29 January 2009

Car vs. Auto vs. Automobile vs. Motor Vehicle

The US (still) is a car driven society... How do people in different regions address their motorized idols?



The general pattern was that car and auto dominated but were clearly no. 1 and 2, in that order. The other terms were way behind. Let's see the ranking of each term by states:








Car and auto saw little differentiation in regional usage patterns. Car was no. 1 in Florida and the least Google popular in Montana and Kentucky. The no. 1 state for automobile was Arizona while Louisiana came in last. Note that New Mexico was one of the lowest in marked contrast with its neighbor Arizona: odd! Alabama stuck the most with automobile, North Dakota the least. Finally, motor vehicle was most popular in New Jersey very closely followed by Arizona again. The term was least in use in the car maker state par excellence: Michigan.

26 January 2009

Joni Mitchell vs. Björk vs. Jackson Browne vs. Ladytron vs. Roxy Music

Today, a face-off of five of my favorite musicians/bands.



Good old Joni Mitchell still ruled the roost most of the time. Björk surpassed her markedly twice, in 2004 at the occasion of her Medúlla album and in 2006 with her latest, Volta.



If I had to pick a favorite song for each musician/band, I'd select Joni Mitchell's Chinese Cafe, Björk's Violently Happy (Fluke Well Tempered), Jackson Browne's Before The Deluge, Ladytron's Play Girl and finally Roxy Music's In Every Dream Home A Heartache.

I finished with the country rankings for each: