I’m back from a few days in Los Angeles for the Online News Association’s conference. In addition to getting some wheels turning in my head about the state of my profession and doubling as a Post reunion, my first trip to L.A. for work since 2012 gave me my belated intro to the subway there. (The Red Line’s stops feature some magnificent architecture.)

9/22/2015: Will Ad Blockers Kill the Internet as We Know It?, Yahoo Tech

I’d had a version of this column in mind for a while; originally, it was going to stop at explaining why you see so many crummy ads, even on this very blog. Then Apple’s move to make it App Store-easy to block ads in iOS 9, followed by the quick withdrawal of the leading ad blocker from the store, provided a timely angle.

9/27/2015: How Facebook places you where you’ve never been, USA Today

My weekly column took a food-centric turn this week when I got a question about Facebook magically placing a user at a restaurant she’d never visited and that wasn’t even open yet. The answer revealed some interesting wrinkles to Facebook’s rules for local businesses marketing themselves on the site.