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--></style><title>About California's big Valley
Fire</title></head><body>
<div><font face="Georgia" color="#000000">"Consuming that house
appears to be what gave the Valley fire the critical mass of heat and
energy it needed to become a lethal monster. Black scorch marks high
up the Ponderosa pines show the reach of the flames. Intense heat from
the burning house flash-dried the leaves of a nearby oak
tree.</font></div>
<div><font face="Georgia" color="#000000"><br>
"Here in the Mayacamas Mountains that hover above Clear Lake, 100
miles north of San Francisco, California's drought has been going on
for seven years. Pine beetles have attacked the stressed gray pines,
leaving dead timber standing. A century of fire suppression has built
up thick undergrowth.</font><br>
<font face="Georgia" color="#000000"></font></div>
<div><font face="Georgia" color="#000000">"Meanwhile, city
dwellers' desire for a rustic cottage in the woods - often tucked
away on a twisting road with only one way out - has added to the
danger.</font><br>
<font face="Georgia" color="#000000"></font></div>
<div><font face="Georgia" color="#000000">"When a freakish jet of
wind howled up Putah Creek on Sept. 12, it whipped the Valley fire
into a conflagration that rocketed it into the ranks of the worst in
California history. The wind sent embers as far as a mile to kindle
new fires that spawned new embers.</font><br>
<font face="Georgia" color="#000000"></font></div>
<div><font face="Georgia" color="#000000">"Winds rushed through
the valley at speeds of some 60 mph."</font></div>
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<div>http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-84472444/</div>
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</font><font face="Lucida Grande" size="-1" color="#000000">"Whereas
any one line of evidence may be weak in itself, a number of lines of
evidence, taken together and found to be consistent, reinforce one
another exponentially."<br>
<br>
"What one can say with confidence is that success in understanding
the oxygen cycle of the biosphere in truly broad terms will depend on
how good we are at weaving together the related strands of biospheric,
atmospheric, hydrospheric and lithospheric evolution throughout
geologic time. Whatever we may conjecture about any one of these
processes must be consistent with what is known about the others.<br>
<br>
Preston Cloud and Aharon Gibor. The Oxygen Cycle. <br>
<i>Scientific American</i>, September 1970</font><br>
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