SCE, the power company for most of southern California that isn't covered by LA's DWP, also had shutdowns during this wind event. SCE's equipment has started fires over the last few years (see the 2017 Thomas fire), and may also be to blame for the fire that burned through the San Fernando Valley last week. Part of it is neglect, but the fact is that California is getting hotter and drier as the years go on. There is so much fuel laying on the ground that is bone dry, and when the Santa Ana winds pick up any little spark can start a monster fire. We put a lot of pressure on the power companies for starting these fires, but there are just as many (probably more) that are started for other reasons, including arson.

Yeah, PG&E sucks, but they aren't the only cause of fires in this state. Getting their equipment and lines up to snuff isn't going to happen any time soon, and even if they somehow eliminate all sources of ignition, fires are going to happen. The utilities definitely need to get their shit together and up their safety game, but we also need to look at the bigger picture. Stop building houses in fire danger zones. Stop building them up in the goddamn hills that have burned every year since forever. Enforce defensible space around structures. Prepare for that fire that IS going to happen instead of being in a panic when it does. This is the new reality in this state. It's a figurative and almost literal dumpster fire, and it's only getting worse.

If you honestly think we can't figure out what they are trying to convey here, you are the fool. The issue at hand is that these people make a living using the English language as their main tool, and they're failing at it. Miserably. I can sometimes barely form a complete sentence, but even I can muster out a "one thirtieth the size of", or even an "about three percent of". Using addition (more), multiplication (times), and subtraction (smaller) to describe a division operation (1/30) is just unacceptable when your job is to clearly convey a simple concept to your readers. You may accept this crap as acceptable, but it's quickly becoming doubleplusungood.

It was "more than 30 times smaller", which is even worse. The value you started with is technically "more" than "30 times smaller" of itself. "Times smaller" is painful to read but mostly quantifiable, whereas "More" than anything just throws all sort of measurability right out the window.

Can you point to the place on the doll where the OK sign touched you?

People like you who feel the need to 'fight' everything are doing nothing more than escalating the situation. Could you imagine what would happen if nobody showed up to protest a Klan rally? Nothing. Not a god damn thing, because it would just be a bunch of idiots standing in a square dressed as dollar store ghosts holding flags. When people show up to fight, you get a fight. It's science. So stop showing up. Stop giving them the attention they crave as see what happens.

Oh, do go on....?

You keep using that word. I do no think it means what you think it means.

You left out one crucial piece: less Americans.

And this is where people like you lose people like me. Painting your fellow countrymen with such a broad brush is divisive and counterproductive. Is it not fathomable that a person who purchases ammunition from a Wal-Mart then goes on to use it in a safe and legal manner? If you truly think only murderous 'gun nuts' keep the firearms industry in business, you're ignorant at best.

Believe in the ball, and throw yourself! -Mr. T.

But it hasn't got a husk to grip it by!

I go above an beyond at my job on a regular basis, but I'm not tipped for it and I don't expect to be. Why have we as a society decided that only waitstaff and a few other professions are deserving of tips, while everyone else just has to do their damn job and be happy with a static paycheck? A far as I'm concerned, being attentive to your customers, getting the order right, and bringing it out to them IS their job. Why are we supposed to be obligated to tip for that? The restaurants should just pay them at a fair rate and be done with it. Other cultures have figured out how to pay their employees properly without relying on tips, so what are we waiting for?

You don't give 3% to the bank when you pay with credit card, the merchant pays that fee. The smart ones will bake that cost into the price of all goods sold, so you'll be paying it regardless of payment method. Use a credit card that gives cash back, and pay that off every month to avoid paying interest. The only place it really makes sense to pay in cash anymore is at gas stations that give a discount for doing so. This had largely disappeared in my area for years, but they brought it back recently so it's wise to take advantage of it.

No, processes that are broken and unsustainable are failures. If there's no money in it, nobody wants to take your recyclables, which lead to the closure of every consumer-facing recycling center in my city of over 100k residents. So what do you do with the tons of bottles, cans, and paper that nobody wants to pay you for? You dump it in the landfill, burn it, or truck it to increasingly distant drop off points, which drives profitability even lower. This shit doesn't get recycled on good intentions and unicorn farts alone. There are major costs involved with processing and transporting it, and this state is running out of money to fund such activities.

Except that its a failure. Recycling centers are shutting down because there is no profit in it anymore, and the deposits aren't bringing in enough money to keep it all running long term.

State of California charges you a deposit for every bottle and can, and it really adds up. You don't get that money back when you throw it in the WM bins, so I have to take bags of aluminum and plastic to a facility 12 miles away (since all the local ones went out of business, and no I don't live in the sticks) just to get some of my money back. If it weren't for the fact I'd be throwing money away, the only thing I'd ever consider recycling is the aluminum, since it is actually less energy intensive to recycle it than to produce new. If the state ever gets rid of these ridiculous deposit prices, you can pretty much kiss recycling goodbye.