At one time, especially in the suburban volunteer fire service, when an incident was newsworthy a simple formula was established for reporting. Type out a press release (yes type), mail it to the community newspaper, enclose a picture or negative from the photos you developed at the drug store and wait a week for the public to learn more about the fire. But those were kinder, gentler times. Now instantaneous PR is a 24/7/365 job, even for volunteer PIO’s. We must always be on our toes listening to what the community, bloggers and press are saying about us.

Erroneous facts, distortions and misinformation must be corrected on a moments notice or we are placed in the position of stonewalling or lacking credibility. We must also, in instantaneous time, evaluate a situation to make sure our response is based on rock solid facts.

Vanity Fair magazine has an upcoming piece on the Obama administration. I saw a quick preview of the story and in it there is a section on political PR in a real time world.

White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer had some good quotes in the piece. He said-

“What they teach you on the first day of press secretary school is to worry about blowing something up by giving attention to it. Don’t blow something up.”

Although the quote is meaningful, explaining that we shouldn’t jump to conclusions and let the facts unfold, the White House did not take its own advice on blowing something up when it came to the recent Shirley Sherrod firing. She was axed from the Department of Agriculture abruptly, with not all the facts in about the viral video making the rounds that alleged reverse racism.

However, the story continues to quote Pfeiffer by saying, “But today, there’s no choice – the story will get blown up anyway, and you simply have to respond.” True, but based on deep mining and knowing all the facts before speaking.

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This is pretty cool. Today’s post is just a bunch of useless knowledge. Mark Steiger, a firefighter friend of mine from east Texas saw my Fourth of July post about the founding father of the volunteer fire service, Benjamin Franklin. Mark MC’s a holiday parade each year. Before the festivities get underway he regales the crowd with some Colonial era useless facts. I know it’s not PIO relevant, but it’s allot of fun to read.

In George Washington’s days, there were no cameras. One’s image was either sculpted or painted.  Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms.  Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are ‘limbs,’ therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, ‘Okay, but it’ll cost you an arm and a leg.’   (Artists know hands and arms are more difficult to paint)

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As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year (May and October) Women kept their hair covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs made from wool. They couldn’t wash t he wigs, so to clean them they would carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake it for 30 minutes.  The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term ‘big wig.’ Today we often use the term ‘here comes the Big Wig’ because someone appears to be or is powerful and wealthy.

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In the late 1700’s, many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board folded down from the wall, and was used for dining. The ‘head of the household’ always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. Occasionally a guest, who was usually a man, would be invited to sit in this chair during a meal. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge.  They called the one sitting in the chair the ‘chair man.’ Today in business, we use the expression or title ‘Chairman’ or ‘Chairman of the Board.’

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Personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee’s wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions.  When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman’s face she was told, ‘mind your own bee’s wax.’  Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term ‘crack a smile’.  In addition, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt . . . Therefore, the expression ‘losing face.’

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Ladies wore corsets, which would lace up in the front. A proper and dignified woman, as in ’straight laced’, wore a tightly tied lace.

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Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the ‘Ace of Spades.’  To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren’t ‘playing with a full deck.’

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Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what the people considered important. Since there were no telephones, TV’s or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs, and bars.  They were told to ‘go sip some ale’ and listen to people’s conversations and political concerns. Many assistants were dispatched at different times.  ‘You go sip here’ and ‘You go sip there.’ The two words ‘go sip’ were eventually combined when referring to the local opinion and, thus we have the term ‘gossip.’

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At local taverns, pubs, and bars, people drank from pint and quart-sized containers. A bar maid’s job was to keep an eye on the customers and keep the drinks coming.  She had to pay close attention and remember who was drinking in ‘pints’ and who was drinking in ‘quarts,’ hence the term ‘minding your “P’s and Q’s.”

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One more and betting you didn’t know this!

In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls.  It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon.  However, how to prevent them from rolling about the deck?  The best storage method devised was a square-based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine, which rested on sixteen.  Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon.  There was only one problem…how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding or rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate called a ‘Monkey’ with 16 round indentations.

However, if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make ‘Brass Monkeys.’ Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled.

Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannonballs would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally, ‘Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.’ (All this time, you thought that was an improper expression, didn’t you.)

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I think we should all take a moment out of our Fourth of July festivities to think about, and express our deepest gratitude to the founding fathers of our great country for what they did in establishing the framework of a democracy that has survived the test of time.

Of all the forefathers, the one we should place on the highest pedestal is Benjamin Franklin who among his greatest accomplishments was the founding of the volunteer fire service.

Here is a reprint from ushistory.com about Franklin’s interest in and development of the volunteer fire service

“On a visit to Boston, Benjamin Franklin noted that the inhabitants of his native city were far better prepared to fight fires than the natives of his adopted city, Philadelphia. Upon returning home, he consulted the Junto, a benevolent group dedicated to civic and self-improvement, and asked for their suggestions on better ways to combat fires.

Franklin also sought to raise public awareness about the city’s dire need to improve fire-fighting techniques. In a Pennsylvania Gazette article of 1733 Franklin noted how fires were being fought in Philadelphia. “Soon after it [a fire] is seen and cry’d out, the Place is crowded by active Men of different Ages, Professions and Titles who, as of one Mind and Rank, apply themselves with all Vigilance and Resolution, according to their Abilities, to the hard Work of conquering the increasing fire.”

Goodwill and amateur firefighters were not enough, though. Franklin suggested a “Club or Society of active Men belonging to each Fire Engine; whose Business is to attend all Fires with it whenever they happen.”

For the February 4, 1735 issue of The Pennsylvania Gazette, Franklin sent an anonymous letter to his own newspaper entitled Protection of Towns from Fire. Writing as an “old citizen” he admonished:

In the first Place, as an Ounce of Prevention is worth a Pound of Cure, I would advise ‘em to take care how they suffer living Coals in a full Shovel, to be carried out of one Room into another, or up or down Stairs, unless in a Warming pan shut; for Scraps of Fire may fall into Chinks and make no Appearance until Midnight; when your Stairs being in Flames, you may be forced, (as I once was) to leap out of your Windows, and hazard your Necks to avoid being oven-roasted.

He further urged that chimney sweeps should be licensed by the city and be held responsible for their work. He noted that a neighboring city (Boston), “a club or society of active men belonging to each fie engine, whose business is to attend all fires with it whenever they happen.” He noted that via practice and regular meetings, the firefighters’ skills improved.

Under Franklin’s goading, a group of thirty men came together to form the Union Fire Company on December 7, 1736. Their equipment included “leather buckets, with strong bags and baskets (for packing and transporting goods), which were to be brought to every fire. The blaze battlers met monthly to talk about fire prevention and fire-fighting methods. Homeowner’s were mandated to have leather fire-fighting buckets in their houses.

Other men were desirous of joining the Union, but were urged to form their own companies so the city would be better protected.

Within a short span of time, Philadelphians witnessed the birth of the Heart-in-Hand, the Britannia, the Fellowship, as well as several other fire companies.

Thanks to the matchless leadership of Benjamin Franklin, the dire fear of fires expired in Philadelphia which became one of safest cities in the world in terms of fire damage.”

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