Did you catch our story yesterday morning about the all-day fire at the bio-diesel plant in Pennsylvania?  It was the STORY HERE about Santa Brought the Tanker.  It was pointed out to me last evening that one of the two photo galleries that we linked to has a notable sequence showing what I think could be referred to as a “close call.”  In B. J. Felix’s gallery, go to page 3 and view images 53 to 61.

A firefighter was coming off of a roof by climbing onto an aerial ladder that was there for the purpose when the turntable operator inadvertantly nudged the ladder causing the FF to tumble out.

B. J. Felix / 911 Photography

Fortunately, the safety man grabbed him and pulled him back, but it was no doubt a hairy moment for both of them.  We’ll leave the rest of the story for the incident post mortem.

*  *  *  *  *

One thing that everybody who reads this website has in common is computer usage, obviously.  So we are all aware of computer viruses and related mischief that can attack and disable your hard drive.  The more malicious ones can even read your address book, for example, and send itself on to your correspondents’ computers.  And thus the lucrative field of anti-virus programs is now an essential part of our lives.  I have been reading about the infamous Stuxnet virus that was going around a few months ago.  I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to it because I rely on my Norton anti-virus subscription to protect my computers from invasion.

But it turns out that Stuxnet was a lot more dangerous that everybody realized, but primarily for its intended target.  And that target was Iran’s nuclear production facilities where they are suspected of building nuclear weapons.  Once Stuxnet got inside the first computer there, it knew just what to do as it spread throughout the entire Iranian network and then began shutting down the centrifuges and sending confusing signals to all the equipment and scientific digital archives.  All this time that people were speculating on whether Israel, or maybe the U. S., would eventually have to launch a preventive strike on the facility, it turns out that the attack was already under way.  Iran’s entire computer network including all their personal laptops, etc., are so riddled with the virus that the only solution is to physically get rid of the entire network and start over.  But the experts say even that probably won’t work.

“What?  Where?  Here??”

We have just witnessed the first major attack of cyber-warfare, the fighting mode of the future.   And the future is now.  When I get the time, I am going to write up a summary of this startling event and post it for you.  There were some truly amazing and hard-to-believe results promulgated by this bit of digital code that was sent out by somebody from somewhere.  We don’t even know what nation it was launched from.

But now we had better launch into getting this equipment checked out.  This is Monday, so we’ve got the long form to fill out.  I”m going to get the coffee started.  See you back in the day room.

For the past several days those folks in the Great Lakes region have really been getting slugged with the winter weather.  Cold temperatures and snow storms have been traveling along the path from the Dakotas and Minnesota across to upstate New York almost non-stop.  I read this morning that now one of the worst single-snowfalls to hit Minneapolis in 20 years.

Naturally, our first thoughts when these things hit are always about the challenges facing the firefighters and EMS crews.  Most of us have an idea of what it’s like to try and do things in sub-freezing temps. and snow-covered roads.  But you have to be there to appreciate the misery and sheer effort required to be in it for days on end.

Today’s blizzard has even forced the NFL to postpone the Minnesota Vikings football game until tomorrow…. and they play in an indoor stadium.  It seems the snow accumulation on the dome roof is a concern.

If you enjoy viewing photos of fire activity and apparatus, especially during these challenging days, a good source is the Chicago Area Fire Departments WEBSITE.  They have a cadre of professional photographers who keep the pages filled with action shots and other area news.  CLICK HERE and then click on the News button at the top of the page.  Then just scroll down and view the postings.

Before we get too deeply into that, let’s get this equipment checked out.  I’m going to check on the Sunday breakfast and get some more coffee started.  See you back in the day room in a little while.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Sunday Photo Art

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

One of the basic principles of our system of laws is the recognition that some people are basically stupid and they can’t help it.  So there is no legal penalty for being dumb.  You can be penalized for doing dumb things,  but not for  being dumb.  But what about people who are otherwise intelligent and reasonably functioning in society, but do something really stupid?  Just how accountable should they be?

Our previous posting (HERE) about the retired police detective-turned-EMT who posted the photo of a murder victim on his Facebook page is what brought this question to mind.  The guy is not dumb, but he certainly had a temporary lapse in good judgement when he did it.  His penalty, as it was reported yesterday, was  the usual “community service” along with a voluntary loss of his EMT certificate for life.  But the victim’s family is actively pushing to have the law changed to make it a felony to post certain types of images on personal web pages such as Facebook. 

Now that may seem to be an extreme penalty, and I understand that her relatives are distraught and have a personal attachment to the case.  But it does raise the question of just how much damage to society at large is done when somebody, for whatever reason, has a “look what I did!” moment and sends an image out into cyberspace where it remains forever.  Most people will agree that it is certainly distasteful and probably wrong to do something like that.  But just how wrong is it?  The argument could also be made that it is a civil wrong and should be handled as such, not to be considered as a criminal offense where the penalties are more stringently spelled out.

We’ve seen several of these instances recently just with fire and EMS people involved.  No doubt the actions of several other groups are likewise creating similar controversies.  So we will start seeing legislative activity stirring next year, I predict.  So we should be thinking ourselves on just what an appropriate punshment should be for doing something really stupid.

It makes good sense to get our equipment checked out, though.  So let’s get started on that while I go fix some coffee.

The stubborn space shuttle Discovery still is not ready for its final flight.  After being postponed 5 or 6 times since late October, the launch has been rescheduled for February.  That will push back the shuttle program’s final flight that will be performed by Endeavour from February until April.  The details of the current problem are summed up in THIS ARTICLE in The Register (UK). 

*  *  *  *  *

I can’t keep up with the rapid expansion of the mobile communications options anymore.  Every day more new ideas and products come out superceding the same devices that were intoduced just the week before, it seems.  Right now everybody is rushing to get their own version of “tablets” into the marketplace where Apple has a 6-month jump on them with its iPad.  And Samsung is trying to get one available that supposedly can be purchased first by the user and then taken to their cellphone provider to be activated.  Or something like that.

And Google is hollering about things called “Honeycomb” and “Gingerbread,” whatever in the world those things are.  I’m getting a little fed up with all the fancy names they tag on these things.  Why not go back to Gadget 2.1 or something simple to understand?  My gray cells are tending to go into shutdown mode for a while until this flurry dies down.  Chances are that most of these Great Advances will be rejected by the marketplace and will wither away before Spring arrives.

I need some more coffee.  Let’s get this equipment checked out while I go start a fresh pot.