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ERIC PREVEN’S NOTEBOOK - For nine months, LA Magazine alleged that the identity of the so-called racist audio leaker was LA's biggest secret.
Now, Santos Leon, the LA Federation’s director of finance is being investigated by LAPD who found recording software on his work computer, and people say that he planted it in Ron Herrera’s work space.
Motive is worth examining.
One puppet following the situation closely said Leon may have been looking for evidence of infidelity. Compelling.
Sometimes it appears one way but is really another.
Like with Harvard Westlake and the local residents of Studio City. Can you call it a love story?
The school claims that they love the locals alot, but that's not how the residents generally feel. The school claims the oversized athletic complex they are planning is actually a 5-acre River Park for the people.
The people, it turns out, are not so stupid.
And the project site is adjacent to the now-defunct Bed Bath and Beyond, so this is not exactly the rugged coast of Big Sur. Still, we all walk on the same earth beneath the same stars, so in one small sense we are connected.
And for those who are out of range, Starlink is a constellation of thousands of satellites that orbit the planet much closer to Earth, at about 550km, and cover the entire globe.
Why? For the people of Studio City, silly, to deliver broadband internet capable of supporting streaming, online gaming, video calls etc. to places all over the world.
The constellation consists of 1,500 + satellites in generation one that are essentially strung together like a train with each car 250 miles apart from the one before it. For the second generation, there will be more satellites but they will only be 75 miles apart.
All of this takes place 342 miles or 550km up… sheesh.
Each satellite is approximately 36 feet long, and features a compact, flat panel design that minimizes value, allowing for a dense launch stack to take full advantage of the launch capabilities of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.
Smart Speaker: Well, we are all visitors here, so let’s try to leave this place better than it was. Won't this create a ton of Space junk? Is space in the city or county's jurisdiction?
Get him out of here.
Click above to see the train...
X marks the spot!
The person doing the rhyme also performs the motions listed after each line on the back of ... the volunteer.
X marks the spot
(With your forefinger, trace an "X")
With a dot, dot, dot,
(With the same finger, lightly poke three "dots" on their back)
And a dash, dash, dash,
(Now, trace three horizontal dashes, one below the other)
And a big question mark! (Trace a question mark on their back)
The water trickles up, (With both hands, lightly stroke fingertips upwards)
The water trickles down, (Same as above, but move fingertips downwards)
The water trickles all around. (Now, move fingertips around in a circular motion)
Crack!
(Pretend to crack an egg over the person's head by knocking knuckles together. Then, pretend to let the egg cascade down by lightly touching their heads with fingertips.)
The blue dots above is roughly where Sportsmen's Residence are slated to go. The next Planning Hearing will be July 27, 2023.
+/- 75 units of PSA:
Lindsey P. Horvath: "Today we celebrated the opening of Avenida, a permanent supportive housing project with 75 units that was repurposed from an underutilized motel.
It’s the first to be completed w/Round 2 of Project Homekey funding."
Hugo Soto-Martinez: "This project was 33% cheaper than the average development, and it was completed in 1/3rd of the typical timeframe. 75 formerly unhoused people in CD13 will now have a roof over their heads and social services to keep them on the right track. We need more projects like this."
Smart Speaker: In Studio City we have 78 affordable units coming to our upscale mall at the local chokepoint.
Here’s the chart that raises the question: who will do the selecting and deselecting the affordable tenants, to live adjacent to the 520 market-rate rental apartments at the Marmol Radzinger-designed monstrosity? #Greed #Bait&Switch
Stone Cold Soup:
Stone soup is the name given to a wide variety of hearty meat and vegetable soups that stems from a European folktale about community sharing. Stone soup typically features humble but delicious ingredients like potatoes, peas, cabbage, and affordable cuts of meat.
Stone soup legend variations of the tale have popped up all over Europe since (at least) 1720 when it was printed in France. The moral of the story is consistent no matter where it is told: A hungry traveler arrived in a village with nothing more than the clothes on his back and an empty pot. The villagers, wary of the traveler and suspicious of his sudden appearance, refused to give him any love.
The man, unfazed by this display of local crabbiness, smiles politely at the unfriendly villagers before setting up camp near the LA River Park.
The villagers couldn't help but ask the traveler what he was creating over the fire.
"I'm making stone soup," he replied. "It's delicious. I'll be glad to share it with all of you when I'm finished — I just need to find a few more ingredients. I need a second enormous swimming pool, I need an 80,000 square foot gymnasium complex and if it's not too much trouble, me and my teams are going to destroy all of the tall trees around here to make way for two giant plastic soccer fields.”
One by one, the villagers ran away in fear.
Next chapter coming soon...
A Tragic Star!
I learned that the young man Tim Bergling (September 8, 1989 – April 20, 2018), known professionally as Avicii was a Swedish DJ, remixer, and music producer.
At age 16, Bergling began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first record deal.
At 25 he produced and collaborated with Chris Martin from Coldplay, co-writing and co-producing the track "A Sky Full of Stars" from the band's sixth studio album Ghost Stories, released on 19 May 2014.
He also played and recorded the piano parts on the track.
In 2016, according to a report by Inc. magazine, Avicii Music AB was the 6th fastest-growing company in Europe, with a revenue of €7.7 million in 2014. In the 2017 documentary Avicii: True Stories, directed by his close and longtime collaborator Levan Tsikurishvili, Bergling spoke about his physical and mental health struggles.
The documentary depicts the pressure from his management to continue performing live in spite of his objections.
He was a sensitive talented kid, with nothing but promise, like so many students and young people.
After his early retirement, Bergling took up transcendental meditation, which he credited with reducing his anxiety, and started seeing a therapist.
In April 2018 Bergling committed suicide in Muscat, where he was on holiday, at the age of 28.
"Our beloved Tim was a seeker, a fragile artistic soul searching for answers to existential questions. An over-achieving perfectionist who traveled and worked hard at a pace that led to extreme stress. When he stopped touring, he wanted to find a balance in life to be happy and do what he loved most – music. He really struggled with thoughts about Meaning, Life, and Happiness. He could now not go on any longer. He wanted to find peace. Tim was not made for the business machine he found himself in; he was a sensitive guy who loved his fans but shunned the spotlight. Tim, you will forever be loved and sadly missed. The person you were and your music will keep your memory alive. We love you, The Family"
Tim is buried at Skogskyrkogården (shown below) which has been inscribed on the World Heritage List of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.
Inscription on the List confirms the exceptional universal value of a cultural or natural site that deserves protection for the benefit of humanity. Reminiscent of Weddington.
Sadness:
A reader reported that Alexander Lowen, who wrote the book “Joy” was a bit of a sad sack. Lowen died on October 28, 2008 at 97. I only bring it up because the reader told me he was at Esalen the day the army psychiatrists came in too close.
Charles Munger, who is 99 years old as we speak but will be turning 100 on New Year’s Day…will certaibly be remembered as a great businessman, investor, and ...
He is still the vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, so don’t count the man out anytime soon.
He was once among the thousands of young men at college campuses across the U.S. rushing fraternities. He landed at The Sigma Phi Society (ΣΦ) at the University of Michigan. The chapter has has since been disbanded but years ago it was a legitimate secret society. Exclusive!
I wonder if Harvard Westlake adopted the mascot of the Wolverines because Munger attended the University of Michigan?
Disclosure: I am a University of Michigan graduate, too.
In one sense we are all Wolverines... let's get a beer at the drive shack!
(Eric Preven is a longtime community activist and is a contributor to CityWatch. The opinions of Mr. Preven are not necessarily those of CityWatchLA.com.)
