∙According to a report released by the Ventura County Fire Department, it has been determined that Southern California Edison power lines did cause the Thomas fire. Investigators concluded that the fire was started by two power lines that hit each other during high winds on Dec.4, 2017. What happens next might need to be determined in the courts.
∙Okay, I promise, no more comments from me (from readers still okay) about Trump, this is it. I thought that my comments would create an open, interesting, intellectual dialog, but apparently did not with certain readers.
One reader said that the Breeze used to be a nice local paper but is now too political. This is nonsense, the Breeze is exactly what it has always been (even better) except for some comments that I might make, or letters from readers. And, perhaps 2-3 political cartoons each year. Maybe 500 words out of 30,000.
I certainly hope to hear from Trump supporters about why you like him. But don’t get mad if you only see letters criticizing him, because that might be all that we receive.
∙The City Council has authorized the City Manager to execute a Funding and Services Agreement not to exceed $250,000 to the Museum of Ventura County. I agree with this decision. In addition to local visitors, the museum brings outsiders to Ventura.
It passed the council with one opposing vote, which came from Councilman Jim Friedman. When running for council Jim said he would only approve funding for “core” projects. I don’t agree with him but can respect that he is “sticking to his guns.” Is it still okay to use that phrase?
∙You will be happy to know that the value of the number pi has been calculated to a new world record length of 31 trillion digits, far past the previous record of 22 trillion.
Emma Haruka Iwao, a Google employee from Japan, found the new digits with the help of the company’s cloud computing service.Pi is the number you get when you divide a circle’s circumference by its diameter. Very important in math.
∙It just slays me to hear people getting upset because what they post on media sites can be seen by the general public. Like, “I’m very upset that the naked pictures of me that I put on Facebook are being looked at.” Gosh, maybe they shouldn’t post them?”
Some folks are really stupid (not Breeze readers of course). In order to drive in the carpool lane, a driver placed two jackets filled with clothing in his car. The minimum fine for a carpool violation is $490. For that amount, he could hire people to ride with him.
∙If you haven’t heard, some employees and coaches of major universities have been taking very large bribes from parents so their kids could get into the schools. Even going so far as to photoshop their kid’s heads onto the bodies of athletes so coaches could be paid to put them on their teams.
I would be very disappointed to find out that my parents paid USC $500,000 to accept me, and that it wasn’t my superior inteliggunts that got me in.
∙The Journal of Abnormal Psychology has reported that more young adults are experiencing mental health issues. The study found an increase of 65% between 2009 and 2017 of young adults reporting symptoms of depression and a significant increase in reporting serious psychological distress and, much more alarming suicidal thoughts.
The authors of the report said that digital media might play a role in this increase.
In my very unprofessional opinion, the loss of human contact as a result of digital media could be one of the problems – especially texting as a way of communicating has been very harmful.
“How did grandma sound when you spoke to her?” “I don’t know we texted!”
“What did you do when mom sent you outside to play?” “I played war games on my tablet on the front porch.”
∙Measles cases have cropped up across the country nearly two decades since the highly contagious disease was said to be eradicated in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is also on the rise throughout the world.
Some 228 measles cases were reported to the CDC in the U.S. between Jan. 1 and March 7, more than half of the 372 cases that were reported during all of 2018.
A federal judge in New York has denied a request to let 44 unvaccinated children return to school after their parents sued the Rockland County Health Department over a policy enacted in December. The parents argue that Commissioner Patricia Schnabel Ruppert’s order to keep unvaccinated children out of school violates religious objections to vaccinations.
Would love to hear from readers exactly what the religious objections are? Is this contained in the bible or the ten commandments?
• In the largest study of its kind, a team from New York University Langone School of Medicine investigated people who had suffered cardiac arrest and ‘come back’ to life.
Study author Dr Sam Parnia told Live Science, “They’ll describe watching doctors and nurses working and they’ll describe having awareness of full conversations, of visual things that were going on, that would otherwise not be known to them. He said these recollections were then verified by medical and nursing staff who reported their patients, who were technically dead, could remember details of what they were saying.
People often claim that this is evidence of an afterlife or the separation of the body and the s
But scientists have increasingly attributed these out of body experiences to physiological processes, and it is believed they are a result of unusual brain activity caused by reduced blood flow to the brain. Death of brain cells can take hours.
Parents, Spring break is April 1 – April 5. To see the City’s Spring Break camps, visit https://www.cityofventura.ca.gov/642/Camps
