(Nov 2, 2019 02:35 AM)Syne Wrote: California is a failed state. Homelessness, housing shortages, wildfires, neglected infrastructure...while they rack up huge debt on god knows what and rich leftist elites and celebs lecture the rest of the country. How much will it take for people to quit voting in useless Democrats?
I agree with him but I’m addicted to this area. I’ve thought about leaving before but the migration is driving up the housing markets in the surrounding states. Oh, sure, I could buy a mansion in the central or midwestern area but I wouldn’t be near the sea. Nature lover would be an understatement. I have a strong attachment to the landscape. I’m in love with my surroundings...warts and all.
The piece goes on about how the library bought 500 goats in May to chomped through the brush to create a fire break. Only useful as a preventative measure however.
Hi Stryder.
Yeah, Using herds of goats to clear vegetation is kind of common here in California. It's become a thing. Goats don't just munch grass, they go to work on taller woody plants too, stripping yummier green bits off and killing the plant.
Agree that it's only a preventative measure, since goats aren't very good at bulldozing, air-dropping fire-retardant or fighting raging brush fires. But people use them to clear vegetation around their buildings to create fire breaks and stuff like that. The goats seem to enjoy it.
(Nov 2, 2019 02:35 AM)Syne Wrote: California is a failed state. Homelessness, housing shortages, wildfires, neglected infrastructure...while they rack up huge debt on god knows what and rich leftist elites and celebs lecture the rest of the country. How much will it take for people to quit voting in useless Democrats?
I agree with him but I’m addicted to this area. I’ve thought about leaving before but the migration is driving up the housing markets in the surrounding states. Oh, sure, I could buy a mansion in the central or midwestern area but I wouldn’t be near the sea. Nature lover would be an understatement. I have a strong attachment to the landscape. I’m in love with my surroundings...warts and all.
Besides drought, burning up, shaking & sliding into the sea, California not a bad place.
(Nov 2, 2019 02:35 AM)Syne Wrote: California is a failed state. Homelessness, housing shortages, wildfires, neglected infrastructure...while they rack up huge debt on god knows what and rich leftist elites and celebs lecture the rest of the country. How much will it take for people to quit voting in useless Democrats?
Given that it's the strongest economy in the US, and that it's the #5 economy in the entire world (ahead of India) - probably not for a while. And given that the population is growing remarkably quickly, most people don't agree with the above GOP talking points. Also, fortunately for the rest of the country, California pays a lot more in federal income taxes than it takes in - allowing California to support taker states like Mississippi, West Virgina, Alabama and Kentucky.
(Nov 2, 2019 02:35 AM)Syne Wrote: California is a failed state. Homelessness, housing shortages, wildfires, neglected infrastructure...while they rack up huge debt on god knows what and rich leftist elites and celebs lecture the rest of the country. How much will it take for people to quit voting in useless Democrats?
Given that it's the strongest economy in the US, and that it's the #5 economy in the entire world (ahead of India) - probably not for a while. And given that the population is growing remarkably quickly, most people don't agree with the above GOP talking points. Also, fortunately for the rest of the country, California pays a lot more in federal income taxes than it takes in - allowing California to support taker states like Mississippi, West Virgina, Alabama and Kentucky.
Apparently someone didn't see the graph in the video: [Image: 957]
But if you really think non-taxpayers are going to help the California economy better than the productive people leaving the state....well, bless your heart. Until recently, federal taxpayers were subsidizing California state taxes.
(Nov 2, 2019 02:35 AM)Syne Wrote: California is a failed state. Homelessness, housing shortages, wildfires, neglected infrastructure...while they rack up huge debt on god knows what and rich leftist elites and celebs lecture the rest of the country. How much will it take for people to quit voting in useless Democrats?
I agree with him but I’m addicted to this area. I’ve thought about leaving before but the migration is driving up the housing markets in the surrounding states. Oh, sure, I could buy a mansion in the central or midwestern area but I wouldn’t be near the sea. Nature lover would be an understatement. I have a strong attachment to the landscape. I’m in love with my surroundings...warts and all.
Besides drought, burning up, shaking & sliding into the sea, California not a bad place.
It’s number one. "Because it’s insanely diverse, charmingly creative, and it has it all – from sun-kissed surf beaches and fascinating cities to picturesque vineyards, rugged mountains, soaring redwood forests, and dramatic deserts."
I love the redwoods. Not only do we have the tallest tree in the world but we also hold the oldest tree.
Quote:Environmentalists railed against Trump’s executive order, characterizing it as a "gift" to the logging industry that would do little to prevent wildfires.
"It won’t work, and we know that," Denise Boggs with the group Conservation Congress told The Sacramento Bee. "All the fire ecologists are saying the same thing: You can’t log your way out of this situation."
"Logging in the back country is just a gift to the timber industry," said Boggs, adding the order didn’t mention global warming or thinning around communities in wildfire-prone areas. [source]
Oh, and on a side note, most of the old growth redwoods and ancient bristlecone pines are twisted. Interestingly, there’s not really a consensus as to why. Some have said that it’s caused by the Coriolis force, others gravity or equal water distribution. There’s also the idea that it gives the tree greater flexibility. It is beautiful, though.
(Nov 3, 2019 08:04 PM)Yazata Wrote: I think that there's a lot of truth to it.
For an example, just look at Scivillage's Kincade fire thread. I tried to keep it focused on facts. Certainly even those facts were already selected, but I trusted the sources: Cal Fire, the Sonoma Sheriff etc: The fire was there yesterday, it spread to here today. Evacuations have been ordered here, here and here. This highway is currently open, that one isn't. Facts
But even as I wrote those posts, much of the mainstream news media was trying to lay blame (whenever something bad happens, it has to be some bad people's fault) and telling us what government should do to correct things. (Government always seems to be the adult's surrogate parent, the omnipotent always-beneficent one that can make everything right. Mommy!!!) Again, facts melting into somebody's opinion, somebody trying as hard as they can to frame the events and to fit them into their own preferred narrative.
Then the thread went entirely off the rails. (And I knew that my participation there was over.)
Where, when and who?
I responded first and mentioned PG&E.
Secular Sanity Wrote:Newsom is really pissed and firing off at PG&E saying, "It’s more than just climate change, and it is climate change, but it’s more than that. As it relates to PG&E, it’s about dog-eat-dog capitalism meeting climate change, it’s about corporate greed meeting climate change, it’s about decades of mismanagement."
C C replied to my remark.
C C Wrote:The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that the focus is turning to PG&E equipment.
If the so-called solution "options" remain stymied for their various reasons, looks like the usual procedure of blame and litigation will continue (with the empty handwaving about reform); and thereby little halt to the ongoing degradation of the system. PG&E's management has surely already been shaken up at times since the 2010 explosion, with the new "safety-first" plug-ins apparently just resuming familiar habits or being impotent against the massive task looming over them.
I mention the wind and then told the story about the winery.
Secular Sanity Wrote:Our power was shut off last night at 6:48 p.m. I woke this morning to the sound of severe winds. The sun just came up. Trees are down everywhere.
You said you were surprised because there was no wind in your location. I said it was really windy here and asked you if your power was out.
I told you about the fire near here. I said that I didn’t know when the power was coming back on and thanked you for posting the information.
When the power came on, I thanked you again and told you that your information was spot on. I shared a brief story about the trouble with the electric cars.
Zinman popped in and asked if that gave me comfort, knowing the wine/tourists may mean more than fire, electricity, displacement, property & lives?
Stryder mentioned the goats.
I told my boring story about being bored and mentioned the tesla windshield.
Syne tossed in the bit about California becoming unlivable.
I replied by saying how I loved it.
You responded to Stryder’s goat story.
Billivon responded to Syne’s story about California being a shithole.
Syne’s responded in kind.
Zinman responded to my comment about loving California. I told him how beautiful our state was and tossed in Trump’s executive order and a few boring "facts" about our trees and forest managment.
Everyone except me had access to those facts that you posted including the news stations.
News editors don’t want simple facts. They want a story behind the story. Like you said, the news is at our fingertips 24/7. They want a perspective—a bias—a slant—a "but" or a surprise. They want something that sets them apart from the rest. They don’t want who, where or when. That information is old news. It’s told right when the story first breaks. They want how and why.
Why is that, Yazata? I’ll tell you why. Facts don’t solve problems. I appreciated and needed facts at the time but here’s a story behind the news for you. Why did I need them?
I needed them because my cell service was limited. The cell towers didn’t have any backup and they were useless during the power outage. That is an interesting and terrifying fact. Thousands of people did not have cell coverage and like most people, they no longer had landlines, which meant that they were isolated and weren’t receiving evacuation alerts. The alerts had to be done manually by putting emergency responders lives at risk. The providers are not required to have backup. This was a requirement for the old traditional copper lines but most people are going wireless due to cost and due to the fact that they’re no longer maintaining the copper lines. They’re rotting in the ground and now even they are unreliable. This isn’t just a concern for California residents. Our national emergency alert system relies on electricity. This simple "fact" shows how vulnerable our entire wireless country is.
And here’s a fact for you. This is a discussion forum, not a blog or a news station. In my humble opinion, your continual display of disinterest in others is egocentric, annoying and boring.
(Nov 3, 2019 02:36 AM)Syne Wrote: Apparently someone didn't see the graph in the video:
You really need to read before replying. I said their population is growing quickly, which it is: [Image: Population_fig-1.png]
Quote:But if you really think non-taxpayers are going to help the California economy better than the productive people leaving the state.
I think it will be great to see the science-denying, socialism-hating, anti-vaxxers and the like leave the state. They can move to a state like Mississippi, where they can benefit from federal aid (while they complain about the government taking all their money, of course.) And we will see less traffic and lower housing costs! A win-win.
Quote:Until recently, federal taxpayers were subsidizing California state taxes.
Nope. California has been subsidizing the taker states for at least 20 years.
(Nov 3, 2019 02:36 AM)Syne Wrote: Apparently someone didn't see the graph in the video:
You really need to read before replying. I said their population is growing quickly, which it is:
You're absolutely right. Sorry, I just expected you to be commenting on the content of the post you replied to.
Quote:
Quote:But if you really think non-taxpayers are going to help the California economy better than the productive people leaving the state.
I think it will be great to see the science-denying, socialism-hating, anti-vaxxers and the like leave the state. They can move to a state like Mississippi, where they can benefit from federal aid (while they complain about the government taking all their money, of course.) And we will see less traffic and lower housing costs! A win-win.
The housing costs are a result of regulations that don't allow more or multi-unit housing construction.
Quote:
Quote:Until recently, federal taxpayers were subsidizing California state taxes.
Nope. California has been subsidizing the taker states for at least 20 years.
You are welcome.
No, Californians have been deducting their state tax burden from their federal owed taxes for decades.
Nov 2, 2019 03:44 PM
![[Image: 957]](https://lao.ca.gov/Blog/Media/Image/957)
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![[Image: Population_fig-1.png]](https://www.ppic.org/content/images/Population_fig-1.png)