Is it just me, or do some in the national media indulge in a certain amount of schadenfreude when they breathlessly report on the latest act of God to afflict Southern California?

Pea sized hail! Thunder and lightning!

A cancelled INXS concert!

The end is near!

Or not. It was a thunderstorm, people. They happen everyday, all over the world. Rain falls. Lightning strikes. People may lose power. Sadly, there may be traffic fatalities (but aren't there traffic fatalities everyday?). End of story.

The local media is not without blame. At the first drop of rain, they swing into full disaster mode, fanning out across the city to report on the storm as if L.A. were under siege, not enduring a perfectly natural meteorological occurrence: to wit, rain.

Granted, being a desert community we do have certain hazards associated with heavy rainfall, hazards that are exacerbated by building homes on hillsides and in flood plains. But the Southland is in no danger of being swept into the sea by rain.

We'll have to wait for the Big One for that to happen.  ¶ 1:41 PM