Paula LaBrot

Paula LaBrot is a 30-year resident of Topanga, a futurist with a special interest in the uncharted waters of cyberspace. plabrot@messengermountainnews.com

Cyber Monday

This column is coming out on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and considered to be the first day of the all-important Christmas shopping season for brick-and-mortar stores.    Super smoking “deals” are…

Code You

American novelist, Elizabeth Berg, wrote, “You are born into your family and your family is born into you.” The DNA you carry comes from your mother and father, and there is no…

Tech After Death

What with Halloween and The Day of the Dead just moving off the calendar, what do you suppose is new in technology for our modern ghosts and spirits. Surprise! Death is keeping…

It was SRO for TAC’s 10-Minute Play Festival

Topanga Actors Company (TAC) first Ten-Minute Play Festival was a cornucopia of creativity, a feast for theater lovers, standing room only (SRO), and a darn good time. Nine directors, twenty-seven actors, two…

Retail Wars

You work hard for your money, so I want to alert you to the new trends large business are following to attract your dollars. There is a retail renaissance emerging. The thing…

Flash Drives 101

Ah, the wonders of this time period! Too bad the Great Alexandria Library in Egypt burned down in 48 BC. What an incalculable loss of ancient scrolls, texts, and cultural knowledge. Too…

Be the Change

There are two types of climate change: Natural and Man-made. They are both real. Climatechange.org reports the reasons for each type. Natural climate change originates from continental drift, the activity of ocean…

When Tech Attacks

I was going to teach you all you need to know about flash drives this column, but life on life’s terms has pointed me in another direction. I got my finger just…

A Green Future For Cities

My eyes had reluctantly adjusted to the draught-ravaged drabness. The burned oaks and orchards. The perpetual khaki of the chaparral dying of thirst. And then we had rain! Good rain, followed by…

Libra, Facebook’s New Currency…

Facebook is poised to launch a new banking system, a global financial platform, capable of seamlessly processing world-wide, cross-border financial transactions. Libra, the first incarnation of its new cryptocurrency, will be aimed…