Subject: Natural Disasters

• Hear The Earth Move

  Via the excellent BLDGBLOG: German artist Florian Dombois translates the subaudible sound of plate tectonics into something the human ear can hear, revealing unique geological characteristics of brewing earthquakes around the planet. Says Dombois: Usually seismic waves have a frequency spectrum below 1 Hz and therefore cases are rare where earthquakes are accompanied by hearable sounds. The human audio spectrum ranges between 20 Hz - 20 kHz which is much above the spectrum of the earth's rumb

  November 13, 2006

• Earthquake weather or whatever...

  Yesterday, as Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was submitting to a public humiliation ritual before a Senate committee, his only punishment for letting New Orleans drown (in other countries, such incompetence would result in dismissal from office and permanent disgrace, but in the land of W, Chertoff will probably end up with a medal), and as word came from New Orleans that yet another body had been found in a flood-damaged house, the Department of Homeland Security's plan for dealin

  February 16, 2006

• Cross that bridge when you come it, if it's still there

  Only 6 days after the San Francisco Chronicle first reported on it and 5 days after The Blotter first noted it, the Los Angeles Times today informs its readers about the state of California's bridges. The state: hundreds of bridges are considered at risk of collapsing during a major earthquake because a state retrofitting program to strengthen the bridges was halted in 2002 due to lack of funds. What makes the failure to fund the program all the more appalling is that the state would only have t

  March 12, 2006

• Mother Nature gone wild

  "Wild" seems to be the word of choice among headline writers to describe yesterday's weather. The LA Daily News bucked the trend, going with "Crazy", but for the most part, editors across the country agree, it was wild. Of course, in the impressive natural events category, yesterday's weather, wild as it was, is nothing compared to what happened on March 27 forty-three years ago: the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964. At magnitude 9.2, it was the largest North American earthquake ever recorded

  March 28, 2007

• Shake n' Bake

  It's been funny--not funny ha-ha--sitting here on the sidelines watching the changing global-warming debate. While the international scientific community for years has piled voluminous report atop voluminous report detailing that global warming is real, producing all sorts of climatic problems and either is or most probably is human caused, those who originally pooh-poohed the eggheads have gone from saying it's a myth, to it's a normal cyclical weather pattern, to okay, so it's happening, whadd

  July 5, 2006

• Baby, It's Warm Outside

  The Inconvenient Truth is on its way to becoming the box-office champeen of documentaries (pound sand, Michael Moore!). Orders are already brisk for the DVDs that won't be out until November. However, because Truth starred Satan's spawn Al Gore, there's a good chance many holy rollers skipped it and headed into whatever anti-Semitic Mel Gibson "Christian" movie was playing at the time. Well, fear not, Samson and Delilah: there is a new global-warming documentary coming that's especially for lov

  September 12, 2006

• Times reporter attacked at Comic-Con

  Well that sucks. Los Angeles Times pop culture reporter Geoff Bouche was covering the con when he got jumped on a sidewalk in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter. He writes: "In the 15 years I have been writing for The Times, I have covered wildfires, riots, gang murders and plenty of other mayhem. I never got hurt. This weekend I covered a comic book convention in San Diego and I'm going home with staples in my head." Yipes! Read the rest here. Via LA Observed.

  July 30, 2007

• Friday's Headlines & Surprises

  No, really? You can finally relax. The Coastline Pilot decided it was time to voice its opposition to alcohol consumption by teenagers. “Drinks, teens shouldn't mix,” the Los Angeles Times-owned community paper serving Laguna Beach declared today. And just in case readers didn't comprehend the stance or--heaven forbid--disagreed with it, the paper explained soberly, “The fact is that young people and alcohol are a combustible mix.” Who isn't listening? “Adults must realize that the he

  August 10, 2007

• Fire Officials Seek Information on OC Arsonist

  The folks over at the Register are doing a fine job reporting on the massive Orange County arson fire that’s threatening to keep firefighters at work for another two days as winds approaching hurricane force continue to pound the region. Residents in Foothill Ranch are the latest to see their neighborhood in the path of a fire that’s consumed 8,800 acres in less than 18 hours. Reg reporters say that Orange County Fire Authority officials found three ignition points at Santiago Canyon Road ne

  October 22, 2007

• While We're on the Subject of Orange County Disasters...

  Read about Orange County's worst natural disaster, the Great Flood of 1938. Wish we had some of that rain right now...but not too much!

  October 24, 2007

• Fire Update: Almost out of the woods?

  The Orange County Fire Authority reports that the Santiago blaze is now 75 percent contained. Though firefighters are hoping to kill the beast by Friday (before the nasty Santa Ana winds whip it up over the weekend), the OCFA website lists Sunday as D-Day for full containment. Approximately 28,445 acres have been burned thus far. The fire had some 2,000 firefighters on the job at its peak, but an estimated 1,800 are out there now, Battalion Chief Kris Concepcion told the Weekly over the phone

  October 30, 2007

• Earthquake Strikes So Cal

  Just before noon this morning, an earthquake rocked Southern California--Orange County, Riverside, San Bernardino and Los Angeles. From the fifth floor of OC Weekly's Santa Ana headquarters, the 5.8** magnitude quake felt like I was standing on a rocking waterbed for at least 12 seconds. The building swayed back and forth. A large corkboard fell off my office wall. An energy drink can stupidly placed (by me) on top of a file cabinet flew three feet in the air. The staff quickly evacuated the b

  July 29, 2008

• "California's Queer Quake"

  About 75 minutes after this morning's Southern California earthquake, Reverend Wiley Drake named the seismic event, "the California Queer Quake," and announced via email to his nationwide followers that "another queer quake [is] trying to get California's attention." Won't you listen, damn it? "Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire," quoted Drake, a resident of Buena Park." "We ha

  July 29, 2008

• The Tragedy of It All

  September 15, 2005

• Wildfires Just a Sneak Preview?

  Ted Soqui shot this in Yorba Linda the weekend past. See his amazing slideshow here. Now that the fires have been contained, heroes have been identified, firefighting techniques have been blasted, causes have been zeroed in on, and our Last Action Hero Governor has likened the disaster to one of the crappiest action movies ever (Armageddon, which he didn’t even star in), some sobering news: Worse wildfires are likely a-comin’. So says a report released last week by UC Berkeley researchers

  November 19, 2008

• Stinkin' Royal George Brett Buys Angels Farm Team

  The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, which has been an Angels farm team since 2001, has been sold to a group led by Bobby Brett and his former Kansas City Royals Hall of Famer brother, George Brett. Majority owner Hank Stickney of Valley Baseball Club Inc., which moved the Quakes to Rancho Cucamonga from nearby San Bernardino in 1993, made the announcement this morning at the Epicenter, the site of many big league Angels' rehabilitation assignments following injuries. With or without the Major Leaguers,

  March 17, 2009

• Reality TV Turns Its Steamy Cameras on OC Fire Hunks

  Reality television has exploited our hot teens, our hot MILFs and . . . um . . . well, it has exploited a whole bunch of our hot teens and hot MILFs. Now their steamy cameras are set to record our hot fire hunks. Fox Reality Channel announced it has begun production on the third season of its original series The Academy, but the action has shifted from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, whose recruits were followed the first two seasons, to the Orange Country Fire Authority (OCFA), whi

  March 18, 2009

• The Glory of Easter

  Crystal Cathedral

  April 9, 2009

• Rockin' Like a 6.0

  August 28, 2008

• [CD Review] Lil Wayne, 'Tha Carter III' (Young Money/Cash Money/Universal)

  June 19, 2008

• It’s the Humidity

  June 19, 2008

• Out of Shadows

  May 15, 2008

• Tuesday - 11/20

  When the Levees Broke: Part II at the Irvine Fine Arts Center, The Whirling Dervishes of Turkey at the Barclay

  November 22, 2007

• The Fire of the Century . . . of the Year

  Hellish fires now, Sahara Desert later, says UCI doom prophet Mike Davis

  November 1, 2007

• An Apocalypse of Our Own Making

  November 13, 2003

• Live From Earthquake Central!

  WikicommonsYou know what's funny? Earthquake coverage. To be specific: coverage of moderate earthquakes. NPR's coverage of the devastating Chengdu tremor in 2008 can be called many things, but not "funny" isn't one of them.When a 4.7 quake hits Southern California, as one did last night, you have to expect a certain level of hilarity from news outlets. They're trying to report on an event that everyone knows happened, that everyone knows had few real effects, and that everyone knows happened yes

  May 18, 2009

• Mos Def

  April 16, 2009

• One More Thing

  This Week in Dining to Save Starving Artists

  February 15, 2007

• You Are Like a Hurricane

  Local nature filmmaker fixed his lens on Louisiana wetlands. Then along came Katrina...
  

  February 8, 2007

• Hey, You!

  Rosy Outlook

  January 11, 2007

• Weird and Wonderful

  Eraserhead, A History of Violence, Star Wars Episode IV and more

  January 4, 2007

• A True Horror Classic

  When the Levees Broke

  December 21, 2006

• Shake and Break

  'State of Emergency: Disaster Response in California'

  October 26, 2006

• Typhoon in a Teacup

  June 1, 2006

• See MirrorMask, Help the Hungry

  October 6, 2005

• Fema Food

  October 6, 2005

• A Clockwork Orange

  September 8, 2005

• A CLOCKWORK NARANJA

  September 1, 2005

• RAPTURE READY

  June 9, 2005

• We (Almost) Have Ignition

  May 5, 2005

• Fountain Headache

  January 20, 2005

• The Blame Game

  November 13, 2003

• The Plight of Dwight

  November 6, 2003

• Foster-Child Meat

  July 17, 2003

• Steven Hatfill's Big Idea

  September 5, 2002

• Only the End of the World, Again

  December 2, 1999

• This weeks featured NFL game: Chicago Bears (3-4) vs. Washington Redskins (4-2)

  November 4, 1999

• Survivors Relive Killer Laguna Canyon Mudslide for TV

  The amazing--and tragic--experiences of Laguna Canyon residents one fateful night 11 years ago are relived in a new episode of the Weather Channel's Storm Stories Sunday at 5 p.m. Narrated by Jim Cantore, Storm Stories chronicles the true stories of survivors and rescuers battling amazing weather eventsAfter six Laguna Canyon residents escaped one mudslide, they helped rescue trapped neighbors before seeking refuge and a night's sleep Feb. 23, 1998, in the home of Charlie and Anne Quilter. For r

  July 3, 2009

• Wax On, Wax Off: First Glimpses of Fall Conditions

  By Nolan HallOffshore Conditions in Baja​The Santa Ana Winds and the hottest weather of the year are already showing up this year, even as early as late August. It brings back memories of last year, coughing and surfing ash-covered waves under dark, smoky skies. Early Santa Anas bring that haunted dryness that feels like fire waiting to ignite. But they also might mean some great surfing to close out the summer. The various contest promoters, as well as Surline.com, are predicting good conditi

  August 28, 2009

• News and New Material from Matt Costa

  A few things have happened since we last checked in with Brushfire artist and Huntington Beach resident Matt Costa. Though he's been MIA for the last few months, it seems like he's back, but not without a few new developments. His Facebook page just posted this semi-new (recorded in August, it seems) YouTube vid of a live performance of some new material, a song titled "Miracle Drug" that he has performed live. Appearing with him? His new wife, Casey. Aw. Costa also seems to be starting fres

  October 14, 2009