Several months back, a guy who authors a popular television technology website posted an article that referred to the fallacious 500-channel universe. As I have stated in some previous posts, there are no cable or satellite systems in the U.S. (that I know of) which will currently allow their customers to subscribe to 500 or more channels. Yet people, including the guy I am referring to, talk about the 500 channel universe as if it has been a reality for over 15 years.

Anyway, I emailed him and challenged his 500-channel assertion. He promptly and sarcastically replied back that everyone knows the reference to 500 channels is "just a concept." Everyone but me, it seems.

I wonder what would happen if we applied this same kind of logic to other things. Let's suppose a company was opening up a new factory in your town and was placing help-wanted ads with salaries advertised as $1000 per week. Then suppose their new-hires took a look at their pay stubs after their first week of work and discovered that they had each received only $700 in gross pay for that week. If their boss explained this discrepancy by saying, "Come on folks, the $1000 a week thing is just a concept", do you think those workers would accept that as a valid answer?

Terry Mitchell

Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, blogger, and amateur political analyst from Hopewell, VA. He's been in the software development/engineering line of work for over 24 years.

He blogs and writes about various subjects such as current events, politics, cultural and social issues, health and well-being, personal finance, religion, technology, media issues, law, government, sports, humor, and trivia.

Through the BlogBurst network, his blog entries are often carried on the Website of the Houston Chronicle, one of the top newspapers in America. In addition, his columns and essays regularly appear on American Chronicle's network of 21 online magazines. They have also appeared online on American Daily, Media Monitors International, Opinion Editorials, The Washington Dispatch, Arrivenet, and hundreds of additional websites.

Terry never misses an opportunity to assail political correctness and take pot shots at the conventional foolishness. He's not a bandwagon jumper - he writes stuff that others should be writing, but are not. He thinks of himself as a kind of modern American philosopher. His blog offers commentary from a unique point of view that is not often found in mainstream media.

Terry would love to have his blog picked up and syndicated by a major news or web organization. He also plans to write a book based on his blog. But, for now, he mainly writes for free as a hobby and enjoys having his aritcles posted on as many websites, ezines, news letters, newspapers, and magazines as possible.