California Institute of Technology

A Tour of L.A. Puppet Fest

The art of puppetry has morphed over the years: from marionettes, to Muppets, to the dancing of shadows on far-away walls to Simon Morley's renowned stage show Puppetry of the Penis. But at the core, puppetry is the art of playing with and manipulating objects as extensions of oneself. Many events ... More >>

Living on Mars Time: What If Your Day Lasted 24 Hours, 39 Minutes and 35 Seconds?

Kirsten Siebach didn't want to go to the party. "There's just no way I can make it at 10 p.m.," she found herself thinking, "because that's breakfast time." For weeks Siebach had been falling asleep in church and calling her mother daily to check her own sanity. But it was her friend's birthday, so ... More >>

Pasadena's Cheeseburger Week: Where to Go The Mars Rover Cheeseburger

If you like cheeseburgers, and I mean really like cheeseburgers, you should probably just get a hotel room in Pasadena next week. Assuming you don't live here already, which you might if you're a true cheeseburger fanatic, simply because the dish was reportedly invented here (1920s, Lionel Sternber ... More >>

The Big Bang Theory of Product Advertising: In the Cereal Aisle, Dudes Rule

Last week the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory offered a spot-on observation about something funky in the world of cereal. As the brainiac crew of scientists settled into breakfast, astrophysicist Raj (played by Kunal Nayyar) began to rattle off the names of cereal mascots like Tony the Tiger, Toucan ... More >>

3.4 Earthquake Is Beverly Hills' Second in Week

See also: "8.6 Quake Possible in Southern California? Caltech Suggests New 'Mega-Earthquake'." As the Westside lay its collective head to rest last night after a terribly lackluster VMA ceremony, we finally got the jolt we'd been waiting for -- in the form of a 3.5 3.4 magnitude earthquake directly ... More >>

87: Egg Salad Sandwich at Euro Pane Bakery

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 87: Egg Salad Sandwich at Euro Pane. Egg salad is just egg salad, right? Something snatched from cold deli cases wrapped in cellophane or whipped up for a last ... More >>

Bob Simmons, Pioneer of the Modern Surfboard, Gets a New Exhibit

My Jello Americans: The Jell-O Shots Blog

Finally, the Jell-O shot isn't just for frat boys trying desperately to get girls drunk. The jiggly creations have been elevated to the level of high cuisine and high art at My Jello Americans, a blog that features stunning and whimsical gelatin creations. Some of their most stunning pieces feature ... More >>

New Planet Found by NASA Could be Suitable For Humans (or Aliens?): SoCal Scientists Involved in Kepler 22b's Discovery

NASA​With reporting from Simone Wilson. They're getting closer and closer to finding aliens in space, and not the kind who'll help you remodel your home for only $50 a day. And while we here in journo land are psyched to get the occasional minor scoop or a mention in LA Observed (and that al ... More >>

SoCal Tsunami Watchers, Surfers Let Down By Anticlimactic Size of Waves

Venice311"Massive crowd at pier. Surfers and boats in water. LAPD copter telling people to move to no avail."​Hordes of curious rubberneckers rushed the Southern California coast this morning after 8 a.m. to witness their very own close-to-home aftermath of the 8.9 Japan catastrophe. (And what ... More >>

L.A. Catholic Schools Do Their Part to 'Win the Future' for Obama -- Add 20 More School Days, Raise Tuition

rawstory.comObama wants YOU to win the future​We're no experts, but we think God might prefer that the Catholic children of Los Angeles get a little rest come June-time. Nope. No luck for the weary. Cardinal Roger Mahoney tells City News Service today that "the elementary schools in the Archd ... More >>

Fusion Without the Pretension

Daisy Mint aims to please all lovers of Asian food

Fun at The Royce with the Pasadena Star-News

The RoyceRoyce chef David Féau​ We are no stranger to restaurant hype; really we're not. We tend to generate a bit of it ourselves. So I hope you will believe us when we say that we have never quite seen anything like the front page of today's Pasadena Star-News, which was entirely devoted, ... More >>

Los Angeles Ranks Among America's Dumbest Cities

Does L.A. belong in the dumb half of America?​We like fake-bake tanning, pet yoga and the Real Housewives of anywhere. But come on -- is L.A. really that dumb? And getting stupider? (Yeah, anybody who uses "stupider" in a sentence must be from here, right?). The latest "Smartest Cities" in Am ... More >>

Google Sued By Pasadena Techies For Copycatting Their Version Of Street View

Google MapsBeautiful Pasadena, in stolen street view​Google wasn't the first to play god on street-level. At least, according to Pasadena company Veredi LLC, who is suing the Internet giant for infringing on five of its patents, which created a system for "creating, storing and utilizing image ... More >>

LAFD In 'Earthquake Mode' Following Swarm Of Shakers In The California Desert

​A swarm of temblors shook the desert county of Imperial east of San Diego Monday night, prompting the Los Angeles Fire Department to go into "earthquake mode" at 9:55 p.m. as a precaution, according to the LAFD's Devin Gales. The biggest of the shakers was a magnitude 5.7 that struck five mil ... More >>

L.A., You're Not As Smart As You Think: San Francisco And New York Are More Educated

​Los Angeles is the land of UCLA, USC and those brainiacs at Caltech, not to mention President Obama's alma mater Occidental College, the Claremont Colleges, Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount, Cal States ad infinitum, etc. So one might might think that the nation's second-largest metropolitan area ... More >>

Theater New Reviews: Tooth and Nail, Sarah Sarah, Canned Ham

Also, Groundlings International Airport, Full Disclosure

Euro Pane #2 Soft Opens in Pasadena

Although slated to open the 1st of May, the second Euro Pane soft opened today. Baker-owner Sumi Chang says she's just testing things out until the café has its formal opening next Monday, with pastries, coffee, and a simple lunch menu. The bakery goes with the grain of this pretty awesome family t ... More >>

Prediction Of Large Earthquake In L.A. Spreads Via Twitter, Email

polyvf via Twipic: http://tweetphoto.com/17203656​It started innocently enough: We received an email from a friend, who said it came from another friend, warning of an imminent earthquake in Los Angeles. "My buddy's wife works at the seismology dept. in L.A. and they called everyone in today a ... More >>

Sunday's 7.2 Earthquake Named 'Sierra El Mayor;' Mexican President Says Third Death Possible

polyvf via Twipic: http://tweetphoto.com/17203656​Caltech and the U.S. Geological Survey have come up with a name for Sunday's 7.2 shaker felt throughout the Southwest: The Sierra El Mayor earthquake. It was named for the mountain range near the temblor's epicenter on the Laguna Saluda fault. ... More >>

Locals Only

Changing the System From Within

Brick's Picks: Generation Modulation

Dark Surprise: Claud Beltran Gets all Noir on Us

Lightning-Fast Earthquake Could Hit Southern California

Just when Southern Californians have begun to pat themselves on the backs for having the Ted Soqui​world's stiffest earthquake building codes, there now comes news of "supershears." These are not competitors to Supercuts, but a newly discussed type of earthquake known for the incredibly high veloc ... More >>

Last Night: Linda Hamilton, Danny Elfman, Radiohead and other Terminator Salvation Sneak Preview News

I've always felt a certain connection to John Connor. Sure, in 1984 when The Terminator hit theaters I was a toddler and he was unborn, but after Terminator 2: Judgment Day was released in 1991, I too was arrested for liberating incarcerated lobsters in a Kentucky grocery store felt ready to lead th ... More >>

Last Night: Enlightened Debauchery with Mindshare LA @ The Lacy Lofts

The process of Googling has come to define New Millenial thinking - if you lack some piece of information you can just borrow it from someone else, a stranger with whom you now share a connection. This collaborative borrowing is the main thrust behind Mindshare LA, an event held every 3rd Thursday o ... More >>

Pipe Dreamer

Movie Reviews: Bee Movie, Darfur Now, Primo Levi's Journey

Also Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten

A Terrible Thing to Waste

Convicted as an ecoterrorist, a brilliant young scholar nose-dives in prison Also, excerpts of Billy Cottrell's letters from prison

Here’s the Scoop

Where to find the elusive Bulgarini Gelato

Best Place to Get Your Rocks Off

Epicenter of Cool

Dr. Kate Hutton

History of Smog

Reclaiming the Air

Ah, the memories of sweet orange blossoms in downtown L.A.

Burgers

Now and Then

Beyond Coffee and Cigarettes

A Clean Well-Lighted Space — To Read

Hard Cell

Exclusive interview with Caltech’s 'accused terrorist'

American Idols: Director Jack Hill, Grindhouse Guru

Bits and BANGS

Very, very small is beautiful — and controversial

Microbats, Broken Skulls, Rocket Girls & Prehistoric Beach Bears

The Scientists among us: A photo essay

The Big Rewrite

Stephen Wolfram explains everything but the perfect cappuccino

Becoming L.A.

What it is and what it might have been

Between the Waves

BattleBots!

Mechanical gladiators who maim one another may be the spectator sport of the future

Cracked!

The Disaster Waiting To Happen Inside L.A.'s Steel-Frame Towers

Riding Out the Apocalypse

the best place to bike when the big one hits

My Body

my nose