With deregulation, globalization, and the emergence of junk bond financing, the 1980s turned into the era of dealmaking. It seemed like no company was immune from hostile takeovers. And, one of the key players in this era was George Keller, who died this week. He was 84 years old.

Of course, his marquee deal happened in 1984, when he was the chairman of Standard Oil Co. of California. At the time, rival Gulf Oil was involved in a nasty hostile takeover with T. Boone Pickens (who had the support of Mike Milken's junk bonds). Gulf thought such a deal would be harmful for the long-term and result in massive layoffs. So, why not find a white knight?

Enter Keller.

Basically, he saw an opportunity to boost Socal's reserves significantly. What's more, the price tag looked fairly good (when crunching the numbers): $13.3 billion. The end result was a company called Chevron (NYSE: CVX).

Yes, it was considered a staggering deal. But it was forward-looking. Since then the oil industry has undergone tremendous consolidation -- and the Gulf deal became a model on how to do it.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

I've lived in South California my whole life.

Funny enough, at a recent dinner, we asked each other where everybody was from. I was the only one who said he was from LA. Somehow, they were shocked to find someone who was born in LA!

Socal is an amazing place. Great weather, great restaurants and great industries ... such as Hollywood. We are blessed. So I'm not surprised that millions of people have come here.

However, there are always the threats of earthquakes and fires. I've experienced my share, but in the case of the recent fires, I've never seen anything quite like it. Just the other day, I could see the flames raging -- next to my home!

It seemed that every couple of hours, the fire was somewhere new. For the first time in my life, I was preparing to evacuate. It certainly concentrates the mind.

What's amazing, though, is how few people have been hurt. For the most part, people are listening to the authorities and it also looks like we've learned some important lessons from prior fires. It appears to be in stark contrast to other strategies in other disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

I'm not sure what to think of everything so far (it's hard when it is still going on), but it is inspiring to see how everyone has helped out -- taking in animals, setting up helpful websites. It's incredible.

Most importantly, though, the firefighters are to be commended. I know some of them -- and they are top-notch.