A lot of comments are comparing this to police wearing cameras and while they're both public servants, the situations are very different. Why? Because the majority (if not all) cameras on firefighters (FF's) helmets are owned by the FF. I've not heard of a dept that is actually buying and distributing these. TFA mentions that 2 other big FD's have banned them and the SFFD implicitly banned them in 2009 when all cameras were banned from fire stations.
There has been mild controversy in the fire service over the use of these cameras, mostly related to auto accidents where FF's are likely to see injured or deceased victims.
While these videos can serve a very useful training purpose (and buff privileges), the victim's privacy is obviously a concern. And since the cameras are privately owned, the govt. can't ban them once they've been recorded, but they can ban FF's from using them while carrying out their duties.
Emergency services have a social contract with the general public that isn't examined too often. It's something that isn't taught to recruit classes, but it definitely should be. In exchange for the privilege of being a FF, we agree to help the public (some of us even get paid to do it). What's not clearly defined is whether or not the FF's should serve the public as best as we can. While it seems simple, many FF's succumb to the "good enough" mentality and don't actively seek improvement. The public puts a lot of trust in the emergency services and it only takes small mistakes to damage that trust.
Disclaimer: I am a volunteer FF and I design fire apparatus for a living.
Secondary Disclaimer: The amount of chrome on a fire truck does not improve the fire suppression abilities.
People who put their asses on the line for helping other people deserve the right of making mistakes with impunity in such cases, and video material undermines this impunity.
It's really not as if firefighters are getting rich off their jobs.
While I'm glad you support firefighters, impunity may be a bit much. There is a major problem with complacency in the fire service. On the volunteer side it tends to be "we put the fire out, what more could we do?" Not letting the entire building burn down would be a slight improvement. With the paid guys it's more, "I've done this a million times, it's fine." Usually said right before they have to jump out a window because they didn't pay attention to the fire conditions and got trapped. Either way a lot of firefighters don't feel the need to train or otherwise improve themselves.
A lot of painfully obvious mistakes were made at this incident, some of which were captured on video. Not everything can or should be ignored because they were trying to help people. These are professionals that didn't do their jobs correctly, something needs to happen. You don't have to fire everyone involved, but if you don't acknowledge that things could have been done better, had people done their jobs correctly, then you stand no chance of ever improving your service.
This is probably the best thing that could come of it. Something bad happened (aside from the plane crash) and this is a chance to learn from it and not repeat the same mistakes.
The kickstarter one looks like a holster from one angle and like a purse from another. It definitely doesn't "eliminate the man purse" like it claims. The techslinger one however, looks like a trendy suicide vest.
Remember, this is the same country who's lawmakers like to throw around the term, "assault weapon." If it's a projectile weapon that remotely resembles a gun, then it's too scary for the masses and must be heavily regulated.
On a side note, a bed sheet is not a proper back-stop. And those hipster glasses aren't safety glasses. If you're going to shoot things, do it safely.
I actually had a mechanical engineer as my high school physics teacher and she (yes she) was one of the smartest teachers there. Just a small correction to what you wrote; at the high school level, teachers have a specialty. We took earth science one year, then biology, then chemistry, then physics. In middle school though, they need to know a variety of subjects, but the material isn't as in depth.
disclaimer: I'm a mechanical engineer. Mechanical engineering == best engineering.
This is a few years old, but a pretty good example. It's the first thing I looked for too.
I'm not a native NY-er, but I'm pretty familiar with the city and I'm good with maps. If I need to go from Manhattan to Brooklyn, I know in my head where I'm going on the map. This thing distorts a traditional map so that geographically you're all messed up.
Probably the best thing the MTA can do would be to make separate maps for the different lines or even just the different boroughs. Or just have a friggin' touch-screen kiosk that will tell you what train to get on.
If the govt. were to supply public entertainment that would be socialism on a national level. You wouldn't want that would you? If you don't support the free market and want govt. control over your television, what are you? Some kind of Nazi? Hitler and Goebbels would have a field day with you and your public TV.
He's just another example of people who know very little about guns and want to ban them completely. They think that because they survived so far without having to fire a gun in anger, no one at all has any need to have a gun. They know what's best for us.
SWAT teams are generally operated by municipal police.
You're correct here, but as TFA points out, a lot of the funding for these comes from the Federal Govt. This really exacerbates the problem for several reasons (I see this a lot in the fire industry and in a lot of ways emergency services operate similarly). They get a blank check for a lot of things they don't need. Just the equipment, not the training. So a lot of times they conduct their own training, which usually isn't very good. However, even if it's the best training in the world, they always end up spending too much time with their new toys and not training for things they see every day.
Now remember who paid for these toys? Correct answer: Not the ones playing with them. This creates a really bad sense of entitlement and an extreme lack in fiscal responsibility. Occasionally, we try and talk our customers out of a really expensive option and this one of the best arguments I have for not blowing the taxpayers money on something: "It costs $XYZ. Divide that by the number of times you'll use it during its operational life. Is this a reasonable number?"
Fresh water rivers aren't always exactly clean. I know we're talking about fresh water in general, but it seems like people are getting the idea that fresh water == drinking water. Not the educated, scientist-class of/. per say, but the average shitizen isn't all that good with the big words.
No, the B-1 design belongs to Rockwell. The F-1 design belongs to Rocketdyne. Just because it was built for NASA, doesn't mean that NASA (or by extension, the American people) have any claim to the designs.
This just goes to show how much of a buzzword "drone" has become. The average American fears drones. Why? Because that's what he sees on TV doing all these horrible things. This has become so ingrained that any drone is instantly a boogeyman.
The problem is that the govt is spying on its own people and blowing them up without trials. How they do these things doesn't really matter. The fact that they think it's perfectly OK and don't plan on stopping anytime soon is the problem.
Instead, we have companies like Facebook which don't innovate, they just new ways of data mining, behavioral tracking, and ad-slinging.
That's because Zuckerberg is from NY. We here in the Imperial State are very good at not producing anything new and charging exorbitant sums of money for it.
Apathetic is the best word to describe it. The majority of Americans don't care about anything beyond their town and their next paycheck. Most people aren't concerned at all with "doing the right thing," they just want to do what the govt. tells them. Not sure how to say this without my tinfoil hat, but not everything the govt. does is right. For a long time now, the govt. has been steadily increasing its powers over the citizens and the average person doesn't notice or care.
Heat up the water slowly and the frog won't jump out, detain the frog indefinitely on terrorism charges... the point is bad things happen to the frog.
When I found out my new Toyota had bluetooth that linked to the cars speakers I was happy because I could get rid of that uncomfortable headset and there were even some nice buttons on the steering wheel, so I didn't have to take my hands off the wheel. The cheap headset could connect to multiple phones and would automatically bring up the voice activated menu on each phone. Surely my brand new car bluetooth will function the same way, right? Wrong. It can only connect one phone at a time and cannot work with the phone's menu. No dial by name, no caller ID, no nothing. In order to make a call, I would have to go into the phone, look up a number and hit call. That's just as dangerous as texting.
Why did they waste the time and money developing and installing this? Concentrate on making cars. Make the cars more fuel efficient. Make the cars safer. They shouldn't be an extension of your phone or TV or the internet with wheels.
Focus, auto-industry, focus. (I almost said Detroit, but who are we kidding?)
Not everyone has the same mobile devices and not everyone wants the same level of connectivity to their car. Just have a way of connecting the device to the audio/video in the car and let the device do the work.
At RIT, we (the engineers) had to take at least one class in each of several branches of Liberal Arts; sociology, philosophy, etc. Then we had to go on and do a "concentration" in one of those areas (a few classes short of a minor). I think this worked out well and gave us a very well rounded education. On top of this, our engineering professors stressed a level of ethics in our classes. You were always made to think about the ramifications your actions as an engineer would have on the end users. My concentration was in philosophy and this definitely played into the whole, "Think about why you're doing this and what effects it will have," mentality.
While I may have gone on to work for the military industrial complex, I instead wound up taking a job designing fire trucks. I get a lot of satisfaction knowing that my products save lives and protect property.
On the other hand, I get extremely frustrated when I see my customers waste taxpayer money with pretty much no oversight and no regards to the effectiveness of the truck so long as it wins trophies in the parade, but that's another debate...
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A lot of comments are comparing this to police wearing cameras and while they're both public servants, the situations are very different. Why? Because the majority (if not all) cameras on firefighters (FF's) helmets are owned by the FF. I've not heard of a dept that is actually buying and distributing these. TFA mentions that 2 other big FD's have banned them and the SFFD implicitly banned them in 2009 when all cameras were banned from fire stations.
There has been mild controversy in the fire service over the use of these cameras, mostly related to auto accidents where FF's are likely to see injured or deceased victims.
While these videos can serve a very useful training purpose (and buff privileges), the victim's privacy is obviously a concern. And since the cameras are privately owned, the govt. can't ban them once they've been recorded, but they can ban FF's from using them while carrying out their duties.
Emergency services have a social contract with the general public that isn't examined too often. It's something that isn't taught to recruit classes, but it definitely should be. In exchange for the privilege of being a FF, we agree to help the public (some of us even get paid to do it). What's not clearly defined is whether or not the FF's should serve the public as best as we can. While it seems simple, many FF's succumb to the "good enough" mentality and don't actively seek improvement. The public puts a lot of trust in the emergency services and it only takes small mistakes to damage that trust.
Disclaimer: I am a volunteer FF and I design fire apparatus for a living.
Secondary Disclaimer: The amount of chrome on a fire truck does not improve the fire suppression abilities.
People who put their asses on the line for helping other people deserve the right of making mistakes with impunity in such cases, and video material undermines this impunity.
It's really not as if firefighters are getting rich off their jobs.
While I'm glad you support firefighters, impunity may be a bit much. There is a major problem with complacency in the fire service. On the volunteer side it tends to be "we put the fire out, what more could we do?" Not letting the entire building burn down would be a slight improvement. With the paid guys it's more, "I've done this a million times, it's fine." Usually said right before they have to jump out a window because they didn't pay attention to the fire conditions and got trapped. Either way a lot of firefighters don't feel the need to train or otherwise improve themselves.
A lot of painfully obvious mistakes were made at this incident, some of which were captured on video. Not everything can or should be ignored because they were trying to help people. These are professionals that didn't do their jobs correctly, something needs to happen. You don't have to fire everyone involved, but if you don't acknowledge that things could have been done better, had people done their jobs correctly, then you stand no chance of ever improving your service.
This is probably the best thing that could come of it. Something bad happened (aside from the plane crash) and this is a chance to learn from it and not repeat the same mistakes.
The kickstarter one looks like a holster from one angle and like a purse from another. It definitely doesn't "eliminate the man purse" like it claims. The techslinger one however, looks like a trendy suicide vest.
Remember, this is the same country who's lawmakers like to throw around the term, "assault weapon." If it's a projectile weapon that remotely resembles a gun, then it's too scary for the masses and must be heavily regulated.
On a side note, a bed sheet is not a proper back-stop. And those hipster glasses aren't safety glasses. If you're going to shoot things, do it safely.
I actually had a mechanical engineer as my high school physics teacher and she (yes she) was one of the smartest teachers there. Just a small correction to what you wrote; at the high school level, teachers have a specialty. We took earth science one year, then biology, then chemistry, then physics. In middle school though, they need to know a variety of subjects, but the material isn't as in depth.
disclaimer: I'm a mechanical engineer. Mechanical engineering == best engineering.
This is a few years old, but a pretty good example. It's the first thing I looked for too.
I'm not a native NY-er, but I'm pretty familiar with the city and I'm good with maps. If I need to go from Manhattan to Brooklyn, I know in my head where I'm going on the map. This thing distorts a traditional map so that geographically you're all messed up.
Probably the best thing the MTA can do would be to make separate maps for the different lines or even just the different boroughs. Or just have a friggin' touch-screen kiosk that will tell you what train to get on.
If the govt. were to supply public entertainment that would be socialism on a national level. You wouldn't want that would you? If you don't support the free market and want govt. control over your television, what are you? Some kind of Nazi? Hitler and Goebbels would have a field day with you and your public TV.
He's just another example of people who know very little about guns and want to ban them completely. They think that because they survived so far without having to fire a gun in anger, no one at all has any need to have a gun. They know what's best for us.
SWAT teams are generally operated by municipal police.
You're correct here, but as TFA points out, a lot of the funding for these comes from the Federal Govt. This really exacerbates the problem for several reasons (I see this a lot in the fire industry and in a lot of ways emergency services operate similarly). They get a blank check for a lot of things they don't need. Just the equipment, not the training. So a lot of times they conduct their own training, which usually isn't very good. However, even if it's the best training in the world, they always end up spending too much time with their new toys and not training for things they see every day.
Now remember who paid for these toys? Correct answer: Not the ones playing with them. This creates a really bad sense of entitlement and an extreme lack in fiscal responsibility. Occasionally, we try and talk our customers out of a really expensive option and this one of the best arguments I have for not blowing the taxpayers money on something: "It costs $XYZ. Divide that by the number of times you'll use it during its operational life. Is this a reasonable number?"
Fresh water rivers aren't always exactly clean. I know we're talking about fresh water in general, but it seems like people are getting the idea that fresh water == drinking water. Not the educated, scientist-class of /. per say, but the average shitizen isn't all that good with the big words.
No, the B-1 design belongs to Rockwell. The F-1 design belongs to Rocketdyne. Just because it was built for NASA, doesn't mean that NASA (or by extension, the American people) have any claim to the designs.
This just goes to show how much of a buzzword "drone" has become. The average American fears drones. Why? Because that's what he sees on TV doing all these horrible things. This has become so ingrained that any drone is instantly a boogeyman.
The problem is that the govt is spying on its own people and blowing them up without trials. How they do these things doesn't really matter. The fact that they think it's perfectly OK and don't plan on stopping anytime soon is the problem.
They could just walk right in. This is another case of the TSA focusing on something stupid instead of a plausible threat.
a case of security is good but charging for valet parking is better?
Not only did we park your car, but we made sure someone didn't sneak 4 tons of explosives in it for free! Don't you feel safer, America?
Loud, scary noises must be tightly regulated.
Instead, we have companies like Facebook which don't innovate, they just new ways of data mining, behavioral tracking, and ad-slinging.
That's because Zuckerberg is from NY. We here in the Imperial State are very good at not producing anything new and charging exorbitant sums of money for it.
They'll keep doing it if it means short-term rewards for their investors. Management making poor tech decisions is something that is to be expected.
Apathetic is the best word to describe it. The majority of Americans don't care about anything beyond their town and their next paycheck. Most people aren't concerned at all with "doing the right thing," they just want to do what the govt. tells them. Not sure how to say this without my tinfoil hat, but not everything the govt. does is right. For a long time now, the govt. has been steadily increasing its powers over the citizens and the average person doesn't notice or care.
Heat up the water slowly and the frog won't jump out, detain the frog indefinitely on terrorism charges... the point is bad things happen to the frog.
Video from TFA said that the back up system was never tested. So, who's right?
When I found out my new Toyota had bluetooth that linked to the cars speakers I was happy because I could get rid of that uncomfortable headset and there were even some nice buttons on the steering wheel, so I didn't have to take my hands off the wheel. The cheap headset could connect to multiple phones and would automatically bring up the voice activated menu on each phone. Surely my brand new car bluetooth will function the same way, right? Wrong. It can only connect one phone at a time and cannot work with the phone's menu. No dial by name, no caller ID, no nothing. In order to make a call, I would have to go into the phone, look up a number and hit call. That's just as dangerous as texting.
Why did they waste the time and money developing and installing this? Concentrate on making cars. Make the cars more fuel efficient. Make the cars safer. They shouldn't be an extension of your phone or TV or the internet with wheels.
Focus, auto-industry, focus. (I almost said Detroit, but who are we kidding?)
Not everyone has the same mobile devices and not everyone wants the same level of connectivity to their car. Just have a way of connecting the device to the audio/video in the car and let the device do the work.
NnnnoooooOOOOOoooooooooo!!!!!!
you left out "assault weapon"
for the public record.
For the super secret anti-terrorism record, you mean.
At RIT, we (the engineers) had to take at least one class in each of several branches of Liberal Arts; sociology, philosophy, etc. Then we had to go on and do a "concentration" in one of those areas (a few classes short of a minor). I think this worked out well and gave us a very well rounded education. On top of this, our engineering professors stressed a level of ethics in our classes. You were always made to think about the ramifications your actions as an engineer would have on the end users. My concentration was in philosophy and this definitely played into the whole, "Think about why you're doing this and what effects it will have," mentality.
While I may have gone on to work for the military industrial complex, I instead wound up taking a job designing fire trucks. I get a lot of satisfaction knowing that my products save lives and protect property.
On the other hand, I get extremely frustrated when I see my customers waste taxpayer money with pretty much no oversight and no regards to the effectiveness of the truck so long as it wins trophies in the parade, but that's another debate...