Latest / The Bill Handel Show / Caltrans Explores 'Bullet Buses'| ‘Medical News’ with Dr. Jim Keany

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Caltrans Explores 'Bullet Buses'| ‘Medical News’ with Dr. Jim Keany · The Bill Handel Show

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: six forty.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Bill Handle here on a Wednesday morning, the twentieth of May. Okay,
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: a story that I want to share with you came
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: out of New York Post and it has to do
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  Speaker 2: with well, a superbus now and a bullet bus. We've
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: heard of bullet trains. This is a bullet bus.
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  Speaker 3: Now.
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  Speaker 2: We're not talking about someone getting on a bus and
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  Speaker 2: shooting up half of the bus and killing them. We're
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  Speaker 2: talking about the bullet bus that would go one hundred
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  Speaker 2: and forty miles per hour on our freeways. This was
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  Speaker 2: an investigation commissioned by the California Department Transportation, and it
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  Speaker 2: examined whether futuristic high speed buses could connect major metro
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  Speaker 2: areas La San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego. And there are
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  Speaker 2: two aspects to this. One is completely doable, which we
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  Speaker 2: could probably smart start tomorrow morning if we wanted to,
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  Speaker 2: And that is the technology of the buses themselves, Automated
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  Speaker 2: driving systems, advance braking technology, vehicle to everything communication systems
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  Speaker 2: capable of warning buses and hazards.
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  Speaker 3: A lot.
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  Speaker 2: What's going on with airliners airplanes that are built having
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  Speaker 2: all kinds of technology that keeps them apart, that make
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  Speaker 2: sure they don't collide. That technology is here. The problem
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  Speaker 2: is the roads. The roads, how do you do it?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, these are dedicated bus lanes and where do
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  Speaker 2: you put them? And they said, oh, we're not getting
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  Speaker 2: the way of our bullet train either.
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  Speaker 1: That's going to go on.
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  Speaker 2: But we have an idea that may well actually be cheaper,
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  Speaker 2: and that is somehow probably to put.
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  Speaker 1: These lanes above.
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  Speaker 2: The freeway because already the land is owned and already
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  Speaker 2: you can build. They have you know, structural engineers. Now
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  Speaker 2: what would that cost?
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  Speaker 1: Huh?
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  Speaker 2: What do you think these a dedicated freeway above the freeway. Well,
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  Speaker 2: when you think about it, yeah, it's a huge hit,
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  Speaker 2: but we've done huge hits before. During the Eisenhower year,
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  Speaker 2: the Interstate was built across the country and that was
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  Speaker 2: a massive project that put roads across the United States.
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  Speaker 2: By the way, here's a little bit of history. Do
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  Speaker 2: you know why the interstate system was built? It was
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  Speaker 2: because we were in the mid fifties and afraid of
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  Speaker 2: the atomic bomb coming in from Russia.
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  Speaker 1: So the government came up with a plan to.
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  Speaker 2: Evacuate cities so people could leave city centers along these
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  Speaker 2: interstates and get out of Dodge. Well, it turned out
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  Speaker 2: that we weren't attacked and we had this inter state.
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  Speaker 2: But the money is huge. And look at the money
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  Speaker 2: we're spending on the bullet train. Were what way over
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  Speaker 2: one hundred billion dollars already and right now it goes
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  Speaker 2: from Weed to mercied I think it's like twelve miles.
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  Speaker 2: I mean you you can ride it, you know, just
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  Speaker 2: have to move the sheep out of the way that
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  Speaker 2: are riding with you. It's and that's so far is
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  Speaker 2: what sixty billion dollars. The point is do we have it?
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  Speaker 1: Is it a duel? Is it doable? Yeah? Yeah, we
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  Speaker 1: can do it.
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  Speaker 3: Now.
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  Speaker 2: The problem is is the money now, the technology in
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  Speaker 2: terms of building these buses tell me it's not there.
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  Speaker 2: Look at Waymo, look at these driving cars. When do
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  Speaker 2: you think that we're going to be able to comfortably
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  Speaker 2: drive in vehicles with no steering wheel that are going
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  Speaker 2: to be completely automated.
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  Speaker 1: We're right there. I mean we're on the CUSP, So easy, pasy.
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  Speaker 4: Oh.
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  Speaker 2: By the way, I've mentioned this before, is that all
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  Speaker 2: the gridlock we have on the freeways would disappear overnight
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  Speaker 2: if we had these kinds of vehicles on the road. Literally,
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  Speaker 2: the vehicles, the self driving cars with the technology could
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  Speaker 2: go sixty five miles an hour or eighty five miles
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  Speaker 2: an hour five feet behind each other. Because the technology,
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  Speaker 2: you would see gridlock disappear. You would see freeways no
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  Speaker 2: longer slowing down, speeding up because automation would take care
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  Speaker 2: of all of it. And can you imagine having an
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  Speaker 2: entire freeway system where cars are zipping along at that
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  Speaker 2: kind of speed.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we can do it. I mean, we're right there now.
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  Speaker 2: The problem is a practical problem is it's going to
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  Speaker 2: take a generation or two generations, So I'll be along
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  Speaker 2: gone by the time this happens, because this is one
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  Speaker 2: of the things that let's say it comes out next year, right, Well,
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  Speaker 2: how long do you think the switchover is going to be?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, there's going to reach a point at some
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  Speaker 2: point where you're not going to be able to drive
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  Speaker 2: on the freeway yourself. I mean, there'll always be a
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  Speaker 2: niche car market for people that want to drive themselves.
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  Speaker 1: But it'll be niche.
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  Speaker 2: So we are there. I mean, it's pretty exciting stuff.
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  Speaker 2: Now you've got Australia adelaide O ban. The Obah Busway.
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  Speaker 2: The Netherlands has a superbus Proto type, an electric bus
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  Speaker 2: capable of traveling one hundred and fifty five miles an hour,
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  Speaker 2: but again on specifically designed guideways. Also, there are trains
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  Speaker 2: that can go two hundred and fifty miles an hour.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if you knew that, but and they're
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  Speaker 2: out there. I think China has one from Shanghai to
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  Speaker 2: the airport, which normally takes forty five minutes or an
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  Speaker 2: hour to do it by bus or car, and it
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  Speaker 2: does it in seven minutes.
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  Speaker 1: That's technology. Okay.
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  Speaker 2: In the meantime, when I'm at my house, let me
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  Speaker 2: tell you my commute.
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  Speaker 1: I've done this before, Kno.
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  Speaker 2: How long is your commute to work at three thirty
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  Speaker 2: in the morning, It is fifty eight minutes, okay, and
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  Speaker 2: going home it is an hour and fifteen minutes.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. Now would you like to ask me how long
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  Speaker 1: my commune is?
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  Speaker 3: Bill?
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  Speaker 1: How long is your commute from work to home? Thirty feet?
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  Speaker 2: I go downstairs, leave the bedroom, go downstairs. I'm still
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  Speaker 2: in my shorts that I sleep in except the summertime,
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  Speaker 2: when I take my shorts off and my nards are
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  Speaker 2: swinging because I like the breeze.
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  Speaker 1: No no, no, no, no, no, too much information. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: got it? Okay. Kids already have fewer siblings to grow
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  Speaker 1: up with.
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  Speaker 2: Parents have fewer kids to care for them as they age,
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  Speaker 2: which means people have fewer cousins. I mean that's sort
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  Speaker 2: of a given, right. Well, the fall off of cousins
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  Speaker 2: is far greater and faster than any other part of
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  Speaker 2: your family. Now, with many families that sort of, cousins
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  Speaker 2: are a weird place. Some people are very close to theirs,
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  Speaker 2: others see them as strangers. Some cousins live on the
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  Speaker 2: same block, some live on the opposite sides of the world.
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  Speaker 2: The spectrum is huge. Cousins cousins can end up with
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  Speaker 2: completely different upbringings, class backgrounds, values, interests, which is the case.
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  Speaker 2: I haven't seen my cousins. I am not close to
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  Speaker 2: my cousins at all. I don't even know if my
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  Speaker 2: uncle is a live or dot. A couple of years
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  Speaker 2: ago he celebrated his hundredth birthday, and don't know if
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  Speaker 2: she's still around. I know my cousins are, but I
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  Speaker 2: never talked to them because, but then again, I never
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  Speaker 2: talked to anybody in my family.
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  Speaker 1: I just asked my kids.
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  Speaker 2: In any case, the average number of cousins is declining
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  Speaker 2: in the US, a lot of Europe, and it's predicted
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  Speaker 2: to hit other parts of the world in the coming decades.
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  Speaker 2: So American families are shrinking with cousins. That drop is
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  Speaker 2: happening at a much faster dramatic rate. Cousins are in
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  Speaker 2: that strange gray area between closeness and distance, and they
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  Speaker 2: don't follow a straight strict playbook. I mean, the stats
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  Speaker 2: don't really work with them now. Cousins have been around
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  Speaker 2: historically and a vital family role and for centuries extended
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  Speaker 2: family including cousins obviously dependent on one another, for example,
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  Speaker 2: run a farm. But the typical family experience is changing.
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  Speaker 2: We're just changing. And some researchers saying that the American
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  Speaker 2: family tree is really turning into a beanstalk with most
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  Speaker 2: customs named Jack. By the way, strangely enough, we're talking
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  Speaker 2: tall and narrow, not wide. And so in the US
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  Speaker 2: the cousin decline is either happening now, is eminent, or
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  Speaker 2: already happening. These are vertical intergenerational bonds can be tight,
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  Speaker 2: can be tremendously meaningfucal meaning meaningful, but there's a clear hierarchy.
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  Speaker 1: They come with their share of rules.
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  Speaker 2: And the classic cousin relationship, well, the classic one is uncomplicated.
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  Speaker 2: Cousins have more distance in an age with siblings. They
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  Speaker 2: typically have more geographical space between them. I mean, that's
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  Speaker 2: an easy formula. Less f and families are more likely
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  Speaker 2: than wealthier ones to live close together. But sharing a
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  Speaker 2: house with a cousin isn't the norm. Other parts of
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  Speaker 2: the world, it's a given. Neither giving money to people
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  Speaker 2: to cousins is the norm.
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  Speaker 1: I don't.
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  Speaker 2: And the pop culture is full of what you see bickering, pranking,
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  Speaker 2: sticking up for one another in school, and there really
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  Speaker 2: isn't much out there to demonstrate how cousins are supposed
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  Speaker 2: to react and interact. And here's a fun one. Okay,
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  Speaker 2: About six percent of adult cousins live in the same
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  Speaker 2: census track about the size of a neighborhood. The rest
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  Speaker 2: live an average of two hundred and thirty seven miles apart.
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  Speaker 2: And the rate at which adults donate a kidney to
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  Speaker 2: a cousin is very, very low. I remember watching Neil
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  Speaker 2: who got that kidney donation and ran into him in
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  Speaker 2: his office and he was on the phone with family
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  Speaker 2: members talking talking about his kidney.
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  Speaker 1: I remember, I remember exactly what you said. Please please,
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna die please.
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  Speaker 2: And they also said no, yeah, no, did you think
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  Speaker 2: I gotta get my kidney?
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  Speaker 1: You are crazy.
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  Speaker 2: So siblings make up twenty five percent of living kidney
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  Speaker 2: donor relationships.
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  Speaker 1: Cousin let than four percent.
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  Speaker 2: You would figure that right to'd be less, but that
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  Speaker 2: big difference is huge. So the the organ donor concept.
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  Speaker 2: Those numbers, as well as other studies question what do
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  Speaker 2: we owe each other? And for cousins it's not very much.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, our families are well, they're stretching out there.
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  Speaker 2: Even brothers are sisters are not that close. Neil, you
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  Speaker 2: have a very tight family, don't you.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And no one, no one would donate to you.
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  Speaker 2: No one would donate to you. Now, granted there's a
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  Speaker 2: problem because betther of them had good enough kidneys to
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  Speaker 2: donate to you.
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  Speaker 1: Because we all have the same disease. Yes, that's true. Hey,
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  Speaker 1: would you like to enjoy my disease. We'll switch the
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  Speaker 1: same disease for the same disease.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, my bad kidney for your bad kidney. Probably wouldn't
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  Speaker 4: be the best.
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  Speaker 1: Uh, yeah, that's true.
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  Speaker 2: But otherwise, let's say you I had uh, let's say
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  Speaker 2: they were healthy kidneys, would uh they just line up
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  Speaker 2: to donate. I mean, there would be no issue.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know.
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  Speaker 4: I was again, I was not crazy about having a
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  Speaker 4: live donor. They I had to have a doctor and
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  Speaker 4: a nurse like me up about that because I just thought,
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  Speaker 4: I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: Would you go would you if you want a donors
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  Speaker 2: not live, would you go out and kill.
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  Speaker 1: Someone for a kidney?
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  Speaker 4: Probably not?
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  Speaker 1: I would probably yeah, I would in a heartbeat. Okay,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: we're done.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: Doctor Jim Keeney, chief Medical Officer for Dignity Saint Mary
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Medical Center in Long Beach Er Doc extraordinay Jim. Obviously,
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: the big news going around the world is the Ebola
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: outbreak and it started in a very restricted area of
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which usedould be the
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  Speaker 2: Belgian Congo. And I understand it's a great, great place
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: to live. Prices are very very low. Cost of living
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: is very low. Also, literally cost of living is very
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: very low. Let's talk about Ebola because this is fascinating.
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  Speaker 2: Is it spreading quicker than anticipated?
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's it's been caught later than typical, it sounds like,
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  Speaker 3: and that's the concern for why it's spreading so fast.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: So this is one of the more difficult strains of ebola.
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  Speaker 3: It's the bundabugy virus, which we don't have any monocolon
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  Speaker 3: lane the bodies for, we don't have any vaccines for,
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  Speaker 3: and so we're back to kind of the old school.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: You know, we got to use personal protective equipment, we
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: got to use good clean washing isolation information out to
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: the people and trying to stop them from doing the
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: typical death rituals, which involved washing the body. Instead, we
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: got to burn the bodies. So, you know, it's really
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: going back to the old school. But they do believe
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: that it was a late start because whenever we get
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: healthcare workers as the first as ground zero, it means
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: that it's out there in the community, and the healthcare
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: workers were the ones that got infected by people in
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: the community. So four healthcare workers were the first four
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: cases that were identified, and it means most likely that's
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: been going on for a little bit.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: Okay, couple of things. Bunga Bunga is that the name
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: of this particular.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: Strain close, Yeah, Bunda bugy Buna.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: That's even better Bunda bulgyo.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: Okay, sounds like some kind of a dish, doesn't it
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: that they eat in that part of the world and
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: the other I read or excuse me, I heard yesterday
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: that US AID USAID, which has doctors as part of
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: the the amount of help that it gives around the world,
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: not just food, which of course Somalia is now starving.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: You're gonna see millions of people starve to death in
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Somalia because we're no longer producing food for them or
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: sending them food. But the fact that there weren't enough
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: doctors that were there to stop it cold and you
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: mentioned that it was late in terms of dealing with it.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Is it because it was lack of medical care?
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: Well, there's you know, overall in the world, our ability
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: to be surveillance is less now, right because the US
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: pulled out of the World Healthware Organization, they have less funding,
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: they have less resources, so of course it's going to
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: be less and in areas like this, especially with your
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: high conflict area, is difficult you know physically to get
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: there because you know you're in a conflict area that's
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: going to be even further reduced so are the surveillance
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: is less and yeah, AID also has less resources at
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: this point, and they would have been one of the
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: first people to assess the situation on the ground. That's
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: typically their role in things. You know, earlier on, I
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: took a course that us AID offers to explain how
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: these inter agencies worked together, and they really would send
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: the first groups out there to see what's going on
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: and work with the World Health Organization. So, oh, that's
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: been a bit undermined. And it does seem like, you know,
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: you wonder well, I always wondering, well, okay, can they
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: still function at the level they're at? And it looks like,
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: at least on this first stress test that it was discovered.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, all right, Jim, Thanks, we'll talk again next week.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: I always a pleasure, Okay.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: I just love talking about how you're gonna die, How
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: are you gonna get a stroke? How are you gonna
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: have a heart attack? All right, we're done, guys. Coming
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: up is Gary and Shannon. We're again back again tomorrow.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: Amy and will start wake up call from five to six.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: Neil and I are aboard six to nine, and of
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: course Kno and they fill out the rest of the team,
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: That's It. Catch you tomorrow, same time, same station, kf
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: I AM sixty.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
• 17:37
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• 17:40
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