I am going to be away from this computer for a short while and will probably only be back to blog on Friday.
I am catching a 2-hour flight to Durban tomorrow morning at 6am. I'll just be there for the day, but look forward to seeing the city that I grew up in again and briefly seeing my brother and meeting his fiancee, who I have not yet met. The rest of the day will be spent with our Durban field supervisor and interviewers.
Tomorrow evening at 8pm I will be flying to Johannesburg, which is thankfully only a 1-hour flight. I will be spending all of Wednesday and a large part of Thursday in Johannesburg.
I will be spending Wednesday in our Johannesburg office and look forward to an evening out with old friends. On Thursday I will be spending the day with our Johannesburg field supervisor and her interviewers.
If I grew up in Durban, then I grew old in Johannesburg.
I will be flying back to Cape Town on Thursday afternoon at 3.40pm - another 2-hour flight.
All business .... but I'll bring back some pictures.
And if I grew up in Durban and grew old in Joahnnesburg, I guess I will grow dead right here in Cape Town.
On Thursday, 15 August 2002, I did a quick analysis of the blogs listed at Eatonweb and promised I would do it again when 10000 blogs were listed. Well, when I checked in there earlier on, 10020 blogs were listed, so here goes, for what it's worth:
The stats look like this at the moment (the yellow highlights indicate some interesting moves):
OVERVIEW
19 MARCH 2003: TOTAL BLOGS LISTED = 10020
15 AUGUST 2002: TOTAL BLOGS LISTED = 5922
2003
2003
2002
2002
Categories:
8121 blogs
77 categories
35781 blogs
103 categories
Language:
843 blogs
32 languages
1680 blogs
39 languages
Alphabetical:
5026 blogs
35 letters & numbers
5026 blogs
35 letters & numbers
Country:
5922 blogs
74 countries
10020 blogs
105 countries
I am assuming that the reasons why the numbers do not all tally are because:
Blogs can be listed under more than one category, for example a blog can be listed under both "general" and "aviation".
English is not listed in the language listing.
Eatonweb decided to stop monitoring the letter of the alphabet that blogs begin with. (??)
To keep the figures comparable to the 15 August figures, I did the same calculations again (all the percentages are based on the number of blogs listed under each heading):
CATEGORIES:
(BASE: 35781/8121 blogs listed.)
Most blogs are of a general (7%/20%) or personal (7%/14%) nature.
This is followed by journals (5%/8%).
New categories that weren't worth listing last time, but have climbed towards the top of the list, albeit with low percentages, include commentary (4%), life, internet, humour and music, each with 3%.
Blogs listing computer/tech as a category, dropped to 2%/3%.
After these categories, the percentages just get smaller and smaller, with the lowest percentage going to aviation (0.02%), last time it was marketing with 0.01%.
LANGUAGES
19 MARCH 2003: TOTAL BLOGS LISTED UNDER "LANGUAGE" = 1680
15 AUGUST 2002: TOTAL BLOGS LISTED UNDER "LANGUAGE" = 843
2003
2002
Portuguese:
36%
39%
French:
12%
10%
Spanish:
11%
11%
Dutch:
9%
11%
German:
9%
9%
Italian:
6%
6%
These are the only languages to have reached the 5% mark.
(English does not appear on the list.)
COUNTRIES
19 MARCH 2003: TOTAL BLOGS LISTED UNDER "COUNTRIES" = 10020
15 AUGUST 2002: TOTAL BLOGS LISTED UNDER "COUNTRIES" = 5922
2003
2002
USA:
64%
71%
UK:
6%
5%
Canada:
5%
5%
Brazil:
5%
Below 5%
Yep, know I could have done something less meaningless or more meaningful with these figures, but I have got other things I need to do. Like go and hug two beautiful kittens.
There you go - I did not heed my own advice. I did something silly.
Shelley (BurningBird) says about hosting, "I'm paid up until May 1st. At that time, I may not even maintain a web site any more. I've had web sites since 1996, 1995 if you count a tilde site (~) I had at a local Portland ISP. I have five domains coming up for renewal this month. Maybe I should just let the whole damn thing go to dark".
This is sad. I admit that I understood near to nothing about the technical stuff Shelley wrote about, but I really enjoyed and appreciated posts like this, this, this and this. And there are plenty of these over at Shelley's place.
It'll be a sad day indeed when Shelley closes up shop or lets "the whole damn thing go to dark".
At the risk of being repetitive, I offer an old post (from 17 July):
YOU CAN HAVE YOUR BLOG AND EAT IT
Crispy blogs:
For the crispiest-crusted fried blogs ever, roll the blog in .gif files, then in self-rising flour mixed with a little paprika and freshly ground links.
Writing blogs:
When writing blogs, handle gently. Don't press them down with a spatula to speed-write them. You'll force the juices out and make the blogs dry.
Blog technique:
Don't stir the HTML as you add it to a blog. You'll cool the blog and make it greasy.
Slicing blogs:
To slice blogs quickly, use an egg slicer.
Done blogs:
Done blogs will curl into a semicircle. Tightly coiled blogs are overdone.
Green blog?
To ripen your blogs, place two or three in a brown bag. Close bag lightly and store at room temperature, out of the screen's light.
Fresh blog test:
To determine if a blog is fresh, immerse it in a pan of cool, salted #006699. If it sinks, it is fresh; it rises to the surface, throw it away.
Clarified blog:
Clarified blog (blhee) is not a chore to make. Melt the best javascript you can get, allow to foam for a minute or two, remove from the heat for thirty seconds and strain through a graphics card.
Freezing blogs:
To freeze blogs, wash and drain them and then lay the blogs out in a single layer on a stiffy disk. Once frozen solid, transfer them into a .zip file - they can stay frozen for at least 10 months.
Spice up canned blogs:
A splash of Spanish sherry will do the trick.
Smelly blog?
Remove blog smells from your hard drive by simply slicing a cucumber, spreading it out on a mother board and cooking it in the scanner at 100% for five minutes.
Fresh blog trick:
Always have fresh blogs at hand by freezing those you don't need in water-filled ice cube trays. When you need the blogs, simply pop the ice cube in the a:\ drive.
They're rioting in Africa, they're starving in Spain. There's hurricanes in Florida, and Texas needs rain. The whole world is festering with unhappy souls. The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles. Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch. And I don't like anybody very much!
But we can be tranquil, and thankful, and proud, For man's been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud. And we know for certain that some lovely day Someone will set the spark off, and we will all be blown away.
They're rioting in Africa, there's strife in Iran. What nature doesn't do to us, will be done by our fellow man.
· 2 white fish fillets (e.g., cod, haddock, sole - whatever you catch), each about 7 oz.
· Oil for deep frying (peanut, canola or sunflower)
· 2 eggs, beaten
· 3/4 cup fine matzo meal
· 3 medium russet potatoes
For fish:
1. Preheat oven to 200 F. Pour at least five inches of oil into saucepan or deep fryer. Be sure to leave several inches at top, because the oil will bubble vigorously when the fish is introduced. Heat oil to 370 F.
2. Wash fish fillets and dry with paper. Slice fillets in half, crosswise. Dip them in beaten egg and then coat with matzo meal.
3. Carefully place fillets in hot oil. Do not use more than two fillets at a time, because this will bring down oil temperature.
4. Cook fish until a deep golden brown, about 8 minutes. Remove from oil, drain on paper towels, sprinkle with coarse salt. Keep fish warm in oven.
For potatoes:
1. Peel potatoes and cut into chip shapes about the size of your index finger. Soak in cold water while fish is cooking.
2. When fish is done, drain potatoes and slowly place one-third of them in hot oil.
3. Cook potatoes until golden brown and crispy, about five minutes. Remove from oil, drain on paper towels, sprinkle with coarse salt. Place potatoes in oven. Repeat process with two remaining batches of potatoes.
Serve fish with chips on plate or newspaper. Sprinkle fish with either fresh lemon juice or (preferably) malt vinegar.
Sometimes, no matter what you do, you cannot get to the bathroom, the computer or a cup of coffee. So, we went to the shops and bought smokes and beer and the Sunday papers.
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