[00:00.000 --> 00:03.660]  From Death Row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
[00:04.200 --> 00:08.140]  These commentaries are produced by Noelle Hanrahan for Prison Radio.
[00:09.200 --> 00:12.180]  Free Speech Radio News is a worker-run collective.
[00:12.180 --> 00:15.740]  Our newscast is produced by Simba Russo and Monica Lopez.
[00:16.180 --> 00:18.020]  Headlines editor is Shannon Young.
[00:18.240 --> 00:20.360]  Leon Caldwell is our Washington editor.
[00:20.680 --> 00:26.320]  Our technical production team at KPFA in Berkeley includes Eric Klein and Antonio Ortiz.
[00:26.520 --> 00:29.220]  From KPFK in L.A., I'm Aura Bogado.
[00:33.520 --> 00:36.460]  And this is radio station WBAI New York.
[00:36.620 --> 00:37.640]  It's 7 o'clock.
[00:37.820 --> 00:38.940]  Time for Off the Hook.
[00:44.220 --> 00:48.760]  The telephone keeps ringing, so I ripped it off the wall.
[00:49.660 --> 00:54.240]  I cut myself while shaving, now I can't make a cough.
[00:54.880 --> 01:02.460]  We couldn't get much worse, but from Diddley-Bong, for the best, it's made the worst.
[01:03.060 --> 01:06.080]  I hope that's understood, from Diddley-Bong!
[01:42.220 --> 01:43.240]  And a very good evening to everybody.
[01:43.420 --> 01:44.180]  The program is Off the Hook.
[01:44.260 --> 01:47.100]  Emmanuel Goldstein here with you on this Wednesday evening.
[01:47.560 --> 01:49.200]  And tonight we have with us Jim.
[01:49.980 --> 01:50.400]  Hello.
[01:50.680 --> 01:51.700]  And Mike.
[01:52.040 --> 01:52.440]  Hi.
[01:52.660 --> 01:53.080]  Redbird.
[01:53.300 --> 01:53.600]  Good evening.
[01:53.740 --> 01:54.160]  Arseny.
[01:54.320 --> 01:54.540]  Hi.
[01:54.760 --> 01:55.100]  Walter.
[01:55.580 --> 01:55.720]  Hey.
[01:55.920 --> 01:56.620]  And Bernie S.
[01:56.720 --> 01:57.380]  down there in Philadelphia.
[01:57.900 --> 01:59.180]  Good evening from Philadelphia.
[01:59.500 --> 02:01.520]  And Bernie, I trust you're feeling better now.
[02:02.340 --> 02:03.220]  I feel fine.
[02:03.320 --> 02:04.460]  It's just, I cough a bit.
[02:04.640 --> 02:09.300]  I'm still, I've got that upper respiratory irritation from Budapest.
[02:09.420 --> 02:10.340]  But I'm getting over it.
[02:10.800 --> 02:14.420]  Well, you know, they mean it when they give you an upper respiratory infection over there.
[02:15.260 --> 02:17.240]  So we'll try not to have you talk too much.
[02:17.420 --> 02:20.680]  I understand you're in the doctor's orders to shut up or something.
[02:20.760 --> 02:21.760]  Is that how he phrased it?
[02:21.980 --> 02:25.360]  He said if I didn't speak for a whole week, that my cough would be gone.
[02:25.700 --> 02:27.580]  But otherwise, I'll be coughing two more weeks.
[02:27.580 --> 02:29.700]  Do you see the sacrifices people make here?
[02:29.960 --> 02:33.140]  Because Bernie could probably be all better if he wasn't on the radio right now.
[02:33.260 --> 02:36.120]  But there's so much information just to give out.
[02:36.220 --> 02:37.160]  That has to be given out.
[02:37.320 --> 02:41.420]  So health is just a mere piddling sacrifice we must make.
[02:41.800 --> 02:44.980]  And I have no cough button here, unlike you people in the studio.
[02:45.300 --> 02:45.820]  That's true.
[02:46.420 --> 02:47.140]  We have cough buttons.
[02:47.140 --> 02:48.420]  We don't know how to use them, but we have them.
[02:49.540 --> 02:50.360]  You going to use them, Mike?
[02:51.080 --> 02:52.520]  I think the people can't hear me now.
[02:52.520 --> 02:53.440]  Yeah, they can't hear you now.
[02:53.500 --> 02:54.060]  That's very clever.
[02:54.360 --> 02:55.300]  But now they can't hear me.
[02:55.860 --> 02:57.320]  That's how it works, the cough button.
[02:58.260 --> 02:59.240]  I don't have a cough button.
[02:59.660 --> 03:04.320]  But then again, I can control all the microphones so I can make people heard or not heard as I see fit.
[03:05.680 --> 03:07.540]  Okay, we have a bunch of stories today.
[03:07.720 --> 03:09.840]  What did you guys think of the whole tram incident last night?
[03:09.900 --> 03:10.800]  That was kind of fun, wasn't it?
[03:10.920 --> 03:11.540]  It was interesting.
[03:11.720 --> 03:13.640]  Yeah, and for those of you who don't know, we have this thing.
[03:13.680 --> 03:18.020]  I don't know why it's called the tram exactly, because overseas, trams are the things that run on tracks on the street.
[03:18.020 --> 03:24.200]  But here, the tram runs in the air from New York City to Roosevelt Island, from Manhattan Island to Roosevelt Island.
[03:24.240 --> 03:25.700]  What exactly is the definition of tram?
[03:26.260 --> 03:26.920]  I don't know.
[03:26.980 --> 03:27.500]  That's what I'm saying.
[03:27.660 --> 03:29.980]  It seems to be two different things with the same word.
[03:29.980 --> 03:33.540]  But what happened was this tram, basically there's two cars.
[03:34.120 --> 03:37.440]  They don't actually move along the rope, do they?
[03:37.680 --> 03:39.040]  The rope moves them.
[03:39.280 --> 03:39.820]  I think they're fast.
[03:39.900 --> 03:40.380]  Is that how it works?
[03:40.480 --> 03:41.220]  I think that's right, yeah.
[03:41.260 --> 03:44.460]  Because you see the thing on Second Avenue spinning all the time when they're moving.
[03:44.800 --> 03:51.220]  And so what they do is one starts at Roosevelt Island, one starts at Manhattan Island, and they cross, always at the same point, in between.
[03:51.640 --> 03:55.900]  And then they both land at the opposite islands at the same time.
[03:56.140 --> 04:02.780]  So what happened yesterday was that the power somehow was lost, and then the backup generator also failed.
[04:03.180 --> 04:04.880]  And how many times have we seen that happen?
[04:04.960 --> 04:05.580]  It happens quite a bit.
[04:06.340 --> 04:08.060]  We see it happen in phone companies a lot.
[04:08.160 --> 04:13.140]  But the thing that I can't understand is why they couldn't find another way to send power through this thing.
[04:13.140 --> 04:27.680]  And what they had to eventually do was send this really rickety contraption up and have people climb into it, you know, 250 feet above the East River, and then ride that down the rope to Roosevelt Island.
[04:27.680 --> 04:30.200]  And they did the same thing on the Manhattan side.
[04:30.320 --> 04:32.080]  They did it with a crane, I believe.
[04:32.580 --> 04:33.900]  Well, a couple of things.
[04:33.900 --> 04:42.620]  I believe, although I'm not 100% sure, so if I'm totally wrong, don't shoot me, that there are not only cables to propel the thing.
[04:43.140 --> 04:45.320]  Cables to suspend the cars.
[04:45.900 --> 04:58.300]  So in other words, the cars are on a cable with rollers, but those aren't the motive forces, and it's not the car itself that has the motive force to move it along the cable.
[04:58.480 --> 05:07.740]  There is another cable that essentially pulls it that is turned by giant wheels from each end, the Manhattan end and the Roosevelt Island end, technically both of which are in the borough of Manhattan.
[05:07.880 --> 05:09.580]  And I understand that they were trying to do that manually.
[05:09.580 --> 05:12.740]  They got some really strong men together, and they were trying to turn the thing by hand.
[05:12.740 --> 05:14.980]  You can turn elevators manually.
[05:15.200 --> 05:20.060]  They are so balanced that it's just a question of momentum rather than force.
[05:20.080 --> 05:21.800]  In other words, it's a big wheel.
[05:21.800 --> 05:23.240]  It has a lot of inertia.
[05:23.940 --> 05:29.820]  Anybody, any human being, it's difficult to turn because you can only apply so much force.
[05:29.820 --> 05:33.300]  But it's not that you need a lot of energy.
[05:33.300 --> 05:39.280]  It's just that you can turn this, but it's slower because you don't have the power of these giant motors.
[05:39.520 --> 05:47.500]  And so the end result was these people were stuck over the East River and over Manhattan Island, respectively, for I think about 10 or 12 hours.
[05:47.500 --> 05:47.720]  Yeah.
[05:47.960 --> 05:48.320]  Unbelievable.
[05:48.720 --> 05:49.740]  Well, it was kind of strange.
[05:49.800 --> 05:59.040]  And I was going to mention the same thing that you did, which is why couldn't they turn these manually, you know, disconnect them from whatever gear set they're connected to?
[05:59.040 --> 06:04.160]  And it seems like it would be a lot safer to rescue them that way than to send up this...
[06:04.160 --> 06:04.580]  Imagine that.
[06:05.040 --> 06:05.700]  You're on this.
[06:05.760 --> 06:06.980]  It's scary enough to be on this thing.
[06:07.100 --> 06:10.200]  You're 250 feet above the ground or the water or whatever.
[06:10.480 --> 06:18.460]  And then they pop open a window and you have to step outside onto this little metallic object that's suspended from the ropes.
[06:18.940 --> 06:19.280]  All right.
[06:19.400 --> 06:21.460]  And there's an eight foot gap between the two.
[06:21.580 --> 06:24.760]  And somehow you have to make it from one to the other and not look down.
[06:25.380 --> 06:26.220]  And they did that.
[06:26.620 --> 06:28.580]  Something like 70 people did that this morning.
[06:28.720 --> 06:30.500]  How do you go across an eight foot gap?
[06:30.660 --> 06:31.160]  I don't know.
[06:31.280 --> 06:33.140]  And if anybody did it, I'd like to know how you did it.
[06:33.140 --> 06:49.520]  I was watching all night and apparently this gondola contraption that emergency service unit of the police developed is much like a cage that you would lower miners into a shaft on, except that it's on a cable.
[06:49.700 --> 06:52.840]  And one end of it lowered a metal ladder.
[06:53.120 --> 07:02.480]  This metal ladder went in through a window of the tram and they had police standing in the tram.
[07:04.360 --> 07:08.540]  To keep you from falling side to side on this ladder.
[07:08.740 --> 07:11.480]  Because as you step out of the tram and up this ladder, there's...
[07:11.480 --> 07:13.760]  How would they keep you from falling side to side when you're on the ladder?
[07:14.700 --> 07:24.120]  Theorically you could do it, but there's no more than about a four foot distance between the tram itself and this gondola rescue device.
[07:24.120 --> 07:28.980]  And then the other thing was, I said this was a self-powered gondola that was diesel.
[07:29.140 --> 07:30.780]  I'm not sure how exactly that worked.
[07:30.980 --> 07:32.460]  I was looking at that.
[07:32.560 --> 07:34.060]  I couldn't see a motor on it.
[07:34.120 --> 07:36.140]  I was trying to figure out what it was.
[07:36.300 --> 07:39.100]  I thought they were all pedaling or something to get it over there.
[07:39.220 --> 07:39.980]  As close as I can...
[07:39.980 --> 07:40.900]  It moved very slow.
[07:41.100 --> 07:45.360]  It moved approximately one-fifth as fast as the tram does.
[07:45.360 --> 07:53.060]  Apparently it had a diesel motor on it, and it turned the wheels that were holding this thing onto the cable.
[07:53.300 --> 08:00.980]  You have a wheel above the cable, a wheel below the cable, and the cable is squeezed in between, so you have friction to hang you on there and to propel you.
[08:01.160 --> 08:04.200]  So if you turn these, obviously you're going to go along the cable.
[08:04.700 --> 08:05.980]  That made good sense.
[08:05.980 --> 08:07.520]  It seems to be how it works.
[08:07.640 --> 08:16.420]  And if people are listening to us on the net or have internet access, want to see photos of this, I suggest any New York City television station's website.
[08:16.640 --> 08:18.700]  I looked at WNBC.com.
[08:18.800 --> 08:21.080]  They have a series of videos and still photos.
[08:21.260 --> 08:23.140]  That's a site with the raw video, right?
[08:23.360 --> 08:28.040]  It has video, quite a number of videos of that, and it has an awful lot of still photos.
[08:28.140 --> 08:34.640]  What I found interesting was, just monitoring the story on CNN, it wasn't on CNN until very early this morning.
[08:34.680 --> 08:42.360]  And that tells me that CNN.com has nobody manning the desk after a certain time, unless it's a real big international story.
[08:42.700 --> 08:48.420]  But for something like 70 people being stranded all night long above the East River, no, they wait until the morning people show up.
[08:48.560 --> 08:49.980]  I thought that was kind of interesting.
[08:50.480 --> 08:51.680]  This actually happened to me.
[08:52.100 --> 08:53.240]  What, you got stuck on a tram?
[08:53.560 --> 08:55.500]  I got stuck on, well, a cable car.
[08:55.720 --> 09:02.260]  When I was, I think, 11 or 12 years old, I was in Disney World, and I was on this cable car that goes around Disney World.
[09:02.460 --> 09:04.840]  And it was probably only like 100 feet in the air.
[09:04.840 --> 09:06.780]  But the thing jammed.
[09:07.220 --> 09:13.700]  And I was up there with my mother for about three hours in the hot sun.
[09:13.980 --> 09:15.680]  And it was quite the adventure.
[09:15.920 --> 09:35.700]  I finally had the idea to write a note and put a dollar and a dime, which is all that was needed to make a pay phone call back in those days, in a piece of paper with a note saying, and I threw it out the cable car and saying, whoever gets this, please call this person at the hotel,
[09:35.840 --> 09:43.580]  my stepfather, and leave a message saying that we've been stuck up on this cable car for two-plus hours.
[09:43.800 --> 09:45.800]  Wait, you wrote this down, you said?
[09:46.160 --> 09:53.660]  I wrote this down on a piece of paper I had and put a dollar in it and a dime, which was what someone who found it could put into a pay phone.
[09:53.840 --> 09:56.360]  Yeah, but Bernie, were you going to make a paper airplane out of it?
[09:56.400 --> 09:57.520]  How were you going to get this thing?
[09:57.720 --> 10:02.100]  I just, I waved at people and I, and somebody, I caught somebody's eye and I threw it down.
[10:02.100 --> 10:03.620]  What, there were people passing you by?
[10:03.760 --> 10:05.980]  You were stuck in a cable car and people were just passing by?
[10:05.980 --> 10:06.760]  Well, it was not over the East River.
[10:06.940 --> 10:09.380]  I was over, like, you know, Disney World.
[10:09.500 --> 10:13.940]  Well, can't you, couldn't you shout down to them and say, hey, you know, get me down from here or something?
[10:13.940 --> 10:16.600]  No, we were high enough that he couldn't really hear us because the wind was blowing.
[10:16.600 --> 10:20.800]  So I was waving and they, they, I caught their eye and I threw this thing down to them and they got it.
[10:21.040 --> 10:27.240]  So then they made the call and they got the message to, uh, uh, their stepfather was back at the hotel that wasn't going that well that day.
[10:27.320 --> 10:32.900]  So it was, uh, and finally they, uh, they rescued us, uh, by getting, uh, getting the, the manually turning.
[10:33.060 --> 10:36.660]  They had some guy that was manually turning this big crank to get them all back.
[10:36.840 --> 10:37.900]  But it took like three hours.
[10:38.040 --> 10:39.660]  But you weren't the only one stuck, right?
[10:39.700 --> 10:40.600]  There were a whole series of people.
[10:40.800 --> 10:41.060]  No, we were all stuck up there.
[10:41.180 --> 10:42.940]  A bunch of, they were like, all the cars were up there.
[10:42.940 --> 10:50.920]  And when we got off, we finally got off, they handed us all this e-ticket, which is like this magic ticket that lets you ride any ride in Disney World.
[10:51.100 --> 10:52.400]  In case you want a bigger thrill.
[10:54.500 --> 10:55.620]  So that was it.
[10:55.820 --> 10:59.480]  That was my days before rampant lawsuits, and everybody just said, okay, enough.
[10:59.680 --> 11:01.840]  What do you think New York City should give the folks yesterday?
[11:02.060 --> 11:03.200]  Well, I'm sure there's going to be lawsuits.
[11:03.900 --> 11:04.660]  You think there's going to be lawsuits?
[11:04.720 --> 11:08.120]  Everybody was so enamored of the mayor and the police.
[11:08.240 --> 11:12.920]  Everyone was so nice, and the people who were stranded with us, everyone was singing songs and dancing.
[11:12.940 --> 11:15.400]  Which I thought was kind of stupid to be dancing, but never mind.
[11:15.640 --> 11:17.020]  Wait, they were singing songs?
[11:17.480 --> 11:18.460]  It was a party.
[11:18.600 --> 11:21.560]  I bet there was one passenger at least who did not want to hear those songs.
[11:21.580 --> 11:22.340]  Can you imagine that?
[11:22.340 --> 11:24.060]  He was being driven nuts the whole time.
[11:24.280 --> 11:24.400]  Yeah.
[11:25.960 --> 11:34.780]  The funniest thing I heard was some woman who had spent much of the evening on her cell phone to various media outlets in the morning when they finally cleared everything out.
[11:34.880 --> 11:41.620]  The reporter said she just got on a city bus to go home, which means that the city didn't even drive these poor people home.
[11:41.740 --> 11:42.380]  Can you believe that?
[11:43.260 --> 11:49.100]  And reporters wrote out their cell phone numbers on big poster paper and were holding them on the bridge.
[11:49.220 --> 11:54.180]  So if you see video of that, now you have their cell phone numbers, and you can call them and ask them why they ran stupid stories.
[11:54.320 --> 12:03.500]  But it's funny because I was heading into the city at just that time, and this was the second time in a week because I saw a story that was destined to be a rather big one.
[12:03.500 --> 12:12.940]  And on the way out last week, I stopped by to see how Molly the Cat was doing and actually had a conversation with Molly, right behind the wall, right there.
[12:13.320 --> 12:18.780]  And on the way in this week, seeing these people being rescued, or the aftermath of it, actually.
[12:18.780 --> 12:24.520]  I went to the 1st Avenue, 1st and 2nd Avenue, and 60th Street, I believe.
[12:24.760 --> 12:38.260]  So if anyone has taped WNYW Channel 5 this morning in New York, and that person crossing in back of Lisa Evers with the wild hair and the dark baseball cap is our hero Emanuel.
[12:38.260 --> 12:38.920]  I saw her.
[12:39.000 --> 12:40.420]  Actually, I did pass behind somebody.
[12:40.420 --> 12:41.420]  I saw you on television.
[12:41.560 --> 12:43.240]  Yeah, well, it's not the first time, I'll bet.
[12:43.520 --> 12:45.220]  But I passed behind somebody on Channel 5.
[12:45.300 --> 12:48.380]  But I thought I just passed by so quickly that you couldn't possibly know who I was.
[12:48.540 --> 12:49.260]  You're unmistakable.
[12:50.020 --> 12:50.680]  That was the intent.
[12:51.040 --> 12:51.300]  All right.
[12:51.780 --> 12:52.680]  Enough about this.
[12:53.020 --> 12:55.620]  This Sprint story, also, we've been getting a lot of mail about.
[12:56.140 --> 13:01.720]  Bernie, you must have heard about this, the whole parental tab thing where kids wander away.
[13:01.720 --> 13:09.780]  And by having a cell phone now, with GPS features enabled, parents will now know where their kids are.
[13:09.940 --> 13:12.360]  It's called the Sprint Family Locator.
[13:12.360 --> 13:19.780]  It's one of many location-based services that mobile phone operators are introducing to tap even more revenue streams.
[13:20.520 --> 13:23.600]  And it's being touted as a tool for parents.
[13:23.780 --> 13:31.280]  The thing is, though, I see it as a tool for surveillance, for the government, for employers watching their workers and things like that.
[13:31.280 --> 13:33.860]  Bernie, have you heard anything about this as a Sprint customer?
[13:34.860 --> 13:40.460]  They haven't promoted it to me yet with my monthly mailing, which I still insist on getting a paper bill on the mail.
[13:41.080 --> 13:41.980]  Thank you very much.
[13:42.480 --> 13:45.740]  But, no, they haven't promoted it to me yet, but I have read about it on the website.
[13:46.020 --> 13:59.760]  And, you know, it would be simple to just buy a Sprint phone or get another one on your family plan and then just stash it in, you know, in somebody's car that you want to follow around.
[14:00.000 --> 14:05.300]  You know, and the phone battery will probably last for at least a couple of days without making any outgoing calls.
[14:05.400 --> 14:10.260]  Oh, so you're saying get your own phone, not give it to them as a present, which is always a good way to monitor people.
[14:10.600 --> 14:15.940]  Stash it, like, in their backpack or in the back of their car or something, like, throw it in the trunk.
[14:17.060 --> 14:17.700]  That's ingenious.
[14:17.720 --> 14:18.980]  The cops are going to do this all the time.
[14:18.980 --> 14:20.400]  They're going to have little cell phones.
[14:20.460 --> 14:27.320]  In fact, if you're a criminal, you can probably get some free cell phones this way because the cops will stick them on your car someplace and try to follow you that way.
[14:27.420 --> 14:29.540]  And if you find the cell phone, you get to keep the cell phone.
[14:30.280 --> 14:31.520]  And all the free calls, too.
[14:31.520 --> 14:42.340]  I see a problem here because what Verizon did a while ago was require that all phones on their network have the assisted GPS system built in.
[14:42.740 --> 14:51.280]  And so what the upshot of this is if you have an old CDMA phone that you want to register on the Verizon network, they won't let you do it unless it has GPS capability.
[14:51.980 --> 14:53.840]  Mine is eight years old.
[14:54.000 --> 14:54.280]  Right.
[14:54.400 --> 14:56.880]  Well, obviously, there are phones that are grandfathered into this.
[14:56.880 --> 15:04.380]  But, you know, it's a problem because a lot of the phones that I'm sure they're going to be selling are going to be required to have this feature as well.
[15:04.500 --> 15:08.060]  Or if they're not, I'm sure it'll be something sometime in the future this way.
[15:08.240 --> 15:12.340]  If any of their customers ever wanted to activate the feature, they would be able to do so.
[15:12.820 --> 15:16.680]  This is not a Sprint requirement so much as it's a federal government requirement.
[15:16.680 --> 15:19.020]  It's part of the E911 plan.
[15:19.640 --> 15:19.960]  Right.
[15:19.960 --> 15:28.860]  Which is requiring all wireless carriers to provide location information for all of their subscribers to the government, ostensibly for 911 calls.
[15:28.860 --> 15:31.480]  But it's not really limited to 911 callers.
[15:31.580 --> 15:32.860]  And that's what concerns me.
[15:33.020 --> 15:33.440]  Yeah, absolutely.
[15:33.680 --> 15:39.560]  But with GSM phones, you still have the option of getting your own phone without the eGPS feature.
[15:39.880 --> 15:44.920]  And so that's always still an option for providers where all you need is a SIM card to use their service.
[15:45.700 --> 15:50.460]  Whereas Sprint and Verizon and a couple of others have proprietary systems where...
[15:50.460 --> 15:53.300]  Are you saying there's no E911 requirement for GSM?
[15:53.500 --> 15:54.600]  Well, you could get your own phone.
[15:54.660 --> 15:56.220]  It doesn't matter if there's a requirement or not.
[15:56.340 --> 15:56.620]  That's true.
[15:56.660 --> 16:02.580]  But if you buy a phone, say, from T-Mobile or from Singular or something like that, are they going to sell you a phone that has the same capabilities?
[16:02.720 --> 16:03.260]  Oh, I believe so.
[16:03.400 --> 16:03.520]  Yeah.
[16:03.840 --> 16:03.960]  Yeah.
[16:04.180 --> 16:04.360]  Okay.
[16:04.560 --> 16:05.780]  But they've had this for a while.
[16:06.580 --> 16:09.620]  I mean, there's very little new that I'm understanding.
[16:09.640 --> 16:14.780]  Except for the fact that they're marketing it to parents now instead of just saying that's going to be used for emergencies now.
[16:14.780 --> 16:22.020]  Yeah, but AT&T, which is now Singular, tried to sell me once this thing where I could locate my friends or something.
[16:22.700 --> 16:23.820]  Without them knowing?
[16:23.980 --> 16:24.340]  No, no, no.
[16:24.420 --> 16:27.680]  With my, you know, my friends could tell me where they are and I could tell my friends.
[16:27.740 --> 16:28.080]  I don't know.
[16:28.120 --> 16:30.940]  I never wanted it, but it was a while ago.
[16:31.500 --> 16:40.520]  Sprint has gone to great lengths to say, and I quote from their spokesman, it's not like big brother or big mother where the child is unaware of being located.
[16:40.520 --> 16:46.600]  The child gets a text message that says the parent's phone number has located this handset.
[16:46.920 --> 16:54.100]  The thing that was always touted with the handsets, though, in the past is that the GPS feature is not activated unless you're making an emergency call.
[16:54.180 --> 16:57.640]  And that was one of the big things when people were worried about this initially.
[16:57.640 --> 17:02.720]  And this is just a new sort of way to make people comfortable with remote activation of this feature.
[17:02.720 --> 17:04.460]  In some of the menus, you can turn it on.
[17:04.860 --> 17:08.980]  It's E911 only or for all calls, so it's possible to turn it on.
[17:09.300 --> 17:12.360]  Is there some way to disable this feature in phones?
[17:12.360 --> 17:19.580]  I would imagine that this kind of GPS functionality would be easy to disable.
[17:19.880 --> 17:23.860]  It's not enough to disable the GPS, even if it's possible.
[17:23.860 --> 17:34.280]  I mean, look at the little John St. Guillen murder case where he was determined to be where the body was found by his proximity to cell towers.
[17:34.440 --> 17:38.600]  He never used his phone, apparently, in that area, but they tracked it there.
[17:38.680 --> 17:39.920]  It's constantly pinging your phone.
[17:40.040 --> 17:40.260]  Right.
[17:40.400 --> 17:44.080]  There's always the possibility of triangulation with the cell phone towers themselves.
[17:44.080 --> 17:49.660]  However, you can open up your phone and disable the GPS receiver chipset if you have access to it.
[17:49.660 --> 17:55.860]  You know, as far as most people are concerned, what this is heading towards is basically they're going to know where you are.
[17:56.040 --> 18:05.740]  If you have a cell phone that's on, unless you're intelligent and you figure out ways to shield the signal from being detected and all that, that's something we're going to get used to.
[18:05.880 --> 18:09.480]  That's something we're going to get used to, just having our locations known when we're walking around.
[18:09.820 --> 18:12.020]  And just like caller ID, we're used to that now.
[18:12.140 --> 18:14.200]  When that was introduced, it was a big deal.
[18:14.520 --> 18:15.520]  Nobody cares about it anymore.
[18:16.560 --> 18:23.220]  Having your bag searched when you go into schools 20 years ago, that would have been, you know, no way would have accepted that.
[18:23.340 --> 18:24.760]  Now it's drug test.
[18:24.940 --> 18:28.160]  Every time you apply for a job, we get used to these things.
[18:28.180 --> 18:32.540]  And I think in another 20 years, we'll be used to always being tracked when we walk around.
[18:33.380 --> 18:34.080]  Sad to say.
[18:35.020 --> 18:35.360]  Okay.
[18:35.500 --> 18:37.640]  One other story here that I think is kind of interesting.
[18:38.060 --> 18:49.000]  A man who said he bought a device that allowed him to change stoplights from red to green received a $50 ticket for suspicion of interfering with a traffic signal.
[18:49.320 --> 18:50.560]  Where's the suspicion here?
[18:50.580 --> 18:51.140]  I don't get it.
[18:52.520 --> 18:54.920]  He has what is known as a Chromebox, I believe.
[18:55.180 --> 18:58.580]  This is what he was using, where you flash, I think, infrared.
[18:59.080 --> 19:00.620]  Sometimes just visible light will do it.
[19:00.800 --> 19:07.440]  And that actually makes it seem as if you're an ambulance and the traffic light says, hey, I got to let the ambulance through.
[19:07.700 --> 19:09.080]  Here's a red light for the rest of you people.
[19:09.220 --> 19:10.680]  And here's a green light for the ambulance.
[19:11.740 --> 19:19.060]  Jason Nickham of Longmont, Colorado, said the device, which he bought on eBay for a hundred bucks, helped him cut his time driving to work.
[19:19.480 --> 19:22.120]  And of course, everybody else had to pay for that time.
[19:22.680 --> 19:25.620]  I guess in the two years I had it, that thing paid for itself.
[19:27.160 --> 19:29.820]  This guy, he's really unbelievable.
[19:29.980 --> 19:30.920]  He only got fined $50.
[19:31.460 --> 19:32.120]  Can you believe that, Bernie?
[19:32.860 --> 19:41.560]  I'm surprised he wasn't charged with bracing a catastrophe or causing all kinds of other possible problems or some violation of the Patriot Act, for that matter.
[19:41.680 --> 19:47.900]  And it's amazing to me that this is a big story, too, because this must be happening all the time, but they're treating it like it's something that's never happened before.
[19:48.060 --> 19:51.380]  He used a strobe-like device to change the traffic signals.
[19:51.680 --> 19:54.420]  Sometimes people can do this by flashing their brights, believe it or not.
[19:54.520 --> 19:56.760]  Some unsophisticated traffic signals actually will do that.
[19:57.220 --> 19:58.780]  But he said, I'm always running late.
[19:59.500 --> 20:01.600]  The device is called an Opticon.
[20:01.600 --> 20:04.840]  It's similar to what firefighters use to change lights when they respond to emergencies.
[20:04.840 --> 20:09.500]  It emits an infrared pulse that receivers on the traffic lights pick up.
[20:09.980 --> 20:22.140]  He was cited after city traffic engineers, who noticed repeated traffic light disruptions at certain intersections, spotted a white Ford pickup passing by whenever the patterns were disrupted.
[20:22.800 --> 20:30.360]  City traffic engineer Joe Olson said engineers plan to update the city's Opticon system this year to block unauthorized light-changing signals.
[20:30.360 --> 20:32.180]  I'm not quite sure how they're going to do that.
[20:32.340 --> 20:34.340]  Now, you know what the Bernie S defense to this is?
[20:34.480 --> 20:40.920]  He was making a transmission in the infrared spectrum, a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, which is not licensed.
[20:41.280 --> 20:42.240]  Which is shared, yes.
[20:42.280 --> 20:46.020]  It's a shared frequency for the amateur radio service.
[20:46.100 --> 20:46.380]  Oh, boy.
[20:46.380 --> 20:47.180]  You'll never win.
[20:47.460 --> 20:48.400]  You'll never win.
[20:49.060 --> 20:56.620]  As a federally licensed amateur radio operator, I'm allowed to send Morse code or CW signals above, you know, 30 gigahertz or whatever it is.
[20:56.620 --> 20:57.540]  300 gigahertz, I think.
[20:57.800 --> 20:58.580]  300 gigahertz, thank you.
[20:58.740 --> 21:01.560]  Which, infrared certainly is about 300 gigahertz.
[21:03.040 --> 21:06.200]  But I guess I'm sure all judges would agree with that defense.
[21:06.600 --> 21:06.760]  Yeah.
[21:08.000 --> 21:09.600]  I've yet to actually see one of these things work.
[21:09.680 --> 21:13.600]  I've seen them work on ambulances, but I haven't actually held one in my hand and changed the traffic light.
[21:13.720 --> 21:15.440]  I've done other things, but not that.
[21:15.580 --> 21:20.720]  And we did other things a couple of weeks ago, but we won't talk about that anymore, as I understand the investigation is proceeding.
[21:21.460 --> 21:22.580]  Okay, here are some letters.
[21:22.860 --> 21:25.520]  And of course, you can write to us, OTH at 2600.com.
[21:25.640 --> 21:26.280]  We'd love to hear from you.
[21:27.080 --> 21:32.020]  Emergency mode on a cell phone occurs on phones that have GPS receivers in them.
[21:32.380 --> 21:38.320]  These phones kick in an emergency mode when you call 911 in order to override the user-configured GPS settings.
[21:38.600 --> 21:44.700]  For example, the GPS phones usually have the ability to switch off the GPS so that your coordinates don't get transmitted over the network.
[21:44.800 --> 21:52.240]  When you dial 911, your phone enters emergency mode and turns the GPS back on so that the E911 center can know where you are.
[21:52.740 --> 22:00.840]  In answer to our question about what 73 meant a couple of weeks ago, 73 is from a list that Western Union used to use called the 92 list.
[22:00.960 --> 22:02.500]  This is for all you ham radio people.
[22:03.180 --> 22:05.360]  So 73 comes from the 92 list.
[22:05.400 --> 22:05.800]  Exactly.
[22:06.000 --> 22:06.980]  Now you understand it.
[22:07.140 --> 22:08.780]  Which, you're halfway to being a ham, Mike.
[22:09.320 --> 22:12.640]  Which contained 92 commonly used phrases and signals.
[22:12.780 --> 22:16.520]  73 was a generic sign-off from one telegraph operator to another.
[22:17.080 --> 22:20.660]  You see, a lot of people wrote in to tell us this, but nobody told us why.
[22:20.940 --> 22:22.680]  That has no real meaning, I guess.
[22:22.800 --> 22:24.080]  Just a random number.
[22:24.780 --> 22:27.320]  Two other items from the 92 list are still in use.
[22:27.400 --> 22:28.780]  The one has morphed.
[22:29.060 --> 22:34.000]  The one that has not changed is 88, which may be translated as either...
[22:34.520 --> 22:35.440]  I've never heard this.
[22:35.460 --> 22:35.660]  Really?
[22:35.820 --> 22:36.560]  Bernie, do you know?
[22:37.260 --> 22:41.420]  That's typically used by CB radio operators, meaning like hugs.
[22:41.420 --> 22:42.480]  Yeah, you're right.
[22:42.600 --> 22:44.800]  Hugs and kisses or all my love.
[22:44.980 --> 22:46.920]  It's something you don't want to hear from a CB operator.
[22:48.000 --> 22:53.800]  Well, anyway, it's used in modern context, mostly between hams who are family or prospective family.
[22:54.360 --> 22:59.840]  The other surviving item from the 92 list is 37, which you want to tell us what that one is?
[23:00.040 --> 23:00.400]  No?
[23:00.660 --> 23:00.960]  Bernie?
[23:01.380 --> 23:02.220]  I have no idea.
[23:02.380 --> 23:06.220]  It indicates an end of a message, but here we go.
[23:06.220 --> 23:16.980]  The change from one dialect of Morse code to another, and the laziness of some operators have combined to morph this into the sound of the letters SK being transmitted with no space between them.
[23:17.360 --> 23:18.760]  SK is end of transmission.
[23:19.080 --> 23:19.200]  Yeah.
[23:19.820 --> 23:29.260]  In fact, that's still used today by many people who use TDDs, Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf, or TTYs.
[23:29.400 --> 23:46.320]  In fact, if you find any pay phone that has one of these keyboard signs on it indicating there's a TDD, pick up the phone, call 800-855-1155, and the keyboard will magically slide out by this motorized drive, and then you can type back and forth with an AT&T operator,
[23:46.480 --> 23:50.480]  and you will notice when she stops typing at the end of her line, she types SK.
[23:50.800 --> 23:51.180]  That's right.
[23:51.280 --> 23:51.880]  Meaning, go ahead.
[23:52.040 --> 23:52.880]  You use SK all the time.
[23:52.960 --> 23:54.620]  Why doesn't she just type GA for go ahead?
[23:55.220 --> 23:56.020]  That's good afternoon.
[23:56.160 --> 23:56.360]  No, no.
[23:56.440 --> 23:57.100]  SK is...
[23:57.100 --> 23:57.700]  You're right.
[23:57.800 --> 24:03.640]  GA means go ahead, but with the end of the whole thing, like the end of her final transmission, she'll type SK.
[24:03.900 --> 24:04.140]  Okay.
[24:04.140 --> 24:07.000]  And sometimes they type SK several times, like SK, SK, SK.
[24:07.280 --> 24:08.600]  Like, get out of here and stop bothering her.
[24:08.600 --> 24:09.460]  Yeah, yeah, go away.
[24:10.400 --> 24:12.200]  Okay, well, thanks for sending that in.
[24:12.300 --> 24:14.120]  I'd like to see the full list of all 92.
[24:14.320 --> 24:15.940]  I imagine that would be quite a lot of fun.
[24:16.760 --> 24:17.900]  Dialects of Morse code.
[24:18.040 --> 24:20.140]  There's not enough that we have one Morse code to deal with.
[24:20.200 --> 24:21.420]  Now there are dialects of it?
[24:21.420 --> 24:22.940]  Ah, there are two Morse codes.
[24:23.120 --> 24:25.400]  There's American Morse code and there's International Morse code.
[24:25.400 --> 24:27.360]  Oh, do we have to be differing with this as well?
[24:27.360 --> 24:27.780]  Nobody uses Morse code.
[24:27.780 --> 24:29.860]  We were different from this in the 1860s.
[24:29.920 --> 24:31.740]  Dits and Doss, how complicated can it get?
[24:32.300 --> 24:33.880]  Nobody uses American Morse code.
[24:33.880 --> 24:34.400]  What's the...
[24:34.400 --> 24:36.600]  Show me one difference between American Morse code and...
[24:36.600 --> 24:36.960]  I don't know what the difference is.
[24:36.980 --> 24:38.540]  I used to know when I was very, very young.
[24:38.600 --> 24:39.600]  Bernie, do you know anything about this?
[24:40.140 --> 24:41.400]  There's some subtle differences.
[24:41.700 --> 24:42.280]  Subtle differences.
[24:42.520 --> 24:43.880]  Everybody uses International Morse code.
[24:44.000 --> 24:44.160]  Yeah.
[24:44.760 --> 24:46.680]  I've never heard American Morse code on the internet at all.
[24:46.680 --> 24:48.080]  American Morse code has an American accent.
[24:48.240 --> 24:52.740]  I've suddenly developed a desire to learn American Morse code just so I can be difficult.
[24:53.480 --> 24:56.380]  And I'll even speak like, you know, some of these real geeks do.
[24:56.560 --> 24:58.800]  Like, da-da-da-da-da-da, and whatever they say to each other.
[24:59.060 --> 25:00.200]  Da-da-da-da-da.
[25:00.380 --> 25:03.660]  Yeah, and I'll do that at a ham fest, and nobody will know what I'm saying.
[25:03.760 --> 25:04.540]  They'll just think I'm stupid.
[25:05.520 --> 25:07.040]  Which I guess I don't need the Morse code to do.
[25:07.480 --> 25:07.980]  All right.
[25:08.580 --> 25:09.340]  Here's another letter.
[25:09.460 --> 25:13.240]  In Ontario, star 677 is also known as star OPP.
[25:14.460 --> 25:15.600]  That doesn't even make sense.
[25:15.740 --> 25:18.780]  Operator is only spelled with one P, so I don't know what OPP means.
[25:19.220 --> 25:20.220]  Connects their caller to...
[25:20.220 --> 25:22.060]  Oh, the Ontario Provincial Police.
[25:22.060 --> 25:22.640]  I'm sorry.
[25:23.340 --> 25:24.800]  Should read a little further ahead.
[25:25.720 --> 25:32.960]  Equivalent to the state patrol or state troopers in many states, the OPP has jurisdiction on all provisional highways, provincial highways, that is.
[25:33.340 --> 25:34.740]  Those are the 400 series.
[25:35.040 --> 25:39.600]  And also in provincial parks, as well as guarding the premier and the provincial legislature.
[25:40.000 --> 25:44.040]  The number puts you right in touch with the dispatcher in the radio room at OPP headquarters.
[25:44.440 --> 25:50.060]  I've called it a few times to report hitchhikers walking down the shoulder on the highway in the middle of the city and to report people racing.
[25:50.560 --> 25:51.260]  Signed, Noah.
[25:51.540 --> 25:52.240]  Oh, please.
[25:52.940 --> 25:53.820]  Reporting hitchhikers.
[25:53.860 --> 25:54.900]  What do you think about that?
[25:55.120 --> 25:56.840]  Are they really bothering this guy, hitchhikers?
[25:56.900 --> 26:00.740]  You know, about 12 or 13 years ago, there was a rap tune on the radio.
[26:02.100 --> 26:03.600]  I heard about that incident.
[26:04.040 --> 26:05.320]  I'm down with OPP.
[26:05.880 --> 26:06.560]  Oh, really?
[26:06.560 --> 26:07.740]  Yeah, I'm down with OPP.
[26:07.840 --> 26:10.640]  And there are people who have been wearing t-shirts and hats that said, I'm down with OPP.
[26:10.800 --> 26:14.120]  And that meant other people's property, whatever that was supposed to mean.
[26:14.260 --> 26:17.860]  You know, last time I went over to Holland, they thanked me for flying with NWA.
[26:17.880 --> 26:19.840]  And I was, like, turning around saying, where are they?
[26:20.140 --> 26:22.300]  And, of course, it was Northwest Airlines.
[26:22.300 --> 26:23.760]  I didn't realize that.
[26:24.640 --> 26:26.500]  Okay, let's move on to a couple of the letters here.
[26:26.580 --> 26:27.920]  Oh, by the way, thanks for writing in.
[26:27.980 --> 26:35.280]  Despite the fact that you're reporting innocent people just for sticking out their thumbs, he did provide some useful information with the Star 677.
[26:35.960 --> 26:38.780]  Thank you for providing a high audio quality version of your show.
[26:38.880 --> 26:42.580]  I never realized how much I was missing by streaming the low fidelity version.
[26:42.840 --> 26:44.960]  Just the intro theme song sounds better.
[26:45.120 --> 26:47.820]  I was able to hear little things that you miss in the low fidelity version.
[26:47.940 --> 26:48.560]  Keep up the good work.
[26:48.660 --> 26:49.280]  Signed, Jason.
[26:49.820 --> 26:50.840]  Jason, thank you very much.
[26:50.840 --> 26:54.620]  It's our pleasure to provide you with a higher quality stream.
[26:55.280 --> 26:57.980]  And, of course, just a little technical note here.
[26:58.320 --> 27:05.640]  The versions that we put out on DVD, which we put out at the end of the year, actually are twice as fidelic.
[27:05.800 --> 27:07.540]  I don't know what the right way to describe it is.
[27:07.840 --> 27:08.500]  Twice the bit rate.
[27:08.620 --> 27:10.340]  Yeah, instead of being 64, they're 128.
[27:10.740 --> 27:12.860]  So some people can even tell the difference between those.
[27:13.180 --> 27:17.620]  I'm one of those people, actually, because we played something at 64 a few weeks ago and I noticed it.
[27:19.240 --> 27:21.920]  About a year ago, I signed up for Singular's family plan.
[27:21.940 --> 27:29.780]  I put my mom, who lives in Texas, my friend, who lives in Minnesota, and my brother, sister-in-law, and myself, who live in Nebraska, all on the same plan.
[27:29.780 --> 27:35.500]  And about a month ago, we received a call from Singular saying that they would be canceling our service at no charge to us.
[27:35.960 --> 27:37.520]  We soon received a letter...
[27:37.520 --> 27:38.240]  Well, that's sweet.
[27:38.380 --> 27:45.480]  ...stating that we have cost the company over $12,000 due to the fact that over 90% of our calls were off-network and that we have violated our contract.
[27:45.880 --> 27:58.340]  We called them stating that we would like a copy of my signature on the terms and services that we violated, and they responded with our terms and services contract changes and you signed a paper stating that you will follow how any future change is made.
[27:58.600 --> 28:01.640]  We just thought you'd like to know what the future holds for contracts.
[28:01.920 --> 28:02.420]  Signed, Jazz.
[28:03.040 --> 28:04.120]  That's really crazy.
[28:04.280 --> 28:04.760]  It is crazy.
[28:05.160 --> 28:06.240]  It's pretty standard, though.
[28:06.620 --> 28:07.120]  Not acceptable.
[28:07.420 --> 28:09.540]  But at least it costs them $12,000.
[28:10.780 --> 28:12.340]  I doubt that is a very inflated figure.
[28:12.340 --> 28:13.560]  It costs like $900 trillion.
[28:13.560 --> 28:15.660]  Yeah, not trillions.
[28:16.320 --> 28:25.580]  This other writer writes in to say, the wireless company I work for will allow someone out of their contract if the person dies, which is very nice of them, but no proof of death is required.
[28:25.660 --> 28:35.120]  So if you call in and say that you are related to you and can verify some info from the account, just say you died, you can cancel for no charge.
[28:35.360 --> 28:37.000]  I hope that clears some stuff up.
[28:37.780 --> 28:38.400]  Signed, Brandon.
[28:38.620 --> 28:39.460]  They died using their cell phone while driving.
[28:39.680 --> 28:40.420]  I'm sorry, what?
[28:40.420 --> 28:43.440]  You could say they died using their cell phone while driving.
[28:44.320 --> 28:46.380]  Yeah, or maybe they got a heart attack when they got the bill.
[28:46.540 --> 28:47.820]  And what company was that?
[28:47.900 --> 28:48.360]  Was it given?
[28:48.500 --> 28:49.020]  That was Singular.
[28:49.180 --> 28:49.300]  Ah.
[28:49.760 --> 28:50.520]  Oh, was that Singular?
[28:50.680 --> 28:51.380]  No, wait a minute.
[28:51.680 --> 28:52.520]  I didn't hear the company.
[28:52.520 --> 28:53.500]  No, that was the previous letter.
[28:53.800 --> 28:57.000]  This person, he works for a very large wireless provider.
[28:58.020 --> 28:58.380]  Experiment.
[28:59.000 --> 28:59.880]  So you're going to have to figure it out from there.
[29:00.500 --> 29:02.700]  So if you're dying, that's not good enough.
[29:02.880 --> 29:04.160]  But if you have died...
[29:04.160 --> 29:10.260]  Well, unless you do what Serif did and get hysterical and eventually, after 25 minutes or so, I'll get to you.
[29:10.260 --> 29:13.240]  But he didn't try and say, actually, I'm dead.
[29:13.520 --> 29:14.060]  Well, no.
[29:14.120 --> 29:16.400]  If he had tried that, it might have worked.
[29:16.480 --> 29:18.160]  He knows when he's gone too far.
[29:19.740 --> 29:20.180]  Okay.
[29:20.500 --> 29:21.220]  More letters.
[29:22.100 --> 29:28.760]  The other night, I went to the Delancey Bar on Delancey Street in the Lower East Side, which is a hipster night spot of moderate popularity.
[29:29.220 --> 29:32.200]  They had a doorman checking IDs, which is not unusual.
[29:32.200 --> 29:44.880]  But what was odd was that my girlfriend's foreign ID was glanced at and okayed, but my ID, a New York State non-driver's license, was scanned into a small makeshift-looking barcode scanner attached to a Palm Pilot.
[29:45.040 --> 29:51.120]  I asked the guy if he was signing me up to a mailing list without my permission, but he said it was to validate whether my ID was genuine or not.
[29:51.320 --> 29:56.080]  Now, I'm 42 years old and hardly look under 21 and therefore don't have much use for a fake ID.
[29:56.380 --> 29:59.940]  And I don't look suspicious, being a rock and roll type in a rock and roll club.
[30:00.200 --> 30:01.600]  So why do I get scanned?
[30:01.600 --> 30:07.000]  And the big question is, do they have the authority to check me against a supposed New York State driver license database?
[30:07.700 --> 30:09.840]  And what is done with my scanned info?
[30:09.840 --> 30:10.660]  Is this common?
[30:10.660 --> 30:13.640]  Because I've never seen a device like this in an East Village bar before.
[30:13.880 --> 30:30.240]  I should also point out the only similar occasion I've had before was at a trendy ex-biker bar, now a themed tourist bar called Hogs and Hifers in the Meatpacking District, where they were taking everyone's IDs and placing them under a video camera, which I assume photographs them in case the information is needed at a later time,
[30:30.240 --> 30:32.720]  which seems quite intrusive, but a little bit understandable.
[30:32.720 --> 30:35.860]  Perhaps they need to prove to authorities a record of IDs presented.
[30:36.060 --> 30:39.940]  But these two places are the only two I've encountered in 12 years living in New York City.
[30:40.100 --> 30:40.880]  Is this an issue?
[30:41.020 --> 30:44.840]  Or am I just inexperienced with bar security in New York?
[30:44.940 --> 30:46.120]  Signed, Bob from Brooklyn.
[30:46.360 --> 30:51.400]  Well, first about Hogs and Hifers, that reeks of Nazi Germany and show us your papers.
[30:51.820 --> 31:09.720]  But the other thing, about five years ago, some bar owner developed a method to read the barcode on the back of New York State IDs and verify whether they were legit and the information they're in to at least the age.
[31:10.140 --> 31:12.660]  So that's not all that new.
[31:12.820 --> 31:16.560]  I think it was just before they passed all those laws banning reverse engineering.
[31:16.740 --> 31:19.280]  And before they realized how easy it is to counterfeit a barcode.
[31:19.740 --> 31:20.500]  Yeah, right.
[31:21.060 --> 31:22.280]  Like a photocopier?
[31:23.500 --> 31:24.700]  Yeah, yeah, it works.
[31:25.820 --> 31:26.680]  Here's another letter.
[31:26.720 --> 31:28.100]  I listened to your show online.
[31:28.100 --> 31:28.880]  I think it's great.
[31:28.880 --> 31:32.120]  I found your discussion of the use of GPS for tracking vehicles interesting.
[31:32.440 --> 31:40.820]  In regards to your speculation about making GPS tracking standard on personal vehicles, I think that it will not require the government's interaction to make this a reality.
[31:40.820 --> 31:50.140]  I think that, with good reason, insurance companies will either require or give discounts to people who have GPS installed in their vehicle so they can recover your vehicle in case of theft.
[31:50.260 --> 32:02.900]  This will result in tons of people voluntarily agreeing to be tracked at all times because of the $15 to $20 break they will get on their insurance every month which will let them download more ringtones for their cell phones.
[32:03.600 --> 32:11.140]  And though people's natural greed, through people's natural greed that is, the government will have the ability to later subpoena the information from the insurance companies.
[32:11.260 --> 32:22.980]  Once again, unfortunately, it will be people themselves that give away a little bit of their freedom to save a few trivial dollars until being tracked at all times becomes a normal thing and no one will even think twice about it after a while.
[32:23.060 --> 32:24.020]  Sort of what I was saying before.
[32:24.380 --> 32:25.500]  We get used to these things.
[32:26.640 --> 32:28.220]  Yeah, I disagree with that.
[32:28.280 --> 32:28.940]  I think that's what's going to happen.
[32:28.960 --> 32:30.400]  I have one word for that writer.
[32:30.880 --> 32:31.200]  Lojack.
[32:33.100 --> 32:33.840]  It's kind of crappy.
[32:34.080 --> 32:34.240]  Yeah?
[32:34.440 --> 32:34.840]  What about it?
[32:34.960 --> 32:39.940]  Well, the point is it's a GPS anti-theft system or theft recovery system.
[32:39.960 --> 32:41.100]  Are you agreeing with him or disagreeing with him?
[32:41.220 --> 32:42.100]  No, I pretty much agree with him.
[32:42.260 --> 32:43.140]  Lojack isn't GPS.
[32:43.400 --> 32:47.240]  It's triangulation using four antennas on top of popo cars.
[32:47.380 --> 32:49.260]  Why is it called triangulation if there's four?
[32:49.700 --> 32:51.020]  Okay, well, it's...
[32:51.540 --> 32:51.980]  Quadrangulation.
[32:52.080 --> 32:52.940]  Quadrang, yeah, something.
[32:53.440 --> 33:05.320]  Okay, I heard a report a couple weeks ago that Britain has installed RFID tags on the car license plates and roadside detectors along the toll roads which detect the passage of the car's RFID tag and bills the owner for the toll on the road.
[33:05.740 --> 33:09.940]  This stuff always seems to be tested in Britain and then spreads to the USA, signed Jim.
[33:10.160 --> 33:10.960]  Unfortunately, you seem to be right.
[33:10.960 --> 33:14.720]  It's the same stuff as EasyPass just without the sort of legacy toll plazasas.
[33:14.720 --> 33:15.680]  You know what we must do?
[33:16.000 --> 33:30.940]  We must go to Britain, find one of those RFID tags, clone it, and then go our merry way into Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland and have that car quickly go past highway markers several hundred miles away.
[33:31.040 --> 33:31.860]  We'll get to work on that.
[33:31.880 --> 33:34.920]  But here's another letter from England as well on a similar subject.
[33:35.220 --> 33:40.940]  I heard you guys talking about what here in the UK is called ANPR, Automatic Number Plate Recognition.
[33:41.140 --> 33:43.160]  I just wanted to share a story about it with you.
[33:43.260 --> 33:51.680]  A week after I wrote and emailed off a piece to your magazine about ANPR, I was driving my car to a VIC testing center.
[33:51.840 --> 33:58.240]  A VIC test is a vehicle identity check and that's a check which must take place after a car has been deemed of the road.
[33:58.680 --> 34:08.240]  You have to do this in order to get the log book, that is the ownership papers, and which in turn you later need to get road tax or to pay road tax, I guess.
[34:08.640 --> 34:19.920]  I was driving along to the testing center when I passed a police car which was illegally parked on a grass bank along the main road when I realized I had just driven into an ANPR trap.
[34:21.180 --> 34:24.620]  Considering the car had no road tax, I was going to be in deep trouble.
[34:24.820 --> 34:32.080]  I was waved over to the side of the road by a police officer further down the road and he asked me to get out of the car and asked if I knew I had no road tax.
[34:32.520 --> 34:34.280]  I said, yes, officer, I know that.
[34:34.280 --> 34:41.260]  He seemed stunned that I hadn't tried to BS my way out of it and had a smile on his face when he told me he was going to crush my car.
[34:42.560 --> 34:43.900]  Yeah, this is the crazy part.
[34:44.040 --> 34:45.840]  He actually said, I'm going to crush your car.
[34:46.380 --> 34:47.800]  Robocop, I guess, he met or something.
[34:48.700 --> 34:56.520]  No, he's not the Hulk, of course, but there was a tow truck ready to tow my car away and have it crushed which is the standard punishment for being caught without road tax.
[34:57.440 --> 34:58.340]  I kid you not.
[34:58.420 --> 34:59.520]  Now, I don't know if this is true.
[34:59.620 --> 35:01.580]  This is what this contributor has written in to us.
[35:01.660 --> 35:02.160]  I think that's great.
[35:02.700 --> 35:03.700]  We should do that here.
[35:03.920 --> 35:04.360]  Sorry, what?
[35:04.440 --> 35:05.260]  We should do that here.
[35:05.480 --> 35:07.880]  We crush cars that violate rules.
[35:08.000 --> 35:08.580]  On the spot?
[35:08.780 --> 35:10.340]  Well, you know, pretty quickly.
[35:11.160 --> 35:12.200]  I managed to persuade him...
[35:12.200 --> 35:15.020]  There's been an appeals process, you know, to make sure they actually got the right guy.
[35:15.160 --> 35:18.860]  I'm not trying to eliminate justice, but I think it's a good punishment.
[35:18.960 --> 35:20.440]  Is it done in front of the guy, like right there?
[35:20.460 --> 35:21.000]  I don't know.
[35:21.060 --> 35:22.760]  I don't know if they do this, period.
[35:22.960 --> 35:31.540]  But I managed to persuade him that I had to go for a Vic test before I could get road tax and that's where I was going right now and after some time talking on his police radio to someone, he decided to let me go.
[35:33.260 --> 35:45.720]  I find it rather annoying that the first time out in my first car after passing my driving test, I was pulled over by a system that I had written about so I was rather glad I could get one over on them by having probably the only valid excuse for not having road tax that they ever heard of.
[35:46.160 --> 35:46.920]  Signed, Zen.
[35:47.500 --> 35:52.900]  I want to get a recording of an English cop with, you know, with the accent and everything saying I'm going to crush your car.
[35:53.280 --> 35:58.380]  Well, give me an iRiver, put me in a car and I'm sure that exchange will take place very quickly.
[35:58.800 --> 36:05.560]  What I don't understand is this must happen all the time that people are getting their Vicks and their log books and road tax so there was like a fourth step, right?
[36:06.160 --> 36:08.460]  Well, the car crushing is the step that I'm concerned about.
[36:08.460 --> 36:09.560]  I'm interested in the car crushing.
[36:09.780 --> 36:10.740]  Perfectly good car and they're crushing the car.
[36:10.820 --> 36:12.600]  Why don't they just give the car to somebody at least?
[36:13.160 --> 36:14.320]  Fewer cars is better.
[36:15.120 --> 36:17.180]  They're just going to buy another car and make another car.
[36:18.080 --> 36:19.700]  And we're talking about highways here.
[36:21.200 --> 36:25.640]  But haven't the police seen this before where someone's got to get all these steps done?
[36:26.820 --> 36:27.460]  I don't know.
[36:27.560 --> 36:27.760]  I don't know.
[36:27.820 --> 36:30.680]  Maybe it's something that this guy was never experienced with.
[36:32.520 --> 36:33.660]  Anyway, moving on.
[36:33.860 --> 36:37.780]  Off the Hook in 2600 should market a passport holder with RFID blocking technology.
[36:37.780 --> 36:42.340]  The guys on the IRC channel believe that they would make great gifts for the next WBAI fundraiser.
[36:42.460 --> 36:47.080]  They would be even better if they had the 2600 seal present on the t-shirts and hoodies.
[36:47.540 --> 36:48.360]  Thanks for the show.
[36:48.460 --> 36:50.060]  And the zine signed Daniel, a.k.a.
[36:50.140 --> 36:50.540]  Sam Stone.
[36:50.720 --> 36:51.600]  Wait, when they say a.k.a.
[36:51.620 --> 36:53.780]  Am I not supposed to read the part before the a.k.a.?
[36:53.780 --> 36:55.080]  If so, I'm sorry, Daniel.
[36:55.320 --> 36:57.100]  We'll just call you Sam Stone from now on.
[36:57.980 --> 36:58.780]  Here's another letter.
[36:58.920 --> 37:02.780]  Passports by their very nature are portable and meant to be carried in pockets.
[37:03.400 --> 37:07.700]  RFID chips are so notoriously fragile they would never stand up to serious travel
[37:21.180 --> 37:24.720]  and mass transit systems have the ability to destroy passport RFID chips.
[37:25.100 --> 37:36.120]  Also, the duct tape wallet for which you can find designs all over has spawned a new version, the RFID blocking duct tape wallet using, you guessed it, tinfoil sheets signed Peter from Frederick.
[37:36.680 --> 37:38.580]  I'm not sure what Frederick is or who Frederick is.
[37:38.800 --> 37:39.160]  Maryland.
[37:39.640 --> 37:40.060]  Oh, okay.
[37:40.460 --> 37:42.100]  Well, maybe there's another one too.
[37:42.700 --> 37:45.980]  No, there's Frederick, Maryland and it's a very good ham fest down there, reader.
[37:46.200 --> 37:53.440]  It could also be an alter ego of Frederick and this is Peter speaking Father's Day ham fest in Frederick, Maryland.
[37:53.580 --> 37:53.980]  You gotta go.
[37:54.200 --> 37:56.400]  No, maybe Frederick is the father is what I meant.
[37:56.880 --> 37:57.980]  Oh, you mean Peter...
[37:57.980 --> 37:58.540]  Peter from Frederick.
[37:58.920 --> 38:00.400]  That's a rather odd way of speaking.
[38:00.560 --> 38:01.080]  It's very biblical.
[38:01.540 --> 38:01.940]  That's...
[38:03.260 --> 38:05.800]  Okay, well, let's not mock our listeners' names anymore.
[38:05.800 --> 38:06.700]  Let's continue on.
[38:06.820 --> 38:09.740]  I have attempted to call into the show for seven weeks straight.
[38:10.160 --> 38:12.860]  I always get about five rings and then it hangs up on me.
[38:12.980 --> 38:13.880]  It's never busy.
[38:14.060 --> 38:17.420]  I never get an operator or someone at the station just a few rings and a disconnect.
[38:17.780 --> 38:20.300]  You always ask for people with pertinent information to phone in.
[38:21.180 --> 38:23.320]  I never actually had an opportunity to contribute my thoughts.
[38:23.480 --> 38:25.580]  I've supported you in the past and will continue to pledge.
[38:25.760 --> 38:28.180]  However, it would just be nice to have a voice sometimes.
[38:28.540 --> 38:30.300]  You said that with such rage on your face.
[38:30.400 --> 38:31.340]  I'm reading it the way it's written.
[38:31.760 --> 38:33.380]  I do not mean for this to be hate mail.
[38:33.880 --> 38:37.340]  So to speak, it's just seemingly more difficult these days to be heard.
[38:37.900 --> 38:41.880]  Is there another number perhaps one may call as to have a better chance of being connected?
[38:42.080 --> 38:44.280]  Please, guys, I understand how busy you must be.
[38:44.500 --> 38:46.440]  Please, just try for more phone time.
[38:46.640 --> 38:49.620]  I love the show and as always, you have my support.
[38:49.920 --> 38:52.160]  Signed, wow, this guy gave four names.
[38:52.460 --> 38:53.500]  I'll just say Stephen III.
[38:53.880 --> 38:54.680]  I don't want to give his full name.
[38:54.760 --> 38:56.360]  He's from Cleveland, Ohio in all caps.
[38:56.940 --> 39:04.280]  Well, Stephen, you know, the problem is that the way you call us, you're using a phone company that is very impatient and wants to make money very quickly.
[39:04.540 --> 39:08.860]  And when it hears five or seven, how many, five rings, it says, you know what?
[39:08.900 --> 39:09.680]  They're not going to answer.
[39:09.920 --> 39:13.140]  We're going to disconnect this call and maybe you'll call somebody who will answer.
[39:13.400 --> 39:19.700]  Used to be in the old days, phones would ring forever until somebody picked up and you didn't have to pay for anything.
[39:19.700 --> 39:20.840]  These days, it's different.
[39:20.900 --> 39:24.420]  They have the technology to cut you off quicker and they do it because they want to make money.
[39:24.520 --> 39:30.120]  If you're local, I think if you're in New York City, you can still call us and it'll ring forever, I think.
[39:30.200 --> 39:30.840]  I'm not sure about that.
[39:30.840 --> 39:31.220]  It won't?
[39:31.460 --> 39:40.960]  A few years back, I called in from home a number of times when I wasn't able to make it in and I had to call back because after five or seven rings...
[39:40.960 --> 39:42.540]  Oh, it's not five or seven rings locally.
[39:42.540 --> 39:43.480]  I swear to you.
[39:44.460 --> 39:49.600]  Well, you may have sworn to me, but I can pick up this phone right now and call us and I'll bet it's going to...
[39:49.600 --> 39:50.500]  Don't do it from that phone.
[39:50.600 --> 39:51.160]  Do it from a different phone.
[39:51.160 --> 39:51.740]  What's wrong with this phone?
[39:51.860 --> 39:56.200]  I believe that it's so in-house that it would recognize that fact.
[39:56.340 --> 39:57.220]  But I don't even have to dial nine.
[39:57.340 --> 39:57.720]  I'm getting an outside line.
[39:57.720 --> 39:58.500]  And I'm also...
[39:58.500 --> 39:59.700]  You're dialing from a cell phone.
[39:59.760 --> 40:00.880]  I see people from a cell phone.
[40:01.020 --> 40:02.180]  I don't trust cell phones either.
[40:02.600 --> 40:03.200]  Okay, you know what?
[40:03.240 --> 40:04.620]  Pick that phone's in-house too.
[40:04.780 --> 40:05.760]  Go out into the street.
[40:05.840 --> 40:06.500]  Go to a pay phone.
[40:06.600 --> 40:06.900]  Oh, no.
[40:06.920 --> 40:07.460]  I'm not going anywhere.
[40:08.860 --> 40:09.420]  Almost worked.
[40:10.200 --> 40:14.120]  Oh, anyway, the point is it's your company that's doing this.
[40:14.640 --> 40:19.720]  We could stick somebody in the other room and pick up phone calls and put everybody on hold and know who's calling.
[40:20.080 --> 40:20.620]  I mean, that's...
[40:20.620 --> 40:22.240]  We have the capability of doing that.
[40:22.360 --> 40:28.480]  It's just we've never done that and it's not something I think our listeners really want to do because it just...
[40:28.480 --> 40:30.300]  You know, call screening can be evil.
[40:30.440 --> 40:32.260]  But maybe it's good for some people.
[40:32.580 --> 40:32.960]  Write in.
[40:33.020 --> 40:35.380]  Let us know what you think if you're having that problem.
[40:35.580 --> 40:40.120]  I know when we get the same people calling all the time on many lines, it's unfair to the rest of you.
[40:40.260 --> 40:42.500]  So maybe we should do something like that.
[40:42.600 --> 40:43.660]  But we'd like to hear from our listeners.
[40:44.180 --> 40:45.640]  OTH at 2600.com.
[40:45.900 --> 40:46.640]  Let us know.
[40:47.460 --> 40:48.080]  Hey, guys.
[40:48.140 --> 40:48.560]  Love the show.
[40:48.560 --> 40:49.660]  I've been listening for a long time.
[40:49.820 --> 40:51.660]  I just tried out that spoof card thing.
[40:51.700 --> 40:52.820]  That's what we featured last week.
[40:53.460 --> 40:54.100]  It's great.
[40:54.260 --> 40:56.740]  You can also spoof into a user's voicemail.
[40:56.840 --> 40:57.800]  You probably know about this.
[40:57.900 --> 40:59.020]  But I have T-Mobile.
[40:59.120 --> 41:03.020]  I was calling a friend who also has T-Mobile and no password set for voicemail.
[41:03.380 --> 41:08.020]  I put in his number for both the target and caller ID and I got directly into his voicemail.
[41:08.120 --> 41:10.260]  Listening to messages on his phone, full control.
[41:10.640 --> 41:13.500]  I don't know if this is just because his phone may have been off at the time.
[41:13.760 --> 41:15.120]  I'll have to experiment some more.
[41:15.360 --> 41:17.100]  Looking forward to hope number six.
[41:17.680 --> 41:19.260]  T-Mobile signed Yased.
[41:19.500 --> 41:21.920]  I hope I pronounced that somewhat similar to what it means.
[41:23.040 --> 41:25.060]  Yes, I think T-Mobile, that still works.
[41:25.060 --> 41:32.000]  If you use the phone number that you're calling as the number it's calling from, it's going to assume that you're that person calling into your voicemail.
[41:32.320 --> 41:34.340]  And if you don't have the password set, you'll get right in.
[41:34.500 --> 41:35.800]  Sprint no longer works.
[41:35.900 --> 41:39.860]  And I think it marks it as all fives, the number calling in.
[41:39.960 --> 41:42.700]  So they install something, but some companies still do that.
[41:42.700 --> 41:52.820]  I actually did this to myself unintentionally some time ago where I was testing a service to make calls where you could set the caller ID and I was calling myself as a test.
[41:53.180 --> 41:55.800]  And instead of my phone ringing, I got my voicemail.
[41:56.260 --> 41:57.840]  But it did prompt me for a password.
[41:57.920 --> 42:00.640]  But you got your voice, you got a voicemail announcement or you were in your voicemail?
[42:00.640 --> 42:04.340]  I got, you know, please enter your password to hear your messages.
[42:04.360 --> 42:05.420]  This guy got right in, though.
[42:05.440 --> 42:11.260]  Well, I think if I had the option set to eliminate the password, I would have just skipped that.
[42:11.680 --> 42:13.000]  Right, and a lot of people do have that.
[42:13.140 --> 42:17.220]  And it's kind of this problem that's been going on for a while and now it's becoming more easy to...
[42:17.220 --> 42:18.320]  It's the problem of stupidity.
[42:18.780 --> 42:27.720]  Well, I had T-Mobile and I had a password set on my voicemail and I think T-Mobile changed its voicemail system and it got rid of my password without letting me know.
[42:27.980 --> 42:34.240]  They switched their system and gave my mailbox to somebody else when I was away and they were getting my message and I was getting theirs.
[42:34.480 --> 42:35.420]  It's kind of bizarre.
[42:36.580 --> 42:37.540]  Okay, continuing here.
[42:37.660 --> 42:45.900]  One of Holland's biggest energy companies, Enico, unintentionally launched an address to bank account converter service.
[42:46.840 --> 42:54.140]  When you call the computer, you can give it a postal code and house number and it'll give you the bank account number this customer is registered with.
[42:54.500 --> 43:04.440]  Apart from that, you'll be able to raise their monthly payment up to a couple of thousand euros if you like because everyone has authorized Enico to subtract any money without needing to go to the bank every month.
[43:04.540 --> 43:08.660]  You can really piss off people by letting them empty their bank account in an instant.
[43:08.920 --> 43:17.600]  I'm not sure how it works in the U.S., but here in Holland, you pay your energy supplier an estimated monthly fee and at the end of the year, they'll calculate the real usage and send you a correction bill.
[43:18.480 --> 43:25.560]  A Dutch television show called Casa pointed out this flaw by calling the computer and retrieving the Dutch prime minister's bank account number.
[43:25.880 --> 43:30.260]  As an official response, Enico told the program that they turn the computer off.
[43:31.160 --> 43:35.760]  Instead, the call center will now process the request.
[43:35.920 --> 43:41.640]  This, of course, makes no difference because the call center will still authorize you based upon the postal code and house number.
[43:42.260 --> 43:48.740]  Of course, this will only work with Enico customers, but because about 80% of the households use them, it'll almost always work.
[43:48.840 --> 43:53.980]  It really bothers me that big organizations like this don't test out their procedures for these kinds of flaws.
[43:54.160 --> 43:58.800]  They said that they'd rather have a little more customer convenience than a little more information security.
[43:58.920 --> 44:02.840]  Of course, that's because most people are ignorant and say, everybody may know my account number.
[44:02.900 --> 44:05.920]  I have nothing to hide without knowing the implications.
[44:06.640 --> 44:07.700]  Signed, Kajuria.
[44:07.980 --> 44:09.800]  Man, what a system that is.
[44:09.920 --> 44:17.020]  But the thing is, you'll get this response consistently from many people and I've talked to people about this stuff and they say, you know, who's going to mess with my stuff?
[44:17.160 --> 44:20.660]  You know, I'd rather have the convenience of just being able to pay the thing and whatever.
[44:20.920 --> 44:22.740]  but you don't have to give up security to do that.
[44:22.860 --> 44:28.880]  I mean, it's just a stupid system putting in your postal code and your house number as a means of proving your identity.
[44:29.140 --> 44:37.520]  No, but over the phone it's a little bit more difficult to prove who you are and if you only have to enter a couple of DTMF digits instead of, you know, a whole long string of them, it's easier.
[44:38.780 --> 44:44.680]  Well, you know, they should at least have the option for people to enter a lot more information or no information at all.
[44:44.860 --> 44:46.400]  That way, they have only themselves to blame.
[44:46.520 --> 44:51.220]  But it seems like the whole country of Holland is being held hostage to this stupid policy.
[44:52.180 --> 44:55.680]  Okay, this announcement, you mentioned us on Off the Hook last year so please mention us again.
[44:56.580 --> 45:02.840]  Carolina Con 2006 will be taking place June 9th and 10th and I imagine that's in Carolina.
[45:03.160 --> 45:11.620]  You can find out more information by going to carolinacon.org that's C-A-R-O-L-I-N-A C-O-N dot O-R-G signed Nick Fury.
[45:12.360 --> 45:13.500]  We should go to that, guys.
[45:13.560 --> 45:14.400]  We should go to North Carolina.
[45:14.880 --> 45:17.720]  Get tobacco really cheap and be chased South Carolina.
[45:17.900 --> 45:18.700]  Be chased by the cops?
[45:18.880 --> 45:19.700]  It could be South Carolina.
[45:19.700 --> 45:20.000]  You're right.
[45:20.100 --> 45:20.520]  We don't know.
[45:21.080 --> 45:22.540]  I'm pretty sure it's North Carolina now.
[45:23.600 --> 45:26.280]  But yeah, you know, see some new places.
[45:27.440 --> 45:29.020]  And here's another angry letter.
[45:29.280 --> 45:29.640]  Hello.
[45:30.060 --> 45:37.060]  I have donated $100 on two different years this year and two years ago to your Off the Hook program and neither time did I ever receive my promised promotional items.
[45:37.540 --> 45:40.220]  I was supposed to get a TV be gone and an Off the Hook T-shirt.
[45:40.340 --> 45:41.920]  The volunteer promised me it would be no problem.
[45:42.440 --> 45:45.620]  If I cannot get these things, I would like my pledge to be refunded onto my credit card.
[45:45.620 --> 45:47.340]  Please respond or I will be phoning you.
[45:47.460 --> 45:49.200]  Signed, Steve from Oregon.
[45:49.460 --> 45:51.660]  And Steve, yes, you're certainly right to be angry here.
[45:52.160 --> 45:59.860]  If you ever have a problem getting something from us, us meaning the people at 2600, please email OTH at 2600.com.
[45:59.980 --> 46:11.040]  90% of the time, the problem is getting the names from the radio station and I'm as angry as you are when we don't get those names because then we don't know who pledged and we can't send things to them.
[46:11.200 --> 46:11.880]  That's the problem.
[46:13.540 --> 46:18.960]  We have everybody's name from the last pledge drive and we've been sending out the TV Begons this week.
[46:19.080 --> 46:22.820]  So if you did pledge for those and you paid your pledge, you really should be getting those.
[46:22.900 --> 46:25.800]  And if not, please email us OTH at 2600.com.
[46:25.960 --> 46:26.840]  We'll ask you a few questions.
[46:26.840 --> 46:28.600]  We'll figure out just what went wrong.
[46:28.760 --> 46:33.180]  If there are problems in previous fundraisers, let us know that as well because we do strive to please.
[46:33.300 --> 46:36.000]  But sometimes a bureaucracy here just gets to be a little bit much.
[46:36.800 --> 46:41.160]  Sometimes also it can take a little while but people do get their pledges.
[46:42.020 --> 46:43.100]  It shouldn't take years.
[46:43.340 --> 46:44.420]  Yeah, it shouldn't take years.
[46:44.600 --> 46:46.720]  But it sometimes takes, you know, more than a week or two.
[46:48.120 --> 46:48.660]  That's true.
[46:50.100 --> 46:51.620]  Okay, and one more letter here.
[46:51.980 --> 47:02.560]  Just whilst you're on the subject of music in last night's Off the Wall, is there any chance you can tell us who came out with a song from the end of last week's Off the Hook?
[47:02.780 --> 47:04.500]  The one called Machines, Machines.
[47:04.660 --> 47:07.420]  Well, yeah, actually that was one of my favorites.
[47:07.580 --> 47:08.780]  Lothar and the Hand People.
[47:09.060 --> 47:10.100]  Good luck finding that.
[47:10.240 --> 47:14.940]  Lothar and the Hand People with a song entitled Machines from the 60s, I think.
[47:15.140 --> 47:15.840]  And very popular.
[47:16.020 --> 47:17.080]  We've played that a number of times.
[47:18.920 --> 47:19.360]  Okay.
[47:19.940 --> 47:21.520]  Does anybody have any other stories?
[47:21.780 --> 47:23.780]  I'm trying to find a story that I dropped on the floor.
[47:23.960 --> 47:25.120]  I just have one loose end.
[47:25.280 --> 47:31.480]  A few weeks ago we talked about taping phone calls and whether you needed the permission of both parties.
[47:32.180 --> 47:37.360]  We're not lawyers and we're not giving legal advice but we think we have a list.
[47:37.620 --> 47:43.260]  There are 12 states that ban recording of phone calls without the consent of all parties to a conversation.
[47:43.560 --> 47:55.220]  They are, as far as we know, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington State.
[47:55.460 --> 48:04.340]  If you're in any of the other 38 states, you can record without telling the other person on the other end of the line that you are doing so.
[48:05.060 --> 48:08.480]  If you get in trouble for that, well, don't blame us.
[48:08.580 --> 48:11.700]  But that's what we think the law tells you.
[48:11.860 --> 48:13.860]  I found a story that I dropped on the floor.
[48:13.980 --> 48:15.060]  It fell into the console.
[48:15.760 --> 48:16.200]  Wow.
[48:16.200 --> 48:17.080]  I had to take my...
[48:17.080 --> 48:18.380]  I never saw anything fall in there before.
[48:18.380 --> 48:21.740]  The first useful thing the 8-track machine has done in a while.
[48:21.760 --> 48:22.900]  Oh, is this the story I gave you?
[48:23.320 --> 48:25.520]  Yes, I'm going to read this and then we're going to try it.
[48:25.560 --> 48:27.000]  Then we're going to take some phone calls in just a little bit.
[48:28.020 --> 48:32.640]  This actually comes from the Metropolitan Diary, which is a feature of the New York Times.
[48:32.900 --> 48:35.940]  And this person wrote in to talk about an adventure they had on the phone.
[48:36.040 --> 48:38.120]  Well, not really an adventure, I guess, but just something that happened to them.
[48:38.840 --> 48:45.760]  Dear Diary, here's what happened when I dialed 800-555-1212, which is, of course, toll-free information.
[48:47.180 --> 48:48.020]  They heard this.
[48:48.020 --> 48:50.420]  Toll-Free Directory Assistance powered by Tell Me.
[48:50.640 --> 48:52.820]  Please say the name of the listing you want.
[48:53.000 --> 48:54.620]  And this person said, Verizon.
[48:56.200 --> 48:58.580]  And the answer was, here are three matching listings.
[48:58.760 --> 49:00.240]  For Verizon Residential, press 1.
[49:00.380 --> 49:02.720]  For Verizon Wireless Customer Service, press 2.
[49:02.860 --> 49:04.520]  For Verizon Sales, press 3.
[49:04.900 --> 49:05.960]  I pressed number 1.
[49:06.480 --> 49:09.800]  Verizon Residential does not list their number with toll-free directory assistance.
[49:10.060 --> 49:12.060]  Thanks for using toll-free directory assistance.
[49:12.560 --> 49:18.500]  All right, and now we are going to get on the phone and we're going to try to do the exact same thing live, over the air.
[49:26.360 --> 49:29.360]  Toll-free directory assistance powered by Tell Me.
[49:29.880 --> 49:31.640]  Please say the name of the listing you want.
[49:32.120 --> 49:32.640]  Verizon.
[49:34.480 --> 49:36.500]  Here are three matching listings.
[49:36.500 --> 49:39.500]  For Verizon Residential, press 1.
[49:39.760 --> 49:43.360]  For Verizon Wireless Customer Service, press 2.
[49:43.660 --> 49:46.740]  For Verizon Wireless Sales, press 3.
[49:48.160 --> 49:52.780]  Verizon Residential does not list their number with toll-free directory assistance.
[49:53.280 --> 49:55.960]  Thanks for using toll-free directory assistance.
[49:55.960 --> 49:58.000]  Wow, word for word.
[49:58.200 --> 50:00.000]  Except number three was actually
[50:04.460 --> 50:05.340]  wireless sales.
[50:05.520 --> 50:06.620]  Boy, that's pretty good.
[50:06.740 --> 50:08.220]  Exactly the way that you said.
[50:08.480 --> 50:10.620]  Do Verizon Residential even have an 800 number?
[50:10.660 --> 50:11.760]  I always call them in 212.
[50:12.360 --> 50:12.960]  They have?
[50:14.160 --> 50:15.140]  They're very hard.
[50:15.280 --> 50:17.940]  For a phone company, they're very hard to get them on the telephone.
[50:17.940 --> 50:19.260]  If you dial an 890 number...
[50:19.260 --> 50:19.800]  Those are free.
[50:20.020 --> 50:20.560]  Yeah, those are free.
[50:20.640 --> 50:21.080]  Those are toll-free.
[50:21.280 --> 50:24.940]  So, I don't know, I think it's 890-1350.
[50:25.220 --> 50:26.580]  Hang on, let me see if I can even get those from here.
[50:30.500 --> 50:32.380]  You may have to dial 1212.
[50:32.620 --> 50:33.320]  Oh, yeah.
[50:37.160 --> 50:41.900]  Please dial 1, then the area code, and the 7-digit number to complete your call.
[50:42.300 --> 50:46.340]  Favor de marcar el 1 después del código de área y el número de 7 dígitos.
[50:46.660 --> 50:47.060]  Wow.
[50:47.700 --> 50:47.980]  Oh.
[50:49.020 --> 50:49.660]  That's amazing.
[50:52.200 --> 50:54.060]  Any other alien languages out there?
[50:54.280 --> 50:54.480]  No?
[50:54.620 --> 50:54.800]  Okay.
[50:54.980 --> 50:55.880]  We're cool, then.
[50:56.500 --> 50:57.800]  Okay, so I dial 1212.
[50:57.920 --> 51:00.180]  It's a waste of time to have to dial the area code all the time.
[51:00.400 --> 51:02.180]  We still don't have to do that in Long Island, you know.
[51:10.200 --> 51:11.620]  Thank you for calling Verizon.
[51:11.860 --> 51:13.120]  Also on the web...
[51:13.120 --> 51:13.460]  Okay.
[51:13.600 --> 51:13.900]  All right.
[51:13.940 --> 51:14.420]  Well, we did it.
[51:15.160 --> 51:19.640]  Of course, I don't know if you can call that from other parts of the country.
[51:20.240 --> 51:20.780]  Who knows?
[51:21.020 --> 51:22.120]  Okay, let's take some phone calls.
[51:22.440 --> 51:24.160]  212-209-2900.
[51:24.380 --> 51:33.940]  And while we're waiting for the phone lines to light up, the address, if you want to write to Off The Hook, email, O-T-H at 2600.com.
[51:35.660 --> 51:46.040]  And we have a postal address as well, and you can write to us at that address, Off The Hook, care of WBAI, 120 Wall Street.
[51:46.260 --> 51:46.920]  10th floor.
[51:47.420 --> 51:48.620]  New York, New York.
[51:48.920 --> 51:51.260]  1-0-0-0-5.
[51:51.580 --> 51:55.560]  And starting next week, I think we'll be able to start adding more lines to that.
[51:55.820 --> 51:56.280]  Excellent.
[51:56.280 --> 51:56.920]  I hope you guys are ready.
[51:57.080 --> 51:58.380]  I think you can handle the responsibility.
[51:59.060 --> 52:00.900]  Because our listeners aren't confused enough.
[52:02.420 --> 52:04.220]  Here's another letter Smart wrote in.
[52:04.360 --> 52:10.220]  On the cover of Volume 19, Number 4, the Prophet Muhammad can be seen on the 2600 cover building with the blinking lights.
[52:10.560 --> 52:11.880]  You're wrong if you think otherwise.
[52:13.600 --> 52:15.260]  Hopefully this email has offended somebody.
[52:15.380 --> 52:15.960]  Signed, Bug Dave.
[52:16.100 --> 52:17.440]  Well, I'm not going to say one way or another.
[52:17.540 --> 52:23.920]  Yes, we did have a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad, but we're not going to tell you where it was or when.
[52:23.920 --> 52:25.760]  And good luck finding it because nobody knows what it looks like.
[52:26.020 --> 52:27.800]  All right, 212-209-2900.
[52:28.240 --> 52:28.800]  Good evening.
[52:28.800 --> 52:29.620]  You're on the air.
[52:31.180 --> 52:31.660]  Go ahead.
[52:31.700 --> 52:32.060]  Speak up.
[52:32.180 --> 52:32.360]  Yes.
[52:33.020 --> 52:33.640]  Yeah, how are you doing?
[52:33.800 --> 52:34.340]  Okay, how are you?
[52:35.220 --> 52:37.800]  I'm calling just to talk last week.
[52:37.920 --> 52:44.240]  You guys were talking about the GPSs and cabs and I just wanted to give my enlightenment because I'm a cab driver and I listen to you guys all the time.
[52:44.460 --> 52:44.840]  Okay, great.
[52:45.140 --> 52:46.120]  Are you driving a cab right now?
[52:46.580 --> 52:47.360]  Yes, I am.
[52:47.520 --> 52:47.820]  All right.
[52:47.940 --> 52:48.700]  And do you have a passenger?
[52:49.640 --> 52:50.440]  No, I don't.
[52:51.060 --> 52:53.400]  Okay, well then drive safely or pull over.
[52:53.560 --> 52:54.840]  But tell us what you know.
[52:55.360 --> 53:06.300]  Well, I'm calling because the TLC that regulates the taxi business in New York, they want to put a GPS because they want to keep track of how fast the guys go.
[53:06.520 --> 53:13.700]  They want to know when they start work, when they finish work and they want to also put an advertisement inside the cab.
[53:13.880 --> 53:24.520]  So this way, depending on the neighborhood that they're in, a certain type of advertisement will be geared directly to the neighborhood that you're in automatically without intervention.
[53:24.720 --> 53:26.800]  Like, lock the doors as we're going through a bad neighborhood.
[53:28.780 --> 53:30.100]  Would they do that, I wonder?
[53:31.240 --> 53:33.180]  Well, that's what I just have to say.
[53:33.280 --> 53:41.460]  And that's why the guys are opposed to it, especially on the tracking where you go, when you stop, how fast you're going or something like that.
[53:41.520 --> 53:45.540]  So that's why the cabs are opposed in here in New York.
[53:46.120 --> 53:47.080]  Okay, well, good luck with that.
[53:47.600 --> 53:48.300]  All right, guys.
[53:48.360 --> 53:48.980]  Keep on listening.
[53:48.980 --> 53:50.120]  Have a very good show.
[53:50.280 --> 53:50.860]  Thanks very much.
[53:50.980 --> 53:51.460]  Thanks for calling.
[53:51.940 --> 53:52.280]  Bye-bye.
[53:52.720 --> 53:54.540]  You'd be amazed how many cabbies listen to us.
[53:55.120 --> 53:56.340]  They're probably listening to us right now.
[53:56.380 --> 54:04.060]  And if you're a passenger of one of the cabbies who's listening to us, give him an extra tip because he's providing you with entertainment and information as well as a safe ride.
[54:04.800 --> 54:05.200]  Okay.
[54:05.440 --> 54:06.280]  Something to think of.
[54:07.160 --> 54:08.280]  Assuming the ride is safe.
[54:08.480 --> 54:10.820]  Well, we assume our listeners know how to drive safely.
[54:10.980 --> 54:12.140]  Yes, let's assume that for now.
[54:12.320 --> 54:12.520]  Okay.
[54:13.740 --> 54:15.320]  Oh, okay, let's take a phone call.
[54:15.560 --> 54:15.880]  Good evening.
[54:16.000 --> 54:16.420]  You're on the air.
[54:17.520 --> 54:18.100]  Go ahead.
[54:18.620 --> 54:20.980]  Hey, I enjoy your show.
[54:21.240 --> 54:21.580]  Thank you.
[54:22.700 --> 54:23.820]  I'm doing it all wrong.
[54:23.960 --> 54:27.720]  I mean, I've got like Verizon, you know, local.
[54:28.480 --> 54:30.620]  And I use working assets long distance.
[54:31.240 --> 54:31.600]  Okay.
[54:31.840 --> 54:33.460]  And then I got a virgin cell phone.
[54:33.860 --> 54:35.040]  Virgin, you know.
[54:35.860 --> 54:37.180]  Well, you sound very diverse.
[54:37.180 --> 54:38.800]  You have all sorts of different things going on.
[54:39.020 --> 54:40.840]  Yeah, and it's really too much money.
[54:40.960 --> 54:41.420]  You know what I mean?
[54:41.560 --> 54:41.820]  Uh-huh.
[54:42.980 --> 54:51.500]  What do you think, you know, I kind of, you know, want to keep the relationship with working assets, you know, because of the progressive thing and all that.
[54:51.580 --> 54:57.800]  But I was thinking of getting maybe a working assets cell phone, though it's really not, it's competitive.
[54:58.020 --> 55:02.420]  Does working assets have a landline program with maybe unlimited?
[55:02.780 --> 55:04.000]  I missed the window on that.
[55:04.080 --> 55:07.520]  They tried it in New York and it wasn't working for them.
[55:07.640 --> 55:09.820]  So those people that got in, I think, keep it.
[55:10.260 --> 55:17.340]  But I think only in like San Francisco that people have like a complete local and long distance plan with working assets.
[55:17.340 --> 55:25.960]  You see, I'd be surprised if working assets doesn't try something like VoiceOver IP, which they could probably provide a pretty decent service for a very low cost.
[55:26.300 --> 55:28.540]  And then you can get everything linked together.
[55:28.680 --> 55:32.640]  You can get your landline, your wireless, your local, your long distance, all in one place.
[55:33.200 --> 55:38.940]  and you'd be paying a decent company who donates to charity and all sorts of interesting causes.
[55:40.580 --> 55:42.080]  Let's hope they do that soon.
[55:42.300 --> 55:43.380]  Thanks for your call.
[55:43.980 --> 55:45.000]  Let's take another one.
[55:45.100 --> 55:45.660]  Let's go up here.
[55:46.100 --> 55:46.720]  Good evening.
[55:46.820 --> 55:47.300]  You're on the air.
[55:48.080 --> 55:49.260]  Oh, I shouldn't have gone up there.
[55:49.300 --> 55:50.200]  Let's go over here then.
[55:50.400 --> 55:50.700]  Good evening.
[55:50.820 --> 55:51.340]  You're on the air.
[55:52.940 --> 55:53.540]  Speak up.
[55:54.040 --> 55:54.360]  Hello?
[55:54.580 --> 55:54.780]  Yes.
[55:54.780 --> 55:55.440]  What's on your mind?
[55:55.440 --> 55:56.140]  Yeah.
[55:56.660 --> 55:58.960]  I got bagged by BAI.
[55:59.180 --> 56:00.820]  There was a mass confusion.
[56:01.040 --> 56:01.760]  You got what?
[56:02.100 --> 56:03.160]  I got bagged.
[56:03.220 --> 56:03.660]  Bagged.
[56:04.040 --> 56:04.440]  Yeah.
[56:04.960 --> 56:09.000]  Because Hugh Hamilton was talking on a promotion about loose change.
[56:09.240 --> 56:10.500]  So I ordered that.
[56:10.920 --> 56:14.580]  And that following Friday, Earl Caldwell came on.
[56:14.820 --> 56:15.660]  Earl Caldwell.
[56:15.940 --> 56:20.500]  And he said, we're sending out loose change second edition.
[56:20.700 --> 56:22.400]  So I thought it was too loose change.
[56:22.960 --> 56:23.760]  You know?
[56:23.960 --> 56:25.340]  I don't know what that even means.
[56:26.240 --> 56:27.420]  Two loose...
[56:27.420 --> 56:30.720]  The CD about the World Trade Center.
[56:31.160 --> 56:32.220]  Loose change.
[56:32.780 --> 56:33.240]  Uh-huh.
[56:33.960 --> 56:34.320]  Okay?
[56:35.040 --> 56:46.400]  So now I received two loose change and I had ordered another CD about what they call Homeland Insecurity.
[56:46.860 --> 56:47.440]  Okay.
[56:47.460 --> 56:48.440]  I still haven't got that.
[56:48.560 --> 56:51.200]  It's been two and a half months now.
[56:51.600 --> 56:59.640]  Well, I'd like to say that's unusual, but all I can say is that the people here mean well and sometimes just get a little overwhelmed.
[57:00.440 --> 57:02.120]  And what you have to do is just keep calling.
[57:02.340 --> 57:10.100]  Keep calling either the premium department or call the radio show where you pledged it or write to the radio show.
[57:10.860 --> 57:12.800]  And, you know, eventually you should get...
[57:12.800 --> 57:16.560]  And if all else fails, by all means, come down and visit during business hours and talk to somebody.
[57:16.700 --> 57:18.000]  That's what it sometimes takes.
[57:18.200 --> 57:19.020]  For the record...
[57:19.020 --> 57:19.520]  Sorry, go ahead.
[57:19.620 --> 57:21.200]  For the record, I got you that DVD.
[57:21.480 --> 57:22.200]  Did you ever watch it?
[57:22.240 --> 57:23.420]  I actually started to watch it.
[57:23.560 --> 57:26.080]  I've been busy doing all kinds of things, but I watched the beginning of it.
[57:26.860 --> 57:29.520]  At first, I was confused because it seemed like it was a different title.
[57:29.600 --> 57:31.420]  It looked like it said for your consideration or something.
[57:31.520 --> 57:32.640]  I thought that was the title of the film.
[57:33.120 --> 57:36.220]  And in fact, it's like introducing very slowly what's going on.
[57:36.380 --> 57:42.820]  The first part I saw, though, it was talking about how Condoleezza Rice was warning people not to fly that day and various other things.
[57:43.140 --> 57:47.400]  And like, okay, that's great, but you know, just point to some evidence that suggests these things.
[57:47.560 --> 57:48.620]  That's what we really need.
[57:48.620 --> 57:50.480]  We need to have the actual evidence.
[57:51.220 --> 57:52.860]  But yeah, it's interesting.
[57:53.020 --> 57:54.060]  It's always interesting to...
[57:54.060 --> 57:55.020]  I'll watch the thing.
[57:55.100 --> 57:56.040]  I'll probably watch it by next week.
[57:56.740 --> 57:57.560]  Oh, you know what?
[57:57.620 --> 57:58.620]  This means our time is up.
[57:59.280 --> 58:01.080]  And our time went really fast this week.
[58:01.640 --> 58:03.520]  So I want to thank everybody for calling in.
[58:03.860 --> 58:10.820]  Please write to us and listen to the next program, listen to the radio station, spread the word, all that kind of thing.
[58:11.520 --> 58:12.500]  Manuel Galsing for Off the Hook.
[58:12.580 --> 58:13.920]  We'll see you next week.
[58:14.100 --> 58:14.520]  Good night.
[58:14.800 --> 58:17.560]  My girl has spoken.
[58:17.740 --> 58:39.420]  my flamengar, my capoeira, o miña, mi niña, my querida, miña valero, o miña malooka, miña la rica, miña callaza, miña parade, we'll see you next week.
[58:39.420 --> 58:46.560]  My ragaz Amand, Oh, my life, my mambeambe, my ladera.
[58:47.580 --> 58:53.960]  Oh, my, my girl, my dear, my Valeria.
[58:55.020 --> 59:01.240]  Oh, my torcida, my flamenga, my cadera.
[59:35.620 --> 59:43.750]  Oh, my maconha, my torcida, my querida, my galera.
[59:45.140 --> 59:52.940]  Oh, my vagabunda, my mambeambe, my belleza, my cadera.
[59:54.280 --> 01:00:00.500]  Oh, my, my niña, my querida, my Valeria.
[01:00:01.820 --> 01:00:07.540]  Oh, my torcida, my flamenga, my cadera.
[01:00:08.790 --> 01:00:16.980]  Oh, my maconha, my torcida, my querida, my galera.
[01:00:18.520 --> 01:00:20.520]  Whoa, the PC.
[01:00:21.720 --> 01:00:24.500]  Off the hook, they always have great music.
[01:00:24.810 --> 01:00:26.060]  I love their music.
[01:00:26.620 --> 01:00:28.830]  They are, these guys are off the hook, I'm telling you.
[01:00:28.900 --> 01:00:30.020]  You should see them here in the studio.
[01:00:30.020 --> 01:00:30.040]  Oh, my God.
[01:00:30.040 --> 01:00:30.080]  Oh, my God.
[01:00:30.080 --> 01:00:30.160]  Oh, my God.
[01:00:30.360 --> 01:00:30.400]  Oh, my God.
[01:00:30.620 --> 01:00:30.730]  Oh, my God.
[01:00:30.730 --> 01:00:30.790]  Oh, my God.