SNARK, QUIVER AND COUNTING

SNARKING THE BROS

     Just a brief word to add to the debate volumes.

     For a 90 minute exchange on foreign policy, they certainly spent a lot of time on the economy and they missed most of the world.  Sure, people vote on economics and social issues, but in a troubled world they ignored too much.  A deeper discussion might have surfaced some real differences in attitude, approach and application.

Photo Courtesy of CBS News

     What a tough time to moderate!  Bob Schieffer, an old pro indeed, has been mugged by the insipid society of the snarky. Those who are guilty of such are probably the same crowd who suddenly have thrust the word "trajectory" into presidential politics. They are, most probably, people who spent more time tweeting, than actually listening, and who know in their hearts that all presidential politics really is about them, their twitter stream, face time and Facebook activity.  If you don't really have anything intelligent or important to say, then be snarky about the moderator.

       The last debate I moderated was the gubernatorial debate in Indiana 4 years ago. I escaped better than Lehrer, Raddatz, Crowley or Schieffer, though there were a couple of bloggers who went after me. One was experiencing their first governors race while being of voting age.  The other was a reporter whose work, I thought, always betrayed his lack of savvy, understanding of complexity and even more troubling his relative lack of intelligence.  So it is for those who practice snarky instead of real journalism.   

       

READING THE SNOW DEPTH

Photo Courtesy of cserc.org

     Autumn dried Californians wait for the snow season to

paint the Sierra Nevada range. An early storm is expected to leave 8-12 inches along the Sierra Crest and 4-8 inches below 7,000.

      At 700 sites in the Western US, where water supplies are dependent on snow melt, such as here at Mt Tallac, you will find SNOTEL technology.
    The U.S. Department of Agriculture operates Snow pack
Telemetry sites (SNOTEL) utilizing meteor burst technology.

     The USDA's National Resource Conservation Service set out precipitation collectors, snow pillows, depth sensors 

     and temperature gauges. They relay data that is used to calculate water levels from snow melt.
     Alpine ski altitude gets 300 to 500 inches a season. 125 fall on the lake at 6,400 feet.

    16 remote SNOTEL sites stand sentry in the Lake Tahoe basin alone.
     The image below is from a web cam frame grab Tuesday afternoon at Heavenly Dipp above South Lake Tahoe.

ARCHIVE PHOTOS

This is the kind of accumulation the SNOTEL stations will measure.

Photo Courtesy of weather.com

Photo Courtesy of kqed.org

    The next time you read about the snow fall or accumulated depth up in California's high country, you can picture one of the little SNOTEL sites, enduring the wind, cold and depth while transmitting data.

BEFORE YOU GO

A HALF MOMENT OF AUTUMN

Quaking Aspen

See you down the trail.

WHERE AND HOW IT FLOWS-RIDDLES OF STREAMS AND POWER

UNTOUCHED AT THE TOP?

       I was fascinated by how the very top of a stone in the midst of a rushing stream

at Lassen Volcanic National Park was dry, untouched by the rapidly flowing water.

       And I am fascinated by the unraveling of leadership of Murdoch's News Corp as investigations widen.  Who will remain untouched by this is a good guessing game.

We should remember that in the UK this is also an investigation into police corruption-which ranking officers in what agencies sold information to the Murdoch organization? And

a political scandal in the making-how cozy were which British politicians with the Murdoch organization. There too is an American front.  Will Murdoch's US news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal and Fox News be implicated or somehow sullied?  And to what affect.

       THE IRONY IN THIS

          At a time when many news organizations were cutting back, eliminating foreign bureaus and coverage or reducing commitment to news, Murdoch's organization was

actually strengthening staff size and resources in some of his far flung media empire. That

was good.  But apparently some of that empire was not playing by accepted rules, codes, canons or even the law.  Where this goes, rushing like a snow melt filled mountain stream will be interesting to watch.

DAYBOOK

Watching the streams of Lassen flow

See you down the trail.