Dr. Lucy Jones is holding an online seminar this morning from 10AM -11AM.  She will be talking about the science behind the “big one”, the potential damage all in preparation for the “Shake Out” on November 13.  (The Shake Out as I wrote about before is the BIGGEST Earthquake Drill ever).

To view the seminar you do need to register with the Shake Out and can do so HERE. 

The complete email press release can be found after the jump. Read the rest of this entry →

One of the coolest things about the Internet is how much it expands your world.  Over the last 20 years I’ve been online, I’ve met some really awesome people.  This past week, Rachael Joy, Whit Scott and VinVin of Seesmic were down from SF to attend the Filmmakers Alliance VisionFest08.  (Check out the Q & A they did with director, Kevin Smith.) They offered to host us LA Seesmicers for a meetup that was just too much fun.

We met at Lucy’s El Adobe on Melrose.  I lived off Melrose for 8 years and never once went to this place.  I was impressed by the way it looks and the food…well, it’s better than El Coyote, but there’s much better Mexican food to be had at El Arco Iris, The Gardens of Taxco and Hecho en Mexico, but none of them compare to the awesome service we got at Lucy’s El Adobe.  Oh and get this, I carpooled with a girl I met in Vegas last week, who just happened to grow up in El Sereno not far from where I live now.  My world just shrunk y’all.

People from Orange County to Ventura County attended as did recent transplants from Texas.  And of course, you’re truly was there.  Unlike other meetups, where you’re not sure what a person looks like, since we all use Seesmic regularly, it was more like meeting friends that you hadn’t seen physically in a while.  There was no hesistancy, “Um…are you..faboo mama?” They already knew what I looked like thanks to video.  I like to post some of the Seesmic videos after the event, but the last time I used Seesmic here, I broke the blog, so you get photo links instead. You can check out more pictures from me, mayjah, hkebe, dwelch and ultimatewhit.

Talk about a trainwreck.

Last night as I was running out the door, I caught a snippet of the MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour on PBS. It was a point-counterpoint discussion between Steve Wasserman, the former editor of the now-axed LAT Book Review, and Kassia Krozser, the founder & editor of booksquare.com, a book review site & publishing industry hub that, FWIW, I’d never heard of.*

The segment was intended to discuss the elimination of the LAT Book Review from the Sunday paper. Tribune loose cannon Sam Zell deep-sixed the little insert, which was one of the few sections of the paper I read anymore (and for which I had the privelege of penning two book reviews). Wasserman called the elimination of the review a “philistine blunder,” while Krozser seemed to have been brought in to defend the Internet, which to my mind is a separate issue from whether the paper Review should have been cut or not.

Throughout the segment, I found myself whipsawed over which interviewee I detested more… Read the rest of this entry →

The L.A. Times newsroom has taken on a ship-of-the-damned air lately, my old colleagues are telling me.

With corporate vandal Sam Zell threatening to lay off even more reporters and sell Times Mirror Square in a bid to save tiny cash in all the wrong places, the smart money says to jump before you’re pushed.

Luckily, the InkStained Retch makes it all easy to say goodbye by offering the Hackinator – a handy wizard for Times employees who want to write Zell the perfect f@ck-you resignation letter …

Read the rest of this entry →

I’m always sure I’m the last one to find out a new way to use technology, but I mentioned this trick to a friend the other day and was met with, “You can do that? How?” So I thought I’d share it in case there is anyone else as behind as us.

I’ve been looking for a jogging stroller for a while. (I don’t really jog, but I need something that can better handle both the crappy sidewalks in my neighborhood and the sand and rocks on minor hikes. And you know, I could jog. Maybe.) My budget is teensy and I want a used one with inflatable non-fixed wheels and a canopy. I also don’t want to drive very far to pick it up, what with the price of gas and all–go far enough and I might as well pony up the extra cash for a new one. Of course, perfect strollers keep turning up in Redondo Beach and Rancho Palos Verdes. I am not even sure where that is.

So naturally I’ve been looking for a while. I was checking every day or two until my brilliant friend Erin suggested that I subscribe to the RSS feed for my search. “The what, now?” I mean, I know what RSS is but I had no idea it was available for Craigslist searches.

How I did it, behind the cut for anyone who needs the assist. And if you’ve got another good Craigslist tip, please share in the comments!

Read the rest of this entry →

Didn’t get to the Hollywood Forever screenings this weekend? Feeling like you need to get away but can’t escape your desk? Metblogs has just the thing: the Spoon River Metblog. LA’s own Jay Bushman brings you this serial adaptation of the 1915 classic Spoon River Anthology. You can read more about Spoon River at the Loose-Fish site or just log on and get some culture while you pretend to work. And if you’re into puzzles or Alternate Reality Games, there seems to be some kind of hidden puzzle there too. But I won’t spoil it for you. 

Today marks the fifth time that Metrolosangeles has chosen to use Twitter:

Shape up for summer with fitness expert Kathy Smith … on the Metro Red Line stairs. http://youtube.com/watch?v=8Px8Q5p1TaQ

What can we learn from this? Your train may not get you to the Westside, and who knows why your damn bus is late. But, at least you’ll be in great shape!

Thanks, Metro!

Metro has used Twitter a ground-breaking second time!

You may remember the first MetroTweet regarding another highly informative online chat with Pam O’Connor scheduled for tomorrow. Tweet #2 is a reminder to sign up for system alert emails, which notify you of any schedule changes or other Metro shenanigans.

For those that aren’t yet familiar with Twitter, this is like the pizza delivery guy arriving at your door to tell you that your pizza is ready for pick up.

But, let’s give the kids running L.A.’s trains and buses the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they’re just testing the waters and preparing a full roll-out of System Alert Tweets right to your phone to say things like, “Hey, this Gold Line train is running 10 minutes late. Sorry ’bout that.”

Yes we can.

Who are the “most digitally savvy consumers” in America today? The early adopters of online technology and new-fangled gee-wiz gadgetry? That’s a question answered by Advertising Age:

Not Los Angeles.

Earlier, Mark Pritchard of SF Metblogs expressed his ire over San Francisco’s #10 ranking on the list. At least his city is ON THE LIST. According to the new findings, only 7% of L.A. is “digitally savvy.” This puts us on par with Tucson and Little Rock. Yes.. Little Rock, Arkansas. In comparison, Austin came in at #1 with 12%, and Green Bay brings up the rear at 1%.

No wonder it took so long to get turn signals in this town.

Remember way back on May 8th when I said that Metro should use Twitter to tell us what’s going on with stuff, like train delays and freeway accidents? They – or someone posing as they – just tweeted this morning at metrolosangeles!

Complain about gas prices and traffic to Metro Board Chair Pam O’Connor at her next live internet chat at noon May 21 at metro.net/chat.

That’s one small tweet for man, one giant tweet for Metro!

I can’t get enough of this damn Twitter nonsense. How else would I have known that Annika needs to clean her house? That Siel is thinking about making pancakes? That Lucinda got her hair did? It’s fascinating. It’s addictive. It’s ruining my life. I’m even following LAFD on Twitter, so I know every brush fire/hazmat spill/cat stuck in the tree incident as it happens. Which got me thinking… where’s Metro?

Poking around the Twittersphere (sorry), I stumbled upon a dude in London who devised a Tube Tracker. Every 15 minutes his server checks the status of London’s subway system, and sends updates regarding delays to your Twitter account. You can even sign up to get updates on ONE SPECIFIC LINE. A similar tracker exists for BART in San Francisco.

Imagine Metro sending Twitter updates that the Red Line Highland Station is being bypassed for security reasons. That Metro Rapid 720 is running 7 minutes behind schedule. Or that an accident has closed Southbound traffic on the 101 at Coldwater Canyon. Imagine that Twitter update popping up on your cell phone just as your walk out the door to head to work.

Why don’t we already have this?

1:37PM UPDATE:

Read the rest of this entry →

There are a lot of Twitters out there. Most of them dry up the moment they are born. But, there are a few that manage to stay fresh despite the rigors of life in L.A. One such Twitter belongs to Diablo Cody.

Here is what I have learned about Diablo today:

• She is becoming a “Marfly”
• She just bought a new dress
• She like enchiladas for breakfast
• She strung Christmas lights on her gate so the Pizza Hut guy could find her more easily
• She’s never seen an episode of The Hills

Oh, Diablo. I never knew we had so much in common. Except for the dress.

Yesterday I realized that my driver license is about to expire so I headed over to the DMV website to renew online and I found the instructions amusing, in a very bureaucratic way.

That’s right kids, on the DMV website it says that in order to renew your driver license on the Internet you’ll need to have access to the Internet.

I’m not sure if I should be laughing at the silliness of this or be saddened by the fact that the DMV felt this information was necessary.

Bored now that the writers have stopped picketing? There’s no time like the present to prepare for the zombie apocalypse! Nina Bargiel, aka The Slackmistress, is in training and documenting it at Post-Apocalyptic Workout, where she blogs, vlogs, and posts super-hot photos of herself in her running clothes (like the “before” at right).

The basic gist is that Nina realized that as an unemployed television writer who throws great cocktail parties and solves mysteries, she is prime zombie fodder. So just in case, she is out to make herself into a productive member of society who can perform CPR, grow and prepare food, and outrun you in the event the the zombies give chase.

I will not be playing along because my strategy for the zombie invasion is to barricade myself (and family) in our compound and fight them off from my couch. But not everyone has a compound* so I figured some of you might want to join the preparations for the good fight.

*I do not have a compound. But I totally want one!

I know what you’re thinking: It’s Valentine’s Day, and I need to come up with something more clever and memorable than candy, flowers, a card, or my d*ck in a box.

Let me make a suggestion: Craigslist has an ad for a 2-ton, 45-foot-long animatronic humpback whale:

used for movie shoots but is now taking up studio space…works great only needs standard pc computer to operate….bring truck and its yours …call johnny

Whaddya waiting for? It works great! And it’s free!