Still on the Road & Still Having Fun

2/18 ~ Lets see.  I’m in Riverside at my Aunt’s house.  My Aunt doesn’t have WiFi, so I fixed it.  Sort of.  I went to Walmart and bought a no-contract Broadband card and one of the cards for some time online.  At least I’ll be able to occasionally upload some blog posts while I’m here.  Now, where did I leave off in the last post? Oh yeah! In Palm Springs 2 days ago!

2/16 ~ Once the Holiday Inn moved us to a different room, we had a working WiFi connection and I was able to at least let the family know where we were and what we were up to.  Only I didn’t tell everyone what we had planned.   Mom and I had decided that we both wanted to take a ride on the Palm Springs Tram.   The weather report for the day was kind of iffy.  They were expecting rain in the valley and snow on top of the mountain.  It was still nice when we set out towards the Tram station, though.  This picture shows our view back at the base station shortly after beginning our trip.  The gondolas on the tram rotate as you ride up the cable, so your view constantly changes.  Having the gondolas rotate made it a pleasant ride up the mountain because there was no jockeying for position as people looked for things to take pictures of.  We all got to take pictures of the station at the bottom and we all got to take pictures of the cables, the towers and the mountains..   And the view of the valley below.  It was absolutely spectacular.  This picture of the valley was taken from the patio at the mountain station.  It was quite a bit colder at the top.  When we walked out onto that patio, I hit a patch of ice and skated for a few inches.  I moved over and followed Mom along the wall of the building where it was dry. 





3/16~ Wow.. It’s been a month since I wrote the beginning of this post. Sorry about that, folks!  Things got a bit hectic when we got back home and then I had my granddaughter come from Utah for a weeklong visit.  It was pretty busy while she was here.. Lots of activities and fun..  For now, I’m going to pass up posting pictures and stuff from the rest of the trip.  Just take my word for  it, Mom and I had a wonderful trip.  We saw lots of neat things, did a lot of fun things and had good visits with friends and family in Southern California. 
~
Now for a small “rant” aimed at a certain “anonymous” person who keeps posting comments that I will not allow to be published.  Stop.  Now.  I’m tired of reading your little rants/comments.  I will not publish them, nor will you miraculously change my opinion, so you might as well give up.

I do not hate anyone, Phil Spector included.  Keep up your garbage, and I might come close to “hating” you.  See, the thing is, “hate” is an emotion that you have to work at maintaining.  It's not a healthy emotion.  Plus, you also need to know the person you “hate”.  I don’t know Phil Spector, nor do I know his wife so I don't "hate" them.  Mr "Anonymous", I don’t even “hate” you for what you are doing.  But, today, you must be feeling very proud of yourself.  You managed to start a ruckus that got the Phil Spector Appeal thread closed for the night.  Wow.. What an accomplishment.  Hopefully no one got banned because of your “fun”.  Go ahead and keep posting links to my blog… I really don’t care.  The post you keep sending people to is almost 2 years old and has absolutely no relevance to what is going on today.  Ok.  /Rant off.

Hello there! I'm alive!

I know it's been quite a while since I've written a post here on my blog. I'm not going to give excuses or anything like that. I'm just going to post today... Who knows about tomorrow or the day after.

I will be posting some travel stuff later.. That's for the next post. Plus, this summer I'll try to post some travel stuff too. I'll be driving my Mom and Stepdad to Branson, Missouri. We'll be taking some side trips on the way back there and on the way home, so there will be lots of photos to share.

So, here's my "rant" for today.. lol

How not to "win friends and influence people.
The thing that brought me to the blog today was a confrontation with a "new" poster on the InSessions message boards. Well, maybe "confrontation" isn't the best description of what happened. Here's the background: Back on March 10th an appeal was filed for the Phil Spector case. Phil is still sitting in prison, serving his sentence and hoping the appeal will set him "free".

So, on March 10th, a thread was opened on the InSessions message boards with a link to a pdf of the appeal document. The discussions began and the problems in the thread began early. A lawyer (allegedly) came in and began lecturing the rest of the folks in the thread. Another poster got banned, (a temporary ban, I believe.) and this "lawyer" started posting about how the message boards were (His posts are gone now as he managed to completely piss most everyone off and someone reported him to the moderators, which resulted in him being banned.) The thread has been limping along ever since then, with several attempts to discuss the appeal. A few folks have jumped on the appeal, declaring it to be a success and predicting it will be successful. Others, me included, are waiting for the State's response before jumping down off the fence. I kind of like to hear both sides of an "argument" before I decide which side I'm going to favor.

Anyway, yesterday a "new" poster appeared in the thread. He posted an "introduction" in his first post:

As a preamble, I'm not a lawyer yet but a 3rd year law student. I sit on the law review @ my school and concentrate on evidence. I was appointed to this position after receiving an A in evidence. I also intern under a judge in the commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Ok, I'm good with that. If what the guy says is true, I suppose he's got a right to brag a bit about his accomplishments. The part of his first post that got me is where he stated that the appeal has a "reasonably good chance of having the case remanded for a retrial". He then goes on to state that he fully agrees with the poster (the lawyer who liked to lecture folks) who had been banned a couple days before. Uhm. If this poster is so "new", how'd he manage to read the other guy's posts? They were all removed when he received his "permanent ban"! Ok, so maybe this "new" guy lurked for a few days before typing.... So I'll let that little thing "pass". Now, the part I had trouble with is that this "law student" is predicting the outcome of the appeal before the State even has a chance to file their response. So, I posted back:

This is probably going to come off as a rather snide answer to your post. But... Here goes.

Based on your experience and knowledge of law (Somewhere OTHER than in California.) the appeal will be successful, huh? Are you saying that you don't even need to see or read the state's reply in order to make a judgment like that? I'm sorry, but even I know that you need BOTH sides of an argument before making a decision. And an appeal is essentially an argument over how fair a trial was, right?

As I said in a previous post. We have the defense's filing with their "argument" and now we await the state's response. We have one hand clapping. And right now it's the defense clapping and whining because things didn't go the way they wanted during the trial. I'll wait until the state's response is filed.

Then, this "law student" comes back with a post that "lectures" me about how the Federal Rules of law apply and so on and so on... Hmm.. Sounded very much like that previous poster who got banned. It was kind of comical, but also pretty rude. A few other folks agreed that predicting a successful appeal was a bit premature and they also stated that they would be interested to read the State's response. This "law student" then jumped on one of the other posts and posted this:

You know what this post looks like? Some middle aged insecure man pissed off @ the world because all he could sum up with his brilliant life experience is that he is just a small fish in a big pond. Clearly you feel motivated to lash out verbally against anyone that has substantial education, is young and has either a) surpassed your mediocre life or b) will surpass your mediocre life.

If you read my first post, I directly introduced myself as a law student and NOT a lawyer to indicate that I lack 100% experience in the field. I then briefly explained some credentials so I would not have to cite or tediously prove every little piece of information I presented.

After that post I immediately received a reply from someone who indicated from the get go their response was snide. Why be snide? I introduced myself and who I was and then stated an opinion like everyone else. But for some reason the mere introduction of anyone who is actually educated and/or young resulted in hostile replies. Then this wash-up decides to post again acting like I was the one who was "snide"... or wait, "rude"... Ooooo.. you're pathetic..

Then I made a comment to someone who for no reason ridiculed something I merely mentioned as a credential. So what? I'm proud I nailed an A in that class. It was damn hard. But then again, you wouldn't know hard work or you would have pursued your interest of law instead of typing about it on a forum.

To answer another questions as to why I'm at this forum and not a "law student" forum is this - I "googled" (yes, another grasshopper term - threatening isn't it wash-ups?) the words "phil spector appeal discussion" and this site popped up. That's it. I enjoy music, especially from your era (one admirable quality from your era) and I enjoy law. Phil Spector is a natural interest. I especially enjoy the album he did with Leonard Cohen.

Excuse me, but I have a paper to continue.

Then about 20 minutes later the "law student" comes back with a reply to one of the other folks on the board with this as the opening line:

hopefully all the insecure wash-ups have resided to their life-long slumber and we can continue this PS appeal discussion. Thanks to some ppl for actually reading my 1st post and defending my reaction to a bunch of well-rounded & obvious life-experienced posters

So. All the folks who disagree with this know-it-all "law student" are now "insecure wash-ups" who are "pissed off at the world". Amazing, isn't it? And hilarious. I'm "pathetic" now because I called the guy "rude"! Ooo! (It sure didn't take the guy long to do his "paper". LOL)

I have to wonder how long this one will last on the message board. He seems pretty good at slinging insults, which doesn't usually go over very well with the moderators on InSessions. I'll sit back and wait for the State's response to the appeal, and then, perhaps, I'll get in the discussion on the merits of both documents.

Other Cases

The Casey Anthony case continues with much drama. Cindy and George "neglected" to pay their house payment for 9 or 10 months and the bank filed foreclosure papers on them. Cindy and George claim that they had no idea that the foreclosure was filed until a reporter asked them about it. Uhm.. Yeah, right. Not very likely. I supposed they had a lot of fun on the cruise and the shopping trips and the visits to tattoo parlors instead of paying all those pesky house payments.

News came out that George had an affair with a younger woman who could be a physical match to the description of "Zanny the nanny" that he and Cindy spouted off about from the get-go. From what's been reported, there are photos and text messages between George and the young woman that proves the affair.

Then we have reports of letters, lots of letters, between Casey and another inmate at the Orange County Jail. None of the letters have been released to the public yet, and the reports are that Casey doesn't actually admit to killing her daughter in them. It will be interesting to see the letters when they are released, if nothing else, just to get a glimpse into the mind of a mother who can kill her child and then lie to everyone around her about where that child is for 31 days.

And now we wait for the next piece of "drama" in the case. And with the Anthony circus, the drama is sure to happen.

The Sandra Cantu case was in the news yesterday as well. It was one year ago today when a happy, skipping Sandra Cantu was captured on surveillance video, just minutes before she disappeared from a Tracy, California mobile home park. What a sad anniversary. Melissa Huckaby remains in jail in connection with Sandra's rape and murder, but it still could be awhile before the case makes it to trial. There is still a gag order on the case, so very little information makes it into the news.

Drew Peterson is also still sitting in jail awaiting his trial for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, and who is also a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacey. Drew's lawyer, Joel Brodsky, is a busy guy apparently. He's hitting the news in the Chicago area with a case between a divorced couple where they are arguing about which religion their child should be exposed to. I feel sorry for the child.

I'm still watching a number of other cases, but nothing much has hit the media about them.. Yet.

Travel!
I don't know if you can really call this "travel", but I went over to San Francisco last week with my trucker friend and his lovely fiance who was here from England for a visit. We had a lot of fun and we took lots of photos... I'll post one here and then later today, maybe I'll add some more to a new post.............. Enjoy the flowers! These beautiful flowers were in one of the many planters on Fisherman's Wharf.

Oh Dear.... I have been Banned....

This morning, I logged on to the InSessions message boards and found out that I had been banned from the boards. Granted, it's a temporary ban until 1/11/09, but still.... The reason for the ban is that I put a link on the Phil Spector trial board to a blog called "Los Angeles Trials" that is written by someone calling themselves "Joe Friday". Mr. Joe Friday (whoever the heck he/she is) has an "Adult Content" warning at the front of their blog and that is what got me banned from InSessions. I emailed Coldwater asking about the ban, and also assuring her that there is no porn or anything on the blog. She emailed me back with the explanation that the ban was because of that stupid warning that the blogger put on their blog. **sigh**

So, this is to Mr. Joe Friday;
You lost a reader, dude. Yes, I wanted information about Phil Spector's trial. And yes, I "shared" your blog link with others on the forum, but because of you and your stupid warning, I am unable to post on the boards that I've been on for the last 2 or 3 years. That link up above is the last link I'm going to post to your blog. I think I will stick to Sprocket's blog for information on the Phil Spector trial from now on.

Yep, I'm pissed at the blogger... And I guess I'm a bit peeved at myself for not thinking about that stupid warning on the blog before I posted the link to it on InSessions. I'll wait out the ban. I'm not going to create a new identity on there, I kind of like the one I've had (Anakerie). So, I get 3 days of just reading at InSessions. No questions. No answers. No comment. If any other InSessions people see this, take my banning as a warning. DO NOT POST LINKS TO THAT BLOG!

UPDATE
Apparently Joe Friday has removed the warning on the front end of his blog, according to the comment below. I don't know, I haven't gone to look and I don't know if it would even show for me since I had clicked ok on it before. Do those things leave a cookie on your computer? **shrug** Anyway, I sent a note to Coldwater, the moderator for the InSession boards to let her know that the warning is supposed to be gone now so that no one else will get banned like I did. I'll let you all know if I hear back from her again. (I wish there was some way to find out who reported my post to Coldwater... lol)

Search For Caylee Suspended... But There Will Be Another Search

Tim Miller, from EquuSearch made an announcement today that they are suspending the searches for Caylee and will be moving their equipment to North Carolina to search for 4 missing persons tomorrow, Monday. David Lohr from Investigation Discovery made the initial announcement on his blog before Tim's press conference. There will be searches going out from TES while the command post is being taken down according to a follow-up post from David.

I've been spending a lot of time lurking on the InSessions message boards and have been reading too many posts from people gloating over the fact that there were fewer searchers than were hoped for. Those posts generated more posts and more hateful back and forth stuff. I put a post up there this afternoon that says this:
With all the arguing going on over who believes ones thing against someone who believes something else. No matter where your sympathies lie, the one thing we should all consider is the fact that there is one person who could end all of it. Just one person. Casey.

Stop and think about all the people who have been out searching on all the various search events that have happened. Whether the searches were with TES or any other group that has gone out and spent their time, their energy and their emotions. Think about the people yesterday who couldn't be there to search but called in hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of food and water for the folks who were able to be there in Orlando. My heart goes out to all of those people, the ones who were there in Orlando and the ones who weren't but still had the heart to do something to help. I applaud them all.. And that is a standing ovation type applause.

The Anthony family, Cindy, George and Lee, have only one person to look to for answers about where Caylee is. One person and her lawyer. I can not imagine the pain that Cindy, George and Lee feel. I also can not fathom the attitude they've had towards the people who have wanted to help find Caylee. I can imagine the feeling of not wanting to broach the subject of a "dead" Caylee, but if it were me, I would want to know where my grandchild was. Dead or alive. If they truly believe that Caylee is alive, they need to give an idea of where to look for the little girl. They need to look to Casey for the answers, unfortunately. I don't think they'll be getting any answers from her or her lawyer anytime soon.

The fact that the searches for Caylee by TES have been suspended (for the most part) makes me incredibly sad, but I do understand the situation that they are in. They've searched the areas spotlighted by the investigators as well as they possibly could, why would they go over ground that has already been covered? TES will move on to other cases, and hopefully will be closure to other families. Some day, some how, there will be closure for the Anthony's, but it will have to come at the hands of Casey. And, as I've said before, I don't think that will be coming anytime soon.

Ok, I'm done with my rant. The gloaters and the baiters can continue on.... Later folks. I need a break for a while."

After leaving the InSessions board, I went over to a live streaming site that is from a fellow who has an awesome live cam setup. He's been down in Orlando giving "virtual" tours of the areas that things have happened in this case. I got on to his site on UStream just in time to find out that he had some "breaking news". Leonard Padilla had called him and asked him to meet him at a certain spot in Blanchard Park there in Orlando. If you've followed the Caylee Anthony case at all, you'll recognize the name of that park. Casey and her mother, Cindy, have mentioned that park numerous times. Murt will be uploading a video later tonight of Leonard Padilla explaining why he's interested in that area of the park, I'm sure.

I'll try to explain a little bit here. According to Leonard, during the searches back in August, a small beaded cross was found. A cross that was very similar to one that Casey has. Leonard has been scoping out that area and has gotten together with the FBI and OSCO investigators and has gotten the go-ahead to put divers in the river near where that cross was found. This will be happening tomorrow, Tuesday. Murt (The guy with the cams) will be there tomorrow morning with his cam truck to record what happens. The divers are supposed to be going in the water around 8am tomorrow, so if any of you east coasters are reading this tonight, try clicking on the UStream link and it'll take you to Murt Witness One and you can see what his cams will show. Murt was supposed to work tomorrow, but because Leonard specifically asked him to come and see what was going on, Murt has arranged for someone to cover him (He's a truck driver, among other things.) and he will be there in Blanchard Park tomorrow morning. At least that is what he said when he had his sound on a few minutes ago... lol.. I'm watching his cam right now, and he's got it on the cam that is on the roof of his van and is driving home...

Anyway, I'm not sure that I want to go back to the Caylee threads on InSessions for a while. Watching people bash each other has never been a pastime that I've enjoyed. Plus, while they are so busy bashing each other and bashing everyone involved in the case, nothing worthwhile in the way of information can be discussed. I am thinking maybe I need to find a better place to lurk... **sigh**

Update
Here's a small update on the search that Leonard Padilla is organizing for tomorrow morning. Another blogger has posted about the search at Blanchard Park as well, and managed to get some screen shots of Leonard and folks at the site they plan on searching. Go to Ketchup Soup and take a peek.

Another Update
Murt has uploaded the video of Leonard Padilla and I'm going to try to embed it here..
Free Videos by Ustream.TV

Simon's Cat ~ TV Dinner

I'll be posting updates on the fires in the morning, but for now, I'm posting a cute animated movie... I love the Simon's Cat videos on YouTube.. lol..



Anyway, the number of active fires all over the state have gone down to 38 according to the Cal Fire website! Fantastic news, isn't it? I'll grab all the stats in the morning and get them posted. (I sure hope no one was here specifically looking for fire updates today! Sorry about that!)

The InSessions message board came back up sometime this afternoon (I'm not quite sure what time it happened.. lol) and there has been a bit of new news posted there about a couple of the cases I've been watching, so tomorrow I'll see about adding that news into the blog as well.

It's Friday and We Still Have Yucky Air

The sun was still orange when it came up this morning, but the air doesn't seem quite so hazy. Thank goodness we aren't having to deal with the crud in the air that the firefighters see as in the photo above. I can actually see the trees on the next block today! They're not obscured by the smoke haze the way they were yesterday morning. The weather might be improving! I hope! It's not supposed to be quite as hot today either. They're still predicting triple digit temperatures, but this time the weather thingy is saying it'll only get to 101 today instead of the 108 we had the other day. We've actually got a bit of a breeze blowing out of the southwest this morning too.

The Cal Fire website was updated at 9pm last night, nothing new yet this morning on their information page, but some of the news was good on there last night. The total number of active fires has gone down for one part of their report, but for the statewide total, the number is the same. Of course, the lower number for the Cal Fire active fires could be because some of the fires have merged again. Check out the numbers below:

Statewide Fire Overview - Lightning Series

Current Situation: Firefighters continue to make progress in containing wildfires throughout California. Over fourteen hundred fires have been contained due to the endless efforts of firefighters from California, as well as from throughout the nation. Red Flag Warnings in northern California remain in effect tonight. Ten California National Guard fire crews began their assignment on the Mendocino Complex today. The priority of firefighting is for the protection of life, property and natural resources.
Download the latest fact sheet. (Updated 7/10 at 9 p.m.)
Download the latest statewide map.

• Statewide Fire Statistics
• Total Fires at Peak: 1,781
• Total Fires Contained: 1,459
• Total Active Fires: 322
• Total Acres Burned: 725,421

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred from state, local and federal firefighting agencies beginning June 20, 2008.

• CAL FIRE Statistics
• Total Fires at Peak: 1,005
• Fires Contained: 815
• Active Fires: 55
• Acres Burned: 239,418

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred ONLY in CAL FIRE jurisdiction since June 20, 2008.
The number of contained and active fires will not equal the total due to some fires merging together.

• Statewide Resources Committed
• Personnel Committed: 20,018
• Fire Engines: 1,507
• Hand Crews: 429
• Dozers: 282
• Water Tenders: 418
• Helicopters: 108

Highway closures: State highways, county and local roads are closed throughout California due to wildfire activities. Closures and delays remain in place for State Highways 1 (Big Sur Area), 32, 70, 96 and 299. Travelers are advised to seek current information from local law enforcement.

Evacuations: Areas of Butte, Kern, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Shasta and Trinity counties are under evacuation orders at this time. Precautionary evacuation orders currently exist in areas in Butte, Kern, Mendocino, Monterey, Plumas, Santa Barbara, Shasta and Trinity counties. Residents are advised to monitor their local fire situation, check with local law enforcement agencies for information, and be prepared to evacuate when necessary.

Structures:
Threatened : 13,358 residences, 141 commercial, 2,612 outbuildings.
Destroyed : 100 residences, 1 commercial, 116 outbuildings.

The Chico Record has a good update of what is happening on the Camp Fire (Butte Complex): 8:10 a.m.: Summary: Fire news mostly positive. The firefighters have managed to get more lines cut around the fire and the weather actually cooperated last night/early this morning. They were expecting "down canyon" winds of up to 40 mph, but when the morning winds came up, they weren't as strong as expected, so the fire didn't "take off" on runs as much. The areas that were evacuated the other day are still under mandatory evacuation orders though. Fire officials are still concerned about the areas of the fire that caused the evacuations in the first place.

Another tidbit of news about the fire up there came from Mike, my landlord, last night. He called and asked me to get a hold of some of the TV news organizations that are covering the fire up there. His internet gives him a lot of trouble at times and he knows I've got a good connection and use it all the time. So, I surfed around to some of the news sites and sent off some emails for him with sort of a news tip. He said that he's got some friends that live up near the Camp Fire, not in one of the evacuated areas, so they're still there. Anyway, the woman friend of Mike's called and told a story of a bear that had come into her yard. From what I gathered from Mike, the bear was going after her chickens. When she stepped outside, the bear, who was injured/burned made a move towards her. She had to shoot the thing. So, the emails I sent to the news media was sort of a suggestion that they might put a warning on their newscasts about the wildlife that will be coming out of the burned areas, injured and probably angry and what to do about them. Bears, mountain lions and who knows what. This morning I had a reply from one of the stations asking if they could contact Mike. I called Mike and got his permission to give them his phone number and off went another email to that station. I've heard nothing back from the other 3 stations that I emailed last night. I'll update later if I hear more on this story.

The California Fire News blog hasn't been updated for a couple of days, so I am guessing that the blogger and his co-writers have been out on the fire lines. So, I'm going to copy paste the list of fires into my blog this morning. Here we go:

CAL FIRE Summary of Fires by County

Butte: The Butte Lightning Complex has burned 47,700 acres and is 45% contained. The Butte Fire Information Number is (530) 538-7826. Click Here for more information.

Mendocino: The Mendocino Lightning Complex has burned 52,200 acres and is 65% contained. The Mendocino Fire Information Number is (707)-467-6426. Click Here for more information.

Shasta & Trinity: The Shasta and Trinity Lightning has burned 66,115 acres and is 45% contained. The Shasta-Trinity Unit Information Number is (530) 225-2510. Click Here for more information.

Humboldt: The Humboldt Complex has burned 1,310 acres and is 90% contained. The fires are burning throughout Humboldt County, with the largest fire, the Paradise Fire, north of Shelter Cove and is 925 acres and 85% contained. The Humboldt-Del Norte Fire Information Number is (707) 726-1225.

Kern County: The Piute Fire has burned 34,852 acres and is 32% contained. Click Here for more information.

Lassen, Modoc: The Corral Fire burned 12,434 acres and is now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Mariposa: The Oliver Fire burned 2,789 acres and now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Lake: The Walker Fire burned 14,500 acres and is now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Napa & Solano: The Wild Fire burned 40,000 acres and is now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Santa Clara: The Whitehurst and Hummingbird Fires burned a combined 994 acres and are both now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Tehama & Glenn: The Tehama-Glenn Lightning Complex burned 22,907 acres and is now 100% contained.

Major Federal and Local Incidents
For information on major federal incidents click here or click here for the Inciweb list of fires.

It's nice to see those "100% contained" notes in some of the fires, isn't it?

Other Stuff
Hackers have been an active little bunch since all the mess with the InSessions forums going *poof* in the last few days. InSessions and TruTV weren't the only ones being attacked. Yesterday evening, the Help Find The Missing forums got hacked and taken offline with a page with arabic text put in it's place. They're back up again this morning. Kudos to the admins of that site for working into the night to get things fixed and back online. The Crime Library Forums were also experiencing some strange activity yesterday. But, since they are also run by TruTV, it was probably an offshoot of what happened to the InSessions forums and the TruTV forums. On a few posts on the Crime Library forum there were reports of other boards being attacked at the same time, including a Christion based forum. But we did get some news about the InSessions forums, yesterday evening a message from Coldwater appeared on the TruTV forums:

As much as I know:
I don't have too much info other than our Techs did trace it back to the hacker's original point. From there they then knew how to program and upgrade our security. It was easier to do it on Tru as the message board program is a new one. The difficulty with IS is it still has the old original program and trying to update it is being a problem, they 'think' they can but are not making factual statements at this time. They were hoping to have it up and running today but I see that didn't happen. Don't know if they will work over the weekend or not. But trust me, they have informed they understand how all of you feel and doing the best they can, and appreciate your patience & hopefully you will return when it's in operation again. I think many websites were taken by surprise, all thinking they were too secure to be hacked. At first I thought it was an irate poster also & I still believe it was someone who had been banned that was deleting all the very long informative forums on IS. The reason I believe that after a certain change was made, the deletings stopped. This is a totally different situation and has been confirmed it started in Israel. As soon as I get further word I'll let you know, but at this point they are not talking about closing the IS boards for good. Just have to hope they can update the security. All have a good weekend. Check my "help" thread and give us some of your great ideas.

What makes hackers go after message boards and forums? Is it kids with too much time on their hands who think they're something special because they can get past the security on a forum website? Believe it or not, forums are extremely vulnerable to these kinds of attacks. Forums depend on the input of the people who post there, so there are "holes" that allow the input from the posters. Way back when, before the internet, there were "Bulletin Board Systems" (or as we called them back then; BBS's) that folks put up for people to visit and do things on. I had one of those, and hackers were a constant concern to any of us geeks who allowed people to dial into their home computer to visit those BBS's. In my opinion, the hackers back then were probably the same as they are now. Back then, they were kids with too much time on their hands and most likely it's the same now. If it's a truly destructive hack, like into a government or bank site, there's something malicious about those hackers. But the ones who attack forums.. Nah.. Not malicious. Just stupid.

And, again this morning, I'll end with a bit of humor...


more cat pictures

Quick Update
The Cal Fire website has just updated the statistics for the fires. The numbers haven't changed much, for the most part, the changes are in the resources section. Crews being sent off the lines to rest and the like, probably. But they've got the new fact sheet and map up.
Download the latest fact sheet. (Updated 7/11 at 9 a.m.)
Download the latest statewide map.

More Heat, More Smoke and More YUCK!

The smoke is pretty bad here today. When I walked outside my back door this morning, the haze was thick enough that it partially obscured the trees on the next street over. My sinuses are so messed up from all the smoke over the past few days that I can't smell the smoke, but I'm sure it's there. When it's thick enough down here in the valley that we can't see clearly a block over, it's bad. Yesterday's heat was bad too. The weather gadget that I have on this blog told me that it got to 108 yesterday.. Ugh!

I found an interesting item when I googled the fire news this morning. California has fire fighters on their way here from New Zealand and Australia! According to the news article I found, there will be 40 firefighters here for about 5 weeks or so helping to fight the blazes that were started by lightning back on June 21st. Since it's mid-winter in New Zealand and Australia right now, their need for wildland fire fighters is pretty low. Apparently this is the 5th time that we've had Kiwi and Aussie fire fighters here helping out. I have to wonder if the US has ever sent any of our guys over there to help them out during their fire season. There are teams of firefighters here from all over the country. One news item in the Reno Gazette Journal is about the teams that have been sent in from Nevada. I've seen other articles on other days about teams from Canada and other states here in the US. But, even with all the help that is being sent in, there are just too many fires and not enough fire fighters to contain them. The fires we see and hear on the news are just the "major" ones. The one near Big Sur, the one near Goleta, the one north of me near Paradise and Concow. According to the Cal Fire information page, there are still 322 fires burning all over the state. (As I write this, the latest statistics are from last night at 9pm.)

Statewide Fire Overview - Lightning Series

Current Situation: Firefighters continue to make progress in containing wildfires throughout California. To date over fourteen hundred fires have been contained due to the diligent and endless work of firefighters from not only California, but throughout the nation. Red Flag Warnings in northern California have expanded eastward up the west slope of the Sierra Nevada north of Yosemite. Record high temperatures and low humidities continue throughout northern California. The priority of firefighting is for the protection of life, property and natural resources.
Download the latest fact sheet. (Updated 7/9 at 9 p.m.)
Download the latest statewide map.

Statewide Fire Statistics

• Total Fires at Peak: 1,781
• Total Fires Contained: 1,459
• Total Active Fires: 322
• Total Acres Burned: 688,423

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred from state, local and federal firefighting agencies beginning June 20, 2008.

CAL FIRE Statistics

• Total Fires at Peak: 1,005
• Fires Contained: 814
• Active Fires: 59

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred ONLY in CAL FIRE jurisdiction since June 20, 2008.
The number of contained and active fires will not equal the total due to some fires merging together.

Statewide Resources Committed

• Personnel Committed: 19,474
• Fire Engines: 1,560
• Hand Crews: 408
• Dozers: 253
• Water Tenders: 407
• Helicopters: 102

Highway closures: State highways, county and local roads are closed throughout California due to wildfire activities. Closures and delays remain in place for State Highways 1 (Big Sur Area), 32, 70 and 96. Travelers are advised to seek current information from local law enforcement.

Evacuations:Areas of Butte, Kern, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Shasta and Trinity counties are under evacuation orders at this time. Precautionary evacuation orders currently exist in areas in Butte, Kern, Mendocino, Monterey, Plumas, Santa Barbara, Shasta and Trinity counties. Residents are advised to monitor their local fire situation, check with local law enforcement agencies for information, and be prepared to evacuate when necessary.

Structures:
Threatened: 13,489 residences, 162 commercial, 2,766 outbuildings.
Destroyed: 99 residences, 1 commercial, 88 outbuildings.

The latest satellite map of the fires from the Modis Rapid Response System gallery page really shows the smoke and what it's doing. This one was acquired yesterday and you can really see how thick the smoke is and how far it is traveling.

The fire crews on the fire nearest me, the Camp Fire (Butte Complex) got a little help from Mother Nature last night. The winds didn't come up so they've been able to hold the progress of their containment. The communities that had been evacuated in the last couple of days are still under evacuation orders, but they hadn't lost anymore homes according to the briefing at 8:30 this morning. The Chico newspaper articles, "7:45 a.m.: Paradise survives another night" and "8:30 a.m.: Evacuations still in place" detail the progress made on the fires and the evacuation status. From what I've read in all the articles, one of the problems in fighting this fire is the inability to use the air drops at times due to the thick smoke.

Other Stuff
The InSessions forums are still down, but the TruTV forums have come back up. Coldwater, the moderator for both message boards, posted yesterday shortly after the TruTV forums came back up. Here's what she wrote: "I haven't been able to post due to all forums being locked Tru opened today. Yes it was a hacker from Isreal, hitting several other sites also. Tech updated the security on here so there is no worry. The IS have not been updated yet due to the old program currently still there, never having been updated so it's difficult." Who knows when the techs will get the InSessions forums up again.

And to finish up this morning's post, I'm going to add some humor... lol... LOLCats to be precise. I found some cute ones this morning. Enjoy!

more cat pictures

more cat pictures

more cat pictures

Bad News on the Fire Lines

The news from the Camp Fire near Paradise isn't good this morning. The news agencies are reporting that they've lost more homes. ABC reports that they've lost 40 homes near Paradise, but they're not saying for sure whether the homes lost were in Paradise, Magalia, Concow or somewhere else. KCRA3 is reporting 50 homes destroyed. On the Cal Fire page for this fire, with the 10pm update, they said the number of homes lost is 40 plus 10 outbuildings. From what I can gather from the different news sources the evacuation area has expanded even more. But, they're also saying that the winds were calmer last night. The weather isn't improving though. It's supposed to be even hotter today than it was yesterday. Yesterday it was 108 degrees and last night at 10:30pm when I got ready to go to bed, it was still 90 degrees outside. It didn't cool down enough overnight to really help things out. It's already 70 degrees and there is enough smoke in the air that you can look right at the sun, which is a bright orange.

The Cal Fire overall statistics are looking a bit better. The total number of fires active in the state right now have gone down from 330 to 323. That number includes fires being "managed" by both state and federal agencies. Here's the statistics for all the fires:

• Statewide Fire Statistics
• Total Fires at Peak: 1,781
• Total Fires Contained: 1,458
• Total Active Fires: 323
• Total Acres Burned: 667,863

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred from state, local and federal firefighting agencies beginning June 20, 2008.

• CAL FIRE Statistics
• Total Fires at Peak: 1,005
• Fires Contained: 814
• Active Fires: 59

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred ONLY in CAL FIRE jurisdiction since June 20, 2008.
The number of contained and active fires will not equal the total due to some fires merging together.

• Statewide Resources Committed
• Personnel Committed: 18,488
• Fire Engines: 1,481
• Hand Crews: 379
• Dozers: 251
• Water Tenders: 396
• Helicopters: 110

Highway closures: State highways, county and local roads are closed throughout California due to wildfire activities. Closures and delays remain in place for State Highways 1 (Big Sur Area), 32, 70 and 96. Travelers are advised to seek current information from local law enforcement.

Evacuations: Areas of Butte, Monterey, Santa Barbara and Shasta counties are under evacuation orders at this time. Precautionary evacuation orders currently exist in areas in Butte, Kern, Mendocino, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Shasta and Plumas counties. Residents are advised to monitor their local fire situation, check with local law enforcement agencies for information, and be prepared to evacuate when necessary.

Structures:
Threatened: 13,323 residences, 288 commercial, 2,025 outbuildings.
Destroyed: 81 residences, 1 commercial, 77 outbuildings.

The Modis Rapid Response System had a new satellite image from yesterday. Again, the red dots indicate active fires.

The California Fire News blog has a link today to a gallery of fire photos (mostly from the fire near Big Sur.) at Boston.com. I agree with the fellow at the blog. These are some very spectacular photos and are highly recommended for viewing.

Other Stuff
The InSessions and TruTV message boards are still down this morning. I've managed to find a few of the people who posted at InSessions over at the Help Find The Missing forums. The moderators there have graciously provided a thread where folks are discussing what happened to the InSessions forums. And most folks posting there are agreeing that the cause of the forums going down was a hacker. The big question now is whether or not TruTV will restore the InSessions forums or leave them closed. If you're reading this and you're an InSessions poster, leave a comment and tell us how you're handling the InSessions withdrawals... lol

Smoke + Heat = Dangerous Weather

Yesterday was a miserable day. Triple digit temperatures and lots of smoke in the air made it very hard to do anything outside. And today promises more of the same. More heat and more smoke. It's getting hard to breathe at all. My voice sounds like I have a bad cold with the stuffy nose, watery eyes and cough along with it. But it's not a cold. It's the bad air we're breathing.

And up in the mountains to the North apparently has had increased winds as well. At 2am this morning they called for mandatory evacuations of the communities near the Butte Complex Fire. The California Fire News blog posted an update at 3am with more news of the evacuation orders. The fire is dangerously close to homes in that area now and all residents are being ordered out. An evacuation center for the people has been set up in Oroville and facilities have been set up for the evacuated animals. The Sacramento Bee has an article about the dangerous situation on the Butte Complex this morning as well.

As for the smoke in the air, the Sacramento Bee also has an article up this morning about the nasty air we're experiencing and it's apparently nothing new: "Smoke is normal - for 1800s". It's an interesting read.

On a side note, the California Fire News blog hadn't been getting regular updates the way it normally had. On Sunday evening, the fellow who "owns" that blog posted an apology for the lack of news. He's been out on the firelines on water tender duty!

The Modis Rapid Response gallery page had two images that I hadn't posted yet. The first has a time stamp of 7/6 and the 2nd one is time stamped 7/7.

According to Cal Fire, there are still 330 fires burning around the state. With the triple digit temperatures the weatherman is predicting, its going to be hard for those folks out on the fire lines. We need some cooler, wetter weather all over the state. Soon.

Other Stuff
The InSessions message boards have been down for about a day now. Rumor has it that a hacker attacked the InSessions and TruTV boards. At least that is what some are saying on a couple of other message boards. Whether or not the cause for the boards being down is a hacker, we won't know until the boards are put back online.

I guess I'll throw in a bit of humor for a closing note today.... Then maybe I'll go surfing around the net and see if I can find some good news for a change.

more cat pictures