Let's review October in LA:
1) Arnold Schwarzenegger is still governor-elect.
2) The city buses are still on strike.
3) The major grocery chains are still on strike. Locked-out picketers are no longer whooping and cheering; they now look tired and bored. Cars still honk for them but not as many. The parking lots past the picket lines are much fuller than they were last week. The cashiers at Trader Joe's are still really, really tired.
4) Lots of places that really aren't that far away are on fire.
Number 4 has resulted in orange demon sun, dirty sky, and general stinkiness in the areas lucky enough to be in the general geographic region of the fire but not actually aflame. I drove past the ocean with my windows down today just to get a new smell. I've only seen one person with a mask over her mouth and nose. If I was closer to it, I'd have a scratchy throat and burning eyes. Even here in LA county, where nothing's on fire yet, we've been advised to stay inside if we have heart disease, lung disease, or asthma. Icky particle levels between 40 and 65 micrograms per cubic meter of air are considered pretty bad. In the San Bernadino area, 50 miles east of here, we're talking 300.
Thirteen people are dead, 850 homes destroyed. Bush has declared it a "major disaster" (genius). Radar in the San Diego area is hosed so flights are cancelled. Local firefighters can't handle it alone anymore. A football game has been moved to Tempe, Arizona ... because Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego is being used to house 5,000 evacuees. Even more apocalyptic, 400 people are camping out at an abandoned TWA hangar at San Bernadino International Airport.
Click here for a really disturbing NASA photo.
1) Arnold Schwarzenegger is still governor-elect.
2) The city buses are still on strike.
3) The major grocery chains are still on strike. Locked-out picketers are no longer whooping and cheering; they now look tired and bored. Cars still honk for them but not as many. The parking lots past the picket lines are much fuller than they were last week. The cashiers at Trader Joe's are still really, really tired.
4) Lots of places that really aren't that far away are on fire.
Number 4 has resulted in orange demon sun, dirty sky, and general stinkiness in the areas lucky enough to be in the general geographic region of the fire but not actually aflame. I drove past the ocean with my windows down today just to get a new smell. I've only seen one person with a mask over her mouth and nose. If I was closer to it, I'd have a scratchy throat and burning eyes. Even here in LA county, where nothing's on fire yet, we've been advised to stay inside if we have heart disease, lung disease, or asthma. Icky particle levels between 40 and 65 micrograms per cubic meter of air are considered pretty bad. In the San Bernadino area, 50 miles east of here, we're talking 300.
Thirteen people are dead, 850 homes destroyed. Bush has declared it a "major disaster" (genius). Radar in the San Diego area is hosed so flights are cancelled. Local firefighters can't handle it alone anymore. A football game has been moved to Tempe, Arizona ... because Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego is being used to house 5,000 evacuees. Even more apocalyptic, 400 people are camping out at an abandoned TWA hangar at San Bernadino International Airport.
Click here for a really disturbing NASA photo.
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