Stepjam

When are they going to crack down on a major CAUSE of MVC's......cell phone usage? It boggles me how many people are non-compliant with that law. I almost got t-boned by an idiot who sailed right through a red light while blabbing on his cell phone, and the had the nerve to flip me the bird! And they wonder where road rage comes from?

I agree. On the surface it seems frivolous, but this boy will require specialized care for the rest of his life. His parents probably want the best available, and I don't blame them. They probably can't afford to give him that care, so what alternatives do they have? I think it's likely that there will be some sort of settlement, but it will be paltry compared to the actual need. It's a tragic, sad story with no happy ending.

Just venturing an opinion, but I think their demise might have to do with Firefighter safety. Of course, we all know better.... but there's the temptation of stretching one for an attack, then running out of water very quickly.

My Condolences, Duane. I also lost my father to cancer, at the untimely age of 50.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer....Brain Salad Surgery at MSG in '73. My sister and her boyfriend took me along.

I know it's a stretch, but has anyone ever come across photos of the big South Broadway fire in June of 1976? Four stores, directly across from the old Park Hill theatre. Damn, that was a big one. I was walking home from and saw it from the beginning. The whole southwest section of the city was choked by smoke. Another commercial block went up in the late 70s or early 80s at Valentine lane and S. Broadway.

I remember that building. My best friend from childhood (we're still good friends) lived on the second floor. It was a tiny, dark apartment. The kitchen window looked out on to the brick wall of the building next door. His dad, BTW, was a cook for many years over at Moon's take out on South Broadway (yes, they are Chinese). I'm talking early 70's here, I don't know if Moon's is there anymore, although I highly doubt it.

My favorite Genesis album is "Selling England by the Pound," followed by "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway." I liked the post-Gabriel stuff in "Wind and Wuthering;" "Duke;" and "Abacab." But that's it. I really can't stand Phil Collins.

"Doc in the Box." I like that! All kidding aside, my personal experiences with Medicus in Dutchess (there have been quite a few) have all been excellent, and it would be my first choice over the Emergency room at Vassar or St. Francis-exceptng an apparently life threatening event, of course. For the occasional childhood malady or for flu-like symptoms, Medicus (and DOCS) have provided my family and me with reasonably prompt and thorough care, without a mountain of paperwork to fill out. I'm sure there are many who have had bad experiences at these walk-in facilities. My last experience with the ER at Vassar a number of years ago is enough to keep me away from there unless I'm being wheeled in.

I ran a Toys for Tots toy drive/fundraiser with my Cub Scout Pack through my church recently, and I was amazed both by the generosity of most and the cold-hearted rudeness of a few. To each his own. The boys learned several lessons through all of this: There are many who are less fortunate than they; kindness is a wonderful thing, but it should never be taken for granted; and that good manners are paramount. I also got to speak with the Dutchess County Toys for Tots coordinators. They told me that due to mounting fraud, they have been asking to see the child's birth certificate at the local pack-outs in area firehouses. This is similar to out local food bank, which is church-based and therefore turns no one away, however they only allow one visit bi-weekly, and encounter much fraud as well. I suppose it's just like business, where the organization has to account for a certain amount of wastage to deliver its product. The bottom line is that some people just have no shame, and many more have no class. So many of us continue to do what we do, be it paid or volunteer Fire/EMS or involvement in our communities, because we know that we help provide services for many people. Most of these people we do not know, but most appreciate the efforts of strangers nonetheless. We also do it because we know it's the right thing to do. Merry Christmas, everyone.

Just got back from the movies with my sons. We went to see I am Legend, which is the third, and hopefully the last, incarnation of Richard Mathesons's brilliant classic. All of us were anxious to see it, having read the book-I read it several times, and I'm a fan of of Hollywood's first impression of the original tale, The Omega Man (1971). I've also seen 28 Days Later; On The Beach; The Stand; Fail Safe; Threads; and The Day After several times each. I guess you could say I love the Apocalypse as a theme. I have been a fan of Richard Matheson almost since I learned how to read. Besides Rod Serling, he is the man behind many of the classic Twilight Zone stories (second only to Serling himself), and has penned other novel-to-film classics like What Dreams May Come; A Stir of Echoes; The Legend of Hell House (paralleled, if not plagarized, by Stephen King with his Rose Red); and countless screenplays. Where American Sci-Fi fiction is concerned, he is right up there with Isaac Asimov, Michael Crichton and Ray Bradbury. Stephen King and Dean Koontz are great too and I enjoy their work, but they write pulp. Unlike Matheson, Crichton, Bradbury and Asimov, there are no lessons or morals from King and Koontz. It's just entertainment. This brings me around to my critique of the movie I am Legend. If you want to be entertained, it works just fine. Will Smith is like the Chevrolet of Acting. He's predictable, and does what you want him to do. He brings no depth or personality to the protagonist at all, it's function over excitement. As for the other actors.......well, they are mostly CGI or creatures. Oh, yeah....there's a dog too. For the second time in film (The Omega Man being the first), Robert Neville is portrayed as US Army medical officer who is intimately familiar with and is partially the cause of the virulent disease that has turned the world into bloodthirsty homicidal maniacs. In Matheson's book, as well as in The Omega Man, there is a biological warfare element. In the current film, the virus has more benign origins, but that's all I'll say. Matheson's literary Neville is just a blue-collar guy who is smart enough to try and find an answer to the catastrophe. That small detail is what made the book so compelling. Neville was an ordinary guy who was caught up in extraordinary circumstances. By night, he holes up in his modest but heavily fortified LA home, blasting Beethoven and getting drunk to drown out the howling hordes of quasi intelligent vampires who want to kill him. By day, he hunts them down in their lairs and kills them in their sleep. He is actually the boogeyman....the terror by day, a daymare. "Brush your fangs, junior, or Neville will come and get you in your sleep!" Think about it. What does the title I am Legend really mean? Obviously, Hollywood decided long ago that CGI and special effects will trump a good story every time. Like a child's video game, imagery has become the stimulus. It was briefly interesting to see Manhattan as deserted and overgrown, but the special effects seemed to be what the movie was relying on. Take them away, and there was nothing left. Was the movie bad? Not at at all, but it would have been more accurate to title it as Home Alone 4: WTF am I doing here?. Matheson's tale was botched again. So badly in fact, it bears no resemblance to the original book. That's ashame. Call me a purist, but why does Hollywood have to rework a classic, or inject so much "artistic license" into a plot that it becomes something utterly different than what was originally created? I think that the egos of the producers and screenwriters have a lot to do with that. There are a number of key moments from the book that this film virtually ignores: The overall vampire legend, Neville's personal struggle to save his little family from the dust-borne plague; his undead wife returning to him; the daily hunt; his former carpool buddy and neighbor, Ben Cortman, who has become his nightly nemesis; and most importantly, the near fatal "stopped watch" incident, which even The Omega Man indirectly paid homage to. All of these items would have required the screenwriter and producer to do some actual writing, rather than letting the CGI guys take over the production. Some ironies to consider: The book itself was only about one hundred and forty-odd pages long. Three movie attempts essentially blew it. The Omega Man wasn't close either, but was far more original in execution than the current version, in my opinion. The Spaghetti thriller, The Last Man on Earth(1964) with Vincent Price, was almost perfect where the story was concerned. Unfortunately, it was so low budget that the production quality made it almost unwatchable. Matheson spun an enduring classic in less than two hundred pages. It was the quality of the material rather than "pictures;" or special effects, that made the story. What ashame that this movie couldn't have done the same. If you're into apocalyptic Sci-Fi, you'll probably enjoy this film. But don't expect too much.

I haven't heard anything lately about the Yonkers Fire Depatment's proposed museum, other than the appropriation of the old firehouse as a building. Does anyone know if the museum is moving ahead?

Some of the XXXX disciples are absolutley pissing themselves in delerious rapture over the new releases. Good for them! I've forgotten what it's like to so eagerly anticipate a new C3 release. On close look at that Buffalo, it looks to me like the details have been cheapened up quite a bit. I won't even go into its accuracy.

ACK !!!! Since we're on the subject of cartoon characters.....does anyone else think Rudy talks like Sylvester the cat?

I agree with you all, Manero's was incredible! Well worth standing in line for. Once, I went on Superbowl Sunday (1984) and had my pick of tables. The Gorgonzola salad was da bomb! And those T-Bones................... Par's over in Rye (?) was very good too, but I think they're also gone

Seth, Please, please, PLEASE delete this feature now! As we see on certain other forums, some people measure their self-worth by the number of posts that they make. They exist solely to post endless streams of insipid nonsense, it's all about quantity over quality. Sort of like cyber-graffitti. Kill it before it grows.

I apologize in advance if they've been asked before, but I have a few questions about the new rig, if anyone knows: 1. Is it a walk-through? 2. Are all of the compartments the same width? 3. Will it have roof compartments? I know these questions are kind of strange, but I have my reasons. Thanks!

Ugh. Another FDNY release. What a surprise. :angry: The good news for collectors is that soon ALL Code 3's will be highly collectible. This product line will most likely be disappearing in the near future because of what I percieve to be widespread declining interest by collectors in Code 3's monotonous line up (FDNY) and their failure to deliver on some other lines. Sorry, but I don't believe that there are enough FDNY fanatics to keep things going. If Code 3 doesn't freshen it up or at least deliver on some previously promised models (900 TDA's), they are doomed, and deservedly so. JMO.

I always thought the Heights looked a little too much like Asbury Park for my taste. Even on a couple of long weekends when I was a kid (in the 60's-70's), I thought it was seedy looking. I went down to Point Pleasant and Belmar a couple of times on overnight fishing trips, and they were "okay." As previously mentioned, I also found that Jersey shore local law enforcement was a little too overzealous about gathering revenue from the out of towners-specifically New Yorkers. My family and I sometimes visit Montauk, which has nicer beaches, nicer hotels, and nicer (and fewer) people.

I moved this topic. I don't mean to sound like a Monday morning Quarterback or an armchair critic, but its mass tragedies like the Charleston fire (and Worcester, MA, 23rd Street, the Hotel Vendome, the Brooklyn Waldbaum's, and many others) that really get my mind spinning about a few things. I understand that the Firefighters successfully extracted some employees from the Charleston fire building, so I'm wondering if the structure was fully evacuated (aside from firefighters) at the time of the collapse. Was their initial search finished? Were they looking for more trapped occupants? More to the point, if the search was finished and all occupants were evacuated, was Command aware of that fact? If Command knew that there were no trapped occupants, why would the preservation of property be worth risking a man's life? What would be the Chief's prerogative in this kind of situation? Is he boxed in by protocol and SOP? Why would he want to carry out an aggressive interior attack in a known high risk (truss construction) and empty structure, rather than surround and drown? I understand why it's desireable to locate the seat of the fire secondary to a life search, but the media reports suggest that this situation deteriorated very rapidly. What were the exposures, and what was the danger to those structures or occupants, if any? At Worcester, those Firefighters who were lost were looking for people whom they assumed were inside. At 23rd street, they were completely unaware of what was right under their feet. Duty to life in one situation, totally unknown circumstances in the other. But at Waldbaum's, and now this retail store, they were in (or on top of) a large and presumably evacuated structure that was probably built of lightweight truss construction. I don't mean to offend or insult anyone. I am certainly no expert on the subject, and I don't want to second guess anyone either, but this is nagging me. Perhaps others might share their expertise and insight on this type of situation? I just think that these are questions that need to be asked, and I'm sure they always are as the situation dictates. I pray for these men and their families....those at home and on the job.

I would also like to add that I appreciate everything Seth does for us by running this site, and by giving us an intelligent, mature sounding board here on the forums. This was a brisk discussion, and proves how adults can have a constructive conversation and remain civil, even if we disagree. I enjoyed and respected every post. Be safe!

Okay, Seth. All due respect again, but I hear twinges of the old Liberal thought process that "if you disagree with open-minded, highly enlightened me, then you're just wrong." Therefore, that makes me a cretin. Uneducated. Unintelligent. Too old to see reality. Living in the past. The enemy of the progressive movement. Believe me, I know this is NOT what you mean, but I have heard overtones of it many, many times from Libtards that I have met and dealt with professionally. You may know the type: Born and raised in Scarsdale or Pound Ridge (nothing against those villages), sixteen years of private and/or Ivy league schools, right on to Graduate school. Not a blue collar dirt bag who struggled through nine years of night school at a State college (eeeew!!) like me. I have had moments with many other morons of this calibre during the endless Indian Point debates. You're right. I volunteer because I don't give a crap about helping others. I roll out of bed at 3:00am when my pager goes off, just because I get some kind of sick thrill from it, as many mid-aged white men do. I can't understand these younger guys, who do it purely out of altruism and love for their fellow man, especially those who are disadvantaged. I think they're just crazy. I'll go back to may cave and stare at my Ronald Reagan poster. Now, where is my old RNC membership card?

Seth, All due respect, but come on now. Are you an Irish Catholic or a first-generation American? I am both. I could go on and on about Ireland and the Irish, and what was done to them as a race, but I won't. Does Cromwell ring any bells? There are enough here who probably know where I'm going with that statement. Do Russian Jews who emigrated here bear the same historical blame legacy of the original English colonists? By that logic, being "white" makes me somehow responsible for the failings of someone else, without regard to how they or their ancestors got here. Currently, there are a large number of black people emigrating from various African countries to the US. I wonder if they feel "disadvantaged" and entitled to something that they didn't earn as well? I doubt it. And from my experience and perspective, the "inner city problems" are caused not by me or anything my ancestors might have done (they weren't here), but by some of the people who inhabit those neighborhoods, or by dysfunctional families and a lack of role models other than an NBA star, a "Rap Artist," or the local drug dealer. Where are the community activists and big mouths? They're getting by tax-free because of their clergy status, and living in North Jersey. If you foster a culture of blaming someone for your own shortcomings, as we have done in this country for decades, ultimately the intent of that culture will fail those that it's meant to help, and will rot out our society from within. Sorry, I know you aren't looking for a debate, but some of us have been touched by this issue in ways that you can't imagine.

Sorry, but how does "disadvantaged" come into the discussion? This is what pisses me off. If someone is "disadvantaged" because they can't read a damn newspaper ad, or because they don't want to enter the "establishment" by walking into the public library and filling out an application, then what kind of firefighter/police officer/EMT are they going to be with that level of education and motivation? People like that should just listen to Reverend Al, he has all the answers to their problems. Sorry, I grew up in a broken home in what was arguably the WORST section of Yonkers (Ludlow/Highland/Riverdale area), where I was a minority in the extreme. So, I learned how to run fast, and how to fight when cornered. I attended those "racially segregated" public schools and learned how to read, write, add and subtract quite well, because I WANTED TO LEARN, and because I knew that I didn't want my kids growing up there. As I mentioned before, when my shot at Civil Service rolled around, I was labelled as overpriveleged, overrepresented, and told that white males need not apply by our own beloved state government. There is no greater disadvantage than being officially discriminated against with the blessing of Lib-Tard politicians. I did okay without a handout or quota, so the whole topic of "diversity" really gets nowhere fast with me.

I think the whole "diversity" issue is overplayed, and is a nice way of saying "reverse discrimination." The word is often misused, and I confess that I do have some contempt for the term "diversity." It's too often just another way of saying "quota." What happened to the "melting pot" concept that so many of us were taught in school? Long ago, I and many others were shuffled down a certain list because we were not the right color/gender. This was an open fact: Governor Cuomo set a quota that no more than 40% of any recruit class could consist of white males. Period. I had to qualify twice on the physical fitness exam, and passed with flying colors both times. I was number 149 on a list from which 400 were selected, I made the cut just before the list expired. By then, I was no longer interested and pretty much disgusted. That was 1984. I think that administration and government need to take a "hands-off/mouth shut" approach in this issue, and let "diversity" take care of itself. Some people are drawn to public service, some are not, and others put those emergency services to the test every day by their actions and lifestyles. If someone has the vocation and can fulfill the rigorous requirements and compete EQUALLY, then the job should be theirs. Color, creed, gender, national origin, and sexual orientation should have no bearing on any persons' choice to serve or their ability to do so. I frankly don't care what color someone is when they show up in response to a call for help.