Posts from — September 2009

Position: 12.6 N 30.6 W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [295°] near 12 mph [19 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 75 mph [120 kph].
Wind Gusts: 90 mph [145 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 85 miles [140 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 25 miles [40 km].
Minimum central pressure: 987 mb ↓.

It is 445 miles [715 km] West-Southwest of the Cape Verde Islands.

This will probably be a fish botherer in the Central Atlantic.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 11.8 N 26.3 W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West [275°] near 15 mph [24 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 35 miles [55 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1004 mb ↓.

It is 245 miles [390 km] South-Southwest of the Cape Verde Islands.

This will probably be a fish botherer in the Central Atlantic.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

I would have thought that people might have figured it out by now, but I was apparently wrong. Barack Obama is by training and inclination a mediator, not a leader. He doesn’t propose policies, he negotiates between parties. You can’t mediate if you advocate anything, so he doesn’t.

He doesn’t have a health care policy or agenda, he wants to find a program from what is proposed in Congress. His basic persona was revealed in the Gates episode. He brought people together and acted as a referee.

Israel and North Korea have figured this out, so maybe it is time for the American people to understand, that he will not change anything without external pressure. All change must be the result of dialog between opposing groups. He will not act without a decision being made on a “compromise” by others.

He has absolutely no executive experience. He has never bucked “conventional wisdom”. He has no vision as to what he wants to accomplish in office.

Only three and a half years until he’s gone.

Elayne Riggs is celebrating her Seventh Blogiversary™ over at Pen-Elayne on the Web.

Still on Blogger, still using the same template, still doing silly sites – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Seven years on the ‘Net qualifies for paleontology rather than history.

The fire in the Angeles National Forest has now burned over 157,220 acres [≅ 246 miles²] and at least 78 homes, two commercial buildings and 86 outbuildings. The cost estimate is >$49.5 million. It is 56% contained.

The Station Fire was started by an arsonist near mile marker 29 on the Angeles Crest Highway (SR 2) about one mile above Angeles Crest Fire Station near a Forest Ranger station [the source of the name] around 3:30pm [PDT] Wednesday August 26, 2009.

The state is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the fire.

The weather is continuing to assist in the efforts to control the fire. While there are still flare-ups and spot fires they don’t have the explosive growth that was common during the early days of this fire. There are a lot of backfires being set as the best way of denying fuel to any push by the fire, so the smoke and flames haven’t disappeared from the sky. but they are controlled. They are estimating total containment in a week.

Two Los Angeles County firefighters have died in a motor vehicle accident escaping a burnover. In addition there have been 3 civilians and 10 firefighters reported injured.

Among the injuries is a firefighter who came in contact with cyanide while fighting the fire. It was probably the result of an illegal chemical dump in the wilderness. Even in the midst of “nature’s glory” you can encounter man’s stupidity and greed.

Currently there are 121 hand crews, 419 engines, 43 water tenders, 66 dozers, 11 air tankers, 19 helicopters, and 4,623 total personnel assigned to the fire.

The aircraft now include the 747 Supertanker [20,000 gallons], Tanker 910 [DC-10 12,000 gallons], Mars Hawaii Superscooper [7,200 gallons], and two Canadair 415 water scoopers [1,600 gallons] from the Province of Quebec.

Links: InciWeb, LA Times, KTLA, and Pasadena Star-News

Maps: LA Times fire map, the Enplan Wildfire Viewer, and the Weather Underground Smoke Map.

Webcams: Tujunga and Altadena

[For more information go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Fires” for all of the posts related to wildfires on this site.]

If you are a US resident I hope you enjoy this panicked and unsuccessful attempt to salvage the Democratic nomination for President by Grover Cleveland, the 22^nd and 24^th President. Having sent in Federal troops and marshals to break the Pullman Strike, Grover thought he could win back support from labor by giving them their own holiday before the bodies of the workers killed by said troops and marshals were cold in the ground, and to preempt the possibility of labor declaring May 1^st, the commemoration of the Haymarket affair, a day for labor action.

When I was young, Labor Day was the last day of summer vacation from school, but now schools start in mid-August, so it’s just a long weekend filled with annoying drunken boaters clogging up my little street with their trailers.

It would have been nice if the current administration had at least managed to fill the vancancies on the NLRB by Labor Day, but that would have required leadership, a quality sadly lacking in DC at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

The fire in the Angeles National Forest has now burned over 157,220 acres [≅ 246 miles²] and at least 76 homes, three commercial buildings and 27 outbuildings. The cost estimate is >$43.5 million. It is 51% contained.

The Station Fire was started by an arsonist near mile marker 29 on the Angeles Crest Highway (SR 2) about one mile above Angeles Crest Fire Station near a Forest Ranger station [the source of the name] around 3:30pm [PDT] Wednesday August 26, 2009.

The state is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the fire.

Last night on the edge of the San Gabriel Wilderness area the fire jumped the break along the Angeles Crest Highway requiring a diversion of effort to that area. While the fire is more than half contained due to a lot of hard and dangerous work, it is by no means out.

Two Los Angeles County firefighters have died in a motor vehicle accident escaping a burnover. In addition there have been 3 civilians and 10 firefighters reported injured.

Among the injuries is a firefighter who came in contact with cyanide while fighting the fire. It was probably the result of an illegal chemical dump in the wilderness. Even in the midst of “nature’s glory” you can encounter man’s stupidity and greed.

Currently there are 121 hand crews, 419 engines, 43 water tenders, 66 dozers, 11 air tankers, 19 helicopters, and 4,861 total personnel assigned to the fire.

The aircraft now include the 747 Supertanker [20,000 gallons], Tanker 910 [DC-10 12,000 gallons], Mars Hawaii Superscooper [7,200 gallons], and two Canadair 415 water scoopers [1,600 gallons] from the Province of Quebec.

Links: InciWeb, LA Times, KTLA, and Pasadena Star-News

Maps: LA Times fire map, the Enplan Wildfire Viewer, and the Weather Underground Smoke Map.

Webcams: Tujunga and Altadena

[For more information go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Fires” for all of the posts related to wildfires on this site.]

By now everyone has heard that Obama is giving a speech designed for school kids, apparently to urge them to stay in school and get an education. There is no word as to whether he intends to discuss tax policy as Reagan did, or bore them to tears as GHW Bush did, but the wingnuttiest among us, led by Florida’s own, Jim Greer of the FGOP, are raising loud objections to anyone going on CSpan to tell kids to get an education.

This is humorous, but not ironic. For the irony one must journey to Katy, Texas.

The local school board, not seeing any point in getting into a political fight over a non-political event, sent out an e-mail telling parents that if they didn’t want their children listening to the speech, simply fill out a form and the district would find something else for them to do. Alas, the district mentioned, no doubt to assure people that this was not a big deal, that this was the same procedure used to excuse students from participating in the pledge of Allegiance, and hilarity ensued with parents claiming that the school system was calling parents who didn’t want their children “indoctrinated by the socialist in the White House” unpatriotic. The board issued another e-mail apologizing to anyone who took offense.

[Read more →]

The fire in the Angeles National Forest has now burned over 154,655 acres [≅ 242 miles²] and at least 76 homes, three commercial buildings and 27 outbuildings. The cost estimate is >$37 million. It is 49% contained.

The firefighters are setting backfires to eliminate fuel sources and widening fire lanes to stop the spread to surrounding communities. Most of the active fire activity is in the San Gabriel Wilderness.

The smoke from the Station Fire has been spread all the way East to the Mississippi River, as can be seen on the Smoke Map below.

The Station Fire was started by an arsonist near mile marker 29 on the Angeles Crest Highway (SR 2) about one mile above Angeles Crest Fire Station near a Forest Ranger station [the source of the name] around 3:30pm [PDT] Wednesday August 26, 2009.

The state is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the fire.

Two Los Angeles County firefighters have died in a motor vehicle accident escaping a burnover. In addition there have been 3 civilians and 10 firefighters reported injured.

Currently there are 121 hand crews, 419 engines, 43 water tenders, 66 dozers, 11 air tankers, 19 helicopters, and 5,244 total personnel assigned to the fire.

The aircraft now include the 747 Supertanker [20,000 gallons], Tanker 910 [DC-10 12,000 gallons], Mars Hawaii Superscooper [7,200 gallons], and two Canadair 415 water scoopers [1,600 gallons] from the Province of Quebec.

Links: InciWeb, LA Times, KTLA, and Pasadena Star-News

Maps: LA Times fire map, the Enplan Wildfire Viewer, and the Weather Underground Smoke Map.

Webcams: Tujunga and Altadena

[For more information go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Fires” for all of the posts related to wildfires on this site.]

Not all that long ago insurance was as steady and predictable as Newton’s laws of motion, especially the third law, i.e. for every action there was an equal and opposite reaction.

You bought an insurance policy that covered certain areas [house, auto, life, health, etc.] and you paid your premiums to be covered for losses. If a loss occurred, you filed a claim and the insurance company paid it. Things were simple and straight forward.

Then things changed. More and more insurance companies in all fields shifted from being mutual insurance companies to being for-profit, and the Newton model broke down, and people who bought insurance policies were no longer certain claims would be paid, even though they had been paying premiums. Insurance entered the world of Max Planck and Quantum physics.

You now see examples of “string theory”, if the company strings you along, eventually you’ll quit trying to get paid. Chaos and uncertainty rule the current insurance market, and especially with health insurance, you are getting Schrödinger’s policies that at the same time make you insured and uninsured, with procedures that are approved and unapproved.

Via DC Blogger at Corrente, a Sacramento Bee article, State attorney general targets health insurers, provides the odds that your health insurance will pay claims in California.

It is important to look at California, because it is one of the few states where there actually is some competition.

People buy insurance to reduce their personal risk, and now they are discovering they may have been paying for nothing. This is the insurance that the Obama administration apparently thinks everyone should buy.

The fire in the Angeles National Forest has now burned over 148,258 acres [≅ 232 miles²] and at least 64 homes, three commercial buildings and 27 outbuildings. The cost estimate is >$27 million. It is 42% contained.

The weather has been cooperating, and the emphasis has been on extending the fire breaks to prevent the fire from spreading outward as well as clearing up hotspots in the areas already burned.

The Station Fire was started by an arsonist near mile marker 29 on the Angeles Crest Highway (SR 2) about one mile above Angeles Crest Fire Station around 3:30pm [PDT] Wednesday August 26, 2009.

Two Los Angeles County firefighters have died in a motor vehicle accident escaping a burnover. In addition there have been 3 civilians and 8 firefighters reported injured.

Currently there are 121 hand crews, 419 engines, 43 water tenders, 66 dozers, 11 air tankers, 18 helicopters, and 4,847 total personnel assigned to the fire.

The aircraft now include the 747 Supertanker [20,000 gallons], Tanker 910 [DC-10 12,000 gallons], Mars Hawaii Superscooper [7,200 gallons], and two Canadair 415 water scoopers [1,600 gallons] from the Province of Quebec.

Links: InciWeb, LA Times, KTLA, and Pasadena Star-News

Maps: LA Times fire map, the Enplan Wildfire Viewer, and the Weather Underground Smoke Map.

Webcams: Tujunga and Altadena

[For more information go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Fires” for all of the posts related to wildfires on this site.]

The Pump House Gang II

Mom, he’s back.

[Editor: Only one of two tuxedos and the silver tabby, but you can see their faces.]

Friday Ark

This is the trap I replaced, you know, the one belonging to the neighbor who couldn’t figure out where the water under the sink was coming from.

In McClatchy the announcement of a new Study: Warming Arctic, after 1,900 years of cooling, isn’t natural

WASHINGTON — The Arctic was cooling for 1,900 years because of a natural change in Earth’s orbit until greenhouse gas accumulation from the use of fossil fuels reversed the trend in recent decades, according to a study published Thursday in Science magazine.

Scientists reconstructed the temperature record of the past 2,000 years using evidence from tree rings, ice cores and lake sediment, and found a steady cooling trend in Arctic summer temperatures of about 0.5 degrees Celsius — 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit — during the first 1,900 years. The cooling was caused by a slow natural cycle in Earth orbit that continues in this century.

“The summer cooling would likely be continuing today were it not for the increase of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel burning,” said David Schneider, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and one of the authors of the study. “The results are important in showing that the dramatic changes happening today — and particularly the rapidity of the changes — are not natural.”

There is a 21,000 year cycle of change to the Earth’s temperature that is caused by the planet’s orbit. We are currently in the segment of the cycle that should be causing the planet to cool off, the segment that caused the Ice Ages. Not only are we not cooling, the temperatures in the Arctic are rising and have been for a while. It’s not just that we are warmer than “average”, the “average” should have been falling.