1968 in the US. It's been around way longer.
4:04 Speaker 02 In parts of the US, though.
4:05 Josh Clark? In UK.
4:06 Speaker 02 Yeah.
4:07 Josh Clark? True, but I like to think of Toledo as kind of a happenin' spot.
4:11 Speaker 02 Sure.
4:11 Josh Clark? Toledo didn't get a fully functional 911 system until 1989.
4:16 Speaker 02 Did you look it up?
4:18 Josh Clark? Yeah.
4:19 Speaker 02 So you guys resorted to the previous method, which was run down the street screaming for neighbors?
4:26 Josh Clark? Just swinging your cat by its tail.
4:28 Speaker 02 Yeah.
4:29 Josh Clark? That was your siren?
4:30 Speaker 02 Yeah, I seem to remember, I don't know exactly when we got it, but... I think I remember it happening, like, because if I remember correctly, when I was a kid, we had one of those little cards next to the kitchen phone that had police, fire, and whatever else. So that had to have been pre-911, or else we wouldn't have had that dumb thing.
4:48 Josh Clark? Right.
4:49 Speaker 02 That would just confuse the children.
4:51 Josh Clark? Right. Call these numbers first, and then if they don't answer, call 911.
4:54 Speaker 02 Yeah, then do the super easy thing that will route it to the correct person, child.
4:59 Josh Clark? Your parents have just taken out a substantial life insurance policy on you.
5:03 Speaker 02 Yeah, for a...
5:04 Josh Clark? That's a long, that's a long game, right there.
5:06 Speaker 02 It is.
5:07 Josh Clark? So Chuck, as new as 911 is, even though it seems old, right? Especially for younger listeners, I would guess that it seems pretty...
5:16 Speaker 02 They probably think it's been around since, you know...
5:18 Josh Clark? Horse and buggy days?
5:19 Speaker 02 Yeah.
5:20 Josh Clark? Since rotary phone days?
5:21 Speaker 02 Yeah.
5:21 Josh Clark? Right. So, as, as, as old as it is, or as new as it is, it's gotten pretty...
5:29 Speaker 02 Robust?
5:30 Josh Clark? Very robust.
5:32 Speaker 02 Yeah, every year, these are some stats that our buddy Dave Ruse helped us compile. 240 million calls in the US, that is 650,000 calls a day.
5:44 Josh Clark? Yeah, that's like 900,000 calls a minute.
5:49 Speaker 02 No.
5:50 Josh Clark? Are you sure? I just did that back of the envelope.
5:52 Speaker 02 You made me double take, though.
5:54 Josh Clark? I noticed.
5:55 Speaker 02 And another important thing here is that 80% of calls these days are from your wireless phone.
6:02 Josh Clark? That's a big deal.
6:02 Speaker 02 It is, which we'll get to, but that changed things.
6:05 Josh Clark? Yeah, the big spoiler is, is that the 911 system that we currently use in the United States is hopelessly antiquated, and they're working on improving it, and nothing that we should say about how antiquated it is should keep you from calling 911. It still generally works, but it's having trouble, or it's had trouble traditionally, keeping pace with the massive sweeping changes in telecommunications that has gone on in the last couple decades.
6:35 Speaker 02 Yeah, because telecom is always trying to move forward, and they don't think like, "Oh, but maybe we should slow the pace for 911."
6:40 Josh Clark? Right, exactly. And plus, I mean, 911 is, we'll see, those systems are built alongside the other system, so when the other system leads forward, they have to go through and rebuild this, this system that's just for 911.
6:54 Speaker 02 Because you can't get rid of an old system because people, well, we'll get to that stuff.
6:57 Josh Clark? We'll get to that. Let's not spoil it.
7:00 Speaker 02 But we were laughing earlier about things that you should and should not call for. Some of these are debatable, I think.
7:08 Josh Clark? Oh, yeah?
7:08 Speaker 02 I think so.
7:09 Josh Clark? Says who?
7:10 Speaker 02 Says me.
7:11 Josh Clark? Okay.
7:11 Speaker 02 We'll get to the last one, really, is the only one that's debatable. But obviously, if there's a fire or smoke that you think is a fire.
7:19 Josh Clark? Where there's smoke, there's fire.
7:21 Speaker 02 Medical emergency, and you can't, you know, obviously, get in an ambulance, or get in your car and run someone to the emergency room if you can. If it's quicker, and you can do so safely.
7:31 Josh Clark? It's quicker and cheaper.
7:33 Speaker 02 Oh, well, sure.
7:34 Josh Clark? Cost of gas, maybe a couple tolls, who knows, compared to like, an ambulance ride?
7:39 Speaker 02 No, that's a, that's a good point. But I mean, I imagine if you're home just loaded and your kid gets hurt.
7:45 Josh Clark? Right.
7:46 Speaker 02 You should probably call 911.
7:47 Josh Clark? Call, yeah, call 911.
7:49 Speaker 02 Car accidents, of course, if they are major enough and like, have injuries.
7:54 Josh Clark? Yeah.
7:54 Speaker 02 Call, call 911.
7:56 Josh Clark? You should be able to tell, like, if somebody's like, oh, that kind of hurt my neck, you don't have to call 911.
8:01 Speaker 02 Right.
8:01 Josh Clark? You could call, here's the other thing, if we're saying, don't call 911, that doesn't mean like, don't alert anybody.
8:06 Speaker 02 Right.
8:06 Josh Clark? But there are, there's a, your police have their own phone number, your local police have their own phone number.
8:11 Speaker 02 They do.
8:11 Josh Clark? Look it up and call that, the non-emergency number.
8:14 Speaker 02 Right. And then, obviously, the last category is some sort of crime being committed, violence being committed.
8:22 Josh Clark? Sure.
8:22 Speaker 02 Call 911.
8:24 Josh Clark? Yep. So, that's, like, no one's gonna argue with that.
8:28 Speaker 02 I think so.
8:28 Josh Clark? Okay. There are plenty of instances where you shouldn't call 911, and yet, people reliably call 911 for stuff like this.
8:37 Speaker 02 And I think that's because it's been drilled into everyone's head. It's kind of a double-edged sword. You can't drill that into everyone's head. 911, 911, all you gotta do is call 911, and then not expect to get some cat stuck in the tree calls.
8:50 Josh Clark? You keep going back to that, well.
8:52 Speaker 02 We actually had, did that when I was a kid.
8:54 Josh Clark? Did you, you called 911 for that?
8:55 Speaker 02 Well, you know the funny story? It's not very funny to my dad, but we had a cat stuck in a tree.
9:01 Josh Clark? Okay.
9:01 Speaker 02 My dad went up, and he got stuck in the tree.
9:04 Josh Clark? And he just climbed up too high?
9:05 Speaker 02 Yeah.
9:06 Josh Clark? And he got freaked out?
9:07 Speaker 02 I think so.
9:08 Josh Clark? That's right.
9:09 Speaker 02 I mean, I was a kid, so. You know, they weren't saying, "Your father's very afraid and has screwed up."
9:15 Josh Clark? Right.
9:15 Speaker 02 I was just a kid kinda like, "Well, now dad's up there and now there's firemen here helping my dad out of a tree."
9:21 Josh Clark? Right. Cats and dads get stuck in trees.
9:23 Speaker 02 Yeah, and looking back, I think that's totally probably what happened.
9:26 Josh Clark? Sure.
9:27 Speaker 02 I think he got way up there and was freaked out.
9:29 Josh Clark? Yeah.
9:29 Speaker 02 Yeah.
9:30 Josh Clark? Yeah, that's cute.
9:30 Speaker 02 I'll have to ask him about that one day.
9:32 Josh Clark? Um, okay, so your dad's stuck in a tree. I would say that's a call 911 situation.
9:36 Speaker 02 Yeah.
9:37 Josh Clark? Cat's stuck in a tree? No. Unless you live in Pleasantville, don't call 911 for that.
9:41 Speaker 02 Yeah, that's true.
9:42 Josh Clark? Um, if you have a question about the speeding ticket you got the other day, that's not a call that you would place through 911. Again, you can just call. There's even a number on the back of the ticket. Don't be dumb. Okay?
9:56 Speaker 02 Hey, bringing that back?
9:58 Josh Clark? Just for that second.
9:59 Speaker 02 Okay.
9:59 Josh Clark? What else, Chuck?
10:00 Speaker 02 Oh, of course, anything dealing with your animals unless... Well, I'm not even gonna say that.
10:06 Josh Clark? What?
10:07 Speaker 02 I was gonna say if there's an animal attacking someone.
10:09 Josh Clark? Yeah, you would call 911.
10:10 Speaker 02 Call 911 for that. Come out and shoot this dog.
10:13 Josh Clark? Basically. It could be rabid.
10:15 Speaker 02 It's terrible.
10:16 Josh Clark? Call Hectate out.
10:17 Speaker 02 Uh, but otherwise, if the cat in the tree, lost animals, injured animals, noisy neighbors... I love that Dave puts power outage in here, and in parentheses, "Call your power company."
10:30 Josh Clark? Right.
10:31 Speaker 02 It's that last one, I think, is a little... It kind of opens a can of worms, and that is the suspicious person thing.
10:39 Josh Clark? All right.
10:39 Speaker 02 Because, uh, you know, they say to call for suspicious activity, which theoretically is a suspicious person.
10:49 Josh Clark? Right.
10:49 Speaker 02 I think the distinction is, uh, in what we see, and we'll get into this later, racial biases. You know, people in neighborhoods calling the cops on someone because they're black and walking down my street.
11:02 Josh Clark? Right.
11:03 Speaker 02 Which happens.
11:03 Josh Clark? Right.
11:04 Speaker 02 Uh, that is not a suspicious person.
11:06 Josh Clark? Mm-hmm.
11:07 Speaker 02 Um, even... I mean, if there's nothing going on, I know people try to justify it. But then local police say, you know, hey, always call us. If you think something might be going on.
11:18 Josh Clark? Right.
11:18 Speaker 02 And that's where it gets dodgy because that comes down to a human being's perception.
11:23 Josh Clark? So.
11:24 Speaker 02 Which can be very tilted.
11:25 Josh Clark? As Dave puts it, he put it a couple of ways I thought were pretty smart. He said, people aren't suspicious, behavior is suspicious.
11:33 Speaker 02 Yeah, and they say specifically to call 911 for suspicious activities.
11:37 Josh Clark? Right.
11:38 Speaker 02 But again, these are people. So it's just such a weird fine line you're walking there.
11:42 Josh Clark? The other little litmus test that I've seen is, if you stop just for a second. Because this is suspicious behavior. You see somebody like breaking into a car, like assaulting somebody, that's, that's beyond suspicious. That's like the act.
11:55 Speaker 02 That's the act. It's a crime being committed.
11:58 Josh Clark? So you have a second when you see a suspicious person to stop and think like, would I, would I call 911 if this person were white?
12:05 Speaker 02 Right.
12:06 Josh Clark? Or if you're a black person doing this, say, would I call 911 if this person were black? And if the answer is no, then maybe you shouldn't call. Maybe they're not acting that suspiciously.
12:14 Speaker 02 Yeah, it's just interesting on these Facebook neighborhood pages. It's kind of evenly divided between people saying, uh, don't call 911 for this. This is just a guy going door to door perhaps.
12:26 Josh Clark? Right.
12:26 Speaker 02 Uh, other people saying, no, you know what? If it's 9:45 or 10 o'clock at night and someone's knocking on your door.
12:32 Josh Clark? Yeah.
12:33 Speaker 02 In our neighborhood.
12:34 Josh Clark? It seems like suspicious behavior.
12:35 Speaker 02 Maybe you should call the cops and let them work it out. And for the cops, they say, you know, call us. That doesn't mean we're going to dispatch eight cars to your home. But we might work you through the situation.
12:46 Josh Clark? Mm-hmm.
12:46 Speaker 02 And it's all going to be fine.
12:48 Josh Clark? Yes.
12:49 Speaker 02 But this is the only one where I thought was a little bit like, you shouldn't just say like, don't call 911 when you see a suspicious person.
12:56 Josh Clark? No, you certainly shouldn't say that. At the same time, though, I think one of the big hesitations for calling 911 these days is like the, either the increase, or the increase in reporting of people, innocent people-
13:11 Speaker 02 Yeah.
13:12 Josh Clark? -who had 911 called on them, being killed-
13:14 Speaker 02 Yeah.
13:14 Josh Clark? -by the cops.
13:15 Speaker 02 Exactly.
13:16 Josh Clark? That, and that, death would not have happened, their death wouldn't have happened-
13:20 Speaker 02 Right.
13:20 Josh Clark? -had a person been suspicious of them and called 911. And the fact, you know, when, when news of something like that gets out, it will make you second guess that kind of thing, like you're-
13:32 Speaker 02 For sure.
13:32 Josh Clark? You're, it, it makes you realize you're bringing like, people who are armed and jumpy-
13:38 Speaker 02 Mm-hmm.
13:38 Josh Clark? -out to a situation where it's just somebody walking around, or whatever. And when you look at it from that respect, it can make you second guess the whole thing.
13:48 Speaker 02 Yeah, and things can look, uh, it can look like potential malfeasance that's not, you know, like a lot of people, you see a lot of people saying, "Well, I think someone's casing my house, um, because a car pulled into my driveway and sat there for two minutes."
14:02 Josh Clark? They asked me if I wanted to know more about Sierra Club.
14:04 Speaker 02 Right. Or someone stopped and was taking pictures of my house, like, you never know, somebody might be taking picture of the oak tree that they're trying to learn about, or, or just looking up something on their phone and standing in the direction of your house.
14:19 Josh Clark? Right. Nine times out of 10, they're trying to figure out more about the oak tree near your house.
14:23 Speaker 02 Oh, I'm trying to give people the benefit of the doubt, you know?
14:27 Josh Clark? No, I'm with you.
14:28 Speaker 02 Anyway, it's just, that's where it gets a little dodgy.
14:31 Josh Clark? For sure.
14:32 Speaker 02 And we'll have statistics, uh, statistics later on about actual racial bias, because it's real.
14:39 Josh Clark? Sure.
14:39 Speaker 02 Okay. Moving on.
14:41 Josh Clark? You want to take a little break after that? It seems like a good spot.
14:44 Speaker 02 Oh, I think I do.
14:45 Josh Clark? Okay, well, everybody, we're taking a rare Josh break. And we'll be right back.
14:57 Speaker 04 First thought is like, wow, how are we going to do all this?
14:59 Josh Clark? Hey, this is Josh and Chuck from Stuff You Should Know.
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16:02 Josh Clark? Sure.
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17:57 Josh Clark? Okay, we're back. That josh break was invigorating.
18:00 Speaker 02 I wasn't doing anything. I was just taking a picture of your oak tree. Will you get off my back?
18:05 Josh Clark? Oh, my gosh.
18:06 Speaker 02 What kind of oak is that, sir?
18:08 Josh Clark? There's only one kind of oak. No, I know there's a bunch of different oaks. Everyone in Ireland's like, no, that's not true.
18:17 Speaker 02 While we're mentioning calling 911, though, you can get arrested. It is a crime to prank call 911.
18:25 Josh Clark? Yeah, you don't want to do that.
18:26 Speaker 02 Or to SWAT. It's called swatting.
18:27 Josh Clark? That's a bit... I think that deserves its own podcast.
18:30 Speaker 02 Maybe, because there was some... Some guy got killed, right? From a swatting incident?
18:35 Josh Clark? Yeah, I think it's happened more than once.
18:37 Speaker 02 Yeah, that's serious stuff.
18:38 Josh Clark? If you don't know what swatting is, we'll just give you the 411 on this abuse of 911. Man, I love myself sometimes.
18:46 Speaker 02 That's great.
18:48 Josh Clark? So swatting is where you are a hacker, right? And you can disguise the number that you're coming, you're calling from, to make it look like you're calling from a house that you want the cops to go to.
19:02 Speaker 02 Right.
19:02 Josh Clark? And you basically say like, "I'm in this house and I'm holding hostages and what are you gonna do about it, Johnny Law?"
19:08 Speaker 02 Yeah.
19:08 Josh Clark? And the law comes out and usually SWAT, I shouldn't say usually, in some cases, the SWAT team will actually enter this house, where people who have no idea what's going on are.
19:19 Speaker 02 Right.
19:19 Josh Clark? And maybe that the people who have been swatted, you know, said something mean to the, to the guy who, you know, called the SWAT team out on them. But it's basically, it's not like saying like, there's a, "I think there's a hostage situation in this house." It's, "I'm the guy holding the hostages and here's where I am."
19:37 Speaker 02 Something mean like, "And SWAT teams stink."
19:40 Josh Clark? Right, exactly.
19:41 Speaker 02 So the SWAT team's like, "We're gonna go kill that guy."
19:43 Josh Clark? I'll bet you would never in a million years bring your SWAT team out.
19:47 Speaker 02 And whatever you do, don't come in guns blazing.
19:50 Josh Clark? Right.
19:51 Speaker 02 Which we're joking about something that's really happened.
19:53 Josh Clark? Sure, so like, I really think we need to talk, at least the short stuff.
19:57 Speaker 02 I think so.
19:58 Josh Clark? We'll look into it a little further.
19:59 Speaker 02 We'll do one on swatting and one on doxing.
20:01 Josh Clark? Okay.
20:02 Speaker 02 The two weird new things that people do now.
20:04 Josh Clark? Right, but, but swatting is definitely a crime.
20:08 Speaker 02 Yes.
20:08 Josh Clark? Okay, also, so that you don't make 911 feel like, I think this is great, this is almost like a public service announcement that we're in the midst of.
20:16 Speaker 02 Yeah, we do these.
20:17 Josh Clark? So you, you don't get in trouble with the 911, so they don't think that you're pranking them, when you're not. If you ever call 911 accidentally, or say your kid does or whatever, you do not want to hang up the phone.
20:31 Speaker 02 Yeah, I did that a few years ago, I feel like, I accidentally called 911, 'cause I think cell phones have a feature that... It enacted like an automatic call by accident.
20:44 Josh Clark? Right.
20:44 Speaker 02 And I saw it and I went, oh crap, and I hung up.
20:46 Josh Clark? Right.
20:47 Speaker 02 And I got a call back like in a second.
20:49 Josh Clark? That's great. Ideally, you should.
20:50 Speaker 02 Yeah.
20:51 Josh Clark? Yumi has a great story from when she was a kid. She got scared. I can't remember, something about her grandmother, who was perfectly fine, but she called 911 and got scared when 911 answered and hung up. And they kept calling back and she kept hanging up.
21:07 Speaker 02 That's very cute.
21:08 Josh Clark? So they came out to the house.
21:10 Speaker 02 A little welfare check.
21:11 Josh Clark? Yeah, basically. But you don't want to do that. Don't follow the Yumi model.
21:16 Speaker 02 No.
21:16 Josh Clark? Of 911. Like, just stay on the phone and be like, I'm really sorry. This is an accidental call. And I'm definitely not the bad guy pretending that this is an accidental call. Make sure you say that, too.
21:27 Speaker 02 My name is Timmy. I'm five. It's all good.
21:30 Josh Clark? My name is Little Boy with Brown Hair.
21:33 Speaker 02 So I think the history is fairly interesting because England started 9, not 911, but their version, which is 999, way back in 1937 in London.
21:47 Josh Clark? I didn't know this.
21:48 Speaker 02 I didn't know it either, but they, they were the first city in the world that created the three-digit model. Apparently, as the story goes, there was a fire in downtown London and people tried to get through the fire department. And they were put on hold and switched around. And so they said, the town crier came out and said, 999 is the answer.
22:08 Josh Clark? Yeah, which, so 999, it's easy to remember.
22:12 Speaker 02 Sure.
22:13 Josh Clark? I guess no one else was using 999 at the time. But this is back in the day of rotary phones, right?
22:19 Speaker 02 Oh, yeah.
22:20 Josh Clark? So that, that's actually, that was, it was a burden to dial 999 with a rotary dial phone. Should have been, for sure.
22:28 Speaker 02 Yeah.
22:28 Josh Clark? I just thought that was kind of clumsy of them.
22:31 Speaker 02 Little bit.
22:32 Josh Clark? Clumsy of the Brits.
22:34 Speaker 02 But let me see here. I think it was a 12-mile radius around London at first, after World War II, and went wider. And because, you know, Britain liked to do a little world conquering, you can find 999 in cities all over the world.
22:51 Josh Clark? Yeah.
22:52 Speaker 02 Where London has, or where England has left there. Imprint?
22:56 Josh Clark? That's a way to put it, for sure.
22:58 Speaker 02 Yeah.
22:59 Josh Clark? And the US, of course, said, "Well, we're not gonna let the Brits outdo us." "You're gonna do Brexit? Hold my beer."
23:06 Speaker 02 Yeah, "We're gonna wait 20-something years and do it ourselves."
23:10 Josh Clark? Right, exactly. So, I think in 1957, the Fire Chiefs Association, sorry, the National Association of Fire Chiefs, I was way off. They said, "Hey, we should come up with a easy-to-remember three-digit number for people to report fires." And other people said, "Hey, that's a great idea. We'll do that to report emergencies." And the Fire Chiefs Association said, "No, just fires."
23:35 Speaker 02 Yeah, right.
23:35 Josh Clark? Luckily, no one listened to them. Well, they didn't listen to the "just fire" part.
23:40 Speaker 02 That's right.
23:41 Josh Clark? And then, a couple of years after that, or maybe, yeah, a few years later, the National Academy of Sciences said, "This is actually a really good idea. We should do this for calling ambulances, too." And then, finally, a Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice said, "No, all emergencies should have a three-digit, easy-to-remember number."
24:03 Speaker 02 That's right. So, the FCC says, "Who should we get in touch with here? How about AT&T?"
24:09 Josh Clark? Yeah.
24:09 Speaker 02 Because these were the days of phone monopolies.
24:13 Josh Clark? Right.
24:13 Speaker 02 Or phone monopoly. It was just one, right?
24:17 Josh Clark? No, I think...
24:19 Speaker 02 When did they break up the phone companies?
24:22 Josh Clark? I think it was before this.
24:23 Speaker 02 Okay.
24:24 Josh Clark? Because they broke them up into the different bells, right?
24:27 Speaker 02 Yeah.
24:28 Josh Clark? Where they... where all the different bells part of one big phone company.
24:32 Speaker 02 That's right.
24:32 Josh Clark? Which one? I just said two different things.
24:34 Speaker 02 The Liberty Bell, the Southern Bell.
24:36 Josh Clark? Yeah.
24:37 Speaker 02 Bell from...
24:38 Josh Clark? Pacific Bell?
24:39 Speaker 02 Pacific Bell, the Bell from Beauty and the Beast.
24:41 Josh Clark? Right.
24:42 Speaker 02 All the bells.
24:43 Josh Clark? Albuquerque Bell?
24:45 Speaker 02 Sure, why not?
24:47 Speaker 02 You can ring my bell?
24:49 Josh Clark? That's a good one.
24:49 Speaker 02 That's a good song.
24:50 Josh Clark? It's a good one, but I think More, More, More by Andrea True Connection is far better.
24:56 Speaker 02 What's that?
24:56 Josh Clark? Virtually the same thing, but just a better, better song.
24:59 Speaker 02 Oh, okay. They got in touch with AT&T and they said, can you help us out with this? Apparently AT&T is the one that chose 911 because it hadn't been used yet, which is kind of the first stumbling block.
25:14 Josh Clark? Again, the rotary dial.
25:15 Speaker 02 Rotary dial, that was, 911's a lot better than 999.
25:18 Josh Clark? Way, it's, it's two thirds better.
25:20 Speaker 02 It is two thirds better. And it was easy to remember and, you know, I think they had set up at this point already 411 in a lot of areas. So they just kind of extended that idea of the, the something 11.
25:35 Josh Clark? Right. So the first, this really surprised me, the first 911 call that was ever placed in the United States.
25:44 Speaker 02 New York City.
25:45 Josh Clark? You would think so.
25:45 Speaker 02 Washington DC.
25:46 Josh Clark? No.
25:47 Speaker 02 Chicago.
25:47 Josh Clark? What else you got?
25:48 Speaker 02 Uh, Chicago.
25:50 Josh Clark? You already said that one.
25:50 Speaker 02 Okay, I don't know.
25:52 Josh Clark? What about Los Angeles?
25:54 Speaker 02 Yeah, why not?
25:54 Josh Clark? What about Albuquerque?
25:57 Speaker 02 They're doing fine.
25:57 Josh Clark? Okay, no, none of those are correct. Hayleyville, Alabama was the site of the very first 911 call.
26:04 Speaker 02 Yeah, that's a good little trivia question, I think.
26:07 Josh Clark? That is pedal to the metal.
26:14 Speaker 02 By the way, I recently watched, I had recorded all those Jeopardy shows with Ken Jennings on there, the, the Champions.
26:20 Josh Clark? Sure.
26:20 Speaker 02 Run. That was some of the better TV I'd seen in a while. Really good stuff.
26:25 Josh Clark? Oh, yeah?
26:26 Speaker 02 Well, I mean, if you're a Jeopardy fan, it was as good as it gets, like the smartest competitors and like big time drama. Cause they, you know, they had to bring it on those daily doubles. It wasn't like a regular show. Like they were daily doubling on like $20,000 and stuff.
26:42 Josh Clark? Ooh.
26:43 Speaker 02 Like, it was really tense.
26:44 Josh Clark? Wow.
26:45 Speaker 02 Like, good drama.
26:45 Josh Clark? Yeah.
26:46 Speaker 02 It was so cool. Cause I think Ken knew that other guy, the Holtz Hessler guy was a, as a gambler and he made his name for really just going all in. And Ken knew this, so he had to do the same.
26:56 Josh Clark? Well, sure.
26:56 Speaker 02 In order to beat these chumps.
26:58 Josh Clark? If you're playing a gambler, you get dragged into gambling, whether you want to gamble or not.
27:02 Speaker 02 Bring it in there.
27:02 Josh Clark? You know?
27:03 Speaker 02 It's good stuff. Anyway, good trivia question. It's probably been on Jeopardy. Hayleyville, Alabama did, it was, it was kind of a publicity stunt. It sounds like.
27:12 Josh Clark? They, so the little, the little phone company there, the Alabama Telephone Co. Basically said.
27:19 Speaker 02 That's pretty funny.
27:20 Josh Clark? AT&T is, is about to do this, they're about to launch this 911 system. We want to jump on it and adopt it first, so we're going to set this up as fast as we can. Because here's the thing, we'll find out more about this in a minute. But there's no national 911 system.
27:36 Speaker 02 Yeah.
27:36 Josh Clark? All, everywhere in the United States, 911 reaches an emergency dispatcher.
27:41 Speaker 02 Mm-hmm.
27:41 Josh Clark? Or an emergency operator. But each system is local, regional at best.
27:47 Speaker 02 Right.
27:47 Josh Clark? Um, so Haleyville, Alabama could jump on this and set up their own system and get started. And that's exactly what they did.
27:54 Speaker 02 That's right. February of 1968, they had a state senator named Rankin-Fight. He dialed 911 as a, you know, obviously, is this like a photo op or video op? In other words, there wasn't an emergency.
28:10 Josh Clark? Sure.
28:10 Speaker 02 It's like, man, what a coincidence that the state senator had the first emergency.
28:15 Josh Clark? And happened to be standing next to the special phone.
28:17 Speaker 02 That's right. They had a special bat phone, a red phone. And I think an Alabama congressman was on the other end at the police station.
28:25 Josh Clark? Congressman Tom Bevel, known as the Pork King.
28:28 Speaker 02 Really?
28:29 Josh Clark? Not just the Alabama Pork King, the Pork King of Congress.
28:32 Speaker 02 And the state senator said, what are you, Pork King, what are you doing at the police station? I've got an emergency. And he said, are we really going to do this bit?
28:43 Josh Clark? I would force whoever's on the other line to do it.
28:45 Speaker 02 So, yeah, it was all just a big show to say, hey, we did it first. Uh, they did it a week later. They, they still have a big festival every year, too.
28:54 Josh Clark? Sure.
28:54 Speaker 02 A 911 festival.
28:55 Josh Clark? I wonder if they reenact this, this famous phone call.
28:58 Speaker 02 Oh, man, if we could play those two parts.
29:00 Josh Clark? I'm the Pork King.
29:01 Speaker 02 How great would that be? Forget drunk history, just put us up there.
29:05 Josh Clark? That's cool.
29:06 Speaker 02 Um, and when I say forget drunk history, I mean, we very much want to be on it.
29:11 Josh Clark? Are we still pursuing that?
29:12 Speaker 02 No, I mean, just by occasionally yelling out of my window every now and then.
29:16 Josh Clark? Okay.
29:17 Speaker 02 Why not us?
29:18 Josh Clark? The crickets are deafening.
29:21 Speaker 02 I'm surprised no one said like, hey, this is a natural fit. These guys are great storytellers about history. They can get drunk with the best of them.
29:29 Josh Clark? We've been saying this for years. No one's listening.
29:33 Speaker 02 So, uh, Nome, Alaska, about a week later, did the same thing. And we're the second city. And then throughout the seventies and eighties, it kind of started rolling out. But it takes a while to get this kind of thing going.
29:45 Josh Clark? It does, because again, it's a local, again, at best, regional system. Okay? And your local, um, city might not have the money to put in a new telecommunications system.
30:00 Speaker 02 Yeah.
30:01 Josh Clark? To be used for emergency services. Um, and at first, you know, cities that were a little more flush with cash, because they had a larger tax base, had the money to roll these out. So, as expected, aside from Hayleyville and Nome, it was mostly like large metropolitan areas that were starting to roll out their, the nine, the earliest 911 systems. But, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, uh, which was the foundation based on Johnson and Johnson's company, um, they took an early interest in this and started handing out grants to rural areas to set up their own 911 systems. So, ironically, Hayleyville, Alabama, had it not jumped on it, probably still wouldn't
30:43 Josh Clark? have a 911 system were it not for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation doling out grants to like, you know, small towns around the country for their own.
30:51 Speaker 02 Yeah, because they were like, you know what? People call 911, they go to the hospital, they're gonna be using Johnson and Johnson products.
30:58 Josh Clark? Yeah. Yep.
31:00 Speaker 02 I'm not being overly cynical, I'm sure that, you know, 911's probably good for the Band-Aid business.
31:06 Josh Clark? I would guess so.
31:08 Speaker 02 And baby shampoo?
31:09 Josh Clark? Yeah, because if you can't get, if you can't get, uh, an ambulance to that person, they're gonna croak. But if you get the ambulance to them, right. You don't need Band-Aids when you're dead.
31:19 Speaker 02 Nope.
31:20 Josh Clark? That's, that's just like a fact of, of death.
31:22 Speaker 02 Mm-hmm.
31:23 Josh Clark? But if you survive, you're gonna need a lot of Band-Aids, depending on what you've done to yourself.
31:27 Speaker 02 That's right. Uh, here's some stats for you. By 1976, when I was five years old, only 17% of the US had 911.
31:35 Josh Clark? You wanna know a surprising fact? 1976, I was just born.
31:40 Speaker 02 Well, you probably weren't covered by 911.
31:43 Josh Clark? Again, not until 1989.
31:45 Speaker 02 Well, by 1987, only 50% of the country, which is, uh...
31:50 Speaker 02 That's kind of, that's pretty late. I would have thought we would have had a lot more of the country covered by then.
31:54 Josh Clark? For sure, you would think so. And it wasn't until 99, actually Chuck, that that 911 officially became the emergency number for everywhere in America. 1999.
32:07 Speaker 02 Bill Clinton said, "Let's do this." He said, "What about 999?" And they went, "Bill."
32:15 Josh Clark? Yeah, please.
32:16 Speaker 02 Wrong country. Canada, speaking of wrong countries, they are very much the right country because they got on board with 911 as well.
32:24 Josh Clark? That's absolutely true Chuck.
32:25 Speaker 02 Because they were like, "Why make things too difficult?"
32:28 Josh Clark? You know, that's a great question, Canada. And I think the answer to that is you shouldn't make things too difficult. Just kind of go with the flow.
32:36 Speaker 02 Should we take another break or should we do some more stuff here?
32:39 Josh Clark? I was thinking maybe another break.
32:41 Speaker 02 Okay.
32:41 Josh Clark? Are you okay with that?
32:42 Speaker 02 Yes.
32:43 Josh Clark? Are you sure?
32:43 Speaker 02 Yes.
32:44 Josh Clark? What about you listeners?
32:46 Speaker 02 Yes.
32:46 Josh Clark? Okay, good. Well, we'll be right back.
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34:52 Josh Clark? World Mental Health Day takes place in October, and it's really meant to be more than just awareness. It's about actually taking the next step and getting support if you need it.
35:02 Speaker 02 But a lot of people still talk themselves out of therapy. They think it's too expensive. They're not sure if it'll actually work. They don't know how to find the right therapist or they just get overwhelmed trying to navigate the whole system.
35:12 Josh Clark? And that's exactly what Rula is built to fix. Rula makes therapy feel a lot more approachable, a lot more human. You can find a therapist who actually fits your needs, not just whoever's available. And with insurance, sessions average around $15 copay.
35:26 Speaker 02 Yeah, you can sign up in just a few minutes. You can get matched with the right provider and even book something as soon as the next day.
35:31 Josh Clark? And it's not just about starting. Rula helps you stay consistent and actually make progress because taking care of your mental health isn't a one-time thing. So if you've been thinking about therapy, you don't talk yourself out of it, this is a really easy way to take that first step.
35:43 Speaker 02 So turn off the talk track that's keeping you from progress and head to rula.com, that is R-U-L-A dot com, to find a therapist the easy way.
36:04 Josh Clark? Okay Chuck, let's talk about how it actually works.
36:09 Speaker 02 Yeah, in the early days, obviously, it was all landline telephones. So when your call got routed to the switchboard, which was a 911 switchboard dedicated to that, they would patch you across phone lines that were dedicated to 911, to what's called a PSAP, a Public Safety Answering Point. And at the time, they were, a lot of times, like in the fire department or in the police station.
36:37 Josh Clark? Right, so they could just turn in their chair and be like, Sarge, dispatch some people to this address.
36:42 Speaker 02 We got a suspicious person staring at oak trees.
36:46 Josh Clark? Right.
36:47 Speaker 02 Again.
36:48 Josh Clark? Right, and like, today, a 911 dispatcher is a highly trained, highly skilled
36:56 Speaker 02 Oh yeah.
36:56 Josh Clark? person. There's a lot of stuff going on. It's like a flight attendant. Remember when we've learned, like, flight attendants are actually trained to
37:02 Speaker 02 Yeah.
37:03 Josh Clark? save your life in an emergency, and they just hand out peanuts as like a side thing?
37:07 Speaker 02 Right.
37:08 Josh Clark? This is basically the same thing with the 9/11 operator or call taker. They know how to do a lot of stuff, but the earliest ones just knew how to answer the phone, take down your info, and then turn around and send it off to the fire department, or the police department, or, you know, the paramedics or something like that. You know, they'd be like, okay, I gotta go, all right, I'll see you, bye.
37:27 Speaker 02 Right.
37:28 Josh Clark? And then they would get off the phone.
37:29 Speaker 02 And that evolved to the call center. That evolved to what was called Enhanced 911, which was, in the 1970s, again, driven by telecom advancing with AT&T, with new technologies. They developed ANI and ALI, Automatic Number Identification and Location Identification.
37:51 Josh Clark? ANI is just caller ID. That's what everybody calls caller ID.
37:54 Speaker 02 Yeah.
37:54 Josh Clark? Remember those cute little boxes that you could plug your phone line into?
37:58 Speaker 02 Sat on your little table.
37:59 Josh Clark? Show you in some little terrible readout?
38:01 Speaker 02 Yeah.
38:02 Josh Clark? Basically dot matrix readout?
38:03 Speaker 02 Yep, who was calling? Pretty neat. And then it was on your handheld cordless phone.
38:10 Josh Clark? Right.
38:10 Speaker 02 You could look at it, and that was like, whoa, we're living in the future.
38:13 Josh Clark? Rich.
38:14 Speaker 02 Or the answering machine now is digital. We don't need those tiny tapes.
38:19 Josh Clark? Yeah, it's true.
38:20 Speaker 02 That was like a big revolution, too.
38:22 Josh Clark? That was huge.
38:23 Speaker 02 Amazing.
38:23 Josh Clark? Because you could leave as long a message as you wanted now.
38:26 Speaker 02 Yeah.
38:27 Josh Clark? But you couldn't get that clever, "nobody's home, nobody's home."
38:32 Speaker 02 Sure, you're still recording your outgoing message.
38:34 Josh Clark? Right, you could sing it, but they actually had that tape you could buy that you could put in there.
38:38 Speaker 02 Really?
38:39 Josh Clark? Yeah. There was one that was like a whole mixtape of them.
38:42 Speaker 02 Of just like gag answers? Oh, boy.
38:44 Josh Clark? You don't remember that?
38:45 Speaker 02 Not really.
38:46 Josh Clark? There was a very famous ad that ran.
38:49 Speaker 02 Really? It was like, "Delight your friends."
38:53 Josh Clark? Basically, yeah.
38:54 Speaker 02 Wow.
38:55 Josh Clark? Yeah.
38:55 Speaker 02 That's pretty funny.
38:56 Josh Clark? So, this enhanced 911 system, the automatic number and the automatic locator, that was a big deal because now, all of a sudden, if you were a call taker for 911 and a call came up on your little computer screen, it said what the number was and what the address was. And because everybody was calling from landlines, you knew exactly where that person was who needed help.
39:21 Speaker 02 That's right.
39:22 Josh Clark? Saved a bunch of time. It was a very huge life-saving measure.
39:25 Speaker 02 Yeah, I mean, when you think about people in an emergency, it could be everything from crippling fear, keeping you from even knowing where you are,
39:34 Josh Clark? Yeah.
39:34 Speaker 02 to having been hit on the head and not being able to say where you are.
39:38 Josh Clark? Yeah, or you just can't speak.
39:40 Speaker 02 Yeah, and so that really, imagine that they spend a lot of time sometimes just trying to get through that first step of where are you?
39:47 Josh Clark? Right. So, this was an enormous leap forward. And in the 70s and 80s, it really kind of cemented how helpful and life-saving this 911 system could be. And then, cell phones came along. And the rest of us kind of leapfrogged right over 911 because the cellphone carriers didn't have ANI and ALI. When you call 911, still to this day, from a cellphone, it does not come up what your number is or where you are in any specific way. And so, Congress, or at least the FCC, said, "Hey, we need you guys to do something." Like, there's got to be something. It just can't be like, you know, you have no idea where this person is in the country.
40:31 Speaker 02 Yeah.
40:31 Josh Clark? Because part of the other thing about the automatic locator that they had originally with 911 in the 70s and 80s is it would route you to the closest public safety answering point.
40:44 Speaker 02 Right.
40:45 Josh Clark? So that would be saving time, too, because the person you're talking to is in the same area as you and knows the area you're talking about and can more quickly dispatch people.
40:54 Speaker 02 Right.
40:54 Josh Clark? With cellphones, it's not the case.
40:56 Speaker 02 Yeah, and Dave makes a good point. Even if they could have located like where your cellphone plan was or your phone was activated, you don't have to live in the city where that is.
41:07 Josh Clark? Right.
41:07 Speaker 02 I have friends that have LA numbers that work in the film industry here, just because that stupid LA 310 or 323 makes them look like a more legitimate hire.
41:16 Josh Clark? Just so cool.
41:18 Speaker 02 It's so cool and so dumb.
41:19 Josh Clark? Right.
41:20 Speaker 02 But yeah, they would be like, "You're in Atlanta? It says you're in Los Angeles."
41:24 Josh Clark? Is this a prank? Are you swatting me?
41:26 Speaker 02 Yeah.
41:26 Josh Clark? Yeah. So the FCC said, "Okay, you guys need to do something." So what they did was they came up with a triangulation where the closest cellphone tower's address comes up when you call.
41:41 Speaker 02 Yeah, it's a good start.
41:42 Josh Clark? It is a good start, but if you're out in the sticks,
41:45 Speaker 02 Yeah.
41:46 Josh Clark? the closest cellphone tower might be miles and miles and miles away.
41:49 Speaker 02 That's true.
41:50 Josh Clark? And even if it's not miles away, let's say it's a football field away. Well, if you're in a dense, densely populated area.
41:57 Speaker 02 And you're bleeding out.
41:58 Josh Clark? Sure.
41:58 Speaker 02 That doesn't help.
41:59 Josh Clark? It does not help at all. But it gets you a little bit closer and it helps to transfer your caller, to route your call to the closest PSAP.
42:06 Speaker 02 Yeah.
42:06 Josh Clark? Okay? And then the other thing that they have them do now, phase two of this enhanced, wireless enhanced 911, is it gives your GPS coordinates.
42:16 Speaker 02 Right.
42:17 Josh Clark? Which is so 90s, it's ridiculous.
42:19 Speaker 02 It is.
42:19 Josh Clark? It's like MapQuest.
42:21 Speaker 02 Anyone who's ever waited on a ride chair that thought you were down the street from where you were knows how accurate that GPS can be.
42:31 Josh Clark? Well, that's...
42:31 Speaker 02 It's still great, but...
42:32 Josh Clark? That's way more accurate than what 911's working with.
42:36 Speaker 02 Well, they're just working with longitude and latitude points, right?
42:38 Josh Clark? Yeah. One of the big qualities, a quality to have as a 911 operator, is to be able to quickly translate longitude and latitude coordinates, GPS coordinates, into like Google Maps to get an address really fast.
42:54 Speaker 02 Into smooth, sexy voice.
42:56 Josh Clark? Sure. Like Barry White with Fingers of Fury.
42:59 Speaker 02 Or like Halle Berry.
43:01 Josh Clark? With Barry White's fingers.
43:03 Speaker 02 She, uh, did you see that movie, The Call?
43:06 Josh Clark? No.
43:06 Speaker 02 She played a 911 call specialist in a movie, a thriller. It was good.
43:14 Josh Clark? Was it?
43:14 Speaker 02 Wasn't great? Yeah, it was good.
43:15 Josh Clark? Okay.
43:16 Speaker 02 But Brad Anderson directed it. He's like a really quality director.
43:19 Josh Clark? Yeah, I know that name.
43:20 Speaker 02 And it seemed like this sort of, from what?
43:24 Josh Clark? You gonna call me out on that?
43:25 Speaker 02 I didn't hear you. From what?
43:26 Josh Clark? From where?
43:27 Speaker 02 Oh. I don't get what you mean.
43:30 Josh Clark? From where? Like what other?
43:32 Speaker 02 Oh, what other movies has he directed? He directed a scary movie called Session Nine.
43:36 Josh Clark? Oh, yes, okay. Well, then this guy's one of my favorites of all time.
43:39 Speaker 02 You know that movie?
43:40 Josh Clark? That's what, it's one of the best horror movies ever made.
43:43 Speaker 02 Yeah, I'm a fan of Brad Anderson because he has a range of genres. Like, one of his early movies is this kind of spacey rom-com called Happy Accidents. That was great.
43:56 Josh Clark? Happy Accidents?
43:57 Speaker 02 Yeah, really good with Marisa Tomei and Vincent D'Onofrio. But it had this, it was a rom-com with a sort of a, a bit of a sci-fi twist to it.
44:06 Josh Clark? Oh, okay.
44:06 Speaker 02 And he did Trans-Siberian. He's, he's done, he did Next Stop Wonderland was one of his first little indies. But yeah, he does, it's unusual for a director to tackle all these weird or different genres.
44:18 Josh Clark? That's neat.
44:18 Speaker 02 Disparate genres.
44:19 Josh Clark? Well, you had me at Session Nine.
44:21 Speaker 02 Yeah, The Call is, is a good, you know, popcorn movie. I highly recommend it.
44:25 Josh Clark? Okay, I'll check it out.
44:26 Speaker 02 Halle Berry's a call center person, and that's all I'll say.
44:28 Josh Clark? Hey, she's quality. She's a quality actress.
44:31 Speaker 02 She is.
44:31 Josh Clark? But the fact that I, I had never even heard of this movie really made me suspicious.
44:35 Speaker 02 It did pretty well.
44:37 Josh Clark? Okay.
44:37 Speaker 02 It wasn't a massive hit, but it did like 60 million bucks.
44:41 Josh Clark? But that's really surprising. Like, I'm very aware of movies. Like, I'll, I'll know what the movie's about, and I have never seen it. Not even seen a preview. I'll just kind of know.
44:50 Speaker 02 Sure.
44:51 Josh Clark? So I'm, I'm surprised.
44:52 Speaker 02 Yeah. I recommend it.
44:55 Josh Clark? I'll check it out.
44:55 Speaker 02 Yeah. I mean, it's no Black Coat's Daughter, but.
45:00 Josh Clark? Man, that's a good one, too.
45:02 Speaker 02 So, where are we now? We are now at texting to 911.
45:07 Josh Clark? Oh, wait, hold on. I wanted to drive this home real quick.
45:09 Speaker 02 Okay.
45:09 Josh Clark? Okay.
45:10 Speaker 02 Drive it home.
45:11 Josh Clark? The, the 1996 FCC rule that says you have to have a cellphone tower, tell 911 its address, the closest one to your cellphone, and then give the GPS coordinates
45:25 Speaker 02 Yeah.
45:25 Josh Clark? for wherever that cellphone, they think the cellphone is. That's the 911 system that's in place nationwide today in 2020.
45:34 Speaker 02 That's why they ask you from a cellphone.
45:36 Josh Clark? Yeah.
45:37 Speaker 02 Who are you and where are you, just like they did in the early days?
45:39 Josh Clark? Right, and this is a problem because like you said earlier, 80% of 911 calls in the United States are made from cellphones. And 911 does not know where you are unless you tell them.
45:50 Speaker 02 Yeah, but it's also balanced out by the fact that.
45:55 Josh Clark? They really want to help.
45:57 Speaker 02 Well, you have that cellphone right there and immediately, so.
46:00 Josh Clark? Yeah, yeah, that.
46:01 Speaker 02 Remember the old days, you're like, let me find a payphone, let me go knock on someone's door.
46:05 Josh Clark? That's true.
46:05 Speaker 02 And be and ask about their oak tree and hopefully I won't get shot.
46:08 Josh Clark? Right.
46:10 Speaker 02 So people are calling right away, so I would think that kind of counterbalances the clumsiness.
46:14 Josh Clark? Yes.
46:15 Speaker 02 Of location.
46:17 Josh Clark? I think you're right, Chuck. We'll see. Boy, you really swooped in there.
46:20 Speaker 02 I say we'll see as if there's some report coming out.
46:23 Josh Clark? The thing is, though, is there, there, people have figured out the people, the powers that be who are concerned with 911 and its system. Are well aware of this major flaw.
46:33 Speaker 02 Yeah.
46:34 Josh Clark? And our work have figured out how to, how to update it. It's just now we're in the process of rolling out updates.
46:39 Speaker 02 Well, and then privacy advocates are going to be like.
46:43 Speaker 02 What? You're going to like locate every single person with the cellphone and know where they are at all times?
46:48 Josh Clark? Right, and Amazon and Apple are like, dude, we, we already know that. It's just 911 is the only one who doesn't know where you are at all times. Which is a problem. It's funny, I saw a Wired article from 1998 that was like wringing its hands like, oh, you know, privacy advocates are worried that they may be able to track the movement of cellphone users based on this information that 911 gets now. Yeah, they're like, maybe, I don't know, we'll have to see.
47:15 Speaker 02 The future holds.
47:16 Josh Clark? Yeah.
47:17 Speaker 02 So texting to 911 is the latest technology. About 10 years ago, 11 years ago in Iowa, in Blackhawk, they were the first jurisdiction to offer this service, and it's still kind of coming out, I think.
47:34 Speaker 02 A couple of years ago, they, all 50 states had text capability, but it's-
47:41 Josh Clark? Not everywhere in each state.
47:43 Speaker 02 Yeah, exactly.
47:44 Josh Clark? It's very sparse.
47:45 Speaker 02 And it's just text. I love, Dave points out, you can't send emojis. Like, "Need help" emoji.
47:51 Josh Clark? Yeah.
47:52 Speaker 02 But you can't send text and video, and that kind of thing would be super helpful, I think.
47:56 Josh Clark? Right. So, this is where we are in the next generation. It's literally called Next Generation 911 NG 911. And it's where 911 finally catches up to every other telecom company-
48:13 Speaker 02 Yeah.
48:14 Josh Clark? And device manufacturer already is. And it basically uses all the information from the Internet of Things that lets people know exactly where you are.
48:24 Speaker 02 Right.
48:25 Josh Clark? Not just like what your address is, what floor of a building you happen to be sitting on right now. All of that information is now going to be funneled to 911 when you call, because 911 is finally abandoning landlines. Landline telecom, that's what they're dealing with currently.
48:41 Speaker 02 Yeah.
48:42 Josh Clark? They're going over to VoIP. So 911 will be using a secure Internet connection in the near future. And when they get to that point, they will be able to accept video-
48:53 Speaker 02 Right.
48:54 Josh Clark? Photos, like, "This is the guy that's attacking the lady, hurry up," that kind of thing. And then they'll also be able to, because they're setting up a separate wireless broadband network just for first responders called FirstNet.
49:06 Speaker 02 Yeah, that's gonna be a big deal.
49:08 Josh Clark? And so 911 will be able to say, "Hey, here's a photo of the guy that you're looking for." They can't do that now. As mind-boggling as it is, they cannot do that.
49:18 Speaker 02 Yeah, I mean, just to have a dedicated wireless network cuts down on, I imagine, interference and potential hacking.
49:26 Josh Clark? Plus, in a disaster, if you're out there in the field, you are using your own wireless device that's on the public broadband right now. And so if the public broadband goes down, because there's so many people trying to use it to find out what's going on, like an earthquake or something-
49:41 Speaker 02 Yeah.
49:41 Josh Clark? Like, the first responders suffer from that, too. So this separate broadband network just for first responders won't crash-
49:48 Speaker 02 Right.
49:48 Josh Clark? -in the event of a disaster.
49:50 Speaker 02 Yeah, and speaking of first responders, I think it's kind of time we join certain people in saying- Call center employees are first responders.
50:02 Josh Clark? Are people saying they're not?
50:03 Speaker 02 Well, I don't think they're generally thought of as first responders. If you work at a call center.
50:07 Josh Clark? Because they just sit around?
50:09 Speaker 02 Maybe. But they are literally the first and most important first thing that happens.
50:15 Josh Clark? Sure.
50:16 Speaker 02 In an emergency. And like you said earlier, they are trained to and walk people through CPR, Heimlich, how to deliver a baby, how to handle an active shooter, suicide, domestic abuse. If you're a kid and you're scared because grandma fell over, like how to handle children. Like, they're really skilled. And I think it's a shame that like, I feel like the only time you hear about 911 call center responders is when there's a bad one. And you release those calls and everyone's horrified.
50:50 Josh Clark? Yeah.
50:50 Speaker 02 That, you know, and it is, it's awful, but those are clearly like the standouts. I guess not standouts, the standouts are all the good employees.
50:58 Josh Clark? There have been some doozies for sure.
51:00 Speaker 02 Yeah.
51:01 Josh Clark? I read about one where somebody called in a wildfire in Oregon, Oregon, sorry, Oregon. And the 911 operator said, what you're seeing is probably just the play of light, sunlight on the fog.
51:18 Speaker 02 Right.
51:19 Josh Clark? It was like, how would you even know that? You're in a call center. I'm looking right at this thing. It's a wildfire. And like, they didn't dispatch anybody.
51:27 Speaker 02 Yeah.
51:27 Josh Clark? And like a half hour, 20 minutes later, somebody else called it in. And by this time, it was like raging.
51:34 Speaker 02 There was the one lady drowning in her car, too. That one was horrific.
51:37 Josh Clark? I didn't hear about that one.
51:38 Speaker 02 She was in her car that was going down. And I think, I don't remember exactly what happened, but she was freaking out.
51:43 Josh Clark? Yeah.
51:44 Speaker 02 And I think the 911 person was just sort of dismissive and it was really, and kind of rude even.
51:51 Josh Clark? Wow.
51:52 Speaker 02 But, you know, that makes the news.
51:54 Josh Clark? Right.
51:54 Speaker 02 Not the 650,000 calls a day that go through and our lives are saved, like.
52:01 Josh Clark? No, no, absolutely. It's absolutely true. It's a great point. There are plenty of stories, though, people like of them just like straight up doing hero stuff.
52:10 Speaker 02 Yeah.
52:10 Josh Clark? Going above and beyond.
52:12 Speaker 02 You should see Halle Berry in this movie.
52:14 Josh Clark? One of the things that can happen is as much as you're trained to not let it happen, you can become emotionally invested in a call.
52:25 Speaker 02 Totally.
52:26 Josh Clark? And. I've read that some, some operators are just fine at leaving it at the door, at least appearing to leave it at the door, but others can suffer burnout, PTSD.
52:36 Speaker 02 Yeah.
52:37 Josh Clark? And one of the big things that I saw, that's a huge psychological problem for 911 operators, is that there can very frequently be no resolution.
52:48 Speaker 02 Right.
52:49 Josh Clark? They can be on the phone with somebody who is like, holding someone hostage and they're trying to talk them down. And all of a sudden, the cops come in and the line goes dead. They, if they're not good friends with the cops who came in.
53:00 Speaker 02 Right.
53:00 Josh Clark? They may never find out what happened. Like, no idea. They're talking someone through who's been shot or whatever, to try to keep them alive and conscious. They have no idea what happened to that person. They have to take the next call. And that's a huge problem. There's no closure. And then sometimes there is closure, like, if you're a 911 operator, you probably have been on the phone with somebody when they took their last breath.
53:23 Speaker 02 Right.
53:24 Josh Clark? When they were murdered, when they died very, very scared.
53:26 Speaker 02 Right.
53:27 Josh Clark? That kind of stuff takes its toll on people and that's a, it can be a big problem. And there can be pretty frequent turnover among 911 dispatchers.
53:35 Speaker 02 It's Halle Berry movie.
53:36 Josh Clark? Oh, yeah.
53:37 Speaker 02 I'm telling you, it's all there.
53:38 Josh Clark? Yeah.
53:39 Speaker 02 Uh, yeah, cause even if they don't get closure on the work site, they could see it on the news that night. Be like, man, I took that call.
53:47 Josh Clark? Right.
53:48 Speaker 02 Of this murder.
53:49 Josh Clark? Yeah.
53:49 Speaker 02 Or whatever. Pretty bad.
53:51 Josh Clark? Sure.
53:52 Speaker 02 Not a job for me.
53:54 Josh Clark? I don't think I could hack it either. And then practically speaking, there's like, you have to be able to type really, really fast, with a high level of accuracy, while somebody's telling you other information.
54:05 Speaker 02 Yeah, I would.
54:06 Josh Clark? Like, you might be taking info in and you have to be chatting with, you know, a cop on IM, who you're sending out, while you're also taking the description from the other person, you're just going back and forth.
54:16 Speaker 02 Yeah, you gotta be able to compartmentalize and multitask.
54:19 Josh Clark? Yeah.
54:20 Speaker 02 All, none of those things are my specialty.
54:22 Josh Clark? No.
54:22 Speaker 02 Uh, if you're wondering, you pay for 911, if you have a phone bill.
54:27 Josh Clark? Mm-hmm.
54:28 Speaker 02 Cell phone bills included. That's a little, little surcharge there, so, uh.
54:33 Josh Clark? That's outrageous.
54:34 Speaker 02 Just scream socialism, everybody.
54:36 Josh Clark? Yeah.
54:36 Speaker 02 Uh, and as far as those statistics we talked about earlier, about the racial bias. Of course, if you are a fan of Public Enemy, you remember the great, great song, 911 is a Joke.
54:47 Josh Clark? It's a good one.
54:47 Speaker 02 Flava Flav.
54:48 Josh Clark? Yeah.
54:49 Speaker 02 There was a study done by the ACLU in 2013. Residents of Grand Crossing, this is a Chicago study.
54:57 Josh Clark? Mm-hmm.
54:57 Speaker 02 African-American neighborhood on the South Side waited 11 minutes for a cop to come after a priority call. Two and a half minutes for the predominantly white neighborhood of Jefferson Park. And response times in that were four and a half times slower in the black community. And there's, you know, like I mentioned earlier with the people calling 911 on, you know, just an African-American person living their life. There have been cases where people ended up dead because of that.
55:30 Josh Clark? Right.
55:31 Speaker 02 After escalation, and that's just like a pure tragedy.
55:35 Josh Clark? For sure. There is, there are like, when you have something this massive and huge and it involves people at like their worst moment of their life, a lot of stuff is gonna kind of come out of it. There's a lot to 911, a lot of legends and myths and everything. But one of the things I saw that everyone seems to know about is that if you call 911 and pretend you're ordering a pizza, they will understand that you are in a position where you can't talk and they'll dispatch the police. Supposedly, that's a myth, but it makes total sense, doesn't it? You've heard that before?
56:11 Speaker 02 I was just thinking of Die Hard.
56:12 Josh Clark? Oh, I don't remember that.
56:14 Speaker 02 There was that line where he's calling the 911 dispatcher.
56:17 Josh Clark? Uh-huh.
56:17 Speaker 02 Well, I guess, I don't even think it was, I think it was an actual cop on the other end. And she's like, calm down, sir, and, you know, it's not an emergency, whatever. And he said, what do you think I'm doing, ordering a pizza?
56:28 Josh Clark? Oh, yeah, that's right.
56:29 Speaker 02 And that might have been a reference to that.
56:31 Josh Clark? Maybe so.
56:32 Speaker 02 So what are you saying again?
56:34 Josh Clark? The urban legend is that if you, like, let's say there's, there's somebody who's like got a gun on you. If you can somehow get it to the point where you're like, hey, let's order a pizza right now, you call 911, say, hey, I'd like to order a pizza.
56:47 Speaker 02 And that's code for?
56:47 Josh Clark? Here's my address. And then, yeah, and then 911 will get what's going on and send the cops out. Apparently, that's not true. But there is, there's another, there was an urban legend I saw in the UK with 999. That if you call and you don't say anything, that they will send someone out. And I think that is kind of widely believed over here in the US, too. Apparently, in the UK, that is true. But it's gonna send you through a series of prompts if you don't respond. And if you press 55, it will, you will be confirming that, yes, you, there is an emergency and you just can't talk right now, and they will send people out.
57:31 Josh Clark? If you don't press 55, then they, they won't. It'll just take it as like a accidental call.
57:38 Speaker 02 Well, and that's the big benefit. I don't even think we kind of brought up about texting to 911. Cause you might think like, ugh, cause people wanna text.
57:46 Josh Clark? Millennials.
57:46 Speaker 02 But there are plenty of cases where you can't talk. You're maybe in a domestic dispute.
57:53 Josh Clark? Or if you're hearing impaired.
57:54 Speaker 02 And you're hiding in a closet, or if you're hearing impaired, or if you've been kidnapped and don't wanna use your voice out loud, or you're a scared child. Like, plenty of great cases to be made for texting.
58:04 Josh Clark? And since text to 911 isn't everywhere, the FCC has a law that if your telecom carrier doesn't, doesn't have text to 911, they have an immediate bounce back that says like, you can't do that, you have to call 911.
58:19 Speaker 02 Yeah, which is, that's pretty valuable.
58:20 Josh Clark? It is. And one last thing. If you find an old phone that has a charge in it, even if it hasn't had service for 20 years, you can dial 911, you will be connected.
58:31 Speaker 02 Yeah, that is pretty cool.
58:32 Josh Clark? Every single phone that is, that is in operation dials 911 for free.
58:36 Speaker 02 Yeah, I like that.
58:38 Josh Clark? I do, too, man.
58:39 Speaker 02 I love 911.
58:40 Josh Clark? I think Kurt Vonnegut said, "There's no, no greater display of humanity than seeing a fire truck go down the street with its sirens blazing."
58:49 Speaker 02 Oh, really?
58:50 Josh Clark? That sounds like something he'd say.
58:52 Speaker 02 Interesting.
58:53 Josh Clark? Well, if you wanna know more about Kurt Vonnegut, you can just type that into the search bar, "How Stuff Works," and who knows what that'll bring up?
59:00 Speaker 02 Who knows?
59:01 Josh Clark? And since I said that, it's time for Listener Mail.
59:06 Speaker 02 This is a response when we asked for examples of racism in today's military. And we heard from a range of people, I have to say. From this guy, who-
59:17 Josh Clark? To the other guy.
59:18 Speaker 02 To the other guy. This guy said, I'll just tell you what this guy said in a minute, but other people have said that, yeah, they've seen some pretty bad racist stuff in the military, but they're isolated incidences, just like in the real world.
59:30 Josh Clark? Gotcha.
59:30 Speaker 02 But this is what Matthew Applewhite says. "Start off, I'm a white guy, I can't speak on everyone's experience while in the service, but during my four years, I saw more camaraderie between a mix of races than I ever see in my real life."
59:43 Josh Clark? It seems like this is the response that we got the most.
59:46 Speaker 02 The most, I think, you're right. They thought us, oh, they taught us from the start in boot camp, Marine Corps, that you're all nothing, and you will all become Marines. And with that in common, it gives a common ground between any race or nationality. They might often refer to African-American Marines as dark green, implying, yes, they may have a different skin tone, but they're still green. And over the years, in and out of training, you learn that everyone endures the suck in the hard times together. And no one is above another. In the end, you learn to trust the man to my left and right with my life, no matter what his skin color. And ladies, too, they're female Marines.
1:00:26 Josh Clark? Sure. I'm glad you said that.
1:00:28 Speaker 02 Yeah. Now, saying all this, some prejudice from other people's upbringing do still remain, but most of the time, it is shot down very fast with harsh repercussions, and it is kept to a minimum. "I made many friends from all walks of life that I would have never even imagined being so close to without the common ground we stood on or the hard times that we endured together." And that is from an avid listener named Matthew Applewhite.
1:00:51 Josh Clark? Thanks a lot, Matthew. We appreciate you letting us know. Thanks to everybody who wrote in to let us know. Virtually the same thing.
1:00:58 Speaker 02 Yeah, except for the couple of standouts.
1:01:00 Josh Clark? Yeah. Well, if you want to get in touch with us like Matthew did, you can go on to steveyoushouldknow.com, and I think our social links are there, who knows? But you can always get in touch with us via email at [email protected] .
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