Blogcritics

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Change Can Do You Good

Jay Lowry — Wed, 1 Aug 2007 09:08:08 EDT

Mavericks in society stand out. From Frank Zappa to Stanley Kubrick, those who decide to stand up and be counted inspire either love or loathing. Many times it seems as though those who loath the maverick secretly respect them. Still, it’s not an easy lot in life. Of course, it is one thing to tell filmmakers they are heading in the wrong direction. It’s rare you ever hear about Spielberg going after someone with a bat for being a maverick. In fact, in filmmaking, mavericks are often saluted as long as they do not have commercial success.In firefighting, the process is much more difficult. There are few Frank Zappas or Kevin Smiths, partly because Zappa is deceased and because Kevin Smith would find it difficult to climb a 100-foot aerial ladder carrying 45 pounds of gear.Firefighters who are mavericks tend to inspire hatred and worse. Tell someone who has been doing it one way for 30 years to do it another and a bat comes out. Fire service mavericks are as rare as Britney Spears poems.Change can be a dirty word, Sheryl Crow notwithstanding. Imagine walking a path for years and learning the nuances of every bend, rise, or shallow depression only to learn one day that your path is different. For some it is a challenge and for others it's kerosene applied to various parts of the body and a lit match.Look at Bob Dylan. He lost fans because he left acoustical and went electric. Some argue it was a positive development while others maintain he’s dead to them musically. Either way he chose a different path. Change can be bad. Witness Van Halen at the height of their career. David Lee Roth departs and the band is never the same despite having the same core members. Even in their 15-minute comeback with Diamond Dave, it was doomed.Still, in the words of someone long ago, change or die. What is true for music, film and dancing is true for firefighters. Sure, you can stay traditional but at a price. In the former categories, the cost is in dollars and reputations. In the latter, it is measured in lives.

Jay Lowry has written for Fire Engineering, Fire Chief, American Fire Journal and other major fire service journals as well as magazines and newspapers covering aviation safety, fire safe construction,and building collapse. He has appeared in print and broadcast media commenting on the fire service and safety situations.

Remembering Heroes: A Perspective

Jay Lowry — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 10:11:22 EDT

When Kurt Cobain killed himself a whole segment of the population felt shock. People were dejected, whether they were Nirvana fans or fans of the band's arch-nemesis, Guns N' Roses. A decent songwriter leading a good band died. Plus, the Foo Fighters were born so it was especially sad. Death has a way of re-centering culture for a brief moment in time. Those of us old enough remember the Challenger explosion, John Lennon's murder, and Menudo. Each was dreadful in its own way. Of course, now, everyone remembers 9/11.One of the firefighters who died that day helped me with my early fire service writing. His name was Andrew Fredericks but we called him Andy. When the towers came down the world paused and even music and television seemed unimportant for a brief moment. It started again as it always does, leaving some of us with memories of people we knew. In my case it was Andy.We don’t stay down for long because life is moving and we can’t afford to miss the next big thing even if it happens to be Oprah. Yet, in some small way, a part of culture dies and is replaced by an inexact replica. Things are the same but not really. If this concept is difficult, drink a twelve-pack and read it again.On June 21, two firefighters died trying to save a resident in Contra Costa Fire Protection District. Matt Burton and Scott Desmond were killed in a flashover. It’s safe to say the world didn’t pause for that tragic event but many of us feel the loss though we didn’t know them personally. This is natural. People die every day and we somehow come to believe a pop icon is more valuable than someone trying to save our lives. Again there’s no need to expect a different response.It’s just sometimes it would be nice for everything to pause when heroes die. You know, the ones who really are heroes.

The Culture of Flames: Firefighters Are A Breed of Their Own

Jay Lowry — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 13:17:11 EDT

Culturally firefighters are a breed of their own. From terminology to an unwritten code accepted by those riding the rigs, firefighters are as close knit as surfers, metal heads, and people who hate reality television.Don’t make the mistake of assuming all firefighters are alike. Some like country music while others hum the lyrics to Nirvana and other bands that’ve lost their lead singers to suicide. Out of nearly one million firefighters there’s even two who admit to liking Bjork.Why is it this way? Firefighters, unlike law enforcement, will go to extreme lengths to look out for a fellow firefighter. It’s not unusual to find firefighters from California sleeping in a station in Detroit while they are visiting the motor city.Shared danger is certainly a possibility. It’s difficult not to respect others who crawl through smoke, endure high temperatures, and risk life and limb to save people they don’t know. So there is a commonality to the fire service just as parrot heads brave inebriation to enjoy Jimmy Buffett. It’s more than danger though. Coal miners have dangerous jobs but they don’t fly across country to spend time with other miners who’ve died. Firefighters do it many times – an average of 100 firefighters die each year.It’s difficult to imagine parrot heads doing this. Certainly fans of Bjork wouldn’t. Would they?

Firefighter Deaths and Da Mayor of Charleston

Jay Lowry — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:31:57 EDT

The deaths of nine Charleston firefighters shocked the country. The events certainly shocked this author. Five of the men were co-workers at one point in my career. Losing nine firefighters in a tightknit community is a tremendous blow. The community is not just Charleston, South Carolina, but firefighters and their families from coast to coast.Few professions mourn their fallen like the fire service. From deeply felt memorials to the long parades and the abundance of pins, stickers, and tattoos honoring the fallen, the grief is universal. It is at ones own peril to inject politics into the equation.The current Mayor of Charleston is seeking his ninth term in office and it's likely he will get a ninth term because he is, in a word, unbeatable. This leads to otherwise talented people, eager to introduce new ideas, avoiding running against him lest they end up embarrassed. However, a slight misstep may have hurt his legacy.One day after the fire that killed nine brave souls, the mayor made a point of backing his fire chief come hell or high water. This proved to be a mistake for many look at the chief as a dinosaur. Further, the Mayor ridiculed national standards in use by most fire departments only to clumsily attempt to gloss his comments over. No one bought his explanations but it hardly matters.The firefighters are reeling from the death of nine men and the political hay being made. The mayor may have to sacrifice the fire chief but longtime observers think he will stand by him because Joe Riley is unbeatable. Mayor Joe Riley is a political survivor and opportunist. One feels certain he will turn nine tragic deaths of firefighters into a political weapon for his own use.At what point does decency come into play? In national politics, decency appears on occasion but in local politics, it is practically non-existent.