Well, it’s happened again. Week after week, two blog entries I’ve written get the most views.
This one deals with a bizarre conspiracy theory about coded messages from FEMA on the backs of road signs. I used it to explore a hypothesis of mine regarding the nature of conspiracy theories, which is that they’re essentially the result of a pattern recognition impulse gone haywire.
But this one gets by far the most views. In it, I examine the way that one’s values can change gradually over a span of decades, to a point where popular entertainment once regarded as innocuous can later seem offensive. As an example, I cite the movie “Revenge of the Nerds,” which features ostensibly sympathetic characters engaging in exploitative behavior toward women such as surreptitiously taking topless photos of cheerleaders with hidden cameras.
And week after week, according to the metrics helpfully provided by Word Press, variations of two search terms garner the most views on this blog: “FEMA road signs conspiracy” and “topless cheerleaders.”
A more unscrupulous individual than myself might take advantage of this knowledge by intentionally sprinkling blog entries with misleading terms that pertain only tangentially to the subject at hand, but are likely to draw hits as a result of Google searches. Heck, entire companies are now devoted to that type of search engine optimization.
But I find that that kind of thing to be shallow, duplicitous and more than a little pathetic. I would prefer to draw readers because I am providing quality content on this blog, not because I’m trying to manipulate search engines. My intent is to enlighten and inform, not to mislead.
Accordingly, I have decided to add a news aggregation feature, in which I will compile and summarize news stories that my readers may find compelling and informative. Here goes:
A story in New York Magazine says former vice president Dick Cheney is writing a book that will focus on his heart problems, which have included undergoing five heart attacks, having a BATTERY-POWERED heart PUMP installed in 2010, and getting a heart transplant earlier this year. His 2011 memoir titled “In My Time” was a best-seller. Readers, it seems, CAN’T GET ENOUGH DICK.
See the story here:
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/12/cheney-pens-book-about-his-heart-problems.html
A Reuters story says Greek medical professionals are failing to meet basic standards of hygiene, because the country’s economic crisis has obliged these DIRTY NURSES to do their jobs with a dwindling store of supplies such as disposable gloves and alcohol wipes.
See the story here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/04/us-greece-austerity-disease-idUSBRE8B30NR20121204
A study published in the scientific journal Human Reproduction finds the number of SPERM in one milliliter of the average 35-year-old FRENCH male’s SEMEN fell from about 74 million to about 50 million — a decrease of roughly 32 percent – between 1989 and 2005.
See the story here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/05/us-sperm-french-idUSBRE8B40HR20121205
From Europe, BBC news reports that a consignment of muscle-building drugs has been seized during an investigation of cross-border smuggling in Northern Ireland. Illegal injectable anabolic steroids are commonly administered to cattle to bulk them up – a HOT BEEF INJECTION, if you will.
See the story here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/3515407.stm
Tom Joyce's chamber of the bizarre 