Did you behave yourself while I was gone?

I need to read about four days worth of newspapers to see if Bend operated correctly without me here to tell you what to do...

Doesn't seem likely.


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O.K. Right off the bat, there is a business article in the Sunday paper that is one of those cases where the Bulletin takes a smidgen of evidence and tries to create a whole "trend."

To me, the information in the article doesn't quite support the slant of the article.

"Working to Live." So Bend saw an increase of (9) -- yes, (9) or 0.38 "professional, scientific and technical' self-employed businesses in the last 3 years. But since that might be nine more lawyers, under the definition, I don't know that I'm impressed.

The article also lacks a certain perspective and comparison that might tell me something. For instance, is the percentage of this category higher or lower than other towns? Like Medford, or Eugene, or Salem?

If so, maybe I would be willing to believe that we have a huge cadre of self-employed techies --

Meanwhile, "health care" and "other services" had much higher rates of increase...

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I bought a physical copy of the U.S.A. Today on the trip, and it had shrunk. Came back to read that the Bulletin is going to shrink their paper, too. Somehow it feels like Paper, Jr. Sized.

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I hate it when an author I have liked turns out to be a rightwing lunatic. Dan Simmons has joined Micheal Crichton and Robert Heinlein in writing totally awful later books. At least Tom Clancy never hid that he was a simple-minded, knee jerk conservative.

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Oh, sure. NOW the Brasada Ranch wants my business.

Sorry, you already acted like elitist twerps. Apparently, there weren't enough snobs to sustain you.

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Wow. The Bioletics article has all the ingredients of the feel good, but questionable business. Fake science, promotional craziness, and phony owners. Kind of all the local trends ramped up to 11.

They're here for the "lifestyle."

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Along the same line, we are seeing lots of articles about "green" and "sustainability" and meanwhile the front page of the Tuesday Bulletin is all about a "renewable energy contractor" who took customers for a ride.

I think because "green" seems like a new magic word. Wave a wand, and everything will be better, cheaper and good for the environment. It's going to attract snakeoil salesmen who will use the magic words to take your money.

I still don't think a lot of these new energy technologies have shaken out yet; there is too much chance of unforeseen consequences. I'm not against green, but just because it says it's green doesn't mean it is.

I may be reading too much into it -- but like the Bioletics company above, there seems to be a whole lot of magical thinking in these new technologies.

"Scientific Progress" has always been a great come-on for scamsters.

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I love the discussion about the riots in London. Why weren't the bookstores looted?

A few of the columnists started out by saying that maybe the rioters had respected the books.

Then everyone else weighed in with the obvious: the rioters couldn't CARE LESS about books. They couldn't even be bothered to loot the damn things.