Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Fire police
Fire police are unarmed volunteer firefighters with special police training who are responsible for traffic control, crowd control, fire and incident scene security, apparatus security, and station security during calls for service.
They also assist regular police when needed, performing road closures, traffic control, crowd control at public events, missing persons searches, parade details, salvage, security, etc. The primary role of the Fire Police is to provide support for operational requirements at moderate to major incidents.
The idea behind the fire police service is a simple one. During times of large-scale or particularly serious small emergencies, the response system can become overwhelmed. To that end, having a trained, equipped group of responders who can supplement or replace entirely police and fire department personnel at scenes is an invaluable tool to incident commanders.
They also assist regular police when needed, performing road closures, traffic control, crowd control at public events, missing persons searches, parade details, salvage, security, etc. The primary role of the Fire Police is to provide support for operational requirements at moderate to major incidents.
The idea behind the fire police service is a simple one. During times of large-scale or particularly serious small emergencies, the response system can become overwhelmed. To that end, having a trained, equipped group of responders who can supplement or replace entirely police and fire department personnel at scenes is an invaluable tool to incident commanders.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Babysitting
Babysitting is the practice of temporarily leaving a child in the care of someone other than his or her guardians. Babysitting is most commonly performed as an odd job by teenagers for extra money, stereotypically girls. In general, the child being watched is of some family or social relation to the babysitter, although professional babysitting services are also extant.
The term baby-sit from baby plus the agent form of sit first appeared in 1937, and its short-form sitter is attested from 1943. The use of the word sit to abbriviate to baby-sit is recorded from 1966. The term probably originated from the action of the caretaker sitting with the baby in another room, whilst the parents were entertaining or busy in another.
Friday, September 08, 2006
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal, west of the Sinai Peninsula, is a 163-km-long and, at its narrowest point, 300-m-wide maritime canal in Egypt between Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea, and Suez on the Red Sea.
The canal allows two-way north to south water transport between Europe and Asia without circumnavigation of Africa. Before the opening of the canal in 1869, goods were sometimes transported by being offloaded from ships and carried overland between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.
The canal comprises two parts, north and south of the Great Bitter Lake, linking the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea.
The canal allows two-way north to south water transport between Europe and Asia without circumnavigation of Africa. Before the opening of the canal in 1869, goods were sometimes transported by being offloaded from ships and carried overland between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.
The canal comprises two parts, north and south of the Great Bitter Lake, linking the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea.
