Jim Whittington🔥

Woke up at 3:30 to check out the lunar eclipse. Pretty cool.

(Phone pic does not do it justice,)

Early map of the Republic of Texas.

And let the High Holy Days of Texas History commence. Between today, which is both Texas Independence Day and Sam Houston's birthday, and April 21, which is San Jacinto Day, I will eat chili, drink Lone Star, listen to Joe Ely, and dream of bluebonnets.

(Yes, I know ALL the Texas history, thanks.)

Well, this is a frightening scientific paper. It certainly raises the bar for "doom-scrolling."

Great. I wake up to let the dog out & have been unable to go back to sleep after first glancing at the news & then being compelled to read all the news.

Note to self: fill up the truck, start saving for likely future shocks, & don't ever be stupid enough to think this can't affect you & yours.

Wildland firefighters argue about boots.

Early 1900s political cartoon showing Teddy Roosevelt swinging a big stick over the bodies of fat cat caricatures of large trusts. The caption reads, "No molly-coddling here."

Where have you gone, Teddy Roosevelt?
Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
Woo, woo, woo
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson?
Trust buster has left and gone away.
Hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey

YouTube video by the disaster gal How to Actually Deal With Disaster: Rethinking Risk

I continue my video making journey youtu.be/e4SrXohYE8g?... #disasters #risk

Acabo de encontrar este vídeo que ejemplifica por qué NO se deben usar medios aéreos de extinción en combate de incendios estructurales (y menos aún de noche).
Los Ángeles. 26 de octubre 2017. Grabado desde el heli de ABC7.
Podría haber colapsado toda la estructura.

Record snow drought persists in New Mexico and across the West, despite recent precipitation • Source New Mexico Scientists predict snow pack in the Rio Grande Basin won’t exceed 10% of the median throughout the rest of the winter.

Record high winter temperatures and ongoing snow drought are leaving New Mexico with a fraction of its typical snow pack and at higher risk of wildfire, even after accounting for February storms, according to a recent briefing from NOAA scientists.

buff.ly/OjuSVwX

We need an international response force and an approach + training that relies less on the tactical (because the conditions will eventually overwhelm) and more on the strategic, including the messy social science parts like communications and community action. 3/3

"...extreme fire weather conditions were increasing in places inside regions like North America, but also seeing severe fire weather line up across far-flung areas like North America and Europe. That makes it harder to coordinate firefighting efforts across borders." 2/

"...researchers reported that the ideal conditions for major wildfires are now aligning across different parts of the world at more than double the rate they did nearly 50 years ago."

Well, yeah. That's not surprising, but it's always good to have your spidey-sense confirmed by data.

I'm pretty happy here on Bluesky. Lots of good people and good info. Also, most folks can spell and know basic grammar.

YouTube video by Next Level Soul TV Dog Power | Official Trailer | Next Level Soul

I don't know how we have horse sports in the Summer Olympics but no dog sports in the Winter Olympics. Here's the trailer from "Dog Power," a short film done by my buddy Kale Casey.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XYu...

Well, here in the valleys of SW Oregon, we finally had a good 3-4 days of winter but by the end of the week, we will hit 60+ degrees.

Start making your summer/fall (spring?) fire & smoke plans and work on that defensible space around your home. Heat and lightning are coming.

Yep. This is a complex problem that is being shoehorned into a solution that has had very little analysis, much less any look at unintended consequences. I do think we need a consolidated all-risk incident response service, but it must be done deliberately with an eye towards future decision-making.

AI trolling keeps getting worse. I just got a LinkedIn message from a guy who thinks I am a licensed freight broker and wants to sell me this cool new software (complete with flatbed and dry van options) to help manage loads.

I have no idea how AI teased that out of my profile.

Map from poweroutage.us of the Texas panhandle and adjacent areas. Multiple thousand customers have had their power turned off today to prevent downed power lines from sparking wildfires

Public safety power shutoffs (PSPS) have begun in the rural Texas panhandle. The strongest winds will kick in by early afternoon as cirrus continue to thin out.

G. Washington:

"I cannot but hope and believe that the good sense of the people will ultimately get the better of their prejudices; and that order and sound policy, tho' they do not come so soon as one wou'd wish, will be produced from the present unsettled and deranged state of public affairs.”

YouTube video by thevideojukebox2 Barry White -You Are My First My Last My Everything. ( 1974 )

It's not Valentine's Day without Barry. I hope you all have a good one.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUaU...

Or a research scientist, an MD, a firefighter, or a foreign affairs officer. Anywhere they have come across expertise or an org culture that places service above self they have tried to wreck it.

I can't think of a Cabinet official that'd be able to make it on an incident management team. 2/2

I admit, I've thought about this too much today. It shows, I think, a massive contempt for accomplished people that seems all too common in this administration. You can fake it enough to become a Cabinet secretary, but you can't fake a pilot's license, much less being a Coast Guard pilot. 1/

This kind of article is becoming way too commonplace.

YouTube video by the disaster gal Stop Calling Them "Natural" Disasters

I'm giving the video essay thing a try. youtu.be/9WBzn2mtbBk?...

She's @phibi16.bsky.social

YouTube video by the disaster gal Stop Calling Them "Natural" Disasters

Proud Dad brag incoming.

Here's my daughter talking about how disasters are not natural. (She is way smarter than her parents.)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WBz...

I just found out tonight that there is a romance sub-genre about wildland firefighters. I confess, I'm a bit taken aback by it all. The guys on the covers look nothing like any wildland firefighter I ever met, though perhaps I was distracted by other things, like, you know, the fire.

www.nwf.org/Northern-Roc...

Famous: Richard Linklater.

Infamous: Charles Harrelson (Woody's father).

In the middle: Rex Tillerson.

Firefighters Wore Gear Containing “Forever Chemicals.” The Forest Service Knew and Stayed Silent for Years. As early as 2021, government officials were alerted to the presence of potentially dangerous chemicals known as PFAS in pants used by wildland firefighters, according to emails obtained by ProPublica.

Tough article that is already getting a lot of commentary from the wildland fire community. This is looking like a pattern from agency leadership--they downplayed smoke exposure over the years and now we find out the same thing happened with PFAS in PPE clothing.
www.propublica.org/article/fore...