The Flying Penguin wrote on Jan 12, 2025, 12:27:
Corridor Crew has some cool video showing a lot of things that the news is not. They're all safe, but most of them don't have power, and they got up on nearby hills on their bikes and one wheels and shot some interesting video.

A big part of what they show in their video is how strong the winds were. This was, at times, tropical storm force winds, and there are a LOT of trees and power lines down everywhere, which likely triggered some of the fires, and of course continues to feed the fires.

Different View of the LA Wildfires
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwYMb7tFnFo
...

I just started watching this video. The fires are crazy and scary. Possible more again this week with more winds.

The Flying Penguin wrote on Jan 12, 2025, 12:27:
Corridor Crew has some cool video showing a lot of things that the news is not. They're all safe, but most of them don't have power, and they got up on nearby hills on their bikes and one wheels and shot some interesting video.

A big part of what they show in their video is how strong the winds were. This was, at times, tropical storm force winds, and there are a LOT of trees and power lines down everywhere, which likely triggered some of the fires, and of course continues to feed the fires.

Different View of the LA Wildfires
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwYMb7tFnFo

We are prone to forest fires here in Central Florida. We've had our fair share of scary fires over the past 27 years. It's the reason why my house has no trees anywhere near it, and no vegetation around it. Concrete block house and rock gardens surrounding the house. I do have trees on my 20 acres, but they're spaced out and far away from the two houses.

That should be mandatory viewing by any idiot in congress, the msm or the general public that thinks this was preventable.

Thanks TFG

Corridor Crew has some cool video showing a lot of things that the news is not. They're all safe, but most of them don't have power, and they got up on nearby hills on their bikes and one wheels and shot some interesting video.

A big part of what they show in their video is how strong the winds were. This was, at times, tropical storm force winds, and there are a LOT of trees and power lines down everywhere, which likely triggered some of the fires, and of course continues to feed the fires.

Different View of the LA Wildfires
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwYMb7tFnFo

We are prone to forest fires here in Central Florida. We've had our fair share of scary fires over the past 27 years. It's the reason why my house has no trees anywhere near it, and no vegetation around it. Concrete block house and rock gardens surrounding the house. I do have trees on my 20 acres, but they're spaced out and far away from the two houses.

Cutter wrote on Jan 10, 2025, 16:18:
How much would it have cost to take proactive management to have negated all that in the first place? A billion or two? A bargain by any measure.

For the record, they did spend billions on removing vegetation -- from a Washington Post article:

A critical question became why the largest city in California, a state that has spent years fortifying itself against wildfires, couldn’t stop the fires this time. State regulations required residents in high-risk neighborhoods to create vegetation-free buffers around their homes. California had invested billions of dollars to reduce the amount of woody fuel for fires to burn. It boasted the largest firefighting force in the nation.

Yet within a few days, decades-old communities and beloved landmarks were gone, and residents were left asking why.

Experts said several key factors — including urban sprawl, a resistance to clearing vegetation around homes, and a water system that’s not designed to combat multiple major blazes at once — left L.A. exposed to disaster. As climate change fuels record heat, leaving the hillsides primed for wildfires to grow swiftly into massive conflagrations, these factors led to catastrophe.

Cool story. I sort of remember the Anita Bryant orange juice commercials. I assume they are on YT but I didn't look, I suspect if I did I would go, "Oh yeah..." Never quite understood the autograph thing, in fact I tend to ignore famous people. Had a dozen chances over the years but just kept my ground and didn't say anything.

My best story comes from one of my sisters who lives in Phoenix, worked at Intel for over 25 years. This is from a few years ago, my sister had many friends some of which of course, moved away. Well, once a friend of hers who had moved to Washington DC was flying back to Phoenix to visit. I don't recall her name, let's call her Nancy. Nancy gets on the plane and as she is walking through first class she sees John McCain who was at the time one of the AZ senators. And of course she was familiar with him. She gets to her middle seat in coach and a man is already sitting in the window seat. Nancy starts chatting away at the guy telling him John McCain is in first class, how she likes him so much, this that and the other thing. After a bit Nancy realizes she is being a chatter box and pauses and apologizes. She then asks the man what it is he does. The man responds, "I'm the other John McCain." It was Jeff Flake, the other AZ senator at the time. LOL.

Mr. Tact wrote on Jan 10, 2025, 20:23:
Wait, you knew who Anita Bryant was, but your mom didn't?

Yeah, I thought it was weird. Bryant was doing TV commercials at the time, I believe, for Florida orange juice? Maybe she wasn't really looking at her because it's just not expected. My mom has actually met quite a few famous people and has an autograph book that's amazing. The most recent one (EDIT: meeting, not autograph) was at JFK airport, where Ken Jenning came up to her and said "Excuse me, I think I left my soda under your seat." while in the waiting area. He retrieved it, she nodded at him in a "I know who you are" way without making a big deal of it. He nodded back and left. Pretty random.

EDIT: a story from the 70s when she got a lot of autographs at some celebrity golf/fundraising events:
Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle were standing around and my mom had just gotten Joe's autograph (she'd gotten Mantle's earlier) and as she was walking away a young boy, maybe 8 years old stopped her and asked who that old guy was she just talked to, as he was obviously famous but he was too young to recognize. She said "That's Joe DiMaggio," but the kid looks blank. "He played baseball with the Yankees." Kid is still blank. "He's known as the Yankee Clipper!" but kid is still blank. Then my mom looks up apologetically at the guys, who are only about ten feet away and watching this whole thing with interest, and says "He's Mister Coffee." Suddenly the kid lights up with "Ooooooh, yeah!" recognizing him from the commercials that were running on TV all the time then. The guys, meanwhile, were busting a gut laughing at how Joe's fame had gone so sideways to some random modern kid.

ADDITIONAL PART OF THE STORY: Later that day my mom walks up to where Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin are practicing their putting. She smiles while holding her autograph book and waits for them to finish. A minute later Mickey Mantle stops and starts walking toward her. She says "Not you, Mister Mantle. I was wanting Mister Martin's autograph." Remember as I said above that she already had Mantle's from earlier in the day, but he doesn't remember that of course, and is quite discombobulated that someone wants Billy Martin's signature instead his. At the time BM was just starting out as Yankee's manager and was not nearly as famous as he would be later. He was mostly known as the catcher in the only perfect game ever pitched in the world series. Anyway, this whole thing really made Billy Martin's day, as he good naturedly elbowed Mickey Mantle out of the way and signed his name with a huge grin on his face. 🙂

This comment was edited on Jan 12, 2025, 10:46.

our cottage is made of stone. It was built in the 1700's some time. It will be here long after I have gone, and it has been around -15C (apparently thats about 5F), we have had the log burner running too, it has been that cold. Plus we have many blankets. I even needed to put the preheater on the car so it was toasty when I got in it. No need for snowchains though, everywhere has been well ploughed.

Geez, that 'In the Lost Lands' trailer looks like some Bollywood level, janky, blurry ass, lens flare CGI.

MeanJim wrote on Jan 10, 2025, 14:31:

Mr. Tact wrote on Jan 10, 2025, 12:36:
California just can't win. They get flooding in the spring, which leads to more abundant growth of bushes and such, which then dry out in the following drought conditions, providing fuel for the fires when the Santana winds start blowing...

It's their far left woke policies that are causing the fires. Well that's what Fox and other right wing nut jobs are saying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxu9YCQkpco

If the department was composed of all men they would have been able to put out the fires. right.

RedEye9 wrote on Jan 10, 2025, 14:09:
If you have an AWD vehicle it means you can almost go anywhere. But you might not be able to get back.
Tesla driver pays $400 to a fake tow company after getting stuck. Nicest tow driver in the universe pulls them out of the snow.
He never once called them an idiot.

for some reason people think those teslas are like hummers.

RedEye9 wrote on Jan 10, 2025, 20:35:
This is fantastic
Carol Burnett spoofs Anita Bryant in this skit from 1977. https://youtu.be/Js-yJ48C6Po?si=bvhPdFQQe9klcRMx

Wait, was that Paul Stanley?!

This is fantastic
Carol Burnett spoofs Anita Bryant in this skit from 1977. https://youtu.be/Js-yJ48C6Po?si=bvhPdFQQe9klcRMx

Wait, you knew who Anita Bryant was, but your mom didn't?

I talked to Anita Bryant once. It was in the mid 70s, and my mom took me to the local yearly parade (The Swamp Buggy Parade, in Naples), and just after we got out of the car to walk to a roadside area to sit, a woman walking near us said "Excuse, me, but where does the parade start?" And I said "Right across the street in the Publix parking lot." Then my mom said "But you won't get a good view there, it's better a block or so south." She thanked us and walked off. I said to my mom "That was Anita Bryant. She's IN the parade, I'm guessing, not looking for a seat." Yes, she was.

Cutter wrote on Jan 10, 2025, 16:18:
The key is fire management through forestry and landscape practices that negate the fire hazard before it begins. This thing will probably be north of $100B in damage when it's all said and done. How much would it have cost to take proactive management to have negated all that in the first place? A billion or two? A bargain by any measure.

Forestry and landscape practices can't completely negate drought and wind conditions. Los Angeles just had its lowest recorded 6 month rainfall since measurements were first recorded in 1877. Unless the plant life for half a mile around residential and commercial areas was eradicated, there would still have been dry vegetation, and fire in even a thinned area will spread under dry 60+ mph winds.

A lot of what is burning, by no means all, but a lot is old, built under different understandings of the world and of construction (and for different environmental risks.) It won't be replaced as it was. In many cases, it won't be replaced at all due to regulations

opie wrote on Jan 10, 2025, 12:40:

Mr. Tact wrote on Jan 10, 2025, 12:36:
California just can't win. They get flooding in the spring, which leads to more abundant growth of bushes and such, which then dry out in the following drought conditions, providing fuel for the fires when the Santana winds start blowing... I'll take my mid-west tornados any day of the week over that nonsense.

Don't forget that without the bushes, they have mudslides in these hills. time to do what Japan does. if you burndown every 4 years, build out of non-flammable materials. bring back cinderblock homes.

Except cinderblock homes look like prisons - because that's what they use in prisons. There's no shortage of engineered lumber and other materials these days which are very fire retardant. Besides even with cinderblock homes all the stuff around them and inside them are still combustible and will combust without direct flame when it gets hot enough - like what you get with these massive fires. The key is fire management through forestry and landscape practices that negate the fire hazard before it begins. This thing will probably be north of $100B in damage when it's all said and done. How much would it have cost to take proactive management to have negated all that in the first place? A billion or two? A bargain by any measure.

rest in piss

RedEye9 wrote on Jan 10, 2025, 14:09:
If you have an AWD vehicle it means you can almost go anywhere. But you might not be able to get back.
Tesla driver pays $400 to a fake tow company after getting stuck. Nicest tow driver in the universe pulls them out of the snow.
He never once called them an idiot.

Wow, and he didn't charge them. They deserved to be charged for driving the Tesla up a forest road in snow as deep as it was. A far nicer person than I am for sure.

This comment was edited on Jan 10, 2025, 16:16.

Mr. Tact wrote on Jan 10, 2025, 12:36:
California just can't win. They get flooding in the spring, which leads to more abundant growth of bushes and such, which then dry out in the following drought conditions, providing fuel for the fires when the Santana winds start blowing...

It's their far left woke policies that are causing the fires. Well that's what Fox and other right wing nut jobs are saying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxu9YCQkpco

If you have an AWD vehicle it means you can almost go anywhere. But you might not be able to get back.
Tesla driver pays $400 to a fake tow company after getting stuck. Nicest tow driver in the universe pulls them out of the snow.
He never once called them an idiot.