NASA's Pasadena-based (Caltech) Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) left us all a little gift this week -- the first batch of data and images collected by an infrared satellite that captured the most detailed scan of the whole sky. more ›

The route is top secret. The garb is primary colors. The headwear and instruments are rigged to glow. The mission is clear: have a parade of live music, have a good time, have the route spell out OK Go. more ›

Metro has four fascinating maps in the appendices of its Regional Connector's draft environmental impact documents and posted them on their blog. "I posted them because they're kind of interesting and it's a chance to see both population and job density around some of Metro's current and future transit lines in the years 2005 and 2035," wrote Steve Hymon. more ›

The Los Angeles Police Department has decided against instituting a plan to "map" the city's Muslim communities, in what was being billed as a counter-terrorism effort. According to the LA Daily News: "It's been put aside," said LAPD spokeswoman Mary Grady. "It became clear to us [that Muslim communities] were not comfortable with the word mapping and what they believed it meant: racial profiling." Instead, Grady said the Los Angeles Police Department would build... more ›

"This is not. . . targeting or profiling. It is an effort to understand communities." Police Chief William J. Bratton defending a LAPD counter-terrorism program that uses "U.S. census data and other demographic information to pinpoint various Muslim communities and then reach out to them through social service agencies." [LA Times] "Over my dead body." Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on any limit of his goals of expanding the LAPD. A fiscally conservative and wary City... more ›