Everybody knows baseball was segregated. But did know know basketball was? Nevertheless, in 1939, the Harlem Rens proved themselves the best basketball team in the world by beating all the black and white teams. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar talked with Off-Ramp host John Rabe about his new documentary about the Rens, "On the Shoulders of Giants," which is available on Video on Demand through March. (THIS IS THE LONG VERSION OF THEIR Q+A.)

Spring's coming and before you know it, Southern Californians everywhere will be pining for butterflies. In preparation for the upcoming season Ilsa Setziol sat down to talk with Brent Karner, resident bug expert at LA's Natural History Museum about butterflies and what we all can do to make our backyards more habitable for America's most beloved insect.

Since last year, we've been following the first Los Angeles project of This Old House, the venerable public TV home renovation show. We chatted with carpenter Norm Abram and host Kevin O'Connor when they were soliciting proposals here. We announced their pick of a Spanish Revival home in Silverlake. We visited the job site and climbed up on the roof for a lesson in tiling. And now, even though they've just started running the LA episodes on KOCE, the construction phase is done. Off-Ramp went to the wrap party Thursday night to talk with the owners.

You've seen them before: self help seminars, books, classes... They all promise you the same thing: money, security, happiness.

In this case, Death warmed over is a good thing. The Detroit-based group called Death played punk music before there was punk music. Their 1974 demos were excavated by an indie label and released last year, and next weekend they’re playing their first concert in LA. Off-Ramp's Lainna Fader talked with Death’s singer and bassist Bobby Hackney from his home in Vermont.

Off-Ramp commentator Jon Regardie wonders why LA City Councilman Richard Alarcon is running for the Assembly ... when he still has years to go on his council term. Could it be the fraud charges facing the serial campaigner?

Los Angeles this weekend becomes what the NBA considers the basketball capital of the world ... It's All-Star weekend.

If the Social Network takes home a best picture, will that once and for all establish Facebook as the de-facto social networking site? Will the company ever collapse? And what of our privacy? All this and more on this week's CyberFrequencies!

KPCC's Program Director and Classical Music aficionado Craig Curtis explains what happened to Alex North's unused score for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

President's Day is Monday, which means work for actor Barry Cutler, who travels the country to bring Abraham Lincoln to life for K-12 students. Some days, he plays Honest Abe for 2,000 kids.