get a real blog

Whoa, folks, get out your tinfoil hats, for UK's Baroness and Oxford neuroscientist Susan Greenfield says social websites like facebook and twitter rot young brains.

You know, I agree. The facebook status updates are on a par with twitter tweets. Their terseness invites unconsidered thoughts that are not fleshed out to explore their full meaning. The content of the blogs I read, and the ones to which I contribute, is very different than one-liners and silly images. Looking at lots of inputs from others is useful, but expressing thoughts and telling stories is what defines one's own self as something different and unique.

Okay, wait a minute, where did I learn about this? On facebook.

As with so much of life, it's how you use it. Yes, it is possible to use facebook with deliberation, but it's a lot easier with a real blog.

this is what reporting is about

The ridge line of the Santa Cruz mountains provides spectacular views of the Monterey Bay and Pacific Ocean on one side, and views of the SF Bay on the other side.  The ridge line also serves as the boundary between Santa Cruz county and Santa Clara county, but the road along that route must wend its way back and forth between counties.  Boundary or no boundary, all of that region is remote from the population centers.  Communities and services must be somewhat blind to the exact position of the boundary, and in particular this means emergency and fire protection.

Last month the local paper ran a story pointing out that the Santa Cruz side residents pay taxes to support the fire protection crews, but the Santa Clara residents do not.  That story prompted our county supervisors to investigate the magnitude of the inequality.  Today's paper contains a story on the result.  Santa Cruz will be contacting Santa Clara to ask them to pay their fair share.

Now if only we could figure out how to continue to pay for reporters to do this sort of story, for they are going broke giving it all away for free on the net.