I added up the number of emails I get on an average day, and here’s the total: 15 kajillion. I know, that’s less than I thought, too. But still, it’s too much for me to handle. Most of them don’t present a problem — I quickly scan and delete. It’s the ones that seem to, well, hang around awaiting action — either my needing additional information, or my needing the time to deal with the specifics of the matter — that fill up my box. The latter includes any number of points of discussion with friends near and far. I have a friend who thinks that Apple is now dominating because it has moved into the “toy” business; just as soon as I get the time, he’s going to get my lengthy reply about what I’m calling Apple’s new “appliance” model. There’s also the email offering downloads of photos taken of me crossing the finish line during the marathon in Amsterdam in 2008 (yes, I must click and order those), and the sound file from three years ago of my friend Joe wishing my daughter Emma well, and the link to photos of the Moving Arts 15th anniversary celebrity reading of two of my plays. You see how things sometimes… pile up.

But now I’ve discovered this new system. So far, so good. My actual email in box is now empty, my “to do” is manageable, and all those other things are tucked in places where I can still safely procrastinate. Looking at my clean in box summons the feeling that many a 50’s housewife had when she’d mopped without leaving yellow waxy buildup. And so, I share it with you. Here it is.

Depends on where you are. Check here to find out.

That’s a lot better than just two months ago. At that time, only 16 metro areas in the U.S. showed job growth — a list headed by my old hometown of Ocean City, NJ. Except, when I lived there, it was not a “metro area.” Anytime Ocean City leads the nation in economic growth, you know it’s not good. One winter night a friend and I drove over the bridge to buy beer, thereby cutting in half the winter population of Ocean City, NJ.

Evidently, Neanderthals live on in some humans.

All taken care of. Click here.

I just came across this news feature on my friend Trey’s Facebook page. It seems that as a third-grade teacher in 1961, his mother gave some memorable encouragement to a student writer. That writer has now written more than 100 children’s books and, now, a book of poems. Here’s the story.

Last night was the latest night of readings from my playwriting workshop. One of the three playwrights has become an accomplished award-winning, produced, published playwright. (I think she and I will always remember the moment we jointly realized in my class that yes, she was a playwright. I could suddenly see it, and so could she.) One of the other playwrights last night has been in my workshop for a while. She joined the workshop to start writing plays — to learn how to write plays — and now here she was, the first act of her first play finally completed, playing out for a full house at the Inside the Ford space at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre. She had one of those rare debut achievements:  the audience laughed in all the right places, and at least two of them cried in the right places. The joy written on this new playwright’s face afterward will stay with me for a long time.

I salute my friend’s mother. And I salute all the people who continue on with whatever sort of endeavor despite all the setbacks and discouragements  the world can sling at them.

One thing you can say about California politics: We get lots of great video spots. This one amuses me greatly. (Although the notion of Senator Fiorina does not.)

I’ve read many Founding Fathers biographies. Still, I learned a great deal about George Washington from this one. Much of this stuff should give the Tea Partiers pause.

Just like Christmas, Free Comic Book Day is a day that the kid inside us wishes came every day.

Click here to locate your nearest participating comics shop — and the list of free comics. And then do what I’m going to do:  Round up some kids — actual kids — and take them to a comics shop. Last year was a highly memorable occasion:  My daughter got to meet “Supergirl” and “Wonder Woman,” and got a sketch from a professional artist. That sketch still hangs in her room, and the memory of “Supergirl” and “Wonder Woman” lingers in my memory.

Back here I shared the story of a next-generation iPhone accidentally left behind in a bar, where it was discovered and ultimately sold to a site that shared its scoop around the world, generating enormous hits.

Since then, Apple sent the site, Gizmodo, a letter demanding the return of the phone, and sicced authorities on the web journalist, Jason Chen. San Mateo County investigators seized computers  and other electronics from Chen’s house (apparently overstepping their authority, in the process).

This is disturbing in a number of ways.

The idea that police operating under a vaguely worded warrant can scoop up almost anything they find in your home, regardless of its connection to a potential crime,  is, to put it mildly, not good.  And by taking his computer, they also in effect took his notes. Under state and federal law, journalists’ notes are protected.

But… is Chen a journalist? He seems to be a blogger, but does that qualify one as a journalist? If so, then is what you’re reading journalism? Early in my career  I was a journalist, and I do sometimes break news here; does that make me a journalist?

Recently I’ve been doing a lot of traveling and talking about a new social media tech startup that I’m involved with. At some point in one of the many wide-ranging discussions I’ve been in around the country I said, “The law is always reactive. It is always behind.” In other words, change comes first — changes in how we do business, in technology, in cultural behavior — and the law follows. The expansion of gay rights is only one recent example.

Whatever a “journalist” is in 2010, that definition is, I assure you, far removed from what it was 25 years ago when serving as one was how I made my living. Where once broadcast journalists went into the jungle with a field team, and later sent that footage to editors who reworked it and managing editors who helped reshape the narrative of all the coverage, now ABC News hires only “digital journalists” (translation:  one guy with his own camera, plus internet access). Ultimately, it will prove to be neither better nor worse — just different. The Internet makes news more now.

Here’s James Rainey’s think piece on the ethics of this case. It’s worth reading.  And here’s an editorial from the LA Times on the Apple/Gizmodo saga, highlighting the distressing implications for journalists. I would ask:  In an age when everyone has access to the tools of reporting, and millions of people use them daily, is everyone a journalist?

Forgetting that “the good ol’ days” weren’t really that good, and that “fictional” means it didn’t really happen.

Which kind of takes us to this sad story, in which an actress from “The Andy Griffith Show” gets robbed in the town that inspired Mayberry.