wait a minute, the 911 emergency phone number is only a few decades old???
I would have thought that would go right back to the earliest days of telephony
@a_breakin_glass I don't know, it seems like a very obvious thing, you want an easy to remember, short number to dial to let someone know your house is on fire and you need help
also like, we've literally never before heard of it just not being a thing (except in other countries with different emergency systems of course)
@a_breakin_glass that _does_ explain why you always see things in hotels that say "Dial ____ for police" filled in with "911"
they were probably built when every location had its own police phone number
@Felthry I mean, the emergency number here only extended across the whole country by 1976
which is still better than the US
@Felthry Nope.
The "0" operator number had that designation, before advanced phone automation.
@Felthry why would you