Not Football Stuff, But probably not important either

Judging by the number of entries I make, I probably couldn't be characterized as a serious blogger. There are guys out there that write a lot of stuff and have an uncanny ability of actually being interesting in most of them.

One of the things I've enjoyed about doing this site, and this blog, is that I've spent a lot of time searching out good blogs and good websites that I can link to. Some of these guys have given me a tremendous laugh when i've needed one the most. To all you guys out there, though I doubt you ever read this, thank you!!! In my quest, of course there are all sorts of other blogs out there on every subject imaginable. Some are informative, about things like technology and making money on the internet. Some are fun. I've seen some on misheard song lyrics, on things overheard in the office, lots of humor. I see some that are just love stories or collections of poems. Some are the internet version of yesteryear's vacation slideshows. And some you look at and think, what the heck are they thinking??? If you ever sit and click on the 'Next Blog' on top of the toolbar just to surf through random blogs you see some really interesting stuff. And you see some weird stuff. Some stuff is just scary. There are blogs and journals on every sort of hobby, every sort of political persuasion. In just a few minutes of scanning through things, i've seen titles like Hillary Needs a Vacation, Unnatural Pea, Baby Going, Buy the Truth, Brain Free Zone, etc. Some stuff, we roll our eyes at, some stuff we laugh at, some stuff we skip right past, and some we stop and say hmmmm, that's interesting.

The fascinating thing about it is, so much of it is free. Not that it's free just cuz the guys at
Blogger and others are such nice guys, but they discovered that if you provide a service like blogging, etc, where a lot of people use the service, it gives you an audience to which you can sell some stuff. It's a fascinating study of the market economy.

I'm noticing a number of football bloggers, and i'm sure a lot of others, have been clamoring a lot about this whole 'Net Neutrality' issue. I'm still getting my head wrapped around it all and just what it all is. I know, for those of you reading this who aren't familiar with it I probably should write out a proper description. I'm going to avoid that for now, because I won't pretend to understand the whole issue yet. I've looked at a lot of the key webistes that talk about both and honestly, none have really done a good job laying out what it's all about, it's been more about shouting out their talking points, and to some extent creating hysteria. On both sides.

I"m not sure why I even bring it up other than a lot of bloggers are talking about it as though this issue could be the potential end of blogging. Frankly, it seems to me about like the hype about the world ending because of all those Y2K problems. I don't remember planes falling out of the sky back then, and whatever happens I don't expect the internet to come to a grinding halt. Here's my one thought so far. Too often, when we go about making legislation to cause something to happen or prevent something from happening in an area as vague as this has been, we often create situations that end up with opposite results of what we intended.

Now, it may be that no one reading this cares a lick about the issue. I don't know enough about it yet to pick a side, and in fact the whole thing concerns me because I'm seeing more hysteria and hyperbole over the whole thing so far than I am any reasoned discussion of the issue. It's more about the world is coming to an end (from both sides) than it is a reasoned explanation of just why the world is coming to an end. And when it's all this vague and convoluted as this is, all I can say is slow down, be careful, and make sure you know exactly what it is you're supporting or opposing. I see guys jumpingon the bandwagons both ways because of who else is on the bandwagon, and that part concerns me more than the issue itself. Maybe I just see it more just because of the fact i live and work in the DC area now and we get more of the political ads and such. But in the end, more than most issues out there, I'm convinced most people that are on either of the bandwagons don't totally understand what it is they're supporting or opposing, and i doubt they know the consequences either way of if htey get their wish. Because of that, my position so far is just, be very careful what you wish for.