Yesterday was a big sports day here in the U.S. During my TV channel surfing, I managed to watch most of several NFL football games, several MLB baseball games, and the Women’s Final of the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament.
Through all of this, I was reminded again of the amazing memory for player names and statistics that the people who host these shows have. As much as I love to watch sports, it’s always been a “right now” sort of fascination for me, and it’s a rare event where I’ll remember anything significant about it weeks, or even days, later.
Thinking about this reminded me of a couple of things – one from just just recently, and one from much, much further back in time:
And speaking of odd numbers and strange names, my blog was “viewed” a record 4,714 times yesterday. Yes, that’s right, 4,714 times! I don’t know about you guys, but my previous record was something like 560 views, which I still believe was an error because there were no corresponding “referrer” and “search engine” stats to back it up.
But as unbelievable as they seem, yesterday’s numbers were very real, and actually represents the peak of a growing trend that started about a month ago with high “views” numbers coming in for just one post: 9/11 Declassified. Out of the total 4714 visits to my blog yesterday, that one post accounted for a full 4463 of them!
But the question that keeps echoing in my head is why. Why is that post so popular? Sure, I know yesterday was the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and I can certainly see how that might explain some of the interest. But I break down after looking at just two or three of the images in that post, and I just don’t accept that there are that many gluttons for punishment out there.
My theory is that it must be the post’s title that’s attracting all the attention, which was derived from the subject line “9/11 Photos (Recently declassified)” of the email I received containing the photos. Considering how many “conspiracy theory” enthusiasts are out there on this interwebby thing, I can easily see how a title like “9/11 Declassified” might be hard for them to resist.
So, in the end I can’t really see this as being some big boon to my blog. In fact, it creeps me out more than a little bit. On the other hand though, yesterday’s stats still show 251 “views” (4714 – 4463) for something other than that one post. That beats my average, and would be more than enough to put the smile back on my face. 😀
Note that I said would be. My PC froze up on me twice while writing this. And then, just to piss me off, my power went off just as I was about to click the “Publish” button! Now there’s a “mystery” I’d like to get to the bottom of. Argh! 😈
I want ice water.
More Random Ravings
I Want Ice Water! 
A nice post i’m sure there were 1,000s about 9/11, and yes there is a problem with the search engines counters i seen a few posts on the forum about it.
I watched a lot of the conspiracy theory programes.
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It’s been awhile since I’ve been to the forums. I’ll have to check it out. I don’t go much for conspiracy shows on TV, but I do get a lot of emails involving that sort of thing. One of them, that I just can’t force myself to discontinue, is http://www.brasschecktv.com/. 😯
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Now that’s a very weird coincidence — we both posted about our stats after our 9/11 posts!
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I’ve been wanting to say something about it for days, but didn’t because it just seemed too much like bragging. The stats from yesterday, however, were just way too over-the-top to be ignored! 😯
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That is way freakin’ amazing…..I’m happy for you!
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Um, thanks? 😳
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Firstly IzaakMak, Go Sammy Stosur !!!!! Yah, Poor thing has a rep for being a bit of a choker.
Oh and well done on the stat blitz.
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You know I was all out for the American, Serena Williams – that is until she went all psycho on the chair umpire for enforcing a rule all players have to obey. After that, I was “Go Sammy Stosur” too! 😀
I still feel sorta weird about the stats bonanza because of those horrible images. But it does seem to be winding down a bit. It just turned Tuesday here, and I topped out yesterday at 1501 total, with 1367 being for that one post. 😳
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Congrats, you’ve got me beat… for now! It is tempting though, to just cast integrity aside and use a title you know will pull in readers, regardless of whether or not it actually fits the subject matter. Which is why my next comic series will be called “Michelle Obama – Teabagger!”
No, it won’t. 😀
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It’s kinda scary what Google Images comes up with when you search for “Michelle Obama – Teabagger!” This for example:
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Congratz mate 😀
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Not sure if this is one I want to take credit for, but thanks anyway my friend. 😀
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I’ve no doubt it was the title that drew the readers. It sounds like some newly uncovered conspiracy is being revealed and people love that stuff. My hits were up too, just based on 9/11 being in a couple of my titles. It’s not like most of this information wasn’t out there 9 years ago. These people need to move on.
I had a similar experience (on a much, much smaller scale) with my title “Deepwater Horizon gone, photos still emerging.” I didn’t give it much thought when I wrote it, but apparently people thought some new secret stuff was being released.
There’s a lesson in all this about writing provocative heads — while still remaining truthful. I once heard you should spend at least as much time writing your head as you do writing your post. Epic fail on my part. 😦
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Oh I could NOT agree more my friend! And I’m usually much more careful when choosing titles and such for my posts than I was with that one. If truth be told, my writing skills are mediocre at best. It’s only by sweating over every word that I’m able to produce something I can live with publishing. That’s why I don’t post very often, and why 95% of my ideas go unpublished.
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