New Blog

I just ran across a new blog tonight (to me -- it's really not that new), something that is infrequent for me, and it's a Texas blog nonetheless. Here's an interesting excerpt:

There are just too damn many people out there that I enjoy reading. And I feel like I'm falling behind in reading what is really good commentary on very important stuff. As a result, I hardly ever read the "stuff" that's being commentaried on.

I wonder if that isn't typical?

One of the reasons that I infrequently run across new blogs is that I spend much more time online actually reading the "stuff" that is being commented on. Some of that's because my work involves it, at least as it pertains to the assessment of political risk and international politics. Some of it's just because there's a lot of interesting stuff out there, available for free, written by people who are real experts in their fields (the sort of stuff one finds on Arts and Letters Daily or Reductio Ad Absurdum).

That last part is why I think the "paid blogging" model is unlikely to provide much in the way of financial returns. Commentary on news and opinion is one thing if it's free and/or convenient. But if it isn't, why wouldn't someone be better off spending the cash on established publications like The New Republic or National Review or the American Prospect or ... any number of other established opinion magazines? (Magazines, curiously that are themselves, for the most part, struggling to make ends meet?)

(09-03-02 Update) Back to Scott's blog (I got a little sidetracked) -- he runs a pretty neat business that occasionally is the host of some excellent music (another interest of his).

[Posted at 21:13 CST on 09/02/02] [Link]