Reporter - Jason Hibbs
Photojournalist - Mark Owen
OBION COUNTY, Tenn. - Imagine your home catches fire but the local fire department won't respond, then watches it burn. That's exactly what happened to a local family tonight.
A local neighborhood is furious after firefighters watched as an Obion County, Tennessee, home burned to the ground.
The homeowner, Gene Cranick, said he offered to pay whatever it would take for firefighters to put out the flames, but was told it was too late. They wouldn't do anything to stop his house from burning.
Each year, Obion County residents must pay $75 if they want fire protection from the city of South Fulton. But the Cranicks did not pay.
The mayor said if homeowners don't pay, they're out of luck.
This fire went on for hours because garden hoses just wouldn't put it out. It wasn't until that fire spread to a neighbor's property, that anyone would respond.
Turns out, the neighbor had paid the fee.
"I thought they'd come out and put it out, even if you hadn't paid your $75, but I was wrong," said Gene Cranick.
Because of that, not much is left of Cranick's house.
They called 911 several times, and initially the South Fulton Fire Department would not come.
The Cranicks told 9-1-1 they would pay firefighters, whatever the cost, to stop the fire before it spread to their house.
"When I called I told them that. My grandson had already called there and he thought that when I got here I could get something done, I couldn't," Paulette Cranick.
It was only when a neighbor's field caught fire, a neighbor who had paid the county fire service fee, that the department responded. Gene Cranick asked the fire chief to make an exception and save his home, the chief wouldn't.
We asked him why.
He wouldn't talk to us and called police to have us escorted off the property. Police never came but firefighters quickly left the scene. Meanwhile, the Cranick home continued to burn.
We asked the mayor of South Fulton if the chief could have made an exception.
"Anybody that's not in the city of South Fulton, it's a service we offer, either they accept it or they don't," Mayor David Crocker said.
Friends and neighbors said it's a cruel and dangerous city policy but the Cranicks don't blame the firefighters themselves. They blame the people in charge.
"They're doing their job," Paulette Cranick said of the firefighters. "They're doing what they are told to do. It's not their fault."
To give you an idea of just how intense the feelings got in this situation, soon after the fire department returned to the station, the Obion County Sheriff's Department said someone went there and assaulted one of the firefighters.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Firefighters watch as home burns to the ground | WPSD Local 6
Monday, October 4, 2010
Samsung Intercept Hits Virgin Mobile Today for $249
As expected, Virgin Mobile has dropped all the juicy price and release details for its first Android handset, the Samsung Intercept. First seen bearing the Sprint logo earlier this summer, the 3.2-megapixel, WQVGA Intercept is a landscape-oriented QWERTY slider that will retail for $250 (no contract subsidies on pre-paid networks, folks) on any of Virgin's three service bundles (all of which include unlimited text messages and data usage). Virgin's Samsung Intercept goes on sale today at Target locations around the country, and will roll out to other retailers throughout the remainder of the month.
Friday, October 1, 2010
BlindType acquired by Google, Android typists grin uncontrollably -- Engadget
The note's short and sweet, but it confirms that Google's buying spree is still on -- BlindType was just acquired by the Big G. If you'll recall, we were wowed back in July by the software's ability to predict words regardless of how text was inputted, and it seems as if a few bigwigs within Google were as well. It's unclear what Google's Android team plans to do with its newfound IP, but you shouldn't have to strain your imagination too hard to hazard a guess. As for the BlindType team? They're "excited to join Google, and look forward to the great opportunities for mobile innovation that lie ahead." Likewise, folks... likewise.
Mary Carillo's Badminton Rant During Athens Olympics Is EPIC (VIDEO)
In 2004, while anchoring the Summer Olympics in Athens, sportscaster Mary Carillo began explaining to the audience, during a break in the action, the differences between the badminton that families play in their backyard and the sport that the "bad boys of badminton play" at the professional level.
It's all rather innocuous until Carillo reaches the differences between the shuttlecocks that the two groups use. It's then that she experiences some kind of nightmarish shuttlecock flashback and the whole broadcast starts to unravel very quickly.
For Carillo, playing badminton with your family is not a fun summer activity in the yard. It's a horror show.
Someone's turned on the hose. Suddenly, badminton's a water sport. They're trying to get this thing down with the hose. And somehow, mothers from all over the neighborhood hear that badminton is being played at Mary's house; they're dropping off their kids -- they know it's an all day affair! They know it's going to involve 17 other sports. They're dropping off their other kids; they're leaving skid marks! Ok? You've got Colleen Clark in the tree, trying to get down a Sponge Bob Square Pants beach ball with a hockey stick. There's pool sticks flying through the air like javelins and you hear yourself saying somebody's going to poke an eye out. It just never ends!The best thing about this is that the producers just let her ramble on and on as she loses her grip on reality. This is a rant for the ages.
WATCH: (via Kottke)
I am a big fan of Mary Carillo. She is one of my favorite commentators of all time, but when I saw this I knew I had to post it. I feel that her personality makes all the difference in the world, and that's why she's awesome.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
So United Airlines gets back to me... sort of
After formally submitting my complaint on Monday afternoon, I finally got a criptic response from United Airlines Thursday night. I am at a loss to understand by what they mean by "good will appreciation online" or by "token of our appreciation". I have not heard from them till this correspondence nor have I received anything from them. I replied back asking for clarity and to address the bad customer service I received. Here is the letter:
Dear Mr. Faulkner, Thank you for writing us about your flights from Denver to Austin on September 19 - 20, 2010. We appreciate the time you have taken to contact us. I am sorry your flight was cancelled. United is committed to operating a reliable schedule for every customer with safety always being our number one concern. We recognize how important it is to you to get to your destination on time, however daily operational challenges sometimes interfere with our schedules. We've made significant improvement to our on-time performance, but still have work to do. Your feedback will help us target further improvement to ensure you have a more pleasant travel experience the next time you fly. I am happy you were able to retrieve good will appreciation online. I hope you can use it to provide you with a chance to experience the service you deserve. I trust this token of our appreciation will help to tangibly express our gratitude. We hope to have the opportunity to serve you again in the near future. Please fill out the survey where you can rate my individual performance. I value your feedback and hope that you walked away very satisfied with my service. If I could have been better in handling your request, please reply and let me know what could have been done differently. Regards, Glen Sherif United Airlines Customer Relations
Friday, September 24, 2010
ThinkGeek :: Star Trek Enterprise Pizza Cutter
Boldly cut pizza where no man has cut before!
Space... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new pizzas, to seek out new toppings and new cheeses, to boldy cut pizza where no man has cut before! Yes, this officially licensed Star Trek collectable is everything you hoped it would be. Laser etched stainless steel blade and solid metal construction make it perfect for battling Romulans in the neutral zone or precision pizza slicing.
You'll find that even though the prime mission of the Enterprise has now become very pizza centric, the chrome plated metal construction and padded gift box make the Enterprise pizza cutter a true Star Trek collectable. Plus it looks great on your desk even when not being used to cut your favorite cheese and sauce laden foods.
Product Features
- Metal Pizza cutter in the form of the famous NCC-1701 Enterprise ship from Star Trek the original series
- Officially licensed Star Trek collectable
- Laser Etched Stainless steel blade with solid zinc-alloy chromium plated body
- Exclusively designed and manufactured by ThinkGeek
- Blade diameter: 4 inches
- Total length including blade: 8.5 inches
- Weight : 277 grams
- Hand wash only
Mozilla Labs » Concept Series: Seabird – A Community-driven Mobile Phone Concept
Since Mozilla Labs launched the Concept Series with an open call for participation we’ve had thousands of people join in, share ideas and develop concepts around Firefox, the Mozilla projects and the Open Web as a whole.
In response to our open call Billy May, in early 2009, produced a throw-away concept for an “Open Web Concept Phone”. Working directly off of that community feedback, Billy has since finished the exploration with his concept “Seabird”.
The following write-up is by Billy May and explores what an Open Web phone might look like:
Concept Series: Seabird
Also available in 3D on YouTube (cross-eyed/red-cyan/etc):
Overview
The Mozilla Seabird, part of the Mozilla Labs’ Concept Series, is an experiment in how users might interact with their mobile content as devices and technology advances. Drawing on insights culled from the Mozilla community through the project’s blog, a focus quickly developed around frustrating physical interactions. While mobile CPUs, connectivity and development platforms begin approaching that of desktops, the lagging ability to efficiently input information has grown ever more pronounced.
Interaction
The Seabird, then, introduces a few possibilities into how user interaction might evolve with the advancing motion capture and projector driven innovation in the market. First out, the Seabird imagines how a multiple use dongle might augment the crowded gestural interface with greater precision and direct manipulation of content in 3D space.
Pico Projector
With mobile phone companies such as Samsung, LG and Motorola moving towards display applications for projectors, the technology remains open for expanding user interaction and input at the same time. The Seabird, on just a flat surface, enables netbook-quality interaction by working with the projector’s angular distortion to deliver interface, rather than content. With the benefit of a dock, each projector works independently and delivers laptop levels of efficiency.
Design
The form development took its cues from various aerodynamic, avian and decidedly feminine forms. Its erect posture intends a sense of poise while its supine conformity to the hand reconciles that with the user’s desire for digital control. The curvature of the back also serves a functional role in elevating the projector lens elements when lying flat.
Seabird is a community-driven exploration and does not mean that Mozilla has plans to produce an OS or hardware at the moment. Find out more about Mozilla Firefox for Mobile here.
Download pictures in high resolution.
FAQ
Who created this project?
Seabird was created by Billy May, a Mozilla Labs community member who in early 2009 created an initial vision of what an Open Web mobile phone could look like. Seabird is Billy’s followup project in which he incorporated the feedback he received from the wider community on his first throw-away concept. To learn more about Billy May, please visit his homepage.
How does this relate to Mozilla / Mozilla Labs?
Billy is a community member in the Mozilla Labs community and created Seabird in his spare time. Seabird is not a Mozilla or Mozilla Labs project but part of the Mozilla Labs Concept Series. The Concept Series provides a place for the wider community to create and collaborate on projects which push the boundaries of the Web and the browser.
Does Mozilla have plans to produce a mobile phone?
No. Mozilla produces Firefox for Mobile, the popular Firefox browser for mobile phone systems such as Nokia Maemo and Android. You can find out more about Mozilla Firefox for Mobile here.
