I originally filed the following post at LAist. Click here to see all my recent posts at LAist.com.

CNN proves once again that the only imminent radioactive threat stems from staring at Wolf Blitzer in the Radiation Situation Room all afternoon.

After spending much of the week threatening the West Coast with radioactive thunderstorms should anyone dare turn the dial, CNN decided to recreate the geography of Caifornia, placing San Francisco a hundred miles or so from the Mexican border and throwing Los Angeles to the sharks, at the tip of a peninsula in Northern California that appears to be all but detached from the rest of the continent.

OK. So it was early in the morning and someone decided it would be fun to flip SF and L.A. on the map. And to misspell San Onofre.

We’re convinced this is a direct side effect of redundant fear fomenting under the guise of expert analysis. Turn on any 24-hour news network, or even local AM radio, and you’ll hear lots of mumbling broken up by words like “radiation,” “nuclear disaster,” and “headed to California.” These catchphrases subliminally enslave listeners to the nearest breaking news device, be it a transistor radio or the plasma section at Best Buy.

Not one expert or official has mentioned any public threat to the United States as a result of potential increases in radiation levels due to the Fukushima nuclear reactor disasters in Japan. Fact: radiation from the reactors has reached California. Reality: radiation measurements in California remain at normal levels. Likely somewhere up in the jetstream.

So, no, we’re likely not prepared should a 7.0-or-greater magnitude earthquake strike near the San Onofre Nuclear plant, 70 miles south of Los Angeles, as I assume the CNN graphic above infers. But that’s no reason to paralyze us and speak over expert analysts with no impetus to push the fear factor without reason. U.S. journalists may not be prepared to cover nuclear disaster, writes Tim Goodman at Hollywood Reporter, and as Anderson Cooper continues capturing the most viewers on his nightly broadcasts from Japan, let’s hope he listens and learns.

Screenshot via Mediaite.

UPDATE: Just got an email that my funds went through! After a whole month SOTRU hit its Kickstarter fundraising goal with just two minutes to spare! Congrats!

Having just heard that one of my recent Kickstarter investments, CicLAvia, has been funded, a new project has conveniently crossed my path and if you’re into it too, you’ve got a few days left to chip in a few bucks.

State of the Re:Union (SOTRU) is a public media show that seeks to unify its audience by telling the stories of real people through an innovative exploration of a city, detailing how things come together and what pulls them apart. Each radio episode, host Al Letson travels to a different American city or town and explores how community is created. Who are the people who help bring it together? What are the issues they face? How does the culture of an area shape the people and vice versa? Through a unique mix of storytelling, cultural excavation, music and multimedia, SOTRU brings community to life. — Read more | website | Facebook | Twitter.

Kickstarter is a groundbreaking concept in microdonations and in awesome website and community. You pledge to donate the amount you choose — with great incentive rewards for various dollar amounts — and the money is taken via your Amazon.com account only if the fundraising goal is met.

State of the Re:Union is closing in on 50% funded with only 4 days remaining (after a month on the site) so let’s give it a boost by August 21st!

Here’s a piece on First Avenue in Minneapolis from the State of the Re:Union YouTube channel:

Updates on other projects I’ve invested in: CicLAvia aims for a city-sanctioned bicycle takeover of the LA streets at least one day a year (inspired by ciclovía), and will take place this year along Wilshire Boulevard on October 10 (10.10.10). Another recent Kickstarter project I backed has been funded as well — however, the Invisible Children Take Away Shows in Uganda trip has been postponed following a terrorist attack on the final day of World Cup that killed Invisible Children volunteer Nate Henn (R.I.P.).

Thanks, Rekha, for pointing this out!

It goes without saying that Terkel’s unique traveling interview style, best illustrated on 1963’s “This Train” is the model for great audio and visual storytelling of today. While riding the train from Chicago to the civil rights march in Washington D.C., Terkel gathered the voices of anger, joy and ultimately optimism from people of all ages making that historic trip. Just listen to part one of “This Train” below and, suddenly, you won’t think This American Life is the most revolutionary program to hit radio.

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Studs was a Chicago guy but his stories had a purely American bent, touching on difficult matters of importance and celebrating life coast to coast. I’m sorry that he will not be around to see Barack Obama become president, although he discussed as much with a Huffington Post scribe in the days before his passing. I’m also sad that the Cubs couldn’t pull it out this year for Terkel and other Cubs fans who’ve waited the better part of 100 years to see a championship.

Studs Terkel was an activist until his dying days, playing a prominent role challenging AT&T’s corroboration in releasing records to the National Security Agency in 2006.

I hope to locate the full audio of this amazing piece to post later. For now, here’s the first 50 minutes of “This Train.”

Video and more below:

More coverage at Chicago Public Radio.

The key — the National Association of Broadcasters has rolled over:

The real deciding factor came when Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) met with members of the NAB. They told him that they feared their Web competitors would get a deal done first. Under the terms of the legislation, SoundExchange, the body that collects royalties and is part of the Recording Industry Association of America, has until Dec. 15 to negotiate a new rate. The NAB apparently was worried that the deadline didn’t give the organization enough time to strike its own royalty agreement.

“Berman said ‘Fine, we’ll extend the date until Feb. 15, which gives you two more months to talk,'” said one music-industry source with knowledge of the discussions. “There isn’t anything in the act that prevents traditional broadcasters from reaching their own royalty rate.”

That did the trick, according to the source. Dennis Wharton, an NAB spokesman confirmed Saturday night that the NAB met with Berman and that the deadline was extended. He said the trade organization has dropped its opposition in both houses of Congress.

You can listen to netZoo Internet Radio station — WOOZradio commercial free (for a small monthly fee that cuts into our royalty payments) by clicking here. Or listen w/ commercials for free.

Amazing night at — of all places — Miller Park. Much will be said about this night, and personally, I’m elated at the moment. But in the interest of getting out of the house, I’m going to post the audio highlights c/o WGN Radio, Pat Hughes, and Ron Santo. Yes, The Chicago Cubs, on the back of Carlos Zambrano — who nearly no-hit the Astros in the past — pitched his first career no hitter, the first no hitter by a Cubs since Milt Pappas in 1972.

Listen to the call of the 27th out:

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Holy Shit Carlos!

And the Magic Number is 7!

Piniella, Zambrano talk to the media:

Game Highlights (WGN Radio):

Zambrano spoke to WGN TV’s Len Kasper after the game and according to the Sun Times, said:

“I felt good,” Zambrano said. “I think the rest helped me out a lot, and I was able to command my fastball today and all my pitches were working great today. I was watching the gun in the first inning and it said 99, 98 I said let’s get it on, challenge the hitter and be aggressive.

Geovany [Soto] just told me, ‘Just come on. Let’s go you and do it.’ The pitching coach [Larry Rothschild] in the ninth inning ‘use your leg,’ and that helped.”

photos via AP/Yahoo! Sports.

I’ve been actively blogging here for 2.5 years — and intermittently since 1999, when I first launched WOOZradio. Why don’t I bother to self-promote or even make cards/stickers to increase traffic and the minimal revenue flow that could help me break even on the $15 a month or so I spend to keep Live365 running and paying royalties. Because I feel stupid talking about myself to a computer screen, I prefer to let my mind run free under the assumption assume that nobody is really reading, and, well, in the end I just do it for me.

Here’s an image that was on the front of netzoo.net back around mid-2001. Go ahead — click and see what this place looked like back then — it takes a few clicks to get to the music clips. Instead of actually listing my blogroll preferred online mags and music sites, I used orange colons. I have no idea why. The entire history of my lackadaisical updating of my personal web site / blog / whatever is well-documented (along with everything else on the innernetz) at archive.org.

That’s my little reflection for the day and now on with it. The sky looks awesome out my window (I’m here looking to the northwest) and there is much to be done at the day job (Yes, I do have a real, full-time job). My extra special Derby Dolls photo essay (thanks, Kelly) from the Tough Cookes-Fight Crew bout is scheduled to pop up now live at LAist during lunch. P.S.: If you want me to take you out in the next couple weeks, I’d love to, visit Caroline on Crack for more on that.

I’ve messed with numerous mapping applications — namely Mapbuilder and Platial and none are as effective, easy to maintain / update and share as this map tracking the ongoing fires in Southern California. Nice one, Times.

Map Updated 10/29

View Larger Map

SignOnSanDiego is also in breaking coverage mode via their text-only Fire Blog updates. With up to a quarter million people already being evacuated from areas of San Diego County it’s possible Qualcomm Stadium could be very reminiscent of the Superdome staging area (except of course that it’s not covered and the weather ain’t nearly that bad, save for the smoke in the air).

Also, LA City Fire Department is now live with its long-incubating real-time alerts feed. Subscribe via e-mail or Twitter. For very regular updates from San Diego to your mobile device, follow Nate Ritter.

Below, The Daily news‘ less-detailed Google Map focusing on Los Angeles and the Valley and a real-time slideshow of the more incredible photos documenting the fires via flickr:

Satellite photos of the fires here (NOAA) and here (NASA). InciWeb fire containment chart here. More fire-mapping resources here.

Finally, video via Google/YouTube here

Simply load into your widget engine and it will begin streaming… great way to touch up on your Arabic. (Sawa’s Web site: Arabic | English)

Bengali speaker? Try the Bangla Live New Radio widget, which offers BBC Bangla, Voice of America Bangla, Radio Japan Bangla and BBC Asian Network.

Take it even further East with Radio Tuner Singapore and tune into 23 Singapore-based radio stations streaming in English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil.

Plenty more radio ’round-the-world in desktop widget format here.