So why the hell would I set up a blog? Why bother jumping on the blog bandwagon? Not too many people read this site. I don't expect much traffic. I don't actively promote this site. I don't intend to make money off of this. I could put ads on the site, but there's no real reason to. Web hosting is cheap enough, for now anyway.
With such an enormous collection of information accessible to so many people, the web is truly an amazing medium. Combine this with methods that allow us to easily maintain web content, and we now have the ability to practically post thoughts as they come. Blog software and similar tools allow us to focus on the content rather than the technical aspects of maintaining the site.
The point is, it's easy, it's cheap, and for now, I can make the time to actually do it. So why not? Who really cares if nobody else is reading this? If I have the technical ability to create my online voice, I might as well use it while I have the time. Who knows, maybe someone will stumble across one of my postings on the site, and maybe they will learn something new or exchange an idea. That would be nice. I regularly read other blog sites, covering various topics from technology to law to politics to what's going on in Iraq. There are so many ideas and points of view being exchanged on these forums.
The fun part though, is trying to separate the good content (e.g.: analysis based on actual, verifiable facts) from the pure crap. I see so much crap, and so many good discussion threads being ruined by ad hominem attacks, and others posting conclusions based on false premises. I've seen entire arguments built on stupid conspiracy theories that were debunked ages ago but posted as fact. While being able to glean information from blogs is nice, it does pay to do your own research. It makes one actually think, if you're into that sort of thing.
Sure, I could have posted my ideas on the web earlier. Personal web sites are not exactly something new. I could have either posted static HTML pages or used my own content management system. But I like this one for now. Open source software makes this so much easier. I'll be discussing open source later at some point.
Anyway, I have the online voice. Here it is. Don't have any expectations. Read it, like it, love it, hate it, or ignore it.