First Blooms: 1/8/2012

In my last two posts, I allude to protecting the natural landscape. This year, I'll try to document this landscape as its plants resume their growth. I hike the Santa Rosa escarpment frequently enough that I should be able to record the first blooms of the various plants. This series will continue till new flowerings stop, which could be as late as July.

In January, I'm seeing the transition of Autumn into Spring. On January 8, 2012, I saw the first flowerings of these plants:



Manzanita (Arctostaphylos glandulosa, or possibly rainbowensis or bicolor)

Orange bush monkeyflower (typically blooms Mar-May)

Nightshade (Parish's purple nightshade Solanum parishii, Solanum americanum, Solanum Xantii or 1 of 5 known introduced species)

Ceanothus (Hoaryleaf Ceanothus, Ceanothus Crassifolius)

jg

The "State" defends property rights

On July 3, 2009, I was hiking up the Santa Rosa escarpment and saw a smoke plume three miles away. The plume was from a brush fire, small by California standards. The fire stayed small because firefighters and aircraft quickly arrived to put the fire out.

The firefighters were protecting the very homes that provoked the moratorium on construction on this ridge(seen in the 3rd photo below). Two weeks later I photographed the area. The photos below can be spliced together for a complete picture of the scene. They show homes on the ridgeline, some recently built or under construction, and a burn line that stops just short of these properties -- a testament to the concern and quality of state and county fire fighters.

This defense of these properties should be remembered everytime one of these property owners acuses efforts to impose development standards as governmental intrusion on their property rights.

jg

Failure for Viewshed Protection; Moratorium on Santa Rosa Escarpment lifted

The Californian reports that the Riverside County Board of Supervisors has lifted the moratorium on construction on the Santa Rosa Ridgeline:

Lifting Santa Rosa Ridgeline Moratorium

I'm disappointed that no plan to develop protections for this scenic area was made and that Supervisor Stone's suggestion to create an ordinance was not supported by the other supervisors. Controlling development on the ridgeline, and the broader issue of view-shed protections, brings up the issue private property rights. As reported, many citizens whose homes or plans are affected by the moratorium and would-be ordinance cite the intrusion on their property rights. Yet these same people, because of their location, are highly dependent on services from the county and state. Below is my collection of recent fires on the Santa Rosa escarpment.  (Click for full size)

Fire fighters take great risk protecting homes on top of these hillsides, where steep hills, a hot and dry climate, strong updrafts, and shifting winds make for exceptionally dangerous and unpredictable fires. Three times in the past 4 years I've watched airplanes drop fire retardants to keep hillside fires from overtaking homes on these slopes. I can’t image that the small number of property owners could ever maintain the fire-fighting protections they need. (I could add road construction and other services to that list.) In light of these risks and services, it's not asking too much for residents on these slopes to work within some aesthetic guidelines.

One homeowner commented about having to look at the red-tiled roofs of the valley. I believe this was a rhetorical point and not to be taken as his thoughtful opinion, but it is a fair consideration. I detest when a developer destroys the natural contour of the land in the valley or above it. But if this resident truly doesn't want to look at the houses in the valley, he should build a ways back from the edge, which is what a view-shed ordinance would require.

jg

Best Christmas Sundog Ever

I took these photos of a sundog and circumzenithal arc over my Christmas holiday. I think the sundog is the best ever, meaning most colorful that I've captured:

Sundog

Circumzenithal arc: a fragment of the arc in a condensation trail.

jg

Press Enterprise Editorial on Global Warming

This topic is for anyone who accepts the invitation I posted at this article:

http://www.pe.com/opinion/editorials-headlines/20111221-nation-climate-farce.ece

The article repeats some common errors regarding climate science. I don't wish to argue policy, as I'm not trying to assert a specfic policy toward addressing global warming; rather, I'm interested in the science and sharing what I've learned of the science.

UPDATE: As expected, none of the commenters took me up on my invitation to learn more about the climate science they were disparaging, which is not surprising. It's easier to state their opinions where they don't have to defend their sources or explain their reasoning (or lack of). The pleasant side of these misinformed opinions, like the Press Enterprise editorial above, is that they provide fodder for my astronomy presentations. Not only does the science have intrinsic value, but is also helpful to counter the propoganda and foolishness of many editorials on climate policy.

For example, a recent opinion published in the Califorian (Cult of Global Warming Losing Influence) makes this statement:

If carbon emissions were the only thing affecting climate, the global warming alarmists would be right. But it's obvious that climate is affected by many things, many not yet fully understood, and implausible that SUVs will affect it more than variations in the enormous energy produced by the sun.

I added the bold text to the astronomy angle. I'll be looking at the variations of the sun in my next presentation to the Temecula Valley Astronomers.

• Location: Rancho Water District building, 42135 Winchester Rd., Temecula
• Date/Time: 7:30 PM Monday, January 2, 2012

UPDATE 30 Dec 2011: My letter to the Press Enterprise was published:

Letters 12/30
Letters 12/29 (Others' responses)

The editor cut some prose and removed an "or" that was indespensible to the tone of my letter. Here's the letter I meant for publication with omitted parts in bold:

Your 21 December 2011 editorial makes false accusations against climate scientists and then says that these scientist need to work on improving their reputation. The false accusation you make is "The purloined emails of leading climate scientists have shown them manipulating data and suppressing contradictory evidence". Some emails, when removed from their context, look incriminating, and so the following organizations have examined them as well as the research these scientists have contributed to: Pennsylvania State University, University of East Anglia, US Environmental Protection Agency, UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, Department of Commerce Inspector General, and the US National Science Foundation.


None have found any wrong doing in the public climate science reports, which creates two possibilities: 1) the climate conspiracy includes major universities, the US and UK governments, and the National Science Foundation or [omitted] 2) as said by the National Science Foundation, there has been "no research misconduct or other matter raised by the various regulations and laws ".

It's the Press Enterprise vs. the National Science Foundation on climate. One of you has a credibility problem.

jg

Light Trespass Is Now a No-No in Riverside County

Thank you, Bob Buster, John Tavaglione, Jon Benoit for your 3-0 vote passing ordinance 915 regulating light trespass. By passing this ordinance, the County now requires aim in outdoor lighting. Light trespass results from bad aim, and aiming a light is one of the easier concepts for people to understand if they are aware of the need. The right to bad aim has never been an American virtue, however, many will defend their laziness in the implementation of outdoor lighting, calling it a basic right, or this ordinance, an over-reach by the County.

I write this less that 24 hours after the ordinance's passage, and already I've received a question as to when it can be applied by a person who has endured a neighbor's bare bulb security lights and is now eager to correct the problem.

There is no reason for common security and area lighting to extend beyond one's property, and the passage of this ordinance, avoiding light trespass will become a design standard in building construction.
jg

Local articles on ordinance 915:
Californian, 12/21/11 (older articles in the Californian: Californian 11/22/11, Californian, 11/15/11, Californian 10/25/11)

Lake Elsinore/Wildomar Patch, 12/21/11

Press Enterprise, 12/21/11

KPSP Local 2 News Services, 12/20/11

Solar's Up

As part of the 11-year cyle, sunspot activity is picking up. There have been sunspots everytime I've looked in the past three months. This image above combines two shots at the lowest and highest magnification I can effectively photograph at. Both are taken with a whitelight filter (a silvered mylar sheet) and I restored yellow color in photoshop. Not only can you see sunspots, but faculae too (brighter areas where magnetic forces gouge the outer layer - as though scraping an apple- revealing hotter and brighter layers). This is part of my next project: a presentation on the sun to my astronomy club on Jan 2.

jg