According to Wikipedia, the total eclipse of the heart moon will take place from 6:06 AM to 6:57 AM tomorrow. Anyone staying up that late/ getting up that early to watch it? What are some of your favorite spots for viewing cosmic events such as this?

By way of backstory, our previously existing birdbath proved to be low enough for our cats to nab the occasional sipping or splashing birdy — the most recent victim being a yellow-rumped warbler on Friday. So with a step ladder found discarded on the street last week I raised the water’s level to an elevation more than double its previous height and thus far more advantageous to our feathered friends rather than my beloved feline fiends. Then of course, I set up a camera up yesterday to timelapse the popular new set-up, and set the ensuing clip to a techno dance track that occasionally syncs with the birds’ movements so that it seems they’re boogeying more than bathing. Enjoy.

In case you haven’t been able to load twitter or step outside today, you very well know that the wind is blowing hard here in LA. As I made my way East on the 101 toward my Studio City home last night, all sorts of debris blew past, including some old woman on a bicycle saying something about my little dog. A brief scan of twitter let me know that people from various parts of the city have been without power, such as a few friends in the Eagle Rock/ Glendale area.

What’s your experience of the wind been? Let us know in the comments—what part of town are you in and what effects have you witnessed?

Cadillac ELR formerly known as the Converj coming to us soon.

Wednesday I got to meet up with GM exec Jim Federico, Executive Director of Engineering, Electric Vehicles at the L.A. Auto Show. I got to ask some of my own questions as well as those you readers posed as part of the ticket contest I was able to run. It was an interesting visit, certainly a lot of information with some answers as well. Where to start with the questions and answers is my big dilemma.

Al Pavangkanan posed the question regarding new battery technology. Jim couldn’t give specifics of what they have in store but did say that they are working with the battery suppliers to develop new technologies that will give us more power for the size compared to what we have now. The problem all the manufacturers have run into is that there isn’t a rush to develop batteries as there isn’t really a market demand for them yet in quantities to offset their costs. Those costs affect what we pay for an EV now, but as demand increases, production increases there will be more incentive to develop new battery technology and help lower costs. 

GM has several Electric vehicles coming our way. In answer to reader Gzank6 I got multiple answers regarding the sticker shock of an EV. Short term, yes we will see more affordable EV’s as well as more expensive luxurious ones coming our way from GM. Short term we will be seeing the Spark EV due this spring in Los Angeles that will be priced “much less” than the Volt. The Spark EV will be an all electric auto. It will be followed by a much more luxurious Cadillac ELR in a couple of years. The ELR will be based on the Volt plug-in gas electrification strategy and designed to fit a premium automobile.  Pricing is really affected by the cost of the battery, as demand increases and production increases there will be savings in terms of volume that will enable manufacturers to price the cars lower than we see right now. He couldn’t give me the specifics on other cars coming our way in the near future but could tell me we will see several electrified vehicles in the future.

Ticket winner Buzz posed two questions. First was whether EV’s were just temporary followed by what “green technology” will GM use in the future for market sustainability. Federico stated quite clearly that GM sees Electrification as the future of the automobile. It will come in many forms. From pure EV’s to plug-in to fuel cells. Electric automobiles will be the future regardless of where the electricity comes from whether it be plugging into the power grid, fuel cells or a “1 cylinder diesel” powering an on-board generator. All of those are in GM’s current research plans and we will see it in our cars here in L.A. in the not too distant future.

Reader Doni elle raised several questions. From their being “curiosities” to the issue of infrastructure and lack of support for apartment dwellers in particular. Infrastructure is a problem for the roll out of Electric Vehicles and plug ins. Federico said that GM and the other manufacturers are working with state and local officials to address these concerns. The better the infrastructure to support an EV the better it will be for all of the manufacturers. Right now we are in the infancy of the Electric car and as the market grows we will see many more varieties of cars to suit different drivers needs. This growth is dependant on infrastructure development not just in L.A but across the country, at least here we are eager to get our hands on them.

For reader Genie, the question of carbon foot print was raised. GM addresses in how the car is made where possible and is improving on that. How the car is charged is an infrastructure issue. (My two cents on that topic is that as long as we are generating our power from the burning of fossil fuels instead of clean sources the EV’s will always have a CO2 component to them. I won’t plug another manufacturer here but at least one will offer up a solar option through the dealership selling you the EV that will give you a carbon offset enough to cover the juice needed to charge the car).

After the jump I also caught a bit o’ video of a great blue heron successfully fishing in an eddy for dinner, and after that in about the same place as the shot of the Hollywood sign grabbed a really crappy still of a perching osprey, one of the rarest birds to be found around the waterway, who swept in for a landing while I stood there gaping.

Today it went exactly like that up until the last part where I got one shot that was as if the gorgeous thing decided it had enough fun playing with me and posed, and I offer it for your pre-Labor Day weekend viewing enjoyment  (click to biggify):

Hope y’all have a great holiday.

A selection of stills from the trek are viewable here on Flickr, most notable among them is the Bicycle Monument installed below the Olympic Boulevard Bridge, the in-water river chair (full functionality proven by Andrew) south of the 10 Freeway overpass, and best of all: the fellow south of the Washington Boulevard Bridge sitting on a utility cable spool reading a newspaper who looked at us as funny as we looked at him. A map of the entire 22-mile-route we rode is here.

R.I.P. *Here remains what was once a beautiful TREE cut down under our very noses. When will [our] city cease this action?

Hopefully, the city had a good reason to cut down the tree, i.e., that it was dead or dying, rather than just some form of aesthetic tree gentrification. I did see some newly planted trees nearby on the same block, so perhaps that is what will happen here too.

On our dog walk this very early morning Susan, Ranger and I close-encountered this young opposum — a remarkable member of our urban animal kingdom that I adore and will protect and defend vociferously — after it scaled the front gate of a house we were passing on LaFayette Park Place in Silver Lake. Its entire lack of fear of us humans and our excited canine in such immediate proximity led me to wonder if the creature was ill, but it seemed — at least outwardly — to be in good health.

PS. Yeah, I’m the kind of animal geek who gets excited by prehensile tails — semi or otherwise — in action.

So it was that research on a project this past Thursday afternoon took me to Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga and afterwards for a drive up into the canyon in hopes of generally locating a long-gone 130-year-old homestead’s location. With the road practically to myself I drove up slowly, stopping frequently to stand drop-jawed at how dramatic and gorgeous is the canyon.

A bend in the river (click to embiggenate).

The above snap doesn’t really do the scene justice, and neither will any more words about it. So I’ll just finish with: if you haven’t been, go. And if you have been, go back. I know I will.