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.

The Ashes of Oakridge - One Year Later ... Arthur Dong's "Hollywood Chinese" documentary becomes an exhibit ... Eli Broad and Sam Hall Kaplan help Off-Ramp mark MOCA's 30th ... Lisa Ling and KCET on middle-class homelessness.

Mayor Picks Beck to Lead LAPD ... Melrose Larry Green Weighs In ... Dracula author pays tribute to his late, great brother ... Jackson Musker has Encounter at LAX ... CyberFrequencies on Life on the Web.

A Halloween Special ... Chris Ames and the Dog in the Nighttime ... RH Greene's News Take on Dracula ... Lugosi, Jr. on Life with Father ... Bats: Behind the Myths ... Creepiest Moment from Richard the Third.

We're for Contradancing ... It's Mourning at Heritage Square ... New Dracula Memoir Preview ... Rabe's Family History ... WEB EXCLUSIVE: Comics Icon Marv Wolfman ... Selling Medical Marijuana.

Randolph Mantooth of "Emergency!" and "Scream of the Bikini" ... John and Queena pitch good journalism and public radio ... Ed Asner on "Up!" ... Carl Orff teaches kids music ...

Richard III - done straight for once ... Dinner Party Download makes you smarter ... Asner's radio work ... Spiders creep into the Natural History Museum ... Meet the Raincoats

Orff-Ramp Music for Kids ... the late Henry Hopkins on Race in Art ... the Eagle Rock music festival ... Jackson Musker has the poop on zoo poop ... CyberFrequencies on stars who explode online ...

Music Savant Brian Eno's art installation comes to Long Beach... John Rabe plays Mo Roca at the Aquarium, sustainably ... Will Riverside's Chris Arreola become the new World Heavyweight Champ?