Comments by Observer
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Posted on August 23 at 8:11 p.m.
"...you should feel nervous because global warming is a really scary issue."
Au contraire, mon frere. It is neither scary, nor an issue. it simply "is."
While human activity may be exacerbating and/or accelerating this condition, there is absolutely nothing ( and I do mean NOTHING) that any of us can do to change the nature of the future outcome.
Consider, as but one example among many, a billion Chinese who long to "advance" from an agrarian society to an affluent, industrial one. The "Chinese Dream," like the American dream before it, now includes as an important first goal the acquisition of the quintessential upwardly mobile status symbol - the automobile. My bicycle be damned!
I doubt that the typical consumer will have the means to afford a new Prius. Rather, that first "new" car is likely to be a 1956 Ford Fairlane belching soot and guzzling fossil fuel. Get my point?
Thus, no matter how many CFLs we install in our "green" homes, they will matter not a whit against the countervailing forces at play in the larger world.
De-forestation. Cut down forests to plant corn for ethanol. Remember your physics, "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." Trees absorb CO2 and produce oxygen, possibly helping thwart the acceleration of global warming. We live in a "closed system." Again, from your physics class, "matter is neither created nor destroyed but simply changed from one form to another." Extrapolate from there. Get my point?
Global warming, global shwarming. Or, for those on the other side of the debate, new ice age, new shmice age.
Conclusion: Enjoy what you can, while you can. Do a little good if you can while riding on the great mandala. Don't sweat the BIG stuff. Que sera, sera!
Posted on August 20 at 7:59 a.m.
Pulitzer time for Ray Ford!
This Zaca series is among the best I've read on any subject in any forum in four decades. No hyperbole intended.
Hear! Hear! Carry on, Ray!!
Posted on August 18 at 6:04 p.m.
Continued superb reporting from Ray Ford! Thank you, Ray. Keep it up and be safe.
Here is a link to the blog of a gal flying helicopter on the fire.
http://www.copterchick.blogspot.com/
It is of interest to note her comments about the archaeological sites and the "rules of engagement" that affect the firefighting ops in areas of that designation.
If accurate, am I Ied to believe that the sites are an impediment to containment because bulldozers can't build lines and must rely on hand crews only?
Thus, Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, and Ojai are in greater jeapordy as a result?
Perhaps someone with accurate information can comment on my questions.
Also, it is instructive to read these unofficial comments from someone in the thick of it versus the daily briefings.
Wherein lies the truth? Methinks it is partially a case of the seven blind men asked to describe the elephant or the film, "Rashomon" - it lies somewhere within the perceptions/descriptions of all the players.
Thanks, again, to Ray and all of the firefighters trying to tame this beast!!
Posted on August 12 at 4:54 p.m.
Hear! Hear! It looks like the DC-10 is, in fact, working the fire today according to a recent update on the SBNP web site.
Posted on August 12 at 10:36 a.m.
With news today that the DC-10 may finally be pressed into service, I wonder if the delay has been a matter of topography (as previously reported) or the more common and maddeningly-frustrating "Federal Jurisdictional Bureaucratic Bungling"?
Does anyone have factual information on the matter?
Check this link for background:
Posted on August 11 at 10:05 a.m.
While we are hopeful the fire containment lines can hold any spread into the front country, we must be mindful of how quickly fire can move.
In Ray Ford's chronology of the Painted Cave Fire (detailed in his book, "Santa Barbara Wildfires") it is both instructive and frightening to recall that the first dispatch came in at 6:02 pm and 20 minutes later the fire had travelled 2 miles (pushed by strong Sundowner winds) and at 7:38 pm crossed the 101 freeway (thought to be an excellent fire break) at Hollister and Modoc.
While I am not an alarmist I am, simply, a prepared realist.
Posted on August 10 at 4:27 p.m.
For a thorough and relevant review of fire management in our area and a chronical of large fires that have burned here, I recommend Ray Ford's 1991 book entitled, "Santa Barbara Wildfires."
This book lends needed and thoughtful perspective which is highly germane to the current situation.
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Posted on August 25 at 12:40 a.m.
jqb wrote: "...unless radical changes are made."
And just why is it necessary to make radical changes? As I wrote above in my post of 8-23 @ 8:11pm, "...we live in a closed system.... Que sera, sera!"
Capiche?
On White Flag on Blue Line