This has been a strange year and, just when it doesn’t seem like it can get any stranger, it does. We have to find little pleasures where we can and this week, driven into the house by the smoke outside, our little pleasure is that Michele and I have new Covid19 masks and we are thrilled, well, not thrilled exactly, but a little happier than if we didn’t have them. We first saw the masks while watching Formula One Racing. 

Michele and I have been watching Formula One auto racing for years and this year is no exception except that the season started six months late and we are watching them race in front of empty grandstands; it is eerily different. Another thing that is eerily different is that everybody is wearing a protective mask – this does not seem to be an “I have the right to make other people sick!” crowd – and most of them seem to be wearing the same type mask. One of the fun things about Formula One, for me, anyway, is that it is so high tech, and the masks are not an exception.

Michele decided to research it and it turns out that, like almost everything in Formula One, the masks are high tech and expensive. They also work better than any other masks we have tried. The basic architecture is that of a four-ply mask held on by a stretchy outer layer. The mask is good for two hundred hours, is certified by a couple of EU Commissions, are easier to breath in than the N95 masks we had been wearing, and, strangely satisfyingly is that they are the same as worn by several F1 Teams.

Speaking of Formula One, Richard asked if Michele and I were distracted from the world’s worries by Formula One and Lewis Hamilton and the answer if “Yes” although today’s race, The Grand Prix of Belgium at Spa – known locally as the Grote Prijs van België bij Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps – was a pretty boring race with Hamilton winning from pole. The race was spiced up only by the leader’s concerns over tire wear. Formula One cars are terrible on tires, they have  extraordinarily complicated upside-down wings pushing the cars down onto the pavement to generate wear-creating adhesion. This race is slightly over a one hundred and ninety miles and most teams tried to run the race on only two sets of tires which requires a time consuming stop to change onto a new set of tires. Nothing is simple if Formula One and the tire changes – which the best teams do in about two seconds – are no exception.

Until the last possible moment, the new tires are wrapped in electric blankets which keep them heated to about 100°C – that’s the boiling temperature of water – so they go on the car as close to operating temperature as possible. The speed limit in the pit lane is 100KPH so the drivers pull in the driveway- so to speak – at about 60 MPH and stop on a mark where a guy with a pneumatic torque wrench is kneeling, waiting for the car to stop. When the car stops, the wrench guy removes the nut holding on the wheel, the next guy pulls the wheel and tire off, and a third guy puts on a fresh wheel and tire all in around two seconds.

At this point, I was going to just reference the video below, but, for reason unknown to me, clicking on it goes nowhere except to tell you you can’t see it here but you can see it on You Tube with a link which takes you to the 55 second video on the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team making a double wheel change. It’s only 55 seconds, so give it a click.

The virus is indoors; the fires are outdoors. There are few places left to go. Caption in a New Yorker article by Anna Wiener entitled An Apocalyptic August in California

OK, two days – maybe three or four – but it seems like a very long week. First it was the heat, then the lightning, the fires, and, finally, the smoke. We went through a sort of twisted Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a Maslow’s Hierarchy of Discomforts might be more accurate, discomfort, fearful awe, self-satisfied caution turning to stark fear as the reality became clearer, then discomfort again, and, as the toxic smoke settled in, deep fear to go along with the discomfort.

We are safe now, it is cooling off, the day before yesterday’s forecast of lightning didn’t materialize, the fire, slowly being contained, is burning south, Cal Fire says no new evacuations, and the smoke level is acceptable if not good.

Everyday last week – well, up to Thursday, at least – our little world got hotter, topping out at slightly over 100°F on Thursday before it started to cool slightly. We don’t have air conditioning relying on the old fashioned but effective method of closing all the doors and windows during the heat of the day and, as the world cools in the evening, opening everything up, turning on the fans, and leting the house cool. The hottest the house got during the day was 86° which is not great but not terrible.

Then came the lightning storm in the pre-dawn morning, lighting up the sky. We are not really used to lightning although I have been in two lightning storms. Once, while camping at Shadow Lake in the Sierras and the second time on a hilltop overlooking the Yellow Sea, while stationed in Korea. At Shadow Lake, the lightning was so close we could hear it hitting the rocks around us (which was surprising because we had dropped down to Shadow at about 8800, from Thousand Island Lake which was a thousand feet higher, because of the storm). In Korea, the lightning was so close, it hit our communications antenna. In both cases, the lightning was close enough that we could smell the ozone. This storm seemed pretty benign by comparison, but the fire it caused wasn’t.

The lightning set several fires south of us which soon coalesced into the CZU Lightning Complex. The next night – or maybe it was two nights later, or three, it all seems like one long horrible memory without time stamps – we started to smell smoke when we went to bed, so we buttoned up the house and sweltered. But by noon the next day, the smoke was gone, the temperature dropped a little, and everything seemed right again. Then the smoke really rolled in and we sheltered in place, sweltering, sweating, worrying. According to PurpleAir – a great website if you are at all interested in the quality of the air you are breathing – the sensor on the street next to us, where we often go for our morning walks, was measuring in the low 600s. As a disturbing aside, Aston Pereira said that he had been following PurpleAir for years and didn’t think the measuring equipment even went that high. End aside. Back at the fire site, it has consumed 538 structures and damaged 43 more, killing seven people. As of this morning, the fire is 19% contained.

Still, while the fires are still raging, the air is clearer now, here, at least. Our fear has settled into a dull worry; worry that this is just the start and it will continue to get worse, next year and the year after that, as we do nothing to address the Climate Crisis, worry that California, our poor, beautiful, state is being destroyed, worry that the government of our country is unraveling, worry that apocalypses are real.

On the theory that, maybe, just maybe, humor is the best tonic, I’ll end this with a New Yorker joke.

As a former police officer I can tell you that shooting someone in the back seven times is not the right use of force for an unarmed man walking away from you. I can’t believe I have to say that. Josh Hicks @joshhickskyUS House candidate, KY-6US Marine Corps veteran • Former police officer • Running for US Congress against Andy Barr to represent the people of Kentucky’s 6th District Lexington, KY joshhicksforcongress.com

Evacuations are happening all over California due to numerous #wildfires. Here is a short explanation about the three types of #evacuation notices. Tweet from CALFIRE with a short, short, Twitter video I can’t copy @caloes_dir @NevCoOES @NevCoSheriff @CALFIRE_PIO #jonesfire #evacuations Cal OES @Cal_OES This is the ONLY OFFICIAL ACCOUNT for CA Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES). Not intended as timely source of critical alerts/warnings. Sacramento, California caloes.ca.gov

Once in a lifetime: two hurricanes, same time, same place https://bit.ly/3aKbxNO Orlando Sentinel @orlandosentinel The Orlando Sentinel, founded in 1876, is the most comprehensive news source in Central Florida.Orlando, FL orlandosentinel.com

Talk to me again about how a Green New Deal “goes too far to address the problem” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez retweeting the above Tweet @AOC US House candidate, NY-14 US Representative,NY-14 (BX & Queens). In a modern, moral, & wealthy society, no American should be too poor to live. 100% People-Funded, no lobbyist money. She/her. Bronx + Queens, NYC ocasiocortez.com …

We smelled smoke Wednesday night and closed all the windows even though it had been over 95° during the day and the house was stuffy. Thursday the late morning light was an acid yellow giving everything an apocryphal glow but, by noon, the sky was blue and the world seemed normal. The same offshore winds – slight breezes, really – that pushed the smoke into the greater Bay Area pushed just enough clean air over the ridge behind us to keep our area clear. Our To-go Bags remain dumped by the front door but the evacuations are not very close.

When I went to collage in Southern California in the 50s/60s there were fires in the San Gabriel Mountains every summer. It is not one of Southern California’s best attributes and now it is happening here. The fire nearest us is poetically named the CZU Lightning Complex and it is raging through the brushland and dense redwood forests south of us but now fires are everywhere. It is the State’s new normal. According Gov. Gavin Newsom, California now has about two dozen large complex fires with a total of 560 individual fires. The old growth Redwoods will probably survive, at least short term, they have evolved for this, but we haven’t. And we haven’t planned for this either as this year’s close to a thousand burned homes shows.

Most people don’t live in wildland-urban interface paradise like most of the owners of the burned homes did, but everybody is being affected by the changing climate. This season, derechos – dāˈrāˌCHō, a line of intense, widespread, and fast-moving windstorms and sometimes thunderstorms that moves across a great distance and is characterized by damaging winds (for those of you that, like me, haven’t heard the word before) – have churned through Kansas and Iowa and even parts of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana causing billions of dollars of damage and leaving close to a million people without power. Not one, but two tropical storms, Laura and Marcos, are headed toward the gulf coast. Michele and I live in a paradise, a second growth Redwood forest – the first growth went into the wonderful Victorians in San Francisco – in the wildland-urban interface that is similar to the areas being evacuated, similar to the areas that have burned, similar to burned-out Paradise, California.

People forget how divided our Country was under ObamaBiden. The anger and hatred were unbelievable. They shouldn’t be lecturing to us. I’m here, as your President, because of them! Tweet by Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 45th President of the United States of America Washington, DCI nstagram.com/ saying what most of us have been thinking.

President @realDonaldTrump just signed his ABSENTEE BALLOT! This is very different than universal mail-in ballots, which would be a total disaster for our country. REQUEST YOUR ABSENTEE BALLOT! VISIT: http://vote.donaldjtrump.com Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) @TeamTrump The official Twitter account for the Trump Campaign. Together, we will KEEP AMERICA GREAT!

Our president has failed in his most basic duty to this nation. He failed to protect us. He failed to protect America. And that is unforgivable. @JoeBiden Senator, Vice President, 2020 candidate for President of the United States, husband to @DrBiden, proud father & grandfather. Loves ice cream, aviators & @Amtrak

Donald Trump is not responsible for COVID-19 — but he does bear full responsibility for the failed national response. We’ve got to hold him accountable this November. @JoeBiden Senator, Vice President, 2020 candidate for President of the United States, husband to @DrBiden, proud father & grandfather. Loves ice cream, aviators & @Amtrak

I think that the Socially Distanced Democratic Convention was terrific but I’m not sure that I’m the right demographic to make an impartial judgement. Sure, I’ve got my beefs, starting with the abysmally poor representation of the Progressive wing of the party – Ilhan Omar got zero time as did Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Presley, and Cory Bush (Lauren Underwood got about five seconds) – but, by Thursday night, I was convinced that Biden is the best choice for right now. My opinion may not mean much, however. Rasmussen Daily Presidential Polls showed Trumps approval rating going from 47% to 51% over the term of the Convention. But take that with a grain of salt because the Poll was sponsored by Liberty Nation who does have a dog in the fight.

I thought the Convention had the intimacy of a Zoom call and I mean that sincerely and in the best possible way. Like a Zoom call, we watched the participants with less background distraction than normal; it pretty much compelled us to pay attention. I especially liked the rollcall from everybody’s home state rather than standing-up in a crowded, noisy, auditorium. I’ve been to one California State Convention and one National Convention and, except for the headline speakers, nobody is paying much attention to what is going on at the podium. This was different, all we had was what was going on at the podium. Ricky Kirshner, who apparently been working on every Democratic National Convention since Clinton ran in 1992, did a great job adjusting to a very bad situation.

This Convention seemed especially coherent building from an unsteady start on Monday to to a crescendo on Thursday. Along the way, there were some very memorable lines and speeches and some very forgettable ones. On Monday, Senator Amy Klobuchar was forgettable as was Bernie except for my favorite line, “Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump played golf.” but Michelle Obama gave a super speech stressing that Trump is flat out incompetent.

On Tuesday, Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez was given one minute and I thought she made the most of it. President Clinton was excellent; I had forgotten how good an explainer he is. I thought poor President Jimmy Carter was misused. He is 95 and feeble so he probably should have just said, : “Hi, vote for Biden.” Speaking of saying “Vote for Biden”, the Democrats are really afraid of voter suppression and everybody said some variation of “Please vote, voting is critical. We must vote. Vote!” My favorite speaker of the day was Dr. Jill Biden and her obvious love for Joe went a long way towards convincing me that he is a very decent man.

Wednesday was Women’s Day and I thought Senator Kamala Harris was very good, but this would have been a great time to showcase The Squad. I missed them, not because they are Progressive voices – I had given up on that by Tuesday’s Keynote Speech(s) – but because they are such good communicators. They are voices that would have helped the Party communicate with and involve the – supposedly -elusive young voter. The day ended on a highnote, however, with President Barack Obama giving the speech I had expected him to make at Representative Lewis’s funeral. My favorite quote was, “For close to four years now, he’s shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves. Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t. And the consequences of that failure are severe. 170,000 Americans dead. Millions of jobs gone while those at the top take in more than ever. Our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before.”

I briefly thought I might skip Thursday, I have seen Vice-President Joe Biden speak numerous times and I was getting burned out but I’m glad I didn’t. He gave the best speech I have ever seen him give but I was already convinced that Joe Biden is a deeply decent guy. That heavy lifting was already done by Jill Biden and a young man with a stutter, Brayden Harrington, who went on National TV, most likely knowing he would stutter in front of the world when he spoke of Joe Biden, a fellow stutter, taking the time to talk to him about his stuttering.

Next week will be the Republican Convention and it will be interesting to see how it is different than this last week has been. Kind of ironically given Trump’s position of the Climate Crisis, it is likely that we will have two Tropical Storms or even Hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast during the Republican Convention next week and I will be particularly interested to see how Trump handles that disaster. It could give him a chance to shine, to show his leadership, but I think Michelle Obama was right when she said, “…he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us.”