RHOADES LESS TRAVELED:

Question: What do pine trees, cops, Auschwitz, earthquakes and nutjobs have in common?

Answer: Almost nothing.

Explanation for the almost: they’re fodder for my blog.

More in-depth explanation: I’m proud of my blog. Dang proud. It’s the first of more to come from Daily Pilot editors and reporters. When I blog, I feel like I’m hang-gliding.

After being an outsider for years, I’ve joined an international conglomeration of thrill-seekers.

Nobody knows what it adds up to and nobody cares. That’s the beauty of the blogosphere. It’s Nike-like. Just do it. Jump and see where you wind up.

In other words, this is a PR piece masquerading as a column. Go to www.dailypilot.com, find Blogs & Columns and click on Rhoades Less Traveled. Submit your comments, too.

There is a thread — frayed as it is — running through. With the exception of “Nutjobs abound, but at least they ain’t boring,” about a guy from Calgary who called to insist that I dispatch a team of reporters to expose the truth about Hillary Rodham Clinton (that she’s a man, not just figuratively, but biologically), and who hurled epithets when I declined, I blog about all things Newport-Mesa.

On pine trees: There’s a battle brewing in the bluffs, off Eastbluff Drive in Newport Beach, between homeowners who want their privacy and those who want those big, old gorgeous trees thinned to enhance their views of the bay. Some of the former seemed to overstate their case when they claimed crews were cutting trees to the ankles. Judging from shots taken by one of our photographers, that’s not the case.

If anyone has shots of stumped trees, send them my way.

On Newport Beach cops: Apparently, they don’t care if you’re the mayor of the city. Ask Ed Selich. If you don’t keep your registration updated, you’ll get a ticket. Funny, and fair enough, I’d say.

On Auschwitz: Even if it’s sending plumes of steam into the sky, Hoag Hospital’s power plant is not a concentration camp and shouldn’t be compared to one, as one Villa Balboa resident dared to do at a recent City Council meeting. And a dose of proportion: Steam or no steam, noise or no noise, Hoag is one of the best in the business at saving lives and making them healthier. We should not forget that.

On pelicans: I dig ‘em. Could watch them glide, bank and dive for hours. They’re cooler than fighter pilots by a long shot. Thank you to Bill Spitalnick for sending the photo.

On earthquakes: The 3.0 that jolted the Newport-Mesa area was minor, but there’s a psychological element to the seismic situation in Southern California, which is why we all talk about temblors, no matter their power. Like Fred Sanford of the sitcom “Sanford and Son” fame, we’re all waiting for the big one.

OK, that’s my pitch.

Look for more staffer blogs in the future.

I’m done with PR. Back to journalism.

BRADY RHOADES is the Daily Pilot’s managing editor. He may be reached at brady.rhoades@latimes.com or at (714) 966-4607.