evolution

Call it the month of the spammers and searchers that pissed me off. My traffic went through the roof this month, but I’m certain that was not the result of readership; rather, it was the frequent comment- and referral-spam attacks.

As of 20:10 I had 1,886 visitors for the month of January, easily a record. They made nearly 5,000 visits. At this rate, I should record my 10,000th visitor sometime in early March. As I’ve said, I’m continually astonished by the fact that 10,000 people might care what I have to say, and I thank those of you who stop in.

My visitors are an eclectic bunch; they hail from 75 different countries, and all of Earth’s major regions are represented.

Top five referrers (non-spam):

1. My brother Neil.
2. Legal XXX.
3. Sgt. Stryker’s Daily Brief.
4. Wizbang.
5. Powerline.

Strange search terms: Note that I have left out the truly disturbing ones. There are a few people who insist upon looking for forensic photos or nude pictures of a certain murder victim in a high-profile case in Kansas. I will not name this victim here (to prevent Google from picking up this site again), but the victim’s name will be obvious to any Kansan who thinks about it for a microsecond. To the people who conducted these searches — I have your IP address.

Anyway, here are the strange terms (the funny ones).

• how to take it to the next step sex — We all have a little trouble sometimes, pal.
• how the church choir should behave — Light and happy, with a fresh spirit of ecumenical brotherhood.
• son like to wear his mother’s under wear — I don’t think I need to explain why this is strange.
• i’m excited out of my pants for having a good time in topeka — I believe this person was from Eastern Europe somewhere. Don’t forget to visit one of Topeka’s many fine “gentleman’s steakhouses.” If you dig my meaning.
• what to wear in iceland? — How about a coat?
• best buying penis stocks — You’re probably too late for the Eli Lilly and Pfizer IPOs.

Thanks for taking the next step with me.

This doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

It may be the only way I can listen to Sen. Reid and Rep. Pelosi’s responses. Hopefully I have enough beer.

Is Kim Jong-Il in trouble? This UK Times article seems to say so.

Let’s hope.

[inherited from: Instapundit.]

From the search terms people used to get to this site: can I have body aches with my period.

Perhaps I’m the wrong kind of person to ask.

UPDATE [01.31 19:15]: Because, you know — I’m a man, baby.

It seems as though turnout was quite high for the Iraqi elections. Much has been written on the topic by others more talented than I am; I direct you to them.

• Dean Esmay has a very simple message for those (and there are many) who do not want this to succeed.
• INDC Journal has a wide-ranging piece.
• Powerline has a photo collection from polling sites.
• Protein Wisdom delves into the morass of far-left hatred. More in a bit on that.
• Roger L. Simon followed the television coverage from the beginning.

In addition, I have wondered about something. Why do many bloggers (see the Protein Wisdom piece above) feel the need to dig up the opinions of leftist hatred, which are nearly worthless? After all, you know what you are going to get: nonsensical ranting, puerile name-calling, and “Screw them.” (See here.)

No, screw you.

The right has its fair share of hate-filled ranters as well. Maybe the reasonable and civilized among us — whether Republicans, Democrats, or neither (like me) — have more in common with each other than with the fringes in our respective parties. Maybe it’s time for something different.

UPDATE [19:31]: Iowahawk: History is a river, the left is a ‘67 Oldsmobile Delta 88, and Ted Kennedy’s driving.

UPDATE [19:35]: Driving after 13 gin-and-tonics, that is.

Bill Gates says that Chinese “capitalism” is not all that bad.

DAVOS, Switzerland, (AFP) – US software giant Bill Gates has high praise for China, which he says has created a brand-new form of capitalism that benefits consumers more than anything has in the past.

“It is a brand-new form of capitalism, and as a consumer its the best thing that ever happened,” Gates told an informal meeting late Friday at the World Economic Forum in this ski resort.

He characterised the Chinese model in terms of “willingness to work hard and not having quite the same medical overhead or legal overhead”.

Manufacturers have created “scale economies that are just phenomenal”, in part owing to companies there and elsewhere on the planet designing good products, Gates said.

Looking ahead, he added: “You know they haven’t run out of labor yet, the portion that can come out of the agriculture sector” was still considerable.

“It’s not like Korea, Korea got to a point where, boom, the wages went up a lot,” he said, adding “that’s good, you know, they got rich and now they have to add value at a different level.

“They’re closer to the United States in that sense than they are to where China is right now.”

Gates continued by heaping praise on the current generation of Chinese leaders.

“They’re smart,” he said with emphasis.

“They have this mericratic [sic] way of picking people for these government posts where you rotate into the university and really think about state allocation of resources and the welfare of the country and then you rotate back into some bureaucratic position.”

That rotation continued, Gates explained, and leaders were constantly subjected to various kinds of ratings.

“This generation of leaders is so smart, so capable, from the top down, particularly from the top down,” he concluded.

Gates added, “Just think about the opportunities, you know, like if you could avoid being run over by a tank!”

UPDATE [1/30 09:03]: In addition to “capitalism”, you can learn about “dissent” in China.

BEIJING – China kept a close eye on dissidents Sunday, a sign of the government’s unease over potentially widespread mourning over the death of ousted Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang, who fell from power for sympathizing with pro-democracy demonstrators in 1989.

Zhao, who died Jan. 17, was cremated Saturday at the main burial site for revolutionary heroes after a tightly controlled memorial service — below a state funeral in status — where only guests approved by the government were allowed.

Activists were banned from attending the service and were watched over by security agents guarding their homes and tapping their telephones.

The police “are still here today,” Ding Zilin, who co-founded a group representing families of those killed when China’s military crushed the democracy protests, said Sunday. “I saw them outside my home.”

Static filled the telephone call, which was then disconnected — a common sign that authorities were monitoring conversations.

Ren Wanding, another veteran dissident who spent 11 years in prison for advocating Western-style democracy, said he thinks police will be outside his home for at least another week.

“The logic behind the move is that even though Zhao Ziyang is cremated, we can still gather to discuss what happened,” Ren said. “They are trying to prevent us from expressing our opinion.”

Zhao, a former premier and head of the ruling Communist Party, was under house arrest from 1989 until his death and was rarely acknowledged by the government.

And the money quote, for our friend Mr. Gates:

Chinese leaders frequently cite the country’s economic success when asked about the military crackdown, in which hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed — implying that it was justified because of the political stability it brought.

You be the judge: were these photos staged by Arab stringers for Western news wires? Read the analysis both below the photos and here.

[inherited from: Instapundit, Obsidian Order.]