Friday, April 30, 2010

Where do we get our news?

The 3rd thing I do each morning right after my machine grinds up some beans and pushes hot water through them, is to sit down , open my laptop and scan the blogs.

I wonder if the bloggers out there know the importance they have in input into the state of current affairs?

Yesterday, one of my fellow bloggers posted information on the latest Arizona law as pertaining to immigration the posting followed with some informed discussion and even pretty expert synopsis of the subject.

Reading the interchange and comments from his blog made me think of the importance of this kind of interchange.
There was no name calling, no slurs, no out of control emotions....not at least that I was able to discern.

Interchange that has all but disappeared from daily life. Especially NOB. At least in Mexico one has time to sit down and talk and gossip on somewhat regular basis and converse.

It use to be that local newspapers were the carrier of this information.

Information that I had not seen in the online version of my "old local dwindling information newspaper".
You know budget cuts have made it necessary to reduce their staff to a very few people.

Hence advertisers understanding the impact of the Internet follow with their advertising dollars elsewhere.
It's a spiraling trend.
My business changed dramatically in the last 25 years, I never thought it would change the way it did, lucky that I didn't rely on that income stream the last few years.......

Anyway, there are about 2 dozen blogs that I read daily and sometimes twice a day depending on what's going on.

One blog written by a lady from LeCeiba Honduras was a must read on a daily basis since the shit hit the fan in Honduras last summer. My wife is from there and between her watching some Latin channels and reading several blogs there were great informational resources that unfortunately didn't match what CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX had to report.

I am surprised that someone has not created a more concise "read it here" site that organizes and presents the news as the residence see it.

There are a few global sites that pick a blog or two to represent a continent, but nothing really organized and well presented.

Probably no money in it, or otherwise there would be so many ads one would simply get inundated with drop down ads and well, you know what I mean.......

So, if no one has told you, yep you Bloggers, let me say Thank You, for providing informational resources and views, but objective and subjective which allow me to keep my open mind from shutting down.

Not too many of us open minded people out there anymore........At least ones that allow both sides of the story to be heard without going completely bonkers.

Bloggers also are a valuable resource for not only news, but local experiences that one will never get a chance to hear, experience or participate in.......Thanks for that too!

There are a few people that I have gone to enjoy and value as remote friends. One day I hope to meet many of them, in the meantime keep on writing and keep on Truckin.........( not all will get that one)

Saludos,
73's
88's
Adios,
Signing off for now.
Out a here.

11 comments:

One Small Voz said...

Thanks for providing insight into what life is like in your neck of the woods, through your eyes. I love news from bloggers, including the subjection of their perspective. Without a little bit of their view the words are sin sabor!

Steve Cotton said...

Nice post. I have often wondered why more of us do not discuss local and national issues in our blogs. My experience is that the commenters will always discuss posts fairly and politely. Now and then, someone will cite their fears of Article 33 of the Constitution ("Foreigners may not in any way participate in the political affairs of the country."), but there is a large gap between discussion and political activity.

Tancho said...

Thanks Leah, it is always interesting to see the outlook through someone's eyes.

I think the reason more people maybe are staying away from anything controversial is because of the hassle one can face, from readers, which can then go out of control pretty quick. And the other reason I surmise is that they do not want their blog to be able to "offend" anyone, and obvious offshoot of the PC movement...... and you are right about the difference in discussion and activity!

Anonymous said...

I have been meaning to stop by and leave comments on your blog but never seem to get around to it. I enjoyed your comments on how much the on-line community has changed the way some of us get our news and exchange information.
I have read your bio and I have wondered with your background in electronics and telecommucations if by any chance you might also have a amateur radio license. Your salutation gave me a hint that at least you are familiar with radio lingo. Just curious.

Bruce

Don Cuevas said...

I read the comments on Calypso's blog. I think John opened a Pandora's Box, where commenters vented their log pent up frustrations, many of which were barely related to the Arizona immigration law.
John was cool, however.

(This is a comment on blog comments; I don't discuss politics.)

Saludos,
Don Cuevas

Tancho said...

Hi Mr. Bruce Anonymous, thanks for stopping by. Well to make the story short, when I got into commercial radio, I gave up the ham license since there were not too many hams that could carry on a technical conversation anymore after offshore radios hit the market.
I still have some Hammerlund and Hallicrafters stuff.....LOL
I use to be K6IDO back in the early 60's.
Yep, Don Cuevas, you figured it out....There is a lot of pent up frustrations and duly so....I just hope they can do some REAL change next election, but I will not hold my breath!

Anonymous said...

Tancho

I am not sure that I could have keep up with you with a technical qso but it would have been fun to talk to you about Mexico. I must have gotten into the hobby about the time you left the hobby. The rice boxes were just starting to take over the market when I started. Collins, Drake, Heath and others were still in business but it sure changed fast. I have been inactive, with the exception of 2 meters, for about the last 25 years. Thanks for your reply.

Bruce

Tancho said...

Bruce,
I am having a hard time with how fast the technology changed in the radio business. Tossing out perfectly good stuff was a real issue for me, and just yesterday I found a binder that had about 50 pages of listing of customers frequencies and codes, each page was blanketed with names. Glancing at the pages it was interesting to see how many are no longer in business and how many no longer use 2 way.
I was sad when "Hams" came to our shop to have our techs solder on a PL259 connector.....
there are still "tech" hams around but the guys who actually built stuff are a dying breed. We use to get our pool of technicians from hams, but that hobby is dieing out also. With cell phones and computers, texting etc, is is disappearing. Stop by anything for a keyboard chat.

Anonymous said...

Tancho

You are so right about how fast things have changed in the communcations industry. I have a ham friend who has had a two way radio business for over 25 years. If it wasn't for the public sector he might have been out of business by now. Between the cell phone and the FCC auctioning off frequencies his private business has really gone down. In my spare time I used to help with installs and tower/antenna jobs when needed. That was fun because it was so different from my usual occupation which was farming.
You will have to check out the pawn shops and buy some of your old equipment back. Hi

Bruce

Calypso said...

Tancho - Of course I enjoy your Blog entries as well as your comments on mine.

I tend to avoid the controversial stuff - but cannot totally bury my head in the sand - and I do have opinions which I occasionally express.

I note a LOT of hostility by people on the Internet. It seems because they are behind a virtual screen they can be as mean spirited as they want - that is sad in the same way people abuse public bathrooms - there again the anonymity seems to give them license to be pigs - bummer.

Both on the Forum (wish you were there by the way) and the Blog we try and maintain civility. At that I have only cut one person off and talked someone else to go away since 2006.

Here is a good place to read news about Mexico (and I don't believe in reinventing the wheel):

http://www.mexiconews.net/index.php

You have probably seen that link - however there may be others that haven't.

Bottom line I enjoy your perspective and your Blog amigo!

Tancho said...

My Hat off to you Calypso for taking on controversial stuff. I tried that a few times and just got inundated with nasty emails. I quickly discovered that it was OK to say stuff as long as it was what the reader agreed to. It seemed that if you had a divergent opinion you were quickly belittled and made to feel like an idiot. So I just decided to keep a neutral safe stance and still enjoy a thought or two responding to other people's blogs.
Thanks for the link, it is a new one for me, I checked it out and indeed it is interesting. I will also check out your forum which may be a place for us to solve the world's problems.....
I am glad that you enjoy my blog, it makes it worthwhile to know that people read and enjoy it.