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Papa Doug buys Rhode Island estate
I have inserted my responses to Dan Fogel’s post [thus—Twister] within a copy of his text, below: danfogel July 31, 2015 @ 4:12 p.m. Based on a study I read several years ago, the annual irrigation water use for an 18 hole course in the Coachella Valley is 550 acre feet. That is about 180 million gallon, [That’s about right--that’s enough for about 34 acres at an irrigation rate of about 2.5 x perfect efficiency. Evapotranspiration is about 6 feet for that area--Twister] for an 18 hole course. Sunnylands is a 9 hole course, so you can do the math. Additional, last year I read a story citing a USGA report that said in the southwest region, during the hottest months of the year, it takes about a million gallons a week to properly maintain an 18 hole course. [A million gallons per week x 52 = 52,000,000 gallons per year ÷ 7.48 gallons per cubic foot = 6,951,872 cubic feet ÷ 43,560 cubic feet per acre (one acre-foot) = 160 acre feet ÷ 16 acre feet per acre = about ten acres (plus/minus any adjustment for lower usage during the cooler months or weeks). I must have miscalculated! Please explain where I went wrong!!! However, water meters don’t (usually) lie, so rather than to take my word for it or USGA, we should just ask the golf course how much water they actually use and go by that. We also should ask them to tell us all of their sources of water—I trust we can trust the Trust. A while back I figured about a billion gallons for a 200 acre course, but again, I await being proven wrong—Twister] In the past few years, about 60 of the 120 acres of turf grass were replaced with meadow grass and mulch to reduce water use and the course's irrigation system has been upgraded for efficiency, including the necessary work to connect to to the reclaimed water system once the pipeline to the estate is finished. BTW the estate is owned by the Annenberg Trust at Sunnylands. [Again, the actual usage rate in units/unit time would be needed to get at the real truth of the matter, including the source of the “reclaimed” water and how disease-free it is. I posted some information recently about some fairly old research out of Israel that showed the presence of viruses and bacteria in reclaimed water as well as epidemiological studies showing greater incidence of disease in Kibbutzim downwind of irrigated areas.] Best, Twister— July 31, 2015 10:39 p.m.
Dr. Seuss gets posthumous front page
I guess the facts will stay buried.— July 31, 2015 6:12 p.m.
Papa Doug buys Rhode Island estate
By the way, I estimate that the Annenberg course (anybody know who the current owner is?) is likely to "consume" well over 600 million gallons per year, much of which is pure waste.— July 31, 2015 10:18 a.m.
Papa Doug buys Rhode Island estate
Twister: Is that a nine-hole course or an18-hole course? Best, Don Bauder CORRECTIONS: It appears that Dan Fogel is right--9 holes. I might have been wrong about the course he tried to play, but my foggy memory dredged up Thunderbird. It might have been Tamarisk, almost "next door." Which, if true, would add to the bonk on the noggin served up by Wally building a bigger, better one on their doorstep. Anybody know which courses in the '50's kept out Jews? Do I presume correctly that they are now open to everybody, including dark-skinned non-WASPS, or are there some de facto exclusionary situations persisting? In Sackcloth and Ashes, Twister— July 31, 2015 10:08 a.m.
Dr. Seuss gets posthumous front page
I'm not sure if the situation with his previous wife was the fault of Dr. Seuss himself, but there seems to be a lot of gossip about his last wife with respect the previous one before the latter died. Sunlight will either fade out the spot or reveal more; when one resists sunlight, it appears that one is keeping it out of the light for some reason. That opens the door to speculation and further gossip.— July 31, 2015 9:49 a.m.
Papa Doug buys Rhode Island estate
Twister: Is that a nine-hole course or an18-hole course? Best, Don Bauder Pretty sure it was 18. Been too long ago to remember. I do remember that several contractors were used to build the mansion, so that no one person would know the layout (secret rooms, etc. Bomb shelter? I don't know). I also remember that he had banks of TV monitors to monitor his far-flung operations--VERY high-tech in those days. I was escorted in by security, which stood by during the whole visit, and was escorted out. The story was that Annenberg was refused entry to Thunderbird Country Club nearby, because he was Jewish. He is rumored to say, "fuc# you." I'll build my own goddamned golf course and none of you sonsabitches will be allowed to play there. I think that was in the fifties--don't remember exactly.— July 30, 2015 6:59 p.m.
Dr. Seuss gets posthumous front page
There's grief enough to go around, but the story not being told has the earmarks of a cover up. Perhaps the book might be titled, "Out, Damn Spot!" Truth, not myth, indeed.— July 30, 2015 6:50 p.m.
Well-known market manipulator Anthony Elgindy is dead
You might copyright that for a bumper sticker. I'd buy one. Especially if a portion of the proceeds went to mink research . . .— July 30, 2015 6:43 p.m.
Animal rights activists arrested for terrorizing fur farms
Twister: I doubt there is any way to test your thesis that the mink freed by these people will do fine in nature. Best, Don Bauder Context, of course, is everything. If the "farm" from which they are "freed" is at the top of a New York skyscraper that's one thing. If, on the other hand, the "farm" is deep in mink habitat, that's something else. But the hypothesis is testable. Imprisoned minks could be tagged, released, and followed from farms in various contexts and data gathered on their survival and reproduction, as well as the time an manner of their deaths. A somewhat more elaborate study might be required to determine how the minks "felt" about being in and out of "custody." There are doubtless a number of biologists who study minks and mink behavior who, if they are to be believed, might be able to tell us something about how our speculations compare to the results of their research. With some species that have been raised in captivity it is necessary to take steps to reacquaint them with their natural habitat, such as the California condor program, which has been notably successful. If you are suggesting this kind of program for mink "farms," I would support that, as, I suspect, would the "terrorists." But if you are suggesting that minks are better off in cages, to be whacked for their skins to adorn the shoulders of the one percent, I've got a problem with that. Frankly, I doubt that the "terrorists" who release the minks do so in contexts which would be more inimical to mink survival than the certainty of ending up on some trophy-wife's shoulders, but if they were cavalier about the released minks' chances of survival, I would say that if I were a mink in a cage waiting to have my brains bashed out or to suffer worse torture, I'd prefer to take my chances in getting run over by a truck full of toilets or something. Speaking of trophies, I wonder where Cecil's head is . . . His pelt was left to rot.— July 30, 2015 6:41 p.m.
More '60s homes in Del Cerro
Even illegal turns would have to cross the median, clogged with unnecessary trees. Right turns out of the development would be hazardous too, due to the high speeds of northbound traffic. There will be a temptation to use at least a proportion of expansive soils in the fill, leading to cracks in buildings, sidewalks, and streets etc. Even relatively non-expansive material will load up with water over time, creating differential settling or worse, lateral movement of the fill mass. Of course, this is true of all developments that use fill--it's just a matter of time. Soledad, Oceanside, and all over Southern California and elsewhere, fills are time-bombs waiting for the moment when enough water accumulates to destroy cohesion and reduce friction that binds soil particles together in an unconsolidated mass once "strong enough" to keep structures from moving with the mass, as in, for example, sliding off the hillside. A deep, dark secret of "geotechnology."— July 30, 2015 10:28 a.m.