Just got a call from a friend inviting us to their place if we need to bug out – another friend invited us last night so it is good to know we have places to go.
Right now there are eight fires burning in the county that I know of – and the Witch Creek fire is huge. Mostly backcountry so far, but it’s at the edge of the cities of Ramona and Escondido, and the day is just starting.
Not gonna be a good day, not at all.
We’ve got the news on to watch the fire’s progress. So far all of Ramona is being evacuated from the Witch Creek fire, and parts of east county around Dulzura from the Harris fire. About 30,000 acres burning just in San Diego County right now – and the next couple of days will be hot, dry and windy. This will not be good. Many homes are already lost, 1 dead and 17 injured so far.
The winds are gusting like crazy here. This feels like the Cedar fire all over again. And there are a dozen fires burning throughout southern California right now. Nasty, nasty fire season, yet again. It’s weird to walk through your home, thinking of what you will pack if you have to, what you will leave. You realize what really means something to you and what is just stuff. And hope it will not come to that. I have several friends who had to make those decisions, and the emotional scars run deep, even when they don’t really show. We packed up in 2003, we may have to do it again. It is wrenching, and you know others are suffering more. The smell of smoke is constant, even with the air conditioning on, and there is nothing to do but wait and hope. Charge the phones, be sure you’re ready to go if you have to. And then try to sleep…
UPDATE: Taken from Jeff Makey’s home in Escondido this evening
Fanned by Santa Ana winds, more than 8,000 acres have burned east of Ramona today in what has been named the Witch Fire. With another fire near Tecate, this situation is eerily similar to 2003′s Cedar Fire.
The attached picture was taken from my front yard in Escondido about an hour ago. It’s not quite this bright to the unaided eye, but with binoculars I can frequently see flames through the smoke.
Our fire season is just not complete without a wildfire in Malibu. Oy.
At least it’s not San Diego this year. Or at least, not yet. But memories of 2003 are probably scaring a lot of San Diegans right now. At least with la Nina, perhaps mud slide season will not be too devastating this year.
Sigh.
UPDATE:
Aw, crap. Now it’s us. Damn it! North of Ramona, so a ways from our place. But it’s windy as heck here, so this is gonna be nasty.
Fire cuts swath through Malibu Hills – Los Angeles Times
A swift-moving wildfire driven by ferocious Santa Ana winds destroyed several landmark structures, including the famed Castle Kashan in the Malibu Hills early today, and forced the evacuation of Pepperdine University and 200 nearby homes.
Four hundred firefighters aided by helicopters and water-dropping aircraft battled the blaze, which had charred roughly 500 acres and led to the closure of Pacific Coast Highway between Kanan-Dume and Topanga Canyon roads.
“We’re looking at an intense wind-driven fire,” said Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Ron Haralson.
The scene in Malibu was choatic, with winds howling and kicking up grit and sand. CHP officers were wearing gas masks due to extremely thick smoke.
Georgia King, a Malibu Retreat resident smelled the smoke before 7:30 a.m. and immediately moved into action to evacuate horses from two nearby stables.
“We probably moved 70 horses with all the wonderful people stepping to help,” King said. She said they were taking the horses to various locations, including Malibu Riding & Tennis Club.
King added that the “castle is burning,” referring to Castle Kashan, a well-known local landmark in the hills. The turrets of the building, located on a hillside above the Country Mart, were in flames at 10 a.m.
Well, Bernanke, whatcha gonna do now?
Oy.
Stocks Sink; Dow Falls by More Than 300: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 300 points Friday — the anniversary of the Black Monday crash 20 year ago — as investors were frightened by lackluster corporate earnings, credit concerns and rising oil prices.
The market turned sharply lower Friday after Standard & Poor’s again reduced its ratings on residential mortgage-backed securities. The latest reduction, on more than 1,400 types of securities, added to investors unease about credit quality.
In addition, mixed results from Dow components 3M Co., Honeywell Inc., and Caterpillar Inc. gave investors little incentive to take chances on the market. And oil prices added to investors’ list of concerns when they briefly moved above the psychological barrier of $90 per barrel for the first time.
In the final hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 315.24, or 2.27 percent, to 13,573.72. The Dow is down for the fifth straight session.
Broader stock indicators also fell. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 33.16, or 2.15 percent, to 1,506.92, and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 62.42, or 2.23 percent, to 2,736.89. The Nasdaq fell below the noteworthy technical level of 2,750, adding to selling pressure.
Women who use make-up on a daily basis are absorbing almost 5lb of chemicals a year into their bodies, it is claimed.
Many use more than 20 different beauty products a day striving to look their best while nine out of 10 apply make-up which is past its use by date.
Dependence on cosmetics and toiletries means that a cocktail of 4lb 6oz of chemicals a year is absorbed into the body through the skin.
Some synthetic compounds involved have been linked to side effects ranging from skin irritation to premature ageing and cancer.
Richard Bence, a biochemist who has spent three years researching conventional products, said: “We really need to start questioning the products we are putting on our skin and not just assume that the chemicals in them are safe.
“We have no idea what these chemicals do when they are mixed together, the effect could be much greater than the sum of the individual parts.” Mr Bence, an advocate of organic beauty products, believes that absorbing chemicals through the skin in more dangerous than swallowing them.
He said: “If lipstick gets into your mouth it is broken down by the enzymes in saliva and in the stomach. But chemicals get straight into your bloodstream, there is no protection.”
…
Among chemicals under scrutiny are parabens (para-hydroxybenzoic acids) which are preservatives used in products including soap, shampoo, deodorant and baby lotion. Traces of parabens have been found in breast tumour samples, although its link to the development of the cancer is disputed.
Sodium lauryl sulphate, used to help create lather in soaps, shampoo, shaving foam, toothpaste and bubble bath, can cause skin irritation.
The Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfumery Association said there was no reason for worry because the products were covered by European Union rules requiring them to be safe.
A spokesman said: “The cocktail effect is an urban myth. We do know how different chemicals react individually and can predict how they interact with each other and this is taken into account when the safety of products is assessed.”
I happen to have developed a sulphate/sulfite intolerance, so I try to eliminate most sulphates from my body products, which isn’t easy. Just try to find a shampoo or bodywash without them! So I use a lot of organic products now, and my skin and hair are much less dry and feel so much better. And I don’t have all the aches and pains I used to get.
I used to feel almost naked without makeup on – but now I like the way I look and don’t feel like I “have” to wear it. It’s a good feeling.
WakeUpWalMart.com – The Truth About Wal-Mart and Food Safety
Wal-Mart is the #1 importer of Chinese goods. So, after the spree of high-profile recalls and outright bans on dangerous Chinese products, wouldn’t it be logical for Wal-Mart to take the offensive against unsafe imported goods? Shouldn’t Wal-Mart stand up for the safety of American consumers?
Wouldn’t you?
The truth is that Wal-Mart is putting profits over people – again – by blocking laws requiring disclosure of where food comes from. Instead of looking out for consumer safety, Wal-Mart is watching its own bottom line.
Even among nations, Wal-Mart is China’s sixth largest trading partner: it buys more Chinese goods than industrial giants like Germany and Britain. This gives Wal-Mart the power to demand safer products from its Chinese suppliers. Unfortunately, it has demanded nothing more than lower prices, and has tried to cover up the consequences of its race to the bottom.
As consumers, we have the right to know that the products we buy are safe. Don’t let irresponsible corporations like Wal-Mart cut us out of the loop.
Amidst seemingly endless recalls of dangerous products, Wal-Mart has tried to keep American consumers in the dark.
Let’s shine a light.
I suppose I’ve recommended paperbackswap here before at least once or twice. I’ve got a stack of political books posted right now that I really need to get rid of, so if you’re interested in any of these, please let me know or if you’re a paperbackswap member you can just request them on the site. I’m “woodka” on paperbackswap. If you’re not a member (and you really should be, it’s great fun), I’m more than happy to mail any of these to you – I really need to clear space for new stuff I want to read.
The Accidental President: How 413 Lawyers, 9 Supreme Court Justices, and 5,963,110 Floridians (Give or Take a Few) Landed George W. Bush in the White House :: David A. Kaplan
…AND THE HORSE HE RODE IN ON : THE PEOPLE V. KENNETH STARR :: James Carville
An Hour Before Daylight An Hour Before Daylight :: Jimmy Carter
The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President :: Vincent Bugliosi, Gerry Spence
Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential :: James Moore, Wayne Slater, James C. Moore, Wayne Slater
Diving Australia: A Guide to the Best Diving Down Under :: Neville Coleman, Nigel Marsh
Oh, the Things I Know! A Guide to Success, or, Failing That, Happiness :: Al Franken
The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill :: Ron Suskind
Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations :: Al Franken
Shrub : The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush :: Molly Ivins, Lou Dubose
We’re Right, They’re Wrong : A Handbook for Spirited Progressives :: James Carville
If you’re interested in what political books I want to read, here’s my Amazon wishlist.
I also have a non-political list, of course.
Gore Derangement Syndrome – New York Times
On the day after Al Gore shared the Nobel Peace Prize, The Wall Street Journal’s editors couldn’t even bring themselves to mention Mr. Gore’s name. Instead, they devoted their editorial to a long list of people they thought deserved the prize more.
And at National Review Online, Iain Murray suggested that the prize should have been shared with “that well-known peace campaigner Osama bin Laden, who implicitly endorsed Gore’s stance.” You see, bin Laden once said something about climate change — therefore, anyone who talks about climate change is a friend of the terrorists.
What is it about Mr. Gore that drives right-wingers insane?
Partly it’s a reaction to what happened in 2000, when the American people chose Mr. Gore but his opponent somehow ended up in the White House. Both the personality cult the right tried to build around President Bush and the often hysterical denigration of Mr. Gore were, I believe, largely motivated by the desire to expunge the stain of illegitimacy from the Bush administration.
And now that Mr. Bush has proved himself utterly the wrong man for the job — to be, in fact, the best president Al Qaeda’s recruiters could have hoped for — the symptoms of Gore derangement syndrome have grown even more extreme.
The worst thing about Mr. Gore, from the conservative point of view, is that he keeps being right. In 1992, George H. W. Bush mocked him as the “ozone man,” but three years later the scientists who discovered the threat to the ozone layer won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In 2002 he warned that if we invaded Iraq, “the resulting chaos could easily pose a far greater danger to the United States than we presently face from Saddam.” And so it has proved.
But Gore hatred is more than personal. When National Review decided to name its anti-environmental blog Planet Gore, it was trying to discredit the message as well as the messenger. For the truth Mr. Gore has been telling about how human activities are changing the climate isn’t just inconvenient. For conservatives, it’s deeply threatening….
Today, being a good Republican means believing that taxes should always be cut, never raised. It also means believing that we should bomb and bully foreigners, not negotiate with them.
So if science says that we have a big problem that can’t be solved with tax cuts or bombs — well, the science must be rejected, and the scientists must be slimed. For example, Investor’s Business Daily recently declared that the prominence of James Hansen, the NASA researcher who first made climate change a national issue two decades ago, is actually due to the nefarious schemes of — who else? — George Soros.
Which brings us to the biggest reason the right hates Mr. Gore: in his case the smear campaign has failed. He’s taken everything they could throw at him, and emerged more respected, and more credible, than ever. And it drives them crazy.
Off to make some art for a few days. I may post if I get a chance since I’ll have my laptop with me, but if not, have a great weekend!
Awesome album – number one in its first week out.
Good to have you back, Bruce…
“Last To Die” — Bruce Springsteen
We took the highway till the road went black
We marked Truth Or Consequences on our map*
A voice drifted up from the radio
We saw the voice from long ago
Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake
The kids asleep in the backseat
We’re just countin’ the miles you and me
We don’t measure the blood we’ve drawn anymore
We just stack the bodies outside the door
Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake
The wise men were all fools
What to do
The sun sets in flames as the city burns
Another day gone down as the night turns
And I hold you here in my heart
As things fall apart
A downtown window flushed with light
Faces of the dead at five (faces of the dead at five)
A martyr’s silent eyes
Petition the drivers as we pass by
Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who’ll be the last to die
Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Darlin’ your tyrants and kings form the same fate
Strung up at your city gates
And you’re the last to die for a mistake
No, not Halo Kitty…. this is a very cool machine that allows a new breast cancer test to be done with a pap smear, and I got to try it out today at my OB/GYN! It’s a bit ouchy, but no worse than breast feeding two kids and a lot more fun than a mammogram!
With October, the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, not too far off, it’s time again for women to renew their efforts to protect themselves against breast cancer. And for such a task, a new test is gradually gaining national attention as a critical means for early detection against the deadly disease.
Dr. Chandice Covington, former professor and Associate Dean of Academic and Clinical Affairs in the College of Nursing at WSU, conceived the innovative device, called the Halo Breast Pap Test, while at Wayne State. The device, currently licensed by the Irvine, Calif. based company NeoMatrix, is finding isolated success in parts of the West Coast and throughout the country, although not in Michigan however. In time, it has the chance to routinely give women a weapon for the war on breast cancer.
The fully automated device, which hopes to do for breast cancer what the pap smear has done for cervical cancer, delivers an easy, non-invasive, five-minute test that collects nipple aspirate fluid.
Cells in the fluid are then analyzed and determined whether to be pre-cancerous. While a mammogram can detect breast cancer up to two years before lumps can be felt, the Halo Breast Pap Test is able to detect abnormal cells several years before that.
Breast cancer is the leading cause of death for woman age 35-50, according to the American Breast Cancer Foundation. Up to 70 percent of women who develop breast cancer have no identifiable risk factors, and over 80 percent of women who get breast cancer exhibit no family history of the disease.
Covington’s FDA approved machine will significantly improve the odds of discovering and fighting the deadly disease.
“Early detection of breast cancer produces better outcomes,” said Covington, who’s currently dean of the College of Nursing at the University of North Dakota. “The fluid that is collected is produced by the very cells that are cancerous or that are in early stages of pre-cancer. Early detection of pre-cancer could generate local treatments that are afforded, negating later needs to use radiation and chemotherapy for full cancer diagnoses.”
With the Wubba nearly completely destroyed, Darwin begins disemboweling his next victim.
Thanks to whiskey river for these timely (for me) quotes on art. I’ll be off to the Learning and Product Art Expo this week to play with art stuff in Pasadena. I haven’t done any art really for some time now, since the boys and the dogs are always around and I really have no space for making art. So it feels a bit weird to be starting up again, but it will make a nice break in my routine. And I’ll probably come home with a ton of additional art supplies that I won’t use in addition to the ton I already have that I don’t use!
“What do drawings mean to me? I really don’t know. The activity absorbs me. I forget everything else in a way that I don’t think happens with any other activity.” – John Berger
“What one seems to want in art, in experiencing it, is the same thing that is necessary for its creation, a self-forgetful, perfectly useless concentration.”
- Elizabeth Bishop“It is conceivable that the artist might once again be completely integrated in society as he was in the Middle Ages. Today he is hardly likely to find himself unless he is a non-conformist and a rebel. To say this is neither dangerous nor new. It is what society really expects of its artists. For today the artist has, whether he likes it or not, inherited the combined functions of hermit, pilgrim, prophet, priest, shaman, sorcerer, soothsayer, alchemist, and bonze. How could such a man be free? How can he really “find himself” if he plays a role that society has predetermined for him? The freedom of the artist is to be sought precisely in the choice of his work and not in the choice of the role as “artist” which society asks him to play.” – Thomas Merton, Raids on the Unspeakable
“We are all creative artists of life, our physical bodies being the artist’s material (canvas/clay), with our nerves, thoughts, feelings and senses (i.e. the personality components) comprising both the material on which, and the instruments with which, the person molds his creative genius into conduct, behaviour, forms of action and life itself, with his life reflecting every image he creates out of the in-exhaustive source of the unconscious, with every deed expressing originality, creativity and the artist’s living personality. The artist of life is that man who is master of himself wherever he may be found, behaving truly to himself.”
- Daisetz Suzuki
At Some Point They Become Stilts » Manolo’s Shoe Blog: Shoes, Fashion, Celebrity, and Manolo!
Manolo says, there is only one person who would wear such ridiculous feetwear.
I really wasn’t sure if I was reading Manalo or Go Fug Yourself this morning…. this outfit could easily be on either site.
I can only hope that I could be so creative if I were in the public eye and had so much money to waste. At least I hope she wasn’t actually trying to look good or attractive, but merely making a joke of herself…..
Darwin would have a great time destroying that outfit, though. And I would have no hesitation about letting him.
Although I do wonder where she found that many red condoms….
OR maybe she made it from this.
It took Darwin a couple of weeks, but the Wubba destruction is nearly complete!
In his Statement to Disorders Inquiry Committee January 5, 1920 (The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi vol. 19, p. 206), Ghandi describes satyagraha this way:
Its root meaning is holding on to truth, hence truth-force. I have also called it love-force or soul-force. In the application of satyagraha, I discovered in the earliest stages that pursuit of truth did not admit of violence being inflicted on one’s opponent but that he must be weaned from error by patience and sympathy. For what appears to be truth to the one may appear to be error to the other. And patience means self-suffering. So the doctrine came to mean vindication of truth, not by infliction of suffering on the opponent, but on oneself.
The three characteristics of Satyagraha are:
1. Satyagraha is a weapon of the strong;
2. it admits of no violence under any circumstance whatever;
3. and it ever insists upon truth.
Oct. 2, 2007, is the first International Day of Non-Violence, commemorating both the anniversary of Gandhi’s birthday, as well as satyagraha.*
I’m currently reading Gandhi’s autobiography, My Experiments with Truth. It really is an interesting look at the man behind the “image.” A friend of mine made the comment that it’s likely very hard being the little people who surround the genius. I think that’s right on, as Gandhi had very specific ways he wanted to accomplish things, and much of it was experimentation–and everyone who was a part of his life had to go along with it. I appreciate that he’s not painted as perfect, but as quite human and fallible.
The most remarkable element of his story, is his willingness to forgive. He sees that people hate, make laws that are unfair, and hurt each other because of a wrong understanding of some sort. He also determined when and where he would pick his battles, which to me, showed great humility and insight.
***********************************
*Satyagraha is the practice of non-violent resistance, which Gandhi used in his early days in South Africa and then later in India. The concept of satyagraha also greatly influenced Martin Luther King, Jr. in his efforts during the U.S. Civil Rights movement.
Gandhi made a clear distinction between passive resistance and satyagraha (which basically has no translation). Satyagraha is always based in truth, meaning that unjust methods can never be used … even to achieve justice, and the goal is not to “win” but to actually convert the opposition to recognize the just way.
Oh. My. God.
Too funny….
Daily Kos: The GOP’s new “wide-stance” logo
And yes, this is real, not an extremely clever photoshop job, and truly encapsulates what the Republican Party is all about.
Wide stance? Check.
In Minneapolis? Check.
Prison stripe-wearing? Check.
Starry eyed? Check.
As for the elephant humping the “2008″…
Are they going for a “Still screwing the country in 2008″ theme, or is it a reference to hypocritical adulterers like David Vitter and just about the entire Republican presidential field?
All of the above? Check!
Apparently they ran out of space for a collapsing bridge.
There are some days I’m grateful for a house that sits on a granite hill, even if it is a pain to try to garden in a foot or two of topsoil….
What people don’t realize is that many of the San Diego area hillsides are unstable. One good earthquake or heavy rain season, and we might find this even more common.
SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro — Landslide in La Jolla
A disaster foretold in July by cracks appearing in pavement and homes along Soledad Mountain Road struck suddenly yesterday morning when a massive slab of hillside broke loose, sending tons of dirt cascading toward streets below.
Two homes were destroyed, 15 others were left uninhabitable and three streets were rendered impassable in the La Jolla neighborhood built into the east side of Mount Soledad overlooking Interstate 5. In all, the city included 111 homes in the affected area.
No one was injured.
A bruising battle looms over what caused the massive slide and whether the city could have done something to prevent it. Litigation seems likely.
Hard as it may be to believe, the two squares A and B are actually the same colour.
“When you interact with another, an illusion is part of this dynamic. This illusion allows each soul to perceive what it needs to understand in order to heal.” — Gary Zukav
“I would have to say that nothing truly seems faraway to me anymore. I can’t observe an event like the earthquake and tsunami and not feel moved to do something and contribute something. I see all world affairs as connected, and wonder at those who want to insulate themselves in their America without absolutely knowing the world will find a way into their world. To me the conservatives seem to suffer this grand illusion that they can remake the world as they wish, but it simply won’t happen the way they would like.” -me
“Trust the gods within,
Accept given boons.
Illusion is reality’s border:
Pierce fear to go beyond.”
“Once you’ve seen the face of god,
You see that same face on everyone you meet.
The true god has no face. The true Tao has no name. But we cannot identify with that until we are of a very high level of insight. Until then, the gods with faces and the Tao with names are still more worthy of veneration and study than the illusions of the world.” — Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao
“In our natural state, we are glorious beings. In the world of illusion, we are lost and imprisoned, slaves to our appetites and our will to false power.”
–- Marianne Williamson
“Show me the way, show me the way
Take me tonight to the river
And wash my illusions away…” — Styx
“When illusion spin her net
I’m never where I want to be
And liberty she pirouette
When I think that I am free
Watched by empty silhouettes
Who close their eyes but still can see
No one taught them etiquette
I will show another me” — Peter Gabriel
“Welcome to the grand illusion
Come on in and see whats happening
Pay the price, get your tickets for the show
The stage is set, the band starts playing
Suddenly your heart is pounding
Wishing secretly you were a star.
But don’t be fooled by the radio
The tv or the magazines
They show you photographs of how your life should be
But they’re just someone else’s fantasy
So if you think your life is complete confusion
Because you never win the game
Just remember that its a grand illusion
And deep inside were all the same.
Were all the same… –Styx
“The obliteration of your isolation
the complete explosion of your fondest notion
This disintegration is your elevation
It’s a grand illusion, it’s a grand illusion
You’re crying, you’re trying so hard now
You’ll be laughing
a hundred thousand years
There is only one day
and tonight is the night
It’s a grand illusion
The devastation of your separation
The disillusion of your constitution
It’s exhilaration, it’s your liberation
It’s a grand illusion, it’s a grand illusion
You’re crying, you’re trying so hard now
You’ll be laughing a hundred thousand years
There is only one day and tonight is the night
It’s a grand illusion” — Joan Osborne
“Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces.” — Sigmund Freud
“Reality is merely an illusion, although a very persistent one” — Albert Einstein
“We think the mentally disabled are less able than we are, but, in that brief time, I saw what they see, and it was more than I see day to day, more than I can now remember. In those “insane” moments of my life, brief as they were, I saw the illusion our lives really are. And laughed.
If there are ghosts and spirits, they laugh at us. No wonder we are afraid”. — me
Changing Places is about the process of creating and opening up to change. My current interests include spiritual change, business change management, cultural change, artistic change, Tao Te Ching (The Way of Change), interpersonal and relationship change, and lifestyle change. It is also my personal blog, so my own life changes get top billing. The change in social media means a lot of my activity is now on Facebook, Google Reader and Twitter, so follow me there to see more.
You are currently browsing the Changing Places weblog archives for October, 2007.
