WESTBROOK, Minnesota (STPNS) -- When it comes to social media I must have been born Amish. I don’t tweet, don't do almost any thing related to social media. I really don’t understand how Mark Zuckerberg could take an idea to link up college kids into a hundred billion dollar enterprise in just a few short years. Although recently when Zuckerberg

went public with his company, things didn’t go quite the way he or anyone else expected.

    Well I know next to nothing when it comes to the world of high finance and investments. But what I do know, when you take a company public it is hard to understand how a company that appears to be mostly blue sky, can be worth a hundred billion dollars?



    I was not surprised when the opening stock, selling for about 38 bucks, went to an imminent dump of about ten dollars a share. I was hoping it would go down more like 5 bucks a share. I figure with the popularity of facebook a couple grand of stock could turn into a pretty nice nest egg. Well the stock closed out today at just a tick over 27 bucks. So it has a ways to go before I go all in.

    Now I do have a facebook account, but I really don’t know much about using it, and I really don't have time either. I don’t care if a couple of my friends like Walmart, I am not sure why anyone would like to brag about that! Unless you get a hundred dollar gift card from it. Unless you are a very close friend or relative, I really don’t care when “your” friend has a birthday. Here’s one, “I’m watching the country music awards on TV.” If your watching TV why are you sending messages to me. Not enough time, and very little useful information for me to spend more than a cursory moment to check.

    I have to wonder, when are people taking time to do all this stuff, at work maybe, while driving? I suspect productivity around the world has to be going down, and if you are doing this behind the wheel even worse.

    That reminds me, co-worker Joan Spielman told us Monday, she met a semi trailer gravel truck with the driver holding his phone on top of the steering wheel and presumably he was texting! Now that is really scary, can you imagine meeting a 30 plus ton vehicle where the driver appears to be texting?

    My final foray is about helmet laws. Recently there was a 22 year old woman killed while riding her motorcycle in the metro area. Apparently her mother had urged her to use a helmet but she refused. Now her mother is trying to promote a helmet law in Minnesota.

    Several years ago there was a helmet law in Minnesota, and I think it was Jesse Ventura that was instrumental in getting it repealed. It is still a requirement for persons under 16 to wear a helmet while driving or riding as a passenger.

    In this issue is a story about cyclist Gordy Vosberg hitting a deer. Vosberg was wearing a helmet. I don’t know if it saved his life, but it probably kept him from being more seriously injured.

    I listened to some of the lame excuses for not wearing a helmet on the radio the other morning. One texted they only help in low speed crashes. Well you don’t have to be going very fast to have a serious head

injury. Also you seldom know when you are going to be in an accident. If you did then you could probably avoid it. Here’s another one - more lives would be saved if people in cars wore helmets. Duh? When you drive a car, and are using your seat belts, you are surrounded by a 3500 pound helmet. I could go on, but I think you get the point. Wear a helmet! It may save your life!

Have a great week and do good!