Re: Brin: Fire info

[Nick Arnett]

If you haven't found it already, the county web site has lots of good info,
updated regularly:

http://www.sdcountyemergency.com/

That's where I finally found the map that helped me figure out that you
still have a house.

Nick

On 10/23/07, David Brin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> We did take two vanloads of stuff away along with
> kids.  But I was never ordered out and things seem to
> be getting better.  Thanks all!
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Messages: 408-904-7198
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Re: Brin: Fire info

[David Brin]

We did take two vanloads of stuff away along with
kids.  But I was never ordered out and things seem to
be getting better.  Thanks all!
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Re: Brin: Fire info

[Nick Arnett]

On 10/23/07, David Brin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> thanks Nick,
> Thanks for asking. Cheryl & the kids & pets are with
> Cheryl's mom in her mobile home along el camino real,
> in a more urban part of Encinitas.  All are fine.
>
> Last night I stood on the hilltop behind my home,
> looking up Lone Jack Road at hillside lines of fire
> near Del Dios Highway.  It was tense, especially with
> Santa Ana wind gusts whirling in all directions.


So you're home?  Looked to me like you're in the mandatory evacuation
area...  Are you there because you're CERT trained?

Do get out if... well, you know!

I was remembering that your landscaping was very green... hope that helps if
the demon heads your way.

Nick


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Re: Brin: Fire info

[David Brin]

thanks Nick,
Thanks for asking. Cheryl & the kids & pets are with
Cheryl's mom in her mobile home along el camino real,
in a more urban part of Encinitas.  All are fine. 

Last night I stood on the hilltop behind my home,
looking up Lone Jack Road at hillside lines of fire
near Del Dios Highway.  It was tense, especially with
Santa Ana wind gusts whirling in all directions.

Last I checked at 5pm the fires seemed to have veered
south into lower Rancho Santa Fe (2nd richest
community in America). Another finger threatens from
the north but the Bridges country club is paying big
$$ to help block it for us.  Nice of them.

With the family cared-for, I put on my green CERT*
vest & goggles and hard hat to canvassed our
neighborhood to see who
had stayed.  Then I helped man a sheriff’s roadblock
for a while.   And again a while later with the
natural…er… National Guard.

 Ever wonder what happened to civil defense, in an era
of high techHomelandSecurity?  It’s guys like me…
heaven help us!

d.

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Brin: Fire info

[Nick Arnett]

I finally found a map that shows where the Witch fire spread through 3:30
this afternoon... (
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-102307-sandiegofire-fl,0,7627625.flash?coll=la-home-center)
looks to me as though it stayed south and east of David's house.  He's
northeast of Encinitas... but the fire certainly was moving in their
direction.

This site show near-realtime fire spread:  http://geomac.usgs.gov/ -- but it
doesn't seem to show the western part of the Witch fire.

And... by comparing the latest map from San Diego County... as of 1800 hours
today, the fire was still southeast of David's house.

Of course, it's trying to move west... so... well... let's keep David and
his family in our hearts, minds and prayers.

Nick

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Speaking of public mass transit . . .

[Ronn! Blankenship]

Scott Adams rides the New York City subway:

http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/09/new-york-city-s.html



-- Ronn!  :)



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Need an artist?

[Alberto Vieira Ferreira Monteiro]

These guys scare the hell out of me. This is not human, they must have sold 
their sold to the Evil One.

Art gallery (safe for children too, despite the site's name):

http://balduf.deviantart.com/

He's a friend of a friend of my daughter (which says nothing; 90% of 
humanity is a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of me).

Alberto Monteiro
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Re: 150 MPG from a Toyota Prius

[Charlie Bell]

On 24/10/2007, at 12:46 AM, Klaus Stock wrote:
>
>> ...and when you're accelerating hard, both the engine and the motor
>> are working together.
>
> Right. People buy a hybrid Lexus to brag about their "green  
> attitude" and
> yet happily kick the pedal to the metal to get most of the 400+  
> horsepowers
> which both electrical and internal combustion engine together achive.

Yep. Those V6 Lexi are just daft.
> They
> also do not count the gallons of jet fuel which are consumed when they
> charge their batteries during the daytime (short term electrical  
> peak load
> is often provided by jet turbine generators, which are much less  
> efficient
> that the normal "base load" power plants).

I did not think that the Lexus hybrid (or the Prius for that matter)  
could be charged from the mains as standard.

Charlie.
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Evacuations

[Nick Arnett]

Just saw that Rancho Santa Fe, where DB lives, is on the list of partial or
full evacuations... six homes destroyed there.

Hoping his place (it's a beauty) is okay...

Nick

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Re: 150 MPG from a Toyota Prius

[Klaus Stock]

> > I was surprised to see that it's only 67 hp... I drove my mother's  
> > Prius a
> > while ago and it seemed zippier than that.  Lots of torque, I guess.

The advantage of electric motors is that the torque much less dependent on
the revs/minute than with an infernal combustion engine. 
An eletric motor can provide full torque even when it's standing still,
while an internal combustion engine will have ZERO usable torque under the
same condition.

That was a reason ehy it was tried to use an internal combustion engine to
drive a generator which in turn powers an electrical motor to move the car.
Since the internal combustion engine can be kept at the optimum rpm, such a
car might provide a better mileage. The generator/motor combination could be
regarded as an impedance or torque converter. Unfortunately, neither
generators nor motors run at 100% efficiency, so the losses, the increased
mass (and the addtional cost) apparently make this approach not very
favourable.

> ...and when you're accelerating hard, both the engine and the motor  
> are working together.

Right. People buy a hybrid Lexus to brag about their "green attitude" and
yet happily kick the pedal to the metal to get most of the 400+ horsepowers
which both electrical and internal combustion engine together achive. They
also do not count the gallons of jet fuel which are consumed when they
charge their batteries during the daytime (short term electrical peak load
is often provided by jet turbine generators, which are much less efficient
that the normal "base load" power plants).

Best rgeards, Klaus
_
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