California Drought

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And now, a musical interlude.

[video=youtube;N-aK6JnyFmk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-aK6JnyFmk[/video]
 
true, but they can pump those brine into a basin and evaporate the water. Or they can send it directly to a chloroalkalai plant to produce bleach, chlorates, etc.
 
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: California does NOT need a high speed rail. It's expensive, the distance is too great, and probably not enough people will ride it. If Amtrak will run more than 5 trains there a day then we might consider it.
 
As much as the winters here suck, I'll take it any day over having to ration water!!!
I live on top of a cold water spring and have 3 wells on my property and one hand dug rock lined well.
The only bad part is that my yard is often too soggy to mow in places.
 
taiwanluthiers said:
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: California does NOT need a high speed rail. It's expensive, the distance is too great, and probably not enough people will ride it. If Amtrak will run more than 5 trains there a day then we might consider it.
Click to expand...

That pretty much gives you the answer right there. Amtrack would run more trains if people rode them. If people don't ride them, there isn't enough money to run the ones they have so there doesn't seem like much point in building more trains that people won't ride. Ohio had a very similar conversation a few years ago and our cities are a LOT closer together than in California. In the end, even when the federal government offered to pay a an enormous chunk of the cost, Ohio said "no thank you" because they figured out that after it was built Ohio taxpayers would end up paying tens of millions a year to run empty trains.
 
It's kind of a catch-22: limited service means limited interest, etc. I was doing a lot of traveling from the Bay Area down to Vandenberg. The tracks no longer go all the way so you have to transfer on a bus. No way am I going to burn my time on that when I can drive in a few hours.
 
taiwanluthiers said:
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: California does NOT need a high speed rail. It's expensive, the distance is too great, and probably not enough people will ride it. If Amtrak will run more than 5 trains there a day then we might consider it.
Click to expand...

Knowing how California works these days, not having any ridership on their multi-gazillion $$$$ medium to low "High Speed" Train won’t be a problem.

First they’ll build the train nobody wants’ to use and then they will find a way to make driving so expensive and inconvenient that the train becomes the only realistic option.
 
I don't see making driving very expensive as a problem to be honest with you. Traffic is so bad these days that there should be fewer cars on the road. In Europe not having a car isn't seen as a bad thing because everyone takes the train over there. Everyone having one car is very unsustainable and wasteful.
 
The airwaves are getting too crowded. Everyone having their own telephone is very unsustainable and wasteful. Perhaps we could deploy 'public telephones'. Call them "Pay Phones" and charge $0.50 or more for each call.
 
It's not the same. Cars consume gasoline, and then you have to build wider and wider roads to deal with traffic, not to mention parking spaces too. Telephone on the other hand can increase its bandwidth with advances in technology, but you only have so much space.
 
taiwanluthiers said:
It's not the same. Cars consume gasoline, and then you have to build wider and wider roads to deal with traffic, not to mention parking spaces too. Telephone on the other hand can increase its bandwidth with advances in technology, but you only have so much space.
Click to expand...

And phone consume electricity. We've already had to steal spectrum space from other services to make way for the expanding base of cell phones. And, as you say, "you only have so much space". Isn't it time to push for a public telephone system?
 
davel said:
The airwaves are getting too crowded. Everyone having their own telephone is very unsustainable and wasteful. Perhaps we could deploy 'public telephones'. Call them "Pay Phones" and charge $0.50 or more for each call.
Click to expand...


Oh!! Oh!! Bandwidth and trains, and how to tie them together.

After the 2008 head-on collision between a L.A. Metrolink train and a Union Pacific freight hauler the Feds. Got involved and mandated what is called “Positive Train Control” be installed throughout the U.S. rail network.

Put simply these means that every locomotive and train be in communication with every other locomotive/train no matter where they be in relation to each other.

Congress gave them until 2016 to get it done. The problem is the technology didn’t exist and Congress and the FCC didn’t get off their collective @$$e$ and delegate a frequency range the RRs could utilize to even start developing the tech. until sometime YEARS LATER.
 
yesterday as I drove south on el camino real through Carlsbad ca., I saw thousands of new homes being built, Where is all the water going to come from to support this new construction ?????? we have no drought its all about $$$$ they keep building and just up the rates they charge us
 
Bringing the "train" of thought back "on track," let's return to the drought, shall we?

So far, 2015 is turning out to be the hottest year ever on record, at this point beating the previous hottest year on record, which was last year. Definitely, if the pattern holds for the rest of the year, the heat will exacerbate the drought in the west until the rainy season starts again. From what I have read, the high heat is being caused by a strong El Nino pattern that had been predicted for late last year but set up later than expected. Ironically, an El Nino can bring a lot of rain during our rainy season, but it also causes heat in our dry season. It was hoped that the El Nino would bring us rain during our rainy season which just ended, but because it set up late, we missed out on the beneficial rains and will suffer through the heat instead. Maybe it will bring rain next season...

This strong El Nino is also combining with another long-term climate trend that affects temperatures the Pacific known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. The PDO is a periodic decades-long warming of the Pacific, and there is strong evidence that it has started. Combine the short term El Nino heat, with the longer term PDO heat, and add in the heat from the global climate phenomenon that dare not speak its name, and we are in for long trend of unusually hot weather and disrupted rainfall patterns.

And for you poor folks in the Northeast who have been freezing for the past 2 winters and cannot believe this talk of the hottest years on record, your cold recent winters are part of the same phenomenon casuing the recent heat out west. An unusually warm patch in the north Pacific that started to emerge in 2013 is heating the west, and it is also altering weather patterns worldwide, including drawing cold arctic air into the American Northeast. So as you freeze your butts off, take solace in the fact that the rest of the planet is experiencing record heat. Yippee.
 
ThirstyBarbarian said:
Bringing the "train" of thought back "on track," let's return to the drought, shall we?

So far, 2015 is turning out to be the hottest year ever on record, at this point beating the previous hottest year on record, which was last year. Definitely, if the pattern holds for the rest of the year, the heat will exacerbate the drought in the west until the rainy season starts again. From what I have read, the high heat is being caused by a strong El Nino pattern that had been predicted for late last year but set up later than expected. Ironically, an El Nino can bring a lot of rain during our rainy season, but it also causes heat in our dry season. It was hoped that the El Nino would bring us rain during our rainy season which just ended, but because it set up late, we missed out on the beneficial rains and will suffer through the heat instead. Maybe it will bring rain next season...

This strong El Nino is also combining with another long-term climate trend that affects temperatures the Pacific known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. The PDO is a periodic decades-long warming of the Pacific, and there is strong evidence that it has started. Combine the short term El Nino heat, with the longer term PDO heat, and add in the heat from the global climate phenomenon that dare not speak its name, and we are in for long trend of unusually hot weather and disrupted rainfall patterns.

And for you poor folks in the Northeast who have been freezing for the past 2 winters and cannot believe this talk of the hottest years on record, your cold recent winters are part of the same phenomenon casuing the recent heat out west. An unusually warm patch in the north Pacific that started to emerge in 2013 is heating the west, and it is also altering weather patterns worldwide, including drawing cold arctic air into the American Northeast. So as you freeze your butts off, take solace in the fact that the rest of the planet is experiencing record heat. Yippee.
Click to expand...
Well, why don't we bring this thread back to the current California drought vis-a-vis canceled launches and leave the Global Warming/Climate Change hoax to a separate politcally themed post, mmmmmkay?
 
Whenever I find myself bewildered by the conflicting facts presented by proponents of one position or another, I always turn the the World's Foremost Authority for guidance.

[video=youtube;MxtN0xxzfsw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxtN0xxzfsw[/video]
 
o1d_dude said:
Well, why don't we bring this thread back to the current California drought vis-a-vis canceled launches and leave the Global Warming/Climate Change hoax to a separate politcally themed post, mmmmmkay?
Click to expand...

The post was not an attempt to bring up Climate Change --- aside from the offhand mention of the global climate phenomenon that dare not speak its name, which was a snark.

The hot weather is real and not "controversial." The El Niño pattern is a well recognized pattern, and it is happening now. The PDO is also a recognized pattern, and the evidence is it is most likely beginning as well. Neither pattern is linked to Anthropogenic Climate Change. The reason they are relevant is that both are contributing to record hot weather. And hot weather is an exacerbating factor for drought. If we can't talk about hot weather in a thread about drought, then we really can't talk about drought, and that would be stupid.

One interesting thing about the PDO is that, even though it is not linked to Anthropogenic Climate Change, when it has happened in the past, the global mean temperature in the 15 years after its start has generally increased at a faster rate than it has in the 15 years preceding. So if we've had decades of increasing temperatures, and last year was the hottest year ever recorded, and the PDO is starting NOW... Well, it could get toasty.
 
ThirstyBarbarian said:
The post was not an attempt to bring up Climate Change --- aside from the offhand mention of the global climate phenomenon that dare not speak its name, which was a snark.

The hot weather is real and not "controversial." The El Niño pattern is a well recognized pattern, and it is happening now. The PDO is also a recognized pattern, and the evidence is it is most likely beginning as well. Neither pattern is linked to Anthropogenic Climate Change. The reason they are relevant is that both are contributing to record hot weather. And hot weather is an exacerbating factor for drought. If we can't talk about hot weather in a thread about drought, then we really can't talk about drought, and that would be stupid.

One interesting thing about the PDO is that, even though it is not linked to Anthropogenic Climate Change, when it has happened in the past, the global mean temperature in the 15 years after its start has generally increased at a faster rate than it has in the 15 years preceding. So if we've had decades of increasing temperatures, and last year was the hottest year ever recorded, and the PDO is starting NOW... Well, it could get toasty.
Click to expand...
I repeat: Why don't we leave the Global Warming/Climate Change political agenda to Facebook or Twitter where it belongs?
 
o1d_dude said:
I repeat: Why don't we leave the Global Warming/Climate Change political agenda to Facebook or Twitter where it belongs?
Click to expand...

Well, I totally agree. And since you are the only one talking about global warming and political agendas, why don't you take it to your Twitter feed, and keep it out of the thread. Thanks!
 
I have been running the shower at just under half pressure, and using less water when washing the dishes.
 
"An area where general discussions can take place, that don't necessarily fit well into other categories. This can relate to rocketry, general chat, or any other topic not prohibited by TRF rules and guidelines."

Outsider's perspective: O1d_dude, you're the only one talking about (gasp!) global warming and trying to draw people (well, person) into an argument about it. Thirsty is talking about well known/documented phenomenon, not political agenda BS. If you would like to get into a political argument about the validity of global warming theory with someone, there are numerous outlets available. Here it just looks like you're trying to start a fight for the sake of starting a fight.

Again, that is just my perspective as someone who primarily just reads threads without contributing.
 
kyle said:
"An area where general discussions can take place, that don't necessarily fit well into other categories. This can relate to rocketry, general chat, or any other topic not prohibited by TRF rules and guidelines."

Outsider's perspective: O1d_dude, you're the only one talking about (gasp!) global warming and trying to draw people (well, person) into an argument about it. Thirsty is talking about well known/documented phenomenon, not political agenda BS. If you would like to get into a political argument about the validity of global warming theory with someone, there are numerous outlets available. Here it just looks like you're trying to start a fight for the sake of starting a fight.

Again, that is just my perspective as someone who primarily just reads threads without contributing.
Click to expand...

That's how I take it as well. I've followed this thread, even though I'm in the cold northeast, because I have family in the SF Bay area.
 
ThirstyBarbarian said:
...Anthropogenic Climate Change, when it has happened in the past, the global mean temperature in the 15 years after its start has generally increased at a faster rate than it has in the 15 years preceding. So if we've had decades of increasing temperatures, and last year was the hottest year ever recorded, and the PDO is starting NOW... Well, it could get toasty.
Click to expand...

Anthropogenic - adjective - environmental pollution resulting from human activity

+3 for old_dude...

BTW - Carly Fiorina has an interesting take on related causes of your drought...
 
Last edited:
KidRockET said:
Anthropogenic - adjective - environmental pollution resulting from human activity

+3 for old_dude...

BTW - Carly Fiorina has an interesting take on related causes of your drought...
Click to expand...

You've quoted me dishonestly in your post.

This is what I wrote:

ThirstyBarbarian said:
One interesting thing about the PDO is that, even though it is not linked to Anthropogenic Climate Change, when it has happened in the past, the global mean temperature in the 15 years after its start has generally increased at a faster rate than it has in the 15 years preceding. So if we've had decades of increasing temperatures, and last year was the hottest year ever recorded, and the PDO is starting NOW... Well, it could get toasty.
Click to expand...

You can't just cut off the words "it's is not linked to" and leave "...Anthropogenic Climate Change" and then claim I'm talking about Anthropogenic Climate Change. You have completely changed the meaning of what I wrote to mean the opposite of what I said and then attributed the quote to me.

That's a really sleazy move.

Also, when you wrote +3, did you understand the 2 ahead of you were disagreeing with Old_dude? Maybe you are having an "opposite day."
 
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