Thanks for the comments.
Followup on mining: Should mining accelerate or get slower with time? I thought the algorithm was supposed to increase difficulty and thus slow the mining process, or only reward the super-computer miners. Can a coin generate 5,000 to 10,000 coins every 10 minutes? That seems obscene.
You probably need to read a bit more about the mining.
Algorithm is not suppose to increase the difficulty but to adjust it. More miners (more hash power) - the diff goes up, less miners - it goes down.
More basic advice for this dummie: Where should I be looking to start today?
Start what? What's your goal? Are you looking for best investment? Do you want to start mining? Trading? Or have you already decided you want to invest in altcoin but you don't know which one?