Windows on the World

I have been browsing various blog sites to see what else is out there. And although there are (by last count) 87 mega-gajillion blog sites, most of them are an acquired taste or it is necessary to know the individual in order to find them entertaining. A few are worth looking for.

There are, obviously, the "for profit" sites. These are basically street vendors along the information superhighway. The problem with these sites is the same problem that a lemonade stand would have on a real super highway. The real money is being made by the guys with the billboards for the malls strategically placed near convenient exit ramps.

There are also "clever photo of the day" sites. Some images are pretty good, but most of them look like they were taken by a drunken third grader with uncle's new camera. What I have a hard time understanding is how they can be smart enough to set up a blog page and actually download (upload?) the images, yet can't figure out how to focus the camera.

There are the "highly scientific" looking sites that are either pretending to be something way beyond my comprehension or we have been invaded by Tau Ceti . . . again.

There are the "foreign language" blogs. I am aware that the internet is a sort of all over the friggin' world kind of thingy and that English is not the universal language and that my blogs are in a foreign language to other people from other places. I realize all of this. But just because I don't trust foreigners doesn't make me a xenophobic -- does it?

There are the "erotic" sites. Some of these are kind of cool. Some are kind of sad. I'm just surprised that all of the sensitive types aren't trying to shut them down. We wouldn't want to offend anyone with the human body now, would we? Trust me, being a nudist, there are plenty of offensive things about the human body that have nothing at all to do with sex.

There are the "hobbyist" sites. These cover every anal detail of everything from coin collecting, to comic books, to early sound recordings, to making butter by hand. Everyone who has ever had a passing interest in anything has a blog about it. Unfortunately, they all come off sounding like they are still living in mom's basement and sit by the mailbox waiting for the new catalogs.

There are the "travelogue" sites that make a trip to Aunt Martha's (you know -- the one with the plastic on the furniture) seem exciting. I mean, who DOESN"T want to see MORE slides of the Grand Canyon or some friggin' corn field in Kansas?

There are "family" blogs where the entire family gets to be nerdy. And BTW, why don't you just draw a map and leave a key under the mat for all the deviants who cruise the web?

There are "political" blogs of every stripe. Anyone who has ever had a cogent thought or something intelligent to contribute is sitting right next to every nut job with an ax to grind. It is actually sort of fun trying to spot which is which. This level of passion tends to elevate the rhetoric.

There are also the "humor" blog sites. They run the gamut from cartoons, to joke-of-the-day, to indexes of jokes sorted by category. Some of them are very good and very thorough.

I have found sites trying to be helpful and some that are hateful. Some are inspirational and others are bleak windows into dark psyches. There is the poetic and the prosaic. The carnal and the innocent. The technical and the un-technical thingy stuff. And more.

But, what they all have in common, is an unprecedented look at mankind. The blog-0-sphere is a tour-de-force of what makes us tick. A window into our humanity and a blueprint for alien invasion.