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.

Jeanne Cooper, beloved/hated 83-year old matriarch of "The Young and the Restless," reveals the secrets of her success and long life ... including which TV crime show star she slept with. (Her first movie was "The Redhead from Wyoming.") Plus, Steve Julian's theory of why live theatre is struggling (it has to do with news), and an NPR executive reveals his surprising backstory (surprising for an NPR type).

Marking Ramadan, a time to fast, with a canned food drive. EatLA on pop-ups gone permanent. Dylan Brody learns something Down South. And: who's the guy in the chair?

Mars! Art! Replicants! Sports!

Ian Whitcomb's ukulele heroes, downhill skateboarding, Kwayzar the 84yo rapper, Tuesday night in Anaheim, and the El Segundo Blue.

David Misch on Funny, rethinking pole dancing, Disney and the Reagan Library, the roots of homelessness, and Brian May on 3-D photography.

Whitey Bulger lived unnoticed for years as a fugitive; Hank Rosenfeld knows his barber. Mike Roe takes us to Comic Con. "Hogan's Heroes" in sock puppets.

Come inside the historic Comedy Store on the Sunset Strip for routines from five of today's hottest comedians, and a roundtable on the essence of comedy.

Suicide by train and one man who survived ... Why are transit-riding iPhone users being punished for Apple's fight with Google? ... Real food in Altadena ...