Month: April 2006

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LAFD: FireBlogging for the 21st Century

I may be relatively new to Los Angeles, but I was knee deep in rss feeds upon arrival – and soon after getting in rhythm with the Metroblogging LA feed, I became aware that Brian Humphrey, spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department, actively publishes the LAFD News & Information Blog.

I’m not aware of other FD blogs, though there is a “firehouse forum“, but the LAFD Blog puts an end to the “do blogs really matter?” question. The LAFD blog is not only chock full of public service safety reminders and police-report rescue911 style recaps of deadly highway wrecks… it is one of the finest and purest examples of the PURPOSE weblogs serve.

Blogs tell it like it is, and no exception here, as Mack @ LA Voice pointed to this week. LAFD has posted a video (to Social Distortion’s cover of “Ring of Fire”) that will have you running to test your smoke alarms and buy backup 9-volt batteries

You may not hear it on the radio, and the paper won’t come until morning… but after being motionless in your ride on the 405 — moreso than usual — you can find out ASAP (via rss feed to mobile, blackberry/treo, pda or surfing at home) that the fire department was responding to a man who was killed when a construction rig flipped over at LAX. Or something.

Also: LAFD on Flickr.

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Never Forget

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah).

more stories here.

Tomorrow (April 26) is the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion. It is still not known how many have died as a result, and it is projected that many more deaths will be attributable to the nuclear fallout of the 1986 explosion (<-- link to extensive BBC project) in the Northern Ukraine.

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Even ‘Ballers Keep Tabs Online

“He’s not going to tell you if he’s down or not, because he doesn’t want to do that to the team. I know some of the guys have e-mailed him, text-messaged him, called him and haven’t heard back from him because he knew we were coming home in a few days. That’s pretty indicative of how he really must feel.“

That’s what Dusty Baker told the Trib Monday regarding Derrek Lee — on the disabled list for the first time in his career.

A decade since AOL Instant Messenger went live, texting and online status has become a way of life for many.

Three weeks ago, A front page Washington Post article was headlined: On IM, Keeping Tabs and Keeping Up Appearances: Status Icons Show Who’s Where When.
text message
Even my grandfather would understand what that means. This is how we communicate circa 2006. While the lines of communication are more accessible than ever, and the news cycle runs a hideous 24-hours, nothing says more than silence.

In my opinion, it’s a beautiful thing. When the team captain goes down, he can’t sit on the bench pouting… but in this age of post-cordless, post-laptop, post-palm communication, silence says it all.

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Gehry to Skyscrape L.A.

Chicago / Pritzker Pavillion / Click for more from giantgingkoThe madman cannot be stopped. He was last seen promoting his own line of jewelry at a bash at Tiffany’s on Rodeo drive, and now the L.A. Times reports that Pulitzer Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry “has designed two skyscrapers as cornerstones of a huge project intended to lure night life to the downtown area.” A second Times critic chimes in as well.

Gehry not only MADE Bilbao with his designs on the Guggenheim there, but also lent a hand to the rebirth of downtown Chicago with his work at Millennium Park appears set to make his mark on the (for now) $1.8 billion Grand Avenue Revitalization project(.pdf).

Priztker Pavillion Millennium Park Chicago - click for more photos by crouch
(And what a great excuse for some Chitown springtime photos)!

Carolyn at LAist posted photos and details from today’s press conference announcing the “city of dreams” (– Mayor V.).