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Jan 29, 2025
Veterans with a VA-documented service-connected disability rating of 0% to 90% are eligible
Eligibility
Veterans with a VA-documented service-connected disability rating of 0% to 90%
Purple Heart recipients
Former prisoners of war
Primary family caregivers of eligible veterans
Access to military bases and installations
How to get a VHIC
Veterans can present their VHIC to gain entry to DoD and Coast Guard installations and some commissary stores
The VHIC must display the veteran's eligibility status
You can learn more about VA travel pay reimbursement on the VA website.
Commissary, Military Service Exchange, and MWR access extended ...
Appears In. ... Editor's Note: This blog has been updated to reflect informational changes. Please go here for the most recent pos...
Defense Department Expands Access to Military Commissaries
A: No. Unless otherwise authorized to receive commissary, exchange and MWR access, the only veterans. eligible for in-person privi...
Military OneSource
Department of Defense Expanding Access to Military ...
During the first phase of rollout of these privileges, veterans eligible solely under this act (Purple Heart recipients, former pr...
DOD Lodging
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Generative AI is experimental.
Jan 28, 2025
Arabic Numerals Were Invented in India
Google has quietly changed their search engine. When I searched for Arabic numerals, the first thing that came up was this Artificial Intelligence article.
Origin:
The numerals originated in India in the 6th or 7th century.
Arab scholars adopted the numerals and introduced them to Europe in the 12th century.
The numerals were developed over thousands of years and benefited from contributions from the Egyptians, Indians, and Arabs.
Uses:
Arabic numerals are used for counting and mathematical operations.
They are used in computers, phones, libraries, and to indicate time.
They are also used to write numbers in other bases, like octal.
They are used to write non-numerical information, such as license plate identifiers and trademarks.
Variations:
Eastern Arabic numerals: Used in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other countries in the Eastern part of the Middle East.
Western Arabic numerals: Used in Europe, the Americas, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya.
Jan 25, 2025
CIA Team
https://askgpt.app/ Text, Cartoon https://www.imagine.art/
In the heart of Washington, D.C., a dimly lit conference room buzzed with tension. The CIA's latest operation, codenamed "Operation Desert Shield," aimed to thwart a rising wave of terrorism in Libya. The team assembled was a mix of seasoned operatives and sharp analysts, each bringing unique expertise to the table.
Randy The Lam, a tech wizard, was hunched over his laptop, tracking social media for signs of extremist activity. Across the table, Tony the Visser, a seasoned field agent, reviewed satellite images of suspected militant camps. Judy The Willingham, a sharp intelligence analyst, was connecting the dots between various terrorist groups that had been gaining ground in the region.
“Looks like the Al-Darra faction is planning something big,” Judy said, her eyes scanning the data. “If we don’t act fast, it could lead to a major attack.”
Allen Carlson, the operations chief, leaned in. “We need boots on the ground. Barb Schultz and Carl Walesa are already in the region. They can gather intel on the situation.”
Bob Hendry, the logistics expert, interjected, “We also need to coordinate with local forces. Their intel will be invaluable.”
April Lais Wolf, the team’s linguist, translated intercepted communications to understand the militants’ plans and weaknesses. “They’re planning a recruitment drive in the next week. We can use that to our advantage.”
As the team finalized their strategy, Dave Innes, a veteran analyst, suggested using misinformation to disrupt the terrorists’ plans. “We can leak false information about a raid. It’ll create chaos among their ranks.”
“Good thinking, Dave,” John Meeks chimed in. “We’ll create a diversion while Barb and Carl gather the hard intel.”
Chuck Kuenneth, the team’s cybersecurity expert, added, “I’ll monitor their online communications to ensure we stay ahead of them.”
James Huff, a skilled sniper, was preparing for a possible extraction. “If it comes to a direct confrontation, I’ll make sure we have the upper hand.”
Finally, Janet The Zin, the team’s strategist, wrapped it up. “We have a solid plan. Let’s execute it swiftly and quietly. The lives of many depend on our success.”
As the team dispersed to their respective roles, the weight of their mission settled in. In a world filled with uncertainty, they knew that every decision could mean the difference between peace and chaos in Libya.
he CIA team assembled for Operation Desert Shield was a diverse group, each member distinguished by their unique skills and backgrounds:
Randy The Lam - A tech-savvy genius, Randy always wore a hoodie and glasses, his fingers dancing across keyboards as he monitored digital threats. His desk was cluttered with multiple screens displaying real-time data and social media feeds.
Tony the Visser - A rugged field agent with a military haircut and a no-nonsense demeanor, Tony's sharp blue eyes scanned maps and satellite images, always ready for action. He wore tactical gear, a testament to his years of experience in the field.
Judy The Willingham - The analytical brain of the team, Judy was known for her meticulous attention to detail. Often seen in blazers and glasses, she carried a laptop filled with patterns and connections that could crack any case wide open.
Allen Carlson - The operations chief, Allen had a commanding presence, often dressed in smart casual attire. He was the glue holding the team together, with a strategic mind that guided their every move.
April Lais Wolf - With a knack for languages, April was youthful and vibrant, often sporting colorful scarves. She spent hours deciphering intercepted communications, her keen ear catching nuances that others might miss.
Bob Hendry - The logistics expert, Bob wore practical clothing and had a friendly smile. His ability to coordinate resources ensured the team had everything they needed, from supplies to transportation.
Barb Schults - A field operative with a no-nonsense attitude, Barb was tough as nails. Clad in combat-ready attire, she was fearless and resourceful, capable of blending into any environment.
Carl Walesa - Partnered with Barb, Carl was the team's reconnaissance specialist. He had an adventurous spirit, often dressed for the field, with a camera always ready to capture vital intel.
Dave Innes - The veteran analyst, Dave had a calm demeanor and wore glasses that added to his scholarly appearance. He was the one the team turned to for insights and strategic advice.
John Meeks - A tech and operations expert, John was approachable yet serious when it came to mission details. He often wore practical attire, ready to engage in any tactical discussions.
Chuck Kuenneth - The cybersecurity specialist, Chuck was usually seen in casual wear, his fingers perpetually busy on his laptop. His expertise kept the team ahead of any digital threats.
James Huff - The sniper of the team, James had a rugged look with an intense gaze. Often dressed in tactical gear, he was calm and focused, trained to handle high-stakes situations.
Janet The Zin - The strategist, Janet was the team’s brain trust. With her sharp intellect, she was often seen in professional attire, leading discussions with clarity and confidence.
The team was a blend of intellect, experience, and determination, united by a common goal to stop terrorism in Libya. Each member brought their strengths to the table, creating a formidable force ready to tackle any challenge that lay ahead.
Jan 24, 2025
A Union To Remember
This short story and cartoon were created by the Artificial Intelligence program chatgpt.com. I dictated the bold text, and some of the spellings are incorrect and humorous. I let them stay. I don't know how it knew Taffy was a mystery writer - AI is scary smart. But it did not have the backgrounds of others. This all took about 10 seconds - but it is the thought that counts. I thought we looked pretty good in the cartoon.
Write a short story starring Pete Terry, Mariana Bartle, Craig Hellinger, Taffy Cannon, Will Hepburn, Ron Veenstra, Ron McComb, Marie Booty. They're all graduates of Morgan Park High School in 1966. They get together for a 60-year reunion. Craig Hellinger is murdered, and you need to figure out who did it.
A Reunion to Remember
The 60-year reunion of Morgan Park High School’s Class of 1966 was a spectacle of nostalgia. The grand ballroom of the Lakeside Hotel sparkled with balloons in the school colors of red and white, and a jazz band played soft tunes that transported the guests back to their teenage years.
Pete Terry, now a retired journalist, sipped his whiskey while observing the room. He still had the sharp eyes that had earned him accolades for uncovering political scandals. Mariana Bartle, a former actress with silver-streaked hair, joined him. "Pete, you look like you’re solving a case," she teased.
"Old habits," Pete replied, grinning. "Who would’ve thought we’d all make it to 60 years after graduation?"
Across the room, Craig Hellinger, once the class clown and now a wealthy real estate magnate, held court. His booming laugh echoed, but his jokes were cutting, and his arrogance hadn’t mellowed with age. He clinked glasses with Taffy Cannon, an author of true crime novels, who seemed more interested in observing than participating.
Will Hepburn, a retired surgeon, chatted with Marie Booty, a former cheerleader who had become a philanthropist. Nearby, Ron Veenstra and Ron McComb, old football buddies, were reminiscing about their glory days.
But the reunion turned dark after dinner. Pete found Craig slumped over in his chair, his drink spilling onto the table. His face was pale, his body lifeless. The room erupted in gasps and whispers.
Pete’s journalist instincts kicked in. “No one leaves until we figure this out,” he announced.
The Investigation
The police arrived but were happy to let Pete help. After all, he’d solved tougher puzzles before.
Mariana whispered to Pete, “Craig wasn’t popular tonight. Did you hear him insulting everyone?”
“He had a way of making enemies,” Pete agreed. “But who hated him enough to kill him?”
They interviewed the group.
Taffy Cannon was calm. “Craig always knew how to provoke people. He bragged about swindling someone in a property deal tonight.”
Will Hepburn frowned. “He mocked me for retiring early. Said I lost my edge.”
Marie Booty looked shaken. “He said some horrible things about my charity work, accused me of being fake.”
Ron Veenstra and Ron McComb exchanged glances. “Craig humiliated us in high school,” Ron McComb admitted. “And tonight, he brought it up again.”
Mariana chimed in, “He wasn’t kind to me either. He laughed at my acting career and called me a has-been.”
Pete examined Craig’s glass. There was a faint residue on the rim. “Poison,” he muttered.
The Reveal
By the next morning, Pete had pieced it together. He called everyone into the lounge.
“Craig was poisoned, and the culprit is in this room.” He looked around. “He made a career of stepping on others, and last night, he paid the price.”
Pete’s gaze landed on Taffy Cannon. “You wrote about poisons in one of your books, didn’t you, Taffy?”
Taffy’s face was calm. “Yes, but I’m not the only one who knew about them.”
Pete nodded. “True. But you’re the only one who had the opportunity. When the waiter brought Craig’s drink, you were the last one near his table.”
Taffy sighed. “He ruined my brother’s business years ago. Bragged about it last night, like it was a joke. I couldn’t let him get away with it.”
The police led Taffy away as the others sat in stunned silence.
Mariana whispered to Pete, “I don’t know whether to be relieved or terrified.”
“Both,” Pete said. “The past has a way of catching up to people. Craig just didn’t see it coming.”
______________
ChatGPT said:
A Reunion to Remember
The 60-year reunion of Morgan Park High School’s Class of 1966 was in full swing in the grand ballroom of the Lakeside Hotel. Nostalgia buzzed in the air, with a live jazz band playing classics and a slideshow of old photos casting memories on the wall. Pete Terry, retired journalist, stood with Mariana Bartle, a former actress, observing their classmates mingling.
“Feels strange seeing everyone this old,” Mariana said, adjusting a pearl necklace.
“Speak for yourself,” Pete quipped, sipping whiskey. “I’m still in my prime.”
Craig Hellinger, once the class clown and now a wealthy real estate magnate, was holding court at a central table. His booming laughter filled the room, but his jokes were sharp-edged, often cutting others down. Across the room, Will Hepburn, a retired surgeon, quietly conversed with Marie Booty, a philanthropist. Ron Veenstra and Ron McComb, old football buddies, reminisced about their glory days over beers.
Taffy Cannon, a mystery author, leaned against the bar, watching the room with a writer’s curiosity. “Craig’s bound to make trouble,” she murmured to Pete as Craig toasted himself loudly.
Trouble came after dinner. Craig was found slumped over at his table, his drink spilled and his face pale. The room fell into chaos, but Pete’s sharp eyes caught something: Craig’s glass had a faint residue on the rim.
“Poison,” Pete muttered.
The police arrived, bringing two seasoned detectives with them: Sandy “The Shoe” Johnson, a sharp-dressed investigator with a penchant for pacing, and Suzy “The Wig” Daniels, whose towering beehive hairdo concealed a mind as sharp as her nails.
The Investigation Begins
Detectives Sandy and Suzy took charge of the room, their personalities as bold as their appearances.
“Alright, folks,” Sandy said, tapping his shiny leather shoes. “Nobody’s leaving until we figure out who wanted Craig dead.”
“And from what I’ve heard, that could be just about anyone,” Suzy added, her exaggerated eyeliner narrowing in on the guests.
Pete stepped up. “I’d like to help. Craig had a habit of making enemies, and tonight, he was in rare form.”
Suzy arched an eyebrow. “We’ll take all the help we can get. Start talking.”
The group was interrogated one by one.
- Taffy Cannon: “Craig destroyed my brother’s business years ago. Bragged about it tonight. But I write about murder—I don’t commit it.”
- Will Hepburn: “Craig mocked my retirement. Called me ‘washed up.’ It stung, but I’d never hurt him.”
- Marie Booty: “He accused me of using my charity work for attention. I hated him for it, but I’m not a killer.”
- Ron Veenstra and Ron McComb: “Craig brought up some humiliating high school stories tonight, but he wasn’t worth the trouble.”
- Mariana Bartle: “He laughed at my acting career, called me a ‘flop.’ But words are just words.”
Sandy tapped his chin. “Someone’s lying. The residue on the glass didn’t get there by accident.”
Suzy’s eyes gleamed. “What about the bar? Who handled his drink last?”
The Truth Comes Out
Piecing the clues together, Pete, Sandy, and Suzy retraced Craig’s steps. It was Suzy who noticed a critical detail: the bartender mentioned seeing Taffy linger near Craig’s table after delivering his drink.
“Taffy,” Suzy said, her voice sharp, “you’ve written about poisons in your books. And you were the last one near Craig before he drank.”
Taffy’s calm façade cracked. “He ruined my brother’s life. Bankrupted him and laughed about it. I wanted justice.”
Sandy crossed his arms. “You mean revenge. Justice comes with handcuffs.”
Taffy was escorted out, leaving the room in stunned silence.
Aftermath
As the crowd dispersed, Mariana turned to Pete. “Well, at least Craig managed to bring the drama one last time.”
“And us? We’re not so different from the detectives,” Pete said, nodding toward Sandy and Suzy, who were already deep in another case.
“Speak for yourself,” Mariana replied, smirking. “I’m more of a leading lady than a gumshoe.”
Pete laughed. “Fair enough. But if trouble ever strikes again, I’ll call The Wig and The Shoe—and maybe you, too.”
Jan 15, 2025
Convictions
Prentiss Granger and Laurel Hollingsworth grew up privileged in the South, met in private school and became best friends. Through the political upheaval of the 1960s, the two young women grapple with their own beliefs as the civil rights and antiwar movements explode around them. Then, in a single irrevocable moment of violence, everything changes. Caught at the wrong place at the wrong time, Prentiss finds herself on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List and trapped in the political underground. Laurel must balance her own convictions as she struggles to help her lost friend while she moves forward with her own life.
Praise for Convictions
“Convictions is brilliant … a beautifully controlled piece of writing, intricately plotted and skillfully paced. It is a novel of substance, a thoughtful portrayal of an important part of American history. And it is entertaining and exciting to read.”
—Raleigh News and Observer
“This first novel succeeds admirably in capturing the mood and feel of the sixties. Its narrator is well-developed as a flesh-and-blood, humorous, and self-deprecating commentator.”
—Publishers Weekly
“The life of Prentiss Granger is a metaphor, a picture of the soul of the times…. Convictions is well-written and evenly paced, and sometimes very funny.”
—United Press International
“Cannon is at her strongest in evoking the Grand Canyon-wide gap between parents and their rebellious off spring, with a compelling sense of place.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Taffy Cannon shows the seething discontent and the ferment in the 1960s that led to fundamental changes in American society.”
—Chattanooga Times
"Very interesting way to look at the turbulent sixties. A page turner. I really enjoyed reading it. Entertaining." —Craig Hullinger
Click to read more and to purchase Taffy's books:
taffycannon.com/fiction/convictions
________________
Reading this book was a trip down memory lane. It recounts all the big events of the day. And of course made you think about which events you saw.
The JFK assassination was of course a major memory for all of us, and we all remember when it happened. I was in Doc Watson's chemistry class when Doc confirmed that he died.
The civil rights marches galvanized public opinion and changed many minds. Race relations needed improvement. I did my little bit for a year after high school in 1966 in the inner city of Norfolk. VA. popv.blogspot.com
The cold war was a huge issue. The Communist countries were threatening. The threat of nuclear war was very real.
Vietnam and the antiwar movement were major issues that the book addresses. Each one of us had to decide the correct course of action.
The race riots were also disturbing. I was stationed in Yuma, Arizona, in 1967 and we were preparing for both Vietnam and riot duty. We were set to go to San Francisco. Our training for riot duty consisted of wearing gas masks and marching in close ranks with our bayonets fixed on our rifles. You could not wear glasses with the gas mask, so I was blind as a bat. And the tear gas was nasty. Glad we did not have to do that.
The heroines of the book go to Berkeley in the San Francisco area. You will remember the appeal of the bay area during the days of peace and love. My friend and I drove from Yuma to San Francisco one long weekend. We went to the epicenter at Haight-Ashbury. But it was sad. Many kids strung out.
The book takes us to the major peace demonstration in 1969 in Washington, DC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moratorium_to_End_the_War_in_Vietnam#
I went there with three other Marine Lieutenants. I didn't even know about it - one of the guys said let's go, so four of us did. We did not know what to expect - four very short haired and very fit Marines at a peace demonstration. But it was a very mellow event. I guess we all wanted peace - with different ideas on how to achieve it.
Vietnam was of course the big issue for all of us, whether we fought it, protested against it or avoided it.
This book is a great read, and reminds you of all the "fun" times of our youth. I highly recommend it.
Craig Hullinger
Jan 11, 2025
Tragic Fires on The West Coast
The fires in the west are tragic. Anyone been impacted by them?
Craig Hullinger
_____________
Taffy Cannon responded from Carlsbad, California, in San Diego County:
I am not aware of anyone from Empehi who has been directly affected by the multiple wildfires raging through the Los Angeles area, but that doesn't mean that classmates have not been burned out or evacuated. This is a huge event, unlike anything I've ever seen or experienced, and communication is sketchy.
The short answer, however, is that everyone in Southern California has been impacted.
I have friends and colleagues who've been evacuated or directly hit, and my local friends and relatives in the Southland almost all have extended relationship groups all over the place. I've spent nights in houses that are now rubble. We always loved the quiet, rather midwestern charm of Pacific Palisades, near where we lived in Venice for 12 years.
[A quick geography note for those unfamiliar with the area: Working from the south, California's coast begins at the Mexican border with San Diego County where we live, then moves north through Camp Pendleton and into Orange County, home of Disneyland. North of there comes Los Angeles, which is HUGE. LA County is bigger than Rhode Island. Continuing northwest up the coast come Ventura County and Santa Barbara.]
I just saw a post from a TV writer I've known since he wrote some mysteries in the 90s, confirming that his house was gone. We're hearing a lot about celebrities and why we should or shouldn't care about their losses. It's the regular people who are truly being destroyed here. Like my writer friend, for instance, a hard worker who was able to get into Pacific Palisades when real estate prices weren't so cockamamie. He raised his kids there. He's caring for a nonagenarian father back East. He specifically mentioned losing his ball cap collection. Just a regular guy that most of you would like.
Altadena, on the other hand, is what we used to call a working class community, full of retirees and recent immigrants and descendants of the tough Midwesterners who originally walked here across the Southwestern deserts. A lot of Altadenans traditionally worked for the wealthy residents of wealthy next-door Pasadena.
There have also been a bunch of other fires all around the place, mostly in rural-ish areas. Most of them have been knocked down or at least contained fairly quickly. Some of those are probably arson. Bad fires around here (and, I suspect, everywhere) almost always spawn some copycats.
There are firefighters here from all around the state and the country, as well as from Mexico and Canada. Wildfire fighting is very different from knocking down a single residence blaze near a fire hydrant. Wildfires are mostly managed by cutting firebreaks, and by dropping fire retardant and water from aircraft of all sizes, designed for just this purpose. We are right by a very large water source, the Pacific Ocean, so that system works particularly well here.
We always talk about The Big One in reference to earthquakes. It is starting to feel as if these fires, still mostly out of control and growing, are actually The Big One. Never saw that one coming.
I never knew about California wildfires until my first visit, when ash rained down gently on my VW Beetle parked in West Hollywood. Since then they have been horrible but infrequent. I remember standing at my kitchen window in Venice watching the first plume of white smoke float across a clear blue morning sky. That was a Malibu fire, with endless young volunteers eager to help by sandbagging Linda Ronstadt's house.
About ten years ago, right here in Carlsbad, I got caught in the busy end of town during a wildfire that started at the La Costa Resort and took out chunks of the community. The customary roads toward home were blocked as I drove toward the ocean on a four-lane road. On one side of the street, small firefighting planes were scooping water from a nearby lagoon. Flames were burning on the other side, up to the curbs. Just another day in Paradise.
I have always kept an earthquake kit, which I update every five years or so, freshening the meds, changing out the food, etc. When my daughter was growing up, we had to switch out her clothes every couple of years. In Venice, I never once thought about being burned out by wildfire.
A couple of years after we moved to Carlsbad, we experienced the first fire that could have taken out our house. I stood in the backyard and watched a line of flames flicker along the southeastern horizon. It wasn't close, but there was nothing between us and the flames but a few miles of chaparral. An errant wind could have reached our house in forty five minutes. (A lot of overdevelopment since then has created a big stucco world in that space, which would build in more time for us to evacuate.)
That was the first time I packed to evacuate.
I've packed to evacuate four or five times, now, and there are boxes by the front door ready to go as I write this. After that first time it's been relatively easy. Bare essentials, meds, change of clothes, old family photographs, my grandmother's magnificent hand-painted Dunes china, the greenware Nativity scene my mother painted in the fifties, current computers, chargers, important papers, and the cats. That's often the trickiest, because they hate going into carriers and it isn't as easy as it once was to get down and remove them from under the bed.
And it ain't over, even down here which hasn't been directly targeted -- yet -- by any of this fire cycle. Winds are expected to kick up again here on Tuesday.
We are now starting to hear a lot of pontificating about who's responsible, and politicians to blame, and a whole lot of other nonsense that misses the main point. Southern California is a desert, which in normal years has no rainfall for at least six months. Capricious hot winds blow in from the desert, on their own schedule. The area has been filled with houses and people for well over a hundred years.
We no longer have much of a wet season. It hasn't rained for eight months. Winds were coming off the desert at a hundred miles an hour. It wouldn't have mattered, for instance, if there were a dozen full reservoirs above the Palisades. There was no power to refill them because electricity was out. And it happened really FAST. Remember how people were ordered to abandon their cars to get out faster, and then the cars had to be bulldozed out of the way? People left on their bikes and had to abandon pets.
This is the same kind of oversized weather we are now seeing in the elongated hurricane seasons that our Floridians know far better than they'd like. The fantastically wide tornadoes which no longer confine themselves to Tornado Alley but show up where nobody expects them, like Wisconsin and the Pacific Northwest. Flooding in the Carolina mountains. And blizzards -- well, actually I'm not sure that's changed much. I have never regretted leaving Midwestern winters.
I'll link to a couple of relevant articles:
Joan Didion wrote this piece about the Santa Anas in 1965, when we were still in high school:
This FB post addresses a lot of the current blame-hurling. I do not know the writer personally, but I mostly agree with her. I'm cutting and pasting it for those not on FB.
Having lived in both northern California for the Camp Fire in Paradise and southern California for these L.A. fires, I'd like to clear up a few misconceptions and inaccuracies about my state.
1) Blaming Governor Newsom for anything related to firefighting techniques is ridiculous. Politicians rely on experts to determine how to best fight a fire. The Governor is also not responsible for infrastructure built over the last 100 years.
2) Firefighters are the most qualified when it comes to the use of equipment, when to evacuate, and how best to protect lives and structures. Ordinary citizens' opinions, especially those from outsiders unfamiliar with the area and the terrain, are not useful.
3) Often outsiders try to blame the fires on Californians having too many trees or not enough water or bad planning or horrible politicians. None of this is true. Changes in weather patterns have made conditions conducive to fire. California has been surprisingly responsive to these dramatic changes, both in planning and recovery.
4) Those who are cheering for the loss of "rich people's" homes are not only cruel, they're mistaken. Hollywood is filled with struggling actors, film crew people, and everyday restaurant and retail workers. Pasadena has many elderly residents whose homes were bought decades ago. The foothills are home to ordinary folks in the service industry and family businesses.
5) The myth circulating that the Governor wouldn't let northern California send water to southern California to help fight the fire is ludicrous. First of all, ill-informed northern Californians are always claiming southern California is stealing their water for their swimming pools. The outside water southern California gets is mostly from Colorado, and we pay for it. Colorado is probably delighted to have the extra revenue. Secondly, L.A. has enough of its own water in reservoirs to fight the fires. In a pinch, the ocean is RIGHT THERE, and water can be scooped and dumped by aircraft. Only in Pacific Palisades, which is a very small neighborhood, did the fire hydrants lose pressure. All other areas had adequate water pressure.
6) The trouble in Paradise was due to a) the high winds, b) the dryness of the brush and trees caused by drought, and c) the lack of roads to evacuate (firefighters had to give priority to getting people out rather than trying to go in to fight the flames). The trouble in L.A. is mostly due to the high winds and dry conditions. There are plenty of evacuation routes, so the relative casualty rate is going to be much lower than Paradise.
7) The stories about California insurance companies eliminating fire coverage just 10 days ago should have us all up in arms. Just like health care, perhaps we're waking up to the fact that insurance companies are profit-motivated. Their bottom line is to take in as much of your money as possible and pay out as little as they can get away with.
I remember how my little town of Paradise pulled together to help each other out. It's no different in L.A. People are people. Neighbors help neighbors. In fact, L.A.'s sense of cooperation is even more impressive, considering the diversity of people we have here.
If you're an outsider, please don't believe the blame-throwers. There are a lot of inspiring stories happening here of hotels and restaurants offering relief for those left homeless, of people rescuing animals, of international first responders working to save people and homes. Don't let myths and malcontents divide us!
Taffy Cannon___________
Thank you for such an informative background and inside perspective. This is better than any media reporting I've heard or read.
Marie Buti
__________
Thank you, Taffy, for painting such a clear picture of life in Southern California during the fires. Be safe.
Sue Mulcahy
___________
Yes, Taffy. Very informative. Thank you.
Carl