Over the past few days I've noticed a puzzling phenomenon here at the Chant, page views, they're climbing like an SR-71 on steroids. Okay, I think I'm a decent writer, but going from an average of 1,500 to 2,000 views a day to 16,000, and climbing, something is broken in Blogger statistics land, methinks.
The last 30 days of page views (below), not the climb profile of that SR-71 on steroids.¹
Now I could be wrong, I've seen these insane blips before ...
The chart above is for all time, from the blog's inception back in March of 2012, until now. We're averaging roughly 50,000 views a month, now we're getting that in a couple of days. In fact, if the chart from January of last year until now was an ECG, I'd say the patient was having "issues."
Of course, Google, the proprietor of Blogger, or Gargle as I like to call it, likes to tinker with their software. Plus, I hear they're very woke. Things is they don't mind damaging their product, nor apparently their reputation among "serious" people. They're rather frivolous to my mind.
But hey, makes me feel like a "real" writer with a real following. (But 15,000 hits a day with maybe 300 views of the day's actual post? Something isn't adding up.) But it boosts my morale and when it goes back down (as I think it inevitably will), I won't lose much sleep over it. Note that I didn't say any sleep, hey, I'm human, I like flattery.
That's about all I've got for today, it's been busy for a day off. CT Scan in the morning, downloading software to the new laptop the rest of the day.
But an alert reader sent me a link to a very good video addressing that whole "the Mosquito can replace the four-engine bomber" concept. Pretty much reinforces my own views on the topic.
And because the Mossie is one of my very favorite aircraft (I'm sure it's got nothing to do with those two Merlin engines) here's some in cockpit Mossie footage. A beautiful bird regardless of whether it can replace a big bomber or not ...
Ciao!
¹ Or it could be just a normal SR-71 full afterburner climb after takeoff. I watched those birds on Okinawa climb virtually straight up in to a clear blue sky and be gone, invisible, after a few seconds. Impressive indeed!
Increased views recently......postings of an insurrection in the USA.......hmmmm.......more Feds visiting.......:) I'm sure there's more legitimate reasons for the page view increase Sarge. Thanks for the vids, the flying choice was brilliant!
ReplyDeleteFedbots! That's gotta be it!
DeleteI've always liked that Mossie video.
(Don McCollor) Another role of the Beaufighter first and then the Mosquito was night radar interception as told in the book "Night Fighter". One of the hazards of stalking a German intruder aircraft was the bland voice of ground radar control warning "there are many Big Friends near you" as their radar scope developed a rash of blips. They were crossing the path of an outbound bomber stream with hundreds of heavy friendly aircraft dispersed at different altitudes and speeds.
DeleteThe air war at night in the skies over Europe makes for some interesting reading.
DeleteSarge, there’s another aircraft at Kadena that can takeoff, go straight up before reaching the end of the runway and accelerate while doing so. It’s painted a sky blue color.
ReplyDeleteJust sayin’
I noticed the increase in page views also. Wondered about that.
juvat
Yup, the Eagle also climbs like a homesick angel.
DeleteNever saw one do that in person though.
We rarely did them @Kadena. Too much noise and a bit of distraction for the drivers on the highways on either end of the runway. Sitting alert at Osan however…Scrambles however, either real or practice…well… we were either going to war and needed to be “above the foe” or were practicing going to war, so…
DeleteTypically, we didn’t get the war/not war codeword til we leveled out. Every time I did it, the codeword was for practice, which entailed a max G turn of at least 90 degrees if not more. The border isn’t that far when you’re going the speed of snot. Heart rate also took a few minutes to return to normal.
Damn, I miss those days.
juvat
At least back then we knew who the enemy was.
DeleteCrusty Old TV Tech here. Congrats on the pageviews, I hope :-) Your recent musings have been riveting, IMHO. And to the Mozzie, the most impressive thing about it to me is that it is almost 100% plywood and doped fabric! Since building one did not require so many skilled metalworkers, but rather piano builders, cabinet makers, etc., it was seen as a complimentary production effort to the rest of the British aircraft industry in the War. The other bit that got my attention was that it was a Mosquito unit that silenced the Sender Berlin whilst Goebbels was yammering about the 10th anniversary of the party. They went all the way to Berlin to shut him up! Very few other aircraft at the time could pull that off.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there is some Gargle reason for the increased page views. For now I'll just assume it's my brilliant writing.
DeleteYeah, sure.
Bots crawl the web in seemingly strange patterns. Not sure whose, or why, but that would be my guess. Just tasked in some sort of random selection, or perhaps triggered by something you posted. Who knows.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I don't think it reflects a sudden sharing of a source of great literature resulting in hordes of astute new visitors arriving to suck up the free stuff.
JB
Sarge, there are a couple of possible explanations that sadly may not reflect a sudden (and well warranted) appreciation of your blog. There are algorithms that magnify hits exponentially or it could be some kinda fedbot (wouldn't put it past them, though somewhat less likely, but one can't distrust them enough).
DeleteBut "We few, we happy few..." will always be here.
Boat Guy
JB - The bots are out there, as long as they're no spambots I'm okay with it.
DeleteWell, I did insult the FBI ... 😒
BG - I like that, "we few, we happy few." We're an acquired taste.
DeleteNo, the FBI insults America.
DeleteAgreed.
DeleteSarge, I had the same thing happened to me from January through the beginning of June this year. Not really sure what was driving it, although I'm pretty sure it was not a hordes of people suddenly flicking flocking to my prose.
ReplyDeleteYes, the inconsistency of it makes it smell like a Gargle thing.
DeleteI usually come here several times a day to see a comment in context... but not that often :-)
ReplyDeleteThere it is, it's you Rob, coming back to check comments, 15,000 times a day! 🤣🤣🤣
DeleteI had a friend who worked in an airbase in Kansas in the 70s or so. A call came in that an SR71 was having engine problems, was crossing the Canadian border and would be there in 15 to 20 minutes. It landed, the pilot tinkered with it a bit, got fuel, and like you said took off at amazing speed and just sort of disappeared into the sky.
ReplyDeleteAn amazing aircraft!
DeleteCould it be AI speed reading looking for something to cancel you?
ReplyDeleteNow that would be scary.
DeleteIf you install Statcounter.com -you can play with the incoming hits to find out where they came from.
ReplyDeleteAll you need to do is add a little (cut and paste) HTML at the bottom of the blog and make a profile.
It may be that a popular blogger finally found you and added you to their blogroll.
Keep up the free ice cream. Bravo Zulu!
Had that installed back in the day, didn't care for it.
DeleteFree ice cream will continue.
Great videos, Sarge, very informative. WWII revisionism is an easy game to play, but the 1st video is calm and methodical in showing that the air bosses pretty much had reasons and knew what they were about. Not to sound cavalier or flippant, but the losses in the USAAF and Bomber Command (let alone all other branches) occurred because Hitler, Mussolini and the Japanese imperialists wanted what they started, and it took that much sacrifice to stop them. That is why we must Remember.
ReplyDeleteIs it really revisionism though?
DeleteYes, people died in WWII because of Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese militarists. Doesn't mean that the bomber Mafia was correct in all they did and said. That the bomber campaign had a severe impact on the Nazi war machine can't, I think, be questioned. That being said, it didn't do what the bomber Mafia said it could (and would) do.
War is complex.