For many Angelenos, the rapidly rising equity in their home is their retirement plan, so housing prices are always a great source of interest. Add to that the stories of celebrities who can pour millions into a mansion, and you have a recipe for a bestseller. At least, that’s the idea at the LA Times, which announced today that it’s expanding its “Hot Properties” column to track celebrity home sales and purchases. Yes, we know the news purists will be distressed to see further devaluing of the worth of news. And yes, these resources could probably be better deployed on covering government, crime, corruption – you name it. But we have to admit we’ll be reading. It’s one of our Sunday morning guilty pleasures.

We would have to put ourselves in the category of the nostalgic NYU academic Clay Shirkey faulted here for hoping the OC Register’s big commitment to print would work. We knew the economics probably didn’t work. After crawling under our car for the third day in a row to fish our paper out, we know the logistics of print no longer work. The iPad is so much easier – but somehow less satisfying. It’s sad to see this grand experiment hit a wall – or maybe it’s just a stumble? We prefer to be optimistic, even if it’s unrealistic.

The NY Times Maureen Dowd decided to try out some marijuana edibles in Colorado, now that weed is legal there. What followed was more than a bit disturbing for her and a great yarn for the Times. So now she’s being taken to task for being so silly to sample edibles alone and to fail to educate herself first about the potential impact.

As any storyteller can tell you: If she’d had an easy go of it, she wouldn’t have much of a story. You have to have some drama to make for a good tale. And this was an entertaining read. Moreover, she’s like most recreational users. They probably don’t do their homework either, so they likely would make the same mistake. So lighten up critics. Journalists have been serving as guinea pigs for generations, and we’re all smarter for it.

As an aside, we have some friends who are vets in Southern California, where edibles are a hot-selling item at any medical marijuana dispensary. They tell us pets are some of the biggest victims of these treats, gobbling them up and then taking their own little mind-bending excursions, which can be life-threatening, especially if the treat is chocolate, a toxin for dogs. Children are vulnerable too, of course. But parents undoubtedly will be extraordinarily careful in how they store their edibles, while pet owners without children may not.

We want to share with you this recent posting by our colleague, Douglas Jeffe, and his wife, Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, on Joel Fox’s must-read political blog, Fox and Hounds, about the flaws of the residency law responsible for Senator Wright’s recent conviction.

Wright Is Victim of a Stupid Law

By Douglas Jeffe

Communications and Public Affairs Strategist

Friday, February 7th, 2014

Those who are on their high horse about Senator Roderick Wright after his conviction on charges relating to his voting residency should dismount. Wright’s transgression, if there was one, was being a professional politician trying to navigate a useless and unfathomable law…

Read More Here

How many times have heard or had to make that excuse for checking out while on a conference call? For conference call participants, this humorous look, via video, captures all the things we hate about conference calls – from the barking dog in the background to the cellphone participant who keeps dropping off and dialing back in. Yes, we love the convenience of holding a meeting without having to commute. But wouldn’t it be great if people treated the conference call like a real meeting and showed up on time, ready to engage and on a land line that works? (Yes, I know land lines are an antiquated communication system, but they do work almost all the time.)