Working in Ottawa today --Why 911 and not 999

Good morning folks,

I will be working in Ottawa today.

The weather today --Looking out the plane's window, it looks overcast.

Question of the week: Why 911

A good question, why not 111, 211, 311, 222, 999 whatever?

The answer of course is no particular reason.

According to the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), in 1967 (Canada's Centennial year -an interesting point but unrelated to this missive) the U.S.. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) met with AT&T to discuss and establish a national emergency number.

It needed to be easy to remember.

It should not start with a 1 since that was the designated toll prefix.

AT&T's preference was that it be an N11 service since they already supported 411 and 611 as special service dial codes.

The digit 9 corresponds to XYZ which combined with the letterless digit 1 spells just about nothing at all, combined with the 'high-pull' nature of the 9 was not readily in use by business minded folks for any premium service and no telco voiced any real objection to the AT&T suggestion other then concerns on who would pay for the implementation and operation.

Have a safe day.

Sent from my BlackBerry handheld

Working in Calgary today --Jim Thorpe

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 6:30 AM

[Working in Calgary this week]

Hi folks,

I will be working in the Calgary 3Web office for the balance of the week.

So.. Instead of the weather, definition of the week.

Octothorpe #

One of the first words I learned at Distributel back in 1990.  It is the name of the number sign on the touch tone keypad introduced by Bell Labs in the '60s.

Bell Labs engineer Don MacPherson coined the word from 'octo' for the eight points and 'Thorpe' for Jim Thorpe.

Jim Torpe, had his Olympic medals --Stockholm 1912 Decathlon Gold, Pentathlon Gold-- stripped when it was revealed that he had played some semi-pro baseball.  After the Olympics Thorpe went on to play pro baseball, football and basketball.

Don MacPherso was active in a campaign to have Thorpe's medals returned, and the campaign was successful in 1982, 30 years after Thorpe's death.

So when you dial a '#' think of Jim Thorpe and Don MacPherson.

Have a good day.

Sent from my BlackBerry handheld

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 8:01 AM

[Working in Ottawa today]

Good morning folks,

I will be working in the Ottawa office today.

Should has light winds, clear skies, around 11 degrees in Ottawa.

Now that Distributel has offices in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Thunder Bay, Calgary and Edmonton I must refrain from providing weather for all cities.  My offer of molecule of the week still stands.

Have a good day and share your toys.

Sent from my BlackBerry handheld

Wednesday, September 9, 2009 7:50 AM

[Working in Montréal today]

Hi Folks,

I will be working in the Montreal office today where I believe that it will be a rather pleasant day.  Clear skies, a bit of haze, with a temp floating around 23.

Sent from my BlackBerry handheld

Tuesday, September 8, 2009 7:55 AM

[Working in Ottawa today]

Good morning everyone,  hope everyone had a nice weekend.

I will be working in Ottawa today.

Sent from my BlackBerry handheld

Thursday, September 3, 2009 6:57 AM

[Working in Ottawa today]

Good morning folks,

I will be in Ottawa today where I expect it to be comfortably cool with clear skies. Should have the same in Montreal and Toronto.  

Calgary may be a write-off, you'll need a lightening rod and will probably be rained on.  Thunder Bay will be somewhat warmer that Ottawa and may experience the pleasures of rain.

Have a good day.

Sent from my BlackBerry handheld

Wednesday, September 2, 2009 6:47 AM

[Working in the Montréal office today]

Good morning all,

I will be working in Montreal today.

I think Autumn is here.  I'll let you know later.

Have a good day.

Sent from my BlackBerry handheld

Tuesday, August 25, 2009 6:59 AM

[Working in the Ottawa office]

Good morning everyone,

I will be working in Ottawa today on the 3rd, 4th and 5th floors.

I didn't get much favourable feedback on dropping the weather in favour of molecule of the day.  Really to bad, thought we could all enjoy the transition from Tryptophan (an amino acid linked to falling asleep on the sofa after Thanksgiving) through the 3 intermediary molecules to Skatole (way stinky white crystal).

So.. In Ottawa scattered clouds about 14 Celsius.

Sent from my BlackBerry handheld

Friday, August 21, 2009 8:16 AM

[Working in the Ottawa offices today]

Good morning everyone,

Contrary to earlier predictions, I will be working in Ottawa today.

I'm thinking of replacing the weather with a new feature, element or molecule of the week, let me know what you think :)

Have a good day and a better weekend.

Ottawa and Montreal should have rain, thunder and lightning --all included for one low price!

Toronto will still have wind left over from yesterday's' thunderstorms and suspected tornados --I think the crime beat reporters were doing the weather last night.

Calgary should be a bit cool, dry, cloudless.

Thunder Bay should be a bit cool, wet, cloudy.

Sent from my BlackBerry handheld