The World Wide Web certainly is

Wasn't really planning on writing anything tonight but I got looking at the stats page on the blog site that hosts this thing and it showed some interesting statistics - people from a bunch of foreign countries have logged onto this blog - almost certainly by accident, but it's interesting nonetheless.

The following are the total page hits since I've started this - not counting my own or else these numbers would be at least 2 higher.

United States 301 -- ok, I've got pretty decent sized family out there so I can buy off on this.

Canada 10 - I've got a couple friends north of the border as well - who obviously don't read this religiously, but we'll let them off the hook because they at least got into double digits and let's face it, their beer is much better than ours.

United Kingdom 8 -- Have some family there too who are starting to see what I'm doing down here.

China 5 - yeah, no idea. I figure maybe one of the words in the title translates to 'pizza' or something. I don't know anyone in China so this is a bit of a mystery. If you're reading this and you're from China, please let me know ... and what's up with only 5 page hits - i've got more than a dozen articles here! Come on, there are more than a billion of you; you can do better than that, surely!

Germany 5 - Again, not sure. Perhaps some people I know in the service who live there - that's probably it.

Italy 4 - That would be AFNBroadcaster. Of the 6 comments I've received since starting this, he accounts for 2 of them. The Shadow accounts for the rest.

New Zealand 2 - Probably my in-laws. Hope you had a nice trip back - we want to come visit.

Austria 1 - I've got nothing here. I've driven through Austria before but that was like 22 years ago so any statute of limitation is well past by now. I take it though that they weren't suitable impressed enough to come back.

Israel 1 - Never been there. Don't know anyone there. Hello to you.

Latvia 1 - Not exactly sure where Latvia is. No, I kid, of course I know. I also know I don't know you, but welcome just the same.

So, what does all this prove - nothing I can think of off-hand, except that when you think about people in 10 different countries reading something that has no real purpose, it gives you a bit of perspective on the scope and potential of the internet. And it gives me a new unofficial goal to go along with getting two dozen followers and more comments - viewers from at least 20 countries.

But, you ask, how can you do that? Well, I can't and so I don't have to worry about it. But if I keep this up long enough, it will happen and that's pretty cool in a way. If only dieting worked along these lines.