jessielee6002-blog

[villeville-chronicles]

Yuba City has been taken over by celestial fairies! Here are some of my favorite spots:

1. Relax at the decadent Mermaid Grotto;

2. Take in the majestic Starry Mountain;

3. Enter near the castle (really the Museum);

4. These weird crystals grow here;

5. Run through the Gyroid Forest.

[pcttrailsidereader]

Sierra Buttes Fire Lookout: A Worthy Side Trip

By Rees Hughes

Perched on the very top of Sierra Buttes, nearly 8,600 feet high and well above any surrounding topography, the decommissioned fire lookout offers an amazing 360-degree view.  On a clear day, the view extends west across the Sacramento Valley to the Yolla Bollys and Sutter Buttes, south across the Yuba drainage and far into the High Sierra, and north and east are equally stunning.  It is a couple mile side trip from the PCT and well worth the detour.  I’ve gone a couple of times now including a visit in early August.

In 1975 the National Geographic Society published a comprehensive 196-page book on the nascent Pacific Crest Trail.  The book chronicled the thru-hike of author Will Gray and photographer Sam Abell.  This was well before trail names, trail angels, and even completion of the trail.  A friend of mine recently gave me a copy he had purchased at a library sale.  It truly captures the era when external frame Kelty packs, wool, and heavy leather boots reigned supreme. It is well worth a read.

This short excerpt begins at Sierra Buttes, just north of Sierra City. I have included a few photos of the lookout from my walk through the area:

“Lightning makes an incredible whipping and crackling sound just before it hits.  Then there’s a loud buzzing like radio static as the thunderclap shakes the whole building.  Sometimes there’s a blue glow around the roof overhang, and I’ve even seen electricity arc back and forth between the beams.  The first time I saw that, man, I was scared!”

Bill Thomason sat with his feet on a desk inside the fire lookout station that perches – at 8,587 feet – atop the highest of the Sierra Buttes.  The thumb-like spires of volcanic rock provide a vantage high above the rolling ridges of the northern Sierra, and I could trace, far below, the Pacific Crest Trail near Sardine Lakes. A side trail ended at the base of the 178 metal steps that climbed the rocks to our steel-and-glass cage.

Bill, a college student who works summers as a fire guard for the U.S. Forest Service, continued to describe the awesome display of a thunderstorm and I was glad that the sky was bright blue and cloudless. “One of the first things I learned,” Bill said, “was not to touch metal during electrical storms. But I’ve gotten so used to them now that I can usually sleep right through.”

What were his duties? “Basically, I just look for smoke, I take a compass reading and check my card file to see if it’s coming from a sawmill, say, or a campground. If not, I radio headquarters to have it checked out. Fortunately, this area’s not too vulnerable; there are relatively few fires each year.”

I asked Bill whether the isolation of sitting alone high on a remote mountain ever bothered him. “Usually it’s not all that lonely,” he answered. “Besides the hiking path, there’s a jeep trail, so I get a few visitors almost every day. Sometimes more than a few – over the Fourth of July weekend, at least 150 people trooped through. And there’s always communication through the radio. But I have gone as long as four days without seeing anyone.  I guess I’ve learned to appreciate both company and loneliness. The time of day I most like to be alone is at sunset.  It’s so peaceful up here then.”

Fire lookouts are fast going the way of the typewriter, Kodachrome and the handwritten letter. According to author Philip Connors, 90 percent of American lookout towers have been decommissioned with only a few hundred remaining, mostly in the West and Alaska.

A dozen miles north of Sierra Buttes, the trail skirts placid Gold Lake, named in acknowledgment of one of the biggest hoaxes of the gold rush days. In 1849 vague rumors of a lake with banks strewn with gold spread through the mining camps.  In the early summer of 1850, an English miner named J.R. Stoddard appeared in Nevada City with a poke of nuggets and a dramatic tale.  While on a hunting trip, he said, he had stumbled on the fabled lake of gold, and was astounded by its abundance of riches. As he scooped up handfuls of nuggets, he was suddenly attacked by Indians, and was wounded in the leg by an arrow while escaping.

He offered – for a price – to lead an expedition back to the lake; dozens of gold-hungry prospectors responded and paid the fee. When the party left Nevada City, a throng of perhaps a thousand other men followed along.

For days the horde vainly tramped the mountains. Stoddard became increasingly vague about his bearings, until at last the miners rebelled and gave him an ultimatum: He had 24 hours to find the lake or he would be strung from the nearest tree.

That night the wily Stoddard stole out of camp and disappeared. In the morning the miners, thoroughly chagrined, headed back to their old claims or sought new ones in the Gold Lake country.

Sam rejoined me on the trail north of Gold Lake and together we walked the dry, hot ridges of the northern Sierra.  Late one afternoon, as we followed a dusty road toward a bluff overlooking the North Fork of the Feather River, the aroma of cooking drew us toward a small prefabricated house alive with young men.

It was a crew of the California Ecology Corps, sponsored by the California Division of Forestry. Under contract with the U.S. Forest Service, the men were building a six-mile section of Pacific Crest Trail from the ridgetop down into the Feather River Canyon near the town of Belden. After we had demolished a supper of roast beef and corn on the cob, I sat sipping coffee and talking to Dick Hansen, project foreman and a 20-year veteran of the Division of Forestry, and Rick Lawrence, the 22-year-old crew leader.

“We’ve been up here for just under three weeks, and we’ve already got more than half a mile of trail built,” Dick said with pride. “The whole project should take no more than four or five months, we hope.”

“We’re averaging about 250 feet of finished trail per day,” Rick added, “and that’s through manzanita, which is hard to dig out. We have to follow strict specifications of trail width and drainage, of course, and we’re anxious to do a good job; we’re hoping that this one will lead to more contracts.”

In the late mountain twilight the corpsmen returned from swimming, fishing, or rock climbing and crawled into the sleeping bags scattered around the prefab building. A few minutes after five o'clock the next morning I was served a tasty cheese and mushroom omelet by camp cook Jim Atha. Breakfast over, we crowded into a truck and bumped along the dirt road leading to the new trail site.

Following the newly constructed section, I rounded a well-engineered switchback and faced a tangle of brush. Ahead of me a proficient team of two strong corpsmen worked with lopping shears to cut out the tough branches and trunks and form a rough corridor. A couple of dozen yards behind them, another team wielding picks and shovels grubbed out rocks and roots and widened the initial path. Other teams graded, cleared, and trimmed, until finally a permanent section of Pacific Crest Trail had been completed.

“We rotate the men every day so they don’t get burned out on any one  job,” Rick told me. “As we work, we’re careful to preserve the natural lay of the land as much as possible. We only take out boulders or trees where they would be a serious hindrance to hikers.”

From the top of the canyon wall, Rick looked down at his crew and said, “This is the kind of work you can appreciate doing. You feel like you’re leaving your mark, that you can come back in 20 years and be proud of what you’ve accomplished.”

Bob Birkby wrote a wonderful piece that is included in the Oregon/Washington volume of The Pacific Crest Trailside Reader, “The Art of the Trail: An Aesthetic Appreciation of What’s Underfoot”.  It captures the work of art that results from good trail building … and reminds us not to take for granted the work of Dick Hansen, Rick Lawrence, and their team and countless similar teams that built the PCT.

[prodweek]

Production Weekly – Issue 1141 – Thursday, April 25, 2019 / 148 Listings – 34 Pages THE 24TH • ALIA’S BIRTH • ALL AMERICAN 02 • AMERITHRAX • ARTEMIS • AT MIDNIGHT • AVENUE 5 • AWAKE • A BABYSITTER’S GUIDE TO MONSTERS • THE BALLAD OF RICHARD JEWELL • BATHING FLO • BEEF • BLACK WATER: ABYSS • BLAST BEAT • BLITHE SPIRIT • BLONDE • BLOOD MOON • BLOOD ON THE TRACKS • BLOODLOSS • BLUE BAYOU • BLUR • BREAKING NEWS IN YUBA COUNTY • THE BRIDGE TO KONO • BROCKMIRE 04 • CHARLOTTE XVI (aka MY FAVORITE NIGHTMARE) • CHERRY • THE CHRISTMAS TOWN • CHRONICLE MYSTERIES 4: THE DEEP END • CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG • CLOUD OF WITNESSES • CLOUD ONE • COMING 2 AMERICA • THE CONJURING 3 • DALI LAND • THE DARK DIVIDE • DEATH ON THE NILE • DESPERADOS • DOMINO • DON'T CLICK • THE DOORMAN • DRIFTLESS • ENOLA HOLMES • THE ENVELOPE • ESCAPE FROM STALAG 111 • THE ETERNALS • EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE • FANTASY CAMP • FATHERHOOD (aka TWO KISSES FOR MADDY) • FBI 02 • FLAG DAY • FOOL'S DAY • FOUNDATION (w/t THE ABRAHAM PROJECT) • FUTURE MAN 03 • THE GATEWAY (aka WHERE ANGELS DIE) • GHOST ARMY • GHOSTBUSTERS (w/t RUST CITY) • THE GLIMPSES OF THE MOON • GOLD • THE GOOD FIGHT 04 • GREAT WHITE • GREENLAND • GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE • HALO • HAPPIEST SEASON • THE HARDER THEY FALL (aka NOTORIOUS NINE) • HILLBILLY ELEGY • HOMBRE (aka UNDOCUMENTED AMERICA) • HUSH LITTLE VICTIM • I AM NOT OKAY WITH THIS • IN THE DARK 02 • JOHNNY CONCRETE (aka BIG GOLD BRICK) • JOLT • JONTY • KATE • KIDDING 02 • THE L WORD: GENERATION Q • LAST MAN STANDING 08 • LAW & ORDER: SVU 21 • LITTLE (aka TOPSIDE) • LIVE IN FRONT OF A STUDIO AUDIENCE: NORMAN LEAR'S ALL IN THE FAMILY AND THE JEFFERSONS • LONESOME SOLDIER • LOVE WEDDING REPEAT • MAINSTREAM • MANHUNT: LONE WOLF 02 • MARRY ME • THE MENU • MERRY & BRIGHT • THE MINUTEMAN • MISS JUNETEENTH • MY HAPPY ENDING • MY ONLY SUNSHINE • NAKED SINGULARITY • NCIS: LOS ANGELES 11 • NCIS: NEW ORLEANS 06 • THE NEVERS • THE NIGHT HOUSE • NIGHT RAIDERS • NIGHTMARE ALLEY • OBSIDIAN DOLLS • THE OVAL • PAPER SPIDERS • THE PERFECT CHEERLEADER • PERRY MASON • PERSUASION • PIECES OF A WOMAN • PLATONIC • PONTE • QUEENPINS • THE RACER (aka THE DOMESTIQUE) • REBECCA • REEFA • THE REUNION • ROSWELL NEW MEXICO 02 • SAGE ALEXANDER: HALL OF NIGHTMARES • SHE’S NEVER COMING BACK • SHOWTIME • SOFIA H • SOMETHING IN THE WATER • SPINNING GOLD • STOWAWAY • THE SUICIDE SQUAD (w/t EL DORADO) • SUMO • TEENAGE BOUNTY HUNTERS • TESLA • THE THICKET • THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD • TIN STAR 03 • TINY DANCERS • TOM AND JERRY • TURK • THE UNBORN • UNTITLED BILLY EICHNER ROMANTIC COMEDY • UNTITLED ELVIS BIOPIC • UNTITLED LILA NEUGEBAUER PROJECT • UNTITLED PETE DAVIDSON PROJECT • UNTITLED SOPHIA TAKAL PROJECT • US • VAN DER VALK • VOYAGERS (aka ISLAND IN SPACE) • THE WALKING DEAD 10 • WALTER THE FARTING DOG (w/t TOOTS) • WANDAVISION • WARRIOR 02 • WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM • WEIRD BUT TRUE • WINDFALL • WORK IT

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/new-california-fire-scorches-wine-country-near-san-francisco-national-news/

New California fire scorches wine country near San Francisco | National News

ST. HELENA, Calif. (AP) — California firefighters battled destructive new wildfires in wine country north of San Francisco Monday as strong winds fanned flames in the already badly scorched state.

The new fires erupted Sunday in the famed Napa-Sonoma wine region and in far Northern California’s Shasta County, forcing hasty evacuations of neighborhoods.

In wine country, flames engulfed the distinctive Chateau Boswell Winery north of St. Helena, The Black Rock Inn in the small community of St. Helena and multiple homes in the city of Santa Rosa, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Residents of a senior home were among those evacuated.

The Adventist Health St. Helena hospital suspended care and transferred all patients elsewhere, according to a statement on its website.

The wine country blaze had burned 17 square miles (44 square kilometers) as of early Monday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.

Numerous studies in recent years have linked bigger wildfires in America to global warming from the burning of coal, oil and gas, especially because climate change has made California much drier. A drier California means plants are more flammable.

Evacuations were also ordered in Shasta County as that fire spread.

The causes of both new fires were under investigation.

During the weekend, the Pacific Gas & Electric utility turned off electricity to targeted areas where the winds raised the potential for arcing or other power equipment damage that could spark new fires.

So far this year, more than 8,100 California wildfires have scorched 5,780 square miles (14,970 square kilometers), destroyed more than 7,000 buildings and killed 26 people.

Most of the losses occurred after a frenzy of dry lightning strikes in mid-August ignited a massive outbreak of fires.

Power will be shut off for 65,000 Northern California electric customers in 16 counties to prevent the spread of wildfires that have engulfed areas of the state, officials said Sunday.

Pacific Gas & Electric, the nation’s largest electric utility, shut off power to 11,000 customers beginning at 4 a.m. Sunday and planned to cut service to another 54,000 customers by 8 p.m.

The company expected to have power restored by Monday evening to all customers.

PG&E Incident Commander Mark Quinlan said the initial plan was to temporarily cut service to 89,000 customers but continuous monitoring enabled the company to reduce the number by 27%.

The initial power outage for 11,000 customers occurred in Butte and Plumas counties.

The second shutdown phase beginning Sunday evening was planned for Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Lake, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Tehama and Yuba counties. Two customers were also scheduled for shutdowns in Sonoma County.

Shutoffs were also scheduled to begin Monday at 7 a.m. in Kern County for a small number of customers.

The company plans to begin restoring power after receiving confirmation that the weather and wildfire risks enable patrols, inspections and repairs by 50 helicopters and about 1,700 ground personnel in vehicles and on foot.

The shutoff was enacted as result of a red flag warning because of high winds, officials said.

PG&E Senior Meteorologist Scott Strenfel said beginning Saturday evening there was a reported wind speed of 15-30 mph (24-48 kph), 40-55 mph (64-89 kph) wind gusts and humidity levels of 15% to 20%.

The company continues to monitor weather conditions in concert with federal agencies including the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Customer Experience Manager Vanessa Bryan said PG&E sent 913,000 customer notifications and is operating 28 community resource centers from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. while power is out. As of Sunday evening, the centers had received about 1,200 visitors, Bryan said.

The shutoffs came as a new, swift-moving wildfire broke out in Napa County, which prompted evacuations of homes and a hospital. The fire was burning near several wineries and churned through 1.9 square miles (4.9 square kilometers) Sunday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Fire-weary California is facing a new siege of hot, dry weather with potentially strong winds that could cause power lines to arc and spark new blazes in parched vegetation that’s ready to burn.

Red Flag warnings for extreme fire weather conditions were issued for the northern and central areas of the state from late Saturday to Monday, the National Weather Service said. Similar warnings were in place for parts of Southern California’s San Bernardino and Riverside counties on Monday.

So far this year, more than 8,100 California wildfires have scorched 5,780 square miles (14,970 square kilometers), destroyed more than 7,000 buildings and killed 26 people.

Most of the loss has occurred since a frenzy of dry lightning strikes in mid-August ignited a massive outbreak of fires. The causes of other fires remain under investigation and authorities said one was caused by a pyrotechnic device at a gender reveal event.

On Sunday, wind drove smoke from the new Napa County fire toward Sonoma and Marin counties, worsening the air quality, said Gerry Diaz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

“We just have smoke on all fronts, unfortunately,” Diaz said.

[all-my-books]

2017 Reading

262 books read. 60% of new reads Non-fiction, authors from 55 unique countries, 35% of authors read from countries other than USA, UK, Canada, and Australia. Asterisks denote re-reads, bolds are favorites. January: The Deeds of the Disturber – Elizabeth Peters The Wiregrass – Pam Webber Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi It Didn't Start With You – Mark Wolynn Facing the Lion – Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton Before We Visit the Goddess – Chitra Divakaruni Colored People – Henry Louis Gates Jr. My Khyber Marriage – Morag Murray Abdullah Miss Bianca in the Salt Mines – Margery Sharp Farewell to the East End – Jennifer Worth Fire and Air – Erik Vlaminck My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me – Jennifer Teege Catherine the Great – Robert K Massie My Mother's Sabbath Days – Chaim Grade Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me – Harvey Pekar, JT Waldman The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend – Katarina Bivald Stammered Songbook – Erwin Mortier Savushun – Simin Daneshvar The Prophet – Kahlil Gibran Beyond the Walls – Nazim Hikmet The Dressmaker of Khair Khana – Gayle Tzemach Lemmon A Day No Pigs Would Die – Robert Newton Peck *

February: Bone Black – bell hooks Special Exits – Joyce Farmer Reading Like a Writer – Francine Prose Bright Dead Things – Ada Limon Middlemarch – George Eliot Confessions of an English Opium Eater – Thomas de Quincey Medusa's Gaze – Marina Belozerskaya Child of the Prophecy – Juliet Marillier * The File on H – Ismail Kadare The Motorcycle Diaries – Ernesto Che Guevara Passing – Nella Larsen Whose Body? - Dorothy L. Sayers The Spiral Staircase – Karen Armstrong Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel Reading Lolita in Tehran – Azar Nafisi Defiance – Nechama Tec

March: Yes, Chef – Marcus Samuelsson Discontent and its Civilizations – Mohsin Hamid The Gulag Archipelago Vol. 1 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Patience and Sarah – Isabel Miller Dying Light in Corduba – Lindsey Davis * Five Days at Memorial – Sheri Fink A Man Called Ove – Fredrik Backman * The Shia Revival – Vali Nasr Girt – David Hunt Half Magic – Edward Eager * Dreams of Joy – Lisa See * Too Pretty to Live – Dennis Brooks West with the Night – Beryl Markham Little Fuzzy – H. Beam Piper *

April: Defying Hitler – Sebastian Haffner Monsters in Appalachia – Sheryl Monks Sorcerer to the Crown – Zen Cho The Man Without a Face – Masha Gessen Peace is Every Step – Thich Nhat Hanh Flory – Flory van Beek Why Soccer Matters – Pele The Zhivago Affair – Peter Finn, Petra Couvee The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake – Breece Pancake The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared – Jonas Jonasson Chasing Utopia – Nikki Giovanni The Invisible Bridge – Julie Orringer * Young Adults – Daniel Pinkwater Jonathan Swift: The Reluctant Rebel – John Stubbs Black Gun, Silver Star – Art T. Burton The Arab of the Future 2 – Riad Sattouf Hole in the Heart – Henny Beaumont MASH – Richard Hooker Forgotten Ally – Rana Mitter Zorro – Isabel Allende Flying Couch – Amy Kurzweil

May: The Bite of the Mango – Mariatu Kamara Mystic and Rider – Sharon Shinn * Freedom is a Constant Struggle – Angela Davis Capture – David A. Kessler Poor Cow – Nell Dunn My Father's Dragon – Ruth Stiles Gannett * Elmer and the Dragon – Ruth Stiles Gannett * The Dragons of Blueland – Ruth Stiles Gannett * Hetty Feather – Jacqueline Wilson In the Shadow of the Banyan – Vaddey Ratner The Last Camel Died at Noon – Elizabeth Peters Cannibalism – Bill Schutt The Handmaid's Tale – Margaret Atwood A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry The Food of a Younger Land – Mark Kurlansky Behold the Dreamers – Imbolo Mbue Words on the Move – John McWhorter John Ransom's Diary: Andersonville – John Ransom Such a Lovely Little War – Marcelino Truong Child of All Nations – Irmgard Keun One Child – Mei Fong Country of Red Azaleas – Domnica Radulescu Between Two Worlds – Zainab Salbi Malinche – Julia Esquivel A Lucky Child – Thomas Buergenthal The Drackenberg Adventure – Lloyd Alexander Say You're One of Them – Uwem Akpan William Wells Brown – Ezra Greenspan

June: Partners In Crime – Agatha Christie The Chinese in America – Iris Chang The Great Escape – Kati Marton As Texas Goes... – Gail Collins Pavilion of Women – Pearl S. Buck Classic Chinese Stories – Lu Xun The Return of the Soldier – Rebecca West The Slave Across the Street – Theresa Flores Miss Bianca in the Orient – Margery Sharp Boy Erased – Garrard Conley How to Be a Dictator – Mikal Hem A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini Tears of the Desert – Halima Bashir The Death and Life of Great American Cities – Jane Jacobs The First Salute – Barbara Tuchman Come as You Are – Emily Nagoski The Want-Ad Killer – Ann Rule The Gulag Archipelago Vol 2 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

July: Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz – L. Frank Baum * The Blazing World – Margaret Cavendish Madonna in a Fur Coat – Sabahattin Ali Duende – tracy k. smith The ACB With Honora Lee – Kate de Goldi Mountains of the Pharaohs – Zahi Hawass Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy Chronicle of a Last Summer – Yasmine el Rashidi Killers of the Flower Moon – David Grann Mister Monday – Garth Nix * Leaving Yuba City – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni The Silk Roads – Peter Frankopan The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams A Corner of White – Jaclyn Moriarty * Circling the Sun – Paula McLain Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them – Al Franken Believe Me – Eddie Izzard The Cracks in the Kingdom – Jaclyn Moriarty * Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe – Fannie Flagg * One Hundred and One Days – Asne Seierstad Grim Tuesday – Garth Nix * The Vanishing Velasquez – Laura Cumming Four Against the Arctic – David Roberts The Marriage Bureau – Penrose Halson The Jesuit and the Skull – Amir D Aczel Drowned Wednesday – Garth Nix * Roots, Radicals, and Rockers – Billy Bragg A Tangle of Gold – Jaclyn Moriarty * Lydia, Queen of Palestine – Uri Orlev *

August: Sir Thursday – Garth Nix * The Hoboken Chicken Emergency – Daniel Pinkwater * Lady Friday – Garth Nix * Freddy and the Perilous Adventure – Walter R. Brooks * Venice – Jan Morris China's Long March – Jean Fritz Trials of the Earth – Mary Mann Hamilton The Bully Pulpit – Doris Kearns Goodwin Final Exit – Derek Humphry The Book of Emma Reyes – Emma Reyes Freddy the Politician – Walter R. Brooks * Dragonflight – Anne McCaffrey * What the Witch Left – Ruth Chew All Passion Spent – Vita Sackville-West The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde The Curse of the Blue Figurine – John Bellairs * When They Severed Earth From Sky – Elizabeth Wayland Barber Superior Saturday – Garth Nix * The Boston Girl – Anita Diamant The Mummy, The Will, and the Crypt – John Bellairs * Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? - Frans de Waal The Philadelphia Adventure – Lloyd Alexander * Lord Sunday – Garth Nix * The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull – John Bellairs * Five Little Pigs – Agatha Christie * Love in Vain – JM Dupont, Mezzo A Little History of the World – EH Gombrich Last Things – Marissa Moss Imagine Wanting Only This – Kristen Radtke Dinosaur Empire – Abby Howard The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents – Terry Pratchett *

September: First Bite by Bee Wilson The Xanadu Adventure by Lloyd Alexander Orientalism – Edward Said The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan – Carl Barks The Island on Bird Street – Uri Orlev * The Indifferent Stars Above – Daniel James Brown Beneath the Lion's Gaze – Maaza Mengiste The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde * The Book of Five Rings – Miyamoto Musashi The Drunken Botanist – Amy Stewart The Turtle of Oman – Naomi Shahib Nye The Alleluia Files – Sharon Shinn * Gut Feelings – Gerd Gigerenzer The Secret of Hondorica – Carl Barks Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight – Alexandra Fuller The Abominable Mr. Seabrook – Joe Ollmann Black Flags – Joby Warrick

October: Fear – Thich Nhat Hanh Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8 – Naoki Higashida To the Bright Edge of the World – Eowyn Ivey Why? - Mario Livio Just One Damned Thing After Another – Jodi Taylor The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman Blindness – Jose Saramago The Book Thieves – Anders Rydell Reality is not What it Seems – Carlo Rovelli Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell * The Witch Family – Eleanor Estes * Sister Mine – Nalo Hopkinson La Vagabonde – Colette Becoming Nicole – Amy Ellis Nutt

November: The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing The Children's Book – A.S. Byatt The Fire Next Time – James Baldwin Under the Udala Trees – Chinelo Okparanta Who Killed These Girls? – Beverly Lowry Running for my Life – Lopez Lmong Radium Girls – Kate Moore News of the World – Paulette Jiles The Red Pony – John Steinbeck The Edible History of Humanity – Tom Standage A Woman in Arabia – Gertrude Bell and Georgina Howell Founding Gardeners – Andrea Wulf Anatomy of a Disapperance – Hisham Matar The Book of Night Women – Marlon James Ground Zero – Kevin J. Anderson * Acorna – Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball * A Girl Named Zippy – Haven Kimmel * The Age of the Vikings – Anders Winroth The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction – Helen Graham A General History of the Pyrates – Captain Charles Johnson (suspected Nathaniel Mist) Clouds of Witness – Dorothy L. Sayers * The Lonely City – Olivia Laing No Time for Tears – Judy Heath

December: The Unwomanly Face of War – Svetlana Alexievich Gay-Neck - Dhan Gopal Mukerji The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane – Lisa See Get Well Soon – Jennifer Wright The Testament of Mary – Colm Toibin The Roman Way – Edith Hamilton Understood Betsy – Dorothy Canfield Fisher * The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Vicente Blasco Ibanez Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH – Robert C. O'Brien SPQR – Mary Beard Ballet Shoes – Noel Streatfeild * Hogfather – Terry Pratchett * The Sorrow of War – Bao Ninh Drowned Hopes – Donald E. Westlake * Selected Essays – Michel de Montaigne Vietnam – Stanley Karnow The Snake, The Crocodile, and the Dog – Elizabeth Peters Guests of the Sheik – Elizabetha Warnok Fernea Stone Butch Blues – Leslie Feinberg Wicked Plants – Amy Stewart Life in a Medieval City – Joseph and Frances Gies Under the Sea Wind – Rachel Carson The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia – Mary and Brian Talbot Brat Farrar – Josephine Tey * The Treasure of the Ten Avatars – Don Rosa Escape From Forbidden Valley – Don Rosa Nightwood – Djuna Barnes Here Comes the Sun – Nicole Dennis-Benn Over My Dead Body – Rex Stout *

[escaperealitycomics]

🚨🚨MARYSVILLE!!! YUBA CITY!!!🚨🚨 🎉🎉CELEBRITY ALERT!!!!!🎉🎉 Can you tell me who supplied the voice of Luke Skywalker for several LucasArts games, making him the first actor ever to have officially portrayed both Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, father and son? How about a freelance visual effects consultant who has worked on such movies as Rocky Balboa, The Last Mimzy, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Rush Hour 3, The Kite Runner, Enchanted, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Jumper, Race to Witch Mountain, Witness 11, and the stereoscopic conversion of Nightmare Before Christmas? How about served for four years at Industrial Light & Magic as a visual effects artist on such films as Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Galaxy Quest, Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, The Perfect Storm, Jurassic Park III, The Time Machine, and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones? Did you guess correctly?! C. Andrew Nelson will be at MARYSVILLE-YUBA CITY TOY-ANIME-COMIC CON on JUNE 2ND!!!! Yay!!!! 😃🎉 https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw8ZZ4FFoNu/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=o736ly06clau

[democratsunited-blog]

Gavin Newsom shrugs off three Californias measure. John Cox is silent

https://uniteddemocrats.net/?p=3628

Gavin Newsom shrugs off three Californias measure. John Cox is silent

Photo: Gregory Bull / Associated Press

Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox greets a supporter during a Republican election party Tuesday, June 5, 2018, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox greets a supporter…

SACRAMENTO — The latest attempt to split California into smaller states elicited little more than eye-rolling and smirks Wednesday at state Democratic Party headquarters, where the majority party held a rally to throw support behind Gavin Newsom’s gubernatorial campaign.

It won’t pass, Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman said.

It’s the least of his worries, said Newsom.

“California’s success is in being a cohesive state, particularly in a time of Trump and Trumpism,” Newsom said. “And now we’re the fifth-largest economy in the world — why would we cede that?”

The measure from venture capitalist Tim Draper to split California into three states didn’t earn support from the California Republican Party, either, which voted overwhelmingly to oppose it at the party’s April convention, said Chairman Jim Brulte.

However, the state’s voters will have to wait for another day to hear what the GOP’s standard-bearer in the fall election for governor, San Diego-area businessman John Cox, thinks about the idea.

Asked whether he backs the initiative, Cox said through his campaign, “No comment.” He declined an interview request.

At least one legislator wasn’t laughing off the measure, however. State Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Alpine (San Diego County), said he sees it as a referendum on Democratic leadership in the state and will vote for it.

“There is no greater insult to the one-party rule in California,” Anderson said. “It’s a barometer of the potential unhappiness of the state.”

Draper bankrolled the initiative, known as Cal 3. It would divide the state into California, which would run from Los Angeles north along the coast to Monterey; Southern California, which would go from San Diego and Orange County north past Fresno to Madera County; and Northern California, which would encompass everything from Santa Cruz north, including the Bay Area and Sacramento.

The secretary of state’s office confirmed Tuesday that the measure had the 365,880 valid signatures needed to put it on the November ballot.

Draper was also behind an unsuccessful effort in 2014 to split California into six states. That plan failed to make the ballot.

Photo: Jae C. Hong / Associated Press

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom says splitting up the world’s fifth largest economy into three separate states makes no sense.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom says splitting up…

“I’m an old friend of Tim Draper,” Newsom said. “He’s an incredibly bright and capable person, and that’s not exampled in this initiative. I don’t support the initiative, and I don’t expect the people in the state will support it.”

Republican Assemblyman James Gallagher of Yuba City, who represents rural Northern California communities where activists have pushed to secede as the state of Jefferson, said of Draper’s measure, “That’s not how I would divide the state.”

Gallagher said he doesn’t support the ballot initiative, but he understands why some voters could be drawn to it.

“If we don’t start recognizing that certain parts of the state don’t feel heard, we will have more proposals to split up the state,” Gallagher said.

Even if voters passed the measure, the Legislature and Congress would still have to approve the plan.

“There have been repeated attempts to break up California, and the voters have said over and over and over again that we aren’t interested in doing that,” said Bauman, the state Democratic Party chair. “It’s going to be more money flushed down the toilet. Only one guy is behind it, and everyone is against it.”

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez

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[villeville-chronicles]

Yuba City is a-maze-ing!

[kacydeneen]

School Buses Are Typically Much Safer Than Cars

Deaths from school bus crashes like the tragedy in New Jersey on Thursday are rare, accounting for less than one percent of the country's yearly motor vehicle fatalities, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

School buses are the most regulated vehicles on the road, and students are 70 times more likely to get to school safely aboard a bus than in a car, according to the administration. The buses are designed to be safer than passenger vehicles.

At Least 2 Dead, Many Hurt in Major NJ School Bus Crash

From 2007 to 2016, there were 320,874 fatal motor vehicle crashes, of which 1,147 or 0.4 percent were school-transportation-related, data from the National Center for Statistics and Analysis show.

On Thursday, a school bus collided with a dump truck on Interstate 80 in New Jersey, causing deaths. 

'Explosive Eruption' at Kilauea Sends Ash Flying: Officials

The accident, in Mount Olive Township, ripped the undercarriage off the bus from East Brook Middle School in Paramus, and left it on its side in the median. Information on other injuries wasn’t immediately available although the nearby Morristown Medical Center confirmed that it was receiving patients.

The public school has about 650 students in the fifth through eighth grades.

Trump Draws Rebuke for Calling Some Immigrants 'Animals'

School-transportation related crashes — defined as involving a school bus or another bus functioning as one — killed 1,282 people of all ages from 2007 to 2016, according to a January 2018 report from National Center for Statistics and Analysis. That’s an average of 128 fatalities each year.

Of the 281 school-aged children who were killed, 58 were in school transportation vehicles, 116 were in other vehicles, 98 were pedestrians, eight were bicyclists and one was another non-occupant.

Among the safety features that school buses provide: flashing red lights, rollover protection, protective seating, high crush standards and stop-sign arms. 

One of the major debates over the years has been whether school buses should be required to have seat belts. 

In New Jersey, all vehicles manufactured after October 1992 must be equipped with lap-type seat belts or other child restraint systems, according to the state. All school buses without seat belts that were grandfathered under the law have been out of service as of September 2013.

But there is no similar federal requirement. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration says that large school buses are designed with a different kind of safety restraint system that works "extremely well." 

Children are protected through what is known as "compartmentalization," or strong, closely-spaced seats that have energy-absorbing seat backs, according to the administration. Smaller school buses must have lap belts, shoulder belts or both.

Though fatal school bus accidents are uncommon, these are some of the deadliest over the years:

Nov. 21, 2016: A school bus driver in Chattanooga, Tennessee, ran the bus off a winding road, hit a pole and flipped into a tree, killing six children. The driver, who authorities said was on his phone and driving 50 miles an hour on the narrow road, was found guilty of numerous charges, including criminally negligent homicide, according to NBC News.

Sept. 21, 1989: A Dr. Pepper delivery truck collided with a school bus carrying junior high and high school students in Alton, Texas. Twenty-one students between the ages of 12 and 18 died when the bus went over an embankment and into a gravel pit filled with water. The driver, who according to the Houston Chronicle, missed a stop sign, was later acquitted of criminally negligent homicide charges.

May 21, 1976: A bus carrying a high school a cappella choir from Yuba City High School in the Sacramento Valley broke through a guardrail on a freeway off-ramp near Martinez, California, fell 30 feet and landed upside down with the roof crushed. Twenty-eight students and an adult chaperone were killed. The students were traveling to Miranda High School in Orinda, California, for a performance.

Feb. 28, 1958: A bus taking elementary and high school students to a school in Prestonburg, Kentucky, hit the back of a truck on U.S. Route 23, went down an embankment into the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River and was swept away. Twenty-six students and the bus driver drowned.

Photo Credit: Chrissy Oleszek School Buses Are Typically Much Safer Than Cars published first on Miami News

[touristguidebuzz]

Most Napa Valley Wineries Closed Because of Raging Wildfires

Smoke rises as a wildfire burns in the hills east of Napa, California October 9, 2017. Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through Northern California sending residents on a headlong flight to safety through smoke and flames as homes burned. Michael Short / San Francisco Chronicle via Associated Press

Skift Take: It's too soon to tell how these wildfires will impact the grape harvest and local tourism.

— Dennis Schaal

The Napa Valley Vintners association in California says most wineries were closed Monday because of power outages, evacuation orders and the inability of employees to get to work.

The trade association said Monday that it does not have verifiable information on winery buildings that burned down or the impact the fires would have on the 2017 harvest.

Workers had picked most grapes for the season before fires broke out.

The wind-driven wildfires came as Napa and Sonoma counties were finishing highly anticipated harvests of wine grapes. Workers on Monday should have been picking and processing the ripe grapes that would make chardonnay and other wines.

At least two wineries were destroyed and many others damaged.

Authorities have imposed a sunset-to-sunrise curfew in the city of Santa Rosa, California and say they are on the lookout for looters as firefighters battle blazes raging in California wine country.

Acting police Chief Craig Schwartz said Monday the curfew will be enforced in a mandatory evacuation zone, with violators possibly subject to arrest.

Other officials said they were beginning to get reports of looting in areas affected by fires.

Santa Rosa has about 175,000 residents.

Officials say at least seven more people have died in fast-moving wildfires in California wine country, bringing the total number of fatalities to 10.

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office tweeted Monday that seven fire-related deaths were reported from fires there.

California fire officials reported earlier that two people died in Napa County and one died in Mendocino County.

Trailer park residents in California wine country had little time to escape before flames destroyed their homes.

Nancy Cook said Monday that her dogs alerted her to the wildfire that quickly came blowing over a hill early in the morning and ignited trees in the Journey’s End trailer park in Santa Rosa.

The fire is one of the most destructive of more than a dozen in the region.

Cook says she pounded on neighbors’ doors before fleeing with her husband, dogs and medications.

She and other residents didn’t have time to round up their cats and had to leave them behind in their haste. Some fled in their pajamas and left their wallets.

One person had to abandon a classic hotrod car that burned.

Cook says she thinks everyone in the over-55 community escaped, though most residents lost everything they owned.

Officials say a wind-driven wildfire churning through canyons in hilly neighborhoods of Southern California has burned multiple homes.

Anaheim police Sgt. Daron Wyatt says there’s still no count of the number of homes affected by Monday’s blaze.

Anaheim Fire & Rescue says the fire has grown to 2,000 acres and is being fought by 200 firefighters, six helicopters and six airplanes.

One firefighter has been injured.

The fire erupted during the fall’s first significant blast of Santa Ana winds, which blow out of the northeast and toward the coast.

In Northern California wine country, officials say at least one person was killed and two others were seriously injured in fast-spreading wildfires,

At least 1,500 homes and commercial buildings have been destroyed, and 20,000 people have been evacuated.

The California Highway Patrol says numerous roads are closed in the fire region, which is an eight-county swath of wine country north of San Francisco.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties because of wildfires that the governor says are threatening thousands of homes.

Brown issued the declaration on Monday, as multiple fires forced people to evacuate their homes.

Copyright (2017) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

This article was from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.

[rollinbrigittenv8]

Most Napa Valley Wineries Closed Because of Raging Wildfires

Smoke rises as a wildfire burns in the hills east of Napa, California October 9, 2017. Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through Northern California sending residents on a headlong flight to safety through smoke and flames as homes burned. Michael Short / San Francisco Chronicle via Associated Press

Skift Take: It's too soon to tell how these wildfires will impact the grape harvest and local tourism.

— Dennis Schaal

The Napa Valley Vintners association in California says most wineries were closed Monday because of power outages, evacuation orders and the inability of employees to get to work.

The trade association said Monday that it does not have verifiable information on winery buildings that burned down or the impact the fires would have on the 2017 harvest.

Workers had picked most grapes for the season before fires broke out.

The wind-driven wildfires came as Napa and Sonoma counties were finishing highly anticipated harvests of wine grapes. Workers on Monday should have been picking and processing the ripe grapes that would make chardonnay and other wines.

At least two wineries were destroyed and many others damaged.

Authorities have imposed a sunset-to-sunrise curfew in the city of Santa Rosa, California and say they are on the lookout for looters as firefighters battle blazes raging in California wine country.

Acting police Chief Craig Schwartz said Monday the curfew will be enforced in a mandatory evacuation zone, with violators possibly subject to arrest.

Other officials said they were beginning to get reports of looting in areas affected by fires.

Santa Rosa has about 175,000 residents.

Officials say at least seven more people have died in fast-moving wildfires in California wine country, bringing the total number of fatalities to 10.

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office tweeted Monday that seven fire-related deaths were reported from fires there.

California fire officials reported earlier that two people died in Napa County and one died in Mendocino County.

Trailer park residents in California wine country had little time to escape before flames destroyed their homes.

Nancy Cook said Monday that her dogs alerted her to the wildfire that quickly came blowing over a hill early in the morning and ignited trees in the Journey’s End trailer park in Santa Rosa.

The fire is one of the most destructive of more than a dozen in the region.

Cook says she pounded on neighbors’ doors before fleeing with her husband, dogs and medications.

She and other residents didn’t have time to round up their cats and had to leave them behind in their haste. Some fled in their pajamas and left their wallets.

One person had to abandon a classic hotrod car that burned.

Cook says she thinks everyone in the over-55 community escaped, though most residents lost everything they owned.

Officials say a wind-driven wildfire churning through canyons in hilly neighborhoods of Southern California has burned multiple homes.

Anaheim police Sgt. Daron Wyatt says there’s still no count of the number of homes affected by Monday’s blaze.

Anaheim Fire & Rescue says the fire has grown to 2,000 acres and is being fought by 200 firefighters, six helicopters and six airplanes.

One firefighter has been injured.

The fire erupted during the fall’s first significant blast of Santa Ana winds, which blow out of the northeast and toward the coast.

In Northern California wine country, officials say at least one person was killed and two others were seriously injured in fast-spreading wildfires,

At least 1,500 homes and commercial buildings have been destroyed, and 20,000 people have been evacuated.

The California Highway Patrol says numerous roads are closed in the fire region, which is an eight-county swath of wine country north of San Francisco.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties because of wildfires that the governor says are threatening thousands of homes.

Brown issued the declaration on Monday, as multiple fires forced people to evacuate their homes.

Copyright (2017) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

This article was from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.

[djtrumpnetwork-blog]

At least 10 dead as tens of thousands race to escape Northern California flames

Fox News Several raging wind-whipped fires killed at least 10 people and forced massive evacuations Monday in the area around California's world-famous wine country, as Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency and officials estimated at least 1,500 homes and commercial buildings were destroyed. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Director Ken Pimlott said an estimated 20,000 people have been evacuated as 14 large fires are zero percent contained. The fires are burning throughout an eight-county swath of Northern California, including Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties. At least 10 people have died as a result of the burning wildfires, officials said Monday night. The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office tweeted that seven deaths were reported in Sonoma County. The California Fire Public Information Officer tweeted that two people are confirmed dead in Napa County, in addition to one death in Mendocino County. https://twitter.com/sonomasheriff/status/917535608704081920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fus%2F2017%2F10%2F09%2Fcalifornia-wine-country-wildfires-kill-at-least-10-force-tens-thousands-to-evacuate.html Other fatalities are expected, according to Pimlott, but damaged areas are difficult to assess as the fires continue to burn. More than 100 people were treated for burns and smoke inhalation from the raging fires, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The city of Santa Rosa has enacted a curfew from sunset until sunrise in mandatory evacuation zones. People in those evacuation zones will be subject to stop, and potential arrest if they refuse to leave those areas, officials said. https://twitter.com/LeighMartinezTV/status/917448550711042048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fus%2F2017%2F10%2F09%2Fcalifornia-wine-country-wildfires-kill-at-least-10-force-tens-thousands-to-evacuate.html During the curfew period, authorities will be looking for looters, the Acting Police Chief Craig Schwartz said. "Right now with these conditions we can't get ahead of this fire and do anything about the forward progress," Napa County Fire Chief Barry Biermann said at a news conference. A spokesperson for Pacific Gas and Electric told The Associated Press that 114,000 customers were without power. The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said there were multiple fires reported around the county, including a "very large fire" that jumped a freeway and spread into the east side of Santa Rosa. Multiple fires broke out Sunday night as strong winds buffeted the area. Emergency lines were inundated with callers reporting smoke in the area, prompting officials to ask that the public "only use 911 if they see actual unattended flames, or are having another emergency." The Tubbs Fire between Santa Rosa and Calistoga alone grew from 200 acres to 20,000 acres by Monday morning, CalFire Battalion Chief Jonathan Cox told KTVU. "This fire is explosive," he said, adding that hundreds, if not thousands of structures were impacted. Cox said he heard of some people injured while trying to evacuate, but could not be specific. "We're still saving lives at the moment," he said. "This fire has gotten explosive due to the wind." In Santa Rosa, Ron Dodds, who told KTVU he was helping his uncle evacuate said people were running red lights, and "there is chaos ensuing." "It's a scary time," Dodds said. "It looks like Armageddon." Patients from Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health hospitals were evacuated early Monday from Santa Rosa and taken to other nearby hospitals or make-shift hospitals, according to KTVU. Chris Coursey, the mayor of Santa Rosa, said Monday evening in a press conference that his "heart goes out to everyone who has suffered loss in the last day or so." "I'm lucky, my house is fine, my family is fine, my city is not. And it's gonna take a long time for us to recover from what's happened today," Coursey said. "Santa Rosa is a strong city. We're a resilient city, we're an indivisible city. And we're going to need to hang together as we get through this." In neighboring Napa County, officials were battling a 200 acre fire south of Lake Berryessa, located about 65 miles west of Sacramento. Fire officials said the Atlas Fire broke out at 9:50 p.m. local time and was zero percent contained. Cal Fire Deputy Chief Scott McLean called the conditions "very volatile." "People need to be careful," McLean said. Belia Ramos, chairwoman of the Napa County Board of Supervisors, said officials did not yet have a count on how many properties were affected, either by the fire directly or by evacuations. "We're focusing on making evacuations and trying to keep people safe. We are not prepared to start counting. Certainly with day just breaking now, we are starting to see the structures that are affected," she said shortly after sunrise. "The gusts are very, very — they're tremendous and it's what makes this fire unpredictable. It's something that we're having to be very cautious about," she said. Downed trees were blocking parts of one rural road and fires were burning on both sides of Highway 12 as gusts reached up to 60 mph. “The winds picked up to 40-plus miles per hour probably, very windy, and it changed direction and it headed straight down the valley floor,” Napa resident and Ranch Markets owner Arik Housley told “FOX & Friends.”

Remains from a wildfire sit at the Journey's End mobile home park on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017, in Santa Rosa, Calif. The fires were also near some wineries in the famed Napa Valley. It was not immediately clear if the Francis Ford Coppola Winery was affected by the ferocious blaze, but some wineries on Silverado Trail had some damage. Windsor Fire Chief Jack Piccinini told the Associated Press that nearly every one of Sonoma County's fire resources is being used, but it is not enough. "Everyone in Sonoma County is spread out fighting these fires, but they don't have enough resources to handle something like this. The only thing we can do is hope the wind will come down," he said. Community centers, the Sonoma County Fairgrounds and other local centers have been opened for evacuees. "It was an inferno like you've never seen before," said Marian Williams, who caravanned with neighbors through flames before dawn as one of the wildfires reached the vineyards and ridges at her small Sonoma County town of Kenwood. https://twitter.com/NOAASatellites/status/917518150773755904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fus%2F2017%2F10%2F09%2Fcalifornia-wine-country-wildfires-kill-at-least-10-force-tens-thousands-to-evacuate.html Williams told the AP she could feel the heat of fire through the car as she fled. "Trees were on fire like torches," she said. Fires also burned in Yuba, Butte and Nevada counties — all north of the state capital. Cal Fire tweeted that as many as 8,000 homes were threatened in Nevada County, which lies on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. The National Weather Service issued a warning of dangerous conditions that could lead to rapidly spreading wildfires, which goes until early Tuesday. The fires created thick smoke in San Francisco, 60 miles south of the Sonoma County fire.

Donald J Trump Network

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[all-my-books]

Books I read in July. Asterisks denote re-reads. Bolds are favorites, italics are meh books, strike-throughs are ones I disliked. If it’s a re-read you can be pretty sure it’s a favorite. Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz – L. Frank Baum * The Blazing World – Margaret Cavendish Madonna in a Fur Coat – Sabahattin Ali Duende – tracy k. smith The ACB With Honora Lee – Kate de Goldi Mountains of the Pharaohs – Zahi Hawass Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy Chronicle of a Last Summer – Yasmine el Rashidi Killers of the Flower Moon – David Grann Mister Monday – Garth Nix * Leaving Yuba City – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni The Silk Roads – Peter Frankopan The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams A Corner of White – Jaclyn Moriarty * Circling the Sun – Paula McLain Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them – Al Franken Believe Me – Eddie Izzard The Cracks in the Kingdom – Jaclyn Moriarty * Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe – Fannie Flagg * One Hundred and One Days – Asne Seierstad Grim Tuesday – Garth Nix * The Vanishing Velasquez – Laura Cumming Four Against the Arctic – David Roberts The Marriage Bureau – Penrose Halson The Jesuit and the Skull – Amir D Aczel Drowned Wednesday – Garth Nix * Roots, Radicals, and Rockers – Billy Bragg A Tangle of Gold – Jaclyn Moriarty * Lydia, Queen of Palestine – Uri Orlev *

[sierrafoothillsreport]

A wonderful photo chronicling the effort to protect the South Yuba River

A wonderful photo chronicling the effort to protect the South Yuba River

(Credit: Elizabeth Martin’s Facebook page)

I’ve been fortunate to write about some amazing stories as a journalist — from the fallout of airline deregulation to Big Oil to big mergers, including Time Warner’s acquisition of Turner Broadcasting, Disney’s buyout of Cap Cities/ABC, and a Texas financier’s hostile purchase of Pacific Lumber Co. that led to a struggle to preserve the ancient redwoods.

[villeville-chronicles]

Starry ✨

Yuba City, a celestial fairycore island