CABLE POWER: Cable TV mogul Ted Turner...

CABLE POWER: Cable TV mogul Ted Turner took time from his empire to address a cable convention in Anaheim, announcing that “it’s over” for newspapers. He predicted 500 cable channels available in five years. . . . Added Turner: “Not everybody who watches television is a couch potato.” You can watch the tube, he quipped, while working out on a home treadmill--and wife Jane Fonda happens to have a new one on the market.

MAPPING TRAGEDY: If you aren’t sure where the danger was in October’s firestorm, Thomas Bros. has put together a four-color street map showing the fire-damaged zones of Laguna Beach, plus a two-color map showing all fire areas of the county. . . . The 25-by-38-inch maps are available at Laguna Beach City Hall or at any of its four fire stations. While they’re free, the map company officials hope they’ll be useful to police and fire departments.

MUSIC CHIEF: The Chieftains (OC Live!) have collaborated with the likes of country picker Chet Atkins and the Rolling Stones. And rock’s Frank Zappa recently invited Ireland’s premier traditional music group to spend some time in his recording studio. Reaction to Zappa’s offer from Chieftains’ leader Paddy Moloney, above: “The bells started to ring, ‘This is how we can save some money.’ ” . . . The results of those Zappa sessions are destined for the next Chieftains album, due next year.

GLOBAL PARTYING: Popular UC Irvine writing professor Thomas Keneally has been on leave writing in Australia. But he returned to the United States this week, for an invitational screening in Washington of Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List.” (E1) The film is based on Keneally’s prize-winning novel of the same title, about a Nazi party member who saves the lives of 1,300 Jews. . . . Keneally’s impression of the movie: “It’s an astounding piece of work, and no one can doubt the lad (Spielberg) is a so-called ‘serious’ filmmaker after ‘Schindler.’ ”