The Ignorant Investor

An irritating thing just happened to me.

I opened my yahoo mail account, as I am apt to do when I wish to check my mail, and this picture of a woman danced across the front of the screen. After a second or two, she transmogrified into a large red heart, and after that magically shifted into a perfect facsimile of a large electronics discount retailer. It was only then that I saw the small block of words in dark type in a corner of the screen: "CLICK TO CLOSE."

I must say that the symbology of this message baffles me. What does it all mean? Dancing woman, heart, "Circuit City". After much thought, I translated the message thusly:

"Please be aware that everything you ever liked about the internet is now dead."

Our free e-mail accounts are now riddled with advertising. We can't visit a site without delousing ourselves with special software afterwards to get rid of the spyware. Our Google searches are more likely to bring up a long string of hits for online retailers than information we can use. And don't get me started on popups and flash ads-- I will personally tear the nuts off the man who invented that revenue source using a set of rusted ice tongs, should I ever run across him (and if it was a woman who perpetrated that crime, I swear I shall sleep with her and then never call her again). The internet is dead, I tell you. Stone cold murdered by commercial interests.

I can't stop this trend; I'm watching it with utter despair I'm so helpless. But I can pledge on my honor as a penniless blogger that I shall never accept advertising onto this site. Unless the price is just too high to refuse.

That's my pledge to you, the reader. Now, if I could only find some readers. Then I'd be able to get some advertising in here and make some money doing this....