Best wishes to everyone for happy and safe Fourth of July.

Unfortunately, here in California we have plenty o’ natural fireworks going off - though not all naturally caused - with 1,781 fires and 505,872 acres burned since June 20, 2008. Here’s hoping that the services of the 20,254 committed personnel, 1,503 fire engines, 571 hand crews, 340 bulldozers, 482 water tenders and 119 helicopters soon won’t be needed!

Just a quick note to say yes, we did feel the earthquake last night. It seemed to hit a corner of the house first, and could have been mistaken for the wind…then the jolt hit. Just another day in the Golden State.

I’ll be watching the fault lines…

For folks who remember gas prices crossing the $1/gallon threshold, this might sound familiar:

Stuck in the past: Some gas pumps won’t charge more than $3.99/gallon

$4 a gallon gas is definitely a headache for drivers, but it is posing an even bigger problem for some gas stations. In many rural areas of the country, gas stations with older pumps are discovering their pumps were not made to charge more that $3.99 9/10 per gallon.

Rumors of shortages can’t be far behind. What’s old is new again and again and…

Portland’s Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) denied a request from Salmon for Savings, a branch of the Bring the Salmon Home Campaign, to place an ad on TriMet buses. The ad below is aimed at prompting consumers to taking a look at the controversial Klamath River dams.

Sure, the salmon seem to be a bit sad-eyed, but it sure don’t seem that controversial to me. Maybe TriMet is somehow in cahoots with Pacific Power?

Don’t think anyone could have seen this one coming. Maybe the “No Pebble Mine” theme of the AEG Fly Fishing Film Tour impressed something on some goldsmith somewhere. A group of prominent jewelers, including Tiffany & Co., Helzberg Diamonds and Fortunoff, plan to throw their lot in with us motley fly fishermen in opposing the Pebble Mine, a massive, open-pit sore planned for Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed. The Bristol Bay area is home to the world’s largest population of sockeye salmon.

Diamond merchants have their conflict-free diamond and jewelers’ got their “No Dirty Gold” initiative, an effort to support environmentally friendly gold and fight destructive mining practices. Support is support and any help — from the jewelers’ “Bristol Bay Protection Pledge” or otherwise — is welcome if it leads to preventing such a disaster in Bristol Bay.

At least somebody else is paying attention.