OT: Serious bleep for a minute

[jo4hn]

Is this rec.comedycentral? Anyway, this is worth a look or two:

mahalo, jo4hn

[Lew Hodgett]

"jo4hn" wrote:

you consider the "Station" fire burned 145,000 acres, claimed twolives along with several seriousinjuries, it is amazing it wasn't worse.It has been determined to be arson which means homicide.Since federal land is involved, US attorney will be a player.Lew

[LD]

Sad to say, but the photographs are just incredible.

[MJWallace]

I appreciate all of the firefighter's efforts in controlling this fire.

I live in a rural area that has a fire hazard every summer. I just hope I never the day when these folks have to come out here.

You could not pay me enough to do this hard, dangerous work. I am glad that there are people who do.

MJ

[Owen Robb]

6th pic down, Its not a Martin Mars its a Bombardier Canadair 415 Superscooper Amphibious Aircraft. The Martin Mars looks like a apartment block in the sky. The 415 is regular size aircraft. I dont think that the Mars will leave BC this year due to lack of parts and a possible sale of both aircraft.

Owen

[David Nebenzahl]

On 9/4/2009 6:06 PM Lew Hodgett spake thus:

I've got a slightly different take on this.

Rather than focus on how eeevil the fire-starter is (if this actually was arson) and getting all worked up about opening up a can of retribution on his ass, how about rethinking the whole idea of whether tens of thousands of people should be living in such urban-forest interface areas?

Maybe it's not such a great ideas interspersing things that must be protected from fire--people, expensive houses, livestock--in areas that are always going to burn, one way or the other?

To me, it's the same situation with folks who live in perennial flood areas.[1] In a sane and just world, people just simply wouldn't be permitted to build there in the first place. Or if they were, they'd be on their own so far as compensating any losses went. (To be fair, if I were Ayatollah, I'd start a 5 or 10 year relocation period, during which the federal government would assist people to move from flood-prone areas, while continuing to pay for rescue efforts and property replacement. After that, there would be no such assistance, apart from rescuing poor souls who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and got swept away in a raging torrent.)

[1] Same applies to the complete idiots who let people build houses on ocean cliffs, like here in Daly City and Pacifica, where erosion and the eventual swallowing up by the sea are not matters of "if" but of "when".

[Han]

David Nebenzahl wrote in news:4aa2c092$0$11375$ [e-mail]:

I hear you, and enerally agree. However, if the firebug really knew what he was doing, he should get seriously "burned" and get effective punishment. At least 10 years in a not so nice prison.

Then the fire insurance in those areas shoul go up a bit.

[Robatoy]

Maybe it is a Mars after all?

[Robatoy]

[Lew Hodgett]

Correction:

The Mars is a 4 piston engine aircraft of 1940ish vintage is an amphibious aircraft that is spending the summer on Lake Ellsinore.

It was used specificifically where a high capacity water drop was needed.

It was amazing to watch that bad boy refill and then climb back into the sky.

There are also a pair of 415's on lease from Quebec.

Every little bit helps.

Lew

[J. Clarke]

Except that that most assuredly _IS_ a Martin Mars. The Canadair 415 is a twin engine aircraft with a swept vertical stabilizer--the aircraft shown was a four engined aircraft (you can see two engines on the near wing) with a non-swept vertical stabilizer--further, the color scheme is that that Flying Tankers uses on the Hawaii Mars.

It's not an SH-5--that has twin tails. Not a ShinMeiwa--that has a T-tail. I don't think there _are_ any other four-engine flying boats still in service. So that leaves the Mars.

[Mark & Juanita]

>

This all sounds good on paper. Follow it to its logical conclusion: OK, then we shouldn't let people build near where hurricanes are known to periodically cause destruction. Nor should people build near rivers that flood periodically. Ditto for areas prone to tornados. The entire western

1/2 of California should be off-limits because of the threat of earthquakes. Start marking out a map with all of these exclusionary zones. Pretty soon, you've got a full map of exclusionary zones and nowhere to live. The key is managing the risk in the areas where people do live and working to minimize potential impacts.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 9/5/2009 2:11 PM Mark & Juanita spake thus:

Well, admittedly my plan still has a few bugs in it that need to be worked out. It's currently in front of the Revolutionary Council for rewriting.

But seriously, earthquakes, and maybe even tornadoes and cyclones are valid concerns. Certainly I'd say that if one lives in an earthquake-prone area as I do, then all buildings *should* be required to meet certain seismic specifications. If they do, there should be a way to cover them against damages (insurance of various kinds). If they don't, then the owner shouldn't be compensated in the event the damn building falls down.

Even this is impractical, given the huge number of unsafe occupied buildings in the Bay Area, but you gotta start somewhere.

And maybe folks should be persuaded to live elsewhere than Tornado Row or Hurricane Alley; economic disincentives, etc. ...

[CW]

Yes, the government should encourage the abandonment of the nations farm land.

[Ed Pawlowski]

But what runway did he take off from?

[Robatoy]

That would leave Canada. Sorry.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 9/5/2009 3:11 PM Robatoy spake thus:

Ack. I *knew* there was a show-stopper!

[David Nebenzahl]

On 9/5/2009 3:06 PM CW spake thus:

Well, farms and small towns are one thing; large population centers are another.

[Robatoy]

Yea, yea, yea, I know David... if it isn't American it ain't worth a f*ck, eh?

[cavelamb]

One last correction (?).

If if has wheels it is amphibious.

If not, it's a flying boat.