tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70841246520626511302023-11-16T07:53:46.738-08:00Word Face-OffComparing the evolution in internet-popularity of words and phrases.Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.comBlogger107125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-60991738449141959782018-09-08T19:43:00.001-07:002018-09-08T19:43:15.571-07:00Battle of the Trump Administration Alumni: Bannon vs. Flynn vs. Cohn vs. Spicer vs. ManigaultLet's see how some well-known Trump administration alumni have fared in Google web searches since the presidential election (using Google Trends): <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Bannon" target="_blank">Steve Bannon</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Flynn" target="_blank">Michael Flynn</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Cohn_(investment_banker)" target="_blank">Gary Cohn</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Spicer" target="_blank">Sean Spicer</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omarosa_Manigault" target="_blank">Omarosa Manigault</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ZSpO1ejKS6bKVronIJvFmVvp0uCzOHGz3RyaEPBp4O3hd8iwtxgwFTtHyA8MWhd-pQ_7gzEL8tCm7dKm0hFF8gu-cphMjLQ5zAbzgqC1MYi7JDs_kxD_u6Vs4pB1OV0Xo-7thRd3Uss/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-09-08+at+9.22.14+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="1137" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ZSpO1ejKS6bKVronIJvFmVvp0uCzOHGz3RyaEPBp4O3hd8iwtxgwFTtHyA8MWhd-pQ_7gzEL8tCm7dKm0hFF8gu-cphMjLQ5zAbzgqC1MYi7JDs_kxD_u6Vs4pB1OV0Xo-7thRd3Uss/s640/Screen+Shot+2018-09-08+at+9.22.14+PM.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Overall, Bannon is the "winner." The peaks coincide among others with the person's introduction to the public limelight (e.g., Bannon) or when they left the administration (e.g., Spicer) or when they published a tell-all book (e.g., Manigault) or when they struck a plea bargain (e.g., Flynn).<br />
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A compared breakdown by state:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezyLEs5KX6jcE_t3BSDluehwQweWHNSSxUxJ0sHzcppIt_QCEo4vtaBddUR4xq6ZPu-5RmLZlE8tfTDxMwTmooKIRl9P3yBdMIwzPh6UxrKANGAKzpmYzfJdIZwNp_uURJhKNWdg6TAc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-09-08+at+9.37.47+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="1119" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezyLEs5KX6jcE_t3BSDluehwQweWHNSSxUxJ0sHzcppIt_QCEo4vtaBddUR4xq6ZPu-5RmLZlE8tfTDxMwTmooKIRl9P3yBdMIwzPh6UxrKANGAKzpmYzfJdIZwNp_uURJhKNWdg6TAc/s640/Screen+Shot+2018-09-08+at+9.37.47+PM.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Only North Dakota and Minnesota (Spicer), and Vermont (Fllynn) were more interested in someone who wasn't Bannon.Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-44797243036460740432010-05-06T11:07:00.000-07:002010-05-06T11:08:47.254-07:00He had gone vs. He had went vs. He has gone vs. He has wentAs of late, I started to notice that a lot of people seem to be using the simple past tense of "to go" instead of the past participle for the past perfect, e.g., "he had went" instead of the correct "he had gone." I wasn't aware of this phenomenon so I used Google Insights for Search to see how common this is/was. I also included the present perfect to see if that showed the same pattern.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhful08BLNN-LMvSWm11Vdxov9c6D3_9TwZHz45vzhVfyB2psHxIy1ynbpEfjBNTzyzyKSH8M2pVoq6bfeqpr88gsAvmJOzX5LTIYY5mGxMYwhDP47ocEfswByBT1H2cUgTgsbCB1EM73w/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhful08BLNN-LMvSWm11Vdxov9c6D3_9TwZHz45vzhVfyB2psHxIy1ynbpEfjBNTzyzyKSH8M2pVoq6bfeqpr88gsAvmJOzX5LTIYY5mGxMYwhDP47ocEfswByBT1H2cUgTgsbCB1EM73w/s640/screenshot_01.jpg" width="100%" /></a></div><br />
Not only has this "error" been around for years but it only applies to the past perfect and not to the present perfect. "He had went" dominates but "he has went" doesn't. Hmm... By the way, I wasn't able to check on whether this phenomenon has geographical variation because the data Google uses seem to come overwhelmingly only from the US.Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-22465260846128580332010-04-19T15:17:00.000-07:002010-04-19T15:19:23.855-07:00Gregory House vs. Lisa Cuddy vs. Temperance Brennan vs. Seeley BoothToday, I compare the main characters of the popular TV shows <i>House M.D.</i> and <i>Bones</i>. First, we look at the regular Google web search:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNE_IMsK4WEdTA31BCrAAdAfpkw83_yjhHswE8Jw16TsgT5unszFDwdIL2xFwhs37PAd4mvsWZ4g5_FDCZWHMyNlmlzmgST-ehsw0aJTVgMRpZw3rkdbT-kM_0Md2aOXSGbTZvjGWMvY0/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" width="100%"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNE_IMsK4WEdTA31BCrAAdAfpkw83_yjhHswE8Jw16TsgT5unszFDwdIL2xFwhs37PAd4mvsWZ4g5_FDCZWHMyNlmlzmgST-ehsw0aJTVgMRpZw3rkdbT-kM_0Md2aOXSGbTZvjGWMvY0/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" width="100%" /></a></div><br />
In short, Dr. House rules but Dr. Cuddy has clearly been gaining on him. Then comes Dr. Brennan closely followed by Agent Booth, both steadily increasing in search volume but distinctively behind the two front runners—just like the shows themselves, I guess. Google Insights for Search also provides us with country-specific breakouts and rankings:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd16LmBNlTthAU8oBfp-3of-PHKAaVa1w2nTM0Rw_xdQqoJgZH6oLyaHcfGAi3ZdjJ0H5opYcbC8fe09ojODNU_T7x0uz9VNgv0f0epQCmUFPNZDB7IDBColSgjlcOaRV-KVTl5oyu1Bs/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd16LmBNlTthAU8oBfp-3of-PHKAaVa1w2nTM0Rw_xdQqoJgZH6oLyaHcfGAi3ZdjJ0H5opYcbC8fe09ojODNU_T7x0uz9VNgv0f0epQCmUFPNZDB7IDBColSgjlcOaRV-KVTl5oyu1Bs/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" width="100%" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSTKqvKkV5GezYEi9s_EUbCBhfW1pPlp9ONh0sdGGbm-BcEB6mCLqUBiq4vbGRYm2uHen3Nm29gAJC7S2O0BAPtWAYTkI32VHPlrQ7C68HZFP8HhpMFJSOFrVToXNm7ZLqMdRphKu16CM/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSTKqvKkV5GezYEi9s_EUbCBhfW1pPlp9ONh0sdGGbm-BcEB6mCLqUBiq4vbGRYm2uHen3Nm29gAJC7S2O0BAPtWAYTkI32VHPlrQ7C68HZFP8HhpMFJSOFrVToXNm7ZLqMdRphKu16CM/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" width="100%" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1iHnS3RYyLyD_NnNn8YNGNY4Ix2w0Z854W945Gxa3_3eEd4p-nJ-0UMGce16bZFCMU7uOMSTKSkpGvj0hhJNpzg8Ka_AC2OpPX3ukGoNvLuKLGUVDB5ze9KmMW_c2wPIqWJpDFLkfJTw/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1iHnS3RYyLyD_NnNn8YNGNY4Ix2w0Z854W945Gxa3_3eEd4p-nJ-0UMGce16bZFCMU7uOMSTKSkpGvj0hhJNpzg8Ka_AC2OpPX3ukGoNvLuKLGUVDB5ze9KmMW_c2wPIqWJpDFLkfJTw/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" width="100%" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV8jSADPI3rIHYzOHrLiYCmNR0oCSWnvpgd4ymzvyBB2LrJhNWf8goN0IQ9yLW9QskEnGtOrnqhkE0q6zTgib_cOIZ6uvht-G4YOQTKZ282BYFrNxHQ3ddNfC3holVlNGjzjs_7EnreXY/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV8jSADPI3rIHYzOHrLiYCmNR0oCSWnvpgd4ymzvyBB2LrJhNWf8goN0IQ9yLW9QskEnGtOrnqhkE0q6zTgib_cOIZ6uvht-G4YOQTKZ282BYFrNxHQ3ddNfC3holVlNGjzjs_7EnreXY/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" width="100%" /></a><br />
While the <i>House M.D.</i> characters are most popular in Mexico, the <i>Bones</i> ones are in the US. Overall, House M.D. is more an international phenomenon than Bones. I take it this must be due to the latter not being broadcast in so many countries. <i>Bones</i> characters' regional interest is odd: hardly any European countries make into the top 10 but, for instance, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Yemen, etc. do.Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-62095086457665174402009-02-27T19:16:00.000-08:002009-02-27T20:23:30.726-08:00Hugh Laurie vs. Olivia Wilde vs. Kal Penn vs. Robert Sean Leonard vs. Peter JacobsonSomeone on a <a href="http://www.drhouseforum.de/charaktere-und-schauspieler/6332-populaerste-cast-mitglieder.html">thread</a> at the German <i>DrHouseForum.de</i> forum asked why Robert Sean Leonard was not included in my <a href="http://wordfaceoff.blogspot.com/2009/02/hugh-laurie-vs-jennifer-morrison-vs.html">face-off</a>. The short answer is of course that <a href="http://www.google.com/insights/search">Google Insights for Search</a> doesn't allow more than five terms for comparison. Anyway, today I compared the other four main characters of <i>House M.D.</i> against Hugh Laurie so that some measure of comparison with the first <i>House M.D.</i>'s face-off is possible.<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVfROMbtrGwGb9AFtL3WpQb9HV5FWdn7mPBQZwRs1l6FmQHJzQVJ5oQcHlGUQIVFKDPoTsWojvvdKQVj0CG1woaP7jCfyaLkDhOEIykRGUFjcFZyh9KOETfd3bMIQ-aqdqK9Xw11o3BYQ/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVfROMbtrGwGb9AFtL3WpQb9HV5FWdn7mPBQZwRs1l6FmQHJzQVJ5oQcHlGUQIVFKDPoTsWojvvdKQVj0CG1woaP7jCfyaLkDhOEIykRGUFjcFZyh9KOETfd3bMIQ-aqdqK9Xw11o3BYQ/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307685937326807602" /></a><br /><br>Remember that Wilde, Penn and Jacobson only joined the TV show in late 2007. Nevertheless Leonard really didn't score very well in Google-popularity even compared with the second-draft "ducklings." Undeserved in my opinion. Wilde scored particularly well both due to her pre-<i>House M.D.</i> popularity and the peak surpassing even Laurie twice in size in September 2008. The former is explained by her role in the TV show <i>The O.C.</i> while the latter is linked with her increased screen time due to her relationship with Dr. Foreman on the medical procedural. Penn too had some earlier renown from his many appearances on TV and in movies, esp. <i>Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle</i>. Let's have a look at the country rankings for the actors in question:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdfCzT174jZwFpyUvAUISR4sUMNXiVTZGaGwY1Affi25u36sfKG53mv8GMWwN0OeTk1dST5BVC0jGs4SRyNJPHento-H3KHOubOxPN7iZJnD_gS_2O-BAIxsCisb9KE3UIk3I2iC_ajZE/s1600-h/screenshot_02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdfCzT174jZwFpyUvAUISR4sUMNXiVTZGaGwY1Affi25u36sfKG53mv8GMWwN0OeTk1dST5BVC0jGs4SRyNJPHento-H3KHOubOxPN7iZJnD_gS_2O-BAIxsCisb9KE3UIk3I2iC_ajZE/s1600/screenshot_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307685941709156882" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEhxIGWTUr7UufFvKYyfyhGhaAprUmZ8_1AcE4HTu2ugwmYoKBmveSe9dV0Cx0UqKcxGO30ixW1JIy_wNCbPrKjTOZTK6Yw4_dbibSVuZsfFJQ0LFaYbS7fRpe6D3zo7MOWtwVieo3tb8/s1600-h/screenshot_03.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEhxIGWTUr7UufFvKYyfyhGhaAprUmZ8_1AcE4HTu2ugwmYoKBmveSe9dV0Cx0UqKcxGO30ixW1JIy_wNCbPrKjTOZTK6Yw4_dbibSVuZsfFJQ0LFaYbS7fRpe6D3zo7MOWtwVieo3tb8/s1600/screenshot_03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307685942867740450" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Pl1S9vAn8JwhwcaoPJr1faTpmG1mvGm-WP8n_pyvXMP3AWPAjSFVDz3mEhUJVouwpRzKU5R44pDQe7GsLUTHeCdZWWHNpsv_X9VaLgrcYmNZDkryRgqDIejESOHsWX3jdfzSsUqr6ME/s1600-h/screenshot_04.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Pl1S9vAn8JwhwcaoPJr1faTpmG1mvGm-WP8n_pyvXMP3AWPAjSFVDz3mEhUJVouwpRzKU5R44pDQe7GsLUTHeCdZWWHNpsv_X9VaLgrcYmNZDkryRgqDIejESOHsWX3jdfzSsUqr6ME/s1600/screenshot_04.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307685946022369426" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC80F1ZziJ8r7yORQ9cJxfWfIuNLsHrwhqCnxOWj9MtmlszdkDiAd2h25BeHJnjQU1tfM01soqDH50E26FHhw6TqbKI9ydrljmI7FvuKAzNbaFR8eQMS1OD30F6yNoENuiXlCUceuFZQE/s1600-h/screenshot_05.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC80F1ZziJ8r7yORQ9cJxfWfIuNLsHrwhqCnxOWj9MtmlszdkDiAd2h25BeHJnjQU1tfM01soqDH50E26FHhw6TqbKI9ydrljmI7FvuKAzNbaFR8eQMS1OD30F6yNoENuiXlCUceuFZQE/s1600/screenshot_05.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307685950332260914" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmEd2ZV_e5n07Jve0kCkM80Z6QJDNtxpnu8YUQpPzpluiHR2hrf7qFce_b-WXYpxrnL9UGIBFuHol8uOxh-O6HBIkD9wiKiJqLN0gpSGB4f_3Yfv67_Cf72xw_PJbIVSSgZ82LpaWyEkk/s1600-h/screenshot_06.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmEd2ZV_e5n07Jve0kCkM80Z6QJDNtxpnu8YUQpPzpluiHR2hrf7qFce_b-WXYpxrnL9UGIBFuHol8uOxh-O6HBIkD9wiKiJqLN0gpSGB4f_3Yfv67_Cf72xw_PJbIVSSgZ82LpaWyEkk/s1600/screenshot_06.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307686426926337442" /></a><br /><br>Funny, Wilde who has both Irish and US citizenship wasn't particularly popular in Ireland but beloved in Canada. Penn, the son of Indian immigrants to the US, did score well in India. Note that Leonard's profile compared best with the first <i>House M.D.</i>'s post pattern: Hungary on no. 1, etc.<br /><br><center><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fox.com/house"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhASmbXb6AasNUygmloPaFXTD-qM8NSDDzU-RVBKVe0C38__BiroJV1LwCq93DqSYRpEjMLAuEbu7ZWMn4-ZpMAbLHJyq9li3jhGNYC2-Lp_368SEPSfA0zX9B1hmGDYCYPk3hc8mV26hI/s320/screenshot_07.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307697599949314498" /></a></center>Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-38667192663054469272009-02-08T22:27:00.000-08:002009-02-08T23:13:11.126-08:00Hugh Laurie vs. Jennifer Morrison vs. Lisa Edelstein vs. Jesse Spencer vs. Omar EppsSorry for the absence of posts... I am in the process of moving halfway across the US. Anyway, today I bring you a face-off of the main actors in the hit TV series <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DKAA1U?ie=UTF8&tag=iwa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001DKAA1U">House M.D.</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=iwa-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001DKAA1U" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></i><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinmFKt2HeVI5ZYnr42j0q7olGf3dzIRZYQ7oI6AyIcRzm5zBiRXfPU_EewLAwZIQofuNrqZqMMeKn6SDt7kFH9ZhuCPGjomNjIrkQe0tbD3H3mBNLQuscU9S7-piH48RKYWzdqB5fYvG8/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinmFKt2HeVI5ZYnr42j0q7olGf3dzIRZYQ7oI6AyIcRzm5zBiRXfPU_EewLAwZIQofuNrqZqMMeKn6SDt7kFH9ZhuCPGjomNjIrkQe0tbD3H3mBNLQuscU9S7-piH48RKYWzdqB5fYvG8/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300683524911768962" /></a><br /><br>As expected, the inimitable Laurie stuck out head and shoulders above the others. Morrison was a clear second. The no. 3 spot was shared by Edelstein and Spencer but notice that the former has become much more Google-popular than the latter since the end of 2007. I'd say this was due to her increased profile on the show and the "demotion" of Morrison, Spencer and Epps. Morrison however didn't suffer much from her decreased screen time. Let's look at the actors' "standing" by country next:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwYg_G8fajpnWEcUs5_lgWOJxeoGcFNpHxHlq9MV4X0NDQQoVE6oirTBpcdKt-fPldOdQBUXN820dmafd1EWqBfbzboPcaa5Rv9WcGMWxwATrjgmqZJsJcM6kUbYQLnYOnwVZnse0ntJ4/s1600-h/screenshot_02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwYg_G8fajpnWEcUs5_lgWOJxeoGcFNpHxHlq9MV4X0NDQQoVE6oirTBpcdKt-fPldOdQBUXN820dmafd1EWqBfbzboPcaa5Rv9WcGMWxwATrjgmqZJsJcM6kUbYQLnYOnwVZnse0ntJ4/s1600/screenshot_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300683524525350530" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTmWolKcHOlrMgNXz-GUCFo9v4i1rPe7EGROYLM9hdhF9XsQmI0JEk2FpZq9LlI4kfF13PE3LC4rKzaunruV1N1YxG1UdGaS3Ruj6CMsP0BublZm8xrf_uTwAGipZNV7clpfIwvwyRNdo/s1600-h/screenshot_03.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTmWolKcHOlrMgNXz-GUCFo9v4i1rPe7EGROYLM9hdhF9XsQmI0JEk2FpZq9LlI4kfF13PE3LC4rKzaunruV1N1YxG1UdGaS3Ruj6CMsP0BublZm8xrf_uTwAGipZNV7clpfIwvwyRNdo/s1600/screenshot_03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300683528491832930" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2t_PHd3k35GkgNK1VBywAACyJaIub4hgs2yXiDfGsmSInLdqOE1IUCMeur0Z3AK7ECemR4vUA-mZwOEB-Us2I7pRX7jezA46z6Fug4Ox47A4NPTkf4m1Y_EyOUWiDJpw03bMxvOIW9C0/s1600-h/screenshot_04.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2t_PHd3k35GkgNK1VBywAACyJaIub4hgs2yXiDfGsmSInLdqOE1IUCMeur0Z3AK7ECemR4vUA-mZwOEB-Us2I7pRX7jezA46z6Fug4Ox47A4NPTkf4m1Y_EyOUWiDJpw03bMxvOIW9C0/s1600/screenshot_04.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300683528600900578" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcMth3xLv-fAJLsO1xcdD-biwo_wLvYj6nFQ70cpZzBf5kCHmjFATCB1STEV4YiVjedez-Q83VlSCrLIa8ClO6wGjJ1doQcVMLRFiOrsbGUhvFmcwoqei8q6G8WeNV_aWcSXba8fl81MM/s1600-h/screenshot_05.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcMth3xLv-fAJLsO1xcdD-biwo_wLvYj6nFQ70cpZzBf5kCHmjFATCB1STEV4YiVjedez-Q83VlSCrLIa8ClO6wGjJ1doQcVMLRFiOrsbGUhvFmcwoqei8q6G8WeNV_aWcSXba8fl81MM/s1600/screenshot_05.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300683528322635026" /></a><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghH9pEn6-A1hXSqn_ebSLlWDrWwdoggaYGYmb5_hvSHe9m8k-MVZSegmDbFZ_TbRtQ7TO1kevqGhrot0dA_aKX5d_jav04rx4jI-8bPzVj6lU882LxR3vPrKSI1zn96L8uC304vCooEFw/s1600-h/screenshot_06.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghH9pEn6-A1hXSqn_ebSLlWDrWwdoggaYGYmb5_hvSHe9m8k-MVZSegmDbFZ_TbRtQ7TO1kevqGhrot0dA_aKX5d_jav04rx4jI-8bPzVj6lU882LxR3vPrKSI1zn96L8uC304vCooEFw/s1600/screenshot_06.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300683670149684546" /></a><br /><br>Very interesting but also puzzling was Hungary scoring three no. 1s, a no. 2 and a no. 3. Why were/are Hungarians so crazy about <i>House M.D.</i>? Note also the high rankings of some other former East Bloc countries such as Estonia, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. Overall, the actors were popular beyond the usual suspects: a worldwide phenomenon!Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-74529185410094979272009-01-29T17:17:00.000-08:002009-01-29T17:47:57.717-08:00Car vs. Auto vs. Automobile vs. Motor VehicleThe US (still) is a car driven society... How do people in different regions address their <i>motorized idols</i>?<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWQFjeb1c5GD_hOFmnYc1PY6cZz5sXNPiCCQPWeyFDllhbd4VrBUoZ3ub_ra2UiOa7jcfjjbROXntZyV6XifXGlk-Zes-UHkiWIi1pwqtQbwAjCMM9EEerDgRZ1Rt6C6HsLbXdhe27e3I/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWQFjeb1c5GD_hOFmnYc1PY6cZz5sXNPiCCQPWeyFDllhbd4VrBUoZ3ub_ra2UiOa7jcfjjbROXntZyV6XifXGlk-Zes-UHkiWIi1pwqtQbwAjCMM9EEerDgRZ1Rt6C6HsLbXdhe27e3I/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296891980883511314" /></a><br /><br>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:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguDJYT6dz01fUKykSUBVjLRBKhFMJ3GC_Zkirtaxdep1YGYrn_J3542TY3lyZo7vkeFmtjtp3KRyV_2-czBMWonOIcuTDQPKGzRK2hT6x9CgSkbZ6r2K-edBuDnfH-WuDSpPrPzYbcXlo/s1600-h/screenshot_02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguDJYT6dz01fUKykSUBVjLRBKhFMJ3GC_Zkirtaxdep1YGYrn_J3542TY3lyZo7vkeFmtjtp3KRyV_2-czBMWonOIcuTDQPKGzRK2hT6x9CgSkbZ6r2K-edBuDnfH-WuDSpPrPzYbcXlo/s1600/screenshot_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296891990083241778" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb2xtgQM8uRYIEShq8olZRea9gNc9cEEjgedFCf922r_0m783nwHM2JzsyA05Ba_pn4xmuO-C0cMqfaptwB04ORppSDjw8_AXAizi_leCbhRrp0-CFR6dKzRfX57C-8REbFrrI2hF_Cik/s1600-h/screenshot_03.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb2xtgQM8uRYIEShq8olZRea9gNc9cEEjgedFCf922r_0m783nwHM2JzsyA05Ba_pn4xmuO-C0cMqfaptwB04ORppSDjw8_AXAizi_leCbhRrp0-CFR6dKzRfX57C-8REbFrrI2hF_Cik/s1600/screenshot_03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296891994699923426" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilsMrHjeoJH8Z6EWmdmKcii2lmmRaImrmKIzfvl4kJ8Q7DYOSShiPvPfPgcyYMCwiL4em1WuQirXNC0dAieMmjHps76qiTq7Vqo1lDyF2BKXyQEab5-3yGmyI3QUIX8XCGZn8HH6BAhCo/s1600-h/screenshot_04.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilsMrHjeoJH8Z6EWmdmKcii2lmmRaImrmKIzfvl4kJ8Q7DYOSShiPvPfPgcyYMCwiL4em1WuQirXNC0dAieMmjHps76qiTq7Vqo1lDyF2BKXyQEab5-3yGmyI3QUIX8XCGZn8HH6BAhCo/s1600/screenshot_04.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296891993543343890" /></a><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUyjvXIMXQ4XYB58HKZQIGAEMcO_enhKjvqZBdF3Pqh6cTFa1tCZ0AMkGa-4Lmp2D68mEPfarXzmceEgUagUeqZWOMWNLpl_SMhTv5Mx3IT7UJCDKvVyKqyAH0-ezaSJXiSy4NgRx1QSQ/s1600-h/screenshot_05.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUyjvXIMXQ4XYB58HKZQIGAEMcO_enhKjvqZBdF3Pqh6cTFa1tCZ0AMkGa-4Lmp2D68mEPfarXzmceEgUagUeqZWOMWNLpl_SMhTv5Mx3IT7UJCDKvVyKqyAH0-ezaSJXiSy4NgRx1QSQ/s1600/screenshot_05.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296892005018736322" /></a><br /><br>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 <i>par excellence</i>: Michigan.Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-68562108671502107692009-01-26T23:56:00.001-08:002009-01-27T02:50:31.683-08:00Joni Mitchell vs. Björk vs. Jackson Browne vs. Ladytron vs. Roxy MusicToday, a face-off of five of my favorite musicians/bands.<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuYgihvMndqS51TgqnUC59PXFlgt7WYPQ-yVhyphenhyphen-3TOk31QxdraZ1s3WoW9wEavNWdCfYgKxMExox_4ip8enqX-9JOSIa_9PJukKkludQYTS4-Uf4ID8Dkl0jBQVpaIRsRPZH_uh6Bi504/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuYgihvMndqS51TgqnUC59PXFlgt7WYPQ-yVhyphenhyphen-3TOk31QxdraZ1s3WoW9wEavNWdCfYgKxMExox_4ip8enqX-9JOSIa_9PJukKkludQYTS4-Uf4ID8Dkl0jBQVpaIRsRPZH_uh6Bi504/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295899915478401426" /></a><br /><br>Good old <a href="http://www.jonimitchell.com/">Joni Mitchell</a> still ruled the roost most of the time. <a href="http://www.bjork.com/">Björk</a> surpassed her markedly twice, in 2004 at the occasion of her <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002JUXB0?ie=UTF8&tag=iwa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0002JUXB0">Medúlla</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=iwa-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0002JUXB0" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></i> album and in 2006 with her latest, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NVIXFA?ie=UTF8&tag=iwa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000NVIXFA">Volta</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=iwa-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000NVIXFA" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></i>.<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEHQPml0y7MQXudu3zsuEwyL2EsAMy9z0ZotiBnQQLy9-j0fLDQIdjTnTeY-7jBNbHPCvpGxqqfw_EgWA3UTnoksQ5iVZF1ZMjHdx7fYytzkfgLCCFfRc0ga_mGx3YVttISrZyJ92qUQI/s1600-h/joni.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEHQPml0y7MQXudu3zsuEwyL2EsAMy9z0ZotiBnQQLy9-j0fLDQIdjTnTeY-7jBNbHPCvpGxqqfw_EgWA3UTnoksQ5iVZF1ZMjHdx7fYytzkfgLCCFfRc0ga_mGx3YVttISrZyJ92qUQI/s1600/joni.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295908399820469970" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI4A4wKloK1sAMmsG3FwD-DDUstl77hDyaBSBX07f953Eskgbr1k_3hGXXrF982M7bHQBMzBlQzJW4GbckrFM8DT4I-cKQd5dc7NXScgp1w1KA6YQ1xW7JVBHp6VXsDqmy3ojcBF7pVAg/s1600-h/bjork.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI4A4wKloK1sAMmsG3FwD-DDUstl77hDyaBSBX07f953Eskgbr1k_3hGXXrF982M7bHQBMzBlQzJW4GbckrFM8DT4I-cKQd5dc7NXScgp1w1KA6YQ1xW7JVBHp6VXsDqmy3ojcBF7pVAg/s1600/bjork.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295908405047773666" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYbXlTxni4b9jCf0f5hMC506CNt5pCnbFVpi0NYGYSX7F9wFX7npHdmWtLdRBKs47OvwyT-qkPY16tMeGF1rjY6qw1dr842ApQ32tMcI2Xkvk6Z3XU4QvnyKp_8d9izefyHaA6u5TAyQ8/s1600-h/51ILPvLnSfL._SL500_AA280_.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYbXlTxni4b9jCf0f5hMC506CNt5pCnbFVpi0NYGYSX7F9wFX7npHdmWtLdRBKs47OvwyT-qkPY16tMeGF1rjY6qw1dr842ApQ32tMcI2Xkvk6Z3XU4QvnyKp_8d9izefyHaA6u5TAyQ8/s1600/51ILPvLnSfL._SL500_AA280_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295913039324668978" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0U8iS3_W85LIMqSjS7wLMGHd1ChfBJr-sEYVfuISgi-eco9F70N26DuS8d02pJvvOjUEFNJK8xDpLAMsQk2qo7mjD7Y2cZaFQB9qvgmRwMJqmyeaglKf_cg8FQOLmxudcYqCecqc0FFI/s1600-h/41V3YFZ67FL._SL500_AA240_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0U8iS3_W85LIMqSjS7wLMGHd1ChfBJr-sEYVfuISgi-eco9F70N26DuS8d02pJvvOjUEFNJK8xDpLAMsQk2qo7mjD7Y2cZaFQB9qvgmRwMJqmyeaglKf_cg8FQOLmxudcYqCecqc0FFI/s1600/41V3YFZ67FL._SL500_AA240_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295911381175726722" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicjjc7kjE6ncbeFdFh9CBNz1xy60nSU4RKVQ0ecsKA905CoieM_4TRC32W3xwekpENDFdY_RYVKHTceHqp3trf-FTtgqSkphvbDc6GzsSQTdYgcfRiXxrjEbsqOv2w-ucjIU5yzPLO97s/s1600-h/51Dy6eAzAPL._SL500_AA280_.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicjjc7kjE6ncbeFdFh9CBNz1xy60nSU4RKVQ0ecsKA905CoieM_4TRC32W3xwekpENDFdY_RYVKHTceHqp3trf-FTtgqSkphvbDc6GzsSQTdYgcfRiXxrjEbsqOv2w-ucjIU5yzPLO97s/s1600/51Dy6eAzAPL._SL500_AA280_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295911823537674338" /></a><br /><br>If I had to pick a favorite song for each musician/band, I'd select Joni Mitchell's <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000W1O1ZM?ie=UTF8&tag=iwa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000W1O1ZM">Chinese Cafe</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=iwa-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000W1O1ZM" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></i>, Björk's <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000E0YE?ie=UTF8&tag=iwa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00000E0YE">Violently Happy (Fluke Well Tempered)</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=iwa-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00000E0YE" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></i>, Jackson Browne's <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001MBLTDS?ie=UTF8&tag=iwa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001MBLTDS">Before The Deluge</a></i>, Ladytron's <img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=iwa-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001MBLTDS" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004W3QD?ie=UTF8&tag=iwa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00004W3QD">Play Girl</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=iwa-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00004W3QD" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></i> and finally Roxy Music's <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SX9W5S?ie=UTF8&tag=iwa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000SX9W5S">In Every Dream Home A Heartache</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=iwa-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000SX9W5S" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></i>.<br /><br> I finished with the country rankings for each:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjun7Cbd3eNPsItUWrYCLkAzSmU6dNhp_78VS3c2HyMU0DYs9TprHUC-VzlN-8AUMGrtPLhbpVto7IQWJaaOMrQ8OvdS9CXAvS5bFReOBwen_kKiMJD1RHXDLYNL1kE9Aok3QkhYDw6g3g/s1600-h/screenshot_02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjun7Cbd3eNPsItUWrYCLkAzSmU6dNhp_78VS3c2HyMU0DYs9TprHUC-VzlN-8AUMGrtPLhbpVto7IQWJaaOMrQ8OvdS9CXAvS5bFReOBwen_kKiMJD1RHXDLYNL1kE9Aok3QkhYDw6g3g/s1600/screenshot_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295899916571791826" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Cf716-RB8TI3s-lF5I9owj-ovhnOXhw7uEwPg03HC2lnEDG0BwlDH_Xj-vCzeWzd6ocskVUMLJI4xOmci4qv-deYJZpTtVpCn1ak1KATDKjD3TVYGAHGnQJxqjoEH0Ocn_nbt160NBY/s1600-h/screenshot_03.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Cf716-RB8TI3s-lF5I9owj-ovhnOXhw7uEwPg03HC2lnEDG0BwlDH_Xj-vCzeWzd6ocskVUMLJI4xOmci4qv-deYJZpTtVpCn1ak1KATDKjD3TVYGAHGnQJxqjoEH0Ocn_nbt160NBY/s1600/screenshot_03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295899921763939074" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGddWE4PersPKeEO9_3fyR1gDbYzZDd1qybZ10y2zjXzaDIcqfdvlEv5l0SnlWUUgRWbXVAaiLVyRsNlbzEFPGpICN4-sjvAVPjNrbSQm3dlm8K-b2c9W0eZ1AgdUJesxhGNDIsYMCDK8/s1600-h/screenshot_04.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGddWE4PersPKeEO9_3fyR1gDbYzZDd1qybZ10y2zjXzaDIcqfdvlEv5l0SnlWUUgRWbXVAaiLVyRsNlbzEFPGpICN4-sjvAVPjNrbSQm3dlm8K-b2c9W0eZ1AgdUJesxhGNDIsYMCDK8/s1600/screenshot_04.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295899922130217874" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02KwpShNftJ73RQxi6F_zFX_CDi4ZwYeTTIOGDr9sAFtqtNKINYb77t98uq4Vx66CbbKjb4IPm2ruBu4b7tI5KhlVXpLXcIbuqVxtESy1e6IsUbvcw9yc-34pcb3qKRMWV1QAcf1QWRA/s1600-h/screenshot_05.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02KwpShNftJ73RQxi6F_zFX_CDi4ZwYeTTIOGDr9sAFtqtNKINYb77t98uq4Vx66CbbKjb4IPm2ruBu4b7tI5KhlVXpLXcIbuqVxtESy1e6IsUbvcw9yc-34pcb3qKRMWV1QAcf1QWRA/s1600/screenshot_05.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295899922037727474" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguFUZCy7yRXHW-HvMT73V7LZQsSueVLvkBWyQ2Fd-yuMNBlq_Mctqd22GGyQHhhPWs5c708G06S-OrpCLh5UnrQ1qSX3WijxIhBtf1qbwC1DvFn1cyc5ZRd9fKRRLt4bSbRbjVqBIpPYc/s1600-h/screenshot_06.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguFUZCy7yRXHW-HvMT73V7LZQsSueVLvkBWyQ2Fd-yuMNBlq_Mctqd22GGyQHhhPWs5c708G06S-OrpCLh5UnrQ1qSX3WijxIhBtf1qbwC1DvFn1cyc5ZRd9fKRRLt4bSbRbjVqBIpPYc/s1600/screenshot_06.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295900024693682194" /></a>Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-91544414853800986482009-01-15T22:00:00.000-08:002009-01-15T23:01:51.825-08:00The Beatles vs. The Rolling Stones vs. John Lennon vs. Paul McCartney vs. Mick JaggerI faced off the two classic rock bands and their lead men:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOAThb96arabg2pxfhBDnwOdCLaV_dWHbr1pPa1OZg4Ex1WqxVvVR0zqkJv8DVhr6r2C3V0hgXmEIkRpLC2Bh3H0F3Sp5aKJs6OiIpN_5DdSFMIoWYcJf8Bt6fiHNp9kukhEgPq1jn0EA/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOAThb96arabg2pxfhBDnwOdCLaV_dWHbr1pPa1OZg4Ex1WqxVvVR0zqkJv8DVhr6r2C3V0hgXmEIkRpLC2Bh3H0F3Sp5aKJs6OiIpN_5DdSFMIoWYcJf8Bt6fiHNp9kukhEgPq1jn0EA/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291768277003580418" /></a><br /><br>The Beatles, even though they no longer exist, were more than twice as Google-popular as the Stones who still do. Similarly, the deceased Lennon trumped the others. But what about their respective <b>country rankings</b>?<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzr3dyOIchqqYMNMKPUDcMjA9EBzn9UY2DL49HSFfu_adq5wvQ-v5f9snImCew2OF3xzsg5ws79gqT6JescR4_Eov7E-qNzz2REybdhRTnAMw1FkmBtS6oT61kAwiZ8UmbWkuG8x1kYG0/s1600-h/screenshot_02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzr3dyOIchqqYMNMKPUDcMjA9EBzn9UY2DL49HSFfu_adq5wvQ-v5f9snImCew2OF3xzsg5ws79gqT6JescR4_Eov7E-qNzz2REybdhRTnAMw1FkmBtS6oT61kAwiZ8UmbWkuG8x1kYG0/s1600/screenshot_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291768278465513874" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcLrwWQcL2Ykl9uqc1bzfjIj-NhSovwV3Z10RfvidXzGGm_EPcvBci4g4VGzWjNxsow7wA3V6TjTRTAVxQUCcIUj5gAVIws8mRwhWRZnnwtlKIjBIf5TvuskCKB8P12JaHPqMmSu6tvLM/s1600-h/screenshot_03.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcLrwWQcL2Ykl9uqc1bzfjIj-NhSovwV3Z10RfvidXzGGm_EPcvBci4g4VGzWjNxsow7wA3V6TjTRTAVxQUCcIUj5gAVIws8mRwhWRZnnwtlKIjBIf5TvuskCKB8P12JaHPqMmSu6tvLM/s1600/screenshot_03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291768285189744882" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1fTMF8Phh2eorjVsPB6Ofh_vniZWczDl6tqKdghyphenhyphengm1lob7zoJNAFmgBG1tTBvZvCx1z9HI6kJaUuUtQ4or1nL1-Vhpr3p6biTM4eN6M4EoARs_nV5n4kLMsKviRrGn8Lu4vj0MrawtA/s1600-h/screenshot_04.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1fTMF8Phh2eorjVsPB6Ofh_vniZWczDl6tqKdghyphenhyphengm1lob7zoJNAFmgBG1tTBvZvCx1z9HI6kJaUuUtQ4or1nL1-Vhpr3p6biTM4eN6M4EoARs_nV5n4kLMsKviRrGn8Lu4vj0MrawtA/s1600/screenshot_04.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291768289674681266" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSdV_pWyRI5ugfONt9DVOVu3WOQgWQW6fgYQgaM0tOWlbtOe9uv2pRB14GSBketJjIHHTfz4CmOsniUE5bjqxuoQNWVLhlDZY__qjJk6kj7-1gRJiNa0ThZCs0gHFL6dAxdIvK7KInkFY/s1600-h/screenshot_05.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSdV_pWyRI5ugfONt9DVOVu3WOQgWQW6fgYQgaM0tOWlbtOe9uv2pRB14GSBketJjIHHTfz4CmOsniUE5bjqxuoQNWVLhlDZY__qjJk6kj7-1gRJiNa0ThZCs0gHFL6dAxdIvK7KInkFY/s1600/screenshot_05.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291781705356890482" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqdMWyhCNmaJbcummT2Be1IOhQuZLrucwovuSsuuryrUh8utb6KFV1paTZ24MkMS2jDY4Qk6T4BR9VjTBomub6OGNN_coHUnunefsiRbWSlBaWG1-iupXmG8xf8pFqpJIiBC_Bc1UvwHc/s1600-h/screenshot_06.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqdMWyhCNmaJbcummT2Be1IOhQuZLrucwovuSsuuryrUh8utb6KFV1paTZ24MkMS2jDY4Qk6T4BR9VjTBomub6OGNN_coHUnunefsiRbWSlBaWG1-iupXmG8xf8pFqpJIiBC_Bc1UvwHc/s1600/screenshot_06.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291768408875624690" /></a><br /><br>Interesting: Argentina dominated in most terms. The UK was only interested in the individuals, not the bands. Latin America was especially into the bands. McCartney formed an exception in that he was foremost popular in Canada, the US and the UK.Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-47860757725816445892009-01-13T09:14:00.000-08:002009-01-13T09:43:31.928-08:00Israel vs. Lebanon vs. Gaza vs. PalestineToday, a Google Insights look at the bloody history of a region of the world known all too well for the wrong reasons:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoIq6267wA0qoECejCRQ0jD77oK4wgLiVdsF0XgZcIOUDw8VeEHGhBRwo4RUnabMtMI5I1wOvSR5E1FnoKTFkNreCHtu9ryJA7icMKROkSjK5TYJwgAJ2FwQi0NZIcvOz8mHuJLcSzJho/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoIq6267wA0qoECejCRQ0jD77oK4wgLiVdsF0XgZcIOUDw8VeEHGhBRwo4RUnabMtMI5I1wOvSR5E1FnoKTFkNreCHtu9ryJA7icMKROkSjK5TYJwgAJ2FwQi0NZIcvOz8mHuJLcSzJho/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290831594262018178" /></a><br /><br>Yes, sadly and as expected, all peaks marked bloodshed: the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Lebanon_War">2006 Lebanon War</a>, the current umpteenth Gaza "incursion" (sic), etc. All bloody depressing, predictable and actually preventable if common sense were to finally prevail...<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-WJGISn_iNWowUauIlyFkIsFMB5E1UbANem5lh6bFBq9ZhqYGv-SZAcw0FEGtn1P_dbNAJe_iKaA0tMAGif-CzmtPODzG7BzIPtCoHcxL7dfA_WPMhUpMrzbXiKcfqLao9-fW5dbZgKc/s1600-h/3150526662_f1eb4d6095.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-WJGISn_iNWowUauIlyFkIsFMB5E1UbANem5lh6bFBq9ZhqYGv-SZAcw0FEGtn1P_dbNAJe_iKaA0tMAGif-CzmtPODzG7BzIPtCoHcxL7dfA_WPMhUpMrzbXiKcfqLao9-fW5dbZgKc/s400/3150526662_f1eb4d6095.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290833823490181474" /></a><br /><center><font size=-3>Copyright Takver; CC Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic; "Home made placard from Melbourne [Australia] protest December 30, 2008 about Israel's attack on Gaza."</font></center>Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-31878220910351336952008-12-31T23:34:00.000-08:002009-01-01T02:06:43.151-08:00Christmas & New Year in Belgium: Dutch vs. French vs. EnglishFor New Year's Eve, I analyzed the Google search volume for Christmas and New Year-related terminology in Belgium's first (Dutch) and second language (French) as well as today's international <i>lingua franca</i> (English). This meant <i>Kerst/Kerstfeest/Kerstdag/Kerstman</i> vs. <i>Noël</i> (Christmas) vs. <i>Nieuwjaar,</i> vs. <i>Nouvelle Année/Nouvel An</i> (New Year) vs. Christmas/Santa Claus/New Year:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj713YRi1wH1muS8AHY6cQLh9tjEds5kdW_4OeYAkpqdue-oSBqw_jNFn304ohVVTuQqY_TYe6H4KdmOw2Y62ylRPYe0QlApf5WZOoFOLMAOqjvqvtQkErwqwGHAdqky5vN3d6bHAIZtTs/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj713YRi1wH1muS8AHY6cQLh9tjEds5kdW_4OeYAkpqdue-oSBqw_jNFn304ohVVTuQqY_TYe6H4KdmOw2Y62ylRPYe0QlApf5WZOoFOLMAOqjvqvtQkErwqwGHAdqky5vN3d6bHAIZtTs/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286227755258404034" /></a><br /><br>For Christmas, French won clearly while for the New Year Dutch narrowly beat out French. English was of course behind though when taking both holidays together not insignificant: Belgium is indeed becoming more and more international in its population and orientation. Why the two holidays showed opposite patterns as far as the primary languages were concerned was unclear. Maybe the search volume just wasn't big enough. Anyway, let's have a look at the <b>rankings</b> for the different (groups of) terms as far as the 11 <b>provinces</b> were concerned—treating Brussels as a province for convenience's sake.<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVurFqvcRQUE_Qa2W1k0ws_PyztluOrqikHRb-mGcWQDXi0dx0XM23MWbytRv8ixZUoPO2YgbspxGtAvdXQgq__IgCfWDJze_H6eeRnVMfRg66IQkkF20cII4Ajbzx6TN62DFQo3CIFwQ/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVurFqvcRQUE_Qa2W1k0ws_PyztluOrqikHRb-mGcWQDXi0dx0XM23MWbytRv8ixZUoPO2YgbspxGtAvdXQgq__IgCfWDJze_H6eeRnVMfRg66IQkkF20cII4Ajbzx6TN62DFQo3CIFwQ/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286260954042274738" /></a><br />Yellow indicates a Dutch term or Dutch-speaking province while turquoise marks French terms and French-speaking provinces. The capital district of Brussels is bilingual. As expected, the Dutch terms came first in a Dutch-speaking province while the French ones did in a French-speaking province. The English terms were searched most in a Dutch-speaking province (Limburg) and Brussels. On average though, Antwerp won out, helped by its larger population; Walloon Brabant came in last due to its low population. In the bottom section of the table, I made a quick attempt to rework the ranking numbers taking the population in consideration. Interesting was here that while for the individual terms nothing changed, the average now saw Luxembourg as the winner and East Flanders as the loser.Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-68465685980677356702008-12-27T23:23:00.000-08:002008-12-28T00:22:09.728-08:00Christmas vs. Halloween vs. Easter vs. Thanksgiving vs. Valentine's DayMy yummy Christmas dinner is almost digested ;-) Time to check on the old Yuletide's status in comparison with the other big—esp. in the US—holidays.<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_8cOLMU4oKNwNIGT4rqdJm3EOyDOVpZR_MXvCIDvb0b9iIfjlyXdjAahDt7pYt2LC-3eS7op-5iUlodvFEZT4rvFs67-VEVa9xcaxgprnWiojfjyQEwj5X0ePsZrEbAcJS4vme_9P8P8/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_8cOLMU4oKNwNIGT4rqdJm3EOyDOVpZR_MXvCIDvb0b9iIfjlyXdjAahDt7pYt2LC-3eS7op-5iUlodvFEZT4rvFs67-VEVa9xcaxgprnWiojfjyQEwj5X0ePsZrEbAcJS4vme_9P8P8/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284742275747647506" /></a><br /><br>As expected, each holiday had its own seasonal peak and Christmas had the biggest one. Second was Halloween: everyone likes to dress up... Easter peaked in March-April (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter#Date_of_Easter">not fixed</a> in the normal sense). Note that Canada's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving">Thanksgiving</a> Day in October was dwarfed by the US one in November. Valentine's Day was last. Let's have a look at the <b>country rankings</b> for each holiday:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsU5zn5mAKNiITs2pJLcy11YeSi35jA-ji5czvbUF8JmevfhZ5Yb6w-oYdYEDmridaQ7ZPLqWBlQP_LmvuYIVa_2bcA1ALSlnCsn0_M9YVNUaZ6uCKhkM38brbD_PW7KmK7tJGW_BQOe8/s1600-h/screenshot_02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsU5zn5mAKNiITs2pJLcy11YeSi35jA-ji5czvbUF8JmevfhZ5Yb6w-oYdYEDmridaQ7ZPLqWBlQP_LmvuYIVa_2bcA1ALSlnCsn0_M9YVNUaZ6uCKhkM38brbD_PW7KmK7tJGW_BQOe8/s1600/screenshot_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284742276114736850" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmDV5nEs8sDN6Hpny1XAgRNei5ZOTUz8ZTolEahUSlgCzhCDR6vlyldlbwJg88ZCYUrIG0sxR05tA0FHZoEySFbcDDvhxgiIfVChmXl8DIdMMMLWQ5bYHWYvJU8DKkvFrTICm0wZG8GCk/s1600-h/screenshot_03.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmDV5nEs8sDN6Hpny1XAgRNei5ZOTUz8ZTolEahUSlgCzhCDR6vlyldlbwJg88ZCYUrIG0sxR05tA0FHZoEySFbcDDvhxgiIfVChmXl8DIdMMMLWQ5bYHWYvJU8DKkvFrTICm0wZG8GCk/s1600/screenshot_03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284742277918935842" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVJGGvjzppDf8uLbtbexpJfuwiIO7N5dMa1DJr7Y0usnqlXVfMFtlHeAwe5fyCi5Fnb5IVMte42N0m8lioriiOPycwvG-3ooM0jiSghG2FzpETACffSMfkbqkqrXY6sjZe0iCaf3YqGP8/s1600-h/screenshot_04.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVJGGvjzppDf8uLbtbexpJfuwiIO7N5dMa1DJr7Y0usnqlXVfMFtlHeAwe5fyCi5Fnb5IVMte42N0m8lioriiOPycwvG-3ooM0jiSghG2FzpETACffSMfkbqkqrXY6sjZe0iCaf3YqGP8/s1600/screenshot_04.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284742283354658322" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNIkvTOVO6eC-4eQJNQLpTPRh3MJfpiiiQdl1eiFUfF-cvlYllTzf8EtKXK5yaRoC7vk6xm7LC5bXJ6IDxIpsL1GodjKvBOLzHQ6gI-0UcTbV_bkjCEkDkHoXGu27Q3_t2zNAB9rIN9qk/s1600-h/screenshot_05.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNIkvTOVO6eC-4eQJNQLpTPRh3MJfpiiiQdl1eiFUfF-cvlYllTzf8EtKXK5yaRoC7vk6xm7LC5bXJ6IDxIpsL1GodjKvBOLzHQ6gI-0UcTbV_bkjCEkDkHoXGu27Q3_t2zNAB9rIN9qk/s1600/screenshot_05.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284742292141169906" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWNUWRBvyeuMbhxqRpU_GtfbEUWppAzUNjHc7kgmrHyXXF8_MOHt81-Nwp3tkcf6u2MyQHu7zNWxdAnQNa6VtlZyqx2-nYavQBR2aUreGjbPrwFvvw_hJ8GAR5zSYOWOPozJhbwZQbI8E/s1600-h/screenshot_06.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWNUWRBvyeuMbhxqRpU_GtfbEUWppAzUNjHc7kgmrHyXXF8_MOHt81-Nwp3tkcf6u2MyQHu7zNWxdAnQNa6VtlZyqx2-nYavQBR2aUreGjbPrwFvvw_hJ8GAR5zSYOWOPozJhbwZQbI8E/s1600/screenshot_06.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284742376325256290" /></a><br /><br>The results were more or less as expected. A few observations: Halloween with its Celtic roots was also important in Ireland (no. 3) and even in Belgium (no. 6)—as a Belgian, I have actually no clue why that would be; of course, I haven't lived there in decades. Why Easter registered so heavily in Australia (no.1) and New Zealand (no. 3) was also kind of puzzling. That Thanksgiving registered at all outside the US and Canada might provide further proof of the supersized influence of esp. the US in the world. South African Googlers were the second-most interested in Valentine's.<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWdQMUz_sizvLl7edXcYwq5JgfkGNGfDy1PRY0CMhdhbKajU3sAc9KU0KofZzp9nDd6ktg4OYWwn_eFgJatcNQgdhQvM_WaCztRTkQt64tMe3wI23sy3hRcCAGp1ZH0F_y_ZGsAlt7YvE/s1600-h/2145281523_6103fd25f1_m.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWdQMUz_sizvLl7edXcYwq5JgfkGNGfDy1PRY0CMhdhbKajU3sAc9KU0KofZzp9nDd6ktg4OYWwn_eFgJatcNQgdhQvM_WaCztRTkQt64tMe3wI23sy3hRcCAGp1ZH0F_y_ZGsAlt7YvE/s1600/2145281523_6103fd25f1_m.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284753094634747714" /></a><br /><font size=-3>Photo Copyright j_wijnands, CC Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic</font>Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-85154995918902108882008-12-23T23:34:00.000-08:002008-12-24T01:20:16.515-08:00Top 5 non-social blog-memetrackers: Technorati vs. Blogdex vs. Techmeme vs. Daypop vs. MemeorandumToday, a look at web sites that aggregate/rank blog <i>memes</i>, sometimes called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetracker">memetrackers</a>. However, I excluded the social media sites where the content is determined by people's votes, e.g., <a href="http://digg.com/">Digg</a>. Some no longer exist but were influential in the past: Blogdex and Daypop. The current leading non-social memetrackers are <a href="http://www.memeorandum.com/">memeorandum</a>, <a href="http://www.techmeme.com/">Techmeme</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/">Technorati</a>.<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeJan2CkRHGT9yy0OWvzMOyArjatE4x9wIotSBp98GM-MJBEoghUXkVHml8GjfH8VhSo-c7wke7J_kdXC71GtXdCQSpqpHN8N4xN-IF11qRWdP00pyOKUmXWRJNN0zjsswMbcuIC7mwzY/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeJan2CkRHGT9yy0OWvzMOyArjatE4x9wIotSBp98GM-MJBEoghUXkVHml8GjfH8VhSo-c7wke7J_kdXC71GtXdCQSpqpHN8N4xN-IF11qRWdP00pyOKUmXWRJNN0zjsswMbcuIC7mwzY/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283274825006509922" /></a><br /><br>Guess what: Technorati obliterated all the others. However, it is also a very popular blog search site which probably explains the distortion. Note how it saw a steep climb between 2004 and 2007, the latter being its zenith. Anyway, let's leave out Technorati and get more meaningful results:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4RUxRcRSBBonaGP1zTwX5Cmvs1KMgM6opZD3JSppwZdBcnX4MF1XaVnleKjsG-2X5BOYtzsYszEbwXsvGdO18NE8__FSyoxOHRz9A2bi9vyuPPPcbukozF5mkPkPMlFIWnAfXS3c7cw/s1600-h/screenshot_03.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4RUxRcRSBBonaGP1zTwX5Cmvs1KMgM6opZD3JSppwZdBcnX4MF1XaVnleKjsG-2X5BOYtzsYszEbwXsvGdO18NE8__FSyoxOHRz9A2bi9vyuPPPcbukozF5mkPkPMlFIWnAfXS3c7cw/s1600/screenshot_03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283274831268630594" /></a><br /><br>First was Blogdex, now defunct. It displayed the opposite trend of Technorati: a steep decline. Second was Techmeme which only started in 2006 but quickly overpowered all others. Next came Daypop which experienced a continuous decline into oblivion like Blogdex, just not as precipitous. Memeorandum has declined somewhat from its late 2005 peak but still finished second. Let's have a look at the <b>country rankings</b> for each term, starting with <b>Technorati</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWapL-mQadp5I1AIQ5hrmEDoMojPEffDZ-xWSzl3nSStlMvEB7r5BHEeqmgFapD9v_Ocy93pEhS6Du9IauFFy-38ctKDHMtAlk3Qcg962Zw9ii56_BRfQLRp48Vhkg7Bee2Knxxh9YxWs/s1600-h/screenshot_02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWapL-mQadp5I1AIQ5hrmEDoMojPEffDZ-xWSzl3nSStlMvEB7r5BHEeqmgFapD9v_Ocy93pEhS6Du9IauFFy-38ctKDHMtAlk3Qcg962Zw9ii56_BRfQLRp48Vhkg7Bee2Knxxh9YxWs/s1600/screenshot_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283274826643735298" /></a><br /><br>The top 3 was Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. Then came Indonesia and the US was only fifth. Interesting! How about <b>Blogdex</b>?<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAct95k-qEj3zPLj4Tyxp9vNGbfiKGabyM8ZQEKlY4KsBWGtu-R5vIVSIoscRcx1EsMvLGi93IyaYNhIZKJ6-shzCuR6ZGNxx2-IsCAFhKP5K3V4P2aKe2qMSvPwcDyNg1xVy0okP8-zg/s1600-h/screenshot_04.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAct95k-qEj3zPLj4Tyxp9vNGbfiKGabyM8ZQEKlY4KsBWGtu-R5vIVSIoscRcx1EsMvLGi93IyaYNhIZKJ6-shzCuR6ZGNxx2-IsCAFhKP5K3V4P2aKe2qMSvPwcDyNg1xVy0okP8-zg/s1600/screenshot_04.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283274829301893346" /></a><br /><br>It was almost uniquely Googled by people in the US, Canada and the UK. Maybe blogs were just not common elsewhere in 2004-2005? Not sure about that. Next, <b>Techmeme</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQbvtcAzwj4bFOf4AalG1qMZdaFzvwn456ikKq9pleL4NovZVag8cTl00McEj2_jZegQmUJpf0WC9RIwii5KlNAc1Ls4mCAHeE9oDoZJ3CJUhdLpPk5TcWG04yL_t5mUHHqLysc0odEdo/s1600-h/screenshot_05.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQbvtcAzwj4bFOf4AalG1qMZdaFzvwn456ikKq9pleL4NovZVag8cTl00McEj2_jZegQmUJpf0WC9RIwii5KlNAc1Ls4mCAHeE9oDoZJ3CJUhdLpPk5TcWG04yL_t5mUHHqLysc0odEdo/s1600/screenshot_05.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283275014902899762" /></a><br /><br>The US came first, followed by India and Canada. This memetracker has an IT tech focus which potentially explains India's rank. It was remarkable that Southeast Asia, so prominent with Technorati, didn't even figure in the top 10. What were the rankings for <b>Daypop</b>?<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglPM0OHTFeNeY9YKCEEnH1M4YCn_C5Hd_eGlStIxilvFYi2_JZ9KM9vmOvzTx57TCV0o011dIsB-PP5OPWknRQqJnzkoImGow3NH13CpWkpbzQ5WZcCcBK_5NDoo2viBhfYNQdJ8siXpI/s1600-h/screenshot_06.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglPM0OHTFeNeY9YKCEEnH1M4YCn_C5Hd_eGlStIxilvFYi2_JZ9KM9vmOvzTx57TCV0o011dIsB-PP5OPWknRQqJnzkoImGow3NH13CpWkpbzQ5WZcCcBK_5NDoo2viBhfYNQdJ8siXpI/s1600/screenshot_06.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283275016851773570" /></a><br /><br>I saw the exact same pattern as for Blogdex (1. US, 2. Canada, 3. UK) with one exception: France joined in on no. 4. Again though, no other countries were really interested in Daypop. Finally: <b>memeorandum</b>.<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgj0cV5-qwQ3kf0ja34ibcjIMTP1me4faD9bJ5_Le-pGQn06gxMK1d2yPnc_uERCQrRqPsxSW5SIQCyh6IcvEotyoyAPNLbrCHpmjJtKVtIJtHX37eZNDfivuTuDEHcEAaooeH7sWXks0/s1600-h/screenshot_07.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgj0cV5-qwQ3kf0ja34ibcjIMTP1me4faD9bJ5_Le-pGQn06gxMK1d2yPnc_uERCQrRqPsxSW5SIQCyh6IcvEotyoyAPNLbrCHpmjJtKVtIJtHX37eZNDfivuTuDEHcEAaooeH7sWXks0/s1600/screenshot_07.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283275018104826706" /></a><br /><br>This one had an identical pattern as Blogdex: 1. US, 2. Canada, 3. UK, and almost nothing behind those.Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-80077503574815936252008-12-21T23:55:00.001-08:002008-12-22T00:36:20.181-08:00Guantanamo vs. Habeas Corpus vs. Rendition vs. Waterboarding vs. WiretappingStill-vice-president Cheney is making some news as of late with his blunt defense of the excesses of the Bush administration. I faced off a few terms considering only US Googlers:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Qg4eWDa1XcGxQtSTjE0TOaY_l6kiFVnj8nuJ6EzESUscND2EwzoFlsmazmB4x8N-ImfAfjZAe7GOCkeC6nwbQXscbogSLXz9mXChTYBTwBSaVfRG4lVtEH9A7YvLObkwY_U_WMfz0_U/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Qg4eWDa1XcGxQtSTjE0TOaY_l6kiFVnj8nuJ6EzESUscND2EwzoFlsmazmB4x8N-ImfAfjZAe7GOCkeC6nwbQXscbogSLXz9mXChTYBTwBSaVfRG4lVtEH9A7YvLObkwY_U_WMfz0_U/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282525761778318642" /></a><br /><br>The prison camp in Guantanamo came out on top overall. The highest peaks however were noted for waterboarding. Wiretapping didn't register much. How were the state rankings?<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtq87frlTQT3A3_q8qJ78F-4upNtr7br7gwqMRANDne_0GBBt3qAwY_ZMc9KlU-XQKSZ6TbDgH_43aPa4_OipZYHuP5cdGNQlbm3V8QDofeybo9IWKcsemTMokOruzj_BMkTdvnYU640w/s1600-h/screenshot_02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtq87frlTQT3A3_q8qJ78F-4upNtr7br7gwqMRANDne_0GBBt3qAwY_ZMc9KlU-XQKSZ6TbDgH_43aPa4_OipZYHuP5cdGNQlbm3V8QDofeybo9IWKcsemTMokOruzj_BMkTdvnYU640w/s1600/screenshot_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282528494831480610" /></a><br /><br>The District of Columbia, the center of the federal government, came in first every time. Virginia where among others the CIA is headquartered made two appearances (Guantanamo and habeas corpus). The other DC neighbor, Maryland, was second for habeas corpus and wiretapping. Most surprising was the presence of South Dakota (rendition) and Utah (waterboarding).Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-25401386165699272092008-12-17T13:33:00.000-08:002008-12-17T14:36:20.272-08:00Highest death toll from recent conflicts: Congo, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Burundi and SomaliaUsing the estimates of the <a href="http://www.peri.umass.edu/index.php?id=396">Political Economy Research Institute</a> (Univ. of Mass.), I established the countries with the top 5 deadliest recent or ongoing conflicts in the world; in order of numbers of dead, they are Congo (Kinshasa), Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Burundi. How did they fare in a <a href="http://www.google.com/insights/search">Google Insights for Search</a> face-off?<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiLguCr4UZaRvzPLu9P392ieWRdfTdq5cdeZyLqYxYs-pavCZ2uGVzOCGGV77eGjplvm6sGkAJK_7k61d0qjfnQfT2BFutqcy1lfo2BKJKx8bvuy9TQjEcPPFG9LMfourLL-QomfFjt90/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiLguCr4UZaRvzPLu9P392ieWRdfTdq5cdeZyLqYxYs-pavCZ2uGVzOCGGV77eGjplvm6sGkAJK_7k61d0qjfnQfT2BFutqcy1lfo2BKJKx8bvuy9TQjEcPPFG9LMfourLL-QomfFjt90/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280644709673667922" /></a><br /><br>Basically, Iraq overpowered all others, mostly due to the May 2004 peak. By the way, the top 3 countries interested in Iraq were Lebanon, the US and Uganda. To get more meaningful results, I then took Iraq out and added the next deadliest country: Somalia.<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfjhuyEBwc9gJwBcIUxeThIJqfJeLbhG-Bm7LM4zv1JGYt0Tm-jOBLMtZEG-Qs5aopASSDqnsEJVYr7wVesjbcQcvyfxn62MIx07QyPajYCEIWDvvsB34QcO6oshUfuh_PAFfKn0sq4Cw/s1600-h/screenshot_02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfjhuyEBwc9gJwBcIUxeThIJqfJeLbhG-Bm7LM4zv1JGYt0Tm-jOBLMtZEG-Qs5aopASSDqnsEJVYr7wVesjbcQcvyfxn62MIx07QyPajYCEIWDvvsB34QcO6oshUfuh_PAFfKn0sq4Cw/s1600/screenshot_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280644711895765730" /></a><br /><br>Afghanistan was first, then came both Congo and Sudan. The latter displayed the only peak of the graph and well in February 2005. Burundi invoked little Googling.<br /><br>Again using PERI's estimates, I gathered the <b>no. of dead</b>, the <b>dead as % of population</b> as well as the <b>relative Google-popularity</b> scores (I extrapolated Iraq):<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyAtcGoNB5lRRdcdh5ktm35gco6KJwocgLdizMZX8XzvwJdEwFUwnmPZj6LoJ7yxB1xOQlb7_ILT-B4yV4JXcnn18QobfRUMf23pBGBRNigSGdbJjcSyTJA3ogPyusm87VhNChR9lWd8A/s1600-h/screenshot_tb.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyAtcGoNB5lRRdcdh5ktm35gco6KJwocgLdizMZX8XzvwJdEwFUwnmPZj6LoJ7yxB1xOQlb7_ILT-B4yV4JXcnn18QobfRUMf23pBGBRNigSGdbJjcSyTJA3ogPyusm87VhNChR9lWd8A/s1600/screenshot_tb.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280876409048168098" /></a><br /><br>First, I plotted no. of dead against dead as % of population, using the Google-popularity score to determine the size of the bubbles:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOe2Y1ufGCZwfjfivyCwPOkZ4TS3a7DPLIf5rq6sbaumRDX1tDZ4beB9A05atMPz2cT9hc8n9RSXNT44QwKfqGZfnjh1HBfBF08qy94qSdzJosZ9rsrNQl-xTzT60_H5JYLkwlpG6nWdg/s1600-h/Picture+1.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOe2Y1ufGCZwfjfivyCwPOkZ4TS3a7DPLIf5rq6sbaumRDX1tDZ4beB9A05atMPz2cT9hc8n9RSXNT44QwKfqGZfnjh1HBfBF08qy94qSdzJosZ9rsrNQl-xTzT60_H5JYLkwlpG6nWdg/s1600/Picture+1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280883582563819314" /></a><br /><br>Note that the polynomial trend line is a pretty good fit. For most countries, a higher no. of dead meant a higher dead as % of population. Congo, however, was the obvious exception. Next, I bubble-plotted no. of dead against relative Google-popularity (bubbles determined by dead as % of population):<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw6PLnMcIXZA_vxSf4bkEXX__cnFJkD8YZqv5u6ZgEAqEXyObCKCCW1byvpSjFwqiafqUGzLs9qI_jezt-5uciKRclwzgyhSs-CFzzeee61p6EQFKK5Vr7cRHZMsbsBLIZKd0DD4itQTY/s1600-h/Picture+2.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw6PLnMcIXZA_vxSf4bkEXX__cnFJkD8YZqv5u6ZgEAqEXyObCKCCW1byvpSjFwqiafqUGzLs9qI_jezt-5uciKRclwzgyhSs-CFzzeee61p6EQFKK5Vr7cRHZMsbsBLIZKd0DD4itQTY/s1600/Picture+2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280884189316911138" /></a><br /><br>The trend line didn't fit well at all this time; but this was probably due to Iraq being an outlier because of extreme interest, comparatively speaking, in Anglo-Saxon countries that were also the most actively involved in the country. So maybe we should've excluded Iraq?<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKnHBtfWjdxWsGuUHHLbBFv-Zw2GzATKJrEgDKqpVEDKRkZv1ZJyypt9xXkEjG3zRTEDKgaYOCz2t_fc6cZQRMpwvkyPAH35aZlOv_Xo7I1kHaS_xT9vycLJi-9W13GiS54oeUfXdE20Q/s1600-h/Picture+3.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKnHBtfWjdxWsGuUHHLbBFv-Zw2GzATKJrEgDKqpVEDKRkZv1ZJyypt9xXkEjG3zRTEDKgaYOCz2t_fc6cZQRMpwvkyPAH35aZlOv_Xo7I1kHaS_xT9vycLJi-9W13GiS54oeUfXdE20Q/s1600/Picture+3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280884458864575298" /></a><br /><br>The correlation was now good, very similar to the first bubble graph. Congo was again a bit of an exception. Finally, I plotted relative Google-popularity against dead as % of population with the bubble size reflecting the no. of dead:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh-ScT113StOmyBMewZcrZg4iTUWhCxOGpetajc-duGVsCdYHx6SsWHhc-JUHcFguzW-z2PcwFIY2EtgGaYkzf2RJXSOxurgdxvZL8Y_zURYNupjzsIJyjCP4EkHHutitQVESFy5bFewg/s1600-h/Picture+4.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh-ScT113StOmyBMewZcrZg4iTUWhCxOGpetajc-duGVsCdYHx6SsWHhc-JUHcFguzW-z2PcwFIY2EtgGaYkzf2RJXSOxurgdxvZL8Y_zURYNupjzsIJyjCP4EkHHutitQVESFy5bFewg/s1600/Picture+4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280884541574300610" /></a><br /><br>While leaving the Iraq outlier out, we obtained the best-fitting trend line of all bubble graphs. In other words, Google-popularity and dead as % of population were highly correlated.Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-15405347764536123392008-12-14T23:10:00.000-08:002008-12-15T00:44:44.738-08:00Bankruptcy vs. Inflation vs. Recession vs. 1930s vs. LayoffsToday, I compared the Google-Popularity of some terms that come up a lot in this time of recession:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2k9fZrFDOBVTEX74m9WG7AG4J8Sn1qNxS8F-QyZLScUXuMpOSWcUn3Pu1T_wSpTf6GC8xFi8a-Ntkk4Ss3NxFmqzEAIxr8NbhKGgecwcviA4SZme73O01cTaPYXDH4mhVnjVjwAhvbLk/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2k9fZrFDOBVTEX74m9WG7AG4J8Sn1qNxS8F-QyZLScUXuMpOSWcUn3Pu1T_wSpTf6GC8xFi8a-Ntkk4Ss3NxFmqzEAIxr8NbhKGgecwcviA4SZme73O01cTaPYXDH4mhVnjVjwAhvbLk/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279928639891587026" /></a><br /><br>No.1, bankruptcy, was huge in 2004-2005, then fell somewhat but stayed on top and was again rising this year. The second most Googled word was inflation. Recession was generally low but saw a huge but brief peak in January 2008. Toward the end of the year it had climbed higher again, even surpassing inflation. Note that 1930s actually had a higher search volume in 2004-early 2006 than in 2008. It always displayed a seasonal pattern with a low during the summer.<br /><br>Let me give you a quick rundown of the country top 3 for each term:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilan27GqgZrAc6d-ZxOy8uSIZYhCPJbrsBLyABUTJbg8YjKJ6N5d0xKq_cL1o0F1LLp2svDXd7c_CyxVtRvvIoH_kDli1iIzbBlYp2bJMKOyt3xfpruYGVpPtuak-wxGTwfrUJsct20q8/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilan27GqgZrAc6d-ZxOy8uSIZYhCPJbrsBLyABUTJbg8YjKJ6N5d0xKq_cL1o0F1LLp2svDXd7c_CyxVtRvvIoH_kDli1iIzbBlYp2bJMKOyt3xfpruYGVpPtuak-wxGTwfrUJsct20q8/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279933078176845266" /></a><br /><br>The US appeared in four out of five top 3's. The exception, inflation, had South Africa as no.1, followed by India and Singapore. India actually figured also frequently: three times. 1930s was more an "Anglo-Saxon" phenomenon.Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-60444873390731464892008-12-13T23:22:00.000-08:002008-12-13T23:40:05.001-08:00Marriage vs. DivorceI faced off marriage/wedding and divorce.<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2OfeguwEXyFI7K7IKEgpWlZWeF8s41e1Wcp1ME9N0Icm9hQDY05BRSbgJOHTMtDJy4JhgAzukr0x4blXlGvp7MrsSawotmVJndq_DKZdMxorvYDHydx6zct5EtZ4cJs0IMEr7zu9E1nY/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2OfeguwEXyFI7K7IKEgpWlZWeF8s41e1Wcp1ME9N0Icm9hQDY05BRSbgJOHTMtDJy4JhgAzukr0x4blXlGvp7MrsSawotmVJndq_DKZdMxorvYDHydx6zct5EtZ4cJs0IMEr7zu9E1nY/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279543707869536114" /></a><br /><br>Marriage was much more Google-popular than divorce, no surprise there. Note the seasonal pattern: the summer was the peak season every year while December was the low point. How about we see which countries were most interested in wedded bliss?<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijlInVG0IXhmefF6_GanpL1GokZZKR7Iw0NqBX2UHIOoo5KK5NQ27CW9ZjIeqmffX1I_gT9AzxH0OfcQ46sCq4gEKqfdc2lugWF65eojyUYNGAbDc3QD7dLVOjUUxLhGCyJKtx6c5lPVs/s1600-h/screenshot_02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijlInVG0IXhmefF6_GanpL1GokZZKR7Iw0NqBX2UHIOoo5KK5NQ27CW9ZjIeqmffX1I_gT9AzxH0OfcQ46sCq4gEKqfdc2lugWF65eojyUYNGAbDc3QD7dLVOjUUxLhGCyJKtx6c5lPVs/s1600/screenshot_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279543708029022450" /></a><br /><br>The top 3 was: South Africa, the US and Trinidad and Tobago. The latter was interesting: did a lot of Americans and Europeans maybe get married in this sunny, tropical holiday destination? The antithesis then:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcKLIe4Wn9T-b0yoJaj_CeM7TDWh3cMpIOaz10UIXA0sJFS1ijRPObJk7Mrk8ZXuYY2Jcb4IQGYsaoy3GrmC0qZIE7BL1wkeyhLCMJFhW-SPRSxQDgKEdPLDvtpfXuz0B3Vs3C_FMPNPg/s1600-h/screenshot_03.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcKLIe4Wn9T-b0yoJaj_CeM7TDWh3cMpIOaz10UIXA0sJFS1ijRPObJk7Mrk8ZXuYY2Jcb4IQGYsaoy3GrmC0qZIE7BL1wkeyhLCMJFhW-SPRSxQDgKEdPLDvtpfXuz0B3Vs3C_FMPNPg/s1600/screenshot_03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279543710440201938" /></a><br /><br>In the US, South Africa and Canada, more people used Google to inform themselves about divorce than in other countries. Trinidad and Tobago made it in the top 10 again: no. 8.Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-13695331520145536192008-12-05T15:50:00.000-08:002008-12-05T16:14:30.574-08:00Fidel Castro vs. Osama Bin Laden vs. Hugo Chavez vs. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vs. Kim Jong-ilToday, a face-off of George Bush's "bogeymen" that are likely to outlast him in a position of power. First, I analyzed the <b>US</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih8yaL2KZFxNvPCruau-ls8ziQsN4Drnt6FpEVEoOVJBYs3Up2uK35JGTTATsmB82leMJZDZ_obwt8bxWmQEXBhYICz885GMg2l7Kg9TGst-mH1MKl0hxpGNgTI4-bLdGQGV6A-20mMIw/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih8yaL2KZFxNvPCruau-ls8ziQsN4Drnt6FpEVEoOVJBYs3Up2uK35JGTTATsmB82leMJZDZ_obwt8bxWmQEXBhYICz885GMg2l7Kg9TGst-mH1MKl0hxpGNgTI4-bLdGQGV6A-20mMIw/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276458922915051970" /></a><br /><br>He may be the oldest and in bad health, but Castro was still tops together with Bin Laden. Chavez had a lot less web search volume and Kim was of little interest—or hardly anyone knows how to spell his name maybe? The peaks were pretty obviously linked to events such as Castro's illness and resignation, etc. I wondered if the graph would be much different when considering <b>worldwide</b> searches:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuo_ycVUIHod-IOCe9C8hX_SYwBFjEPmhhnR987nrRHQMHfBO2dy9maMTLccDXtTegCeQHWhtv2vFJrYkWjJuz4JcEmF5DYPbCDybaM3pauAvMdptHPfgxiJ3lugasg9x54Nv6JReMhoM/s1600-h/screenshot_02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuo_ycVUIHod-IOCe9C8hX_SYwBFjEPmhhnR987nrRHQMHfBO2dy9maMTLccDXtTegCeQHWhtv2vFJrYkWjJuz4JcEmF5DYPbCDybaM3pauAvMdptHPfgxiJ3lugasg9x54Nv6JReMhoM/s1600/screenshot_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276460298919682978" /></a><br /><br>The only relevant difference lay in Bin Laden's reduction in Google-popularity. Let's look at the top 5 of countries that are interested in each "bogeyman":<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmc5LHmIMxeQJD1eXIs-vWKdqzDzXhzcGdJk4XcVHr2NuGQIXVumwenzRfVGVqkIGjfD6rmrBMMeIRyjrMe_FWmvn06vOGg7ZWlHwXYZC5NYi4vY5IbIJCpXlt3qksAAFQhX7IktbnPfs/s1600-h/screenshot_03.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmc5LHmIMxeQJD1eXIs-vWKdqzDzXhzcGdJk4XcVHr2NuGQIXVumwenzRfVGVqkIGjfD6rmrBMMeIRyjrMe_FWmvn06vOGg7ZWlHwXYZC5NYi4vY5IbIJCpXlt3qksAAFQhX7IktbnPfs/s1600/screenshot_03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276461437059323810" /></a><br /><br>Bin Laden's 5th country was Honduras: odd. Norway and Portugal were also not what you'd expect for Ahmadinejad and what's with Finland and Kim?Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-19897181088229968062008-11-30T16:53:00.000-08:002008-11-30T23:12:16.989-08:00United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, (Great) Britain in the USI investigated a little bit further along the lines of my "United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian" posts <a href="http://wordfaceoff.blogspot.com/2008/11/united-kingdom-france-germany-spain-and_25.html">1</a> and <a href="http://wordfaceoff.blogspot.com/2008/11/united-kingdom-france-germany-spain-and_27.html">2</a>. This time, I faced off the same five European countries but only among <b>US</b> Googlers:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKw2AlThbsFXEs-p00iObyAlklP5nm-Mp4-clwqiBFZ9h8DjAtX0JHI36vUNvORDx3fBkS1ikcKlfZWdpzdGk7Tg7qeRl1xnGSwcRO6kM0cW2L-xbGDou8zjPTsMhZc3DdCTckd_DTt0A/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKw2AlThbsFXEs-p00iObyAlklP5nm-Mp4-clwqiBFZ9h8DjAtX0JHI36vUNvORDx3fBkS1ikcKlfZWdpzdGk7Tg7qeRl1xnGSwcRO6kM0cW2L-xbGDou8zjPTsMhZc3DdCTckd_DTt0A/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274618915066715266" /></a><br /><br>France was no. 1, followed by Italy. It was however odd that the UK with whom Americans share a common language and are culturally and politically closely linked, came in dead last. As mentioned before, France's recurring summer peak was due to the Tour de France. Let's have a look at the state rankings for interest in the five countries, beginning with the <b>UK</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj527bV-bWOts5-qjO0ZqFzYmIsTV2gNYS2gT6wK-teuOoR9tVxZt2Fi2XvbywBJa9inaRbqQZ9Sc-MrZYJtWRuuZNaoknPIxYH15eKH1dduLOv6z3naQXVxXNsWwle7gJWa-cip6XIK4s/s1600-h/screenshot_02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj527bV-bWOts5-qjO0ZqFzYmIsTV2gNYS2gT6wK-teuOoR9tVxZt2Fi2XvbywBJa9inaRbqQZ9Sc-MrZYJtWRuuZNaoknPIxYH15eKH1dduLOv6z3naQXVxXNsWwle7gJWa-cip6XIK4s/s1600/screenshot_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274618921307965426" /></a><br /><br>Among this smaller volume of searches, DC, New York and Illinois stood out. Mississippi came last. How about <b>France</b>?<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGTVblHaQ62a2X0hnJxilue3JVaQmDENZk94I6X6U3Yo2Q5lTA9_Z05qkCX_HuKtRR4w7Q8_6pxqGjtVEbenJ8blt0A2RyS6BM1n2yrinKfTguD4Qn3MH5_xK1acvlSgC-7h17r6YyOaI/s1600-h/screenshot_03.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGTVblHaQ62a2X0hnJxilue3JVaQmDENZk94I6X6U3Yo2Q5lTA9_Z05qkCX_HuKtRR4w7Q8_6pxqGjtVEbenJ8blt0A2RyS6BM1n2yrinKfTguD4Qn3MH5_xK1acvlSgC-7h17r6YyOaI/s1600/screenshot_03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274618922840778242" /></a><br /><br>The top 3 consisted of DC, New York and California. South Dakota came in dead last. Just like with the UK, the political and trade ties probably pushed DC to the top. Louisiana, which you would expect to be interested in France, didn't make the top 10. Next, <b>Germany</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjREbL9hotlm6F903-QV4yJQceyrTCDtBOrujBNQWbY-q-_E2M7W8sbqSC-ST2tDe0rc6sOUujSX4CNrtqoJrXjxMFWJ3YHKVfu9myjpDCyth5WU67Fc3Enp6KL2mXSn_y1iuuqwByWOv8/s1600-h/screenshot_04.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjREbL9hotlm6F903-QV4yJQceyrTCDtBOrujBNQWbY-q-_E2M7W8sbqSC-ST2tDe0rc6sOUujSX4CNrtqoJrXjxMFWJ3YHKVfu9myjpDCyth5WU67Fc3Enp6KL2mXSn_y1iuuqwByWOv8/s1600/screenshot_04.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274618925811753362" /></a><br /><br>Michigan led for this country, followed by Wisconsin and DC. Could this have something to do with a larger share of German-Americans in the first two states? Louisiana thought the least about Germany. Then came <b>Spain</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilvQZk1PEwq65FaWWraqUdodNov2fTnZya3RqIHXpZblY7lIY02EBTaeujK5saBVyz_kMH3D0IRlIjWHYB_CfFFJiGIHTzr-MAXAudLAkwHRL2csRsUl1swIsTed1b5mVbdZGsKSTA5Ls/s1600-h/screenshot_06.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilvQZk1PEwq65FaWWraqUdodNov2fTnZya3RqIHXpZblY7lIY02EBTaeujK5saBVyz_kMH3D0IRlIjWHYB_CfFFJiGIHTzr-MAXAudLAkwHRL2csRsUl1swIsTed1b5mVbdZGsKSTA5Ls/s1600/screenshot_06.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274618928415159490" /></a><br /><br>New York led, New Jersey was a close second and third was Florida. The pattern seemed to correlate with the distribution of Hispanics in the US. Oklahoma ended up last. Finally, <b>Italy</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfon_Qm0yuQ_LsCHZ8O4Se8uUm_X_u24BEPMseYb8xH4hJjQ2oNP2foxdpaV7E3auRj4PqG5HIeXzL_5Zgjk38g5CqDUfQ6dJCh39wM4ovuiceJN86ncm-oesg1AIZu6Ywz7eRMGfKISE/s1600-h/screenshot_07.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfon_Qm0yuQ_LsCHZ8O4Se8uUm_X_u24BEPMseYb8xH4hJjQ2oNP2foxdpaV7E3auRj4PqG5HIeXzL_5Zgjk38g5CqDUfQ6dJCh39wM4ovuiceJN86ncm-oesg1AIZu6Ywz7eRMGfKISE/s1600/screenshot_07.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274619320859795602" /></a><br /><br>For Italy, it was New York, Connecticut and then New Jersey. South Dakota didn't care much for the Mediterranean "boot." I was still puzzled about the low score for the UK though: maybe "the United Kingdom" was a tad too bureaucratic a term, not what people type into the Google search box? I tested this theory by comparing the <b>constituent parts of the UK</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB9AMKV5PiTWm6VIfAlkdkJi2tpoMBkfSaaDt4s_XRyQJQlZbMOLubC1Myx6JTCcE1ybQpvJ0scx0Bbye8kTrnbVdAcLbyIllG9sZFfrQGUp0yt9cfpebriPSTRLN5SctgcoWuoBWhpPs/s1600-h/screenshot_08.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB9AMKV5PiTWm6VIfAlkdkJi2tpoMBkfSaaDt4s_XRyQJQlZbMOLubC1Myx6JTCcE1ybQpvJ0scx0Bbye8kTrnbVdAcLbyIllG9sZFfrQGUp0yt9cfpebriPSTRLN5SctgcoWuoBWhpPs/s1600/screenshot_08.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274619329618029426" /></a><br /><br>England blew the competition as well as the UK out of the water: more than 13 times higher Google-popularity than the UK. Northern Ireland barely registered. A caveat however was apparent when looking at the state rankings: the New England states made up the top 6, in other words, a lot of the hits may be for the New England region rather than England.<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnSrVLu9G1UfDWFiSIpCcLc908P_tJ5v9quQ9KFG_Hkm8PjL6ViwwNrQ6ds5lJOPvgXWdbggss55_FJeXlvGoXNiz3LSP5WNakB9ELYtlTCbPTv_mSrd5Z_9hg2_zItC4CWVzTpgdb8PU/s1600-h/screenshot_09.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnSrVLu9G1UfDWFiSIpCcLc908P_tJ5v9quQ9KFG_Hkm8PjL6ViwwNrQ6ds5lJOPvgXWdbggss55_FJeXlvGoXNiz3LSP5WNakB9ELYtlTCbPTv_mSrd5Z_9hg2_zItC4CWVzTpgdb8PU/s1600/screenshot_09.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274619333449592098" /></a><br />One more test: I faced off <b>Britain</b>, Great Britain (also often used terms) and the UK:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT7Jm6AFHb4hWA88BCfcaPY5XbjL6DAQ8qR_yARDQ-gT326_KKXEHCiOpVE0ZXHtBJkMQETWWChJ3Ng5s-H6mhNE8pMTKsYhwdIWgJNDTX5loOJdV01-MAIOe1qFvht7wZtgm1_w_vOi4/s1600-h/screenshot_10.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT7Jm6AFHb4hWA88BCfcaPY5XbjL6DAQ8qR_yARDQ-gT326_KKXEHCiOpVE0ZXHtBJkMQETWWChJ3Ng5s-H6mhNE8pMTKsYhwdIWgJNDTX5loOJdV01-MAIOe1qFvht7wZtgm1_w_vOi4/s1600/screenshot_10.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274619345104810210" /></a><br /><br>Britain was tops, Great Britain was last. The term Great Britain—from which the automobile country code "GB" is derived—covers England, Wales and Scotland. The full name of the UK is actually the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Why is Britain "great"? Originally, "greater" distinguished it from "lesser" Britain, i.e., Brittany in France. Remember William the Conqueror and the French connections? Later, it was used to cement the union of England and Scotland. Britain in its proper use is then the geographical entity of the island containing Scotland, Wales and England. Of course, common usage conflates all this ;-)Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-22204415755348048522008-11-27T23:45:00.000-08:002008-11-28T01:15:16.926-08:00United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian (Part 2)In <a href="http://wordfaceoff.blogspot.com/2008/11/united-kingdom-france-germany-spain-and_25.html">part 1</a>, I faced off the search volumes of five versions of the names of the five big European countries. Today, I compared each time four European countries plus the US as far as the Google-popularity of a fifth European country was concerned. I started with the <b>UK</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Nvx7tu1zK7EkrDa2ngWaTitF1BbZdOBTk2x1RFP6YoluBQRE2t2CCXKWe1794nR-bHBeX5olr5mLW2RArWHrtyHbZR5HJLjf68VP-vaGsgQI6zV1ckeK5KlZWHPKmlUYp6Xj1MMzzvA/s1600-h/screenshot_01uk.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Nvx7tu1zK7EkrDa2ngWaTitF1BbZdOBTk2x1RFP6YoluBQRE2t2CCXKWe1794nR-bHBeX5olr5mLW2RArWHrtyHbZR5HJLjf68VP-vaGsgQI6zV1ckeK5KlZWHPKmlUYp6Xj1MMzzvA/s1600/screenshot_01uk.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273622385563067138" /></a><br /><br>The UK was most popular in Spain, twice as much as in the US and Italy. France and Germany closed the rankings. My guess would be that this was caused by the larger contingent of British tourists in Spain. Note that I put the US in place of the search-term country. After all, a country name being most popular in its own territory didn't need proving but a comparison with the search patterns in the US could provide a nice study in contrast. Next, <b>France</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeeugsitO4DWf8Z10wBKrHeceweMht_EGQCUeXywALgVGgh-9s3EdysrvzLUeRIG10ycq1ywwmU_kywFoMAcFQRLmW0hhDFBmSs09aapQQ8sVeUpTxANGrkyIuNRT1hT5VnTrM4SY_Mtc/s1600-h/screenshot_02f.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeeugsitO4DWf8Z10wBKrHeceweMht_EGQCUeXywALgVGgh-9s3EdysrvzLUeRIG10ycq1ywwmU_kywFoMAcFQRLmW0hhDFBmSs09aapQQ8sVeUpTxANGrkyIuNRT1hT5VnTrM4SY_Mtc/s1600/screenshot_02f.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273622385067716754" /></a><br /><br>France was most popular by far in the UK—a sentiment that was not returned as we saw above... Americans were the least interested in France. All searchers though were most interested in the summer: Tour de France time! Just like with the UK, popularity is generally in decline. Then came <b>Germany</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFlUfluQvnOtegT9MWC-Pjy3WeGyIRyCRpshfDLgb9dZ1bld87_a3oRtSy_WJ3s8Cfpwk5119vtQ5uCSa5vrEMjoiurIbEunEAKZvhmnCIWUBymeKZVBKOPEI8h8ohLPC8uZ6jO6LMZK8/s1600-h/screenshot_03g.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFlUfluQvnOtegT9MWC-Pjy3WeGyIRyCRpshfDLgb9dZ1bld87_a3oRtSy_WJ3s8Cfpwk5119vtQ5uCSa5vrEMjoiurIbEunEAKZvhmnCIWUBymeKZVBKOPEI8h8ohLPC8uZ6jO6LMZK8/s1600/screenshot_03g.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273622391477070210" /></a><br /><br>All Europeans were about as much interested in this country, the US lagged a bit behind. Italy narrowly won this one. The 2006 World Cup soccer was again clearly visible, esp. in soccer-crazy Spain and Italy. So, how about <b>Spain</b>?<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNhEVif_GZlWcDWhNHhnA3XxDzedfCkA3M6eXNNZKzZumt0ORqVqD2sxsrXNWBvSRs2BnlKBnDG9bQimrLCeGI8bJfN7Zc_PlzjfRvYhuPhts7ouezsTD9PZ7LqD722ViA7xUL-i66ZCU/s1600-h/screenshot_04s.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNhEVif_GZlWcDWhNHhnA3XxDzedfCkA3M6eXNNZKzZumt0ORqVqD2sxsrXNWBvSRs2BnlKBnDG9bQimrLCeGI8bJfN7Zc_PlzjfRvYhuPhts7ouezsTD9PZ7LqD722ViA7xUL-i66ZCU/s1600/screenshot_04s.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273622395806013762" /></a><br /><br>The interest in this country was staggered perfectly, from the top score in the UK (returning the favor; see above under the UK) to the least interested Italians. Americans came out one step above Italy. I wonder whether the UK trend line showed their vacation season, beginning at Christmas and lasting through the summer. The French and to a lesser extent the Germans also vacation in Spain but mostly in the summer only. Strangely, Americans were less into Spain during the summer... Finally, <b>Italy</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIY7dI_KotkDamkJqw0_UUU32EQpKHWnTEQXeBvfES-rEsKRb0Rw_DX5aRMkP9S-cZPCsg0xFZVB_Iocsp5NWaFlajIAd2ZQv-qcpmwp40yRLVulQ8tLhGz-qetfdyDzjSNRP6N33833o/s1600-h/screenshot_05i.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIY7dI_KotkDamkJqw0_UUU32EQpKHWnTEQXeBvfES-rEsKRb0Rw_DX5aRMkP9S-cZPCsg0xFZVB_Iocsp5NWaFlajIAd2ZQv-qcpmwp40yRLVulQ8tLhGz-qetfdyDzjSNRP6N33833o/s1600/screenshot_05i.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273622399171726674" /></a><br /><br>One more time, the Europeans more or less agreed while the US lagged behind some. The summer 2006 peak was caused by the <i>Azurri</i> (Italian national soccer team) winning the World Cup in Germany.Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-88053090332321355572008-11-25T23:48:00.001-08:002008-11-28T01:17:02.195-08:00United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian (Part 1)Today I faced off the five most populous countries of the European Union but not against each other. Instead, I investigated the Google-popularity of their names in the five main languages. Note that I kept the order of the languages the same for each country: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian. Let's start with the <b>United Kingdom</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1-wrPSi-fLVUyCL4Ayge1GrXLL1bMMFmghskduohvR34oL7ONuEEBBFEIJ9Ovgp83m9C3LmJtKfJNi2mpftWOINBo-Nl7vzKid8udvDEqc5xIOsBchqNtW_7IbCSZsxLNG1hlNqbo554/s1600-h/screenshot_uk.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1-wrPSi-fLVUyCL4Ayge1GrXLL1bMMFmghskduohvR34oL7ONuEEBBFEIJ9Ovgp83m9C3LmJtKfJNi2mpftWOINBo-Nl7vzKid8udvDEqc5xIOsBchqNtW_7IbCSZsxLNG1hlNqbo554/s1600/screenshot_uk.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272880036216464866" /></a><br /><br>As expected, the English version of the name was by far the most common but was also diminishing in volume at a rapid and sustained pace. Spanish came in second; Italian, French and German barely registered in comparison—remember that the numbers on these <a href="http://www.google.com/insights/search">Google Insights for Search</a> graphs are relative, not absolute, i.e., not reflecting real volume numbers but only how the different search terms differ in search volume. Next, <b>France</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZA9ty5kj342L_lSMEZnWpFsPDnTk0CYyDHBKM4WwbB9YJyCzYm2ApIKt1pfoSkaoH-4602ICSf9t8kgwcC8dOyOzLDparHbD8wCoiU_GsQrRHVLCdVZLrBJfZ50uzoVRsIkO-RVdf39Y/s1600-h/screenshot_f.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZA9ty5kj342L_lSMEZnWpFsPDnTk0CYyDHBKM4WwbB9YJyCzYm2ApIKt1pfoSkaoH-4602ICSf9t8kgwcC8dOyOzLDparHbD8wCoiU_GsQrRHVLCdVZLrBJfZ50uzoVRsIkO-RVdf39Y/s1600/screenshot_f.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272880038563246898" /></a><br /><br>We had two complications here: the English and French versions of the name were identical and so were the Spanish and Italian ones. In both cases, I kept the two languages on the graph even though only one of the trend lines was visible, that line being the sum total of the two languages' search volume. That way, the language color codes didn't change from graph to graph. Anyway, France was king and it didn't matter whether the French or the English version was what drove this line because the other three languages were so small in volume that they would have been behind even if it were possible to split up the English and French searches. The Tour de France cycling extravaganza produced the annual summer peak (see also my <a href="http://wordfaceoff.blogspot.com/2008/08/olympics-vs-tour-de-france.html">August 9, 2008</a> post). How about <b>Germany</b>?<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoNngYysXczu0PZ53EssTojRDpEvlC-huGceTFhUBUcRYoaxIXpF5i0N7xlGmL6e7_8U90-shYFDM3ePpaPOOFsUxxqBDTKjWd1NyK0pV0yXK0tWUoKBGrOhbT7f_HMNrM-vZihq8j6Ls/s1600-h/screenshot_g.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoNngYysXczu0PZ53EssTojRDpEvlC-huGceTFhUBUcRYoaxIXpF5i0N7xlGmL6e7_8U90-shYFDM3ePpaPOOFsUxxqBDTKjWd1NyK0pV0yXK0tWUoKBGrOhbT7f_HMNrM-vZihq8j6Ls/s1600/screenshot_g.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272880039834903458" /></a><br /><br>This time, I had solid evidence for the native tongue normally being on top: <i>Deutschland</i> bested Germany. Both were decreasing through time. The one time English won out was in June 2006 when even Italian almost caught up with German. The reason: the World Cup soccer took place in Germany that year, mostly in June. The smaller uptick later on was Euro 2008, the European soccer championship. Do we need anymore proof that soccer is king in Germany? :-) This in contrast to France where cycling is king (see above). Next, <b>Spain</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj65XrCAHMscbOhNFKEzO8r8W1KS2KRF6G3rYZpWU42ylup1mHjyyPTxFVdGEAuk0xrEzLka6eoYtc0cu4GtuwwYW2PnQlzyym_Ij1M9BmvqZfxY-S3nWr0VM2ZCB-1-hptn0rF9-w7bPE/s1600-h/screenshot_s.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj65XrCAHMscbOhNFKEzO8r8W1KS2KRF6G3rYZpWU42ylup1mHjyyPTxFVdGEAuk0xrEzLka6eoYtc0cu4GtuwwYW2PnQlzyym_Ij1M9BmvqZfxY-S3nWr0VM2ZCB-1-hptn0rF9-w7bPE/s1600/screenshot_s.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272880045159263522" /></a><br /><br>The pattern continued: the native language bested English and both declined through time. Italians had little affinity with Spain. Finally, I analyzed <b>Italy</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVXixHv9fy3JVWcAFbWbamTQLsyga_i_JPOHJPReqvFSnRAwmu1s1acfBbKTB0y64FyN1De8TopgKITFYAbeh4iFWzFhUT1gkLs0anD5jBmlQXuOgvjH22op0yhxvj-RVgYiKmJ07mtmM/s1600-h/screenshot_i.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVXixHv9fy3JVWcAFbWbamTQLsyga_i_JPOHJPReqvFSnRAwmu1s1acfBbKTB0y64FyN1De8TopgKITFYAbeh4iFWzFhUT1gkLs0anD5jBmlQXuOgvjH22op0yhxvj-RVgYiKmJ07mtmM/s1600/screenshot_i.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272875340759542994" /></a><br /><br>One more time we had an "identical twin": <i>Italia</i> is both the Italian and the Spanish name for the country. Of course then, Italian + Spanish bested English. Just like with Spain, there was at least some search volume from the other languages too: I wonder if this might be due to both countries being favorite tourist destinations?<br /><br /><b><u>Update</b></u>: Don't forget to read <a href="http://wordfaceoff.blogspot.com/2008/11/united-kingdom-france-germany-spain-and_27.html">part 2</a>.Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-19703889814697441492008-11-23T00:04:00.000-08:002008-11-23T01:08:25.553-08:00Hot vs. Cold vs. Wet vs. Dry<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOwgyksKKJv0HRqiFj9qhvHKVh2yhWWfQ0jrsNlt37NtuNPWALd1lZQ8Poq196KtrI48yXq-4qxsAyg9xC6d71qIE3lfcd2_Akb5NdcTnjrT0a0sojYaG9VpENdErY6WWCHoSnLzxXJ-8/s1600-h/333px-Four_elements_representation.svg.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" title="Copyright en:User:Heron, Public Domain" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOwgyksKKJv0HRqiFj9qhvHKVh2yhWWfQ0jrsNlt37NtuNPWALd1lZQ8Poq196KtrI48yXq-4qxsAyg9xC6d71qIE3lfcd2_Akb5NdcTnjrT0a0sojYaG9VpENdErY6WWCHoSnLzxXJ-8/s400/333px-Four_elements_representation.svg.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271765525820160546" /></a>I analyzed the Google-popularity of four characteristics which are used to differentiate the Greek classical elements (see <a href="http://wordfaceoff.blogspot.com/2008/11/air-vs-earth-vs-water-vs-fire.html">yesterday's post</a>). Look at the diagram on the right: in Greece at least, the air was hot and wet, water was wet and cold, the earth was cold and dry, and fire was dry and hot. So how did they fare as far as Google search volume was concerned?<br /><div style="float:right;"><br /><font size=-3>Picture Copyright en:User:Heron, Public Domain</font></div><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7J0DT7fFSNLzDmqD7NpKaLWX8_uKAyMQxHlvukJJVV-x-9JmBuQ0kCXUjo3SLvzIFe-FDrRLMDtSgl-9FpCpUjD_eJFYgSdmhCu5yAXBs_v0KoXbfC822nGEPK_tctxB3mcmfGrvvfpQ/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="margin:175px 0 0 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7J0DT7fFSNLzDmqD7NpKaLWX8_uKAyMQxHlvukJJVV-x-9JmBuQ0kCXUjo3SLvzIFe-FDrRLMDtSgl-9FpCpUjD_eJFYgSdmhCu5yAXBs_v0KoXbfC822nGEPK_tctxB3mcmfGrvvfpQ/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271762884276958082" /></a><br /><br>Hot was "hot" and the other three were way behind. Not too interesting, maybe the country rankings per term offered more?<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiZBHArZEe63SrtdyF3OV2UBEdNL3ewiWAI8_h76ZSdkn9c9E9a5X1Cu5KT-cUoGRooL28nAOCSrGTF-tnXXrlA9zIzMHNdghuvRfwb2GaCcQKW-Chzp02c-lnP5AwydOCpId0dWWYKQU/s1600-h/screenshot_02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiZBHArZEe63SrtdyF3OV2UBEdNL3ewiWAI8_h76ZSdkn9c9E9a5X1Cu5KT-cUoGRooL28nAOCSrGTF-tnXXrlA9zIzMHNdghuvRfwb2GaCcQKW-Chzp02c-lnP5AwydOCpId0dWWYKQU/s1600/screenshot_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271762894636551474" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKuHbPeI6JfSExsEncL8E9RBkh8ropWZihLJXVXhWsW8zg8A83c-CoxWXjqnmZrvobuwirMUNsH9HujCHzUFVdBE5CMi1RaASfND0ABI0YMTcPdvAEQ2g2BPHuIIadiLaDTdRxzKkTKFE/s1600-h/screenshot_03.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKuHbPeI6JfSExsEncL8E9RBkh8ropWZihLJXVXhWsW8zg8A83c-CoxWXjqnmZrvobuwirMUNsH9HujCHzUFVdBE5CMi1RaASfND0ABI0YMTcPdvAEQ2g2BPHuIIadiLaDTdRxzKkTKFE/s1600/screenshot_03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271762891015099330" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_fR8U8rnnNnJoSJHpVhMta7BSh8Ihz5yoso_oru1S6cwNtw67I8X6k9SpYac_tzj5cdgGpMqzWmKabRG5ZHbWCQw0xmI55ZBDTddXLWqegzDS8a7KSABbM7MfkQvnpsscgxhXdrtHm9M/s1600-h/screenshot_04.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_fR8U8rnnNnJoSJHpVhMta7BSh8Ihz5yoso_oru1S6cwNtw67I8X6k9SpYac_tzj5cdgGpMqzWmKabRG5ZHbWCQw0xmI55ZBDTddXLWqegzDS8a7KSABbM7MfkQvnpsscgxhXdrtHm9M/s1600/screenshot_04.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271762895844382162" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTi93u6TMnkxxx6Ytz0FNz68q6mfvnxDFJpE1Cmj7vFmWSNMC1Oy5LrzJYljQlGCiJecuoM7-IfKfgHkk9YvgUJZxM0Jc427QA-fYvdWn4lFc1IzxNtdffdGmy7GUvmAtS2GWy5W7CFOQ/s1600-h/screenshot_05.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTi93u6TMnkxxx6Ytz0FNz68q6mfvnxDFJpE1Cmj7vFmWSNMC1Oy5LrzJYljQlGCiJecuoM7-IfKfgHkk9YvgUJZxM0Jc427QA-fYvdWn4lFc1IzxNtdffdGmy7GUvmAtS2GWy5W7CFOQ/s1600/screenshot_05.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271762900872681762" /></a><br /><br>It looked like Americans were more concerned with cold and dry, more problematic than the other two. Note that the Netherlands were most worried about wet which makes sense, I guess, as they have been fighting to keep the sea out and their land dry for centuries. The whole Indian subcontinent was very focused on hot.Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-51475900269638652192008-11-22T23:09:00.000-08:002008-11-23T00:51:10.255-08:00Air vs. Earth vs. Water vs. FireToday, I investigated the four <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element">classical elements</a> that, according to ancient Greek, Medieval, Renaissance, Hindu, Buddhist, Japanese, etc. cultural/philosophical traditions, combine in different proportions to account for everything in the world.<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu5x_E2Khfg9SvTGoUaklzd2TtukvA_0yGGaPkTuZSsgGlTJoeStUZqYLXVaMVFQQsOeRLO5CukmUKOg_mdmNRSSja_WUizRWyHkjhS4cp98CHsStNHbD-VhCl4cXb6i1X7cZmKlkObLo/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu5x_E2Khfg9SvTGoUaklzd2TtukvA_0yGGaPkTuZSsgGlTJoeStUZqYLXVaMVFQQsOeRLO5CukmUKOg_mdmNRSSja_WUizRWyHkjhS4cp98CHsStNHbD-VhCl4cXb6i1X7cZmKlkObLo/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271751170866709426" /></a><br /><br>Air dominated this face-off. Earth came next but had an irregular trend line: it started the lowest, then went all the way to the top in September 2005 only to settle in second place. Water and fire completed the quartet. How about the country rankings for the four elements:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9BJEPSNtMbo0q7bmEyC3kIvaLE4-8UsDfhBdTKD4hSiS43lYicCoAr6nepYv-Lvl4bO_TEOV6w4jD61OoqsbUDl630zaJLxo6pyXLge_aYXPg5THdqmQrqwtIjTzeOVkfZVlahhw1zCU/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9BJEPSNtMbo0q7bmEyC3kIvaLE4-8UsDfhBdTKD4hSiS43lYicCoAr6nepYv-Lvl4bO_TEOV6w4jD61OoqsbUDl630zaJLxo6pyXLge_aYXPg5THdqmQrqwtIjTzeOVkfZVlahhw1zCU/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271752913457769474" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEb2L3OsYJrKOn6VI4Kof6xgcPPY-td2F1t8gZsLeL38_jHSJg433F-vXufYZt2CZQSw9cTUmnG_ReopVPdYr36wq60DPOF0j9VUfT24-5q2J5rZEwxQjcu584zUFK-efcB-YceD6avK0/s1600-h/screenshot_02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEb2L3OsYJrKOn6VI4Kof6xgcPPY-td2F1t8gZsLeL38_jHSJg433F-vXufYZt2CZQSw9cTUmnG_ReopVPdYr36wq60DPOF0j9VUfT24-5q2J5rZEwxQjcu584zUFK-efcB-YceD6avK0/s1600/screenshot_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271752922422104098" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc7BQTG1w_xW2Dm5TjW19MsI7eOuwrfboerymS067C8v81V3fnsCtJk8oH3dxrk0ATRG9TGuPZWrcLfhvn_1l_PAzhdAnyyNri1O6nJJDbANzlfGegvtoNOr9BIpBOPRsNadHUb1Vqgkg/s1600-h/screenshot_03.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc7BQTG1w_xW2Dm5TjW19MsI7eOuwrfboerymS067C8v81V3fnsCtJk8oH3dxrk0ATRG9TGuPZWrcLfhvn_1l_PAzhdAnyyNri1O6nJJDbANzlfGegvtoNOr9BIpBOPRsNadHUb1Vqgkg/s1600/screenshot_03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271752925005998802" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCVT63lCqWtiaOeXNfqDUOYdgRUsFPmcSYLoE50AlTjj3UJJUOa9Q2J10IQfwEg6RLieoYgJu3_atGAtiECycXlUJ-6aEFKGYNcau6BpSd4WBskRYG0F04zoMtzT8qyYIPxH5wG4bnnK4/s1600-h/screenshot_04.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCVT63lCqWtiaOeXNfqDUOYdgRUsFPmcSYLoE50AlTjj3UJJUOa9Q2J10IQfwEg6RLieoYgJu3_atGAtiECycXlUJ-6aEFKGYNcau6BpSd4WBskRYG0F04zoMtzT8qyYIPxH5wG4bnnK4/s1600/screenshot_04.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271756439616914914" /></a><br /><br>A few observations: the US seemed very interested in fire and water but not so much in air and even less in earth. Indicative of the stereotype of Americans maybe? Fire and water reign, two aggressive and antagonistic elements contrary to the more subtle earth and air. Maybe Americans are not well grounded (earth), always have big dreams (air)? ;-) Popular psychology, it's a funny thing. How to explain New Zealanders' fondness for air and then fire? They are dreamers with spunk? Haha, of course this is all rather simplistic. Still...<br /><br /><i><b>Update</b></i>: See also the <a href="http://wordfaceoff.blogspot.com/2008/11/hot-vs-cold-vs-wet-vs-dry.html">next</a> post.Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-59807618383540404402008-11-19T22:59:00.000-08:002008-11-20T00:36:54.741-08:00One vs. Two vs. Three vs. Four vs. FiveNumbers are everywhere, aren't they? I had a look at the first five:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlrTZkKebcE8o7JQtIvachOjYRXVOP6HEdaA2vX-en3A6v0xFWQwXYwP9JZfJMau9dQ8i7F-JjSDq_B8WF8dMagddfEM7l1Zan_yRjzVE4E9V9F4lNboMZsluTXriuKSIeBTfxVnP18R0/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlrTZkKebcE8o7JQtIvachOjYRXVOP6HEdaA2vX-en3A6v0xFWQwXYwP9JZfJMau9dQ8i7F-JjSDq_B8WF8dMagddfEM7l1Zan_yRjzVE4E9V9F4lNboMZsluTXriuKSIeBTfxVnP18R0/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270631986294448834" /></a><br /><br>No. 1 was... one, clearly so. Hmm... Maybe we should include the actual digits too—Google Insights for Search counts only the numbers by themselves, i.e., 1 but not 102.<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpHcd9Dg3DWz9LqsI3KaAlHZTNS4Em6HuEzR0OQRolgREVHz-o5ot3c_-8XS46IKeI8E5VNTF6wzglVXESmb0cCmMMH8LT-u7VKKUdaxtmevwKe-2hZFaEJX77j5_e14wGpvRcJeW2xzg/s1600-h/screenshot_02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpHcd9Dg3DWz9LqsI3KaAlHZTNS4Em6HuEzR0OQRolgREVHz-o5ot3c_-8XS46IKeI8E5VNTF6wzglVXESmb0cCmMMH8LT-u7VKKUdaxtmevwKe-2hZFaEJX77j5_e14wGpvRcJeW2xzg/s1600/screenshot_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270631986316262738" /></a><br /><br>Lo and behold, two was now no. 1. Why would that be? Also, when I read the country rankings in the first analysis, Lithuania was first for one. Something tells me that there may be a Lithuanian word written "one" but with a different meaning. Then came the Philippines and the US. In the second graph, the top number, two or 2, was searched the most in Japan, followed by Estonia and Israel. Oh well...Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-1698045415843996822008-11-16T22:57:00.000-08:002008-11-17T01:09:38.298-08:00Food & Drink Searches in the US, Canada, Germany, Russia, Italy, France, Brazil, Japan and IndiaToday I looked at Google searches about food and drink collectively by a series of countries. What is more, I used the option to show trend lines for each year which should bring out seasonalities. I started with the <b>US</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHypXJYVskTB5OkVTSRzeviE2zN2pAijXXdyj2taNuqVytaLsl17UD934BjfHdhYH6Bob8lPt3E1VNVQJhSThu4Kvecdr8421xYCQwARMUzKTcCDlo48VcZ70A7aT-BcN8lMrmH-urZVg/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHypXJYVskTB5OkVTSRzeviE2zN2pAijXXdyj2taNuqVytaLsl17UD934BjfHdhYH6Bob8lPt3E1VNVQJhSThu4Kvecdr8421xYCQwARMUzKTcCDlo48VcZ70A7aT-BcN8lMrmH-urZVg/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269499436845204306" /></a><br /><br>The two high points of the year were Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday of November) and Christmas. Next, <b>Canada</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW81n0YlOxAC7IjJAfEwf1cL7m6mxB9yZWekiD5VVJLHjk9KgryJVS4yX1vKRBuHf0IW0St-pHyPZR35202kqkJA8mvVTOk3du0-9fp7x1bjXF5F_Vz_DU13PjdHy56DmFRpyx-UGYHDM/s1600-h/screenshot_02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW81n0YlOxAC7IjJAfEwf1cL7m6mxB9yZWekiD5VVJLHjk9KgryJVS4yX1vKRBuHf0IW0St-pHyPZR35202kqkJA8mvVTOk3du0-9fp7x1bjXF5F_Vz_DU13PjdHy56DmFRpyx-UGYHDM/s1600/screenshot_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269499441522413554" /></a><br /><br>In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on a different date: the second Monday of October. This was reflected in the trend lines. Surely, Christmas will also be the gastronomical top in <b>Germany</b>?<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxvc5d9_o5kS2Wdrj9OvJA0BU2TBb2yUpN5me1DC4CeuZrc6Vw6BjHBH5LgeVgfyoWMTw6qilOfJ-1skHUrJ1srCL2Bws6X66066-e99mcjkHeN2RFZD4mNcH7At9h8a1xW5szP314b0/s1600-h/screenshot_03.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxvc5d9_o5kS2Wdrj9OvJA0BU2TBb2yUpN5me1DC4CeuZrc6Vw6BjHBH5LgeVgfyoWMTw6qilOfJ-1skHUrJ1srCL2Bws6X66066-e99mcjkHeN2RFZD4mNcH7At9h8a1xW5szP314b0/s1600/screenshot_03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269499442712657266" /></a><br /><br>Indeed. Note the more gradual buildup toward <i>Weihnachten</i> though. Also, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter">Easter</a> was becoming more pronounced here. That holiday follows a complicated set of rules involving a lunisolar calendar and fell in the Western rite of Christianity on different dates: April 11, 2004; March 27, 2005; April 16, 2006; April 8, 2007; March 23, 2008. Let's go to a prime representative of the Eastern rite of Christianity: <b>Russia</b>.<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7BcqjN3KLnJtGgVThcs457I0XL1CLPpykjbWID4N8rEm5seQdstd4eVAWmIwnLDCQ5r22iyx9g-XjwG2Bag8W4g7WZJwLLTz-kMu89CE0r42up2QfFIHsriUMts_f5ZNvqn55uUGCUL4/s1600-h/screenshot_04.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7BcqjN3KLnJtGgVThcs457I0XL1CLPpykjbWID4N8rEm5seQdstd4eVAWmIwnLDCQ5r22iyx9g-XjwG2Bag8W4g7WZJwLLTz-kMu89CE0r42up2QfFIHsriUMts_f5ZNvqn55uUGCUL4/s1600/screenshot_04.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269499439558232834" /></a><br /><br>Primarily because the Eastern rite doesn't follow the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar">Gregorian</a> calendar but instead still uses the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Calendar">Julian</a> one, their Christmases do not always coincide with the Western ones: April 11, 2004; May 1, 2005; April 23, 2006; April 8, 2007; April 27, 2008. We did see a small increase at that time in 2004, 2007 and 2008 but not in the other years. It seemed like Easter wasn't as big a deal as in the Western rite. Christmas trumped everything. Next, <b>Italy</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqL2Qra7BCxCEXpLpTHJKH9JOXy91rCl-IYKacM64Q7C4MO19fH_Wm-5y8NxN5X__gaK8bt6ziTwoPeKDkr9BgZTkYwoOyYsBvnrH9FVJejnSWruPfRlReprmU7MeIcbIJTPXJdlES3jg/s1600-h/screenshot_05.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqL2Qra7BCxCEXpLpTHJKH9JOXy91rCl-IYKacM64Q7C4MO19fH_Wm-5y8NxN5X__gaK8bt6ziTwoPeKDkr9BgZTkYwoOyYsBvnrH9FVJejnSWruPfRlReprmU7MeIcbIJTPXJdlES3jg/s1600/screenshot_05.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269499443038009186" /></a><br /><br>This displayed a more "multipolar" seasonality: Christmas and Easter, sure, but also mid-February and more. I guess it goes to show that Italians like to celebrate on many occasions—good for them! How about the other stereotypical <i>bon vivants</i>, <b>France</b>?<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc6XKrBzYh-9yj2Dmg6PRSZYwgUnRAVXtamONulXj6ktcysbsghe-Dy29gmHN-yOioJZtqFNRZxvWzRZ0gWV_0U5cNVcBq27OO1Xts_acXaZb7O2gH0kiio3zFndyvNvuZBF90a1XGIOo/s1600-h/screenshot_06.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc6XKrBzYh-9yj2Dmg6PRSZYwgUnRAVXtamONulXj6ktcysbsghe-Dy29gmHN-yOioJZtqFNRZxvWzRZ0gWV_0U5cNVcBq27OO1Xts_acXaZb7O2gH0kiio3zFndyvNvuZBF90a1XGIOo/s1600/screenshot_06.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269499741281470098" /></a><br /><br>Besides Christmas, a peak in mid-August also showed. But more interesting was that the search volume went up dramatically in March 2008 as compared with the previous years. Odd. Off to South America I went to investigate <b>Brazil</b>.<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlqCAFlE6yVz04QFRzcH2AAYeSZsCEJsqd4tgrQ2sQ0MvVVgGUIGMWUsQX4mxEc6xDrLA0rVC9awKd064kUsZAvSvRsPh5fjQKpizJmJnI90tYsMNTbMpqy4wDN-DxwenI6RkB1yXkkw4/s1600-h/screenshot_07.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlqCAFlE6yVz04QFRzcH2AAYeSZsCEJsqd4tgrQ2sQ0MvVVgGUIGMWUsQX4mxEc6xDrLA0rVC9awKd064kUsZAvSvRsPh5fjQKpizJmJnI90tYsMNTbMpqy4wDN-DxwenI6RkB1yXkkw4/s1600/screenshot_07.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269499740474137810" /></a><br /><br>Easter was almost as important as Christmas for Brazilians. I wondered what the mid-June increase stood for. It turns out that June 12 is the <i>Dia dos Namorados</i>, a kind of Valentine's Day. Note the more or less increasing search volume through the years. How about <b>Japan</b>?<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_k4wHJtv94Gc_g3mmqCg6gOjnAaHgGxff_m3R8bfcsksnqaF_Je1TDfqns_sDuMbxfN2kdzD0qO8zrYA1MkPwDIf5iidt3SxdsHbQi2gSgbhrYjTgZ9rUN2Gq4MjWeBGABQeo0pyHRi0/s1600-h/screenshot_08.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_k4wHJtv94Gc_g3mmqCg6gOjnAaHgGxff_m3R8bfcsksnqaF_Je1TDfqns_sDuMbxfN2kdzD0qO8zrYA1MkPwDIf5iidt3SxdsHbQi2gSgbhrYjTgZ9rUN2Gq4MjWeBGABQeo0pyHRi0/s1600/screenshot_08.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269499741024263298" /></a><br /><br>Even though this country isn't really much Christian, Yuletide was most noticeable in the seasonal trends. It has become kind of a secular, imported holiday. Second most important was early June which I wasn't able to link to any specific holiday or festivity. Does anybody have an idea? Finally, I did an analysis of <b>India</b>:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivgyt8XbhAR2XxJR5Na8LQPwmnlXoyGe-de2o5-C8dA0MxnTJlk53lTZcZfw0U0QSTtyoAlGqqBcBFWwemNUgPfHrRgf4nGKhCkCtm7n4TZupGsMBW2oq94EIa-J5AQZiKfrdk8F42-Zg/s1600-h/screenshot_09.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivgyt8XbhAR2XxJR5Na8LQPwmnlXoyGe-de2o5-C8dA0MxnTJlk53lTZcZfw0U0QSTtyoAlGqqBcBFWwemNUgPfHrRgf4nGKhCkCtm7n4TZupGsMBW2oq94EIa-J5AQZiKfrdk8F42-Zg/s1600/screenshot_09.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269499747696970258" /></a><br /><br>I couldn't observe any noticeable seasonal peaks in Google searches for food and drink. However, there was a remarkable peak in September 2007. Maybe this had to do with India winning the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 championship? I really don't know. Maybe somebody can help on this one too.<br /><br>One more thing: I did a quick tally of the <b>top 3 search terms</b> in the analyzed countries, totaling all the occurrences:<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxiJP6KRzcshKWfwqMI_RxtukkZ7fSCDYV7IDytpfSUFYc-K6ledr8JrYZ3ANqwIEc1vu3ezVKYVMvt5bviHDSYBEYUb5jQb9kFfEI5E95WCg9dpEXQQOUPr_0XlU1i1Gj6W-UKdc_oXE/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxiJP6KRzcshKWfwqMI_RxtukkZ7fSCDYV7IDytpfSUFYc-K6ledr8JrYZ3ANqwIEc1vu3ezVKYVMvt5bviHDSYBEYUb5jQb9kFfEI5E95WCg9dpEXQQOUPr_0XlU1i1Gj6W-UKdc_oXE/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269549700028845778" /></a><br /><br>Obviously, most people search the internet for recipes or for restaurants. Sushi occurred in the top 3 only in Russia (not Japan!), wine in Germany (not France!). Ramen though was only popular in Japan.Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7084124652062651130.post-76470245727505964622008-11-12T22:37:00.000-08:002008-11-13T00:37:58.218-08:00Flu vs. Asthma vs. Pneumonia vs. Bronchitis vs. SinusitisToday, I heard on <i>NPR</i> about a new web site: <a href="http://www.google.org/flutrends/">Google Flu Trends</a>. It lets you see where there is more search volume for flu in the US so you can track flu activity by state with comparison for previous years. In other words, this is a Google Insights for Search analysis presented with a more user-friendly interface. It made me think: maybe I should face-off five common diseases?<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwcEaPWaPnkM2-xPRKIKMyIxabxpX3oWE7cxhKJ4YOa6Q1fhFhw2EgEFFrBLQay687nyRx9-AMvjlZyvIae7OTJCoKTZYjxbXYkWIZsSrr44mM5ZbpDEzT1Bi_nlLPnxZZ46u7DecXdLM/s1600-h/screenshot_01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwcEaPWaPnkM2-xPRKIKMyIxabxpX3oWE7cxhKJ4YOa6Q1fhFhw2EgEFFrBLQay687nyRx9-AMvjlZyvIae7OTJCoKTZYjxbXYkWIZsSrr44mM5ZbpDEzT1Bi_nlLPnxZZ46u7DecXdLM/s1600/screenshot_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268032591607434706" /></a><br /><br><b>Worldwide</b>, the flu virus dominated, followed by resp. asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis and sinusitis. The large peaks in October 2004 and October 2005 should correspond with serious <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza">flu</a> epidemics. The seasonal aspect of the flu is well known: it occurs in winter. Pneumonia and bronchitis also showed small increases in winter. I proceeded to perform the same analysis for <b>nine English-speaking countries/territories</b>: Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK and the US.<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtkqBBUYS62GTupNsP8zjemaNDbJHQK9asEeWOnwfiu91DBYYL5PeSZVIbAyW0bCKRJMZYLmc3L2Ui0O3gAO4szAqrrED3gt6oUhf3GNpYnVDBO_KJ_YEcCVp-7T53lvSJqtU8CTaeeZo/s1600-h/screenshot_02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtkqBBUYS62GTupNsP8zjemaNDbJHQK9asEeWOnwfiu91DBYYL5PeSZVIbAyW0bCKRJMZYLmc3L2Ui0O3gAO4szAqrrED3gt6oUhf3GNpYnVDBO_KJ_YEcCVp-7T53lvSJqtU8CTaeeZo/s1600/screenshot_02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268032595190163122" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipGOXe-xYfIeu3ef3Fp6N5RaLTMOarh8HA2otwBRnjIexJBPMXEfn19Mq8n7VF1Quhc_9Xx4ByBXdMuxwerO5hQB5oySvGGKABW6hwL3a7xJ1SZEXYzS-nfDZljqxAgrVZ6cjup0Q7yY8/s1600-h/screenshot_03.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipGOXe-xYfIeu3ef3Fp6N5RaLTMOarh8HA2otwBRnjIexJBPMXEfn19Mq8n7VF1Quhc_9Xx4ByBXdMuxwerO5hQB5oySvGGKABW6hwL3a7xJ1SZEXYzS-nfDZljqxAgrVZ6cjup0Q7yY8/s1600/screenshot_03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268032598367955538" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYXDfYdUbW0edTCoUtuWcbadfFzJh0bjacJG5ISjdNe6vPUj4Ko6uDkhaL5bkzZkVCZIjcOeafPRokmr37c2t0IEal4lPDja2233EfZ32iZYTJ_yy3PgRQy1lkGVPs49Trs0v_4d_m2o0/s1600-h/screenshot_04.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYXDfYdUbW0edTCoUtuWcbadfFzJh0bjacJG5ISjdNe6vPUj4Ko6uDkhaL5bkzZkVCZIjcOeafPRokmr37c2t0IEal4lPDja2233EfZ32iZYTJ_yy3PgRQy1lkGVPs49Trs0v_4d_m2o0/s1600/screenshot_04.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268032603790694210" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhxqtxKunV4MFXq6eyye7W4DRl4zshcxhfFPELs-Zr1H0MCZUP3Xb5cGbw_bzPs-eO58EQGb5FA5QFXIL0zM8BJpnpQ3_NN_kBIuWQgyMq7LWzZu40g9qwXSWC49gkMmrQU0yjVIwJSDQ/s1600-h/screenshot_05.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhxqtxKunV4MFXq6eyye7W4DRl4zshcxhfFPELs-Zr1H0MCZUP3Xb5cGbw_bzPs-eO58EQGb5FA5QFXIL0zM8BJpnpQ3_NN_kBIuWQgyMq7LWzZu40g9qwXSWC49gkMmrQU0yjVIwJSDQ/s1600/screenshot_05.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268032599815339346" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEijawkSnNRn1RbjFEx5u98105ZZAe92B13ogsSXpjpCHHSqm2a9ZlnR8iVrb33408kiP_HTIOCrkjgNcY5ccOnSyuC6yrL4z0h3HHQLDP_Iu28gIiTVbBYeGeadbLHXht0COFcTsJqdM/s1600-h/screenshot_06.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEijawkSnNRn1RbjFEx5u98105ZZAe92B13ogsSXpjpCHHSqm2a9ZlnR8iVrb33408kiP_HTIOCrkjgNcY5ccOnSyuC6yrL4z0h3HHQLDP_Iu28gIiTVbBYeGeadbLHXht0COFcTsJqdM/s1600/screenshot_06.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268032939918102194" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnrQyN5MQghSfiIwhyphenhyphen8hGkB0WXz-vDPQeMVfrD1LMFdLdkJSbqI7u5fR5zmPRtBEWr-jt6V3OeJSGxpyFlWsIAxVcXGs1KXQ4fjqXBmruo_iKIs0PsoCjyy3tu90rB4__uEX1sPPK35sM/s1600-h/screenshot_07.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnrQyN5MQghSfiIwhyphenhyphen8hGkB0WXz-vDPQeMVfrD1LMFdLdkJSbqI7u5fR5zmPRtBEWr-jt6V3OeJSGxpyFlWsIAxVcXGs1KXQ4fjqXBmruo_iKIs0PsoCjyy3tu90rB4__uEX1sPPK35sM/s1600/screenshot_07.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268032949059374770" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjklf8ESvGPLJv141UZpRffp4JixM2HS6mS4EF92bSwVEseJRq9hioSx4HLt24_QxclxBkJgzi1CQQ4NILimGuvjBwKaEQPNn6cCEGoc6l3jDGaumNUHzK57V2fa9eq6rr5_wvSxcn7L8Y/s1600-h/screenshot_08.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjklf8ESvGPLJv141UZpRffp4JixM2HS6mS4EF92bSwVEseJRq9hioSx4HLt24_QxclxBkJgzi1CQQ4NILimGuvjBwKaEQPNn6cCEGoc6l3jDGaumNUHzK57V2fa9eq6rr5_wvSxcn7L8Y/s1600/screenshot_08.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268032957736953842" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzwRLVR9NO0ohSojs0fh93APLR5tS9v7SVdGPFu68svfO3vdohc-gxER_xBzQYXrZjzG0uWgRopdJYXCfs3yvJSvYmu1yg-Zs7_Eb436YpUUo4-xz-yxcnmFbS03X7dyVcz4tZxuWcRNQ/s1600-h/screenshot_09.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzwRLVR9NO0ohSojs0fh93APLR5tS9v7SVdGPFu68svfO3vdohc-gxER_xBzQYXrZjzG0uWgRopdJYXCfs3yvJSvYmu1yg-Zs7_Eb436YpUUo4-xz-yxcnmFbS03X7dyVcz4tZxuWcRNQ/s1600/screenshot_09.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268032957308096626" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgENBAxW7yDiQP_zPzvvZreyjBbY0O5Z1rHkytkNE2ydHCqbRxkEFCorawRzMKZQsnA6GkDd11KJxlGxanutevvQntbnnwLKZ5wrTIygiarJyLEapYwsxpRJZZxl6KSe_Q5B62ETuexCfQ/s1600-h/screenshot_10.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgENBAxW7yDiQP_zPzvvZreyjBbY0O5Z1rHkytkNE2ydHCqbRxkEFCorawRzMKZQsnA6GkDd11KJxlGxanutevvQntbnnwLKZ5wrTIygiarJyLEapYwsxpRJZZxl6KSe_Q5B62ETuexCfQ/s1600/screenshot_10.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268032960895269346" /></a><br /><br>The winter of 2005-2006 was a significant peak for the flu in all these countries, other peaks displayed more variation. Some countries, e.g., Ireland and New Zealand, really only had one flu epidemic while for instance Canada and the US had a flu peak every winter. In India, the diseases' trend lines fell through time, perhaps reflecting better prevention and/or treatment through the years?<br /><br>There is another way of looking at the data: <b>by disease</b>.<br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA4wUlfIJcgSosJIsS5Q_8D7AQzuMGQdZJ9fQYScpDDLziQMgf46VcYOWqSTI5lDQtwjQT22YlJoRLkYa6xFb4ClwMv247gCDesr0ZtagW2ITIUMqRmbgwRZeIpQmDOOtdCPBY-1DmLZ8/s1600-h/screenshot_11.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA4wUlfIJcgSosJIsS5Q_8D7AQzuMGQdZJ9fQYScpDDLziQMgf46VcYOWqSTI5lDQtwjQT22YlJoRLkYa6xFb4ClwMv247gCDesr0ZtagW2ITIUMqRmbgwRZeIpQmDOOtdCPBY-1DmLZ8/s1600/screenshot_11.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268033244670550354" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimZ0bu2afdUSVeC-wCVCVQe6qchEBM5IJzgcAt-ejvvxoJq3H_8ELdlcTfm6M71fDOlXhmGKGlkQgHM8TtXFAgQjPjHzr6XMbD5JYA5L3kEMX7noIx9jRUEZAfHhAi7KhSaFhx2-1qOO4/s1600-h/screenshot_12.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimZ0bu2afdUSVeC-wCVCVQe6qchEBM5IJzgcAt-ejvvxoJq3H_8ELdlcTfm6M71fDOlXhmGKGlkQgHM8TtXFAgQjPjHzr6XMbD5JYA5L3kEMX7noIx9jRUEZAfHhAi7KhSaFhx2-1qOO4/s1600/screenshot_12.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268033246284829282" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwvykZXdQKtOcTVFIXZbSro8Gcq9XE2OKMvluBA5qcI7Oiswq2qApvkIMuIkfszPdX1ccdRQz931glNk0nt1lrYVaTfboDnPVmHI9H4_gZog2Bo12HEpzpIvY6K9gvywD-p9Wl2SZu6EQ/s1600-h/screenshot_13.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwvykZXdQKtOcTVFIXZbSro8Gcq9XE2OKMvluBA5qcI7Oiswq2qApvkIMuIkfszPdX1ccdRQz931glNk0nt1lrYVaTfboDnPVmHI9H4_gZog2Bo12HEpzpIvY6K9gvywD-p9Wl2SZu6EQ/s1600/screenshot_13.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268033254298418082" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUPigpdyBcW6e8BTaWmrEGOMCmPPq9g7u33dz_oA9xa14_6Uw4bdD8ZrUx8O4gfsCselFhhJD7fwPm1ZSJ-mDEEAPoq6-ozKeY7ci0OUybjtsJwjlFcpuJRAm_VgcNCzK2AU-5g-YnXc/s1600-h/screenshot_14.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUPigpdyBcW6e8BTaWmrEGOMCmPPq9g7u33dz_oA9xa14_6Uw4bdD8ZrUx8O4gfsCselFhhJD7fwPm1ZSJ-mDEEAPoq6-ozKeY7ci0OUybjtsJwjlFcpuJRAm_VgcNCzK2AU-5g-YnXc/s1600/screenshot_14.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268033254221587346" /></a><br /><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidc6Pf-IPPnxZLK3-nyAFJgUvTAUjBCfx5_5do77A6kqxIyPV72gGT8xz5sUV7QAKROxUxxfqtq0Bu8i7EVe_xHJAwaXmHQrnL8CUOmdtW3yIeKpBpqbv0EW5W5Z4goj_JLI452IEjIwA/s1600-h/screenshot_15.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" width=100% src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidc6Pf-IPPnxZLK3-nyAFJgUvTAUjBCfx5_5do77A6kqxIyPV72gGT8xz5sUV7QAKROxUxxfqtq0Bu8i7EVe_xHJAwaXmHQrnL8CUOmdtW3yIeKpBpqbv0EW5W5Z4goj_JLI452IEjIwA/s1600/screenshot_15.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268033259210722594" /></a><br /><br>Note that the Philippines were no. 1 three times. Germany, Austria and the Netherlands popped up in the top 10 for bronchitis because the term was exactly the same in German and Dutch, unlike for other diseases.Francis Deblauwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297356316149597185noreply@blogger.com1