Some websites will load, others will not.
Those that will load, load immediately, without problems.
Those that will not load, fail to load immediately, going directly to a screen saying “name resolution failed” or words to that effect.
It is exactly the same websites exhibiting exactly the same behavior each time I try–none so far are such that they work sometimes and don’t work other times. Each website either works every time, or fails every time.
This just started a few minutes ago.
What could be causing this?
DNS service jumped ship??
I wish I knew what that means. 
Is it something I’m likely to be able to do something about, or is it the kind of thing where you just wait for it to sort itself out or get fixed by people who know things?
Sounds like it might be a DNS issue. Check it to see that its settings are correct, or you might want to try Google’s open DNS. If you prefer your IP’s DNS, you can refresh its cache by entering “ipconfig /flushdns” from an elevated prompt.
Satan!
No, actually I’m in Milwaukee and the last 45 minutes have had the exact same problems. Road Runner High Speed, etc… Somethings going on here.