Although it has been “the Fire Department” almost forever, it may be time to consider a rebranding effort because the scope of the fire service has changed dramatically.
This morning, a first chapter of a proposed book and a description of where it goes as the data is rolled out. And subscribers will have an opportunity to send a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” on whether the book is warranted.
First, though, we look at some mighty bothersome data from the Federal Reserve and a few headlines before marching into Chapter 1.
More for Subscribers ||| SUBSCRIBE NOW! ||| Subscriber Help Center
Inverse Chart – How many NASDAQ’s to buy the Dow. How about breaking it up into two charts. The NASDASQ 100 & The Russell 2000. This would give an insight into the large techs vs. the small stocks. It would give a better view of what is driving the market – Big Caps or Small Caps.
your new website format is causing some problems with my browser locking up. Not sure if anyone else is having trouble? The general error I’m getting is pointing to ajax.cloudflare and sr.ads. Not sure it that helps at all-didn’t have time to troubleshoot
Which browser OS? We test with everything and now issues – rebooted?
Running older equipment. Using MS-XP and Firefox 48.0.2
Is the error I described possibly due to that?
(Maybe I’m taking the Ure “Lexus Principal” too far? (great equipment, but getting a little long in the tooth??))
So far you’re the only one reporting the error…Firefox is on V 53 now…
Interesting idea, George. However, not all fire departments are in big cities/urban areas. One thing that should be mentioned is all the volunteer departments that exist in the country. Without them, all the professionals would be overwhelmed. Which also brings up an unspoken topic about the ‘professionals’ bias toward the volunteers. A lot of this is due to departments being unionized, and the related problems (jobs etc.)that are associated with that. I’m not knocking the pros, they do a job above and beyond what most of us can imagine. However, what seems to be forgotten is that all departments started as volunteers, who also have, in most cases, a regular job. Another thing might be the consolidation of numerous urban fire districts into larger ones. Up here in Washington state, a lot of the urban districts have joined together for financial reasons, as well as better coverage. Keep up the good work.
You asked:
“Do you think the book has general interest and would it sell? Or, is it a nice memoir of a period of personal history in Seattle that won’t mean much outside a narrow audience?”
I would suspect it would be the latter.
Regarding the book… Go for it! Yes there will be a narrow audience that will gobble it up I’d think, but, if written in your normal conversational manner (with close checking for spelling and grammar) I suspect it would appeal to other groups as well. After reading this I’m starting to get an itch to write about my 36 years in the same industry as well.
Any career field that has a long history and well tended roots (and a sense of family) will have legends, deeply held values, and tons of stories that are entertaining or interesting to whomever is reading. Be it aviation or fire fighting there’s always an audience that will appreciate reading about those seemingly small things that an insider cherishes and those on the outside find fascinating.
Sometimes books like this one can even propel stories or legends well beyond the inner circle where they’ve thrived for decades – if written well. Mark Twain somehow seems appropriate as a comparison.
Personally I don`t believe you`re Fire Department
book would have general interest. Something like The Fireman`s Diet Book or Fireman`s Cookbook etc.. would have a better shot.
As for would it sell? Probably only to persons in that line of work.
use the John Reese method where you categorize everything and every time you put anything in the publication it’s categorized and you have the ability to no just by changing one word or even a comma weather drawing in more customers, sucess comes from being storm-proof and the way you do that is to research and the way you do that is you identify each and every time you change a keyword and everything that you advertised whether it’s on the internet and each and every time you change something on a billboard you keep a record of that so that you know how many responses you’re getting from that particular application that is the secret to success in advertising or I should say one of the secrets there’s a whole bunch of them out there
Rate non-hike or rate-cut (I expect both) plus QE (which I also expect in th end) will give us our blow off top, so still plenty of room to the upside in my opinion.
Story enjoyable, interesting, readable. For those that like interesting, historical books with multi-decade spans, I think it will be a good read & is worth a publish. Not just for industry types (I have no connection but found it to be very interesting nonetheless).
Hello George,
The reporting in Germany on the Women20 “Ivanka” episope was about 50/50 between “Boos” and “Grumbling” depending on the slant of the newspaper/broadcast. But in general it was second-tier compared to “Trump’s 100 days” and the French elections.
Expat living in Bavaria
The fundamental question is “do you want to write it?” It has both your family and personal history involved, so there’s certainly some appeal there for you. Would it be a money maker compared to other options? Probably not.
I read the posted chapter and the TOC. As a generalist that appreciates all technology and techniques, I do have some interest, and of course I like your writing. I’d definitely read the book if you finished writing it, though I’m ambivalent about fire departments. I was actually a volunteer for a short time. I was fine with working fires, but the departmental socializing was challenging and, IMHO, a waste of time. I much prefer to handle my own problems independently, and I’d never call a department except in the direst emergency. I feel the same way about EMS and police. All these services seem far too invasive and it’s better to avoid them when possible by having my own act together.
Some of the headings in the TOC are just chilling. They actually make me feel very UNsafe. I want to know that any fire/EMS function will be limited to the minimum necessary to eliminate public danger, and that my autonomy with respect to personal risk is maintained. I’ve seen too many situations where an individual choice is overruled, or someone is dragged off protesting to a hospital or ejected from their damaged home – “just in case”.
Should you write the book? I doubt it would make money from a broad audience, but I do think many readers and subscribers would be interested. Perhaps it would have broader interest if you could fill in the roles of volunteer departments, wildland fires and their management, and other specialties that you might know of.