Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2010 August 18
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August 18
[edit]9-1-1 on a cell phone
[edit]What happens when you dial 9-1-1 on a cell phone? Where does the call get routed to? This question refers to the USA. Thanks. (64.252.34.115 (talk) 01:52, 18 August 2010 (UTC))
- It depends on what cell tower is routing the call. See here and it's sometimes routed to the state police instead of a county sheriff or local department according to here. Dismas|(talk) 02:00, 18 August 2010 (UTC)
- A few years ago I called 911 on a cell phone in Canada and they knew my street address. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.91.14.228 (talk) 03:47, 18 August 2010 (UTC)
- Do you consider that to be good or bad? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:52, 18 August 2010 (UTC)
- Why wouldn't they know you're street address? The phone is registered with the phone company, and for the efficacy of 9-1-1, I'm not surprised (and am pleased) that they know this. After all, mobile-only households are rising dramatically. I'm one of those households. This is the same as you phoning from a landline: they know where you are then, too. Aaronite (talk) 04:31, 18 August 2010 (UTC)
- Do you consider that to be good or bad? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:52, 18 August 2010 (UTC)
- A few years ago I called 911 on a cell phone in Canada and they knew my street address. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.91.14.228 (talk) 03:47, 18 August 2010 (UTC)
- Well, the street address to whom the phone is registered may certainly be different than the street address from where the person is actually telephoning 9-1-1 (i.e., the location of the emergency). Right? (64.252.34.115 (talk) 23:11, 18 August 2010 (UTC))
- Certainly the location of the caller at that moment is the most important fact. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 00:05, 19 August 2010 (UTC)
- Well, the street address to whom the phone is registered may certainly be different than the street address from where the person is actually telephoning 9-1-1 (i.e., the location of the emergency). Right? (64.252.34.115 (talk) 23:11, 18 August 2010 (UTC))
- In the US, they use Mobile phone tracking rather than just the street address your phone is registered to (if any - throwaway mobile phones don't have such an address). This was forced on the cell phone networks, who whined that it would cost them a lot of money to implement this system, that it would discourage future investment in the cell phone industry, etc. Comet Tuttle (talk) 04:47, 18 August 2010 (UTC)
- Yes, and as we all know, hardly anyone buys cellphones anymore. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 04:50, 18 August 2010 (UTC)
- In the US, they use Mobile phone tracking rather than just the street address your phone is registered to (if any - throwaway mobile phones don't have such an address). This was forced on the cell phone networks, who whined that it would cost them a lot of money to implement this system, that it would discourage future investment in the cell phone industry, etc. Comet Tuttle (talk) 04:47, 18 August 2010 (UTC)
Marginally related rant et seq hidden |
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The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it. |
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Imperial Valley, CA
[edit]According to the Imperial Valley article:
- Imperial Valley was so named by the Imperial Land Company, in hopes of attracting settlers
According to the Imperial Land Company article:
- The Imperial Land Company was a land colonization company incorporated in California in March, 1900 for the purpose of encouraging settlement of the Imperial Valley.
So I'm curious: Was the valley named after the company, or vice versa? Was "Imperial" chosen on a whim, or does it have some historical significance? The Aztecs, or Maximilian maybe. Rojomoke (talk) 07:58, 18 August 2010 (UTC)
- 1900: "Chaffey [head of the California Development Company] renamed the Salton Sink to which he was bringing the empowering waters of the Colorado. The Sink would henceforth be called the Imperial Valley: imperial as in empire, for the million acres of arable land seized from the desert by irrigation were linked in Chaffey's Anglo-Canadian imagination to the march of empire in Canada and Australia in which he had played a part through his engineering and entrepreneurial skills. Imperial: not a kingdom inherited, but an empire seized from inhospitable nature through engineering and water." Kevin Starr (1991). Material Dreams: Southern California Through the 1920s (see footnotes to Imperial Land Company.) --jpgordon::==( o ) 18:57, 18 August 2010 (UTC)
- The footnoted source, if you open the link, tells a good story, which the article short-changes, as the query above shows. Couldn't a brief report of the gist of Starr's text be edited into the article Imperial Land Company?--Wetman (talk) 19:42, 18 August 2010 (UTC)
- Yes, it could. There is no person in the entire world more qualified to do this than you. --Jayron32 01:52, 19 August 2010 (UTC)