As you can see, most of the ordeal of upgrading and relocating is over with.  While I’m the one who worries the most, it’s the worker-bees who do all the digital maneuvering who really put the effort and work into getting it all done.  Unfortunately, the most recent 4 or 5 comments got lost in the trip.  That’s not very many, but if one of them was yours, then I’m sorry.  Sometimes that happens.

All I have to do is learn how to use the new interface which has a very different layout from what I’m used to.  Is slows me down right now, but after I get familiar with it, then it should go more smoothly than the old one.

There are some additional benefits for you, the readers.  For one thing, this new upgrade cured the bug that we had that kept sending a page full of error messages whenever anybody left a comment.  Then you didn’t know if it went through or not (it always did, though).  But now those unintelligible messages are gone and commenting is quick and easy again.

Another new feature can be found on the right sidebar just under the YouTube video of the day.  It says, “Geezer by eMail” and has a sign-up window.  This sends an email notice to you each time we put a new posting online.  It’s more or less an RSS feed-type program that just send the feeds to you.  I think that feature is mostly used by people who get their emails via their BlackBerry or cell phone.   If anybody signs up for it, please send us a report on how well it works, will you?

And lastly, at the bottom of each posting, over at the left side, you will see a green button that says, Share This.  If you want somebody, or a group, to see a particular post because you find it interesting, you can just click on this icon and a little form will pop up that you can use to send the post directly to your friends without having to write all about it.  You can send it via email, or post it on things like MySpace.  And you can use it to post directly to groups like del.icio. us, Digg, Facebook and many more.  So share your enjoyment with your friends and contacts and send them your favorite Firegeezer stories.  Your Mom will love you.

Now let’s get this equipment checked out.  I need to make some more coffee.

So far, so good with the new server and file shifting.  I think.  According to the stats, the web universe is pretty much linked over to the new location and this time my provider wasn’t one of the last ones to do it.

There’s a bit of re-learning needed on my part because the part of the website that you never see is changed, too.  So please bear with us while we fine-tune the site today.  I should be back to full posting mode by noon today.  If you are reading this, then you’re on the new site.

No Sunday photo art today …. I have to experiment with the image placement thingy yet.  While I’m doing that, why don’t you go ahead and check out the equipment?  I’ll make some more coffee and then we’ll meet in the day room in a little while.

Did you happen to see the moon last night? Not only was it a full moon, but it was extremely bright. I saw somewhere that it was because the moon is also at its closest point to the earth during its 29.5-day orbit. That happenstance plus the full moon made it 14% larger in appearance and 30% brighter than normal. I believe that brighter part, because it was like a spotlight out there. I imagine it will be just about the same situation tonight, too. But don’t quote me.

* * *

This is the time of year that people pull out their tapes dvd’s for their once-a-year viewing of their favorite Christmas movies and related videos. Alistair Sims’ classic performance of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol is one of the top movies. Although I favor the seldom-shown version with George C. Scott playing the part of Ebenezer Scrooge. And then there’s the Grinch, Frosty, Emmett Otter and other assorted animated treats.

I never understood why the television networks keep insisting that Jimmy Stewart’s It’s A Wonderful Life is everybody’s favorite. Once was enough for me on that one. Maybe technically it was a good performance, but I don’t spend the time to view it every year.

But I’ve never heard anybody say that don’t like Jean Shepherd’s A Christmas Story that follows Ralphie Parker and his family through their travails getting ready for the Big Day. I believe that it is moving up into #1 on the Christmas favorites list for many people. Everybody who was a boy before they grew up can relate to Ralphie’s adventures and his frustration at wishing for a Red Ryder B-B gun.

The other day, the New York Daily News ran a “Where are they now?” photo feature on the cast members of that movie. They have a gallery of 19 photographs showing “then” and “now” pix of most of them along with a mention of what they’ve been up to since 1983 when the movie was made. You might recall that Darren McGavin passed away two years ago, but most of the others are still in some form of show business. You can view their entertaining story HERE.

Before you get involved in that, though, let’s get this equipment checked out. I’ll get some more coffee going.

Tuning Up the 5-String

Traditional Country and Bluegrass music fans know who Eddie Adcock is, alright. One of the finest and purest banjo players to ever come down the pike, Eddie was born with the gift to play with precision unmatched by any other living banjo player.

Adcock, now 70 yrs. old, started plucking when he was age 7 and left his home in Scottsville, Virginia, when he was 14 to follow his fate. Playing with several top bands as a teenager, including Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys, he eventually became nationally famous with a contemporary bluegrass group known as the Country Gentlemen. For the last 30-plus years, though, he has been performing almost exclusively with his wife Martha as a duo.

Back in 1990 a small tremor started in his right hand, a near-death sentence for a picker. It was small at first, but medication didn’t seem to help. Eddie found out that consuming alcohol would calm the tremors when he had to perform. For somebody who doesn’t drink and doesn’t even like beer, this was an ordeal. But when he had a show he would drink 3 or 4 beers and play. He told WTOC-TV reporter Melanie Ruberti:

“In 1993, I had to start drinking to play,” said Eddie. “It started out with two or three beers and ended up six or seven beers and I don’t like beer. I don’t even like booze. I was between a rock and a hard place.”

But the more shows he did, the more alcohol he had to drink.

“On those days, I was 10, 11, 12 beers,” said Eddie. “So how long is a man my age going to live like that?”

Enter now the world-renowned neurological surgery team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. They have been performing and improving on a brain surgery technique that is described by his wife Martha:

The three-part surgery, termed Deep Brain Stimulation, involved implantation of electrodes into the brain as well as insertion of a palm-sized battery-powered generator within the chest wall, plus lead wires to connect the two. The technologically-advanced procedure was performed in multiple stages over the month of August in Nashville, Tennessee, at Vanderbilt Medical Center, a teaching and research hospital which is a world leader in neurological studies and surgeries.

Those neurosurgeons were eager to operate on Eddie, with his life-long high level of musical accomplishment and the unique requirements related to his fine motor skills. During the brain-implantation stage of the surgery, he was kept conscious in order to be able to play his Deering GoodTime banjo and assist the team of surgeons in directing the fine-tuning of their placement of electrodes in the brain — an operating-room ‘first’.

This remarkable operation was video-recorded and a portion of the tape has been released to the public by the hospital. By using local anaesthetics, the doctors kept Eddie awake while they connected the four electrodes to the brain cells where the tremors were generated. But they had to experiment and move the electrodes around until they found the exact spots to implant them. So they would have Eddie do some picking and let them know if he was able to make the moves he wanted to. As you will see in the video, they try a spot and then Eddie strums and tells them how it’s going. They keep moving around until everything is just right.

The operations were performed in August of this year and appeared to be successful as Adcock healed from the surgery. Then in October they “turned him on,” activating the pacemaker-like box implanted in his chest and set up the signal strengths. Now the self-styled “Bionic Banjo Man” is playing as skilfully as he ever did and back to touring again. “I haven’t quit creating,” he said. “I write new tunes, I write new songs. I’m not nearly done yet.” A real testament to what a man can endure to maintain perfection.

Now let’s see if we can maintain our equipment about as well and check it out this morning. I’ll go see if I can improve on the coffee (probably not).

I noticed that FirefighterNation (http://www.firefighternation.com/) has gone over the 27,000 members mark and will soon be knocking on the 30 thousand door. That’s quite an achievement, especially when you take into account that they’ve been online for only 18 or 20 months, I think. If I’m not mistaken, there are about 32 thousand individual fire depts. in the U. S. Toss in the independent rescue squads and however many FD’s there are in Canada and they’re getting close to averaging a member for every department.

Yes, I know. There are many depts. that have several FN members while hundreds have none. I’m just talking numbers here. I don’t know how I got onto this anyway. You want numbers? How about this: Washington-3, Boston-1.

* * * * *

You know about those wartime re-enactment groups that go around staging old battles and soldierly events? Well, it looks like maybe some people are into historic firefighting re-enactments, too. I came across this video that was made to look old and got a kick out of it. I see a new hobby springing up, major fire re-enactments. SPAAMFAA chapters getting together at a ghost town to stage the Great Chicago Fire. You laugh? Just wait and see!

* * * * *

We’re going all around Robin Hood’s barn this morning. I’ve got a sporadic day ahead, including a trip to the post office with an armload of parcels. But somewhere I’ll settle down and get serious. Before I can do that, I have to get some more coffee. I’ll go start a fresh pot while you get the equipment checked out. See you in the day room in a little bit.

We’re finally getting a break from that unseasonal cold weather that covered my part of the world for the past two weeks.  Today it’s supposed to get up into the 60’s.  In fact, it already has … it’s 61º at 6 am.  I’ll take it.  I’ve got some windows that have to be washed, so I guess I’ll have to tackle that chore today, even though it’s raining.  Ugh.

Watching the videos and looking at the photos taken at various emergency incidents I see everybody wearing their new safety vests, including the police officers.  While it’s true that emergency workers are more visible now, I doubt that it will suddenly turn bad drivers into good drivers and stop them from plowing into accident scenes.

Instead of addressing the real problem - people who can’t drive - bureaucrats keep coming up with more requirements for the potential victims to follow.  Remember when the “lime green” paint fad came through?  Self-appointed “experts” told us that the reason people crashed into  fire engines was because they can’t see the color red very well.  So, many departments started painting their trucks with the lime color (that fades after 3 years) and we found out that people still drove into parked fire engines.

It all started several years ago when most states adopted a policy of handing out driver’s licenses to any warm-blooded creature that walks on its hind legs.  Driving skills, knowledge, responsibility don’t matter any more.  Just get out there and drive, baby.  I think better enforcement of the driving laws and returning to requiring people to actually know how to drive before we turn them loose will be a lot more beneficial to everybody’s safety.

Speaking of safety vests, I’m wondering if there’s any good reason not to incorporate the required color scheme right onto our running coats where it will be there all the time?  It would eliminate the need to buy all those vests and then taking time to don them while some poor guy pinned behind the steering wheel waits for you to finish getting dressed.  Just thinking out loud.

Anyway, I have to go start the coffee now.  Let’s get the equipment checked out and then I’ll see you in the day room.

After yesterday’s discussion on the changing delivery modes for news and information, reader John R. asked where will the news be coming from and how reliable will the sources be?

To start with, how reliable are the sources now?  Everybody who has every been involved in an incident that was later covered by a newspaper knows how loose the term “accuracy” is with them.  You read the article and then say, “That’s not what happened!”  You know what I mean.  Even though you realize that all the calls you’ve run are consistently mis-reported, you still read the rest of the paper and believe what they tell you.  Or at least, you know how to filter out the dubious statements that are told.

There’s a headline today on an Associated Press story about some rioting going on in Athens, Greece.  It reads, “Students throw rocks at police stations.”  Now we know that these rioters aren’t students.  But in the portion of space occupied byt the AP, any young men in the 20 to 30 yr. age bracket that are on the streets committing criminal acts are automatically identified as “students.”  So we just snort and keep on reading.

As far as where the news sources of the future will be, we have talked in the past about the rapidly-changing operations of many television news organizations.  They are out there, on the scene of the incident, and with today’s satellite technology they are sending out live videos of events in progress.  And they are posting their stories on web sites.  And sharing them with us.

There will always be news-gathering organizations.  There are people who really want to do that stuff, and most of them are committed to being as accurate as possible.  If they can find a way to do it and make money from it, they will keep on doing it.  It’s just that the whole process is undergoing a sea change in how the information is disseminated to the public.

What the reader needs to be comfortable with is the reliability of the website that is serving up the news stories.  Blogs like this one will often get stories, or at least tips, on events that aren’t being covered by major news sources.  When we publish these original stories, we are putting our own reputation out there and it is certainly in our best interest to be as honest and accurate as we can be.  If we lose our credibility, we lose everything.  So it’s your vote that counts.  You know that there are websites that play loose with the facts, so you avoid those if you are looking for valid information.  Just like the newspapers.  Some try hard to be accurate, others are more concerned with entertaining you and not so worried about accuracy.

One thing the blogs have that newspapers don’t is “transparency.”  When the paper makes a mistake, it’s there forever.  If it’s something really major, maybe they’ll run a correction a few days later.  But with a blog, an ethical publisher will make a correction immediately and not hide the mistake.  It will look something like this:  The train crash killed 145 people and destroyed half the town  4 people and caused a tool shed to burn up.  As I said, it’s always the reader who has to decide who is doing the best job in telling them things.

And right now I’m telling you that we have to get this equipment checked out.  I need to start a fresh pot.

Another “crisis” is landing in the field of newspaper operations in the U. S.  (Oh, terrible metaphor, Geeze … ed.  Sorry….FG).  Word going around the news industry says that The Tribune Company, owner of the Chicago Tribune and several other papers including the Los Angeles Times and the Baltimore Sun, has brought in some “bankruptcy advisors” to help it re-organize.  But what most financial experts say is that it really is a way of preparing for a bankruptcy filing, perhaps as soon as this week.

The Tribune Co. was bought last year by real estate entrepreneur Samuel Zell, a man who is filthy rich but knows nothing about the newspaper business.  Through his micro-management the L. A. Times has become an empty shell with hardly any subscriber base and the Chicago Tribune is starving for income as newspapers nationwide are losing advertising revenue which is their sustenance.  Zell bought the company by agreeing to take on its already-huge debt burden which will be demanding a $512 million debt payment in June.  They’re not going to be able to make it.

I’m not going to get into the details of newspaper problems because that would take several pages and isn’t quite our topic of choice here.  But I want to point out that many senior news institutions are on very shaky foundations these days.  The Miami Herald has just been put up for sale and the Associated Press is bleeding customers and laying off 10% of their workers.  The list goes on and on.  Many valid reasons are given, but they all boil down to the fact that people aren’t using them for their news source anymore.

We’ve chatted about this before.  It has to do with the speed, timeliness and convenience of the internet.  With a click here and a click there, people can get whatever information they wish immediately and without having to wait until the next day when the report has already been superceded by more complete findings.

You are part of this information revolution, whether you realize it or not.  One of your curiosities is finding out what’s going on in the fire, rescue and ems universe.  And there’s no place else to go outside the internet.  Nobody goes to the Chicago Tribune to learn about the new SCBA design that is being developed.  Back in May we brought you a STORY of a working building fire in Antarctica.  You didn’t see that in the Toledo Blade.  And you wouldn’t have seen it if it hadn’t been for the internet.

Last week Dave Statter brought the internet specialty coverage to immediacy when he posted a story, complete with write-up, along with a video online of a 2-alarm apartment fire while the fire was still burning.  Of course, these are exceptions right now, but this is the direction that news and information delivery is heading.  And it partly explains why the advertisers are leaving the newspapers.  They are going to where the readers are.  And that’s online.

Now we’ve got to go to where the equipment is and get it checked out for the day.  I’ll make a fresh pot of coffee.