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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>-----Original Message-----<br>From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of BillK via extropy-chat<br>Sent: Monday, 5 February, 2024 9:49 AM<br>To: Extropy Chat <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org><br>Cc: BillK <pharos@gmail.com><br>Subject: [ExI] California storms</p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>I've just seen a news report that California is being hit with bad storms and floods.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><<a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/california-storm-trees-homes-floods-2890594"><span style='color:windowtext;text-decoration:none'>https://inews.co.uk/news/world/california-storm-trees-homes-floods-2890594</span></a>><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Quotes:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Deadly California storm wreaks havoc with trees uprooted and homes damaged Man killed by falling tree as hundreds of thousands are left without power and canyon homes are evacuated<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>By Claire Gilbody-Dickerson February 5, 2024<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>---------------<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>The report also said -<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Just to the south in San Jose, emergency crews pulled occupants out of the windows of a car stranded by floodwater and rescued people from a homeless encampment alongside a rising river.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>------------------<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>That might be the homeless camp that Spike was posting about a few months ago.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>I hope we hear soon that our California members are OK.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>BillK<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>_______________________________________________<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>Hi BillK, thx I hadn't heard of a tree slaying some hapless prole near here, but such is the nature of news in our times: something happens right in one's own neighborhood, we hear about it from a friend in Jolly Olde England, because we have no local news sources and even if we did, they might not report that.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>Coincidental for you to mention that, for yesterday I was out walking in the gale. I am from Florida, and one of the things I really miss is loud angry weather. We don't have much of that in California. A good righteous storm is unusual. So when it happens, as it did yesterday, I test my hiking gear by donning everything and going out around the neighborhood in a driving gale. Oh what fun, said the crazy bahstid out there walking in this hurricane.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>Well, it was kinda. I am not a very beefy sort, as Adrian can attest. More of a beef jerky sort perhaps, but with bones imbedded within the little bit of flesh, so my surface area to volume ratio is high enough to make for great sport in high wind conditions.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>While I was out at the park near my house, I saw that a tree had blown across the walkway, the one the childring use on their way to school. I was not man enough to drag it off the path, and the grassy area to the right of the tree is a mud bog now, so I went and fetched my neighbor. Unfortunately, he too is a superannuated gentleman, so the two of us together were not substantial enough to drag that tree off the path:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'> </span><img border=0 width=364 height=234 style='width:3.7916in;height:2.4375in' id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image003.jpg@01DA5821.51A19540"><span style='color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>Fortunately, technology came to our rescue, as technology is known to do for those of us who lack actual strength and brains. I went home and fetched MISTER CHAIN SAW!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>With my neighbor as the local cheering section, I reduced the reclining flora to KINDLING with Mister Chain Saw. We could pretend we were doing a good deed clearing a path for those childring to get to school. But of course, Mister Chain Saw is the greatest man toy ever invented. It makes a lot of noise, it destroys stuff, it gives a man a sense of power like nobody’s business and as a marvelous bonus, it even provides a delightful level of actual danger. It is practically a testosterone injection! There is a good reason why Mister Chain Saw is the weapon of choice for Duke Nukem. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>My bride wondered what had gotten into me when I returned home. Mildly alarmed she was, while simultaneously intrigued and hoping I would do more of whatever drug I had secretly devoured while on my insane stroll thru the gale force winds.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>BillK, do not be alarmed sir. This is the kinda stuff we yanks do for fun. We don’t have redcoats to fight anymore, and the state of California has made it practically illegal to carry a firearm while not committing an actual felony. If one is carrying in order to carry out a felony, our legal system will let that go. But the local constabulary takes a dim view if one merely carries a firearm while ot committing an actual felony. So I couldn’t just go home and get Mister Thirty Aught Six and blast the damn weed out of the way. Mister Chain Saw got the job.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>There’s more rain and wind coming this week. I am hoping to go hunting for downed trees. I still have gasoline left in Mister Chain Saw.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>