Big Brother Facebook

If you're one of those folks under the mistaken impression Facebook doesn't know exactly what you're doing every minute, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. ... No sooner had I suggested to my Facebook audience (I figured they'd both see it sooner or later) that we all celebrate Earth Day by driving our SUVs down to the local dump and making plastic bag kites -- lo and behold! -- instantly the right side of my profile page or wall or whatever they call it this week was filled with the likes of the following advertisements: "Kite flying and Windsurfing Destinations," "Learn to kite on the beautiful waters of Cape Hatteras," and a few sports bar ads with kites either in the title or listed as activities along with wet T-shirt contests. ... It was downright scary. I mean, it took nanoseconds after I typed the word "kite" for these things to appear. ... Where is George Orwell when we really need him?

So, big day at the Farmers' Market Tuesday. Mayor Pate was on hand to cut the red ribbon (he really liked those big scissors) to open the summer season. Market manager Frank Rebiejo surprised Pate, whose birthday it happened to be, with a couple big boxes of fresh produce and some home-made pies along with other goodies. ... It was also Community Servant Appreciation Day so all the boys in blue from the PD and FD were there and got appreciation certificates from Frank, who got a little choked up when he mentioned all they did to keep our community safe. ... Chamber Director Mike Bishop also got an appreciative mention for the work his organization does for the business community. ... Nice to see.

So, Dick Clark died. ... Some of us still remember actually watching the young Dick hosting American Bandstand. And some of us watching him on the Times Square New Year's Eve celebrations for the past few years were probably wondering if he hadn't already died. ... Here's to the legendary Dick Clark (precursor of Ryan Seacrest) and a long (really, really long) career: rock and roll is here to stay!

You can unnecessarily prolong my career by emailing oliverdeplace@hotmail.com while I can still remember how to log on.