Howl

I saw the best snow of my season destroyed by madness,
melting hysterical naked,
dragging crystals through elite trails at dawn,
looking for a freezing fix...

With my apologies to Mr Ginsberg...

I'm almost reeling from the emotional beating My Mountain meted out last night, or rather Mother Nature's indifference meted out on my innocent self.  After a humbling night...tiptoeing around what's left of My Mountain, I felt like I was slinking outta there this morning at 0830...I may be taking all this a little too personally...

I grabbed a couple of things at the market and took refuge in the DaveCave.

After I steamed up a pair of Caspers Famous Hot Dogs (with everything-hold the relish) for lunch, I heard the bluster of increasing winds outside. Before long the Tweets started coming in...

@SkiNorthstar: "It's snowing in the Village at #Northstar!"

@sugarbowl1939: "It's snowing! We need your help to keep it around - do your snow dance!"

@skialpine: "It's snowing @skialpine! Everyone, share your pics! #yayforsnow"

@skihomewood: "It is #snowing at Homewood! WooooHooooo! Who's excited?"

Is this My Salvation? Probably not. Freezing temps will however, improve my world by orders of magnitude. The snow will improve everyone's mood and outlook, even if it won't be measured in feet...

To sleep, perchance to dream...

The Devil's Arithmetic Visits The Valley of Speed

 I've been thinking about this all day. News is slowly leaking out from Reno and Stead Field. I'm struck by the misinformation that the field reporters are providing the viewers of the 24/7 CableNews channels. One handsome guy on FoxNews reported that mechanical issues might have caused Friday's crash...then went on to call the offending part an "Elevator Trim Raise"

I'm pretty sure he means "Elevator Trim Tab"...

It turns out there was a similar incident at the 1998 Reno Air Races.

Seven time AMA Motocross Champion, Bob "Hurricane" Hannah piloting another highly modified P51D, lost his left elevator trim tab during the Saturday Gold Heat Race, and "Voodoo" shot straight up pulling 10+Gs of deceleration, causing Hannah to black out. Hannah regained consciousness  at 9000ft, regained control, called a Mayday and landed safely. Voodoo sat out the rest of the weekend.

Voodoo's missing left elevator trim tab

I witnessed this from the fenceline in the Valley of Speed, far from the grandstands and the Home Pylon. Until today I'd never heard the whole story of Hannah and Voodoo's narrow escape.

It's the rare man who can keep it together when confronted with 10Gs. I think it's fair to assume that Jimmy blacked out when the Galloping Ghost shot skyward in front of the Pits Friday afternoon. The plane's lazy tumble from the top of the climb into the fatal dive without any throttle input, would imply an impaired-pilot situation.

That so many eyewitness pilots said the Jimmy did everything he could to keep his craft out of the crowd, indicates to me that Jimmy was probably coming to and instinctively pulling back on the stick in the final second or so of the fatal dive. There's no substitute for experience, and Jimmy Leeward had experience...in spades. The 50ft or so difference between impacting the tarmac and the VIP Boxes versus crashing into the grandstand probably reduced casualties by a factor of five...Godspeed Jimmy, good on ya'.

The Devil's Other Arithmetic

The Metric System...sorry European Readers, not your Metric System...we Americans don't cotton to your metric system (unless we're American Soldiers, who've been conversant in meters and kilometers since the Marshall Plan)

No I'm talking Web Metrics here...that's American Geek Dialect for Web Measuring...click counting at it's most basic and downright intrusive data collection at it's most extreme.

I've been writing my little...what does KirkVallus' sister call it..."his blog about the weather and other stuff?" for a couple of years. Until Google's Blogger Service added their "Stats" feature in the spring of 2009 I had no idea if I even had any readers aside from a couple of characters who are friends and appear in CorduroyPlanet from time to time. Since last spring I've been averaging 30-35 page views a day. CorduroyPlanet is a labor of love, I like it advertizing-free, and outside of posting a link on Facebook or Twitter from time to time, I've done nothing to try and build a commercially viable audience.

So imagine my surprise when I had six comments in need of moderation this morning! After I published them, I clicked on the Stats Tab and my jaw hit the desk! Over 4000 views of Friday night's "Chilled" blog!

I was dumbfounded! I clicked through the Stats Tabs and found that commenters on a couple of Tech Blogs had linked to my blog. Throughout the day, I looked in every hour or so and the hits just kept coming. Page views hit 10K in 22 hours.

Blogger Stats is "Web Metrics Lite" It tracks a few things, but it isn't intrusive to visitors to my blog, and doesn't give nearly the in depth, detailed info that the industry standard Google Analytics does. I do get a look at Referring urls and Referring Pages...curious, I clicked through and found links on several Techie and Gearhead websites.

Devil's Arithmetic

I got pounded on a British Gearhead Forum for being "The blogger on that link doesn't have a clue what he's talking about" I followed that guy's link to the 1998 Voodoo story and photo.

Here's the links that linked CorduroyPlanet...these were the major drivers of the click storm:

SlashDot linked James Gosling's Blog link, and about half the page views came from these two sites.

I'm grateful to have all these folks read my screed...I just wish it wasn't a Train Wreck Event that caused all the commotion. I'd have preferred the traffic went to the posts I'm most proud of like my Father's Day Blast, or my Proposal for a Lincoln Highway Centennial Bicycle Tour.

I did get a hint last year when I wrote daily from the Valley of Speed about the Reno Air Races and a non-fatal crash on Saturday. I got many visits from European readers for those blogs.

As much as I hate what happened Friday, the Air Racing Community will regroup, emotions will ease, the NTSB will issue their findings, and everyone can relax once again. The Leeward family will go on with their hearts heavy, and we all will pray that the Reno Air Races will return to us next September.

Rain Out!

I got my sleep today...I even slept through the Giants' game.

It's raining all the way up Friday night at 11PM.

Hopefully I'll have some positive news come Saturday!

Stay tuned and thanks for reading!

What?

I'm up at 9:59PM...I was just watching the noon news!

My ride home from work was uneventful...my night at work? Not so much...

When I got to work, two tractors were down with blown hydraulic hoses on their front blades. Tuesday and Wednesday are the Graveyard Wrench's nights off. Fortunately, one of the Park Groomers knows how to build hoses. He said give him a shout on the 2-way when we got the hoses off, and he's come in a build the new ones.

We started tearing down the hoses when the guys found one leak was just a loose fitting. I jumped into that cat and rumbled off into the night...the guys were still working on my tractor....it was 1AM.

An hour later the radio announced that my tractor was ready. I ran back to the shop, got in my ride, and handed the Bison off to another operator who was wallowing around in a winchcat.

An hour later, I was digging a lift terminal and bang! Another burst blade hose! By now the Boss was in the shop...I'd called him at midnight with the sad news of our situation, and to ask if there was anyone we could call in to help.

So, I checked my hydraulic fluid level, and roared back to the shop. The blown hose was the next in line from the one just replaced. We had it off the cat in three minutes. At the hose bench, we found a new hose, with the right fittings on both ends that was just an inch and a half longer than the original. On it went...I was back at 'em in under 10 minutes! I was feeling pretty smug...I finished the plow job, and started cleaning up my mess.

An hour later my eyelids were getting heavy...I set my iPod for 20 minutes, parked nose-up out of the way, reclined the seatback and closed my eyes. I got 20 winks despite my suddenly chattering crew...

My iPod woke me with it's "DEFCON 5" alarm, it was 5:30AM...I put the seat back up, turned on my lights and headed up, but there was a warning light going off, and my engine sounded rough...the flashing warning light was displaying a flash code...damn, back to the shop...swapped for the Bison, and low man on the totem pole got back in a winch...

We got everything done, no small miracle...

That was my night...no wonder I slept most of ten hours straight!

More Wind In The Lodgepoles

The morning after my Excellent SushiFest, I decided that a photo or two of the new sashimi knife would be good for the Blog...thanks to the Celebration Ale, I'd passed on cleaning up the kitchen, and the knife was filthy...

I filled the dish pan with hot soapy water, and enjoyed another cup of French Roast. On the radio, Armstrong & Getty were in fine fettle...I was even laughing out loud as they riffed on the latest Train Wreck News, Charlie Sheen Dept.

In time, I did the dishes...my new knife air dried in the dish rack, and I grabbed my digicam, some yardage for a background, and set up my little photoshoot.

Just Damn...the knife dried with a haze on the beautiful steel blade...I grabbed the Windex™ and a paper towel...spritzed and began to buff out the haze...

I held the blade with the hollow ground side down, the back of the blade was just wall to wall shine, you know that dripping wet chrome look?

I rubbed for all I was worth...the blade was buffing out nicely...then the tip of my index finger snuck around the edge of the knife and I effortlessly sliced the fingertip...OUCH!

Day Two's BandAid...more for cushion than anything else.

Pay attention douche! Yes, it bled like crazy...I messed up the sink in the bathroom. I trussed it up with some BandAids and spent the rest of the day banging the offended digit into just about everything in the DaveCave

I slept on it, and took a look 24 hours later...what a beautiful slice! What a blade!

OK, now with my Prime Index Finger on the bench, I had time to head out with my camera to make some photos of the new snow...Stepping onto my driveway, I was greeted with quite a zephyr...the East Wind was howling...I hadn't opened the curtains all morning, so I'd missed the trees thrashing around in the wind.

I drove past Donner Lake...wall to wall whitecaps. Looking up at Donner Peak, it looked like the Himalayas...right out of the pages of National Geographic! Up I went, scouting for a good place to shoot. There was tons of blowing snow, which eliminated my first few choices. Finally I found a wide spot on the shoulder, rolled down my window and snapped a few pics...

My shutter release finger was just a little tender, even with a new BandAid, so I used the middle finger. The wind had to be 35MPH. I was surprised at how much snow was still around to be moved like that. It was freakin' cold too!

Don't Say It Outloud!

Ouch my ears!
I was lounging in bed Sunday morning, waiting for the coffee to brew, before settling in to view the Formula One Race from Valencia, Spain. These lazy Sunday mornings are very dear to your's truly, and the only real change in my routine over four decades is that now I read the online version of the Sunday Chronicle instead of the paper version.

Back in the day, I'd crack open the Sunday "Pink Section" first. The Pink Section is still printed on pink paper, and it's real title is "Datebook". It's the Arts & Entertainment section. In the 21st Century, there's much more live motorsports shown on television, so my first look at the Sunday Chronicle is now the Sporting Green, so I can check to make sure I'm not missing any racing action...Motorsports is a Spring-Fall sport...gotta make hay while the Sun shines!

For most of my life, the Sporting Green was printed on green newsprint. Sometime in the past 10-15 years, the publisher quit using the green paper due to the ongoing belt-tightening in the Dead Tree Sector. In the last year or two, they've tried returning to form in their attempt to lure back some wayward readers, and now they print the green background on plain newsprint. I'd venture that this pleases the paper's habitual readers, but I doubt that it will be an effective siren song to the lost readership.

Thursday night before our Tomales Bay trip, I laid eyes on the new Sporting Green, and it really looks weird. It's shiny green now, it feels weird, and I admit that my choice of sports has evolved over the years.

I don't follow NFL football much anymore. The last fair weather weekends in the Fall are too valuable to spend indoors in front of the TV from 10AM 'till 10PM (don't forget Sunday Night Football is every week of the season now) So, along with unfettered free-agency's effect on the League, I'm just not that into Pro Football that I feel the need to read every word on every team anymore.

I guess the NFL finally figured out that guys like me wandered off the farm, so to speak, enabled by ESPN's "NFL Primetime", that returned our Sunday afternoons, but gave us every high- and low-light in a snappy hour once the games ended for the day. Now I don't even actively watch the NFL until playoff time.

The NFL Strikes Back...hello "Sunday Night Football"...goodbye "NFL Primetime"...sigh...

NBA Basketball? No interest. NHL Hockey? Not enough to read about it. Baseball? I'm a Giant's fan, but I get everything I need from the TV Broadcasts...the Giant's broadcast team of John Miller, Duane Kuiper, and Mike Krukow are the best since I grew up listening to Russ Hodges and Lonn Simmons. Today, I follow the SF Giants on Facebook, so everything Giants comes to me there.

With the exception of the SF Giants, all of my sports are "Second Tier Sports" in Newspaper-Speak. Motorsports, Bicycle Racing, Sailing, Wintersports, Outdoor Recreation, Fishing and Camping. Niche Sports are not well served by newspapers anymore. Still, the Chronicle does have an Outdoor Section in the Sporting Green every Thursday (though I hate that they dropped the Fishing Report) Maybe it's not ironic that I gladly pay $25/year to CoastsideFishingClub.com for access to the Fishing Reports Forums, but won't subscribe to the paper. It's here that newspapers will never be able to compete with Internet sources.

In Truckee, the daily Chronicle is a dollar...($3.00 on Sundays!), it's not the Final Edition, it's the Early Edition, printed at midnight or earlier, it requires that I get up and get dressed and drive a half mile...where I need exact change to buy a copy from a newspaper rack...so it's hardly accurate to call it a Newspaper when compared to the up-to-the-second nature of the 'Net.

The Chronicle's Outdoor Section is anchored by Tom Steinstra, NorCal's Outdoor Writer Emeritus. I've linked to Tom's Winter Prediction Columns here, I own several of Tom's Guidebooks, and read him regularly. In Tom's Thursday Column this week, he coined a new word: "Sprinter"

This hurt my ears:
"One phenomenon this year in the Sierra is that a new season called "sprinter" has arrived. That is when the weather doesn't seem to know if it's winter, spring or summer. At Caples Lake, for instance, nestled at 7,800 feet along Highway 88 near Carson Pass, it was 20 degrees at dawn Tuesday and yet in the 80s by Wednesday afternoon."

It's bad enough to endure this cool lingering season...but the cutesy name is just plain cruel! Say it's ain't so, Tom! Take it back...Hello Kitty is an indoor pet, Hello Kitty doesn't do camping...me-ouch!

Cleanup

I slept in this morning. A long day pulling crab pots and chasing halibut on Tomales Bay really takes it out of you.

I thought I'd just do a little cleaning up around my world. Nothing too strenuous, mind you...

I retrieved my crab gear from the SurgeUrge Compound. I climbed into the boat to grab the second pot and I heard SturgeUrge's Ex call my name through the lush fig tree. She was there to pick up BonnieDog...they've been sharing BonnieDog since they split up a few years back. I hadn't talked to Ex in at least a year. We spent a few minutes catching up, and she seemed interested in this blog. I gave her a TruckeeDave business card so she didn't have to remember CorduroyPlanet's address. Returning to the Ancestral Digs, I washed the crab gear and the bait cooler, and they're drip-drying out back in the Diggins.

Last night, while SturgeUrge was cleaning our crab after dinner, I tore into his home PC which bedly needed some tidying-up. I dumped his temporary files (all 3500 of 'em), updated and ran AdAware, downloaded Spybot Search and Destroy, updated and ran it, and made a mental note of stuff to investigate before I sit down to his computer, download Revo Uninstaller, install it, and do a thorough cleanup.

In an hour or so, the sun will be off the last pile of privet trimmings, and I'll chop them down to size and put the bits into the green recycling container.

In the Ancestral Diggins, my arugula seed sprouted...I'm still waiting on the basil seed to sprout...

After Sunday's Formula One, the European Grand Prix, and a quick run to the farmer's market for some vine-ripe tomatoes, I'll turn off the water and do some re-plumbing for the 21st Century Irrigation Project.

I plan to savor these chores...for their restorative value, don'tcha know! I am a cockeyed optimist, no doubt about it!

I spent some time poking around @CorduroyPlanet's Twitter Feed. @PistenBullyUSA linked to a story about their Beach Tech machines going to the Gulf Region to help clean up oil from the beaches.

I still think the best strategy is to keep the oil off the beaches and out of the wetlands and salt marshes in the first place! I guess that the Feds are still not accepting help from foreign countries. Pity that we can't enlist the Dutch...they know a thing or two about keeping the sea out of their country, much of which is below sea level...they have a huge fleet of skimming vessels and support vessels to deal with North Sea spills.

I see Boreal is going to turn it's Castle Peak Quad Chair the weekend of July 10th and 11th! In past years, My Mountain has turned one lift on the Fourth of July...not to sell tickets to the public, but to entertain our stockholders!

With all these pesky Baggy Troughs hanging around well into Summertime, I wonder if there will be a High Sierra lift turning in August...I wonder...

Serendipity Strikes Again

I awoke sans alarm clock Saturday morning a little after 0700. I like to listen to the Kim Komando Show to get my weekly dose of all things digital. Kim Komando refers to herself as "America's Digital Goddess", and hosts the most listened-to Technology Radio Show in the country. Her website is my favorite "Macro" Tech website, loaded with helpful news, info and tips to keep my technology serving me...instead of the other way around!

Kim's Show is on from 7AM to 10AM Pacific LIVE. Here in the Inland Valley, the show is tape delayed until Noon Pacific on Sacramento's KSTE AM650 and until 9PM on KNEW AM 910

At the DaveCave I listen on KKOH AM780 Sunday afternoons at 4PM (I usually watch "The Train Wreck News Magazine" on Sacramento's CW31 on Saturday and Sunday mornings...but that's another story)

So, I tuned into Kim's Show on the internet. While listening, I checked @CorduroyPlanet's Twitter Feed and saw a tweet from @planetski that chilled me to my core: "Lift Collapse in New Zealand" with a link to the story.

I went to PlanetSki (we PlanetWhatevers stick together) and fortunately this wasn't a human disaster!

"Preliminary assessment is the tower has sustained significant shock load from natural release of cable ice and this is not due to any design or structural defect in the lift," says a statement on the resort's web site. The damage occurred before the resort opened for the season. Turoa, upon Mt Ruapehu's Southwest Side, opened Thursday June 17th on their Bunny Hill, "Alpine Meadow" The New Zealand Herald has the story

The "High Noon Express" is a Dopplemayr High Speed Detachable that serves the top of Turoa's terrain. From the photos, it looks like a huge build-up of Rime loaded the cable, towers, and tower machinery, and when the rime released, the dynamic loads folded over a lift tower. The Resort's website says the lift will be up and running in 3-4 weeks.

Once I understood the story, and my heartrate returned to resting, I perused PlanetSki and found some interesting stories...A fellow received a $200,000 grant from the World Bank via the United Nations to Paint a mountain in Peru white in order to highlight Climate Change.
A story on ski resorts re-opening in North America, and even a Train Wreck Story; Charlie Sheen Department!

Finally, a little light reading! What a great way to start my weekend. I'll be planting in the Diggins, and fishing Monday...good times.

Moving On

One More Train Wreck
At the risk of driving CorduroyPlanet into a ditch beside the Information Superhighway, and becoming a Train Wreck myself...I have one more thought on the subject of Train Wrecks...Big Media Division.

This morning I was listening to Armstrong and Getty, the Sacramento based Radio Talk Show. I'm a regular listener, and frequently start my day chortling away at their funny mix of comedy, culture, and political observation. They don't hit you over the head with the Politics, rather they mine that rich vein for the hypocrisy...all the better to highlight the hilarity therein.

The Set-Up
Tuesday, Americans in twelve states went to the polls, to choose in Primary Elections, who would run in November for various State and Federal Offices. Most of the Political Coverage on TV has been trumpeting the "Anti-Incumbent Ferver" supposedly sweeping the country. Armstrong and Getty addressed the subject by playing clips from the Cable TV's Comedy Central show, "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart. Stewart's hilarious take on the Primaries and more pointedly, his take on Big Media's Anti-Incumbent Narrative can be viewed here. The bit begins about a minute into the show and runs about five minutes. Can't watch at work, or prefer to listen? You can hear Armstrong and Getty's show here. Stewart's bit begins around 30 minutes into the podcast.

Hitting the high points for those who are too busy to watch the clip, Stewart's bit began with clips of many Talking Heads referencing the Anti-Incumbent mood of the Electorate. Stewart then lowered the boom on the media citing these results:

In 84 Major Races with Incumbents...82 Incumbents won. Of the two who didn't win, one was forced into a Runoff Election. There was ONE incumbent who lost, Nevada's Republican Governor, who began losing his re-election bid almost from the first day of his term.

While serving his first term, Governor Gibbons was accused first of "using State Resources to pursue an extramarital affair", then sued for sexual harassment, then accused of "impeding an ongoing criminal investigation", and finally endured a bitter divorce battle. This in a state of Fiercely Independent Westerners who voted 53% for Barack Obama in 2008.

My take home from Stewart's bit was this: Big Media was more concerned with maintaining their Anti-Incumbent Voter Narrative! Radio funnymen, Armstrong and Getty this morning said that among all of Big Media's News Outlets, only the Daily Show reported that 82 of the 84 Incumbents did not lose their re-election bids! Stewart did a fine and funny job of skewering Big Media for it!

So, in 2010's America it's come to this...Given today's media landscape, if you want Hard News you need to watch a Talk Show on a Cable TV Comedy Network, or listen to a Comedy Talk Radio Program! The Daily Show actually won two Peabody Awards for TV Journalism for their coverage of the 2000 and 2004 Elections!

Is it any wonder that Big Media continues to run off the rails?

Big Media's slavish flogging of their precious narrative instead of just reporting the facts is exactly why Big Media is an ongoing Train Wreck! Americans won't pay to be lied to! They've been voting with their feet for a number of years...witness the cratering of Newspaper Circulation, and Network TV Viewership, as well as the crashing stock prices of former Blue Chip Media Companies. Even the New York Times, "America's Newspaper of Record" is selling off assets before they become worthless!

Is it just a coincidence that the sources I cite here are "New Media" sources? No, it is The Story!

I want to know what is really going on in my country, my neighborhood, and around the world. Sadly, like millions of other former customers of the Legacy Media, I've had to search out Alternative Sources to get the News every day.

"Alternative Media" or "New Media" is already well on it's way to becoming the new "Mainstream Media"

In the Marketplace the "Consumer is King." Media who report the facts will prevail...unless reckless bureaucrats decide that Big Media is "Too Big To Fail"

Should that come to pass...well, that is a whole different story.

More Train Wrecks

I'll keep this light today
Not all train wrecks are unfortunate. There's another kind of train wreck disaster that Americans can't seem to get enough of. I'm talking about Celebrity Train Wrecks.

After a decade or more, television has shrunk from the last remnants of it's once golden promise, thanks to Writer's Strikes, Director's Strikes, the proliferation of Cable and Digital TV, and the general decline of Western Culture.

Witness the rise of Reality TV. Reality TV is not reality per se, it's a TV approximation of what the few remaining TV Writers think will sell under the guise of Reality TV. Reality TV and it's precursor, Tabloid TV, need a steady stream of Celebrity Train Wrecks (CTWs) just to keep the eyes tuning in. In turn these CTWs get a last bit of publicity on their way to forgotten status.

How else to explain Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Brittany Spears, David Hasslehoff, et al? Their collective 15 minutes was up what? Two to ten years ago? These "Stars" who mostly rest on their laurels today, unfortunately still rate paparazzi treatment because they've revealed their underwear choices on film often while resting (drunkenly) on those same famous laurels!

These are the CTWs of today's masses...pray for Western Civilization...

I prefer the more pithy, mature CTWs...the survivors who've become like Performance Artists...or CTW Installations. Courtney Love comes to mind. Unfortunate marital history aside, Ms Love raised the CTW bar as high as any.

Curt Cobain's widow, Ms Love was among the first celebs to utilize the internet to speak to "the Fans". She always called a spade a spade, and was fearless in her willingness to call out her fellow Rock n' Roll stars when she felt their actions didn't serve their fans (or more to the point-Customers!)

At the Dawn of Digital Music Downloads and the beginning of Big Music's decline and the rise of online Piracy, Ms Love called out the boys of Metallica, saying in effect: "Man up Boys, you don't need Big Music and a Record Contract anymore! Write and record better songs, and sell them iTunes style on the 'Net for 99 cents! If you can still write great music, you'll still bank a fortune, with the added bonus of breaking the Record Companies hegemony, freeing all future artists to create, record and tour without owing their very souls to The Man."

Let it be said, that as a Music Consumer for my entire post-puberty life, I'm not convinced that the rise of digital music caused the decline of Big Music. I still buy music on CDs. I've bought exactly one 99 cent song from iTunes, since I got my first iPod three years ago.

I adhere to the Fair Use Doctrine, that is I make a copy of each new CD, load the original in my CD Jukebox, and use to copy for mobile use. I have a 24 disc clamshell that goes to work with me, on trips, long road trips, and the occasional party. Even at the low list price of $20, 24 CDs are nearly $500 to replace.

Just when the Digital Revolution was cranking up, the reigning Titans of popular music seemed to begin "running out of steam"...suddenly established acts weren't cranking out Great Albums anymore, but albums with one decent tune or hit, fleshed out with a dozen weak tracks nobody wanted to buy. Concurrently, the choice of artists and styles exploded, further diluting the purchasing power of the legions of music buyers, making Super Platinum Mega Hits even more rare. Don't get me started on what became of Rock n' Roll on the Radio...it's too sad to commit to words.

This was the juncture when Courtney Love called out those Titans...alas Ms Love's CTW Lifestyle had taken it's toll on her, and she was unable to practice what she preached. She still was fodder for the Rock n' Roll Press, Tabloid TV, and the Supermarket News Stands.

Also in my Celebrity Train Wreck Pantheon:

World Class Makeup Abuser, Tammy Faye Bakker

Saturday Night Live's Hypertension Poster Boy, Chris Farley

The Charlie Sheen Saga

Ex-Train Wreck Robert Downey Jr, now rebounding to become an American Treasure-Acting Division.

These Olympian Celebrity Train Wrecks have all given me Joy. Each lived large, and didn't hurt anyone but themselves. You might argue Tammy Faye, but I believe she was oblivious to her Scumbag Husband's hijinx "In service to Jeee-Zussss...Say Hallelujah!"

Train Wrecks

"Train wrecks" are everywhere I look lately...

The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill
Whatta mess! What makes this a Train Wreck in my estimation, is even though A Roman Legion's-Worth of various Governments' First Responders have had 40+ days to get up to speed, there's still this awful tar and oil washing up on clean beaches in several states! Were these Public Servants surprised that the mess would find the beaches nearly six weeks after the spill became the Lead Story on each and every TV Newscast? Were they "going by the book" for the sake of the sugar sand beaches...or their damn book?

The trick to staying on top of this disaster is to fight it before it comes ashore. Keep it off the beaches and out of the Salt Marshes, Wetlands, and Estuaries. Dispatch ALL of the Corps of Engineers' dredges to the Gulf Shores and build a temporary Seawall of sand to protect the barrier islands, and the above cited environmental treasures. Worry about the Permits after the fact!

TV News Teases
Over my weekend, I was writing an extra blog about the Heavy Winter/Bad Fire Season Connection. I had the SF Giant's Game on the TV, though I was more engrossed in writing than watching. What caught my ear was a TV News Tease asking: Does our long, cold, wet Spring herald a Dangerous Fire Season? I swear Steam came out of my ears! I understand that Local Television Stations' business is attracting and keeping Viewers. However, given the historical record cited in the newspaper article that spawned the Monday Extra Blog, I found the alarmist tone of the News Tease disgraceful, and said so.

This leads to another ongoing Train Wreck...

Newspaper Circulation Plummets
(And it's handmaiden, Network TV News losing viewers) Hardly a week goes by where I don't hear or read another lament about our Mainstream Media's shrinking customer base. Most often this is spun as "Free Internet News hurts the Real Journalist's Broadcasts and Broadsheets" Scornful journalists hear this and think "Pajama-clad 30-something bloggers living in their parent's basements" without a Real Editor, or Guidelines are stealing our viewers/readers!

Remember the 80's? Alternative Music" propelled by qualities that made for good sales numbers, grew to become Mainstream Music. Most of those former readers and viewers of the "Mainstream Media" now get their news from the "New Media", also known as "Alternative Media" The same thing that happened in the music business in the 80's is happening now to Big Media. News Consumers want the News...un-spun, unbiased, and without being talked down to, when it's still new enough to be called "News"

My Neighborhood Oil Spill
Today's News came to @CorduroyPlanet via Twitter. Remember the "Tipped Over Truck" that closed Interstate 80 on the Donner Summit during the last big Snowstorm just before the Memorial Day Weekend? A semi jack-knifed, tipped over, and spilled 3000 gallons of diesel fuel into the freeway median and a culvert that led to Summit Creek, which in turn empties into Donner Lake. Fortunately, most of the 3000 gallons is still in the soil of the median. Clean-up of the soil began today, and will continue until Thursday. The Eastbound fast lane will be closed during clean-up operations. No fuel was detected in Summit Creek today, and clean-up continues all the way down to Donner Lake. Quick deployment of booms obviated any Holiday Closures on Donner Lake.