Link roundup

1. "The Los Angeles Police Department is warning real estate agents not to use images of properties taken from unmanned aircraft, saying the flying drones pose a potential safety hazard and could violate federal aviation policy."

2. Hilarious (and horrifying) anecdotes about bats. (Probably NSFW.)

3. Animated turnaround of Ron English's Fat Tony vinyl toy.

4. The photo of a giant jellyfish you've probably seen floating around is a lie.

5. The BBTS now has available for preorder the upcoming Arkham City and Dark Knight Rises figures (the prices are just a rough estimate). Mr. Freeze is particularly cool.

Public transportation in Los Angeles

Reason looks at lightrail in Los Angeles.

Link roundup

1. Now here's a lawyer who knows how to specialize - - he's sued Allen Iverson three times.

2. How to keep a blog anonymous. Via.

3. "Everything You Need to Know About Using iTunes Match."

4. It's that time of year where USC and UCLA have to hide their school mascots - - "the Bruin Bear is enclosed by an approximately $5,000 box engineered like a jigsaw puzzle."

Link roundup

1. Wild article about strife at the Occupy people in downtown Los Angeles:

The young man who was leading the informal group yelled: "This is the People’s Forum! There are no committees, there are no rules, everyone gets to speak. Get in a circle! GET IN A CIRCLE!" A majority of the crowd abided, although they were openly chastised when the circle took on non-circle shapes.

2. Relatedly, Gabe Delahaye has written two posts on Michael Moore and the weird way he's talked about his own wealth this week.

3. "Hunter Fine and Aaron Glazer have been installing miniature 'bed bug hotels' at New York City lodging locations known to be infested with bed bugs to warn potential tenants."

4. Storm's mohawk was intended to just be a joke by the artist, who was sure a different new hairstyle would be chosen.

Link roundup

1. Vexin Classics: classic books like Huck Finn and Frankenstein, but with naked women on their covers? Via.

2. A look at The Pie Hole, a new restaurant in downtown LA.

3. A new law in Louisiana makes buying used goods with cash (at certain locations) illegal.

4. Brothers.

Ian Fleming interviewing Raymond Chandler

24 minutes of Ian Fleming interviewing Raymond Chandler in 1958. It starts like this:

i f: Well, the first thing, really, is to define what we’re supposed to be talking about. I think the title of what we’re supposed to be talking about is English and American thrillers. What is a thriller? To my mind of course, you don’t write thrillers and I do.

r c: I do too.

i f : I don’t call yours thrillers. Yours are novels.

r c: A lot of people call them thrillers.

i f : I know. I think it’s wrong.

Here's a pdf of the interview. Via Neil Gaiman, whose been investigating when Los Angeles stopped being pronounced An-Guh-Less.

Oil wells in Southern Calfornia

Wild vintage photos and postcards of oil wells in Los Angeles. Via.

Link roundup

1. File away this prediction by Bill Simmons:

Best-case scenario: NBA season starts in Feb. And that's the best-case scenario. I don't think I've ever been more disenchanted with Stern.

2. Map of time capsules buried under Los Angeles. Via.

3. More 3A Toys news:

ThreeA is proud to announce that it has partnered with amazing Japanese artist Kow Yokoyama to produce Maschinen Krieger in both 1/12 and 1/6 scale! If you think you know Maschinen Krieger think again - ThreeA is about to bring you a whole new world.

Furthermore we will be producing figures for the upcoming blockbuster Reel Steel in 1/6th scale. The Reel Steel movie directed by Shawn Levy stars our own boy from Oz, Hugh Jackman.

4. "The Billionaire Sheikh Who Carved His Name Into an Island." (You can see it from space.)

*At Toycutter: Custom 3A Toys.

*Buy 3A Toys at eBay.

Link roundup

1. 9% of those special flashlights for the Warren Ellis/Berg SVK comic were broken on arrival.

2. FYI, if you plan on visiting Los Angles, do not stay in a hotel downtown.

3. Book giveaway.

Link roundup

1. I've mentioned this once or twice, but there's a charity raffle for some really incredibly painted Warhammer 40K miniatures. You have one more week to enter the raffle.

2. "Last night, the Culver City Cultural Affairs Commission unanimously approved the art work concept for Tony Tasset's Rainbow, which will soon tower over Sony's Culver City lot." You can see what it'll look like at the link.

3. Large, new, and probably NSFW illustration by McBess.

4. If you buy all #1 issues of DC's upcoming relaunched comics, they'll be 50% off at TFAW.

Link roundup

1. Cartoon Brew is conducting a reader survey and giving away a $50 Amazon credit.

2. DIY modern platform dollhouse.

3. If the aquarium was closer to the airport, I think I'd take advantage of the $4 flight Jetblue is offering from Burbank to Long Beach this weekend. (A major freeway is going to be closed all weekend, so residents have been begged not to drive.)

Link roundup

1. Johnny Depp has apparently made $350 million from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

2. The Netherlands is apparently the world's third largest agricultural exporter, despite having little land, thanks to hydroponic agriculture that uses computer-controlled feeding of high-quality chemicals. (Presumably such techniques could be applied elsewhere if there was a serious danger of food shortages.)

3. For Los Angeles residents, if there's a police helicopter hovering over your house, you can call 213-485-2600 to find out why. (I had need of this today.) Via.

Link roundup

1. Looks like the next set of Happy Meal toys will be some totally lackluster Clone Wars toys. Via.

2. Night vision contact lenses. Via.

3. "Noir Afloat" - - vintage photos of the gambling boats that used to float just past three miles from the shore of Santa Monica and San Pedro.

*Buy Happy Meal toys at eBay.

Link roundup

1. A claim that Adobe is paying for text links. Via.

2. "A third Los Angeles building inspector has been fired in a corruption probe."

3. The Bad Deal is devoted to pointing out dumb deals at Groupon and other daily deal sites. Via.

Link roundup

1. I first mentioned this years ago, but The Edge lost a big vote in his efforts to build a big compound in Malibu.

2. Ann Althouse: "A middle-aged politician sitting at home masturbating because young women thought he was cool when he yelled at that guy that one time is not macho."

3. Member of Canada's national water polo team (and possible Olympian) identified as Vancouver rioter.

Link roundup

1. Penny Arcade created three new X-Men: Hindsight, The Salmon, and Salivo.

2. The Los Angeles Police Commission voted unanimously to eliminate red light cameras.

3. Twitter's going to automatically shorten links now.

Link roundup

1. Tax dollars at work in Southern California:

When it's completed this fall, Riverside's Hillcrest High School will be a high-tech academic hub with wireless Internet, a robotics lab, digital smart boards in every classroom and a first-rate performance hall worthy of any "Glee" hopeful.

But no students.

Sapped by state budget cuts, the Alvord Unified School District doesn't have the money to turn on the lights or hire staff for the $105-million campus.

2. Young Jason Kidd.

3. It's a tremendous shame George Takei hasn't been able to show off his personality until the last few years.

Off-Limits in Los Angeles

Teaser clips from the Travel Channel show Off-Limits' episode about Los Angeles. Via.

Link roundup

1. "The number of children ages 5 to 9 in L.A. County decreased by 21% from 2000 to 2010, compared with an average decline of 8.1% statewide, researchers say." Via.

2. Fun Google Chrome toy - - catch the balls and make music.

3. "1995 family photo of the Kardashian family."

This guy hates Canoga Park and Van Nuys

Anti-tourism videos for Canoga Park and Van Nuys (relatively close to where I live) in Los Angeles. Via.