Blogvious

The Camp Pendleton wildfires are back - Big Time.

In an October 8th post I shared photos of the 1,000 acre wildfire on Camp Pendleton near my home. Photos of that fire can be seen here. Well, the fires are back - and they are MUCH closer this time.

The Santa Anna winds were blowing again today. That hot, dry wind started a new fire on Camp Pendleton. This one is smaller, but so close that the air here is thick with smoke. Friends called to ask if I was evacuating.  Evacuating? Are they that close? Turns out they were. Homes only a few miles away were evacuated. The top photo was taken from my driveway looking down the street. The lower photo was taken about three blocks away. To see a few more of today’s photos click here.

On my way home from the airport last night I saw a glow in the sky to the north. Since it was clearly past sunset, and since it’s California, that can only mean one thing. Wildfires. Turns out that part of Camp Pendleton, the huge US Marine base was ablaze. 

The fire consumed over 1,000 acres. While that is a lot of area, Pendleton is over 125,000 acres (it’s huge) and this fire was in a remote area of the base.

I took these shots at about 9pm last night at a spot about three blocks from my home. The actual fires were much further away. We were never in danger and the fire was largely under control by this morning. I apologize for the quality as these were handheld shots. To see this one in more detail, or to view more of them click here.

As far as I know, no one was hurt.

– Carl Melville / Blogvious

Hank Paulson took to the airwaves yesterday pitching his plan to (again) save the financial system with a huge $1.3 trillion (total) bailout.

That’s a big bet.  Plus, we get to increase the national debt by another 10% - to well over $11 trillion.

He says we are doing all of this to calm the stock and bond markets, releive the credit crunch and restore confidence in the American economy.  Um…OK, but I have a question.

Who is doing the ‘restoring’here?  Just who is on this team to restore confidence?

• Is this the same team that took us into Iraq?
• The same team that coughed up the ball once we were there? 
• The same team that squandered tens of billions cleaning up self-generated messes in that failed execution? 
• Is this the same team that responded to Katrina? 
• The same team that was as inept as the clueless Governor and Mayor of that corrupt state / city?
• The same team that appointed cronies to key positions of responsibility and oversight?
• Is this the same team that turned a blind eye to lax regulation?
• The same team that allowed congress to use Fannie / Freddie as a third-party enrichment tool?
• Is the team that has run up big government deficits that would make LBJ and FDR blush?

Is this the team that is RESTORING confidence?  Am I missing something here?

The air is thick with talking heads and know-it-alls espousing tons of theories on why Paulson is wrong or right. The truth is none of them know. Let me repeat that. None of them know. Nor do the walk-and-talks that are repeating someone elses’ less than grounded assessment. We’ve not been here before and I’ve not seen a single historic parallel that provides a solid analog - which is itself an assessment on my part.

The reason we are seeing all of this chattering - in addition to the magnificent egos spewing it forth - is the reality that we have so little confidence in this team to get it right, and at a time when the stakes could not possibly be higher.

Economic historians now agree that moves made by Republican and Democratic administrations created, deepened and prolonged the Great Depression. The thing is, it took 50 years to figure that out. It may be our kids that finally determine if what we are doing now is the right course of action, or a path of folly.

Were this action coming from an administration founded on solid principals and with a roster of significant wins and accomplishments, I (and many others) would be much more comfortable.

You are a smart and well-respected man Mr. Paulson, but your team has some credibility issues. Restore confidence? OK Mr. Paulson, but it begins at home.

– Carl / Blogvious

I’m sitting in San Francisco International Airport waiting for my flight. It’s 9/11/08. Seven years ago today the world was going mad. Today the air is thick with 9/11 tributes, which I find completely fitting and proper. Those touched personally of course have a special kinship with the event that the rest of us have been spared. I was home in San Diego when it happened. I was up early and saw plane number two hit in real time. It was like a surreal nightmare which one could not fully comprehend - or awaken from. No one I knew personally was touched, but like all Americans, I was forever changed.

When I was two years old JFK was assassinated. I grew up in a world of adults frequently asking one another ”where were you when…?”  Because I was a baby, I never experienced the horror of that event. The closest I ever came to understanding it was in 1985 when the Challenger exploded, killing all aboard, including the first teacher in space. Nothing of course could prepare any of us for the atrocities of seven years ago today. Now I too ask, “Where were you…?”, as do so many others.

There was also a frequent refrain about how much the world had changed since that day in Dallas. Phrases like ‘the end of innocence’ and ‘the end of Camelot’ were frequently used. Since I did not know a world before that date, I could not relate to any change at all. Was the world better?  Was the world worse? We tend to idealize the past. It’s a universal human tendency - and it’s usually incorrect. The world is a much better place today than it was 40-odd years ago, but it certainly is different as well. 

How about the the youngest among us today?  They are born into a world of color coded threats, encroachments on civil liberties, US troops fighting in far off lands, stringent security and global terrorism (and global warming). They do not know life before this…then again, they will not know of ‘duck and cover’, ‘cold war’, ‘mutually assured destruction’ or other relics from a nightmare era I hope we have left in the dust bin of history. Their world, on balance, is a better one from many perspectives.

Is the world better overall? Is the world worse on balance? People tend to find what they are looking for, so the answer to both could be yes. If you want to believe the world is worse since 9/11, you can find ample evidence. If you want to believe the world is better in spite of 9/11, and that humanity, for all the warts and indiscretions, continues an upward spiral of accomplishment, then there is plenty of evidence for that as well. As an optimistic realist, I strongly hold the latter view.

However, and regardless of your world view, today is a day for all Americans to reflect on what has happened, what changed, and what we learned. To remember that the world can be a dangerous place, and that ideas do matter. Some of those ideas are worth defending at any cost. I’m not wrapping myself in the flag here. Our nation was based on dissension and revolution. We need many voices in the public square. Today however is a day to quiet those voices and reflect.

The sun will come up again tomorrow, and we can again begin our quarrelsome discussions. It’s also a good time to ask someone “where were you when…?”

– Carl Melville / Blogvious

I thought I’d heard every possible story from tech support people - until today. A great new CMS tool, Remix, has come out with an update. I visited their site today seeking a solution and was told that tech support was unavailable. Seems their town of Surat India is under TERRORIST ATTACK. That’s a first.

Here is the message:

 

“The WP Remix 2 has received a good praise, suggestions and support from the valuable clients since its release. At WP Remix site, we have support forum for any and all queries that the buyer might have and I have been providing in time support to all the queries generated by the users.

Unfortunately, the city where I live has some bad news. My city is under terrorist attack and many live bombs (nearly 25) has been detected in past 3 days as you can see in the following news websites.

Though I wish to provide support in time, the circumstances are as such, I might not be able to come to office for few days and as a result, I might not be able to provide support in time.

I request all the existing buyers to co-operate in this situation and also would request to active support forum members to help each others as much as you can.

Again, I appreciate the warm support of all the people, and hope to the things get well soon.”

Wow. We take much for granted in our sheltered existence - but the threat posed by extremists impacts the lives of all of us. I hope my friend in India is soon back at his desk and that his company continues to prosper.

– Carl Melville / Blogvious