Blurbs

The Internet is an obvious destination for anyone looking to start a business. Many times, planning around web-branding is now one of the first steps towards starting a business. However, what about web development for the Public Safety domain? What about for small or volunteer organizations that cannot afford an IT Program?

The truth is, your department cannot afford to not to venture onto the internet. In reality, the cost for setting up, running, and developing a low cost but professional website for your department is minimal, often less than $200 a year. That is a significant investment in public education and communications.

I run the website for Chelan County Fire District 1, an suburban/rural fire department in Central Washington serving the unincorporated areas around Wenatchee and the hamlet of Malaga. The department is able to provide residents with critical public education information, briefings on regulations, preparedness, and, in the case of significant emergencies, provide reliable updates including mobile text alerts. All for a few hours of setup and about $200 a year.

The Internet, and social media, are new frontiers for smaller departments. There is apprehension in diving into the WorldWideWeb, from virus and security threats, More >

In speaking on Labor Day at the annual fair of the New York State Agricultural Association, it is natural to keep especially in mind the two bodies who compose the majority of our people and upon whose welfare depends the welfare of the entire State. If circumstances are such that thrift, energy, industry, and forethought enable the farmer, the tiller of the soil, on the one hand, and the wage-worker on the other, to keep themselves, their wives, and their children in reasonable comfort, then the State is well off, and we can be assured that the other classes in the community will likewise prosper. On the other hand, if there is in the long run a lack of prosperity among the two classes named, then all other prosperity is sure to be more seeming than real.

It has been our profound good fortune as a nation that hitherto, disregarding exceptional periods of depression and the normal and inevitable fluctuations, there has been on the whole from the beginning of our government to the present day a progressive betterment alike in the condition of the tiller of the soil and in the condition of the man who, by his manual skill More >

My little Brother is graduating from National Guard Basic Training on July 8th in Fort Benning. This is the first graduation he’s going to get since he never graduated from High School. He’s done amazingly well in Basic Training and we’re all proud of him. Sadly, because I was laid off in November and have not been able to find work beyond volunteer work in the Fire District, I am not able to afford to go to Fort Benning to see his graduation.

Pvt. McGarr, WA National Guard

I’m turning to the Internet to see if I can raise the money to go to Fort Benning for his graduation and surprise him (since he thinks none of us can go). It would make him very happy to have someone from the family see him Graduate from Basic Training. As it is he’s going to be mentioned specifically since he has done exceptionally well and has even been Squad Leader and will be so until Graduation.

If you would like to help, you can make a donation (not tax deductible, sadly) via PayPal:

Or directly through PayPal using recipient email: brad@bradlymcgarr.com

If I don’t come close to hitting my target (About $2,000), I will donate whatever funds I do More >

Well, I start my first of three remaining classes on Monday, English Composition Research. How exciting, right? Actually it is exciting. I’ve done both online classes and live presence classes. There are things I love about online classes: an open schedule, the ability to do what I need to do and just get it done, and finally, solo work. However, as a bachelor who up until now was living on his own, online classes meant staying at home, infront of my computer, for longer periods of time than I would like. Hence the delema of not having any sort of interaction with another person. Oh sure there are the forums and posts between other class members, but it is the equivalent of you reading my blog. I have in essence gone and nailed something to a post somewhere in the vastness of the Internet and you decided to read it. There is no real interaction even if you nail a reply up.

The other problem was the lack of discussion on discussion questions. I mean real discussion. Most of the time, the responses to the discussion questions would be almost the same from each individual. I quite often had to play devils advocate More >