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.

Kris Kristofferson sings at Janis Joplin's star ... Agnes Varda at her new LACMA show ... the Hammer tries to show the arts can bring back a neighborhood ...

Rob Verdi's rare and unusual saxophones, LA's first film and John Ridley's latest, Tiberius - not so bad, and the lasting influence of The Twilight Zone TV series.

R.H. Greene's new documentary, "War of the Welles," shows how Orson Welles got to "The War of the Worlds," and says it really did panic millions of listeners.

Mexican-American superstar Pepe Aguilar's first public radio interview; Jefferson Starship's Craig Chaquico emits Beamz with a new instrument for the non-musical masses; facing death rationally; and gourmet ghosts.

Celebrating the 1-year anniversary of Shuttle Endeavour's triumphal arrival at the California Science Center ... the Cyrus Cylinder comes to the Getty Villa ... the Mediterranean house gecko and you ...

A rabbi and a priest walk into a fundraiser, and talk about guilt ... Vin Scully on his life, work, and possible retirement ... Father Boyle on Pope Francis, so far ... Patt Morrison and Nate Silver talk sports, stats, and California politics.

Cliff's Books closes in Pasadena ... Gil Garcetti celebrates the iron workers who built Disney Hall ... Happy Birthday Hollywood Sign and Herb Jeffries, the Bronze Buckaroo ...

Gunnar Hansen's "Chain Saw Confidential." A cheap solution for barotrauma makes biologists and rockfish happier. Weighing fracking in Sacramento. Slapstick 101.