MORE RIORDAN NEWSPAPER NEWS
NewsMax.com has a new story about Richard Riordan's plan to start a newspaper in Los Angeles. However, their story isn't much more than a pickup of the AP story that ran earlier in the week. My sources tell me Riordan is already setting up interviews for top newsroom jobs and is leaning toward a five-day daily format. But my sources all had bad hangovers, so maybe they can't be trusted.
- posted by Amy @ 4/20/2002 01:32:00 PM

 

QUAKE NEWS
The U.S. Geological Survey has a nice page with details of this morning's 5.1 temblor. There's also a page with just New York quake info. They're not quite as much fun as the California pages, but I guess that's to be expected.

Several years ago, my cousin was visiting LA from Slovenia and I took him to Universal Studios. As the tram pulled out of the simulated earthquake ride, you could pick out the Californians. We were the ones instinctively estimating the magnitude of the quake. My cousin thought we were nuts until a few seconds later when the tour guide told us the precise magnitude of the simulated quake - and we were all within a fraction of the Richter number.

You may want to check out the web site of Jim Berkland, who predicted the 1989 Loma Prieta Quake that hit during the World Series. I later worked for the paper, the Gilroy Dispatch, that carried Berkland's prediction of a "World Series Quake" five days before it happened. I interviewed him several years later, and given his track record, it's hard to dismiss his theories even though his methods include a tracking of newspaper ads about lost pets.
- posted by Amy @ 4/20/2002 01:21:00 PM

 

EARTHQUAKE WEATHER
So what was with that storm yesterday? I left the apartment with no thought of an umbrella, let alone wearing head-to-toe rain parka gear. And then something like 30 minutes later the sky turned brown, then black then something that looked like mosquito-infested highway-motel-pool green. We took shelter at the entrance of an apartment building on the upper east side with a changing cast of about 10 other super-drenched people who looked out at the wind and sheets of unbelievable rain with almost as much awe and fear as my 6-year-old stepson who was pretty certain it was an actual hurricane that was going to start sucking skyscrapers up to the heavens at any moment. As soon as we coaxed him to walking back into the rain with thoughts of imitating heroic Gandolf or King Arthur, our planning was undone by a new intense round of lightening, thunder and wind gales warning of the apocalypse. With the storm showing no sign of abating and three long blocks between us and our destination, and a very frightened lad, I remarkably saw a cab with his light on. Wearing sandals that are impossible to walk in when wet, I dashed out into the storm, ran between double parked vans and out into the street to wave down the cab like a mad woman. Clearly my most impassioned cab-hailing event as a New Yorker. A moment later Christopher was shoved into the backseat by his dad. As I was buckling him up, I saw he had a tear drying by his eye, but he was brimming with his bravery and already laughing with the cabbie and joking that he saved our lives.

And then this morning, an earthquake in Manhattan. It was a decent little roll, I'd say about a 3.1 or so by the time it got to us.

I just went looking for stories to find out how intense that wind was. The Weather Channel said it was 78 mph in parts of Jersey. And here's a New York Times story clearly written by someone who didn't go outside.
- posted by Amy @ 4/20/2002 11:18:00 AM

 

BLOG, DRINK, EAT
OK, I only meant to stop by the Blog Bash for one drink.

But soon enough, I was in my enabler mode, encouraging people to drink more than they should, and then there was the brilliant Steve Kuhn who enabled the party to proceed into the a.m. hours by ordering and treating us all to 10 pizzas from Two Boots. That pizza - and two Advil - could explain why I don't have a deserved hangover this morning. Flashes of digital cameras, reports of a video, spirited critiques of The Sun (consensus: dull stories, frightening layout) and a whole lot of Dexie's Midnight Runners and Billy Idol, courtesy of the barkeep. More details TK.
- posted by Amy @ 4/20/2002 11:15:00 AM

 

RESTED AND READY TO PUBLISH
Looks like ex-LA mayor Richard Riordan is serious about starting a new daily in Los Angeles. AP had a story on it this week, though the scoop goes to Daily News columnist Rick Orlov.
- posted by Amy @ 4/19/2002 03:47:00 PM

 

BIG APPLE BLOG BASH
For all you party minded boys and girls, there is an East Village bash coming up this Friday for bloggers. Given that so much media ink has been spilled about blogging since the March Blogfest, I'm guessing there will be a bigger crowd this time around. This is in no way an invitation-only gig, but the organizers have asked that you drop them an RSVP. Details here.
- posted by Amy @ 4/15/2002 07:05:00 PM