It's interesting to see that while regular big city newspapers are foundering, small town newspapers that only address local affairs and high school sports and so on, seem to be flourishing. The Portland city newspaper gets smaller and worse (and more conservative, since it was purchased by a conservative conglomerate) each year, but there are a dozen little community weekly newspapers that apparently are doing fine. I noticed the other day that one of these local Maine papers has an ad saying that there is an immediate opening for full time reporter. One sentence in the ad says "We embrace newsroom technology and the use of social media, and so should you." I'm not sure what "newsroom technology" is, but the part about social media reminds me how out of it I am in the technology world. The same way a lot of conversation between guys used to be about sports or TV shows, now a lot of conversation, between men anyway, is all about i-pads, i-phones, and all sorts of "apps" .... a lot of stuff I don't know much about and don't care much about. They sound like high school guys, talking about girls, only they're talking about electronic gadgets. My only contribution to conversations like that is to call the other guys "viruses." The other day I heard there is one application where you can speak into the i-pad what you want to say in English, and it comes back out in Spanish. You said Jane has a high quality scanner... does she make much use of the computer? I remember at one point you said she wasn't into it at all. How about Brent and Renee?
That Legends of the West website is interesting. I wonder how much of it is actually true, and how much is just a collection of the most colorful claims that have been made over the years. Of course, that could be said for just about any history. A lot of the stuff that is considered facts was pulled from different quotes from old newspapers, and from various recollections of unreliable people, but in the end, the "truth" probably doesn't really matter since there are so many versions of it. It might as well be a good story.
I bet you could take some interesting photographs in those old mining towns you are talking about. If you were some fancy New York art photographer, you'd import a bunch of freakish people, such as a morbidly obese woman, and a hollowed out junkie, and people like that (have you ever seen photographs by Diane Arbus? .... this is a real question, not to be ignored. I attached a sample Arbus photo), and then have them pose among the various strangely leaning, decaying old mine buildings. These photos, in black and white, would end up selling for thousands of dollars each in New York art galleries.
I have to say that following the Breivik trial turns out to be maddening, as you suggested it might be. It seems that much of the time Breivik does get to go on and on spouting his political "philosophy," and describing killing all those teenagers in endless detail, while the family and survivors squirm and sob in the audience. The whole Norwegian temperament is about trying to be as calm and controlled and polite as possible, and to make every effort to be fair and restrained, and the end result is that a nut like Breivik, who completely flaunts those traditions, takes full advantage. The latest article about the trial in the New York Times was headlined "As Killer Gloats in Court, Norway Shows No Anger." So you made a good decision not to read about it. Too bad you've got me telling you about it anyway.
I would be flying into San Francisco or Oakland, and driving out to your place from there.
--edward
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