The Google mapping of crime

The heading for this post is not my idea - I have stolen it from Samizdata.  I urge you to have a read of their article on The Google mapping of crime, and this article they linked to that describes the idea of citizens getting re-involved in tackling crime.

I cop the odd bit of flak regarding the time that I put into the activities that I describe in this blog.  The usual comment is "get a life".

Thanks, but I have a life.  I have plenty of time to do things because I have cut my television viewing right back - it's funny how many extra  hours in the day you suddenly have when viewing is limited to an hour or two on weeknights, and nothing on weekends.  Many possibilities suddenly open up when you have the equivalent of an extra day or more in the week.  I spend a very small amount of my new-found time on this blog and things that go with it - but I think I'm getting a huge level of positive payback from it.  

The article above refers to our free time as our "civic surplus".  We all have it - most of the drudgery that our grandparents had to put up with has been eliminated by washing machines, dish washers, cars, phones and so on.  It's now a question of how you spend your civic surplus. Do you fritter it away in front of the TV being mindlessly entertained, or do you turn off the box and do something useful with it - something that will advance our civilisation in a positive way.

Over to you, and the remote control.