Fire in Pacific Palisades

[Diego in Seattle]

I would never donate money that's as top-heavy as United Way.

[Mikey]

Hey fat boy,

You sound nearly as cunty as Mstool with your “can’t hack it” tough guy jabbering.

Didn’t you bail when the Cali job market took a shit back in the early 90s?

Was that a case of not being able to “hack it”?

No, it was a case of assessing the situation and packing your bags for greener pastures. I did the same to Nashville (shoulda stayed).

That recession was a funny one. The Cold War ending along with big changes in the computer world caused the D&L and U&R economies to crater for a bit. And if LA and NY have a recession, everybody has one.

Anyhoo, things recovered and you got back before the real estate market went nutty.

The difference being that I didn't sit around and blame the governor or the legislature for my situation. Believe it or not, back then we had a Republican governor and majority knuckledragger legislature.

I lost my job and spent nine months looking without success in San Diego. Mrs. Mikey, who was working at General Dynamics while raising two toddlers (with minimal help from her lazy ass husband) got notified that they were being bought out by Martin Marietta and they wanted to send her to Denver in a few months. We didn't want to go to Denver. I got a job in Vegas, she eventually took a voluntary RIF to save someone else's job. The RE market had tanked and it took us a year to sell our almost new house, while I drove every week to Vegas, and a cockroach infested apartment, on Sunday night and back to San Diego on Friday night for that entire year. She would be cleaning the house every morning as she left for work while taking two tots to daycare. When we finally sold the house, at a loss, we were able to buy a smaller, cheaper place in Vegas.

So yeah, I was pissed. I thought that I'd never want to return. But I didn't sit around blaming the stupid ass Republican governor and legislature. That's where the "can't hack it, you pussy" comes from. Take responsibility for your own misfortune and fucking do something about it. Five years in and I was tired of the weather and with my job (where I had been passed over for a promotion basically because I was a white male), and spent another year looking for a way back. My timing was fortunate, but that was also my responsibility.

On to another topic, actually related to this thread. When the fukk are you people going to stop building tinder boxes.
I understand that concrete block construction doesn’t like being jiggled, but stick framing with insulation, air gap and lightweight concrete siding is a thing these days.

Question, how flame retardant are terra cotta roof tiles? I would think they are. Certainly better than asphalt shingles.

Our house is 36 years old It's stucco with a concrete tile roof. It looks like terra cotta but it's concrete. The most vulnerable part is the eaves, which are wood underneath the concrete tiles. We've put a lot into what they call "defensible space," which is hardscape around the outside (including a hole with 36,000 gallons of water). The most vulnerable part is the eaves, which are wood under the concrete tiles. The attic vents under the eaves, which are something you have to have, are screened with fine mesh to keep out any potential embers. So, for a house this old we're in pretty good shape. I always think WTF? when I see somebody's roof burning. I don't know when they stopped using wood or asphalt shingles around here but it was a long time ago. Still, there are trees and shrubs that become pretty flammable after eight months of no rain and the Santa Anas start blowing down off the high desert with humidity less than 10%. When that wind is blowing (prevailing winds are usually higher humidity and coming in from the west) at 90 mph (I've never seen anything like that in our area) there is nothing that's going to stop a fire. it will blow right past the eaves and into the attic, or even blow the windows out. You pour water on it and it gets blown back into your face or just turns into steam.

Building codes now require indoor fire sprinkler systems. I don't know what else. I've read that the sprinkler systems in RPV PP have been a problem because the houses burn down anyway and the sprinklers were still running in the rubble, contributing to the low system pressure, and the firefighters have to wade into the rubble to find the shutoff valves. But a big problem is that they keep building more and more into the "urban-rural" interface. Homes in or next to forested land with insufficient defensible space. These are the most vulnerable, but they keep building it because there isn't enough housing. You try to put more people in the already populated areas and NIMBYs complain about losing their property value. The state has tried to mandate more dense housing but there are towns, especially some ultra wealthy areas in the Bay Area, that have done things like declaring themselves to be some kind of wildlife sanctuary where if they build any more homes the coyotes will have to leave.

[Diego in Seattle]

RPV & PP aren't the same place.

Sin,
MA

[Mikey]

RPV & PP aren't the same place.

Sin,
MA

You’re right. My typo. RPV could be next.

[FiatLux]

Hey fat boy,

You sound nearly as cunty as Mstool with your “can’t hack it” tough guy jabbering.

Didn’t you bail when the Cali job market took a shit back in the early 90s?

Was that a case of not being able to “hack it”?

No, it was a case of assessing the situation and packing your bags for greener pastures. I did the same to Nashville (shoulda stayed).

That recession was a funny one. The Cold War ending along with big changes in the computer world caused the D&L and U&R economies to crater for a bit. And if LA and NY have a recession, everybody has one.

Anyhoo, things recovered and you got back before the real estate market went nutty.

So, you’re there not because you’re so fukking awesome. You’re there because of good timing.

If you were 40 years old, couple kids and a renter, my guess is you’d get fukking’ tired of hacking it and bail too.

So, can we leave the douchebaggery to Mstool? It’s pretty much all he has.

On to another topic, actually related to this thread. When the fukk are you people going to stop building tinder boxes.

I understand that concrete block construction doesn’t like being jiggled, but stick framing with insulation, air gap and lightweight concrete siding is a thing these days.

Question, how flame retardant are terra cotta roof tiles? I would think they are. Certainly better than asphalt shingles.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good God you .tarders are a whiney bunch of fuckers. No wonder Russ shutdown shop. He couldn't take it anymore.

Your long ass winded post could have been said in a few words. "I don't have the skills to live in a beautiful place with incredible weather.

Step your game up and stop whining like a little bitch.

[Mikey]

The Palisades Fire is now almost 24,000 acres and only 17% contained. There's still a wind advisory until tomorrow afternoon.

Fucking Newsom and his Santa Ana winds. Trump and Mikey's Johnson should demand that he stop those to qualify for any federal aid.


Here's the current wildfire map for SoCal. Fortunately there's still nothing close to us. So Far.

[Mikey]

OMG. The reservoirs are empty!!



TOTAL MISMANAGEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES!!

[smackaholic]

The difference being that I didn't sit around and blame the governor or the legislature for my situation. Believe it or not, back then we had a Republican governor and majority knuckledragger legislature.

And why didn't you blame them?

Could it be that they were not to blame?

As I said, both our areas were hit hard at this time because defense spending dropped thanks to The USSR evaporating and lots of legacy computer systems were all of a sudden garbage due to the rapid growth of the PC market. Those PCs weren't produced in the areas where the older, expensive main frames were. There was no way to blame it on a governor doing a shitty job. There is plenty of evidence to blame Newsom for his fukk ups.

I lost my job and spent nine months looking without success in San Diego. Mrs. Mikey, who was working at General Dynamics while raising two toddlers (with minimal help from her lazy ass husband) got notified that they were being bought out by Martin Marietta and they wanted to send her to Denver in a few months. We didn't want to go to Denver. I got a job in Vegas, she eventually took a voluntary RIF to save someone else's job. The RE market had tanked and it took us a year to sell our almost new house, while I drove every week to Vegas, and a cockroach infested apartment, on Sunday night and back to San Diego on Friday night for that entire year. She would be cleaning the house every morning as she left for work while taking two tots to daycare. When we finally sold the house, at a loss, we were able to buy a smaller, cheaper place in Vegas.

So yeah, I was pissed. I thought that I'd never want to return. But I didn't sit around blaming the stupid ass Republican governor and legislature. That's where the "can't hack it, you pussy" comes from. Take responsibility for your own misfortune and fucking do something about it. Five years in and I was tired of the weather and with my job (where I had been passed over for a promotion basically because I was a white male), and spent another year looking for a way back. My timing was fortunate, but that was also my responsibility.

On to another topic, actually related to this thread. When the fukk are you people going to stop building tinder boxes.
I understand that concrete block construction doesn’t like being jiggled, but stick framing with insulation, air gap and lightweight concrete siding is a thing these days.

Question, how flame retardant are terra cotta roof tiles? I would think they are. Certainly better than asphalt shingles.

Our house is 36 years old It's stucco with a concrete tile roof. It looks like terra cotta but it's concrete. The most vulnerable part is the eaves, which are wood underneath the concrete tiles. We've put a lot into what they call "defensible space," which is hardscape around the outside (including a hole with 36,000 gallons of water). The most vulnerable part is the eaves, which are wood under the concrete tiles. The attic vents under the eaves, which are something you have to have, are screened with fine mesh to keep out any potential embers. So, for a house this old we're in pretty good shape. I always think WTF? when I see somebody's roof burning. I don't know when they stopped using wood or asphalt shingles around here but it was a long time ago. Still, there are trees and shrubs that become pretty flammable after eight months of no rain and the Santa Anas start blowing down off the high desert with humidity less than 10%. When that wind is blowing (prevailing winds are usually higher humidity and coming in from the west) at 90 mph (I've never seen anything like that in our area) there is nothing that's going to stop a fire. it will blow right past the eaves and into the attic, or even blow the windows out. You pour water on it and it gets blown back into your face or just turns into steam.

Building codes now require indoor fire sprinkler systems. I don't know what else. I've read that the sprinkler systems in RPV PP have been a problem because the houses burn down anyway and the sprinklers were still running in the rubble, contributing to the low system pressure, and the firefighters have to wade into the rubble to find the shutoff valves. But a big problem is that they keep building more and more into the "urban-rural" interface. Homes in or next to forested land with insufficient defensible space. These are the most vulnerable, but they keep building it because there isn't enough housing. You try to put more people in the already populated areas and NIMBYs complain about losing their property value. The state has tried to mandate more dense housing but there are towns, especially some ultra wealthy areas in the Bay Area, that have done things like declaring themselves to be some kind of wildlife sanctuary where if they build any more homes the coyotes will have to leave.

Sounds like you've done a good job making casa miguel something approaching fire-proof. Rack you.

[The Seer]

Most of those multi-millionaires should be encouraged that FEMA could drop by in a month or two with a $750 check.

Fake news

You were...RIGHT!

It's $770.



https://x.com/i/status/1878972428682142140

[Mikey]

Most of those multi-millionaires should be encouraged that FEMA could drop by in a month or two with a $750 check.

Fake news

You were...RIGHT!

RACK you for finally coming to your senses.

[Mikey]

Sounds like you've done a good job making casa miguel something approaching fire-proof. Rack you.

Not quite fireproof but about as close as we’ve going to get with this house. Still we get paranoid when the weather gets like this.

Next thing I need to do is figure out a way to pump water out of that hole at a high pressure and flow rate.

[88BuckeyeGrad]

Next thing I need to do is figure out a way to pump water out of that hole at a high pressure and flow rate.

[Roux]

Those pills don't do jack shit vs an enlarged prostate.

[dan's college room mate]

Those pills don't do jack shit vs an enlarged prostate.

They work wonders for me.

But I’m not nearly as fuct up as you, apparently.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mikey]

Next thing I need to do is figure out a way to pump water out of that hole at a high pressure and flow rate.

Unfortunately, I already know what that is.

[Carson]

Those pills don't do jack shit vs an enlarged prostate.

They do help kidneystones find their way out.

[StrawMan]

I would never donate money that's as top-heavy as United Way.

Ugh. Type complete sentences much, board tard? Never mind... that's not the point, Dyslexic in Seattle.

Roux's post was the most constructive take in 7 pages of crap, so it deserved a bump. So put your money where your fetid mouth is*.

What have you donated towards managing and recovering from this ongoing disaster?

I chose The American Red Cross. Post up your receipt.



* And NO, I don't mean in M2's grape smugglers, where your mouth spends most of its time

[mvscal]

I lost my job and spent nine months looking without success in San Diego. Mrs. Mikey, who was working at General Dynamics while raising two toddlers (with minimal help from her lazy ass husband) got notified that they were being bought out by Martin Marietta and they wanted to send her to Denver in a few months. We didn't want to go to Denver. I got a job in Vegas, she eventually took a voluntary RIF to save someone else's job. The RE market had tanked and it took us a year to sell our almost new house, while I drove every week to Vegas, and a cockroach infested apartment, on Sunday night and back to San Diego on Friday night for that entire year. She would be cleaning the house every morning as she left for work while taking two tots to daycare. When we finally sold the house, at a loss, we were able to buy a smaller, cheaper place in Vegas.

So yeah, I was pissed. I thought that I'd never want to return. But I didn't sit around blaming the stupid ass Republican governor and legislature. That's where the "can't hack it, you pussy" comes from.

So you followed an opportunity elsewhere. Understandable. What the fuck does that have to do with "hacking it" in a particular geographic location? It's a completely nonsensical concept.

[Diego in Seattle]

I've been donating to WCK for a couple of years. They've been doing fantastic work all over the world, in areas of disaster and war.

They were founded & are led by Chef Jose Andres. If that name is familiar, it's because he was amongst the Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients last week that Republicans criticized as being unworthy of the honor (yet they had no problem with Rush Limpdick being awarded by Trump).

[Left Seater]

Mikey,

Do you have private insurance or are you covered in the FAIR plan?

The FAIR plan is going to take a bit larger than they have in reserve and reinsurance and therefore will assess those insurers who still write in the State. This will lead to the insurance companies passing that assessment on to policy holders over the next 3-5 years. It will also likely lead to insurers pulling up stakes, see State Farm about a year ago.

But the biggest issue is going to be people running out of money to rent or lease some place while their homes are rebuilt. CA allows insurance companies to cover up to 20% of the insured home’s value for living expenses while their home is being repaired/rebuilt. But if the rebuild takes years, that money will run out and people are going to have to cover it. Add to that people not being insured to current market value and this is just going to get worse for those that lost everything.

[mvscal]

I've been donating to WCK for a couple of years. They've been doing fantastic work all over the world, in areas of disaster and war.

Nobody cares

[mvscal]

Mikey,

Do you have private insurance or are you covered in the FAIR plan?

The FAIR plan is going to take a bit larger than they have in reserve and reinsurance and therefore will assess those insurers who still write in the State. This will lead to the insurance companies passing that assessment on to policy holders over the next 3-5 years. It will also likely lead to insurers pulling up stakes, see State Farm about a year ago.

But the biggest issue is going to be people running out of money to rent or lease some place while their homes are rebuilt. CA allows insurance companies to cover up to 20% of the insured home’s value for living expenses while their home is being repaired/rebuilt. But if the rebuild takes years, that money will run out and people are going to have to cover it. Add to that people not being insured to current market value and this is just going to get worse for those that lost everything.

Don't worry. Governor Coke Nose McGreaseball will get it sorted...

[Mikey]

We’re fully insured, including fire and earthquake, which is extra. Our rates have basically tripled since 2020 though. A lot of folks around here have been dropped, though, due to insurance companies leaving. We’re covered by USAA, which seems to be one of the more stable providers. We’ve done a lot to mitigate some of the risks, so maybe that helps.

[Scott from Anaheim]

. We’ve done a lot to mitigate some of the risks, so maybe that helps.

Like changing your voting habits?

[Sudden Sam]

. We’ve done a lot to mitigate some of the risks, so maybe that helps.

Like changing your voting habits?

:rimshot:

[Roux]

How to Help Victims of the Los Angeles Wildfires

[Mikey]

There’s a thrift shop near here that’s taking a truckload of donated goods up there on Friday. Stuff like blankets & sheets, non-perishable food, toiletries, bottled water, etc. No used clothes because I guess they’re overloaded with that stuff.

I’m going to swing by tomorrow and drop off a pile of stuff. Maybe some bottarga and some bucatini.

[Left Seater]

We’re fully insured, including fire and earthquake, which is extra. Our rates have basically tripled since 2020 though. A lot of folks around here have been dropped, though, due to insurance companies leaving. We’re covered by USAA, which seems to be one of the more stable providers. We’ve done a lot to mitigate some of the risks, so maybe that helps.

The Seaters’ appreciate you being with USAA. Mrs Seater works there so thanks for helping to pay our mortgages.

The Mrs has been out there three times so far and is headed to Sacramento tomorrow. They have been doing day trips to lessen the burden on available hotels etc in the PP area. It seems CA is finally approving increases that match the actuarial risk models. Apparently CA was not approving rate increases that kept pace with risk until recently. Don’t know about your area, but she mentioned some areas of LA need a five fold increase to meet the risk profile.

Glad this current outbreak isn’t in your neck of the woods.

[Mikey]

We've used USAA for auto, home and life insurance since we got married almost 38 years ago. We qualified through Mrs. Mikey's parents, both of whom served in WWII. She was a WAVE and he was a crew chief in the Air Corps in both Europe and the South Pacific. He was expecting to die on Iwo Jima after several days in a foxhole when the Marines stormed ashore and rescued is ass. But that's another story. He was a big fan of the USMC for the rest of his life.

Obviously I’m not too pleased with the rate increase but I get it. We’re paying close to $7,500 now for homeowners insurance, which is almost 50% more than our property taxes. But I have nothing but good things to say about USAA. They were the least expensive alternative for auto when I switched over from Allstate. I haven't made any comparisons recently. They have been super responsive to all claims we've had. Not many, but we had some storm damage once and a hot water leak in the slab that required some extensive work. They have a super network of pre-qualified contractors that they give you for reference, and they all do great work because they want to stay on the list. Also for auto insurance. They tell you who to take your car to, and are available for immediate assistance if you're away from home. We even get a small refund from them occasionally because I think that they actually distribute any annual profits to their members.

No fires around here this time, but we have had our share and are hyper aware. We had to evacuate for a day in 2017 and were under evacuation for three days in 2007 but didn't leave. That fire never got very close and the main reason for the evacuation was to keep the roads clear in and out of town. The local HS was the main hub for all the equipment. Most of the businesses in town were still open. You just couldn't get back in if you left. We actually tried to leave on the first day but the roads were too clogged.

[Left Seater]

We have had excellent claim service in both CO and TX with USAA. We still have our auto insurance with Amica which is Mrs Seaters' previous employer. USAA hired her away which was good for our financial situation.

Funny how insurance works in different states. In TX we pay far less in insurance than we do in property taxes, while in CO we pay far more in insurance than we do in property taxes. The only real way to compare is the total tax burden which is why TX remains our primary residence. No income tax but higher property taxes beats state income taxes and lower property taxes in CO. We also have to carry a fire insurance rider in CO that we don't have in TX.

[smackaholic]

7500?

Wow. At some point, you need to just consider self insuring, if you can swing it financially.

[Left Seater]

Hard to say if that is appropriate or not. 1) We don’t know the rebuild value of his casa. B) Mikey has a lot of add ons to the casa. And it is a beautiful property. But the actuaries are the ones who know.

There are far more risks in CA than there are in CT and what seems high for one state might be low in another for the same level of coverage.

[smackaholic]

Is there any discussion about maybe making large parts of your home underground?

It has plenty of benefits such as dirt not being terribly flammable. Also reduces heating cooling cost to damn near nothing.

I could see having a place where the majority of the place is underground with a small, very fire resistant section poking above ground.

We should also do more of this in places that don't get all that climate change goodness like my frozen hell hole.

[Mikey]

7500?

Wow. At some point, you need to just consider self insuring, if you can swing it financially.

Like I said, that’s about 3 times what we were paying a few years ago. We’re still paying a mortgage and I think we’re required to carry insurance. And if you consider what it would cost to rebuild it would be a pretty big gamble to try self insure.

[StrawMan]

Climate Change Did Not Cause the LA Fires

A scientist says the climate is not broken, we need fossil fuels, and bad policy led to the fires.

By Emily Yoffe
01.15.2025

Steven Koonin is a theoretical physicist and a leading voice calling for what he describes as “climate realism.” Koonin was on the faculty of the California Institute of Technology for almost three decades. For five years he was the chief scientist at BP, exploring renewable sources of energy. From there he served in the Obama administration as under secretary for science at the Department of Energy. In recent years, he has engaged in policy debates about how much the climate is changing and what to do about it. He is the author of the book, Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters. Here he discusses what caused the LA fires, and what they portend.


Emily Yoffe: Los Angeles is burning. President Joe Biden has said that climate change, which he just called the “single greatest existential threat to humanity,” is the cause. Many climate scientists agree with him. What do you say?

Steve Koonin: Nonsense. While climate might be playing a minor role, by far the greatest factor affecting how much damage results from a fire is the fuel available to it. Have you cleared the brush and other vegetation or not? Also, there’s the infrastructure that you’ve built. Are the houses fireproof? How close are they together? If we want to avoid the kind of disasters we’ve just seen in the Los Angeles basin, there are so many things we could be doing much more directly and easily than trying to reduce CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions.

EY: You lived in Altadena—much of which is now ash—for almost 30 years when you were at Caltech. When you were living there, did you think something like this could happen?

SK: I remember one very windy night in the ’90s when our kids woke up and thought the sun was rising, but it was actually a fire in the hills above nearby Eaton Canyon. We didn’t evacuate, but we were prepared to. Day to day we were more concerned about earthquakes. As for fire, we thought the county was on it and would take care of it.

I have friends who’ve lost their homes, and the house we lived in is gone. The recent fires are a tragedy that’s due to ill preparedness, not climate.

EY:Let’s say that the earth hadn’t warmed 1.3 degrees Celsius over the past 120 years. Would that have prevented these fires?

SK: No, of course not. There have been fires like this for thousands of years. ProPublica did a story a few years ago about the dangers of our policy of fire suppression, which results eventually in larger, uncontrollable fires. That story cites estimates that in prehistoric California, between 4 million and 11 million acres burned yearly. Compare that with about 1 million that burned in 2024 and 325,000 in 2023.

EY:Can you understand that people who are saying about LA, “Here it is, you didn’t believe us about the existential threat. But it’s not in the future, it has arrived.” And the proof is the fires, and the flooding of Asheville, North Carolina, and all the recent hurricanes.

SK: How often does a hundred-year weather event happen? The answer is it’s a couple times a month somewhere around the globe. With modern news coverage that’s global and around the clock, the media are always going to find some unusual weather event. What you have to do as a scientist is to think about climate as the 30-year average of weather.

EY: But the people saying we have broken the climate are often climate scientists.

SK: I would refer you to the Working Group 1 of the most recent report of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was issued in 2021. They have a wonderful table, Table 12.12, that shows 33 different kinds of what they call climate “impact-drivers”: floods, hurricanes, heat waves, cold, drought, etc. And for the great majority of those drivers, the table is blank. Meaning they couldn’t find any long-term trend, let alone one that could be attributed to human influences. This makes it hard to understand how people, including the UN secretary-general, keep saying the climate is broken.

Look at the work of Patrick Brown, a wildfire and climate expert at the Breakthrough Institute. It’s true that at the end of 2024 there had been almost no precipitation in LA. But Brown has a chart showing end-of-year precipitation in LA over an 80-year span; there were many years as dry as last year, even though CO2 was much lower.

EY: There is a cavernous gap between the understanding of climate that you’re describing, and what the average New York Times reader (or current president of the United States) believes.

SK: What’s going on is not quite a conspiracy, but it’s an alignment of interests. The media want clicks and eyeballs, and it’s news when something catastrophic happens. Politicians can use “climate change” as a vague and amorphous enemy to blame for bad things—instead of their incompetence. And it gives them an excuse to dole out money or put in regulations “to fix the problem.” And if you’ve started an NGO to save the world and the conclusion is that things really aren’t that bad, you’re out of business.

I’ve found when you sit and talk to scientists in private, they’re almost always quite sensible about what we know and don’t know, and would not say the world is coming to an end or falling apart.

EY: The nominee for secretary of energy is Chris Wright, an energy entrepreneur and founder of the fracking company Liberty Energy. You have also done some consulting for him and consider him a friend.

You and he both have written and spoken extensively about your mutual belief that we will not, and should not, swiftly remove fossil fuels from our energy mix. He has said that we’re going to need these fuels at least into the next century, and even beyond. And you both agree that to remove fossil fuels abruptly would plunge the world into poverty and chaos.

SK: Energy touches virtually every part of our lives. Think of the economic prosperity of the last 100 years, the expansion of global life expectancy from 32 years to 72 years; even the death rate from extreme weather events has plunged by a factor of 50. All this was built on abundant, safe, economical energy, largely from fossil fuels. They continue to be the most reliable and convenient way to help the half of humanity that lacks access to affordable, reliable energy.

I would say that clearly the CO2 we have released is having some effect on the planet getting warmer. Is the warming all due to CO2? I don’t think we can say that. And it’s simply not plausible to assert that a rise in global temperature over the next hundred years comparable to the one that happened over the past 100 years will be catastrophic.

Look at Europe, especially Germany, which is ahead of us on decarbonization. They’re becoming a basket case—economic decline, deindustrialization, and buying gas from Vladimir Putin. That’s the worst of all worlds, all caused by an ill-considered, precipitous rush to decarbonize.

EY: You’ve also pointed out that despite the concerted effort to turn to wind and solar, fossil fuels still make up around 80 percent of the globe’s energy mix.

SK: And the world has spent more than $10 trillion in the last two decades trying to replace fossil fuels with renewables. But among the many problems with wind and solar is that they are simply too unreliable as sources of energy. Wind and solar can be an ornament to the system but can never be the backbone of the energy system.

I think the better alternative energy is nuclear, and I hope Chris Wright is able to encourage the development of small nuclear reactors.

EY: The people who say we need to decarbonize and do it now would say the reason you and Wright and others of your ilk assert the things you do is because you are shills for oil and gas, and that’s what makes you climate deniers.

SK: Actually, I’m a climate realist, and an energy realist—they go together.

EY:Chris Wright has said he thinks to some degree the apocalyptic talk about climate is unnecessarily scaring children about the future. Do you agree?

SK: I agree that we are unnecessarily terrifying children. We should be giving children optimism, and a sense of what humanity has been able to accomplish, and what they will be able to accomplish if we give them the right tools.

EY: In the Obama administration, you were under secretary for science at the Department of Energy. Have your views changed since then? And do your former colleagues think you’ve lost your mind?

SK: My understanding about climate has evolved as I’ve read more of the research papers and the UN reports. There are some former colleagues who think I’m the devil. But there are many others who say privately, “Steve, I’m glad you wrote your book, because I dare not say it myself.”

EY: Weather used to be something people discussed when they were trying to avoid contentious issues. But now discussing weather can become quite combative. Do you see a way forward so that, as a society, we can talk more rationally about energy policy and its trade-offs?

SK: I think that’s changing because people are realizing the cost and disruption associated with rapid decarbonization. The banks and investment community are pulling out. And people are recognizing renewables are not all that wonderful. They’re rebelling against the restrictions put in by the Biden administration that are coming for gasoline-powered cars.

The physicist Richard Feynman, who was my neighbor in Altadena, said, “Nature cannot be fooled.” And regarding energy, I would say, “Nature, technology, and economic realities can’t be fooled.” I think people are going to start to educate themselves more about the technical and economic realities of energy, and I hope that they will take a closer look at the climate science as well. Then more people will be asking, “Tell me again, why are we doing all this?

https://www.thefp.com/p/climate-change- ... eve-koonin

[88BuckeyeGrad]

https://youtu.be/UxnC1WW95XE?si=d75FZvCqTanRJfb5

[Left Seater]

https://www.latimes.com/california/stor ... -this-time

Plenty of blame starting to land at the feet of LAFD leadership.

[Diego in Seattle]

[Carson]

Californians are paying ridiculous property taxes, just to watch their property burn because someone spent the taxes on diversity cultural events instead of equipment repairs.

[Mikey]

Californians are paying ridiculous property taxes, just to watch their property burn because someone spent the taxes on diversity cultural events instead of equipment repairs.

Showing your ignorance once again. Why is that not surprising? California is 19th lowest in property tax rates, making it the 32nd highest. Not even close to the top 50%

https://www.rocketmortgage.com/learn/pr ... s-by-state