Apple's Tim Cook promises donations for latest California wildfires

AppleInsider

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Friday announced donations directed against the newest wildfires impacting its home state of California.

Image Credit: Getty Images

"Praying for the safety of our neighbors, loved ones and all those affected by the rapidly spreading fires in California," Cook said on Twitter. "We're grateful to the firefighters and first responders working to keep everyone safe. Apple is donating to relief efforts for Northern & Southern California."

The executive didn't say to whom or how much Apple would donate.

Three major fires are impacting the state. The Camp Fire is ravaging an area north of Sacramento, forcing evacuations and destroying homes in the towns of Chico and Paradise. Elsewhere, the Hill and Woolsey Fires are burning parts of Ventura and Los Angeles counties, closing in on Malibu.

Apple has donated towards fire relief multiple times in the past, as recently in fact as earlier this year. It has also periodically opened up iTunes donations, as it does for well-publicized disasters around the world.

SpamSandwich

Much of California is a desert. The natural state of the state is dry, flammable brush.

tmay

SpamSandwich said:

Much of California is a desert. The natural state of the state is dry, flammable brush.

Actually, not much of California is desert:

https://www.desertusa.com/north-american-deserts.html

https://www.desertusa.com/desert.html

"Deserts are often defined as areas that receive less than 10 inches of average annual rainfall, but a more accurate defining factor is aridity. In addition to low rainfall, deserts are characterized by a high rate of water loss from the ground (evaporation) and through plants (transpiration). Together this is called evapotranspiration. Potential evapotranspiration is the amount of water that would be lost through evaporation and transpiration if it were available. Scientists measure this using a large pan of water under controlled conditions. In deserts the rate of potntial evapotranspiration exceeds the average annual rainfall by factors ranging from 2:1 to 33:1 or more. In other words, a desert is arid.

Another characteristic of a desert environment is the uneven and unpredictable nature of the little precipitation that occurs. The average annual precipitation is a poor predictor of rainfall in any given year. In some years a desert may receive what seems like abundant rainfall, while in most years rainfall is meager. And some years it may not rain at all.

Dryness influences other characteristics of deserts. Water vapor, either as humidity or cloud cover reflects heat, with a cooling effect. Areas with low humidity, few clouds and bodies of water, and little vegetation absorb most of the sun's radiation, thus heating the air at the soil surface. At night the same conditions allow the heat to be radiated back into the atmosphere. Thus, temperatures can be extreme both daily and seasonally. 

Wide temperature fluctuations have another effect. Warm air rises, and cool air sinks; rapid temperature change causes desert air to move rapidly from place to place. Deserts are windy, and windy conditions contribute to evaporation.

I live in a state that is predominately desert, Nevada, most of it considered "high" or "cold" desert.

montrosemacs

SpamSandwich said:

Much of California is a desert. The natural state of the state is dry, flammable brush.

Like much of your commentary, opinion presented as facts. Sad. 

ascii

Firefighters are great. You might think, oh they're not that smart or they would be financial analysts or computer programmers. But smartness is not the only virtue, bravery is too.

tmay

ascii said:

Firefighters are great. You might think, oh they're not that smart or they would be financial analysts or computer programmers. But smartness is not the only virtue, bravery is too.

I worked in wildland fire management during and after my education as a mechanical engineer at the University of Nevada, Reno, and I was with a broad range of individuals with and without college educations. As a job, it was one of the hardest and most satisfying that I could ever imagine, and after my last three seasons as a smokejumper in Alaska, I called it quits in my mid 30's to start a machine shop, which I still have today, some 30 years on.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/09/climate/why-california-fires.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytclimate

I seldom make assumptions about someone's education based on their current job.

ascii

tmay said:

ascii said:

Firefighters are great. You might think, oh they're not that smart or they would be financial analysts or computer programmers. But smartness is not the only virtue, bravery is too.

I worked in wildland fire management during and after my education as a mechanical engineer at the University of Nevada, Reno, and I was with a broad range of individuals with and without college educations. As a job, it was one of the hardest and most satisfying that I could ever imagine, and after my last three seasons as a smokejumper in Alaska, I called it quits in my mid 30's to start a machine shop, which I still have today, some 30 years on.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/09/climate/why-california-fires.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytclimate

I seldom make assumptions about someone's education based on their current job.

As well people shouldn't, I hope your business goes well.

tyler82

SpamSandwich said:

Much of California is a desert. The natural state of the state is dry, flammable brush.

Wrong. You don't even get to the desert part of California until well south of Yosemite, which is about half the state. But not all of that that is south is desert. It is more arid on the southern California coast, and desert along the southeastern edges of the state.