Why do you blog? Aren't you being selfish? Aren't you boasting? Aren't you boring the world? Who gave you the idea that your expression has a place in this world? Who do you think you are?

Is the future really free? It seems we've entered an age where there's a land-grab happening for personal data and attention time. Look at all the web start-ups backed by venture capital. They aren't investing out of philanthropy. There's value there. YouTube is "free" but Google paid over a billion dollars for it. Why? Here's a hint: It's not about the Tube.

One of the leaders in the movement to reform copyright laws to catch up with the cultural and technological changes in our society has turned his attention to reforming American politics, and he's using these same new cultural and technological phenomena to help him achieve it. Lawrence Lessig, Stanford University* law professor and founder of the Creative Commons, and Joe Trippi, who made something of a name for himself working the Howard Dean campaign in 2004, have launched Change Congress:

At DrupalCon Boston 2008, which took place this past week, some 850-900 people attended. Of those, only 2% 7% were women. Just a few months ago, we represented 7% at DrupalCon Barcelona 2007. So are things getting worse no better for women in the Drupal open source software world? I don't think so.

Odds are if you're reading this you're familiar with blogs. By now, the blogarama has become pretty much a world defined on its own terms: It is what it is. And my guess is that unless you work in the world of print journalism, live with someone who does, or just read Romanesko regularly -- if only out of curiosity -- you wouldn't think there was anything inherently wrong or odd or vaguely offensive about blogging. Would you?