Stephen Colbert is right to be afraid of bears. They lie. At least Smokey did. All those years he told us that “only you can prevent forest fires,” and then, as an adult, I learned the truth, that a lot of forest fires are caused by lightning. In fact, controlled fires supposedly can be beneficial.
Perhaps realizing that the message about forest fires is no longer compelling, the people behind the Smokey Bear campaign have a new ad campaign, dropping the use of the term “forest fires.” Here’s a Smokey Bear commercial with a Disney tie-in, but note that despite the mention of “the forest” it doesn’t feature Bambi, and it refers only to wildfires.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/DEC/SmokeyBear.flv 480 360]
The word “wildfire” makes me think of a sappy 70’s song about a horse, but I think they’re referring to the fires that have ravaged California in recent years. Of course, a big part of the problem in recent years has been the build-out of real estate. Not only does it increase the potential of risk to people, it squeezes out wildlife. But after being misled by the Forest Service for decades, why should I automatically believe the statistic that 9 out of 10 wildfires are caused by humans?
Thanks for you comment, Tim. Yeah, the tally of destruction caused by these fires is known, but good numbers on the causes of the fires are hard to come by. Educating kids is important, of course. If fact, when I was eight I inadvertently caused a backyard fire. No property was damaged, and I sure never made that mistake again!
I looked for some scientific study of the causes of forest fires–or even an unscientific. But I came up with bupkus. The “9 out of 10” figure is oft-repeated, usually as some variation of “started by humans,” “started accidentally,” or “started with human involvement.” But no one says where they actually got that figure.
A more interesting statistic would be the number of acres of burned by various causes, not including forest fires deliberately set for the purpose of forest management. Then keep in mind that the only cause that you can reasonably control through education is acres burned due to accidental fires. (Because arsonists are unlikely to listen to Smokey the Bear, as is Mother Nature.)
The other thing we need is a study conducted (or at least audited) by an organization not connected to the forest service, because the forest service has a political interest in inflating the statistic. Kinda like the NHTSA does with “alcohol-related traffic fatalities”… but that’s another subject.
(Following this thread in case anyone has any useful, informative links to share.)
-TimK
God, “Wildfire!” I am notoriously well-known in my family for liking some pretty awful songs (think “Carpenters”), but GOD, I hated “Wildfire.” However, my best friend Paula owned horses the whole time I knew her and cherished this stinker, so I had to pretend I liked it while I was around her. Here’s one song that doesn’t technically count as a 70s song, but is equally loathsome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnz1buMEaKQ
In contrast, there’s this from the same year. It has a quirky beat and is by a successful band at its ebb. Hey! Molly plays trumpet better than THAT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8kz5mrXwbo
Say, that guy at 1:41 is pretty cute … 😉
Yup, that’s what I did too. A 10-watt FM college stereo station. Other students were much more involved with the station than I was, yet I was the one offered an internship at the local AM commercial station, which quickly turned into a paying job. That’s where I met Cactus Lizzie. She could tell you all about being a woman in the radio business, which is dominated by men, of course.
There are no restrictions on having an Internet radio station like Shokus, run by a friend of Mark Evanier. Low power FM is tightly regulated by the FCC.
Hi Doug! Crazy Eddie did take off for Israel. I used to play alot of those poppy one hit wonder songs on one of my college radio shows. Even though our format was hair/heavy metal and college alternative, there were open format shows and I had a Sunday morning show that I kept light. Because I was anywhere from 4 years (22-freshman) to later 9 years (27-senior) older than freshmen, they thought it was cool that “Mom” was in high school when those songs were out, and one of my friends said in the cafeteria people would sing to the songs and have a good old time because some were in elementary school when the songs were out. Our station was a 10-watt FM mono, then later stereo, and alot of people in the town of Shippensburg listened to it. It was fun to do shows on there. I might see about doing a show on our local station but for fun, not a career thing. I’m a little too old for a dj career. Internet radio would be cool but I wonder how much equipment you need, and what residential restrictions.
I not only remember “Undercover Angel,” I used to play it on the radio during my DJ days. Crazy Eddie ended up being on the lam for tax trouble, I think, and he fled to Israel. I could look it up, but it’s Christmas Eve and I’m lazy!
Hi! Now for a comment dealing with the actual subject. I’d like to see Smokey The Bear deal with the arsonists that set the wildfires. It seems out in SoCal it is probably true that 9 of every 10 wildfires are deliberately set. Every time they announce where a wildfire is there is at least one copycat arsonist starting a fire. It’s disgusting and when they catch them, they should shoot the creeps. I don’t like gun violence but this is one time it could be justified as a deterrent.
Hi! I had to find out who performed “Ariel”, and for Dean Friedman fans, not only did he perform “Ariel” but from Wikipedia I learned he is still performing and also has written instruction on the synthesizer and is a virtual reality/video game designer. Not bad for a man who has the only Top 40 single that mentions Paramus, as in NJ. Also he performed the music in the Crazy Eddie NYC store commercials that you may be familiar with, Doug. We used to see those definitely crazy ads when our cable system carried WOR and WPIX. Small world, huh?
Hi! Oy! It seems in 1976 and 1977 there were quite a few one hit wonder songs that were hard to get out of your mind once you heard them. There was “Undercover Angel” by Alan O’Day (“Undercover angel, midnight fantasy, I never had a dream that made sweet love to me…”), “Heaven On The Seventh Floor” by Paul Nicholas-a British actor in “Tommy” who later made his fortune in a company that produced plays, “Jeans On” from David Dundas, which was from a British commercial (“When I wake up, in the morning light, I put on my jeans and I feel alright…”) “Ariel” from a male singer whose name eludes me but I swear he sounded like Tim Conway singing-one line was something like “It started raining so I made some spaghetti”-these were all on American Top 40-I swear! I’ve always liked obscure bubble gum singles, like “Chewy Chewy” by the Ohio Express and “Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes” by Edison Lighthouse, my favorite song when I was 7, and I still love to blast it in the car in the summer! 🙂
There’s a cold chill
Runnin’ down my spine
This song is a poison pill
I feel like I’m dyin’
She comes down from Yellow Mountain
On a dark, flat land she rides
On a pony she named Wildfire
With a whirlwind by her side
On a cold Nebraska night
Oh, they say she died one winter
When there came a killing frost
And the pony she named Wildfire
Busted down his stall
In a blizzard he was lost
She ran calling Wildfire
She ran calling Wildfire
She ran calling Wildfire
By the dark of the moon – I planted
But there came an early snow
There’s been a hoot-owl howling by my window now
For six nights in a row
She’s coming for me I know
And on Wildfire we’re both gonna go
We’ll be riding Wildfire
We’ll be riding Wildfire
We’ll be riding Wildfire
On Wildfire we’re gonna ride
Gonna leave sodbustin’ behind
Get these hard times right on out of our minds
Riding Wildfire