Pages Tagged “California”
Blog Posts
- California Marriage Equality: Vote Yes on Prop 3
If you haven’t voted yet, make sure you vote for Proposition 3 to future-proof marriage equality. While court cases have *blocked* 2008’s straight-marriage-only definition, it’s still in the state constitution and needs to be removed. Prop 3 does this.
- Plane Hopping and Foxtrot
When wild jackrabbits roamed the fields of LAX. (Los Angeles Times)* From time to time passengers in giant air liners are amused when giant jacks race the plane on take-off. Until now, none of the rabbits has left the ground. I’m reminded of all the rabbits we used to see near UCI in the 90s, […]
- More like “Sea ODDer”
This sea otter likes long swims along the coast, kelp forests…and stealing surfboards. (Story at LA Times)
- Electrical Breakdown (the other kind)
The “Today’s Outlook” section of the California electricity ISO shows detailed trends and breakdowns of how much electricity is available from which sources over the course of the day, and both actual and projected demand. You’d think demand would be highest during the hottest part of the day, but it’s early evening, when people are […]
- The Shrinking Outdoors
Last weekend, a lot of people in the Los Angeles area tried to go hiking, or to the beach, or otherwise outdoors…to the same places. Which ended up creating the crowds that the shutdown was supposed to prevent, just in different places. 🤦♂️ So over the last few days, various cities, counties and the state […]
- CA Lockdown Confusion
On Thursday, Los Angeles County ordered that everyone stay at home except for essential activities like buying food, getting medical care, taking care of someone, or going to an “essential” job. Later that evening, California issued a similar order. But something was unclear: The county specifically mentioned that the guidelines didn’t apply to just going […]
- Last Walk Along the Coast Before the Virus (No, Not That One)
Last weekend, before the flu hit me, I tried to de-stress by going somewhere for a photo-and-nature walk. I ended up at the actual Redondo Beach, south of the pier. Partly because there was nowhere to park near the pier due to the Kite Festival, which now that I think of it may have been […]
- Ring! Ring! Who’s There? *handcuffs*
Police from five cities — and an LA Sheriff’s helicopter — descended on a neighborhood because someone panicked over Ring footage of a food delivery sent to the wrong address.
- Art or Eyesore?
A few miles from Hearst Castle, a trash collector spent fifty years cobbling together his house out of junk and found objects. As Cambria became more trendy in the 1970s, neighbors wanted him to tear down the multi-level “eyesore,” while others saw “Nitt Witt Ridge” as a folk art monument. It’s still there, and still […]
- Earthquake Warning System: Now in Los Angeles!
Because seismic waves are slower than internet signals, it’s possible to send an alert after an earthquake starts, but before the shaking reaches you. A few seconds’ warning is enough to pull over to the side of the road, climb down from a ladder, step away from a high shelf or window, put down a […]
- When Local Rules Aren’t Enough
The other day I saw an argument that things like environmental regulations should be done locally, because if we don’t rely on the federal government, a change in administration can’t just roll back protections. Ignoring the fact that pollution doesn’t stop at the city, state or national border, I can’t help thinking of crap like […]
- California: Don’t sit out the midterms. Check your Voter Registration TODAY
Californians! Today is the last day to register to vote in time for the midterm election. Don’t sit this one out! Even if you don’t care which Senator wins, even if the propositions are overwhelming… We’re choosing the next governor. We’re choosing the House reps & state legislature. For Secretary of State we’re literally choosing […]
- California Earthquake Alerts “Falling Into Place”
KQED reports: Pieces Finally Falling Into Place for Earthquake Warnings in California We still can’t predict them, but data is faster than seismic waves, so we can give people away from the epicenter a few seconds of warning. That’s enough to pull your car over, put down a scalpel, climb down from a ladder, get […]
- California: Vote this November!
Californians: If you can vote this November, don’t sit this one out. We have a governor to choose. We have representatives to select. And we need to shut down the 3-Californias plan hard. It’s a terrible, outlandish, unpopular idea…but in a midterm election (low turnout already) with the specter of voter suppression? Don’t rely on […]
- Late Start
From yesterday: the first significant snow in the mountains above Los Angeles this winter, courtesy of last week’s storm. Unfortunately, it’s almost spring. The weather has already warmed up again. Last week I was wearing sweaters and a medium jacket. Today I’m back to short sleeves, and I had to put the jacket away on […]
- California Burning
A fire is raging in the hills and canyons of Orange County. It’s nothing compared to the devastation in Northern California, where 160,000 acres have burned, killing 21 people and wiping out whole neighborhoods in Napa and Santa Rosa — but a dozen homes have been lost and about as many damaged in the 8,000-acre […]
- Wildflower Superbloom in the California Desert – Anza-Borrego Spring 2017 Photos
The kiddo had a day off from school in mid-March, so I took a vacation day and we all drove out to the desert to see the spring wildflowers. After the endless suburbia of Los Angeles, northern Orange County, and Corona, we drove past hills green from the winter rains, then into the similarly-endless suburbs […]
- City Park Going Brown to Go Green
As near as I can tell they’ve stopped watering the grass in the back half of this park, but you can really see where the runoff collects.
- Coastal View: Before and After the First Sunset of the Year
Del Cerro Park sits atop a hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean and, in the distance, Catalina Island off the coast of California. Suburbs surround it on the inland side, but the hills rolling down to the sea remain mostly open space (though to be fair that’s in part because the land isn’t stable enough to […]
- Winter and a Drought-Friendly Fountain
It’s been a relief to have (relatively) cold weather this winter. Last year I think I wore a sweater once. While the rest of the country was caught in the frozen grip of a meandering polar vortex, California was so warm people were going to the beach to cool off. Not that December heat waves […]
- Seasons of Madrona Marsh
I went back to the Madrona Marsh Preserve for the third time this year, and combined a Spring/Summer/Fall photo of one of the seasonal pools.
- Seasonal Wetlands: Before and After the Summer
Before-and-after view of the seasonal pools at Madrona Marsh, full of water in spring and grasslands in summer.
- Back to the Marsh (what’s left of it)
I returned to Madrona Marsh at the end of summer to see how much it had dried out since hiking there last spring.
- Glass, Steel, Rails and Wildflowers: A Walk in Manhattan Beach
Lately whenever I take my car in for maintenance, I end up taking the car-free morning away from home as an excuse to walk down to the Manhattan Beach Pier. The last time was right after a Halloween storm, which was gorgeous, but this time it was a gloomy morning, and I took the opportunity […]
- Constructed Wilderness: A Tale of Two Parks
Madrona Marsh Preserve and Hopkins Wilderness Park take opposite approaches to being islands of nature in the middle of the city.
- Contrast: Whales at the Power Plant
Yes, that’s a Wyland whale mural on the side of a power plant. This plant in Redondo Beach, California is set to be decommissioned when new environmental protections go into effect, and the city and plant owner have been debating* the future of the site. *To put it mildly! Originally posted on Instagram with a […]
- Hanging around the beach after a Halloween storm
A few scenic photos from the aftermath of the season’s first rainstorm…and the aftermath of Halloween.
- Exploring the Creek (Two Photos)
My 3-year-old son wanted to go exploring during a picnic, so I followed along. I wasn’t expecting to find a stream with water in it during a heat wave.
- California Drought Sim, Water Use, and Preserving Open Space
According to simulations, California could adapt to long-term drought. We just have to actually do it. Meanwhile, the Irvine Co. sets some limits on sprawl.
- Lawn Gone
I’ve started to notice the occasional lawn, parking lot, office building, mini mall and traffic island being converted to more drought-tolerant plants.
- Musings on LA, Light Pollution, and Water Management
Why it’s so hard to see the stars at night in Los Angeles, and some ways we might be able to save water by changing landscaping and flood control tactics.
- Airplane, leaving me to my own devices
Between my outbound and return flight, new policy allowed me to start writing during takeoff. Thoughts on flying over cities, water and open space at night.
- Curves of Morro Bay
Morro Bay lies along the central California Coast near San Luis Obispo, and is known for two major landmarks: Morro Rock, a large volcanic dome right near the shoreline, and a power plant with three very tall smokestacks. Some miles north, Highway 46 cuts through the coastal mountains from Cambria to Paso Robles, revealing cattle […]
- Earthquake Alerts
Interesting idea: We can’t predict earthquakes, but we can broadcast alerts faster than the shaking travels, giving people a few seconds to prepare. (Save your work, climb down off a ladder, etc.) Quake experts call for an advance-warning system for California (Originally posted on Google+)
- 1984 Olympic Torch Runner
In 1984, the Olympic torch relay for the Los Angeles games ran down my street. I took this photo at age 8, the first time I tracked a subject’s movement.
- Land and Ocean Sunset (Geography Geekery)
The ocean sunset looked like the sun was setting behind a line of distant mountains. But was it possible, with only the sea to the west?
- Car Wash Gone Critical
Car wash sign spotted today: Radioactive Fallout – Wash it off here.
- Beware Mountain Lion (Peters Canyon Hike)
A couple of weeks ago I just had to get out of the house for an afternoon and found myself at the entrance to Peters Canyon Park. The last time I’d been there, the park was closed due to recent rains. This time, it was open. Several trails run from the entrance around the edge […]
- Old Town Irvine After the Storm
Well, technically, during a lull in the storm. The clouds were moving very fast, with light and shadow moving over the empty fields and office parks, and I waited several minutes for the sun to play over this scene. I particularly liked the contrast of the dead brown tumbleweeds scattered around the bright green meadow. […]
- Cat in the Hat Silo
A silo somewhere in central California, painted in an awfully familiar red and white striped pattern.
- Mountain Silhouette
It’s cool that sunset/sunrise can make distant mountains stand out in silhouette even when they fade into the haze in broad daylight. The San Gabriels to the north, the Santa Monica Mountains to the northwest, Signal Hill Palos Verdes* to the west, and even a small segment of Catalina Island to the southwest were all […]
- Sun Rays
A complex display of crepuscular rays lighting up a haze of smoke drifting in from the Station Fire. This next shot, taken from a 4th story window, isn’t framed as well, but shows off the complexity better.
- Touring the Mt. Wilson Observatory in 1992
With the observatory threatened by the Station Fire, I dug out my photos from a tour my family took 17 years before.
- Monterey and Carmel
A visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Cannery Row, area, then into Carmel-By-The-Sea, Mission San Carlos, and up into Carmel Valley.
- California Cruisin’: Cambria and Hearst Castle
During the last week of February, we drove up the California coast from Orange County to San Francisco, stopping in various places to visit friends and family and see the local sights. It wasn’t an exact repeat of last year’s trip, but we did redo Hearst Castle the second day out. Day 1: Tuesday — […]
- Not In New York
We went out to the “Great Park” yesterday to see if we could go up in the balloon. It turned out to be completely booked for the day (there was some big ice skating event going on) but we got in some photos on the ground, including a couple of pics with our copy of […]
- Seeing LA From Irvine?
It’s an amazingly clear day morning today. So clear that I suspect I saw part of the outline of Catalina Island off in the distance, between trees and buildings, on the drive to work. So clear that I decided to drive up to the park at Quail Hill in Irvine where I once spotted what […]
- Fall in SoCal
Fall in Southern California = checking the weather report daily to decide between shorts or a heavy jacket.
- Thoughts on a Post-Election Morning
First, I’m very happy that Barack Obama won the Presidential election. This was the first time since 1996 that I’ve actually liked a candidate for the office. While I did vote for Al Gore and John Kerry, their main qualifications in my mind were that they weren’t George W. Bush, whose policies and leadership style […]
- Quake and Con
Here’s a scary thought: Imagine Comic Con, with the San Diego Convention Center jammed with people from out of town, jolted by an earthquake.
- Coastal California
Last weekend was spent in Northern California. During the trip I wrote up Wednesday and Thursday, when we drove up to Cambria and then San Jose for Hearst Castle, the Winchester Mystery House, and visiting friends, spending the night in Sunnyvale. Friday morning, we checked out of the motel as quickly as we could, then […]
- And I Will Drive 500 More
First long trip with the Prius, up US 101 and PCH from OC to San Francisco, including tours of Heart Castle and the Winchester Mystery House in one day.
- Getting Propositioned
Oddly, the usual deluge of election propaganda hasn’t materialized yet, and the election is less than a week away. While looking through the scanty haul, most of which is focused on a quartet of propositions on Indian gaming, Katie found an intriguing statement: Wait… pubic services? Whoa! And here I thought gambling on tribal lands […]
- Ashen Mountains
Things are starting to get back to normal, at least for those of us not directly affected by the Santiago Fire. There was a layer of haze coating the mountains Monday morning, but the air smelled normal, and the sky, when the clouds broke up, was blue. My co-worker who stayed behind in Silverado came […]
- Clouds Replace Smoke
The change in the weather has brought in clouds today (Saturday), and even the occasional sprinkle of rain. It apparently helped slow the Santiago Fire considerably. I went into work this morning to deal with some network problems (you may have noticed that this site was down for a while), then went over to the […]
- Shift
Winds have shifted northward. The good news: my workplace is no longer drenched in smoke from the Santiago Fire. I can see blue sky and wispy clouds, terrain back to the nearby hills, and the twin peaks of Saddleback rising above the smoke. Reportedly the northern peak (the one without all the radio transmission towers) […]
- A Breath of Fresh Air. Please.
The Santiago Fire has moved up into the mountains, raging through the Cleveland National Forest. The canyons are still under evacuation, but out here in the Saddleback Valley, it just looks like a really smoggy day. With yellower-than normal sunlight. It was actually cold this morning, for the first time in well over a week. […]
- Fire by Night
With the winds dying down, the smoke from the Santiago Fire clung loosely to the mountains most of the day. Unfortunately, smoke from the new fires down on Camp Pendleton drifted up the coast to take its place, bringing back the yellowish sunlight. Also, without the wind to clear them away, ashes left a thorough […]
- Smoky Sky
Had a chance to run through all my Santiago Fire photos from the last few days with Katie and my parents, and they picked out a few favorites that I hadn’t already posted. This first one was Monday morning around 10:30, as I drove into the region covered by the smoke plume. Just a few […]
- Watching the Santiago Fire
Now that the wind and smoke have shifted, watching the progress of the fire has become a nervous office pastime. It’s far enough not to threaten us here, but from the windows along one side of the building, we can see the blackened hills through the haze. And we’ve got people who live in the […]
- More Fire
The wind shifted during the day, and by mid-afternoon the sky near where I work was considerably clearer—even though the fire seemed to be getting closer. Some geography: The Santa Ana Mountains run parallel to the coast, and form the northeast border between Orange County and Riverside County. Here are a couple of photos from […]
- City of Smoke
No 3AM evacuations, though we’re several miles away from the danger zone anyway. The Santiago fire we spotted yesterday was stopped before it crossed into suburbia, but judging by the OCFA map it was a near thing. Now it’s burning southeast, into the hills and toward the canyons. Some of which are inhabited. (Yes, there […]
- Wind and Fire
The Santa Ana winds arrived in earnest overnight. We spent most of the day indoors, going about our usual business with the howling wind and occasional thump in the background. I’d glance up from my book (I’m about halfway through Regeneration, the conclusion of Julie Czerneda’s 3-part Species Imperative) and look out at the trees […]
- Oh, you mean THIS drought!
Over the last week or so, newspapers and radio announcements have been proclaiming that California is experiencing drier than usual conditions, already using its reserves for day-to-day living, and we should really start saving water now. Finally. We really could have used this campaign earlier in the year. We knew by the end of spring […]
- Santa Monic-odd
In early August, we went up to Santa Monica to visit my brother and his colleagues as they returned to Florida from Wikimania 2007 in Taipei… with a 10-hour layover at LAX. We carpooled with my parents, and arrived while the group was still stuck in customs. So we wandered around the Santa Monica Promenade […]
- Big Orange Balloon
Today I went with a group from work to ride the Great Park Balloon, a.k.a. that big orange thing that’s been floating over Irvine for the last month. After about a decade of wrangling, the city of Irvine has started converting the former El Toro Marine Base into, well, a park. It looks like it’s […]
- Our fu is complete
The Whole Foods market in Tustin (the only one in Orange County, as far as I can tell), is moving to the new District shopping center going in at the corner of Barranca and Jamboree, on the site of the former MCAS Tustin Marine base. Several of the big box stores are open already, but […]
- Holding the Center
California is an interesting state. We just re-elected Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger 55% to 39%, but also re-elected Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein 60% to 35%. All but one of the remaining state offices went to Democrats (some by larger margins than others). The Governator is talking about a mandate. Politicians always do that when they […]
- Pick a city, please!
A few days ago I was remarking on the signs by the side of the 405 indicating where to find the Cal State Fullerton El Toro Campus. This is odd for several reasons, namely: The signs went up years after the city of El Toro changed its name to Lake Forest. Having the two cities […]
- Uh, that’s a negative
The Los Angeles Times website had an interesting way of describing the results of yesterday’s state election: It’s hard to believe that all eight propositions failed. Even the four Orange County measures failed. Every item on the ballot in our district was rejected! On a related note, I still don’t like the voting machines we […]
- Vote!
If you live in California and you’re a registered voter: vote! If you like the initiatives on the ballot, vote them in. If you don’t like them, vote them out. If you’re disgusted with the way the initiative process has been subverted by the very political machines and special interest groups it was supposed to […]
- That Belt of Venus Thing
About a month ago I posted about noticing the Belt of Venus—the red band that circles the entire horizon just after sunset—and the Earth’s shadow on the sky. I snapped this picture on the drive home this evening. This is looking east, away from the setting sun. If you look at the right edge of […]
- Cloud Cover-Up
Today was a reminder that just having cloud cover doesn’t necessarily keep things cool. We’ve had occasional wispy clouds at evening, and at one point some serious cloud cover closer to the coast, but today was hazy and overcast all day—and it was just plain muggy. Eh, it’s only early August. It’ll get hotter (and […]
- Clouds on the Horizon
Well, June Gloom seems to be over, and we’re now into the time of year when we get hot, sunny days with lots of clouds. Big, towering cumulus clouds, often with anvil heads, promising shade and rain to cool things down. The teases. Yeah, we see those clouds most afternoons—on the horizon, just on the […]
- 3 Quakes in 5 Days
5.3 4.9 near Yucaipa just minutes ago. 7.2 off the coast of Crescent City early yesterday morning. 5.2 near Anza Sunday morning. Quakes measuring 5+ are fairly common. CA gets several each year. Three in a week, aside from aftershocks, is unusual. Of course, the craziest was probably the two unrelated 7+ 7.3 and 6.5 […]
- Yes, it does rain in L.A.
An intense deluge woke us up briefly around 5:00 this morning. I think I was awake enough to say “Damn!” and fall back asleep. It reminded me of something that’s been bugging me. I looked through the first few pages of Otherworld #2 in the comic store yesterday. As at the end of the first […]
- Oh, what a circus!
193 people have filed candidacy papers for the upcoming recall election. Just think about it: if every application is verified, we could have almost two hundred names on the ballot, just for one office. And they’re going to be listed randomly. Imagine how long the ballot will be. Heck, imagine how long the info pamphlet […]
- Conan the Governor
OK, most people are focusing on Terminator jokes when it comes to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s candidacy, but I’m reminded of the “Conan the Librarian” sketch from UHF. “Uh, this budget is a little overdue.” “Ovah-doo? HYAAARGH!” (Cleaves the hapless legislator in half with his sword.)
- Let’s See If I’ve Got This Right
One things that’s bugged me since the start of the effort to recall Governor Davis is that people keep bringing up the budget crisis. Repeat after me: The Legislature chooses the budget, not the Governor. Recalling the governor because the legislature can’t get its act together is like firing your plumber because your electrician screwed […]