The fires in LA are seriously out of control. If you have any doubt, here is a very impressive time-lapse video that Brandon Riza shot, with his Canon 5D Mark II I might add.

First of all, the fires are very scary, and I feel bad for the folks in California right now. I hope none of you guys are being affected, but I’m sure a few of you are, so my heart goes out to you. Secondly, it goes to prove how little control we have over our environment. After thousands of years, and with all the technology we possess, mankind still lacks the ability to put out a forest fire.

Sad.
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	hthth RT @johnpoz: Los Angeles Fires Raging Uncontrollably: http://onemansblog.com/LAFire
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	terehoff RT: @johnpoz: Los Angeles Fires Raging Uncontrollably - http://onemansblog.com/LAFire Hat tip to @kk for the video link.
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	johnpoz Los Angeles Fires Raging Uncontrollably - http://onemansblog.com/LAFire Hat tip to @kk for the video link.
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Today I went down to the Boudin Bakery on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco to get some fresh baked sourdough and some of their delicious clam chowder.

When I arrived, there was a group of people huddled around the window where they are usually making the bread. Only this time, a nice young lady was actually talking to the crowd through her wireless microphone system, and taking questions as well.

I was carrying my camera, so I flipped on the video mode and captured the following video. In it, you’ll see how she makes a special bread loaf in the shape of a teddy bear. Very cute, and extremely tasty! Enjoy.
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The Muir Woods are honestly one of my favorite places. Less than 30 minutes from the majestic Golden Gate Bridge, you can be standing in one of the last remaining giant redwood forests on Earth. Surrounded by these magnificent towering creatures, many over 600 years old, it provides a peaceful place to sit and contemplate both the insignificance of what it is to be human, and the impact that we as a species can have on our planet.

Once the northwest was covered by ancient growth forests with trees as old as 3,200, whose bark alone measured up to 2 feet thick. But throughout the 19th century, American logging all but decimated these creatures. Now, the only giant redwoods and sequoias that remain survive in national and state parks. Thank God for small wonders of government intervention.
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Today I had to tell a couple of people about the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Mann’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California. So I figured that I would take a minute and make sure that everyone knows about this place.

Most people have probably seen movies and things that have the Hollywood Walk of Fame in them, but they just don’t know it. What I’m talking about is about a 3.5 mile long strip of sidewalk along Hollywood Blvd. where the names of stars are literally written in stars embedded in the sidewalk!

The most famous section of the Walk of Fame is right outside an old movie theatre called Mann’s. This is literally the most famous movie theatre in the world, built in 1927, and it’s where all of the top movie premiers happen in Hollywood, and you see the interviews on the red carpet there all the time.
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This evening between intermittent rain and drizzle I walked around and managed to take a few photos in the area around the Hyatt Regency, where I’m staying, which is on the Embarcadero down by the Bay Bridge. In fact, Pier 14 is a fantastic place to walk out on the water and take photos of the Bay Bridge.

All of these photos were taken within a few blocks of the Port of San Francisco building, which is basically at the opposite end of the street from the real touristy area (Pier 39). So, you really only find locals and business travelers hanging around in this area.

Incidentally, this is really a great place to visit if you are indeed traveling to San Francisco for sightseeing. Inside the Port of SF building there are a lot of great places to eat, including The Slanted Door (where I dined last night).

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the photos… they were all taken with my Canon 5D Mark II. Oh, I also uploaded 1600×1200 resolution version of these images in case anyone wanted to use one as a desktop wallpaper or something like that. Not that I think they are that good. But sometime people ask me to do that.
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Leave it to the Brits to properly report on US news. According to the Independant, California will run out of money in February.

The State of California will run out of money within two months, forcing Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to start settling bills and paying employees by issuing “IOU” notes, his chief financial officer has revealed….

Unless taxes can be raised, or spending reined in, millions of public-sector employees and private contractors face having their salaries paid in “registered warrants,” a piece of paper which the Governor will promise to exchange for cash as soon as he is able.

The effective bankruptcy of an entire state is unprecedented in American history, even during the Great Depression. Yet despite California’s standing as one of the most prosperous regions of the wealthiest nation on earth, its Governor seems powerless to stave off disaster.

So-called “direct democracy,” through which small interest groups can enact laws by making them the subject of an electoral “proposition” or ballot measure that attracts more than 50 per cent of the vote, has severely limited his ability to manage finances.

Property taxes, the mainstay of any state’s income, have been frozen for many homeowners since a proposition was passed in the late 1970s. A separate measure, introduced in the 1980s, means that income taxes cannot be raised without the agreement of two-thirds of the state’s lawmakers.

Meanwhile, a raft of other ballot measures control spending, meaning that only 25 per cent of California’s spending is considered “discretionary”. The rest has been “earmarked” for a particular cause or project….

So to summarize:

• The state is OUT of money.
• They are not allowed to raise income taxes.
• They are not allowed to raise property taxes.
• No one is willing to stop spending!

Well, I guess we’re all about to learn what happens when a state goes bankrupt! As if we couldn’t already learn that from the History channel when every major global power eventually gave up the ghost because they were broke.

California is about to lose it’s place as one of the world’s great super-states. Yee-haw for Texas!

Months ago when flying into San Francisco, our plane was diverted into a holding pattern a little ways outside the airport due to traffic, and as I watched from the window I noticed that we were circling some sort of massive pools of colored water. They were so vibrant in color that I was amazed, and I took a bunch of photos (and posted them).

What I didn’t know at the time was, that was the Cargill solar evaporation salt production facility. I actually just learned it by watching the TV show “Modern Marvels” that was specifically on salt production. As soon as they began describing the location of the facility I instantly knew what I had seen months ago!

Anyway, the rich colors that you can see in the ariel photography are supposedly due to the microorganisms that live in this heavy concentration of salt water called brine. The brine contains a concentration of about 25% salt, which is about the maximum amount of salt that can actually be disolved in water.
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A few weeks ago when I was flying into San Francisco for WordCamp I whipped out my camera and took some photos while we were on the landing approach. Some of these were very interesting, so I figured I would post them considering that WordPress’ gallery function makes it so easy now.

Hope you enjoy!
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Here are a few photos I took of the Golden Gate Bridge on my last trip to San Francisco. I’ve actually got more cool shots of it, but I’ll have to upload them later when I get a chance. Until then, I hope you enjoy this little gallery.
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I know that a lot of you may be bloggers, but might be unfamiliar with WordPress. Perhaps you’ve considered migrating your blog over from another platform, but aren’t really sure how to go about it. Well, this next presentation is just for you.

Lloyd Budd gave a presentation to illustrate the finer points of switching over from that old platform you’ve been blogging with to a shiny new WordPress installation! So, if you’ll invest 20 minutes in hearing him out, you’ll learn how easy it can be to make the move.
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Ben Huh, the proprietor of I can haz cheezeburger and other popular sites gives a lecture at WordCamp San Francisco on the Secret of Virality. I got most of the slides in the video, but if you want to download and read along, you can get the slides here.

Ben’s lecture talks about how you can achieve viral results, and why certain things work and others don’t. His message is great, and if your goal with your site is to grow your traffic like crazy, this video is going to be required “reading”.
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The last speaker at WordCamp San Francisco 2008 was Kathy Sierra, and her presentation was definitely worth the wait. She spoke about “Kicking Ass and Creating Passionate Users”, and I must say that her presentation was itself “kick ass”.

If you don’t know Kathy, she is the co-creator of the Head First series of books on computer programming, which began with Head First Java.

You may also choose to follow Kathy on Twitter, and I highly recommend a stop by her blog about Creating Passionate Users (though she hasn’t posted there in a while).
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