brooke (Guest) on 11/16/2008 7:27 pm

That is really not looking too safe.

-RoG- on 11/16/2008 7:30 pm

Yeah, and we don't even have it anywhere nearly as bad as the people in the valley do. I'd be wearing a scuba apparatus by now to help me breathe cleaner air if I were those people...

Doctor_Who on 11/16/2008 7:57 pm

This is why I could never live in L.A. I don't mind the earthquakes, but smog and smoke drive me up a tree.

Jony B. Good on 11/16/2008 8:09 pm

hey Rog, you should do what I did when i lived in California: Move away! ;p

Relaxing Dragon on 11/16/2008 8:12 pm

It's nice and clear up here in San Francisco, but it's starting to get a little hazy at my Parent's house in San Jose.

I do not envy the rest of my family who are down in Ontario, it's probably just as bad as that picture.

grimmperson on 11/16/2008 8:54 pm

"I think I'm getting the Black Lung, Pop."

AIF (Guest) on 11/16/2008 9:02 pm

I live in the San Bernardino mountains, and everyone in my town was evacuated for two weeks last year. One of my friends lost her house, and a couple of my parents' friends did, too.

On the up side, that was one hell of a two week-long vacation. After my friend lost her house, everything was paid for by her insurance. EVERYTHING. Drinks all around!

Jer Ber on 11/16/2008 9:18 pm

I live in Orange County. I didn't really spend long outside today, but I checked yesterday and wouldn't have noticed anything other than waking up with a stuffy nose. But my Dad works in Santa Ana, and he got off work early today due to the fires.

Silver on 11/16/2008 11:06 pm

And stay tuned for part II:

Smokey the Bear and the Fires of Doom!!!

I like how that poster looks like a movie one with the one-liner you wrote above.

xstaytruex on 11/17/2008 12:16 am

It was hell yesterday I was at work and it was hot with tons of ash and dry wind

captain516 on 11/17/2008 12:21 am

Fremont resident here, everythings fine and dandy where I am.

ZeldaQueen on 11/17/2008 12:35 am

Geez, good luck. I hope it clears up fast.

peteTHEheat on 11/17/2008 7:28 am

this reminds me of when i would visit my grandparents in sun city, az and looking at phoenix from miles away and being able to see the smog above the city. i suppose it makes sense if theres more of a population in a big city and more people driving around

Bujold on 11/17/2008 9:40 am

What's up with California's perpetual burning anyway? Everytime I hear about that state, it's either about celebrities, or wildfire.

Jonny#5 on 11/17/2008 9:58 am

Yah, I'm surprised there's any trees left in California from all of those fires. Well Rog, once the fires die down there's something else to look forwards to: mudslides!

El Sammo on 11/17/2008 10:42 am

More and more, California is proving to me that it wants to KILL everyone living there.

El Sammo on 11/17/2008 10:43 am

Also, I am reminded of a popular song about L.A.-
Learn to...hold your breath.

Carey (Guest) on 11/17/2008 11:01 am

Actually, funny thing, is that forest fires are actually somewhat good for the environment, and a lot of botanists hate Smokey the Bear. Don't rememeber exactly why, but it had stuff to do with it burning away the bigger trees allowing the smaller ones to flourish and being a sort of reset button. Though you're right, your area still looks nasty.

Pandajuice on 11/17/2008 11:47 am

Huge forest fires are the norm for California every year Rog and you'll get used to them after a few years. The news always makes a big deal out of them, but the reality is it's a very common thing, especially in SoCal where the smog is bad anyway.

McClain on 11/17/2008 12:20 pm

I was living in San Diego during the first episode of wildfires this century. I recall being evacuated and as we grabbed the few items we wanted to preserve, my wife went for our photo albums and family heirlooms and I immediately went for my computer and NES collection.

"Why are you putting that stuff in the trunk?" she asked.
"Because it won't fit in the back seat."

Tadao on 11/17/2008 1:58 pm

California is for only strong and beautiful people. If you little ugly wimps don't get out at once, I will be forced to smoke the rest of you out!

Demon Of Gray Street (Guest) on 11/17/2008 3:29 pm

With the exception of a few terrible months in Seattle, I've lived in little towns in Kansas and since early this year, Missouri but I could never see myself living in, near or around a large city. I hate people, for one thing, but the idea of waking up and hearing on the News that my county/area is seeing a limited amount of breathable oxygen and driving to work is losing gamble because your area is so caked in artificial fog thick enough that your car might suddenly implode from hitting a particularly dense patch of it.

Yucky, very yucky.

Then again, I'm disabled so I've never had to move for work or I'd be singing a different tune, one like "OH GOD! I'm FREAKING ON FIRE! WHY DID I GET A HEMP HOUSE? WHY?!"

jason (Guest) on 11/17/2008 3:56 pm

good luck, RoG. but now smokey the bear will be in a bunch of lame 300 parodies.

TALKING FLAME:"THIS IS MADNESS!"

SMOKEY:"WELL,I'LL PREVENT IT,BECAUSE,I.AM.SMOOOOOOOOOOOKEYYYY!" *Kicks talking flame into hole*

Drüd (Guest) on 11/17/2008 5:14 pm

I live in Santa Barbara, about an hour north of LA. The fires here took out three of my friends' houses, barely missing mine.

Come up and visit my scorched town sometime, guys. There just may be a couple hotels still standing.

wetstereorebel on 11/17/2008 5:47 pm

*cough* *cough*

Mockery on 11/17/2008 6:03 pm

McCain, you should've yelled at her for not helping you bring out your video games and any other toys you owned. Family heirlooms? Pfft...

Drüd, I've been to Santa Barbara several times before... it was an extremely nice place. Sorry to hear it's been ablaze as of late, but glad to hear at least your house escaped nature's fiery wrath, albeit barely.

Ferrit on 11/17/2008 9:25 pm

If your governor was still an actor, he'd personally stomp those fires into submission, spouting off witticisms to a pounding 80's music score.

Commanderraf on 11/17/2008 9:57 pm

Hey RoG, stay safe.

On the image, it looks normal to me.

In Mexico City everyday is like that. We're at an altitude of 20?? meters above the sea level (about a mile and a half). Combustion in here is less than perfect, and everything that produces a fire in Mexico City -from lightning a match to car engines- produces more pollution than in other places.
Besides, thanks to the altitude, our air has less oxigen, and it's colder, so almost every morning we have a thermal inversion, in which the fumes from cars and factories get trapped in a layer of cold air, polluting more the city.
That, and the fact that we're on the middle of a freaking valley makes pollution a real problem here. On the positive note, the lead in the air makes us the more resistant beings in the world!!

-Commanderraf

BerryPieVision (Guest) on 11/17/2008 11:05 pm

Yeah, the smog was everywhere.

saturnknight on 11/17/2008 11:11 pm

I sucks about the weather and fire and smoke down that way . i hope it passes soon

Art (Guest) on 11/18/2008 1:00 am

You can thank environmentalist nutjobs for the out-of-control wildfires CA experiences every year. If only CA were free to set as many controlled fires as is needed, it wouldn't experience this.

But yeah, we gotta protect polar bears from harmless carbon.

Dungeonbrownies on 11/18/2008 1:31 am

Frikken Art. Its poor civic planning and act of god that is the reason for our fires, true environmentalists know that fires are a natural part of the chaparral life cycle, however its not the environmentalists stopping controlled burns, its the bureaucracy that makes it exceedingly difficult to get permits for. And as for global warming, dont mix it with politics, treat it as science completely devoid of social views. Dont be so backwards, the science and proof behind it is far more complicated than what most common people know, and I mean FAR more complicated. just trust me on it. I'm not super fantastic, but I know what Im talking about. Science is kinda one of my things.

Demon Of Gray Street (Guest) on 11/18/2008 1:53 am

Blame it on the taxes improperly scaling for the population, so the local government can't properly handle any emergency, no matter how quickly or slowly growing because it lacks the funds and manpower that those funds would bring.

Doh! Wait, that one's not popular because it uses logic and doesn't blatantly deny reality as we know it. Pity, maybe I should sneak in a pithy comment about the moon being made of cheese so it fits in with the world that Art is writing about.

Cowracer on 11/18/2008 9:12 am

FYI There is no "the" in Smokey's name.

It is not "Smokey the Bear" but "Smokey Bear". Years ago when I was a volunteer firefighter, I had to wear the Smokey costume and go to schools for fire prevention week. The ranger who brought out the costume was adamat that we used the proper name.

Wearing the costume, I learned two important things. One was the aforementioned proper name for Smokey, the other was that little kids cannot resist the urge to punch a costumed mascot in the nuts.

Tim

Commanderraf on 11/18/2008 11:20 am

Cowracer:

My dad once worked as a manager for a show for some local candy corporation. The show consisted of people in penguin suits giving out candy for free to kids in boarding schools.

After he returned, he told me that the kids -even though the Penguins were giving them candies- pushed, pulled, kicked, spat and punched the poor guys. One of the little brats came running to a penguin and slapped him in the face, almost turning the mask of the costume the other way around.

Kids are a dangerous crowd.

-Commanderraf

Demon Of Gray Street (Guest) on 11/18/2008 1:15 pm

I think midgets would be meaner to a mascot then children, I mean, think about it. Children are growing, most of them are either too short or too tall to directly punch a mascot in the crotch, and an uppercut to the crotch is friendly at best. Midgets though, about 64% of midgets are crotch height from my estimates.

Plus, any situation where a mascot could find a large group of midgets would have to be an awkward one.

Midget Klan rally? Adorable, racist but awkward.
Midget Lamaze class? Really awkward, especially if you're a mascot for some sort of organization dedicated to preventing the furthering of the genetic condition known as Dwarfism.
Midget Superbowl? Well, really there's only one midget there, since if they had multiple balls, it'd throw off the game.

ColdFusion (Guest) on 11/18/2008 7:53 pm

Alright it's probably a good idea to pick up all the trees in California and put them somewhere less flammable. If you guys can't play nice with your trees you can't have any.

ScaryRedMonster on 11/18/2008 7:56 pm

Huh, yeah. I had to go somewher eon Saturday, and it was dry, hot as hell, and raining ash. Not only that, but I soon as I stepped out of the shower when I went home, I was completely cactus dry.

Mr. Noodlehead on 11/19/2008 8:48 pm

Bad religion quote ftw

This is the first I've heard about it to be honest

I live in england and the BBC or anything like that have yet to mention it.

Bibbo (Guest) on 11/19/2008 9:13 pm

Dammit, and I just quit smoking too!