Riba Rambles:
MORE Musings of a Mental Magpie

These "More Rambles" pages were begun as a way to talk about things that don't quite belong in the regular journal, either due to length or spoiler-content. This is solely an addendum to my regular journal. Occasionally, journal entries will link here for extended commentary.

Table of contents:

Saturday, April 24, 2004
Second Blogiversary Statistics

These statistics are by no means definitive, and are merely the results of playing around with the posted contents of my blog to date in NoteTab and Excel. Most were compiled near the end of the week, so may not include my most recent posts:

Longest post:
July 29, 2003, a trip report
Shortest post:
September 04, 2002, packing for a trip
Most comments to a single post:
This isn't quite accurate, since when I copy comments over from LiveJournal, I often aggregate multiple comments into a single YACCS entry, which artificially reduces the comment count. Also, two of the entries making the list were also published separately as their own pages, which may have inflated the number of comments.
Nonetheless, here's the top ten:
  1. A spirited debunking: Howard Dean and Israel (31) [Also accessible via this page]
  2. Survey for the readership (23)
  3. My brain, it's plain, is mainly on the domain (14)
  4. To do or not to do (13)
  5. Am I a flake? (12)
  6. Words, words, words (12)
  7. Marlowe in modern fiction (12) [Also accessible via this page]
  8. Provoking three things: (11)
  9. When you've gotta go (11)
  10. oh wow (11)
Most posts in a single day: 9
A three-way tie among July 18, 2003, January 15, 2004, and March 31, 2004.
[For top ten completists, there was a seven-way tie for days with 9 posts: June 30, 2003, August 11, 2003, October 7, 2003, November 18, 2003, December 4, 2003, February 12, 2004, and April 8, 2004.]
Longest time between posts:
  1. 6.988 days: September 10, 2002 to September 17 (my computer died),
  2. 6.89 days: July 25, 2002 to August 1 (last week of summer session, finishing two papers),
  3. 6.555 days: June 10, 2002 to June 17 (taking a one-week intensive class),
  4. 6.038 days: June 4, 2002 to June 10 (taking intensive classes),
  5. 5.90 days: September 4, 2002 to September 10 (on vacation).
Most common day of the week:
I'm definitely busier on weekdays than weekends:
 Sunday: 96 
 Monday: 223 
 Tuesday: 243 
 Wednesday:  215 
 Thursday: 220 
 Friday: 214 
 Saturday: 95 
Most common hour of the day:
My peak appears to be between 9 am and 2 pm:
12 am: 35 
1 am: 14 
2 am: 4 
3 am: 2 
4 am: 2 
5 am: 1 
6 am: 4 
7 am: 21 
8 am: 43 
9 am: 111 
10 am: 107 
11 am: 112 
12 pm: 114 
1 pm: 107 
2 pm: 89 
3 pm: 59 
4 pm: 63 
5 pm: 73 
6 pm: 54 
7 pm: 46 
8 pm: 46 
9 pm: 67 
10 pm: 66 
11 pm: 66 
Most frequently used words:
I'm afraid these are fairly boring:
  1. the
  2. to
  3. and
  4. of
  5. i
 
  1. a
  2. in
  3. that
  4. for
  5. it
 
  1. is
  2. on
  3. this
  4. my
  5. but
No other word has a frequency higher than 0.5%
Most frequently linked URLs:
  1. My USA PATRIOT Act paper (17)
  2. Talking Points Memo (15)
  3. My writings page (15)
  4. Reinventing Shakespeare (14)
  5. Marlowe in modern fiction (13)
  6. Eschaton (Atrios) (12)
  7. Quizilla (12)
  8. Ian's LiveJournal (11)
  9. Books read this year (11)
  10. My journal homepage (11)
Most frequently linked domains:
  1. osmond-riba.org (906)
  2. livejournal.com* (514)
  3. amazon.com (322)
  4. washingtonpost.com (148)
  5. nytimes.com (130)
 
  1. atrios.blogspot.com (124)
  2. boston.com (109)
  3. talkleft.com (96)
  4. talkingpointsmemo.com (89)
  5. salon.com (72)
 
  1. dailykos.com (68)
  2. nielsenhayden.com (66)
  3. groups.google.com (55)
  4. calpundit.com (50)
  5. slate.msn.com (49)
[*Livejournal.com does not include subdomains such as xiphias.livejournal.com]
TTLB Blogosphere Ecosystem stats
These are recorded since my first blogiversary:
Links to this site, according to the TTLB Blogosphere Ecosystem

There are more stats I easily could compile (graphs of posts-per-day or my posting rate over time) but in the words of Evil!Willow, "Bored now." I'm curious: did anybody stick with me long enough to read all this?

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Monday, June 21, 2004

Birthday Horoscopes

Boston Globe (Eugenia Last)
Happy Birthday: The more you get to do in unison with others this year, the better. This is the perfect year to drum up support and promote your own ideas. You will find love under the strangest circumstances if you are single, or you will discover a new dimension to the relationship you are already in. Your numbers are 1, 10, 19, 23, 27, 39
Boston Herald (Joyce Jillson)
TODAY'S BIRTHDAY (June 21). This year, you're honest with yourself about what you need and therefore are able to get your needs met exactly. The next three months are fabulous for your bank account. Your reputation grows through July, and you'll quickly become a sought- after professional in your field. Taurus and Virgo make excellent additions to your personal life. Your lucky numbers are: 5, 20, 16, 33 and 45.
Boston Metro (Stella Wilder)
MONDAY, JUNE 21: You are a lively individual, always looking out for something new to pique your interest. Life, to you, is nothing more than a source of boundless opportunity.
Chicago Sun-Times (Georgia Nicols)
IF JUNE 21 IS YOUR BIRTHDAY: British royal Prince William (born in 1982) shares your birthday. You have a fine, discriminating mind. You want to embrace all of life. Because of this you often make intellectual observations about society. You are intensely attracted to beauty. Some of you are workaholics. The word "casual" is not in your vocabulary. Joy and fun times will bless you in the year ahead.
New York Post (Sally Brompton)
IF MONDAY, JUNE 21ST, IS YOUR BIRTHDAY
Although you were born on the cusp of two signs, it is the more emotional Cancerian side of your nature that will come to the fore over the coming 12 months. Follow your heart wherever it leads you - don't allow the more logical side of your personality to get in the way. Don't be ashamed of your feelings: They are the most important part of you.
Washington Post (Jeraldine Saunders)
IF JUNE 21 IS YOUR BIRTHDAY . . . you should maintain a positive outlook and look on the bright side. Stress and concerns about a significant other may hamper your progress. Celebrate your birthday in style this coming weekend. It may be that heavy duties will be thrown your way and little time will be available for play until later.

Free Will Astrology (Rob Brezsny)
CANCER (June 21-July 22)
Until recently, Indonesians thought their country consisted of about 17,000 islands. But in February of 2003, an analysis of satellite images found more than a thousand undiscovered islands, bringing the total to 18,108. I suspect that you're on the verge of making a comparable breakthrough about yourself, Cancerian. There's much more of you than you ever imagined. Many previously unknown territories will soon come into view. It will be as if you have unearthed a new world right in the midst of the old one.
The Onion (Lloyd Schumner)
Cancer: (June 22--July 22)
Right about now, you're probably dying to know what all has happened since you fell asleep last Valentine's Day.

Note: these are the major syndicated astrologers I found, but if you see a horoscope for me that I'm missing, post the URL and a copy of the text in the comments to this post, and I'll add it to next year's litany.

And for anybody who knows a thing or two about real astrology and wants to take a shot at my chart, I was born on June 21, 1970, 5:54pm CDT, at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, IL. Knock yourself out, but please share the results with me.

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Tuesday, June 29, 2004

New York Review of Books

Books found in The New York Review of Books, Volume LI, Numbers 11 and 12:

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