TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

California matters

Go To

terumokou Pitiable and Illegally Dumped Object from In a bamboo forest full of bunnies, California Since: Sep, 2013 Relationship Status: Mu
Pitiable and Illegally Dumped Object
#301: Sep 25th 2021 at 12:10:54 PM

Yeah I was wondering about that last Thursday because my allergies were acting up worse than usual if they ever flared up (rarely).

Burning love!
Florien The They who said it from statistically, slightly right behind you. Since: Aug, 2019
The They who said it
#302: Sep 25th 2021 at 5:45:45 PM

It's been dim all day here in the North Monterey Bay Area. Not like the-day-without-a-sun that we had back when CZU was happening this time last year. (Same day SFO's sky went orange) but it's been dim outside all day from all the smoke in the sky.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#303: Sep 25th 2021 at 9:13:41 PM

Ah, California. Land of avocados and fire.

Disgusted, but not surprised
terumokou Pitiable and Illegally Dumped Object from In a bamboo forest full of bunnies, California Since: Sep, 2013 Relationship Status: Mu
Pitiable and Illegally Dumped Object
#304: Sep 25th 2021 at 9:53:19 PM

And very casual minded about earthquakes.

Burning love!
danime91 Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#305: Sep 25th 2021 at 10:01:43 PM

Don't even bother waking me up for anything less than a 6.

Florien The They who said it from statistically, slightly right behind you. Since: Aug, 2019
The They who said it
#306: Sep 27th 2021 at 1:13:57 AM

Which I suppose goes to show how good all the earthquake infrastructure is at preventing everything from collapsing to "mere five-point-eights". Another victory for big government, because you can bet that there wouldn't be nearly enough standards to prevent everything from caving in the moment the ground so much as twitches if there wasn't the government resources to back that up.

(Of course, this has led to the apparently universal experience of Californians visiting other states and seeing the overpasses and wondering how they stay up on those toothpick-like supports compared to the earthquake resistant behemoths we have (mostly installed here after Loma Prieta destroyed the highways around the two bays in '89, and in the south after Northridge two years later.))

MorningStar1337 The Encounter that ended the Dogma from 🤔 Since: Nov, 2012
The Encounter that ended the Dogma
#307: Sep 29th 2021 at 7:05:41 PM

I suppose I must ask if those standards extent to fireproofing Southern Cali? If only because wildfires seem to pop up on the norther side more often than not. Or maybe there is some geography at play here?

Florien The They who said it from statistically, slightly right behind you. Since: Aug, 2019
The They who said it
#308: Sep 29th 2021 at 9:24:05 PM

It's geography. Norcal is largely redwood, riparian, and other forest types, popular camping ground, and prone to storms. People have large compost piles, which can spontaneously combust, PG&E has miles of powerline and not nearly enough workers up there, etc. Socal just gets brushfires, if that, because it doesn't have as many sources nor as many things that burn and spread fire. It's mostly desert and farmland, neither of which burn nearly as large or dangerously.

It's also contributed to by not nearly as many people living in Far-Norcal (Lassen, Del Norte, Modoc, Trinity, Butte, basically every county north of the Salinas Valley.) Firefighting is less of a priority there, and less easy, because the land is mostly undeveloped.

But the issue with fire standards as opposed to earthquake standards is that fire doesn't hit all infrastructure. It mostly hits structures. Structures are in private hands, and have a slow renovation rate, so they tend to get grandfathered in without the standards in effect. Meanwhile, earthquakes damage roads and bridges, which are government territory, and the government can upgrade them as needed right after standards roll up.

Also, another thing is that fire standards, because fireproofing isn't nearly as much of an exact science as earthquakeproofing, tend to revolve around evacuation and warning ahead, to prevent loss of life.

With fires, a common misconception is that the outside of the house starts burning first. Usually it's the inside that starts burning first, when the curtains burn from touching the windows, which are the main vector for heat. That's the reason you have these completely untouched houses in the middle of burned out neighborhoods sometimes. As long as nothing inside starts burning, the house will usually survive. That's another reason that fireproofing is difficult for residential buildings. People like windows, but windows are the main way fire gets in.

Karxrida from Eureka, the Forbidden Land Since: May, 2012 Relationship Status: I LOVE THIS DOCTOR!
#309: Oct 5th 2021 at 11:55:10 AM

Oil spill off the coast of Huntington Beach in Orange County. A pipe burst 5 miles offshore and 126,000 gallons of oil leaked out. Beaches are closed for about a 13 mile strip (all the way down to Laguna at least) and you can imagine the effect this will have on wildlife.

I actually saw news crews chilling out at an estuary yesterday and wondered what they were doing. This explains it.

danime91 Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#310: Oct 5th 2021 at 7:48:46 PM

Ironic that this happens right around when California is shutting down its last nuclear power plant because of NIMBY "environmentalists". Yeah, nuclear is so bad for the environment, let's keep relying on all that lovely oil washing up onto the beach.

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#311: Oct 14th 2021 at 1:18:40 PM

70,000 Californians have died from COVID-19. That's a pretty large death toll.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Florien The They who said it from statistically, slightly right behind you. Since: Aug, 2019
The They who said it
#312: Oct 14th 2021 at 2:43:38 PM

The calling of Palo Alto/70,000 people a "mid-sized city" in the article felt off though. Surely a "mid-sized city" has a population at least double or triple that.

Nonetheless, the fact that per-capita that's a relatively low death rate is good. Not bottom quartile good, but good. It also really underscores just how massive California is, when the most total deaths is bottom-half per-capita.

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#313: Oct 14th 2021 at 3:19:13 PM

Really puts into perspective the more strict vaccination requirements that have been imposed in the bigger counties recently. They really do not want a repeat of what happened last holiday season.

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#314: Oct 21st 2021 at 1:41:44 PM

Looks like rainy season might start with not one but two bangs.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Karxrida from Eureka, the Forbidden Land Since: May, 2012 Relationship Status: I LOVE THIS DOCTOR!
#315: Oct 21st 2021 at 1:52:45 PM

I'm not entirely sure how to read that graph, but it looks like the storm will mostly be hitting NorCal.

terumokou Pitiable and Illegally Dumped Object from In a bamboo forest full of bunnies, California Since: Sep, 2013 Relationship Status: Mu
Pitiable and Illegally Dumped Object
#316: Oct 21st 2021 at 2:23:24 PM

Kinda want some rain down here too. I miss walking in the rain.

Burning love!
Florien The They who said it from statistically, slightly right behind you. Since: Aug, 2019
The They who said it
#317: Oct 21st 2021 at 3:32:24 PM

There's been wind advisories for a while, I suspect this storm will carry in even more wind. Good thing though about the storms, the creeks out here are brown because there's almost no water in them.

SapphireBlue Since: Jan, 2001
#318: Oct 21st 2021 at 4:10:31 PM

The closest creek to me has been dry since about July. I’ve only been here about two years, but I’d never seen it that dry until this year. Bring on the rain.

Edited by SapphireBlue on Oct 21st 2021 at 4:10:54 AM

Karxrida from Eureka, the Forbidden Land Since: May, 2012 Relationship Status: I LOVE THIS DOCTOR!
#319: Oct 21st 2021 at 4:55:29 PM

Kinda want some rain down here too. I miss walking in the rain.

It's rained a couple times in my neck of the woods recently. But it was either super late at night/early in the morning or part of that thunderstorm from the other week.

Edited by Karxrida on Oct 21st 2021 at 4:55:47 AM

danime91 Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#320: Oct 21st 2021 at 4:59:33 PM

The only rain I've seen so far has been a couple smatterings of sky-water that barely even qualify as rain that were over in less than an hour.

SapphireBlue Since: Jan, 2001
#321: Oct 21st 2021 at 8:01:36 PM

It’s sprinkled here, but not really proper rain. Still good for getting all the crap out of the air.

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#323: Oct 29th 2021 at 10:14:26 AM

For something entertaining, there is this brilliant story going around about a California man who had the bright idea of buying an unlimited year-round pass to Six Flags for 150 a year, which includes a parking pass and two meals a day. He has been eating there for seven years now, and has used the money he saved to pay off his student debt.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#324: Oct 29th 2021 at 10:17:42 AM

I need to read this, that sounds hilarious and brilliant.


Total posts: 582
Top