Can we now add eating habits to the long list of modern relationship deal-breakers? The New York Times published a pre-Valentine's Day article this morning discussing the difficulties couples face when their diets are dramatically different: Ben Abdalla, 42, a real estate agent in Boca Raton, Fla., said he preferred to date fellow vegetarians because meat eaters smell bad and have low energy. Lisa Romano, 31, a vegan and school psychologist in Belleville, N.Y.,......

Shock the monkey indeed! One of the weirdest hybrid-electronics to come out of the CES is a personal tasing device -- that also doubles as a 1-gig MP3 player! So useful for those morning jogs, when you're fending off rowdy UCLA students and working out with the new Chromeo record! The MP3 player is actually a separate holster that you fit your taser into -- the whole thing fits comfortably into a pocket or......

Maybe it wasn't cool in the South to go to the record store to get the new Dixie Chicks cd, but on the internet nobody can judge you. The Chicks were boycotted by Country radio and their fans said that they shouldn't have said what they said about President Bush, but when it came down to picking up their new cd, the people let their fingers do the buying. And if you ask us,......

On Nov. 21 UCLA discovered that an unauthorized person or persons had exploited a previously undetected software flaw and fraudulently accessed the school's database between October 2005 and November 2006. While UCLA cannot pinpoint exactly whose info was stolen, they know that "the hacker sought and retrieved some Social Security Numbers." Personal information for 800,000 people including current students, former students, faculty, staff, even some parents of students who had applied for financial aid......

Bedroom Walls All Good Dreamers Pass This Way (Baria Records) – The All Music Guide gives this local band a 4.5/5 and says: “"If Elliott Smith were still alive and decided to get together and jam with Neutral Milk Hotel, the results might sound a lot like this self-described ‘romanticore’ quintet.” That’s very high praise indeed. They’re appearing live at the Troubadour on 5/30. Download a demo of “In Anticipation of Your Suicide” Johnny......

L.A. based writer Caitlin Flanagan gets profiled, and demonstrates some of the more hypocritical aspects of her personality, in this month's Elle. Ms. Flanagan has been criticized before, in places like Beverly-Hills based Ms., but the Elle article is particularly well-written, and Elle is not generally known for having a set political agenda, unless you count the trumpeting of one shoe designer over another. (Thanks to Salon.com's Broadsheet for pointing it out.) Both articles......

It's a banner day for LA bookworms. There are lots of readings scheduled all over town: • 12:30 pm : Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman Thursday, April 14 at 12:30 Dutton's Beverly Hills holds a lunchtime event for Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman who will sign their latest book about Manhattan socialite-Cinderellas "Wolves in Chic Clothing." • 7:00 pm : Tony Kienitz Thursday, April 14, 2005 7:00 PM at Vroman's Pasadena Tony Kienitz discusses......

Like Paris Hilton at a new club opening, today’s dastardly deadline came and went with nary a decision from USC’s Mighty Matt Leinart. Will he succumb to the NFL’s promise of riches, fame and glory? Or can USC pay him enough under the table to stay in college one more year? We kid, we kid. At any rate, it appears that Trojan football fans everywhere are going to have one more long, earnest night......

LAist knows that in a city of almost 4 million people, sometimes the real heroes go overlooked, relegating such individuals to an anonymous existence where their daily good deeds often go unnoticed. That's why today, we'd like to pay particular attention to the Personal Public Storage Facility Clerks — those who provide you the boxes and the packing tape and the bubble wrap and the storage spaces to lock away all the items you......

Mediabistro.com, the online professional skills outlet for writers, recently introduced a new service for its visitors: a Freelance Marketplace where new or seasoned journalists display their talents for sale. Interestingly, in the current database of 29 writers residing in California, more writers live in Los Angeles than San Francisco. Eighteen live in Southern California while ten live in Northern California. One writer lives in Dobbins, CA and LAist is too tired to track down......