Extra, Extra: It's Fall, Time To Be Free

• Norman Mailer, the controversial and beloved novelist and winner two Pulitzer Prizes died today in New York City of acute renal failure. The author of almost 50 books, Mailer lived a life beset by tragedy, triumph and tribulation. He once ran for Mayor of NYC and was almost stabbed to death by one of his wives. Mailer was 84.
  
• Out of the ashes of one fire in San Diego, a man sold a charred, 1934 King James Bible for more than $1,000 on eBay. For those who decry this move as disrespectful and anti-religious, the money from that Bible could buy badly needed supplies. What would Jesus do? I'm pretty sure he'd do the same exact thing.
  
• An LAPD cop, whose beat covers Skid Row, is garnering some attention for being nice. He received an award for treating suspects like "royalty, even as I'm putting them in handcuffs." I think I heard that line in a certain adult movie once.
  
• Alarmed by the increasing number of seniors falling over and hurting themselves, Northridge leaders declared the San Fernando Valley suburb a "fall-free zone." If you needed another reason to make fun of Northridge, community leaders wrapped up a nugget of comic gold for you.
  
• Could Alex Rodriguez be headed to Los Dodgers? New manager Joe Torre says "It's possible." Usually, I don't think spending the GDP of Haiti on one player is a good idea (remember Darren Dreifort?). However, I could make an exception for one of the best player's in baseball history.
  
• A Los Angeles man pled guilty to four federal chargesof implanting a malicious "zombie" virus that would have infected a quarter of a million computers and would have stolen the users identity. Zombies? Ha! I have Ninjas on my computer that could kick any zombies' ass.
  
• Gov. Schwarzenator had surgery to remove metal plates and cables from his leg. Seriously? This whole time he's actually been the Terminator?! Awesome.
  
• LAUSD over paid 36,000 district employees 53 million. The school district is now trying to get the money back. Yeah, how's that gonna go? Hi. Mrs. Smith, my name is Lonny Bureaucrat from LAUSD, can I please have thousands of dollars that I shouldn't have paid you in the first place? Thousands if no millions of dollars fall through the LAUSD cracks every year, I'm sure, so I have no problem if some of that money accidentally falls to some school employees. Man, if I ran my personal finances like LAUSD ran their district, I would be living on the street with no clothes or food.
  
• In a symbolic effort aimed at letting everyone know how much they care about race relations, the LA City Council voted to ban the n-word in the city. There is no harm in symbolically standing up for something, but, shit, how about actually doing something about alleviating racial tensions?
  

Photo by Peggy Archer via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr