Coleman McCormick

Archive of posts with tag 'California'

April 5, 2024 • #

Bixby Creek Bridge. Big Sur, California.

The PCH is a national treasure.

✦

SF's Orange Sky

September 10, 2020 • #

California, Washington, and Oregon are currently fighting wildfires peppering the Cascades and coastal ranges. Twitter was afire with photos of an eerie orange sky from the smoke blowing across the peninsula toward the Pacific.

Here are some highlights I flagged from around the Twitterverse:

Some cinematic drone footage:

The beginning of 28 Weeks Later:

Landing at SFO:

Blurring the lines:

Some apocalyptic street scenes:

Taking off:

Embarcadero:

And welcome to Dune:

✦

How PG+E's Aging Equipment Puts California at Risk →

October 30, 2019 • #

This is a great narrative story from the Wall Street Journal about the current situation in California with PG&E, the rolling blackouts, and the wildfires ravaging the state. Drone video, maps, data on fire risk and infrastructure paint a pretty grim picture of the problem. It’ll take years for PG&E to catch up to where there’s anything resembling a long-term solution to this problem.

PG&E California Fire Risk
✦

Smartphone Technology Aids Evacuation Process in Santa Barbara County →

April 21, 2019 • #

We’ve been supporting the Santa Barbara County Sheriff through Fulcrum Community this year for evacuation reporting during emergency preparation and response. It feels great to have technology that can have real-world immediate impact like this. The gist of their workflow (right now) is using the app to log where evacuation orders were posted, where they haven’t notified yet, and tracking that with the slim resources available even in time of need. Centralizing the reporting has made a big difference:

All of this information is uploaded in real time and is accessible to incident commanders who can follow the progress as an evacuation order is implemented.

“It’s really sped up the process, and given us more accurate information,” said Nelson Trichler, an incident commander for the sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team. “It’s a tool we can go back to statistically to see who is responding to these evacuations.

✦

The Salton Sea

February 6, 2019 • #

I don’t remember what got me to it, but the other day I found this short documetary video about Southern California’s Salton Sea, a saline lake about 80 miles inland from San Diego:

I knew about its infamy as a failed resort destination, with planned developments like Desert Shores and Salton City that popped up on its edge in the 1950s. What I didn’t know was the sea’s history as the result of an engineering accident, induced by the California Development Company trying to divert the Colorado for irrigation purposes, back in 1905. That accident, high rains and snowmelt, and subsequent attempts to control the high waters resulted in the basin filling up. The geothermal activity in the valley gave the lake a salty, sulfurous quality that since ruined its chances as a vacation attraction.

The Salton Sea

On this week’s flight into LAX, I got to see the lake from the air. It’s an eerie thing to see the bones of little towns scattered along its shores. Even from 30,000 feet you can see the murkiness of the water. From this perspective, it’s amazing to think that the developers of the mid 20th century thought there was promise here.

✦

San Jose

February 4, 2019 • #

We just touched down in San Jose this afternoon, here for the SaaStr Annual conference. An uneventful flight through LAX, arriving around 1pm local time here in California. One of my favorite things about westbound travel is the ability to get here with enough time to check things out the same day.

San Jose, California

As I like to do with a new city, I got out on the road for a run to explore a little. The Guadalupe River runs through downtown San Jose right near where I’m staying. Even though the weather was not playing nice, there was a clear spell before sunset so I decided to get a couple miles in and check things out.

Guadalupe River

The river was just about to bust over the bank, with the rain rushing northward toward San Francisco Bay. The cold and my lack of preparation for a wet run cut me a little short, but it was nice to get the opportunity right when I got here. If one of the mornings in the next couple days yields nice weather, I’ll be out there for sure.

✦
Browse the full archive →
✦