It’s Janus 5th — the last day of Chillaxmas — and time for a look back at 2025. Be warned: this is the twice-yearly post with all the narcissistic stats and charts.
Not that any of it means anything, but it’s fun for me. I’ve always liked massaging data and visualizing it in various ways. (It’s a part of what I did before I retired. Loved it then and now.)
So, without further ado, my blogging year 2025…
I started Wednesday Wow posts back in 2012. Three posts in one month (Sept 12, Sept 19, and Sept 26). Then nothing for two years. More like nothing for six years as there was only one post in that time (a tribute to John Venn and his famous diagrams).
The 2018 Kīlauea volcano eruption on Hawai’i really wowed me. Since then, a trickle of Wow! posts — 32 in 14 years. The number of years invested in this blog is becoming its own small wow (a topic for next month’s annual roundup).
The Wow! today is making it to 2026. And to 70+ revolutions around the local star — the party for that was beyond awesome.
So, if a fortnight is 14 days (but counted as nights), then a fortjuly should be 14 years. I suppose it should really be a fortwinter to align with the counting nights aspect. But that would mean we’re on the 13th “day” (year) of this blog, and this post celebrates the blog’s 14th anniversary, so fortjuly it is.
As in: “It has been fourteen years — a fortjuly — since I started this blog.” By other metrics: 1,438 posts (42 pages); 1,996,695 words (damn, just missed it being a cool two-mill); 287,266 sentences; or 63,337 paragraphs.
As usual, there are charts and lists.
Back in 2021 I got tired of having lots of supposed subscribers but almost no views (let alone engagement). I issued a purge warning post. A month or so later, I went through my subscriber list and mowed down the bulk of them — people I’d never heard of other than their subscription.
I’m aware that some subscribe to blogs they have no intention of reading just to publicize their own blog. To be blunt, I do not like this practice. Don’t subscribe to this blog unless you’re interested in this blog. That seems so … obvious to me.
In any event, it’s that time again. A purge is at hand. The Blog 14th Anniversary is coming up July 4th, and I intend another massive purge shortly after that date (after the usual post of charts and graphs).
So. If you’ve been silently lurking, if I don’t know you from past interactions, then speak up now or face being removed from the subscriber list next month.
That is all.
I usually publish a pair of Janus posts in early January, one looking back (with charts and stats), one looking forward (with intentions for the year). This year I’m “juuust a bit outside” the strike zone.
I got a respiratory virus just before Christmas, and it took me out for Christmas and the song-celebrated Twelve Days after. Mid-January I was dog-sitting and decided to take the whole month off from the interweb (and, to a large extent, even the computer).
Now I’m back. With charts and stats.
It has been another slow month here, and I remain conflicted about trying to blog both here on WordPress and now, on Substack. Last May I committed to posting on my WP programming blog (The Hard-Core Coder) every two weeks.
I’d discovered that I didn’t like writing about programming as much as I enjoy doing it, but figured I’d give it one more try (hence the commitment). So far, I’ve been keeping it up, and plan to continue, but it’s one more thing taking time from this blog.
It’s possible (but maybe not yet likely) this is the penultimate Friday Notes.
Starting yesterday afternoon and continuing to this moment, Logos con Carne’s page view stats have exploded far beyond anything I’ve seen here in the thirteen years of this blog:
I’m pretty sure this is due to an automated process, not a sudden popularity. The number of visitors is roughly normal, even a little low today, so it’s one entity “reading” all those posts, and the click rate seems too fast for it to be someone actually reading the posts.
And, of course, no Likes or Comments, so I have no clue WTF is going on.
Anyone else seeing a huge uptick in stats? I’m a little freaked out about it. I’m not one to be paranoid, but could this have anything to do with the recent election? The only reasonable theory I have is that someone is training a pet LLM and picked my blog for source text. (Clearly because of the superior writing therein. 😏)
Many of us left field bloggers fantasize about popularity, but — after some initial excitement — this obviously isn’t that. But what is it?
Anyone else seeing this? (I just made that image, but as I go to click [Publish] the count is up to 4,715 and growing with every refresh.)
Stay low-key, my friends! Go forth and spread beauty and light.
∇
It’s been a slow month here, this is only my second post, and it could be the last. (This month, I mean, not forever.) One thing that has become clear to me is that Substack Notes is too much of a time sink. I’ve been learning to tear myself away from it.
I’m sure I’ll keep posting there, though. I’ve been updating some of my older posts and republishing them for a new audience. I wrapped things up here on computationalism some time ago, but now I have an excuse to revisit and distill those thoughts.
As for this blog, at least for now, there’s always Friday Notes.
Maybe it’s a hold-over from school days, or maybe it has to do with fall (my favorite season), but the year really does hinge on fall and spring for me. You’d think spring would be the logical year start, but I see September as the turnover point. Summer’s over, another (school) year begins.
In any event, it’s fall when I most often find myself thinking about, and planning, the year ahead. The last few years I’ve made a lot of progress but have slacked off the past year. For the coming year, I’ve decided to throw away a lot more stuff.
Including some piles of notes, but for now it’s time for Friday Notes…
Between it being kind of a weird month (on several counts), my increasing activity on Substack, and some hobby project work, I haven’t posted much here this month. In fact, this is only the second post this month. Given the date, probably the last.
Which may be something of a harbinger. I do seem to be migrating towards Substack and, to some extent, leaving this blog behind. It feels like abandoning a friend, though, and I’m finding it hard to let go. And probably won’t, at least not entirely.
But who knows. Maybe it’s all Friday Notes from here on out…
Posts pertaining to programming!
Logos con carne 