Worth it....

What the History channel has to say about Xmas

Y'all come back now... [again]

Dictionary [oxford]
y'all |yôl|
contraction of
you-all.

you-all |ˈyoō ˌôl; yôl| (also y'all)
pronoun dialect
(in the southern U.S.) you (used to refer to more than one person) : how are you-all?

One of the things that started bugging me about the English language was the inconsistent plural "you". Other languages differentiate between the singular and plural forms of you, why don't we? For example, the famous song "voulez-vous couchez avec moi c'est soire" is actually a reasonably gross misuse of the french language. 'Vous' is the french formal or plural form of the word You, and one would never use it to propose sex. However, I imagine that "Veux-tu couchez avec moi" just didn't have the same bounce. You see, "Tu" is the singular or informal method of using You. The formal and informal seems to stem from the Royal "We", where royalty speaking in a formal sense would refer to themselves as the representative of their fiefdom, and therefor spoke as the entire realm "We". The formal You (or Vous) responded to the plural first person with a plural second person.

But english doesn't have anything like this. So we're stuck saying stupid repetitions of the same word and trying to parse things our contextually. For Example, say you're talking to Bob, who's with his family, and they're all wearing Raider's hats at a football game. You might find your self saying "You and I should get a beer, but not until you come over and meet my family, then we can watch you loose to the Cowboys." Without some gestures, such a sentence is a bit confusing.

So, I have adopted the word: y'all. It's the only current, modern english form of the plural You. It's a contraction of you-all, and a strange one at that. Some people mistakenly try to contract it as ya'll, like you would with he'll (he will). But that's not it. In fact if you were going to contract that way, it would be at least yo'll, which is a bit too close to you'll (you will). Nope, it's y'all , the second person plural pronoun for me. So, let's take it back to Bob: "You and I should get a beer, but not until y'all come over and meet my family, then we can watch y'all loose to the Cowboys." It still falls short differentiating between plural inclusive and plural exclusive, But it at least clears one thing up:
"[Do] y'all want to sleep with me tonight?"
Clearly the song is a proposal for group sex ... :)

So, formally
y'all |yôl|
contraction of you-all.
pronoun [ second person singular ]
used to refer to the people that the speaker is addressing : Y'all come back now.

Have fun with it y'all, but don't you even think of over using it... :)

Xmas List

So, despite shaking off the last remnants of Catholicism, I still feel something for Xmas. And as I look at my calendar, I notice that it's a national holiday. Yes, that's right, it's a Secular, non-religious, government approved holiday. And if you look at the history of christmas, you'll see that it pretty much is an american concoction.

The term "Christ- mass" was applied to the Saturnalia/Yule/Solstice celebrations, despite the overwhelming biblical evidence indicating that it wasn't the time of year that Jesus was supposedly born. Clearly this time of year was borrowed. Also, the various christian churches have disavowed the holiday several times. But don't take my word, look it up...

*sigh* So, this makes Xmas essentially a Hallmark Holiday. It may have started as a way to ethically find a way to spoil the kids a little, during creatively oppressive times. But now, marketing has taken it to a very dark place.

So, I'm gonna take things in a [hopefully] new direction. Here's my Xmas list this year.
#1 Give a bum a dollar.
#2 Give a bum more than a dollar and send me a card saying so.
#3 Give your car a thorough tune-up and make sure the tires are filled.
#4 Start a carpool at work.
#5 Spend a day hugging everyone you see
#6 Toss someone a mercy fvck.
#7 Spend a day working to make the world a better place.
#8 Find someone you'd normally ignore and have an extended conversation with them.

Call or email me the results.
Thanks.

There's a new fire guild in town.

For those of you who've seen this:
people.tribe.net/quin/blog
Yes, I know about it.

Yes, I know it could be taken as a back handed slap at me. Though I'm assured that wasn't the intention.

I'm not going to be participating in this and I think my local friends need to know why.

"Been there, done that"
Several years ago, I co-organized NAFAA and the local chapter guild 'Hearthfire'. It was torn apart. Probably for the same general reasons that almost every other fire organization has failed. And if I knew what those reasons are, I might try to help avoid them. I can point to the petty inter-personal politics that had nothing to do with the group, but in the end, I think it's just a matter of ego. Not really in a bad way, just that you need a strong ego to spin fire in the first place and when you get a room full of them, they often collide. But what may be the most important part is that I remember the years it took to write the nafaa code, the $1000s of dollars I spent researching and educating fire departments, and the difficulty I had keeping together over 500 active members of NAFAA. I don't want to start all over again. I'm way done with fire politics.

"Fact and fright"
If you glance over the invitation to the group, you'll see first that they're using scare tactics to get members to join. This is not a healthy way to start anything, Just look at the Bush Administration. But, also, they're working from snippets of reality without first getting the whole; getting the facts. I'm not sure I can, nor want to, work with people who will build from gossip as their foundation.

"Not enough time"
I'm falling behind on my personal schedule for Red Swan. There's a ton of work I haven't done on the website and 100 phone calls to make after I do. We're still getting jobs in, and we haven't really started on our planned programs. Now, Red Swan is something I completely believe in. I think it can go very far, but can also help place the fire community in much higher standing than back yard birthdays, and mistreated rave nuisances. Our goal is to provide the fire community with avenues that not only pay well, but pay regularly. We'd love to see people *making a living* at fire performance rather than just have it as a weekend gig-thing. So, if I don't have enough time for something I really believe in, I certainly don't have the time for something I'm dubious about.

"Convenience"
And, of course, They're holding this meeting on a Wednesday. While it's true that there are 3 people who can run the park, it still feels like an imposition to ask. But more importantly, I like going to burn club. Why would I want to give up Doing fire to Talk about fire? Seems counter-productive.

So, should this be taken as my suggestion to avoid this group? No. In the end of it all, I see one of two things happening. Either the forces that killed so many other fire guilds apart will do the same here. In which case, I will have wasted time and effort. Or something solid, factual and beneficial will happen. And if *I'm* part of it, people will probably look to me to make that happen. I've spend the time in research, I've attended quarterly 9am meetings on weekdays, I've distributed enough DVDs that my drive finally died on this very machine, I've talked city after city into using the NAFAA code so that it's easier to get permits in LA, possible to get them at all in Santa Monica, and easier to get them in Orange County. I have fought against the tides of bureaucratic red tape and the insipid fears of our community long enough. Time for other people to stand up. Maybe Ty and Rebecca will start showing up regularly at SAFFE meetings, maybe Fire Groove will get serious about fire safety, heck, maybe Josh will step up as a community leader, Who Knows? But the point is, it will be less likely for someone else to step up if I'm still active.

I'm stepping out of this guild in hopes that people will actually READ the NAFAA regs, even the annotated version. I'm hoping that other people will devote time and money to researching the deeper truths about fire performance. I'm hoping that in a large group, someone will grow a pair and bother to ask other people about the whole story instead of convenient little snippets. I'm hoping that the LA fire community won't continue to lean on me as the sole source of fire safety info and starts doing some of this work in an organized and distributed manner. And, of course, I'm hoping that they'll deliver this information to the NAFAA site for posing in the wiki. :)

So, If you've read this far, just sign your name at the top of your answer sheet and turn it in whistling. I thank you for putting up with my ramblings. Also, I might add that by getting this far, you have the makings for the kind of person I'm talking about here. Maybe you should join this guild just to help keep their facts straight for them. :) Don't worry, I don't have a problem with anyone else joining up.... ;)


[oh, and for the record, this definition:]
ego |ˈēgō|
noun ( pl. egos)
• Psychoanalysis: the part of the mind that mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for reality testing and a sense of personal identity. Compare with id and superego .

An open letter to the fire community

8 months ago, i was requested to build a bullet point list for fire marshals who would be inspecting fire performers in the So. Cal. area. I feel that I was VERY public in this notice as well as in the request for assistance in this endeavor. I posted it on the NAFAA list, and in my blog
and to anyone who would listen. But the response was still pretty minimal and we did the best that we could.

Here are the results.
Basically the NAFAA regs with a few points removed and worded from the other side of the permit.

An LA county fire marshal took notice of these and asked to have a meeting about them. I posted this too.

So, today, I get a call from... let's say, a 'concerned community member' ... asking if the was a way we could get the bullet point list on the NAFAA site annotated before the County marshall implements his version. *Sigh* i was torn between two forces.

First, yeah, that's the whole point of NAFAA and the intermediary position I've taken between the fire performance community and the fire suppression community.

On the other hand, NAFFA has been around for SEVEN YEARS, the performer safety guidelines have been in place for FIVE YEARS, the current version for TWO YEARS, the bullet points for EIGHT MONTHS, and it is now fully FOUR MONTHS *after* the meeting with this guy. ITS A LITTLE GODDAMN LATE.

What's worse is that the community started chittering about this, held secret meetings about it, and have been spreading rumors for four months WITHOUT EVER ONCE ASKING ME THE DETAILS!!!!!! People are "voicing concerns" about this line item or that one, without ever asking ANY of the following questions:
1) Will the bullet point list get implemented whole-cloth by the county? The answer is No. Several points were crossed off during the meeting and the ENTIRE thing will definitely be reworded. Honestly, I don't remember the details, but a lot of the items were not adopted. But i can say that he definitely wasn't interested in a lot of the performer-directed safety items like costuming.
2) Will this be law, or change the laws in cities that have their own fire departments? No, it's classified as training materials, its not code, nor law, but just a step down from policy. Individual departments will still write the permits, they'll just have a uniform guideline from which to start. And other county departments like LA City, Santa Monica, Culver City, etc won't be affected at all. This can only have an effect in these cities.
3) Was I pushing to have the whole thing implemented? No, I entered the meeting looking to keep the regulations down as much as possible. I went to explain things. For example, I clarified the audience separation items. And I think he got it. He really got it. In case no one remembers, I used to pull people into my act to display the safety of the sword. My audience separation was measured in millimeters. But, when we're talking about spinning tools, yeah, I think there should be -some- separation. Fire eating, not so much. Drunk wild crowds, yeah, separation, sitting at dinner tables, not so much. Etc.
4) Is the fire marshall still open to input about this matter? We covered a lot of ground, he took a lot of notes, he might be completely done with it. Besides, how is he gonna feel about a gaggle of 'fire artists' whining that they want to wear feathers or sit in the audience while they breathe fire? *sigh*

Is it really so hard to say, "Hey, what's up with that?" Drop an email, make a phone call, or just post it on Tribe.... sheesh. And how delusional do you have to be to hold a meeting, represent it as something I put together but couldn't attend, and then expect it not to get back to me? Heck I knew about it before it happened (though, it did take a couple of weeks before I was told that I was being represented as part of it).


Here's a couple of suggestions for our community of daredevils:
1) If someone is publicly taking action to make your life easier, and you're not willing to help in any way, don't be surprised when those actions affect you. In short, if you don't vote, don't bitch.
2) If you have a real problem with someone, do whatever your spineless little ass needs to do to sort it out with them privately before making public drama about it.
3) Get your fuggin facts straight. And not just about this. That's a NAFAA credo. Learn about your art, get interested in it, find out about other cities, states and countries. Take an hour out to ask someone from some very different place what they have to go through to perform, the fuels they use, move names, etc. Take a couple of minutes out of a weekday morning and call a fire department and ask if they know anything about fire arts. Offer to educate them if they don't. Get their permitting procedure if they do.

Come on folks. There's a whole system of fire prevention out there. It's legally sanctioned by the laws of the land, and have the full backing of the constitution. DO NOT treat them like an enemy. You really don't want them as an enemy. And if you don't work with them, they won't work with, or for, you.

-Grumpy Tedward
NAFAA.org webmaster

Mac-less

I finally took my mac in for repair. It took me two tries to get someone to take my machine in for repair. The Grove is quite a bit deeper into the rampant consumerism than I'd like to see again.

Anyway, I'mstuck with my laptop, so I won't be checking mail for a bit. I'll be keeping Bearclaw running, but I only need web access to do that, and the new iPADD takes care of most of that.

iPADD

Star Trek the next generation introduced something they called the PADD, or personal access data device. Like most of the ST gadgets it was both cool and practical. Basically it was a 1/4" thick, plastic (looking) data reader with those fabulous dynamic touch screens so common on the Enterprise D. It could hold mountains of technical sheets, have research libraries uploaded to it, display graphics, music, whatever.

And Like so many of the star Trek ideas, this one has been brought to life by Apple. The iPod Touch/iPhone pretty much IS that device. Upload movies, music, perform web searches, dynamic resizing of the screen, touch screen, etc, etc, etc. I feel kinda sad for SF writers in the modern day. Back in the 50s, all the cool gadgets they could come up with took decades to arrive. Now, many of them are going into prototyping before the paperback is printed.

If you get the opportunity, watch a campy little discovery channel production called "How William Shatner Changed the World" It goes over the influence that Star Trek has had on a myriad of High Tech stuff, mostly though interviews with the people who invented the things.