Bornfamous

Come see our giant toxic stew! / 1,500 miles wide, floating in the Pacific, made of all your plastic crap. Bring the kids!
Have you heard? Did you see? It’s called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (or Pacific Trash Vortex, among other awesome nicknames) and it’s a staggering phenomenon indeed and after reading up on [...]

Sometimes I have prophetic dreams. I discovered this years ago when I dreamed that my mother was being carried down our steps on a stretcher. Less than twelve hours later, I watched that exact scene played out in real life after Mom had a stroke. It was startling to say the least.
But usually, my little [...]

Wildfires 2007: Cal Fire: “We’re not out of the woods yet.”
Amid all the increasingly optimistic reports coming out on the county’s various fires comes this cautionary note from retired Cal Fire Capt. Fred Daskoski, recalled to duty for this firestorm:
Partially contained fires are just that — partially contained. And time may not be on the [...]

Smoke masks the California sun
With all the talk about emergency preparedness and homeland security, the true newsworthiness of these giant disasters lies in the way they punch holes in our false sense of security, the notion that, in case of emergency, the government will take care of us. Most of us tend to view [...]

Latest fire stats

The fire situation is improving but the smoke is getting worse, as forecast. I’m coughing like I used to when I was a smoker, even though I’ve been staying inside with the air purifier on. TV is saying this smoke is really toxic, with all the chemicals in it that are used to build homes, [...]

My problem right now is air quality. The winds changed during the night, and now I can’t go outside or open any windows. I have an air purifier going, so things are okay inside [my new A/C gives me migraines, dammit.] But the big concern is the power grid.
Making Up for Lost Power: One of [...]

Oops, sorry. I’ve been so obsessed with watching/reading every bit of news I can find about the fires that I forgot to share.
First of all, we’re okay. In case you were wondering. Here is a Google Fire Incidence Map of Southern California. It’s meant for locals, to answer questions about evacuation orders/centers, closed roads, and [...]

Aphex Twin’s Rubber Johnny video. Holy crap.

[Update: Now my son tells me, "Oh yeah, Rubber Johnny. That came out in the 90's." Where have I been?]

People say that I am hard core about some of this stuff but I know because I have been to Davos, and I’ve sat with Bill Clinton and I’ve sat with Bill Gates and I’ve sat with Tony Blair and I’ve sat with Nancy Pelosi. I’ve sat with all these people who we think are [...]