ojai news at The Ojai Post :: blog, newspaper, events in Ojai, California

I feel you! Those bastards are still billing me for wireless service, which I never got:
http://www.ojaipost.com/2007/07/several_random_thoughts.shtml

Howard- where do you live?
No problem with TWC here in Miramonte-Upper Oak View

Sorry, Ed, nice try. While GISS did have some errors and adjustments that juggled the results a bit, in fact it was confined exclusively to U.S. originated data, the United States covering about 3% of the earth. And it hardly debunks the reams and reams of data collected independent of GISS - you're looking for one single example to discredit the entire scientific wing of study.

There is a lengthy post that addresses the scientific findings, and puts what you are talking about in perspective here:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/8/11/72959/3572

To take a look at what's going on globally, you can take a look at these global surface and air temperature graphs which clearly show the temperature spikes we as a planet are experiencing.
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/

And to say that "phony global warming propaganda is the slickest attack on constitutional freedoms...since the founding of 'Earth Day'" completely discredits anything you have to say in light of the horrific civil liberty rollbacks perpetrated on the American people by the Bush administration since 9/11, specifically the Patriot Act, Patriot Act II, FISA violations, FISA expansion, warrantless wiretapping, search and seizure and more.

It is silly for an avowed civil libertarian and Bircher to keep his head in the sand about these gross civil liberty violations by the Bush Administration, and instead point to global warming as the biggest violator of constitutional freedoms.

Time Warner is completely dishonest. Their goal seems to be: how many ways to rip off the customer. I had to deal with their rep in Ojai. Getting her to do her job was not easy. When I was finally left with no recourse except to call her 'supervisor' she suddenly agreed to do her job.

"Scientists are greatly devided [sic] on this issue..."

i think that statement's actually the opposite of true..it seems as though the supreme court is divided about global warming's existence and the public is unsure of its seriousness, but it's generally accepted - and there's a growing body of scientific evidence to prove this - to be happening and to be influenced, if not caused, by human activities. so there goes "cannot be shown to be man-cauesd [sic]" too.

it's great to be skeptical, but to flatly deny things in the face of evidence is, well, very Republican.

Ed -- the only fraud being committed in the name of global warming is the active and agenda-driven denial of global warming on the part of moneyed interests.

This country needs more sensible environmental regulation, not less. Do you know why we need these laws, and laws in general? Because without them, people would do absolutely anything they could dream of doing as long as it made them a buck or two, and they would do it without any regard for anything else or anybody else.

The more that you and those who feel as you do practice common sense and common decency, the fewer laws we'll need.
Your property rights NEVER trump any person's right to live in a healthy environment. Never.

i can't get that page to stay lit, but i guess we're one-for-one: i find one that says scientists agree it's real, you find one that says they don't.

who the hell knows. point is, whether the world's about to end or not, we're not living in sustainable ways. i want to care for the planet as if it were endangered, and i want to do it out of love, not fear.

Sorry, Brian, nice try. That article by a blogger who has a history as a global warming denier lacks scientific credibility. Try googling the name of the scientist he quotes (who happens to be an endocrinologist), and all you get are pages and pages of right-wingers who cite the article you cite as some sort of proof. The act of trying to knock down consensus is somehow proof that global warming isn't happening is a poor man's argument.

Here's another blog post (take it for what you will) knocking down your blog post:
http://tehipitetom.blogspot.com/2007/08/global-warming-denialists-and-consensus.html

I don't get why global warming deniers are so vociferous. The fact is that the global energy industry is moving towards alternative and sustainable solutions, and America is going to get its ass kicked by Asia and Europe if we don't continue to innovate (nuclear may or may not be part of the short-term answer). Even if global warming isn't as severe as many predict, it still makes sense to move away from oil dependence and polluting energies.

And for good measure, Brian, here's another refutation of the article you cited:
http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2007/08/classifying_abstracts_on_globa.php

A choice quote: "[among the articles that] reject the consensus are Gerhard, which was published in the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin"

Brian -

The piece by Michael Asher is clearly an op-ed piece. Asher is a blogger, not a scientist. You might as well have directed me to something written by Dick Cheney or Karl Rove.

The whole global warming debate appears to be about the American Enterprise Institute & their supporters & clients trying to discredit everyone else, and the AEI is spending big bucks to make certain that nobody kills the goose that has been laying their golden eggs for so many years. It amazes me that there are people who value money more than they value life, but there you have it. They would rather die wealthy than poor, and they really don't care about anyone else and/or anything else.

If you are willing to take Asher's words as gospel, then you probably adhere to the Fox Cable News viewpoint, too, and that leaves me knowing that I won't be following any more of your links. There are people who still believe that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11, and that he had WMDs, and that we needed to pulverize Iraq in order to save it, and that Clinton's BJ was worse than all Bush's collective %$#@-ups. So be it. I understand that there are people who believe that the Earth is only 6,000 years old, and that Copernicus was wrong about everything. They, in my mind, are about as credible as the deniers of the human contribution to global warmimg.

If there were absolutely no humans on this planet at all except for you, and you were able to measure the atmospheric temperature, you would have a good baseline to use in the following experiment: Instantly add 6 billion to to the surface of the Earth. Measure the atmospheric temperature again in 24 hours. The temperature will have risen by a measurable amount, no matter how small. It has to -- it's just physics. Now, magically light up 6 billion 100 watt incandescent light bulbs, or otherwise produce the heat that 6 billion incandescent lamps would produce.
Measure the temperature of the atmosphere again in 24 hours, and you will see that it has increased again. It has to -- there is no way that it cannot.

Now, add all of the real infrastructure that we, as humans, really create and possess. Produce all of the real conditions that we really impose upon the planet. Start a few huge underground coal fires in China and India. Fire up all of the small fires that people use. Start up all of the internal combustion engines. Fire up every transformer and electrical motor that creates inductive heating. Start up all of the gas and coal-fired electrical generation plants. Turn on all of the stoves and ovens. Fire up all of the microwave devices. Keep adding things until you have arrived at the place we're at today. Every time you add a source of heat, you are going to increase the temperature of the atmosphere, just as you increase the temperature of the atmosphere in a room when you fire up your computer or turn on your little electrical heater or pack one too many people into the space.

People and their activities do affect global warming -- there's no way around it unless you can somehow negate or suspend the laws of physics. You can deny that all you wish, but the evidence is there. It is getting warmer. Why would you or anyone else defend throwing gasoline on the fire that is burning their house and, indeed, their world?

We cannot stop global warming if it is a natural process, but we can quit adding to it in ways that make it harder to live. It is one thing to believe that the scientists will save us, and another to know that the scientists can save us from little local things but cannot -- in reality -- save us from bigger things like hurricanes and tornadoes and monsoons.

It would be a really good thing if people would quit lining up on either side of the global warming issue based on whether they are left-wing or right-wing, and start looking for real answers to real questions based on real science and not upon who voted for whom in the last couple of elections, or who has the snarkiest commentators or the best lawyers.

Ed -- I went to school with waaaay too many Birchers. I spent too much time at the local American Opinion bookstore trying to be liberal-minded. In the end, I was glad to wash my hands of all JBS influence and narrow-mindedness. I knew some extremely intelligent Birchers, but every single one of them was paranoid to the point of being psychotic. They were almost all rigid, unimaginative, unhappy, depressing, unrealistic, racist, hateful, negative, arrogant people, and they all believed that the main problem with the world was the World-Wide Conspiracy of Jewish Bankers. (That and non-whites in America.) I don't know where you're all at today, and I don't care. I know where you came from, and it makes me ill to think that I might ever have to listen thoughtfully to any of that crap ever again. A couple of sane thoughts on the part of the JBS neither negates nor excuses the rest of the tripe. I would just as soon campaign for Lyndon LaRouche as listen to JBS beliefs. You might be a nice guy in real life, but when you write here you remind me of some of the most whacked-out people I have ever had the displeasure to know in my entire life. I know that if I visit this blog I will find things written by you, but know in advance that I do not give you the benefit of the doubt, nor look for the good in what you have written. I was fooled once by better writers than you, and I will not be fooled again.

The right wing (under the tutelage of Heir Karl Rove) has been waging a war of disinformation about global warming that is Orwellien.

It's a great way to confuse the masses so that the real truth becomes lost in the blur.

Wikipedia defines disinformation:

Disinformation is the deliberate dissemination of false information. It may include the distribution of forged documents, manuscripts, and photographs, or propagation of malicious rumours and fabricated intelligence. In the context of espionage or military intelligence, it is the deliberate spreading of false information to mislead an enemy as to one's position or course of action. It also includes the distortion of true information in such a way as to render it useless.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinformation

like I said
dis(ed nemechek)information

Ed --

The only response you'll get from me is that you're not worth responding to. (However, if you'll post your address as well as your phone # I'll be glad to send you an economy-size roll of aluminum foil.)

Brian -

The only people who are responsible for our country's (and the world's) lack of viable energy alternatives are the fossil fuel conglomerates. You could talk from now until the year 2100, and you'd never convince me otherwise.

BTW, do you get paid to spout AEI talking points? Just wondering. No matter -- the disinformation campaign has been busted, and as it continues to get hotter and drier, all of the AEI's drivel is going to sound more ridiculous with each passing day.

Brian and Ed: you guys just don't get it. Nothing sinks in. Every one of your talking points has been disproved. You both are prime examples of what happens when some one tries to be a leader to feed their ego. All you do is sound foolish. You both are way, way, way over your heads and you are the ones digging the holes you stand in. If you had an inkling of intelligence, you'd stop broadcasting your idiocy. I for one, recognize that you will never stop spouting your state sponsored garbage. Underneath it all, you only care about preserving your fragile eself image. At times your silliness is amusing, mostly it is just sad and annoying like a 60 year old child who didn't get enough attention from their folks or give enough to their own kids. Forgive yourself and move on.

Brian: Here's my solution: Get out of the way. Stop the broken record of nonsense lies that you mindlessly repeat. Join the discussion with openess and the willingness to learn instead of just being a DickTater. Encourage the incompetent mindless misers to release their death grip on human beings. Start with being honest with your self.

phalarope, we are still waiting for YOUR solution.

Enjoy the wait, then.

You don't have any solutions that don't create more problems than they solve. You're just pimping for some amoral bastards who'd squash you in a heartbeat if you ever even looked as if you were going to get in between them and their wallets.

In regards to Ed Nemechek's comments concerning the usage of very large air tankers in controlling wildland fires, I am surprised by his obvious lack of knowledge regarding wildland fire fighting tactics & strategies. There is no single method or mechanism (outside of significant weather patterns such as long-term rain or snow fall) that will completely control a wildland fire. All wildland fires that are to be suppressed are fought with a combination of resources, tools and methods. In fact, retardant drops via an air tanker are rarely used as a sole fire suppression tactic - these drops are normally followed up on the ground by human & mechanical resources such as hotshot crews, hand crews, dozers and engines to efficiently utilize the retardant drop to enhance the actual fire break - thru hand-dug line, or burn-out activities or just working on a direct attack plan while the on-coming flame lengths have been reduced. In addition, a massive wildland fire such as the one described by Mr. Nemechek would likely be creating it's own weather pattern causing embers to float out to non-burned areas causing spot fires which would be outside of the air tanker retardant drop areas. If the intent of Mr. Nemechek's letter is to reduce or eliminate the ground forces to allow "the only effective tool" to be used, then the additional usage of retardant as well as the additional flights to the wildland fire to "control" these spot fires will be overwhelmingly inefficient. As to his interest in prosecuting officials because of their lack of care for the value of human life and suffering, I would caution him to realize that there are numerous officials in our current government that have already proven their lack of concern for the value of human life & suffering, and should one official in a wildland fire agency be successfully convicted, that others in other federal agencies should also be prosecuted and at some point, all of us would be guilty for our lack of concern for the human suffering that currently exists within our life. Please post this as a concerned citizen as well as a wildland firefighter. Scott Swendsen Boise, ID

Reguarding FIRE! (mail from Ed Namechek) Being a firefighter myself, I have to wonder if Ed works for the company that is trying to soak the government for the $30,000 per hour that the so called super tanker he is selling as the ONLY effective means of firefighting will cost. Did I mention that the contract in question has a guaranteed 100 flight hour monthly minimum that would cost $3 million? Did you know that that same money could employ 55 twenty person Hot Shot crews or 333 Smokejumpers? Perhaps you should also know that a 747 has difficulty getting under 500 feet above ground on level ground, let alone in mountainous terrain. Retardent dropped from that altitude could be comperable to trying to use a squirt bottle to put out a camp fire from ten feet away. Oh, and you only get up to 8 squirts before you have to go land at the airport and take 20 minutes or more to reload. What are you thinking Ed? -Shawn Denowh

Brian, I'm waiting for you to admit your a fanatic - not! I know it's not possible.

Still waiting

Hold your breath while you wait. It'll reduce your carbon footprint. That's one of my solutions.

Ed, what do you think of my show? Meow

Ed, its like you didn't even read what a "wildland firefighter" and a "firefighter" had to say. You think they haven't done their homework, really?

Neither of them had a "dim view" of the DC-10. They just put it into a larger perspective and expressed the limitations of that particular tool in the toolbox.

Amazing to watch you all blog.... This was intended to be about our cable company, Time/Warner and there essential failure to provide adequate customer service. Had I not kept on them for three days, I would have gone almost a week without their service and they would have happily billed us for it. fortunately, using a metaphorical "sledge hammer," I got them to do their job...

blog on!

Oh, yeah. Time-Warner.

I lose my broadband connection every time the temperature goes over 85 degrees. This has been happening since the days of Adelphia, and has been going on for about 4 years. When it's really hot, as it was yesterday, my connection doesn't come back until 8:00 - 8:30 at night. On a good day, it comes back between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m.

I called Adelphia when this first started happening, which was the first summer that I had broadband, and they told me that I had to be home all day in order for them to look at the problem. I said that the problem was on their end, not mine. The person on the phone replied that the problem usually turned out to be on the consumer's end, and that I needed to be at home.

I took my cable modem outside the next morning and hooked it up to their drop at the end of my house, and was able to go online normally using my laptop. When I returned at 4:30 in the afternoon, I tried the same experiment and was unable to go online. (The modem was cool, having been in the house all day.)

I called Adelphia back the next day and reported all of this to the person on the phone. She told me that I had to be at home to meet the service tech, even though the problem clearly wasn't at my house. I was not able to be at home during the day, and so this problem continued until the weather finally cooled down to where there were no more 85+ degree days.

This little dance has been going on for 4 years now, and as I am not home during the week it's not that much of an imposition. However, I am at home on the weekends and in the evenings, and I probably experience about 25 hours +- each week where I have no broadband connection during my free time. Time-Warner has the same policy as Adelphia -- I have to be here to meet the service tech, although they only require me to be home half a day; morning or afternoon.

I'm paying for a lot of broadband hours that I'm not getting, and until I agree to play the game their way, even though I know the problem is theirs and not mine, they're not going to do anything about it. I know I'm probably sounding a bit petulant about all of this, but I find it annoying that they won't send a truck by to analyze their service. I know that they have to be in the neighborhood for some other reason sooner or later. I've asked my neighbors about their service, but I'm the only one within three houses on either side of me who has Time-Warner broadband. Everyone else has DSL, dialup, or no internet connection at all.

Uh, try another ISP?

Uh, try another ISP?

When Time-Warner works, I get file download speeds of about 600 kilobits per second, and as I download a lot of large files that speed matters to me. DSL doesn't even come close to that, and dialup......

Locally, there are no other equal or faster options as far as I know, and I don't want to change ISPs any more than HJS wants to put up a TV antenna, buy a dish and suffer the loss of at least half of what he likes to watch, or start renting a lot more DVDs; I want my cable provider to provide the service they're supposed to be providing according to the terms of their franchise agreement with the County. The problem I described isn't a glitch -- it's chronic, it's their problem, and they're making it mine. (And, they're charging me the same rate as they're charging a person who gets 24/7/365 broadband service.)

After 4 years, I'm no longer really outraged, just grumbly and resigned. However, when I see their ads on TV and read the stuff they send me with my bill, I laugh at their self-image....kind of the way I laugh at Microsoft's representation of Vista.

Obviously, the above "Anonymous" is me.

phalarope-
I recently signed up for "extreme" service with Time Warner and I get download speeds of 14,000 kbps (which I assume are kilobits per second).
I suggest you look into it.
By the way, what part of Ojai do you live in?

You've endured this for 4 years, 1460 days, yet you couldn't take just 3 hours out of one of them to hang at home for the cable guy???

Sorry for hijacking your thread again, but I had to respond to Ed’s comments on the DC-10.

In support of Scott, Shawn and Tyler – The DC-10 can be an effective fire fighting ‘tool’, it does have limitations, and it still requires ground support forces. It is not the ‘end-all’ solution to wildfires. Ed, I don’t know if you have ever experienced one of these wildland fires, but they aren’t as easy as putting out a house fire with all the resources pulling up to the door and turning on the water. They occur in inaccessible terrain, they create their own weather, and they create walls of fire miles long moving at times at astonishing speed.

The firefighters are currently discussing the use of the DC-10 and dozers on their own websites. Here are just a couple of cross posts of what they have to say that you might be interested in since they are the ones doing the work and risking their lives for us.....

First:
I had the opportunity to see the DC10 operating at the Zaca 2 fire; while it was able to get lower than I would have expected I’m still not convinced it has much value compared to conventional tankers. The day I saw it, Tanker 910 arrived more than 2 hours late due to mechanical problems and then, instead of the 1 hour turn around the team expected (at least what was said in briefing), it was over 3 hours before it made its second drop. I understand the second drop was pretty effective, while the first missed its target. At the price CDF is paying for the contract (5 million) and looking back at the USFS tanker contract before that program was destroyed, the DC10 contract is 1/6 of what the National contract was for 40 heavy airtankers. So for that 5 million, 6-7 heavy airtankers could be on contract. Even adjusting for inflation I would expect 5-6 could still be had for that price. There are a bunch of DC4, 6 & 7’s available that were arbitrarily kicked to the curb that would probably be happy to get back into the tanker business. In the time the DC10 made its 2 drops the P2V’s and P3’s on Zaca 2 were quite busy, and I would be quite surprised if each of them did not drop the same or an even a larger load of retardant as 910 throughout the day.
While the DC10 may have its place, I don’t see $5 million dollar contract for an aircraft -- that spends most of its time on the ground waiting for fires large enough to absorb its cost -- as a value, compared to aircraft that would be used on an almost daily basis.
Based on the radio traffic I heard the day before, the DC 10 was called in because there were no more heavy airtankers available, not because anyone wanted the DC10. Had another 2-4 heavy air tankers been available, I don’t think the DC10 would have been flying

Second:
Air tankers were never designed to be used without support of ground resources. That has been written for years from the very beginning and is in every textbook there is on the subject. You cannot just “dump” retardant allover the place and not back it up with a fire line. We need to get back to the basics from those early days. All those pioneers basically knew what they were doing!

Third:
You have to understand the intent of the DC10. As I understand it, it can only do a single trail drop- that is a long line. As it doesn't dive on slopes like an S-2T, it probably isn't really appropriate until there is a flank on a spur ridge, or a head fire hitting a ridge top. Perhaps a big flame front on a large grass fire, but I doubt it.

Fourth:
I can answer your question about who staffs the Beech King Air provided for in the DC-10 contract. There are no Cal Fire personnel, but the sole occupant is a highly skilled former USFS Lead pilot who I know. This person is one of the best USFS Lead pilots I have ever flown behind and really knows the business. Omni Aviation recruited this pilot thinking they may have a shot at a federal fire carding. It never happened but then the state of California showed up and got an agreement going.
Remember the DC-10 is a new aircraft to this type of work. It has a crew who, while very familiar with the aircraft (both have thousands of hours in a like plane), are new to this business and there are no previous tactical procedures ever established or even considered for a ship this big.
I see it as a very useful tool and it is not an IA (Initial Attack) ship. It is a level flight drop at higher altitudes 12,000 gallon single drop air tanker. It doesn’t have the drop doors, it is the clamshell door system like we seen on some of the Sky Cranes. I did witness the drops on the Sawtooth, Horse and Day fires. In each case the difference it made with the parts of the fire it dropped on were astounding to me. And I have been involved in both sides of the fire tanker program.
But it does have its limits and more importantly those who manage the system for the state do too. That is what needs to be evaluated seriously and by an independent third party who is QUALIFIED. The follow up of the small bit of training this DC-10 crew just received needs some intense follow up training by QUALIFIED state paid for experts in this field. Currently Cal Fire has no one who possesses those qualifications that I know of.

It is not an initial attack (IA) tool, I don't think. The standard Type 1 and Type 2 can do several drops, so they have a little more use in IA.

Finally (concerning cost):
http://www.fire.ca.gov/newsreleases_...0factsheet.pdf

The aircraft is exclusive to CAL FIRE from June 15 through Oct 15 at a cost of $5,002,000.00 ($41,000.00 per day). In addition there is a $5,500.00 per flight hour charge.

You've endured this for 4 years, 1460 days, yet you couldn't take just 3 hours out of one of them to hang at home for the cable guy???

Not couldn't - wouldn't. I also refuse to wear clothing with logos unless it's free. No reason I should have to pay to advertise for someone else's product.

Anyway, everything tends to balance out sooner or later, and I tend to make sure that it does. I have the patience of a spider when it comes to taking care of accounts.

Mistah Ed, he gone....