abaduck

5K - 3.1 miles Mike

If you're going to do something, do it properly (and I have a 'mad bastard' reputation to live down to) Mike

To those opposed to the bailout, I would say simply this: when the treasury AND the fed both say 'do this or the economy is screwed' it should pass that same afternoon on a voice vote, not be dragged out for a week of playing politics with the future of the nation, and THEN voted down. To do so is tantamount to treason. Even in election season. Mike

I detect a depressing amount of politicking and schadenfreude in many responses. Here's the BBC analysis, and it's one which my wife (who works on Wall St.) agrees with: "It is possible that the sense of global crisis may - perversely - offer a way out of this. American voters simply have not seen this as a crisis that affects their real lives on Main Street - it is seen as a welfare scheme for the humbled plutocrats of Wall Street. If the problems deepen and people suddenly see unemployment rising because businesses cannot get money from the banks to pay their bills and honour their payrolls, then that sentiment might change. That is the optimistic assessment - that American lawmakers and voters having registered their pain and anger will eventually fall into line and give the US Treasury the money it wants. The pessimistic assessment is almost too frightening to contemplate. It is that a majority of members of Congress, backed by their voters, simply do not believe in a plan which basically involves the United States government borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars to prop up a financial system which is clearly deeply flawed. If the warnings from US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson are to believed, such a decision would usher in an age of catastrophe. " Most people don't get it. America (people and corporations) are addicted to credit. The credit market is already pretty much seized up. If this continues and worsens, business goes to hell in a handcart. Ignore all the politicians, and watch the numbers. Look at the difference in interbank rates - overnight vs. 3M. That'll tell you where things are headed. Me, I'm buying canned food and cleaning guns... Mike

My first year, but definitely not my last. London sent over about 200 FFs! Mike

Hey, that's the program that got ME into the country... bro. (fact check: the changes that were made to the program to expedite it were nothing to do with security or background checking, they just straightened out some of the BS paperwork. And the hoops you jumped through to get a visa were STILL a major PITA) Mike

We have a perfect term in Scotland for a no-score draw: "no brains each". Wasn't vastly impressed with either candidate. Didn't change my opinions on either of them. I thought Biden spoke and made his points far better than either of them, in his post-debate remarks. My wife (who doesn't like or trust Obama any more than I do), however, thought McCain eviscerated Obama: not so much with anything resembling a knockout punch, but in overall competence. She also saw the Biden remarks and said "what are the Dems thinking of? HE should be the candidate, Obama isn't ready for this... and if you want to see evisceration, watch Biden vs. Hockey Mom, he'll tear her apart and stomp on the pieces, then he'll get nasty..." Mike

I'm firmly in the 'near Darwin award' camp. And be it noted that there's a swift water rescue tech class coming up: http://www.westchestergov.com/emergserv/bu...75WROLSWRTL.pdf Mike

On a point of order, is the 'retained' system used at all in the USA? I've never heard of it being used in NY, but presumably it must work in some places? By 'retained', I mean the type of system widely-used in the UK. A retained firefighter is paid an annual retainer - around $5,000-6,000 for newly-qualified FFs, I seem to recall - and paid an hourly rate when working or training. They're free to have second jobs outside the fire service, but must live and/or work in district, and must commit a certain number of hours per week - a minimum of 60 I think - during which they are obliged to respond to all calls. They're considered professional part-time firefighters and join the union. More than paid-per-call, less than full-time career. For the community, it gives a reliable guaranteed minimum response where the cost of maintaining a full-time career staff can't be justified. It seems to me that this kind of system might be helpful in some communities - what do people here think? Would this work in the USA? Mike

In some parts of Scotland they've gone to the opposite extreme; a standard residential AFA, absent any other indications of a problem, gets one rig, non-emergency. This is a career dept. Now I'm not convinced, I think that approach has the potential to come badly unstuck some day (although bear in mind that the average Scottish house or apartment is a lot less combustible than most of what we have to deal with - most are what we would call ordinary construction, or else type 1 fire resistant) but it's not entirely crazy. Mike

As far as I can see they're way beyond a wakeup call - they're gone, they're done, they're through, they're history - all the active members have left, and formed a new company, which will actually be focused on firefighting. The 'old' company is now what it sounds like it had been for a long time, a purely social organisation with no pretense of being a fire company. Mike

As I read it, the active, committed firefighters resigned, and left the 'good old boys' to their social club... Mike

The 'exemption' would be that the vests aren't required where you're not exposed to traffic. If you close the road, you're not exposed to traffic... Mike

Many of them are the salt of the earth, I've seen them on quite a few wrecks, I think they could make those tow trucks talk if they had to! Others, however, are downright crooks - semi-legalised muggers. Ask any Mamaroneck resident about Tung Hoy: http://www.larchmontgazette.com/commentary...2007.html#edell (Tung Hoy is a derelict former Chinese Restaurant) Mike

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/taysid...ral/7616451.stm "A woman dialled 999 because a rabbit she bought via a newspaper advert did not have floppy ears, Central Scotland Police have said. The force is urging the public not to dial 999 unless they are faced with a genuine emergency. The reminder comes after operators, who receive 34,000 999 calls a year, said the number was being dialled for "wholly inappropriate reasons"." Any other classics? Mike

Others have covered the pure driving aspects. SOP aspects... we always respond POV to the scene unless there's a house call out and POV responses are discouraged, in the case of heavy weather for instance. When responding the SOPs are obvious stuff... obey all traffic laws, yield to responding apparatus, when arriving at scene park on the same side of the street as the apparatus, or off the street in a driveway or parking lot, don't park in front of hydrants (!), don't park too close to the scene, and don't park in dead end streets at all - park elsewhere and walk in to the scene. Exercise extreme caution when responding to wires down calls, lest you find yourself parking in a hazardous area or driving over the wires! All common-sense stuff, or should be. We take driving seriously; members can be, have been, and will be, suspended if bad driving is reported. Mike

I was in our Midtown apartment - 35th and Park. Getting ready for work, went into the shower and everything was normal. Got out 15 mins later and noticed these pictures of a burning building on the TV. Recognised it as the WTC. Carried on dressing half-asleep abstractedly glancing at the TV from time to time, I remember thinking 'that looks bad - I wonder when that happened?' - I assumed it was some kind of historical footage from some WTC fire of many years ago, thought it curious that I'd never heard about it. It was at least a couple of minutes before it finally penetrated my brain that this was happening *now*. That's what I remember most - the disbelief. Then of course when the second plane hit, I remember quite a few people in our building got sh!t scared and hit the basement - we were only a couple of hundred yards from the Empire State building, and folks were thinking 'ok they got both WTC towers - what's the next likely target?'. I wasn't a firefighter then, but I was an ex-caver, with some cave/mine rescue training back home in Scotland. So I tried to get hold of some local cavers and put together a team, figuring our skills would be of some use. But by the time I'd done so the operation was at the point where they weren't taking informal or unrecognised volunteer teams, and the last thing they needed was freelancing... Mike

Two from Tennyson come to mind at this time: Death closes all; but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done. And then... Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are: One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. Mike

Our department has exactly that system; new members are assigned a specific individual mentor of line officer rank while they learn the ropes. That worked well for me - it's good to have someone you know has responsibility for dumb newbie questions, checking your progress, giving you feedback, and generally settling you down. I think that's a lot more practical than having an FTO-type system for the fire service, especially for the volunteer fire service. Mike

Called. Garbage deposited. Give me ten minutes, I'll have written an autodialer program that calls them 20 times an hour and deposits garbage numbers... Hope they enjoy it. Mike

We appear to be swimming in the shallow end of the gene pool... Mike

1. I support the 2nd along with all the rest. 2. I don't have any kind of pistol permit but I intend to obtain one. 3. AFAIK you don't get a full carry permit in Westchester without a good business reason? 4. The very LAST thing I want is for anyone to get any notion about FD and EMS being some kind of armed service. That's NOT what we're about! Mike

Hah.

I have the best TWO jobs in the world: full-time dad, part-time firefighter :D I wish I'd had a chance to do the firefighting years ago - I'm loving it, if I was ten years younger I'd think seriously about going for a career position. Missed that boat though... Mike

Oh it did and I know about Ni'ihau - it is a private island, it's effectively a Native Hawai'ian reservation. There are limited public tours of the place. It's not relevant, because AFAIK Obama never went near the place. Have a google if you like; if he'd been there I'm sure it would be mentioned. And on every other island in Hawai'i ALL beaches ARE public. In fact from what I've heard about the law in question, I'm pretty sure it applies to Ni'ihau too - the beaches are public there too, but you can't go beyond them: the rest of the island is privately owned! Don't get me wrong, I'm no Obama supporter. But I think there was some dodgy reporting there. Mike