In an odd bit of timing, news is breaking that former United States Senator Ted Stevens was on board a plane that crashed in his native Alaska last night. A former aide stated earlier that Stevens passed away in the crash, but Stevens' family has yet to comment. Stevens was the longest-serving Republican senator in history, serving from 1968 until 2009. He was known for a number of key legislation that helped his state of Alaska grow and prosper, and also for his role in helping to establish the United States Olympic Committee. And then of course there was his controversial re-election campaign in 2008 -- which was carried out while he was under indictment by a federal grand jury for ethics violations. Though he was found guilty, the charges were later dropped -- but not until after he lost his re-election bid. But around the Internet, Stevens is best known for the meme he helped create: " series of tubes ." I note that the timing of Stevens' plane crash is odd because that phrase Stevens coined was done so in the context of net neutrality -- a subject which is obviously very much in the news today due to the Google/Verizon dealings. Stevens was actually the Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee which was debating the issue in 2006. At that time, he gave an 11 minute speech about the topic that compared the Internet to a "series of tubes." The rest is history.