Off-Ramp listeners, introducing The Big Disaster: The Big Burn from LAist Studios. As the world enters a new age of wildfires, science reporter Jacob Margolis dives deep into personal stories that illuminate the history of how we got here, why we keep screwing things up, and what we can do to survive and maybe even thrive while the world around us burns. 

Listen to this episode and catch all the others here. 

Preppi is giving a free emergency kit with any purchase over $100. Go to preppi.com/thebigburn for more information.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/bigburn and get on your way to being your best self.

This piece from the vast Off-Ramp archive is from the very first Off-Ramp - August 5, 2006 - and it's still one of my favorites because it answers a very simple question. What's it like to ride a motorcycle in LA?

The obvious person to answer that question was Susan Carpenter, then the motorcycle columnist for the LA Times (now at Spectrum News 1), who put a little microphone into her helmet and then took off down the streets, roads, and freeways of LA.

Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and bythe Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.

Mike Gatto's Parking Bill of Rights ... Piano Bar 101 teaches a lost art ... Ballpark groundskeepers of the world, unite! ... Brains On, the science podcast for kids ...

5 Every Week says check out Art Los Angeles Contemporary at Santa Monica's Barker Hangar, a "knock-down, drag-out battle of art commerce" ... the Oscar noms ARE diverse, in the animation categories ... remembering Glenn Frey and Hotel California.

Remembering one of David Bowie's weirdest performances ... CalTech's snowflake expert ... Piano Bar 101 ... 2 bad and 2 good reasons to become a marine biologist ... 5 Every Week gets your butt off the couch

A look back at Jim Jones' history in Los Angeles, the sad, smelly fate of Rose Parade floats, 5 Every week and more!

Patt Morrison's 75th birthday wishes for the Arroyo Parkway ... 5 Every Week preps you for movie awards season ... Brains On, the science podcast for kids, interviews NBC-4's Fritz Coleman about weather forecasting ... the failed African-American film response to Birth of a Nation ...

Off-Ramp is on Christmas vacation and won't be airing December 26 and 27. See you in the New Year!

Meet a non-denominational exorcist who works out of a guest house in Van Nuys ... 5 Every Week gets you off the couch and on the streets ... climate change and creatures in the Mojave ... Brains On tells us how the salamander grows back limbs, and home come we can't?

One of Philip K. Dick's editors - Marc Haefele - reviews Amazon's "The Man in the High Castle;" the Triforium in downtown LA gets new life; how to be a good gentile at a Hanukkah celebration; listeners try out the LAPD's shooting simulator; 5 Every Week helps you be social and smart.