Thursday, June 18, 2015

Even Before Projected El Nino Winter Rains - Colorado River Basin Spring Rains Will Cover California's 2015 & 2016 Minimum Allotment of Colorado River Water

In fact, with all but one of the states that take water out of the Colorado River having 100% or more of their normal May rainfall (California was the laggard at 70%), there is already enough water arriving in storage facilities to cover the minimum allotments of each state for 2015, 2016 - and even part of 2017 even without any additional rain.  And with the current tropical storm hitting Colorado and adjacent states...
This Thursday's map of June's continuing strong thunderstorms in the Great Basin  courtesy of The Weather Channel
...... June is looking to be another wet month.  But, so far, this is only short term good news since the water levels in all the river's storage facilities are still far below normal and the snow levels that normally feed the river during the spring and the summer, are also still below normal. 


Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Two Reasons Why Kirk Kerkorian Was One of the Great Angelinos - and One of Those Men They Just Don't Make Any More



          a photo of Kerkorian during his early years in real estat  
 A native Californian born of immigrant parents, Kirk Kerkorian was one of the last of the great - larger than life characters who used to populate this city - and who also once made Los Angeles a great city. In contrast to today's business leaders who sell LA businesses to companies in other states and other countries, Kirkorian instead bought businesses in other states, and then owned them through his LA based holding company, Tracinda.

One early example of his attitude towards life was - to make certain he would be a pilot in the coming war, he first privately learned how to fly – and later signed up as a pilot with the RAF Air Transport Command to deliver new planes from Canada to England for 2 ½ years by flying them over the North Atlantic and then having to fly back over the North Atlantic on another plane. 

And despite the fact that prior to the start of the war, only 50% of all flights over the North Atlantic ever reached the other side, Kerkorian delivered 33 US and Canadian planes to the RAF in England.

For the more 'conventional' aspects of his life, here is the LA Times story.