16 August 2008

Banana vs. Strawberry vs. Pear vs. Pineapple vs. Cranberry


Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of pear in all years.
banana 4.95
strawberry 2.20
pear 1.00
pineapple 0.85
cranberry 0.70

I wanted to compare the common fruits. However, "apple" and "orange" were out because Apple Inc. and the color orange would distort the results too much. So I replaced them by "cranberry" and "strawberry." No big surprise, bananas are the most popular of the group, followed by strawberries. The latter are more seasonal though. Very seasonal then are cranberries as they are associated with esp. Thanksgiving and to a lesser extent with Christmas. I am puzzled by the recent and sudden surge of pineapples: maybe something to do with trade issues?

15 August 2008

Car vs. Train vs. Ship vs. Bicycle vs. Airplane


Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of train in all years.
car or auto 3.82
train 1.00
ship or boat 0.46
bicycle 0.20
airplane or aeroplane 0.14

Today, a mode of transportation popularity contest! Automobile is king, as expected. Airplanes come in last, something I hadn't expected. Instead, trains are quite popular. Note that, as usual for Google Trends, the bottom section tracking news stories shows only the "simple words," not the ones with variants—or compounds spelled with more than one word, for that matter. Let's hope they enable that in the future.

I think I'll drop the list of news stories from now on. I don't think they added much. However, I'm trying something new today: combining the words with a few type countries. Google Trends uses IP address information from server logs to make a best guess about where queries originated.


Scale is based on the average traffic of train from United States in all years.
car | auto 8.50
train 1.00
ship | boat 1.40
bicycle 0.40
airplane | aeroplane 0.30

In the US, cars are even more dominant and for some reason ships overtake trains while airplanes do marginally better too.


Scale is based on the average traffic of train from France in all years.
car | auto 3.64
train 1.00
ship | boat 0.14
bicycle 0.02
airplane | aeroplane 0.02

In France, cars lose some of their luster and trains are a clear second.


Scale is based on the average traffic of car | auto from Egypt in all years.
car | auto 1.00
train 0.02
ship | boat 0.06
bicycle 0
airplane | aeroplane 0

The big difference in Egypt is the lack of interest in bicycles and airplanes. The car is again first though, followed at a distance by ships.


Scale is based on the average traffic of car | auto from China in all years.
car | auto 1.00
train 0.15
ship | boat 0.16
bicycle 0.02
airplane | aeroplane 0.01

Last but not least: China. Compared with Egypt, trains and ships are both a little bit more popular.

14 August 2008

Baku (Azerbaijan) vs. Tbilisi (Georgia) vs. Yerevan (Armenia)


Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of baku in all years.
baku 1.00
tbilisi 0.49
yerevan 0.27

A. Yerevan-Sochi Plane Crashed
PanARMENIAN.Net - May 3 2006
B. Tbilisi Accuses Moscow of Air Strike
Civil Georgia - Aug 7 2007
C. TBILISI, GEORGIA: Exit poll indicates president should be able to avoid runoff
TheNewsTribune.com (subscription) - Jan 6 2008
D. Former chief of security service of Heydar Aliyev's Baku airport may be sentenced to 15 years
Today.Az - Jun 4 2008
E. *** Fire on Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Extinguished
TREND Information - Aug 11 2008
F. *** Fire on Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Extinguished
TREND Information - Aug 11 2008

I did a face-off of the three Caucasian countries that have a lot in common: former Russian vassals with ethnic-minority issues. I used the capitals instead of the country names because "Georgia" is also a state in the US. News reports about events in Azerbaijan, Georgia or Armenia typically mention the capital. Azerbaijan comes out as the winner, Armenia is the least reported upon. I think oil—that scourge of international politics ;-) —has a lot to do with that. After all, Azerbaijan has oil fields, the other two don't. Georgia is probably second due to its outspoken Western ties.

10 August 2008

vacation

Sorry but I'll be on a short (Mac-free) family vacation till the end of the week, so no daily postings in the meantime. Live long and prosper ;-)