I'm Amy Goodman in New York with Don Rush in Washington for WBAI listener-supported news.
He's been called the stealth nominee to the Supreme Court, a man about whom little is known,
a man who has passed almost invisibly through his legal and judicial career.
He's David Souter, and he may soon be the next member of the United States Supreme Court.
Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Souter's nomination begin Thursday, September 13th,
and you can hear those hearings live, gavel to gavel, on Pacifica Radio.
I'm Larry Benske, and I'll be in Washington with Ambrose Lane of Pacifica Station WPFW to bring you those hearings.
We'll also have commentary and interpretation about Judge Souter's testimony
and about his nomination's implications for the future of such critical legal issues
as reproductive choice, the environment, and civil rights.
So tune in to the confirmation hearings for Judge David Souter live on Pacifica
and on your community radio station starting Thursday, September 13th.
And you are listening to WBAI 99.5 FM, non-commercial radio in New York.
Good evening. It's Emanuel Goldstein and the Fifth Corner.
Tonight we'll be exploring all kinds of technological uses.
and abuses. Stay with us.
String up the homes, string up the speaker.
Hometown high-five, there ain't none sweeter.
String up the homes, bullets flying.
Rooks spin round, tummy's dying.
Right, hear me now, hear them style of regional, see.
See, man, oh, big boards, yeah.
Hey, hey.
Hey.
Chelsea, PMP, tribal war.
Weatherfall, I chant, all of us are.
Gun man, I run, gun man, I hide.
Murder one and item, don't you decide.
Lot, ask you a question, how can it be?
We have some in a weapon on the gun factory.
Killing off your brother, got the money.
No step on my toe, on my territory.
My territory, my territory, my territory.
Looz, Looz, Looz, Looz, Looz, Looz, Looz, Looz.
I'm reaching out, son, I can't just me.
Looz, Looz, Looz, Looz.
Rock is up the tone, I'm getting hot.
Pass us a loop, an environment shot.
String up the horn, string up the speaker.
Speaker, speaker, speaker.
Ah!
Excuse me, that is a dumb video.
Hold down, high five, there ain't no sweeter.
Slark.
Check your weapon, here at the door.
Nobody blood, on the dance floor.
Downing, J.A., crimey, don't pay.
A joint shot today, because it's boring.
Big man shot, white rat's a cat.
He's who doesn't hear than the one's a cat.
Red spin round, bullets flying high.
Hear me now, yeah.
Hear me now.
Birdie!
Birdie!
Tennis on rank control, make your quarry.
This dash bar, I know he's going to be.
One man a run, one man a hike.
It is on us where he's up with that lad.
After a question, how could it be?
You have so many weapons under the factory.
One, another, don't spend money.
We'll stand by my floor, on my territory.
Terri, territory.
Hit me.
Right.
Hit me.
Red gay paliso, hip hop or disco.
The latest Saturday is what we play.
String up the horn, string up the speaker.
Homes down high five, there ain't no sweeter.
Slap.
String up the horn, words are dying.
We'll be right back.
We'll be right back.
This is Emmanuel Goldstein.
With you every two weeks.
But you know, there's rumors.
There's rumors there's going to be changes around here.
Sort of like the Soviet Union, you know, opening up, clearing out, that kind of thing.
We'll just have to see.
We'll be right back.
But for now, we're with you until one o'clock in the morning.
We'll be taking phone calls a little later on, making some phone calls and doing all kinds
doing all kinds of experimentation that certain types of folks just wish we wouldn't do, you know?
Technology is for people like us.
We'll be right back.
We'll be right back.
See you next time.
We'll be right back.
Turn up the speakers.
We've got some stories of technological mishaps, technological adventures, things like that.
We encourage people to send these things in.
Some of these I've gotten off regular computer bulletin boards.
Some of them have been sent in.
Some I've found in newspapers.
But they're all interesting, fascinating, potentially dangerous bits of information.
How about this?
This is from a person who posted something on a computer bulletin board.
Today I called my bank, Bank of the West, nice name for a bank, to transfer some money from one account to another.
Before initiating the transfer, I asked for the balance in the source account.
The amount the teller said was in my account seemed somewhat high, but in the right ballpark.
Since I hadn't balanced my checkbook recently, and since it covered the amount I was about to transfer out, I initiated the transfer, thanked the teller, and hung up.
Immediately after getting off the phone, I balanced my checkbook, and I realized that the amount she had read to me was about $2,000 too high.
Though the correct amount still covered the transfer.
I called back immediately, this time getting a different bank worker.
I told her that the amount I had been given earlier was incorrect.
She said that the bank had just installed new software the previous day, and all account balances were temporarily wrong until, quote,
things sort themselves out, unquote, which would be a day or so.
She said that unfortunately not all the bank's employees were aware of the problem.
Whose side is she on?
Well, this person, uh, wondered what until things sort themselves out means.
Until all transactions recorded in the old system are entered into the new one, perhaps?
Or if so, why didn't they do this before putting the new system online to workers?
Maybe until bugs in the software are fixed?
If so, their testing of the new software was seriously inadequate.
Could happen to your bank, folks.
Keep an eye out.
You know, stories like this, you know, the people who tell the stories always call their bank immediately to tell them.
But, uh, would you do that?
Would you call immediately, or maybe after a day, or maybe after a couple of weeks in a nice sunny place?
Hmm?
This is, uh, taken from an article by Kevin Eson in the London Times, July 9th.
A safety alert has been issued to thousands of mobile telephone engineers after an incident in which a Jaguar car lost all power because of faulty telephone installation.
That's right.
Faulty telephone installation.
Jaguar lost all power.
I love it.
Well, I don't love that, but I love the concept.
The driver escaped safely when all electrical systems, including lights, brakes, and engine, were shut down by a crossed wire.
Jaguar drivers were warned yesterday, or actually this was quite some time ago, a couple of months ago, to use only car phones fitted and checked by company dealers.
The Federation of, uh, communication services has alerted its 350 member companies, which handle mobile communications equipment, that faulty installation could damage vital equipment, especially anti-lock braking systems, known as ABS,
and urges them to check with manufacturer specifications.
The Jaguar driver involved was stranded on a motorway when all power to the car failed.
Checks on the vehicle showed that a telephone engineer had crossed vital wires, which caused a complete systems shutdown.
Most new cars now have complex computer engine management systems, and increasing numbers have electronic controls for suspension, brakes, gearbox, and safety mechanisms.
The new, uh, Mercedes SL convertible sports car, for example, has an automatic pop-up roll bar operated by computer.
Incredible.
Welcome to the 90s, folks.
Ah, yes.
Now let's get into the, uh, into the air.
According to a story in the Los Angeles Times on July 18th, the, uh, General Accounting Office has issued a new report entitled,
Air Traffic Control Inadequate Planning Increases Risk of Computer Failures in Los Angeles.
The GAO says that in planning for a 1995 consolidation of Southern California radar tracking facilities,
FAA officials have refused to consider computer solutions that could solve their computer problems,
because the agency does not want to rewrite or develop software to run on new state-of-the-art hardware
and expend the additional time they believe would be required to undertake such an effort.
Now, uh, what could happen?
Well, the new report criticizes the FAA for ignoring the situation,
saying air traffic controllers may find their radar screens flickering,
showing insufficient data, or blanking out at critical moments.
The Genshinx
No, you were wrong.
Oh, no, you were wrong.
No, you were wrong.
No, you were wrong.
Yes, I know it.
No, you were wrong.
Oh, no, you were wrong.
No, you see, I know it.
No, you were wrong.
Yes, I know it.
You up up, you push up, you love up people know you are wrong.
You up up.
You push up, you love up people know you were wrong.
No, you were wrong.
No, you were wrong.
No, you were wrong.
You know you were wrong.
No, you were wrong.
You know you were wrong, but you're not going to treat me.
Life would be so much easier if people just knew when to admit they were wrong.
But we're dealing with pride here.
When I received my last bank statement, this is from somebody on another computer bulletin board.
Actually, this is from an electronic magazine known as the Risks Digest,
which I wish people could read in the streets, you know?
But you can't. You can only read it if you're computer literate and know ways of accessing it.
When I received my last bank statement, I noticed three transactions in which $900 were withdrawn from my accounts
from a Citibank ATM machine at a downtown New York City branch, which I have never used.
$900 were withdrawn in three transactions.
Now, fact number one, I did not do those transactions.
Fact number two, when they took place, I was at work out of New York City.
Fact number three, I did not lose my bank card or give it to anyone.
Fact number four, I did not write down my password or tell it to anyone.
After I received my statement, I went to my branch and talked to a customer representative.
After a couple of days, I got two letters from Citibank saying that the results of their investigation,
which consists only of looking at the ATM machine records for those specific transactions,
showed that for those transactions, my bank card and my password were used.
Therefore, they could not honor my claim.
Now, my guess is that this is most probably a software problem because last weekend,
I went to the branch where money was withdrawn, and there was a sign on the door saying that
the ATM machines there were out of order.
I also learned that they have been out of order for about a week.
I am going to take legal action against Citibank.
Therefore, I would like to know if anybody is aware of a similar situation or if anyone
has any ideas on how this might have happened.
I would appreciate any information and suggestions that can help me to fight Citibank to recover
my money and to explain how this event might have happened.
And if you have any information that can help out this poor, pathetic soul somewhere,
maybe he's listening.
It would be something.
Or she.
I'm sorry, is this a she?
I can't tell by that name, but if you have any information that can help this poor, desperate
person, or if you are a poor, desperate person like that yourself and you have a similar story
to tell or information to share, this is the place to send it.
Send it to me, Emanuel Goldstein, here at WBAI, 505 8th Avenue, New York, New York, 10018.
And stories like this all over the place.
I mean, it happens to everybody, you know, ATM magic and ATM horror stories.
Boy, you know, if you have any of those horror stories, I'd really like to hear about them because
they're just, well, they're fun to listen to for one thing, obviously, but they're also
educational experiences.
You know, you think you're the only person going through misery and hell and unfair systems,
but you find out there's a whole pack of people out there.
And, um, you can bet the banks don't really want this to get out, you know?
All right, let's go over to Iraq.
Why not?
Everyone else seems to be over there.
Patriotic, I'm sorry, Patriot missiles.
Not Patriotic missiles.
It was a Freudian slip there.
Patriot missiles.
They're completely neutral.
They just follow orders.
Uh, which are to protect critical military sites from attack by Iraqi Scud-B missiles.
What a horrible name for missiles, Scud-B missiles.
Sounds so sleazy.
They've got Patriot missiles.
They've got Scud-B missiles.
I don't know.
Who thinks up these things?
Anyway, uh, let's, uh, stall here anymore.
Uh, to protect, uh, critical military sites from, uh, Scud missiles and attack planes are
controlled by computer equipment housed in air-conditioned vans.
But the heat outside is so intense on each van's metal shell that it raises the temperature
inside.
That's right.
Every now and then there is a glitch that makes the radar scope look blank, said one
missile technician.
He said, in an attack, the computers are supposed to override any radar screen malfunction or
other problem that might hinder a human operator and track the incoming missile on their own.
Um, so if the, uh, A-10 attack plane fights Iraqi tanks, it will depend on cylindrical, uh, pods.
I believe that said pods.
One of the letters, uh, didn't make it onto the paper.
Uh, cylindrical pods under its wings to jam the signals of enemy air defenses.
Uh, but weapons loaders here said the heat renders the jammers useless after about one hour of operation.
And, uh, uh, one hour is probably not enough time for a military operation like that.
Well, now over in France, this is from The Economist of, uh, September 8th.
Uh, French prisons.
French prisoners using smart cards.
Now, we don't even have smart cards yet.
Yet they're already in prisons.
What's a smart card?
Okay.
They're not, uh, they're not very happy with them in, in, uh, Newvik prison.
In fact, barely had the, uh, the first prisoners arrived at France's newest prison, Newvik, in the, uh, Dordogne.
And forgive me if I'm pronouncing that wrong.
Uh, then they started a riot.
Keen though the appetite of French prisoners is for insurrection, their protests did not result from force of habit.
Uh, the inmates of the ultra-modern jail had taken unkindly to exactly the measures designed to make their lives more bearable.
Boy, it sounds like everyday life, doesn't it?
In particular, they objected to being locked up by computers.
Newvik, which opened two months ago and is still filling up, is a technological strongbox containing the best ideas the penal system has so far come up with.
Every prisoner carries a personalized smart card, which must be used to enter or leave any part of the prison.
The cards tell the central computer where all the prisoners are, or at least where the cards are, and, uh, makes the constant vigil of warders unnecessary.
In other words, the prisoners inform the security system.
And it was hoped this might give them a satisfying sense of responsibility, but the signs are not promising.
Inmates liken the jail to a computerized warehouse where they are stored as goods.
For example, if a man is a minute late for breakfast, he can't get out of his cell.
So, the smart card works only to pre-programmed times.
The convicts also complain of prices in the prison shop that are 20% higher than in other jails.
And cynics point out that Newvik is being experimentally run by private enterprises.
How do they know what the prices in other prisons are?
A comparison shop?
I don't know.
And, uh, over in Australia, two scientists are calling for a worldwide ban on the use of computers in sensitive areas,
such as hospital intensive care wards, the nuclear power industry, air traffic control stations, and early warning defense systems.
Computers are inherently flawed and too unreliable for critical tasks.
Say, Tom Foster of Griffith University and Perry Morrison of, uh, the, you know, nowhere is there a better indication of what they're talking about than right in front of me here,
because, um, the, uh, the speech here is completely garbled.
I think it says the University of New England in New South Wales.
Now, to give you an idea of how this piece of paper, which you're now hearing the words from, how that piece of paper came to me,
it was originally typed in by somebody somewhere, I guess this person was in Australia,
and typed in this article from the World Press Review, which somebody else, of course, typed in ages ago.
Um, they sent it to an electronic journal over computer networks that spanned the globe.
That computer journal sent it out over all kinds of other computers all throughout the world.
I called one of those computers using my computer, linking in through a data network of sorts,
downloaded it, or copied it from that computer system to my computer, saved it onto my computer,
everything's fine, everyone's happy, everything is perfect.
But then, computer number one is not linked to a printer, so I said to myself,
okay, I'll just transfer it to computer number two, and that was my mistake,
because as soon as I copied it from one computer to another, something went wrong,
and random characters were deleted.
I still don't know why this is, but, uh, out of just about every word in the stories I've been reading to you,
there is at least one letter missing, so it takes a special kind of a skill
to be able to adjust your habits to that, and figure out what word is supposed to be there.
So, uh, that's, uh, that's what can happen sometimes with computers, you never know.
Anyway, to continue with the story about these Australian scientists,
saying that computers should not be used in, uh, vital situations like reading stories over radios.
In the British academic journal Futures, they write that, uh, computer stems,
obviously that, that should be systems,
computer systems cannot be designed without the threat of life-endangering malfunctions,
because their very complexity makes thorough testing for errors and bugs impossible.
Forrester and Morrison have documented instances of death, destruction, financial loss,
and mayhem caused by computers.
These include patients being given fatal drug doses,
excuse me, I'm losing it here,
fatal drug doses by malfunctioning computers,
22 fatal crashes of the Black Hawk helicopter,
which flies by computer, used by the U.S. Air Force,
and 104 failures in a single day of the Los Angeles Air Traffic Control computer in July 1989.
Of course, these fatal drug doses that the computer gave, uh,
I mean, the computer didn't walk over to the patients and say,
here's some drugs, take them.
Obviously, a human has to be involved there.
And the point that I keep trying to make to people is, you know,
if you believe everything a computer says, you're doomed.
You know, you're, you're in bad shape.
And you're going to take a lot of people with you.
Because every computer, well, the computers don't make mistakes.
Computers just do what people tell them to do.
And people are great at making mistakes.
With computer programs, though, there are so many lines of code.
And there are so many possible errors in those lines of code.
So, obviously, something, some unique situation, some unique circumstance,
is going to happen someday to make a mistake occur.
That's why, you know, use the computer as a tool.
But, uh, don't use it as gospel, you know?
Otherwise, we're going to start bowing to it.
And, you know, what happens when people start bowing?
All kinds of nasty things.
Okay.
Continuing along here.
And, uh, we will be taking phone calls.
I could, I could read these stories all night long.
They just keep pouring in, you know?
There's, there's, there's so many of them.
Stupidity, okay?
Stupidity is probably one of the, uh,
one of the common denominators of the computer industry.
Blind trust.
And then the hackers get in and they blame hackers for everything, you know?
And it's just incompetence.
That's what it all boils down to.
Listen to this one.
This person wrote on the, uh, on a computer bulletin board as well.
I recently discovered a, I'm sorry, I recently received a Discover credit card and, uh, found
that it boasts a 24-hour toll-free hotline.
A colleague informed me that one can call this hotline to retrieve account information
from an automated system.
Uh, she noted that it didn't request any identity verification, just the account number.
I called the number and, when prompted with the voice menu, selected the option that would
allow me to get my account balance.
I was connected with a person, not a computer.
This operator requested such account verification information as my address, social security number,
that kind of thing.
I figured either my colleague must have been mistaken or the Discover folks have changed
their policy.
After requesting some information from the representative, I asked him whether one could
obtain the same data online without talking to a person.
He assured me that all I needed was a touch-tone phone and my account number.
I asked him whether I had to verify my identity in any way.
There is no personal identification code associated with this card, to my knowledge.
And he said, no, you don't have to identify yourself in any way.
I was a little puzzled, since I'd called from a touch-tone phone.
So I called back.
And it turns out that I had made a mistake when I called the first time.
I forgot to end my request with a pound sign.
You know the pound sign, folks.
That little tic-tac-toe board on the bottom right of your phone.
Anyway, the computer assumed I was on a rotary phone when I didn't hit that pound
sign and connected me to an operator.
I called back.
This time I pressed the pound sign, and the system prompted me to enter my account number.
And I did.
And I was immediately informed of my balance, available credit, previous statement balance,
and current statement due date.
My colleague was right.
I didn't have to verify my identity in any way.
I find this odd.
And more than a little irritating.
First, most bank-by-phone systems I have used require a personal identification number
before divulging personal account data.
Second, the human representative required my name, address, account number, and social
security number before he would allow me to solicit information implying that Discover has
a policy of verifying an account holder's identity, but did not apply that policy to their automated
systems.
Why not?
Why is it different if he uses an automated system?
I don't particularly like the idea of someone being able to get that information on me merely
by calling a freely advertised number and punching in my account number.
Any clerk at a store where I use my card can make the call.
Anyone who finds or steals my card can as well.
Discover even makes it easy by printing the number on the back of the card.
It's simply incredible.
And Discover is not the only one.
Now, what I'd like to do, what I'd really like to do here is, um, see if we can find
that number, you know.
Let's, uh, get on the phone here.
Oh, beautiful.
Got a dial tone right away.
You know, in some countries you have to wait a long time for those things.
And let's call...
800-INFORMATION.
I love these folks.
Well, I love them when they don't hang up.
For some reason, our telephone system is doing that.
I shouldn't blame them.
Let's, uh, try that one more time.
Just selectively disengages sometimes.
It did it again.
I don't know what's going on here.
Maybe I'm going to hold the button down.
Hold the button down physically this time until it connects.
Uh, yes.
Hello.
Is this 800-INFORMATION?
Hello?
May I help you?
Yes.
This is 800-INFORMATION, right?
Yes, it is.
Okay.
I need the phone number for Discover, uh, the, uh, people who give out cards.
Thank you.
My pen and paper ready.
The toll-free number is 800-347-2683.
Repeat.
800-347-2683.
Strange number.
2-6-8-3.
If you have further questions, a directory assistance operator will return.
No, I have no further questions at this point.
But I'm just wondering why they picked the crazy number at 347-2683.
It doesn't...
It's so forgettable.
Oh, I get it.
It spells Discover, of course.
Of course, uh, I-S-C-O-V.
There's one too many, but I'm sure it doesn't matter if you dial an extra 7.
Uh, okay.
Let's, uh, let's call that up and see if what this person says is true.
Now, I don't have my Discover card with me.
Otherwise, I would be more than happy to, uh, to, uh, divulge all this information.
Thank you for calling Discover card.
To obtain your current balance, available credit, and payment information, please press 1 now.
Please enter your account number.
Okay, I don't even know what the account numbers begin with.
I think they begin with 7.
So, I'll just guess here.
Please re-enter your account number.
Oh, I don't remember what I hit.
Uh, let's, let's do it with an 8 this time.
Please re-enter your account number.
What are you, some kind of masochist here?
Okay.
Uh, I'll, I'll do a 9 this time.
Happy?
Oh, I got a nice tune.
Can Jeff Scanlon have your account number, please?
Uh-oh.
Uh, human being.
No, no, no.
We don't want a human being.
Okay.
I don't know.
If I had to discover a number, I would, I would do this and I would demonstrate it.
But, um, I do have something else.
Something that you might like even better.
Okay?
Now, this is something, um, very similar.
It's been around even longer.
Uh, Citibank Visa has the exact same thing.
Uh, and I don't believe that, uh, I don't believe they, they ask for any kind of identification either.
I hope not because this is not actually my card and the phone hung up on us again.
Uh, but it's the card of a, of a trusted friend.
A real trusted friend that, uh, that, uh, actually a trusted organization that lent me this card
so I could demonstrate on the air how the system works.
So let's see, in fact, what happens.
This is to be a receiver off the hook.
Please check your main telephone and extension, then try your call again.
Well, I'm trying to make a call.
Oh, for God's sake.
I put the receiver off the hook to make a call.
What is wrong with you people?
Let's try this again.
Okay.
You can deal with a phone company.
You can deal with anything.
Those of you with, uh, touch-tone decoders inside your head can figure out what the number is.
Here we go.
Citibank.
For balance, available credit, or payment information, please press 1.
For representative, press 2 now.
Please enter your credit card account number now.
I'm not that stupid to do it over the air, but, uh, I'll do it off-air, and, uh, enter the account number of my trusted friend.
Trusted friends, I should say.
I wonder if I should hit the pound sign.
Enter your zip code now.
Oh, zip code, okay.
Here we go.
Your balance is $2,387.65.
Your available credit is $8,106.
Of this amount, $3,000 may be used for cash advances.
We received a payment of $500 on September 13th.
No payment is due.
To complete this call, please press 0.
For information on another account, please press 1.
To repeat information on this account, please press 2.
For representative, please press 3 now.
All right, let's press 0, folks.
Goodbye.
Bye.
That's how easy it is.
Uh, all you have to do is find the number.
Don't even ask you for the expiration date.
They just ask you for a zip code.
Zip code is not hard to, uh, to find on a person or an organization.
I happen to, to know the zip code of this organization, because I know where it is.
Um, it wouldn't be hard to, to, to figure it out.
And I don't even know if they, if they check that carefully.
Uh, I'm sure most credit card companies have that kind of a policy, where they just give
out the information without checking.
If you have a touchstone phone.
If you don't have a touchstone phone, they, they check a little bit more carefully.
It's the, it's the silliest thing.
Now, for those of you who, uh, who think that calling, uh, these, um, 800 numbers are, uh,
are a great sport, and you want to just keep trying, uh, trying out 800 numbers, a word
of caution, a word of caution is in order, because, um, there are many 800 numbers out
there right now, that know exactly where you're calling from.
That's right.
Now, what we're going to do here is, uh, pick up a phone once again.
We're going to call an 800 number.
A very special 800 number.
That'll demonstrate something very scary.
Listen.
Interactive A&I demonstration.
This call will give you a sample of our command center's ability to interface with the MCI
long-distance service and receive the number you are dialing from.
This new interactive A&I will eliminate the deficiencies of other A&I services by providing
you with full interactive prompting controlled by the cable operator.
The Access Logic Command Center, ARU, has already received the A&I information on your call.
To show you that we can process this information, we will first play the area code you are calling
from.
The area code is 2-1-2.
Now, we will tell you the local telephone number you are calling from.
The local telephone number is...
2-7-9-3-4-0-7.
Some of the obvious uses include pay-per-view ordering...
Okay.
Well, we know what the obvious uses of that are.
Surveillance is one of the things.
You mentioning that?
Yeah.
Watching what people are doing.
Imagine every 800 number you call.
They know exactly where you're calling from.
And this is nationwide, folks.
I used this when I was in San Francisco.
So, in fact, that's where it was first brought to my attention.
You call an 800 number and they know where you're calling from.
This is a great thing to have, too, for people that need to identify phone numbers.
If you're at one of those sleazeball operations, you know, at pay phones that aren't real pay
phones, having a number like this is very useful.
So, you know, you can use it to your advantage and it can be used against you.
Now, I'm going to demonstrate something that should teach a lesson to a lot of people about
this kind of thing.
Something we weren't able to actually know before and now we know exactly what it means.
You know, you'll see what I'm talking about.
I'm calling the O operator.
Operator.
Yes.
Hello, operator.
Can you hear me?
Is anyone there?
She seems to have hung up.
I don't know why.
Maybe I didn't address her in the proper manner.
Let's try it again.
I don't know what's wrong with this phone system, but I think we're due for a replacement here.
Every third call gets hung up on.
Okay, this is silly.
This is very silly.
You know, I'm going to try it one more time and then I'm going to get mad.
Because this should not be happening.
You know, phones should not hang up when they're connecting.
Let's listen carefully.
Operator?
Yes, hello.
I'm having trouble reaching an 800 number.
I was wondering if you could help me.
Certainly the number, please.
I'm trying to reach 800-666-6258.
One moment, sir.
Thank you very much.
You're welcome.
Thank you.
Interface with the MCI long-distance service and receive the number you are dialing.
Okay, so we got connected to it again.
But listen to what happens.
We can hit a touchtone and skip this nonsense.
To show you that we can process this information, we will first play the area code you are calling
from.
The area code is 2-1-2.
Now, we will tell you the local telephone number you are calling from.
The local telephone number is 5-5-5-5-5-5-5.
Isn't that incredible?
If you go through an operator, the number is not transmitted.
It's transmitted as all fives.
That's a very useful thing to know.
So if you ever want to not be traced when you're calling an 800 number, call the operator
first and say, operator, I'm having trouble reaching an 800 number.
They'll connect you and it'll show up as all fives.
For now, anyway.
I mean, they may fix this next week and convey the information anyway.
But, uh, for now, it seems to be safe.
That's, uh, that's a quick look at some of the, uh, some of the nasty goings on.
Now, there's something else that, uh, is kind of interesting and I think, uh, I think I want
to share this with, uh, with people too.
It's a new service that has started up.
It's, uh, it's run by AT&T.
And what we're going to try to do here is, uh, is demonstrate it for the people.
At my expense, I might add.
Uh, let's see if we can get an outgoing line.
Let's see if we can actually get connected to this number.
Let's say you want to reach somebody and they're not in and they don't have an answering machine
and the phone keeps hanging up.
Oh, boy.
I'm going to break something tonight.
I know it.
Let's say that you're trying to reach somebody.
They don't have an answering machine.
It's five o'clock in the morning.
You don't want to call them at, you know, where they're sleeping or something like that.
So you, you want to send a message to them at a different time of day.
Well.
Welcome to AT&T Voice Mark Messaging Service.
To send a message, press 1.
To hear status, press 2.
For information including pricing, terms, and conditions, press 3.
Please enter your AT&T card, MasterCard, or Visa card number now.
Okay, I'm not going to do that on the air, but I will do it off air.
Enter the month and the year of the expiration date on your credit card.
For example, September 1990 is 990.
Please enter now.
Thank you.
No problem.
As you use this service, you can reach an attendant for assistance by pressing star 0.
Let's get on with it.
You have no status information about messages associated with your card number.
After you have sent a message, status is available until 24 hours after your delivery schedule has expired.
To send a new message, press 1.
Okay, let's send a new message, folks.
Press 0 or hang up.
I just pressed 1.
Did you hear me?
No, I guess not.
To send a message, enter the destination number where you would like your message delivered.
Okay, we'll send it to the number that we just heard on the air.
And please, please folks, don't call this number.
Because, uh...
We heard 2-1-2-2-7-9-3-4-0-7.
If that is correct, press 1.
To try again, press 0.
Thank you.
In the delivery location, it is now September 14th.
14th, 12, 30 a.m., delivery location time.
To comply with New York state law, this message will be introduced by an attendant.
To include your name when we introduce this message to the recipient, press 1.
If you do not want to include your name, press 0.
Okay, let's include our name here, folks.
At the tone, say your name.
This is Emanuel Goldstein.
Well, come on.
To allow the recipient to record a one-minute reply to your message at no charge, press 1.
For no reply, press 0.
Let's allow them that.
You may record your message after the tone.
When you are finished recording, press the pound sign.
Ah, yes.
Hello, folks.
This is Emanuel Goldstein speaking to you from the past.
That's right.
It is now 12.30, but you are hearing this message 15 minutes later over the telephone
through the marvels of technology.
Yes, such things are now possible in the 1990s.
Who knows what will be possible at the end of the 1990s?
I will now allow you to record a one-minute reply to this message.
I don't know how this is going to sound.
I've never done it before.
I do know I'm going to be charged for it.
I think I get charged $1.75 or something on my phone bill for this.
But it's all in the interest of experimental technology, the use and abuse of that they're
in and all that kind of thing.
So that's my message to you.
I hope the future is as good as the past has been.
Let's hear your reply now.
I hope the future is as good as the past has been.
For automated delivery with attempts during the next two hours, press zero now.
For other options, make your selection at any time from the following menu of choices.
To have an attendant personally deliver your message, press one.
To specify a custom delivery schedule, press two.
To cancel this message, press three.
If you are finished, press zero.
Let's do a customized thing.
In the delivery location, it is now September 14th.
12.33 a.m. Delivery location time.
Enter the month and date when delivery should begin.
For example, today is September 14th.
That is 914.
Please enter now.
Let's do it today, folks.
Delivery attempts will begin on September 14th.
If that is correct, press one.
To try again, press zero.
That's correct.
In the delivery location, enter the hour and minute delivery should begin, followed by A for a.m. or P for p.m.
12.45 a.m.
Delivery attempts will begin at 12.45 a.m.
Delivery location time.
If that is correct, press one.
To try again, press zero.
To have an attendant personally deliver your message, press one.
To cancel this message, press three.
If you are finished, press zero.
We are all done.
Your message will be delivered as requested.
To hear status about deliveries, replies, and cancellations, call 1-800-562-6275.
Status is available now until 24 hours after your delivery schedule has expired.
You may now create an additional message by pressing one.
If you are finished, press zero or hang up.
Thank you for using AT&T VoiceMark Messaging Service.
Isn't that amazing?
Isn't that amazing?
Isn't that amazing?
Isn't that amazing?
Isn't that amazing?
So, in just about, what time is it now?
It's 12.34, so in just about 11 minutes, our message will come through.
And we'll be able to hear what we said to ourselves and record a reply.
Isn't that what the 90s are all about?
Well, you can now call us at 279-3400.
Give us a call and tell us what you think of the new technology and what, hold on, hold on.
Oh, boy, I hate these flies.
The flies all over the studio here.
I don't know why.
Okay.
I didn't get them this time, but I'll get them next time.
No, no, no, no, no.
No, please don't call that line.
You see, if you call the line, whoever called 3-4-0-7, please don't call that line.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for hanging up, because that's where the special message is going
to be coming through, and I can't tell if it's a live person or not.
So, you know, call 3-400, and we'll try to move through the calls quickly so everybody
can get in.
We should be getting that special message real soon.
Let's go to the phones.
Good morning.
Oh, hello?
Yeah, go ahead.
Okay.
First, I'm enjoying the show very much, and I thought maybe you'd like to hear a really
quick story about how it turned out the other way.
Okay.
Let me first ask the person on 3-4-0-7, please hang up.
Don't call that.
You can call it after the message comes through.
Okay.
Please hang up.
Be a cooperative BAI listener, and everybody will be happy.
Go ahead, sir.
Okay, good.
I also had an encounter with Citibank.
I think part of the problem is that the city never sleeps.
Yeah.
I went to see if I had a few dollars I wanted to write a check, and it turned out I had
like $25,000.
That's very good.
Yeah.
It was quite remarkable.
And when I called to ask about it, they told me it wasn't there.
So when the bank statement came, the hard copy, it was there.
So I wrote a check and deposited $25,000 in another bank.
So what happened?
Well, I bought a new Cadillac and paid off some bills.
This was a new Cadillac.
This never happens, you know.
I mean, you hear about people where this happens to, and the bank always catches it, you know?
You're saying the bank didn't catch it in this case?
About eight months later, it came around about the whole thing and where was the money in
the story.
Uh-huh.
So, you know, well, you know, I said at the time I asked about it, he went to a lawyer
and asked him what he thought.
I said, well, you know, if that money disappears, they may come for you anyway.
So, well, I was willing to pay it back, but no interest.
And I deposited a lot of the money in an account, you know, those money market accounts?
Uh-huh.
And about that time, they were, like, earning 18%.
I kept all the interest.
You could probably make a tidy profit through that.
You say you bought a car?
Oh, I still have it.
Beautiful car.
You mean you bought a car with the interest?
I bought a car with the money itself.
Okay, but how did you manage to pay for the car if you had to give the money back?
About $300 a month.
It took, like, two years.
Uh-huh.
Interest free.
Well, that's not bad.
Exactly.
I just want to say, sometimes, sometimes it comes up the other way.
Are you saying for people that this happens to, they should do what you did?
I think there was no liability.
I spoke to an attorney, and they said, well, sooner or later, if they come for the money, you know, you'll deal with it.
And I did.
Uh-huh.
That was it.
Amazing.
Yeah, sometimes.
I found out later they mentioned, you know, I said, by the way, you know, where did money come from, you know?
And, by the way, Citibank told me, first, it wasn't there.
I mean, they told me it wasn't there.
It was a glitch, they said, and like that.
But it turned out somebody had, they had misrouted some money.
And it took them, like, seven months to figure it out.
Well, as long as there weren't any permanent scars on your record, I guess everybody lived happily ever after, eh?
Yeah.
They had a little trouble when I balked at paying interest.
They said, well, you're going to pay this back over two or three years, right?
Uh-huh.
I said, sure.
And if it wasn't going to be interest, I said, no way.
You stuck to your guns, huh?
Yeah, it was funny, yeah, yeah.
I had my wife say, listen, mate, don't pay him no interest.
Don't pay interest in this.
If I came home and told her I paid interest, she would have been.
So it worked out.
Uh-huh.
Okay, well, thanks for calling and sharing that with us.
Thanks again.
All right.
279-3400, area code 212, or maybe 917.
Good morning.
All right, let me turn off the radio.
Yeah, good idea.
Don't drop the phone, and remember to turn it back on.
Are you back?
Yeah, I'm back.
Okay, what's up?
Uh, well, I had problems with Citibank also at once.
Uh-huh.
Uh, they debited and credited my account incorrectly, and they did it three times.
They finally got it correct after about three months.
How serious were the errors?
It was only about $60, but it was very annoying.
Uh-huh.
They made it seem like you weren't telling the truth, eh?
Well, I deposited $60, and somehow they doubled it.
Oh, and you were complaining about that, eh?
Didn't really double it.
What happened is, uh, I called them up, uh, and they doubled it, and then they, uh, I
called them up, and I told them there was an extra $60 credit that I had, uh, besides
the deposit I had made.
They added out the $60 to the deposit I made.
So I said that they had to deduct $60.
Okay.
They deducted $120.
I see.
And then I called them back up in a month later, and I told them, look, you deducted
the wrong amount.
And it took them about three months to get it correct.
It was a bit hilarious.
Well, did you get it back with interest, at least?
No, not really.
But I, I, I just wanted, I just wanted to get my, I just wanted my bank book to balance.
Uh-huh.
Well, that's what most people would like, you know.
I was so annoyed.
Because I had to make an extra trip to the bank.
Well, you know, there's a, there's a good article in the, uh, in the Village Voice this
week.
And they would call, uh, according to this one article, they would call what you went
through techno-stress.
Yeah, I read that.
You read that.
A nice piece.
I liked it.
It's in the electro-mag section.
Yeah.
Uh, standing in line at an ATM, for instance, and being frustrated by the amount of time
it takes.
That's techno-stress.
Yeah.
Well, what annoys me is when, you know, you go to a bank on a weekend.
Let's say, like, a three, a four day, a three day weekend, like, uh, Labor Day.
Right.
And they run out of dough.
Yeah.
Oh, isn't that awful?
That, that kills me.
Or, most, most bank machines are actually 23-hour bank machines.
For one hour a day, they close down to do God knows what.
Well, I assume that someone comes in to fill them up with money.
Maybe so, but I don't know why they have to shut them down to do that, especially if
they have two right next to each other.
Uh, it's, it's not very convenient, especially if they call themselves 24-hour machines.
It may be the, maybe the person services the whole bank, some, whole, whole bank.
Well, I think it's some kind of a dial-in kind of a thing where it has to be down for,
for some reason.
But it seems to me like they should be able to figure out a way to keep it up.
Yeah.
For, uh, for that amount of time.
Anyway, thanks for calling, sir.
And, uh, let's get on to some more calls.
2-7-9-3-4-hundred.
Speaking of, uh, ATM horror stories, right here in the Midtown area in New York City,
it's, it's a disgrace.
For years, the ATM machines here have been, uh, living in peaceful coexistence with the
homeless people who seek shelter from the streets and sleep in the vestibule.
And, uh, now that the homeless have been kicked out of Penn Station, ATMs are really the only
place to go.
Now, I've been using ATMs in this part of town for years.
And, uh, occasionally you have to step over people who are sleeping.
It's never really been a problem.
In fact, uh, to me it's kind of a comfort to know that there's other human beings there.
It's never been a hassle from, uh, from the folks that, that sleep in, in, in, uh, in vestibules of ATMs.
The hassle comes from the people that don't sleep and are walking around the street, uh, you know,
trying to, uh, hustle people and that kind of thing.
But, uh, the banks see it as this big major problem.
We've got to get the homeless out of there, you know?
They're, they're, they're making our customers angry.
So, what is the solution?
What is the perfect solution to this problem?
We close the ATMs.
We lock the vestibules.
At 11 o'clock, the 24-hour bank machines close until 7 in the morning.
So, so now, we've effectively locked the homeless people out into the street.
And we've locked everybody else out of the things, too.
And you can't get money after 11 o'clock in the Midtown area.
I mean, what kind of way is that?
You create more problems.
You create, uh, hostility, even.
People will say, oh, it's, it's the homeless people's fault.
What was the problem, you know?
Everybody had to live with it.
I mean, there is a problem with homelessness, obviously, and that's got to be dealt with.
But, uh, this kind of thing, you know, by, by putting steel spikes on benches and, uh,
and fire hydrants and locking vestibules and kicking people out of train stations,
it may, uh, it may move problems to other parts of the city,
but it's not going to solve anything.
It's going to make things a lot worse.
Oh, so much for the speech there.
We have our message coming through in about two minutes.
Let's take another call, though.
Good morning.
Hi, Emmanuel.
How you doing?
How you doing?
Uh, first question, real quick.
When is your show on?
Because, actually, I don't listen to BAI a whole lot,
and I think the last time I heard you was in October last year.
Uh-huh.
Well, um, supposedly on every two weeks at this time from 1145 to 1,
but I understand, uh, at the end of the month,
we're having a special marathon, uh, special, uh, to be redundant.
I think it's in two weeks.
Um, and that, uh, that'll go until three or something like that.
Uh, there is talk of moving the program to an earlier slot,
and if that's the case, that would be nice
because we'll be able to get more guests.
You know, the problem is right now a lot of people are asleep
and, uh, a lot of people that we want to talk to, you know,
in the, in the computer hacker industry, so to say.
Yeah, what, what, what has you so interested in that, by the way?
And then I'll mention what I actually called it.
What has me interested, uh, it's just a fascinating field.
It's just something that, uh, you know, it, it keeps your blood racing.
Always thinking of new innovative ways to get around technology
and figure out the flaws.
Um, actually, what I was calling about is, um, uh, just to verify for people,
as I'm sure you have already, but, uh, I have an 800 number.
Uh-huh.
And it has, uh, full identification on it, um, that comes in on my bill every month.
What company do you use, if you don't mind me asking?
Sprint.
Sprint, yeah, Sprint does provide that.
In fact, uh, a lot of companies, MCI, um.
I hear AT&T wasn't doing it, and.
Not yet.
Um, sir, I, I, can you hold on the line?
Are you getting the call?
I think the call is coming in now, but I can keep you on the line,
so, uh, if you remain quiet.
Sure.
Uh, we'll see what we can do here.
Hello?
Is anyone there?
Yes, hello, this is AT&T VoiceSmart Messaging Service,
and we have a message from Emanuel Goldstein.
Would you like to hear the message?
Uh, yeah, why not?
Thank you.
Okay, please stand by.
The person who sent this message has requested a reply.
After the message is played, you can record a one-minute reply at no charge.
Hello, folks, this is Emanuel Goldstein speaking to you from the past.
That's right, it is now 12.30, but you are hearing this message 15 minutes later over the telephone
through the marvels of technology.
Yes, such things are now possible in the 1990s.
Who knows what will be possible at the end of the 1990s?
I will now allow you to record a one-minute reply to this message.
I don't know how this is going to sound.
I've never done it before.
I do know I'm going to be charged for it.
I think I get charged $1.75 or something on my phone bill for this.
Uh, but it's all in the interest of experimental technology,
the use and abuse of that they're in, all that kind of thing.
So, uh, that's my message to you.
I hope the future is as good as the past has been.
Let's hear your reply now.
Oh, I definitely didn't want to hear that again.
Uh, it sounded to me like the voice was, uh, speeded up a little bit.
But, um, I guess what we'll do is we'll just record our reply
until it tells us to shut up, uh, is our caller still there?
Oh, I'm, I'm here.
That was impressive, wasn't it?
Yeah, that's, uh, that's fascinating.
All that has one, too.
Yeah, you know, I think there's a bunch of independent companies offering that, too.
In fact, there are a few of those alternate pay phones.
I think, uh, ITI is one of them that allows you to do that.
I think they charge a lot more for it, though.
Probably because they, they resell the lines or something.
Uh-huh.
But, uh, it'll keep trying.
You know, if it didn't get an answer, it would have tried in another 10 minutes, I believe.
And, um, it's, it's, it's a useful service, I suppose.
Yeah, it sounds like the standard way does work.
But, you know, it's also, it's also indicative of some of the things, um, that we're doing these days.
We're making four or five phone calls to get one message across.
You know, like, uh, you, you, you call somebody, they're not in, you reach their answering machine, their answering machine makes a call out to the person's pager, which in turn calls his voicemail system.
He calls the voicemail system to see what the message was, and, uh, you know, it's, and then he finally calls the person back.
AT&T Voice Mark Messaging Service, call 1-800-662-2588.
You don't want to hear it anymore.
Oh, I guess it hung up on us, okay.
All right, I, I guess our message is complete.
Um, so I, I can call that thing later and hear what I just said, which is a big thrill for me.
Oh, boy, yeah.
Yeah.
So, um, and any other...
Actually, an interesting thing, though, that happened with my 800 number, I, uh, I use it as sort of a novelty, and I just have it coming into my residence.
And, uh, I had a, um, I, I don't know if I, I almost don't want to say a friend of mine, uh, call me up on it.
For a long time, and he told me that he was calling me directly.
And you were able to see his phone number pop up on the bill.
Yeah, because I guess, because he's in an equal access area.
But the, the interesting thing is, now, I know some people who live with, well, if we want to get, uh, real technical, I guess a lot of your listeners are pretty technical, but, uh, on the old crossbar phone systems.
Yeah, the crossbar, which is going to be, I understand, eliminated completely from New York City in the next year.
Well, he's, uh, a friend of mine is on a crossbar, but they have that, I forgot what it's called, an adjunct switch, something on there, so that you can...
The adjunct frame that allows you to emulate some, uh, electronic functions like equal access and direct overseas dialing.
Right. Now, the interesting thing about that is if I call my 800 number from there, but knock that adjunct off by hitting the switch hook a couple times,
um, it comes in as, uh, well, it's a 718 number, but it comes in as 718 and then all zeros.
You know, I, I, I've got to try that because, uh, because I have access to one of those.
I have access to a number five crossbar, and I, I know what you're talking about.
You can knock the adjunct frame off if you, uh, hit the switch hook a couple of times.
You know, I never thought of doing it that way. That's a very good idea.
Yeah, yeah, I've got a friend of mine who has a watch line with, uh, I think it's, uh, Telecom, I think it's, yeah, Telecom.
Telecom, that's like the same, uh, whatever.
It's probably Telecom USA, right?
Yeah, it's a 476, if that.
Uh-huh. Yeah, there's a lot of, a lot of companies there, and they offer some pretty good, uh, some pretty good services.
You know, his is interesting because, uh, if I call from a non-ANI number,
Uh-huh.
his will give the area code and prefix.
My, uh, my Watts line gives an area code but all zeros.
It won't even give a prefix, which is sort of strange.
Yeah, that is sort of strange.
But, you know, the thing is, with your 800 number, though, you don't see the person's number when they call you.
You see it a month later when you get the phone bill.
Right, it's on the bill, and this guy I have to, uh, I have to, uh, settle this out with on, uh, Friday here, uh, or, uh...
But you see, the technology is there.
The technology is there for you to do that if you so choose, if you have enough, uh, money at your disposal.
You know, one thing, it's MCI that offers this on all of their 800 numbers, and their 800 numbers, uh, are usually exchanges like 444...
Right, 333.
...333, 777, 999.
Now, what famous 800 number begins with 999?
It's the, the Coventry House 9 line, that...
Right, right.
...for runaways.
Now, I don't know how many runaways would feel comfortable knowing that their number is displayed, or could be displayed, either at the point that the call is made, uh, made to, or at some point in between.
I have an interesting number, by the way, for people...
It's a very bad idea, I think.
Ha ha ha!
I have an interesting number for people to try, and, uh...
An 800 number?
Yeah.
Okay, what is it?
And I won't say, I won't spell it, but look at your phone good enough, and then call it, and you'll have some fun.
It's, uh, ha ha ha!
1-800-537-5633.
Ha ha ha!
Uh, okay, I'll have to try that one out later on, um...
You might want to try it on the air, it doesn't say anything dirty, but, uh, you, you can probably figure it out.
Okay, well, we'll, uh, it's possibly for another show, because we're all running out of time.
Okay.
Thanks for calling, though.
All right, good enough.
All right, there are, there are a lot of companies out there, though, that offer some interesting services, and, uh, one of the most valuable services you can get is a way of making phone calls when you're on the road without incurring these huge surcharges, like, uh, AT&T, MCI, Sprint.
They all offer you things like, uh, the AT&T calling card, the Sprint phone card, the MCI calling card, I think they call it, I don't know.
And they all have surcharges of 50, 60, 80 cents per call, which is the most stupid thing when you think of it.
Why are they putting a surcharge on a phone call?
I mean, it's like, you're, you're getting something special.
What else can you do with a calling card?
The only thing you can do is make phone calls, so it's not like you're getting something special.
You know, you're using it for what you're supposed to be using it for.
Why the surcharge?
I don't understand it.
But there are some services that allow you to have a special number that you can use nationwide and only pay for the cost of the call.
Uh, and the cost of the call is pretty much the same as it would be if you dialed direct from your home to the place that you're at.
And, um, a couple of services like that, um, I, I believe cable and wireless offers that.
And I know ITT does, and it's an interesting story because I was just, uh, cross-country, and I was able to get ITT as, um, as, as one of my 950 numbers.
950 is a toll-free exchange that works nationwide.
And you dial the 950 number, you get the ITT dial tone, you dial the number you're calling, and you dial your, your, um, special access code.
And then you're connected.
And it shows up on your bill later, and everybody's happy, and there's no surcharges.
Except, there was a very odd set of circumstances here.
Apparently, ITT is not used to doing this.
It's not used to people going cross-country and, and using their system in this way.
Uh, they're not used to people like me, certainly, who, uh, experiment and do all kinds of weird things with the phone.
Um, I was out there in San Francisco trying to make a call one day, and all of a sudden I noticed, every time I entered my code, it just hung up on me.
Just hung up.
You know, got a dial tone.
I said, what's going on here?
I called up the, uh, ITT and, uh, I said, guys, what, what's wrong?
You know, are you sick or something?
Is, is, is the whole phone network down?
Why, why is my call going through?
And, uh, they said they'd look into it, and they, you know, call back in an hour, they're still looking into it, call back that evening.
And they say, well, uh, we noticed a call at three o'clock in the morning that looked kind of suspicious, so, uh, we, we, we terminated the, uh, the code.
And I said, well, that was me.
I, I made a call at three o'clock in the morning because, you know, that's when I'm up and I do things like that.
And I said, oh, okay, it just didn't seem right somehow, so, okay, we'll turn it back on.
And, uh, it took about two days, but they finally turned the thing back on, and then I went down to Los Angeles, and the exact same thing happened again.
It happened about four or five times.
They kept turning off the code, you know, and someone else would turn off the code each time.
They said, oh, that idiot down in operations, he keeps doing that.
Okay, I'll tell him to put the code back on.
And I had to go through this nonsense for, for, for days on end of trying to get them to turn my code back on because my calling pattern did not fit their idea of what a calling pattern should be.
It was, uh, insane to say the least.
Finally, it got to the stage where I was so mad, so upset, and they were, they were so contrite and, and willing to do anything to please me.
They said, Mr. Goldstein, okay, this is what we'll do.
We'll set up a special number you can call and speak to an operator.
Just tell the operator who you are and where you want to call.
And so, I was able to pick up a phone anywhere in the country, call this 800 number and say, yes, this is Mr. Goldstein, I need to make a call.
And they put it through.
It was incredible.
It was the most amazing jump back into the past as you could possibly imagine.
Here I was on this small town type of, uh, type of relationship with him.
Yeah, Mr. Goldstein here, I need to place a call to, uh, to Marge.
Yeah, call Marge for me, please.
Thank you very much.
Put that, put that through.
And they, they got very friendly and familiar with me.
And, um, I don't know if I can still do it that way because my code got turned back on.
So now I'm back to the impersonal way.
But if they ever turn it off again, it'll, uh, it'll certainly be nice to, uh, to go back to that homespun way of doing things.
We're, uh, we're in a state of uproar, folks.
Uh, technology is, is moving us in all different directions and touching us in places that, uh, well, I guess many of us wouldn't rather not be touched in.
And we're going to keep tabs on this, uh, whole situation over the next few weeks, next few months, next few years.
And we'll keep you updated, too, on, uh, on what's going to be changing in the, uh, in the years to come.
Um, this is Emanuel Goldstein.
The program has been the fifth corner.
Bob Fass is up next.
And, uh, I'll be back in two weeks doing all kinds of other unpredictable, assorted, strange whatevers.
Uh, feel free to write us around, uh, well, write us at WBAI.
Yeah, WBAI, 505 8th Avenue.
New York, New York, 10018.
I'd like to close out now with, uh, a song from the band we started out with, uh, Screaming Target, with their brand new 12-inch record.
Screaming Target being three members of Big Audio Dynamite, who split up earlier this year.
And, uh, we're going to hear something now.
It's kind of a, a funny piece, which is a good way to end the show, I think.
A funny piece about, uh, Don Letts, the leader of the band, and how he keeps trying to learn how to sing.
Something he's, uh, convinced he can't do.
Here on WBAI New York, Emmanuel Goldstein, see you in two weeks.
Well, there was me, Leon, Greg, and we decided to make a group.
And Leon could play bass, and Greg could play drums, but...
The music's rocking, the people are swing.
There's only one problem, the dread can't sing.
Echo, reverb, all I can give.
Leon, Greg, said, take two, and there's a bread.
And into the ring, the show now.
Right.
Exercise one.
The lesson's begun, gone.
Put in a inbox when I started to run.
On, on, on.
I wear me a dia.
Teat and tan, till I'm me uvala.
Exercise two.
What shall I do?
She teach how he runs, or she must have a clue.
Mama, I did.
Talk it to me.
A daily routine, I have to use this and see.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
La, la, la, la, la, la.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
This is sick.
Look like a teacher.
She talk like queen, queen.
Look kind of stupid, you know what I mean.
Warren, college, traditional, star.
That she is the Iman, Jack Ross.
Exercise three.
To own quality, to use choice things from your belief.
Agility, we have the intention but not ability.
Exit point, girl.
Better than you're, proud of people, they can't take no more.
It's right, show me the girl.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
It's right, show me the girl.
I am the queen, I am the queen, I am the queen, queen, queen
Can you say you're champion? That's exactly what you mean
Exercise one
I'll try just for fun
I'm diddly diddly diddly diddly diddly bom
Exercise two
My raga de vue
Bar-da-da-ba-da-halo-fo-do
Exercise three
Tona MC
Jump spread out and shake chapati
Exercise four
Where can I score?
Yeah, right
Show me the girl
Too conventional
I can't get the uh
The middle
Tona MC
Tona MC
Thank you.