Economics and politics deleted

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, November 04, 2024 - 04:15 am: Edit

Economics and politics deleted

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Monday, November 04, 2024 - 04:48 am: Edit

Economics and politics deleted

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, November 04, 2024 - 08:30 am: Edit

Economics and politics deleted

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Monday, November 04, 2024 - 09:13 am: Edit

Economics and politics deleted

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, November 04, 2024 - 09:37 am: Edit

Economics deleted

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, November 04, 2024 - 11:03 am: Edit

Economics and politics deleted

By Jean Sexton Beddow (Jsexton) on Monday, November 04, 2024 - 11:14 am: Edit

STOP IT ALL NOW!!!!

No more on jobs, economics, or politics. I was sick all day yesterday, or I would have stopped it then. Every post that mentions jobs, economics, or politics is going to be deleted. Anyone else that posts about any of those ANYWHERE on this BBS will have that post deleted. Allie and Ally report they are tired of feet and want to go for more tender parts. I leave it up to your imagination what you will lose beside posting rights.

Jean
WebMom

The posts have been deleted. I am so disappointed that folks went down this rabbit hole. I am also disappointed in myself that I actually trusted that folks wouldn't do this, so I took the time off to feel better. It won't happen again.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Monday, November 04, 2024 - 11:31 am: Edit

Mike Grafton, you are hereby forbidden from posting in this topic for 24 hours. That will give you time to heal somewhat from Allie having a snack.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Monday, November 04, 2024 - 02:51 pm: Edit

Sorry Jean.

On Disasters - looks like Spain is suffering from very heavy rain and flooding - with a similar amount killed to the recent storms in America (over 200 have died).

Anger at the Spanish government seems very high - even with Troops helping in the clean up - and the nummber involved has been increased.

It seems some protestor even got close enough to sling a 'mud pie' at the Spanish King.

Hopefully Spain will be through the worst of it by Wednesday morning (as more rain is due tomorrow).

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Monday, November 04, 2024 - 03:00 pm: Edit

And Oklahoma City was hit hard by tornadoes over the weekend.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Wednesday, November 06, 2024 - 08:19 am: Edit

Russia caught sending incendary parcels?

Western officials “believe the fires originated in electric massage machines containing a ‘magnesium-based” substance,’”

https://www.twz.com/air/suspected-russian-airplane-sabotage-plot-sparks-call-for-nato-action

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, November 11, 2024 - 09:35 pm: Edit

NON-POLITICAL FACT-BASED UPDATE: If you took a break from the news (not an uncommon response) you may not be aware of some developing things that, well, are developing. What I will say here isn't intended to be the only information you need to make major financial decisions, but to encourage you to go do some actual research and make financial decisions you didn't realize you needed to think about quite yet.

President Biden called President-elect Trump on the phone, congratulated him, and invited him to an FTF meeting and tour of the White House. This was most gracious, the American people deserved to see leaders acting like grownups as they did not four and eight years ago.

Silver is going crazy, and not just because the red government will spend less and cause less inflation. China makes most of the solar panels sold in the US, and solar panels use a bunch of silver. The instant that Trump won, China began closing solar panel factories in China and cancelling orders for raw materials. This is because of two factors: less interest in renewables by the red faction, and threats of tariffs by Trump mean China has already bought land in Laos to build new factories that would not be taxed. This means silver prices will be soft for a few months and then go back up, but not as much. Do a lot of research here before more silver investments. Gold prices, of course, are dropping like a rock. The cast of Gold Mining Morons is reportedly in tears.

Trump is moving very fast this time to fill his cabinet with non-establishment types that will overturn a lot of apple carts. Eight years ago a lot of Trump programs were blocked by people he appointed who wanted to be sure his programs never moved forward.

The ruling red-faction of the new Senate has politely told Trump "we will pick our own leaders and they won't be the ones you want."

Trump has appointed a new Border Czar and plans for mass deportations of migrants are moving ahead.

Trump appears set on abolishing the Department of Education and perhaps one or two others.

The usual lame-duck game is going on with the outgoing president and senate trying to appoint as many people who cannot be easily fired as they can before the term expires. (Every president who handed power to the opposition did the same thing.) This particularly includes judges and members of various panels and commissions. Efforts to get President Biden to retire and let Kamela be the first woman president have failed because (in the words of one blue-faction leader: "The presidency is not a game." Similar efforts to get Supreme Sotomayor to retire right now so she can be replaced by Biden appear to have gone nowhere.

Stay informed and do not count on me to do it for you.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Wednesday, January 08, 2025 - 10:29 am: Edit

Please stay safe if you live in the LA region.

Just reading about the Wildfires and how quickly they are spreading due to the Winds.

Not a safe place to be at the moment I guess.

By Alan De Salvio (Alandwork) on Wednesday, January 08, 2025 - 11:23 am: Edit

Los Angeles is in a Mediterranean climate on the coast. Inland is a rain-shadowed desert. Under uncommon conditions, the normal on-shore winds reverse, so the normal cool on-shore ocean breeze reverses and Los Angeles is swept by hot desert winds (which we call Santa Ana winds or Santa Ana conditions). This is a high wind condition and it tends to fan wildfire flames (but it also leads to no air pollution in the desert areas which is glorious). For disclosure I live in that high desert.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Wednesday, January 08, 2025 - 02:49 pm: Edit

Note: There is no current indication in the news about what started the latest round of fires. The spread MIGHT be blamed on the state Government's policies regarding the clearance of brush. The fires might have been triggered by lightning strikes, although so many fires in such a limited amount of time would seem to indicate that this is unlikely, but again see the accumulation of brush. There is also the possibility of illegal immigrants starting fires to cook which get out of hand or are left burning after their purpose is nominally fulfilled. There is also downed power lines caused by the winds (again see the accumulation of brush). It seems unlikely that the fires were started by terrorists, but that has long been seen as a vulnerability. Right now the death toll stands at two, and we can hope that that, at least, does not get any worse. FEMA'S coffers are supposed empty, there was to enough money to succor the citizens if North Carolina (or other states impacted by hurricanes) so the expense of replacing the lost property will be borne by each of us.

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Wednesday, January 08, 2025 - 03:20 pm: Edit

I had read that when the conditions are right the Santa Ana winds can blow over 100 MPH and push utility poles over. Now that's strong wind!

--Mike

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Wednesday, January 08, 2025 - 03:31 pm: Edit

I've lived my whole life in the Los Angeles area, in one fairly central suburb that's about fifty miles from the burn area.

Alan, I hope that the winds don't push embers your way; you undoubtedly have some dry brush, possibly quite a bit nearby, and there is a risk, should the winds reverse themselves.

SPP, I could go on for several pages on all sorts of problems that have compounded to make this fire so bad, but Jean would feed me to the `Gators for even posting one tenth of one percent of it.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, January 08, 2025 - 06:21 pm: Edit

In defense of the California government, every local authority has more things needing money than money to give, and whatever they do not do is the thing that breaks down or blows up.

Some policy decisions can have an effect but again, whatever they don’t do is the place the problem happens, no matter why they didn’t do it.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, January 08, 2025 - 09:50 pm: Edit

I happened to catch a report on why the wildfires are so bad. No way can I summarize it here, as it would only cause flamewars, but it is something everyone should know about. The fires are getting more and more out of control due to low water pressure, but the gators won't allow us to discuss the human decisions that explain why. Brush was never cleared from forests due to cost and policy decisions, causing the fires to spread. Many of the people who lost homes had no insurance because government decisions forced the insurance companies out of California. The LA area is short of firemen (because of human decisions) and equipment (which was donated to another nation). People died (and many more lost their cars, loaded with things saved from their homes) because of delays in building escape roads from areas with lots of people and only one way out. I would bet that everyone here knows or know of one of the thousands who lost their homes today alone. Pray for lives to be saved today and better decisions to save lives and homes tomorrow. The worst of it is the Santa Anna winds, which turn a common brushfire into a blowtorch, and no human made that worse.

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Thursday, January 09, 2025 - 02:05 pm: Edit

That which one soweth, so shall he reap.

--Mike

By A David Merritt (Adm) on Thursday, January 09, 2025 - 02:49 pm: Edit

It does not help that the American Southwest has been getting dryer over the last thousand years or so. Move more folks in, than there are resources to support, will lead to things like this.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Thursday, January 09, 2025 - 03:12 pm: Edit

A municipal fire hydrant system isn't designed to fight massive wildfires; it's designed to fight structure fires. There was no space-time continuum where hundreds of firefighters with hundreds of hoses would be able to continuously draw on the hydrant system without it eventually draining the storage tanks that supply it.

By Douglas Lampert (Dlampert) on Thursday, January 09, 2025 - 03:52 pm: Edit

In addition to what Jessica said:

The fire hydrants are simply taps on the water pipes/system. Open one, and the pressure drops a little bit at everything downstream of that hydrant. Doesn't much matter with just one or two hydrants, the system is built for that, but open them all at once to fight a major wild-fire, and I suspect limits on total flow out of the storage tank would hit hard long before you actually exhausted the tank.

It's been a very dry winter so far in the LA area (this is usually the wet season), and California is natural fire country, the native plants are all adopted to it. Clearing brush and maintaining big fire-breaks near urban areas are probably the only ways to stop something like this from happening any time you have a dry-spell in winter and a Santa Anna wind hits. Which is a combination that just happens every so often, you should prepare for it the same way you prepare for earthquakes or people in my area take tornado and termite precautions.

Meanwhile, here in North Alabama, we're getting winter storm warnings and a state of emergency to deal with a coming winter storm predicted for tonight and tomorrow.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Thursday, January 09, 2025 - 07:46 pm: Edit

As an actual firefigher, with a relevant undergrad degree (Fire & Safety Engineering Technology), I will add:

1) Idiots build homes in fire zones with combustible materials and let the brush get close to their houses. For example with Cedar Shake roofing over a wood frame house with vinyl siding. Spineless politicians and greedy builders are all in.

2) I dunno exactly where the fires started, but a lot of the area is NOT in LA City. IIRC a lot is State and Federal Wilderness.

3) Jessica is correct about how fire mains & hydrants work. ALSO, FDs will "draft water" from swimming pools. If I was there, and had a pool, I'd have a 200 + gpm portable pump and some way to spray my home. Basically my own personal external "dry deluge sprinkler" system from the contents of my pool. Note that pumps are usually rated from draft with a certain amount of lift... Combined with
non combustible shutters over all openings you should have a decent chance; the flame front of a wildfire moves through pretty fast..