This weekend in Southern California, things were rockin’ and rollin’…literally. An earthquake (7.2 on the Richter scale!) hit Baja California and was felt all the way up to Santa Barbara and Las Vegas, including the LA area – which led, as you might expect, to a profusion of agitated celebrity check-ins on Twitter.

While it may not have been “the big one”, it was nonetheless a big one – this was the strongest earthquake to hit SoCal in 18 years, since the 1992 Landers quake, which clocked in at 7.3.

Older parts of Los Angeles suffered building damage and a parking structure collapsed on the Mexican side of the border. Here’s hoping for a more stationary week for the Golden State! Which brings us to our travel recommendation: if you’re terrified of earthquakes but really want to visit Southern California, the next few months might be a great time to book a ticket – what are the odds of two big ones in a row? (We don’t really want to know the answer to that.)

The Winter Olympics offer something for everyone. I’m serious here – if you don’t like sports, there are some excellent opportunities for intense fashion critique when it comes to the figure skating events, it being a fine line between gossamer and garish and all. Plus, there’s something highly satisfying about bundling up with a steamy cup of hot chocolate to watch other people slip and slide down icy cliffs and huge moguls.

The Vancouver Winter Olympics in a couple of weeks are poised to be just as exciting – there’s only one problem. There may not be snow.

The chosen venue for the snowboarding and freestyle skiing events, Cypress Mountain, is enjoying unseasonably warm temperatures and no forecast of snow in sight. Organizers say their current plan is to truck snow down from high elevations or bring it in by helicopter, if need be. The only problem will be preventing it from melting.

Man, is there anything that global warming won’t mess up? At least the figure skating costumes remain unaffected.

Are you an Olympic fan? Are you going to be watching the Vancouver games?

You my have read that search giant and household name Google is planning to pull out of China in protest of the nation’s censorship policies.  But did you know their actions might make it harder to find and book travel deals to China?

Travellers to China and Chinese travel enthusiasts, prepare to have the rug pulled out from under you!

North American travel companies like Expedia and TripAdvisor have invested heavily in China, relying heavily on Google’s patented search results to get would-be travellers to their sites for travel packages and deals. Without Google, travel companies may not want to pay for search listings on other sites and could shift their attentions out of China – which might leave travellers without a favorite online travel resource.

As a big fan of keeping tabs on low airfare thanks to the Internet, there are some key sites (like Yapta and Kayak) that I’d miss a lot. What travel website would you be unable to live without?

(And psst–you know you can find travel deals with no censorship all year round thanks to Travel by Spa Week!)

Welcome to the Zit List, where we tell you exactly what to think about events, people, and things that happened this week.

Staying Up Late
With the announcement that NBC might opt to give The Tonight Show back to Jay Leno, pushing current host Conan O’Brien back to a post-midnight time slot, the late-night world erupted in support for O’Brien. The scandal has made late night more thrilling than it has been in years; now if only the shows themselves were as interesting.
Rating: 2 zits   

Earthquake in Haiti

A horrific earthquake in Haiti has left hundreds of thousands displaced, deceased, or wounded. There’s nothing else to say about it that hasn’t alreay been said, but here’s something that bears repeating: text “Haiti” to 90999 to add a $10 Red Cross donation to your phone bill, or explore other charities putting your donations to good use here.
Rating: 6 zits

Worst Face Forward?
After appearing on the cover of People magazine after undergoing 10 plastic surgery procedures in one day, Heidi Montag and her new look are all some tabloids and media outlets can talk about. The latest: the plastic surgeon who sculpted her new face is facing malpractice charges. Given everything else that’s going on in the world, we’re supposed to care about this why?
Rating: 5 zits

Swine and Moan
The Center for Disease Control estimates that 20% of Americans are currently vaccinated against H1N1, also fondly known as the swine flu. Given that the vaccine only emerged in October and in limited supply, officials are saying these figures are successful. If you haven’t gotten your vaccine yet, you may find it easier to get one now that the initial rush is over. Here’s hoping for an uneventful flu season!
Rating: 0 zits

The stars of TLC's new reality show.

TLC, home of popular reality television shows and documentaries, is coming up against a brand-new kind of controversy. Their new show, “One Big Happy Family”, features a family of four in North Carolina struggling to lose weight – and it’s coming under fire from bloggers and TV critics who say the show exploits the family for entertainment value.

The Coles, the African-American family featured in the show, weighed a combined total of 1,377 pounds when the show began. And unlike other reality television shows about weight loss, they weren’t given help from trainers or nutritionists; the show depicts the Coles struggling to adopt healthy habits on their own.

Critics of the show have said that the show exploits the family by painting them as exaggerated caricatures, making it easier for viewers to treat them like characters rather than real people facing real struggles.

What do you think of reality TV shows focusing on weight loss? Are they inherently exploitative or are they an educational tool?