You may have heard about the 300+ acre fire that consumed Griffith Park all of this afternoon and into the night. At first, I wasn't worried, as it was the third fire in barely over a month in our area and the other two didn't really cause any real damage. But this thing was serious. We could stand on our street and see a hill burning only a mile away, or less. What's going on?

Early reports say that one of the casualties was Dante's View, a delightful hillside garden on the side of Mount Hollywood. I used to go there in high school hiking the trails behind the Observatory. The garden, a lush oasis which stood out in stark contrast to the dry, dusty trail brush of the rest of Griffith Park, really was a cool place to visit. If I recall, it was named after the man whose passion it became. The story was that this Dante started his garden with a few potted plants to give himself something to do after his wife left him, until it became a veritable hillside jungle. I'm saddened to hear that is gone.

In other news, I graduated on Sunday and now I'm at home for a week or so. More on this later.

The Los Angeles Times website (which I read when I don't have the paper copy home in LA) has a fascinating online series this week called "The Lifeline." It covers lives of members of the U.S. military after they suffer serious injury, from moments after they get injured all the way through the physical rehabilitation process and the rebuilding of their lives.

Apparently, with increases in the speed and effectiveness of emergency battlefield care, more and more soldiers are surviving debilitating injuries from IED's, land mines, grenades, shrapnel than in any previous military conflict. But this phenomenon raises all sorts of new issues that the injured have to deal with (which they presumably didn't before because they would just die.)

So I know what you're thinking, that stinkin' liberal L.A. Times, they just want to further undermine support for the war in Iraq by showing guts, gore, and suffering and tugging on the American heartstrings. But it is a candid and surprisingly personal look into the lives of these brave and unfortunate servicepeople, and I highly recommend a look.

Only the first part is up yet, but it's a doozy. Don't miss the interactive Flash-driven photography exhibit.