Blog - Page 77

Photos and words coming soon.

UPDATE!

So believe it or not I have been slammed at work since I got back from the con and I really haven't had any time to sort my photos and write about my experiences at DEFCON, or at the parties I attended. I just got back from the walking tour of Downtown LA focusing on the Art Deco buildings in the area. I took some photos and I'm going to both sort those and the DEFCON pics and upload tonight.... oh and another thing... if I have time tomorrow I will be releasing a few more pages of LA from an Auto.

UPDATE 2

Oh my it must be a chilly day in hell as Penelope posted two entries on her site!!! One is a review of defcon... good job sweetie!

I just posted up my story about the Zocalo Sponsored talk at the Dorothy Chandler Music Hall here on LAist.

A few months ago I received an email from flickr poster No Name No. 5 asking permission to use this photo of Penelope's eye in an art project. After consulting with Penelope we agreed to let him do it and here is what he created! Cool deal!

Ok so I am glad to see that network solutions are offering cheaper domain registration than $40 a year, but as I was checking out their new pricing, I saw a terrified helmeted dog who seems to be riding a skateboard with a jet turbine attached to the back with some rope. Beneath the ad was a link enticing readers to "Read My Blog. Click Here" and when I did click there I was taken to a marketing travesty consisting of one part typing dog and one part blog. Rapid Rocco the Rocket Dog is quite possibly the most annoying web based advertising campaign I have ever seen.

Once a year hackers, crackers, geaks, freaks, drunks and gun toting maniacs get together in Las Vegas for the security convention known as DEFCON. Although the con has many speakers and events in the past I have gone to eat, drink and be merry in LV and this year will be no exception as thoughts of Nobu, Bellagio Buffet and Habeñero Rum dance through my head. 23b.org (which I host / am a member of) is a great spot to find photos from the con both past and present. If you're going, I'll see you there!

Penelope just pointed out to me the top downtown blog from LA Downtown News was Eric Richardson's blogdowntown and in the write-up they mentioned our Downtown Jogging (Urban Jog?) idea as one of the topic on his blog... cool! We are still planning on doing this, we are just very busy, this weekend we are going to DEFCON and then in the next few weeks I am taking an advanced rope rescue class on the weekends. Penelope is just finishing her internship and when she is done and when I am less busy we will create the flyers and put them up around Downtown. If you are interested in jogging along with us send me an email and let me know what time / day is good for you: urbanjog [at] eecue [dot] com.

This edition in the series of scans from the 1906 electric coach tour guide entitled Los Angeles From an "Auto" takes us deeper into the Old Chinese Quarter and then to the original heart of the city, when it was just a tiny Spanish pueblo. This portion of the book is less of an advertisement for the hotels of Downtown and more of a glimpse into the unique history of the City of Angels. In case you missed them, the first three sections can be found here: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Check out the google map which shows the locations of the buildings shown in the guide along with a few (soon to me many) photos of the buildings as they exist today. The engravings from this section will be posted soon thanks to the historical address finding wizardry of Eric Richardson, who has already helped find several of the addresses for the map.

UPDATE The story has been boingboinged~~[oops they said 1909 instead of 1906]~~ fixed... thanks Cory!

Looks like it has also been picked up on blogging.la and gridskipper

When I came back from my training in San Bernardino this weekend I was turning left on to 5th street off of Los Angeles and I heard singing, a very loud and beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace echoed off the buildings and to my surprise was emanating from a group of about 40 people who, to me looked like Quakers or Amish folks . They were dressed all in black suits except for their white shirts and they were wearing wide, straight brimmed black hats. It was very surreal and not something I am used to seeing on the street here in Downtown.

Google maps just got even better as they have added a feature called Hybrid that combines street maps with sat footage! Check out the new feature on any Google map, like my Historical Cultural Monuments map. I am really tired from a long day of Search and Rescue training. I will write more about it soon.

UPDATE I have updated to LA from an Auto maps and the HCM maps to use the new hybrid maps. The new type isn't documented yet, but it is pretty obvious: setMapType(G_HYBRID_TYPE);

Ok I just got an email from the Grand Performances group that puts on free concerts at the California Plaza... and next Thursday starting at 8pm the Shaolin Monks will be demonstrating kung-fu techniques! The info is not on their website, but here is the pertinent info from the email: