Carmageddon? What Carmageddon, dude?

Um, what if they gave an Armageddon and nobody came? Well, that's exactly what happened in LA today. For days, the news media had been hyping "Carmageddon" -- the weekend closure of the San Diego Freeway (that's Interstate 405 for non-natives) for 48 hours of repairs. Life in Los Angeles was supposed to implode and throw the Earth off its axis as millions of crazed, lemming-like drivers loaded up the remaining freeways. Think Mad Max, only more apocalyptic (and stylish - hey, we're still gonna look good no matter what). It didn't happen. "No one is on Santa Monica Beach or Zuma Beach. Hardly anyone is on [the] Pacific Coast Highway. It's dead as a doornail out there," County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky told the LA Times. "There are no choke points anywhere we can see — there are no holdups anywhere. This reminds me of the movie, 'On the Beach.' No one is out, no one is driving." No kidding. I'll clue you into a little secret: Los Angelenos are neither crazy nor stupid. When faced with freeway adversity on a sunny, 70-degree, summer weekend day, the folks in my hometown do what they always do: Totally chill out, dude. That's why God made swimming pools and cold brewskies.