Posted On: Saturday - May 10th 2025 8:36PM MST
In Topics: Music California Global Climate Stupidity Cars Environmental Stupidity
"Land Ho!" Nah, it was more like "Hey! There's a big freaking island out there!" Long ago, I spent some time in Los Angeles. I'd been there for a few months already, spending lots of time right there at the coast. I can't remember if we were at Hermosa or Manhattan beach, but as I hung out with my colleagues I saw that huge island, Santa Catalina,
What the hell was that thing doing out there all of a sudden? Well, obviously visibility had been less than 35 miles, really MUCH less, so I hadn't seen Catalina during all the time I'd been there, due to that brown LA haze, that particulate smog that used to fill the LA basin. What was that stuff? Particulate pollution can be a lot of stuff, water droplets and particles, including, yeah carbon. It's not gaseous pollution, or you wouldn't be able to see it. Californy resident Jed Clampett explains this to a visitor:
With those wide-open freeways - yeah, I'm going back a ways!* - and, the new car culture, and way before the CARB**, car culture was big in southern Cal. See American Graffiti and songs by The Beach Boys and Jan & Dean. This was long after the heyday of those guys and the movies, but the cars were all there, even more of them still and still spewing out quite a lot of particulates.
You get all that nasty stuff into the air from non-ideal internal combustion. (Stoichiometry - now there's something to chew on.) There's Nitrogen coming into your intake (78% of air) that's OK for the working fluid but the idea is not to make Nitrogen compounds. Then, there's the carbon in the form of soot particles. Auto pollution controls and engine electronics, etc. have done a lot since that day I finally viewed Catalina Island from the LA beaches. With all that the chemists and engineers of that age had to deal with, I don't believe Carbon Dioxide would have been considered a problem. After all, it and water are the 2 PRODUCTS, not BY-PRODUCTS, of ideal combustion of hydrocarbons. The Hydrogen combines with the O2 to make water, and the Carbon with it to make CO2. What't the problem?
In fact, my old not-so-clean-burning muscle car is kinda MORE carbon neutral than Greta might give it credit for. After all, if I'm sending the Carbon out the tailpipe as soot, then it's not being combined with the nasty planet-killing Carbon Dioxide. That's good, right? Any Chemists, Chemical Engineers, car guys, or just smart asses have anything to say about this? It doesn't sound like it, but comments are always welcome here.
Californians and their government, and I use "their" loosely here, have gone beyond worrying about real pollution. They did a good job with it, but you don't just quit saving the planet just because the air is cleaner. Saving the planet pays pretty well, so you find something new. The Climate Calamity™ pays very well!
In the meantime, I'll now feel good about saving the planet as I drive my muscle car that spits out soot to save from putting it into greenhouse-gas form. I'm not in LA, so I'm not responsible for that brown LA haze. Come Monday, it'll be alright...
For the ParrotHeads, this one's from Living and Dying in 3/4 Time. Perhaps it's been overplayed, but it's a nice tune. As for the lyric line that is the title of this post, let me tell you, I could NOT figure out what Jimmy was saying until about 20 years after I'd heard the song. How were you to find out? We didn't have the internet, dammit, much less fuel injection, catalytic converters, unleaded gas, and a view of Catalina Island. It just came to me one day.
Have a happy Sunday, Peakers. Thanks for reading and commenting. Come Monday, there will probably be another post.
PS: Because I saved the top image on that date, it was at that time of our 2 posts about the work done, and video made by, Climate Sanitist Tony Heller, aka, Toby Flenderson (Part 1 and Part 2) that I thought about this one. For the life of me, I can't see where that one led directly into this, but I can actually remember my thoughts of that moment.
* Perhaps the mid 1970s, Jim Rockford's time, were still before the time of the ubiquitous traffic jam, but that's just going by a TV show. (They didn't want to film really, really tedious car chase scenes I guess...) Commenter SafeNow could tell us the answer.
** They had carburetors, yes, but not the California Air Resources Board.
Comments:
Moderator
Monday - May 12th 2025 8:06AM MST
PS: OK, I'd heard of "the boards" back behind the goals before, but I didn't know what you meant, Mr. Anderson. Of course, they'd have ads now. Marketing "geniuses" find all manner of places for ads, including on escalator handrails. That was a new one for me!
M
Monday - May 12th 2025 7:23AM MST
PS
I'm guessing the clear boards got smeared up too quickly by the puck rebounding and the players being slammed into them.
Then they had the bright idea of putting ads on them. That definitely would have killed the idea.
I'm guessing the clear boards got smeared up too quickly by the puck rebounding and the players being slammed into them.
Then they had the bright idea of putting ads on them. That definitely would have killed the idea.
Ganderson
Sunday - May 11th 2025 3:57PM MST
PS
The boards are the.. um wall that surrounds a hockey rink. In indoor arenas, the boards were topped with plexiglass so that the damage a flying puck can do is less. Boards were usually painted white in indoor arenas but outdoors boards were made of , well, boards - they were wood colored. No plexiglass either., Although sometimes there was chain-link fence at the end of the rink behind the net.. When they built the Civic Center, they thought it would be cool to have the boards be clear so you could see more of the ice. It clearly did not catch on. Nowadays, all the boards are filled with ads anyway.
The Dead played at the Civic Center a bunch of times; Another notable show was July 3, 1978. You can find out on the archive as well.
The boards are the.. um wall that surrounds a hockey rink. In indoor arenas, the boards were topped with plexiglass so that the damage a flying puck can do is less. Boards were usually painted white in indoor arenas but outdoors boards were made of , well, boards - they were wood colored. No plexiglass either., Although sometimes there was chain-link fence at the end of the rink behind the net.. When they built the Civic Center, they thought it would be cool to have the boards be clear so you could see more of the ice. It clearly did not catch on. Nowadays, all the boards are filled with ads anyway.
The Dead played at the Civic Center a bunch of times; Another notable show was July 3, 1978. You can find out on the archive as well.
SafeNow
Sunday - May 11th 2025 2:01PM MST
PS
Heartfelt thanks, Alarmist, for calling attention to that Albert Hammond song. During the Rockford era, there was still such a thing as “rush hour” (2, actually); the freeways were speed-limit otherwise. A true true “muscle car” when I was in h.s.: A GTO or a 442. 400 hp. These sounded like a dual-outboard speedboats when they left the school parking lot, which was visible from many of the classrooms. Classes still in session stopped, as students launched themselves to the windows to watch. To share in the fun delusion. Other delusions: Buffet, and Rockford, as a fulfilling way of life. I think it is better to live life without pdelusions than with delusions, but the above were exceptions…these were harmless, escapist delusions.
Heartfelt thanks, Alarmist, for calling attention to that Albert Hammond song. During the Rockford era, there was still such a thing as “rush hour” (2, actually); the freeways were speed-limit otherwise. A true true “muscle car” when I was in h.s.: A GTO or a 442. 400 hp. These sounded like a dual-outboard speedboats when they left the school parking lot, which was visible from many of the classrooms. Classes still in session stopped, as students launched themselves to the windows to watch. To share in the fun delusion. Other delusions: Buffet, and Rockford, as a fulfilling way of life. I think it is better to live life without pdelusions than with delusions, but the above were exceptions…these were harmless, escapist delusions.
Moderator
Sunday - May 11th 2025 11:27AM MST
PS: That's the whole 3 hour show, Mr. G. Thanks. It'll have to wait in a tab for another day. Since I've got about 200 tabs up, maybe you can just explain to me what "clear boards" mean. I know it's something about behind the goals, right? What is the hockey of which you speak? [/Sikh immigrant to Calgary]
Moderator
Sunday - May 11th 2025 11:24AM MST
PS: Hello, Mr. Anderson. 413 didn't ring a bell, except that you've indicated where you live, and per the Duck: "The 413 area code is located in western Massachusetts, covering cities such as Springfield, Chicopee, and Pittsfield."
You have to deal with the Massholes, as per my post, but I guess they are closer in, inside the beltway. BTW, I was there for quite a while before I figured what this mysterious Route 128 was. I mean, most of it is the same road as the Interstate beltway, but that sounds like the old terminology.
I imagine they'd block off some roads for the filming, or at least some lanes. I wonder if sometimes part of the film crew were way late due to traffic. Then again, early to mid 1970s - it may not have been so bad then. No, Jim didn't get into too many traffic jams in his chase scenes. I suppose they could make 'em and cut them down to whatever they needed.
I don't know if it was more than once, but at least once, Jim drove his Firebird up onto a car carrier. The guys chasing him never looked up, or, if they did, just figured, oh, I guess the new Firebirds are out. (That's from another movie - see if you can come up with that one!)
"Made me want to get a Trans Am." Yup, some of us did... or something like it. I have not yet learned the Rockford J-turn though. You don't need a stick, I don't guess.
You have to deal with the Massholes, as per my post, but I guess they are closer in, inside the beltway. BTW, I was there for quite a while before I figured what this mysterious Route 128 was. I mean, most of it is the same road as the Interstate beltway, but that sounds like the old terminology.
I imagine they'd block off some roads for the filming, or at least some lanes. I wonder if sometimes part of the film crew were way late due to traffic. Then again, early to mid 1970s - it may not have been so bad then. No, Jim didn't get into too many traffic jams in his chase scenes. I suppose they could make 'em and cut them down to whatever they needed.
I don't know if it was more than once, but at least once, Jim drove his Firebird up onto a car carrier. The guys chasing him never looked up, or, if they did, just figured, oh, I guess the new Firebirds are out. (That's from another movie - see if you can come up with that one!)
"Made me want to get a Trans Am." Yup, some of us did... or something like it. I have not yet learned the Rockford J-turn though. You don't need a stick, I don't guess.
Moderator
Sunday - May 11th 2025 11:16AM MST
PS: Same thing for me re: the mountains in LA. From some spots, only on occasion, there'd be that beautiful big wall of rock up to the north.
I like that one, Alarmist. I've still got almost all the lyrics in my head.
I like that one, Alarmist. I've still got almost all the lyrics in my head.
Ganderson
Sunday - May 11th 2025 7:38AM MST
PS
And, today is the 48th anniversary of this Dead show from 5/11/1977, St. Paul Civic Center, the second best show I ever saw live, from the magical year of 1977.
The Civic Center, home of the late, lamented Minnesota Fighting Saints hockey team of the WHA, was the only major league hockey arena with clear boards. Don’t know why that’s important but I just thought it was interesting. It was replaced on the same spot by the Xcel Energy Center where the NHL’s Minnesota Wild play today.
https://youtu.be/2fM7FcAL-V4
And, today is the 48th anniversary of this Dead show from 5/11/1977, St. Paul Civic Center, the second best show I ever saw live, from the magical year of 1977.
The Civic Center, home of the late, lamented Minnesota Fighting Saints hockey team of the WHA, was the only major league hockey arena with clear boards. Don’t know why that’s important but I just thought it was interesting. It was replaced on the same spot by the Xcel Energy Center where the NHL’s Minnesota Wild play today.
https://youtu.be/2fM7FcAL-V4
Ganderson
Sunday - May 11th 2025 7:28AM MST
PS Clear as a bell here in the 413.
My theory on Rockford car chases is that they put the episode together and then fiound that they were a few minutesshort, which they would then make up with a car chase. Supposedly Garner did all his own driving in those. Made me want to get a Trans Am.
My theory on Rockford car chases is that they put the episode together and then fiound that they were a few minutesshort, which they would then make up with a car chase. Supposedly Garner did all his own driving in those. Made me want to get a Trans Am.
The Alarmist
Sunday - May 11th 2025 6:27AM MST
PS
I used to do an occasional alert tour at March AFB in the ‘80s, and sometimes at night it would rain, and one could smell the rain as it dissolved the concrete. In the morning you’d get a fantastic view of the San Bernardino mountains, which were nearly totally concealed by the smog on most days.
Cue Albert Hammond:
🎶 It sometimes rains in California
But girl, don’t they warn. ya.
It pours, man it pours.🎶
https://youtu.be/2p2Ew52up3A?feature=sharedhttps://youtu.be/2p2Ew52up3A
🕉
I used to do an occasional alert tour at March AFB in the ‘80s, and sometimes at night it would rain, and one could smell the rain as it dissolved the concrete. In the morning you’d get a fantastic view of the San Bernardino mountains, which were nearly totally concealed by the smog on most days.
Cue Albert Hammond:
🎶 It sometimes rains in California
But girl, don’t they warn. ya.
It pours, man it pours.🎶
https://youtu.be/2p2Ew52up3A?feature=sharedhttps://youtu.be/2p2Ew52up3A
🕉