2016-12-31

2016-12-30

Rain 0.4"; seaonal total 5.97"

12-30-16 0.40" measured in the am

More rain is on the way later today


Sent from my iPhone at great expense

2016-12-23

Rain 1.65"; season total 4.67"

22 Dec 1.65"

We're above the third quartile of rain for this time of year. This is good news, since it seems to predict that the rainy season will be a wet one. The LA Times also has picked up on this water optimism as well with an article quoting Bill Patzert of JPL.

“It looks like the door is open here,” said Patzert. “This looks like in the absence of La Niña, we’re getting it from the north and the south, which is a good omen for the wet months of January, February and March.” History suggests that the La Niña phenomenon, which brings an unusually dry winter, follows a wet El Niño year. But so far, this month’s rains have been better than previous Decembers’, Patzert said. “This is more of la nada than La Niña,” he quipped. The lack of something, ironically, is what could make this winter into something that could help Southern California’s drought outlook, Patzert said. “The kind of rain we’re having this week and last week, that’s just perfect,” Patzert said. “It doesn’t come at you like a fire hose.”


Sent from my iPhone at great expense

2016-12-22

Crappy Marquee Tree

This is a jacaranda tree. Puzzling that it's cut back to save the cable and phone lines. Usually one only sees this level of pruning for the power lines which are located much higher up. Obviously it's not the first time someone has been at this tree.

2016-12-17

2016-12-12

Doomed to failure

Of course I signed up, since there's no down side.  However, I think it's doomed to failure.

I received the following offer from my natural gas company:

Congratulations! You have been randomly selected to participate in our “SoCalGas Advisory – A Call to Conserve Natural Gas” Pilot Rebate Program this winter. Enroll now and you will receive periodic email notifications through March 31, 2017.    These email notifications will encourage you to conserve natural gas on designated SoCalGas Advisory days. They will include simple energy-saving tips to help you reduce your natural gas usage, such as “lower your thermostat to 68 degrees” and “wash clothes in cold water.”Stay enrolled in these email notifications until the end of the program and you can receive $2.50 for every therm you save on each SoCalGas Advisory day event. At the end of the winter, we will then add up all your savings on SoCalGas Advisory days and you will receive a rebate equal to your total therms saved multiplied by $2.50 per therm.[1]


2016-12-05

Good luck with that

What you see is an approximate 8" gap between two cinder block walls with a Brazilian Pepper growing between them.

2016-12-03

"clean-coast economy"

An apt phrase, but new to me.  I'm just taking note of it here since it seems to capture a lot of ideas in a simple phrase.

As seen in the LA Times in this opinion piece by Steve Lopez.

“I think California’s clean-coast economy is hanging on by a thread right now,” said Ocean Foundation senior fellow Richard Charter, who has worked for decades to protect coastal waters from offshore oil and gas drilling.

Google's Ngram viewer doesn't have enough results to graph "clean-coast economy" or its variants, suggesting that it's a newer term of art and a few directed searches for the phrase "clean-coast economy" suggest that it's a newer term.

Never underestimate the power of a well-made turn of phrase to capture the zeitgeist of the moment.