Monday 25 April 2016

Sunday & Statistics #5

Hello everybody!

This week's Top 10 has had interesting changes: there's no moving the US and Greece from positions 1 and 2 respectively, but further below, we see a lot of new faces.

Ireland had a very vibrant presence this week and ends up at #3. Just 2 visits below, Russia is at #4, while with 4 visits less, Spain and Ukraine share #5. Another 2 notches below, sharing #7, are France and Germany. Canada is at #9 and newcomer Japan (welcome!) is at #10.

Also visiting the blog this week are people from the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Belarus, China, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Iraq, Italy, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Singapore, Turkey, the UK, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. Welcome to all the newcomers and welcome back to the rest of you! And have a great week, everybody!

Now, concerning the all-time chart, the US and Greece still comfortably occupy positions 1 & 2, but beneath these there are exciting changes. The UK, at #3 from the start and #4 last week, has now further slipped to #5, replaced by two countries that have a more constant presence: Germany and Ireland have been battling it out all through the week for position #3. One day one was on top and the next one it was the other. The end of the week amazingly finds them with equal points, sharing 3d place.

At #6, Canada is threatening the UK. Russia, at #7, is gradually inching closer to the Top 6. Further down, France seems to have solidified its position at #8 and then there are 2 new entries: Spain comes in at #9 and the United Arab Emirates come in at #10. We say goodbye for now to Cyprus and Australia. Try harder guys!

On the subject of comments, some of you may be confused as to the how it all works. Here's a step by step tutorial.

If you're reading a story on the main page, this appears on the bottom:


When you click your mouse on the word "comments", you go to the article's page and you see this:



Right next to the words "comment as", there's a pop-up list with small up & down arrows. Place your mouse on it and click. You then see this:

You choose one option from the list. If you have an account in any of the choices listed, you can check that. If not you can check the "Anonymous" option. Here's what it looks like:

Then you can write what you want in the "enter your comment" section and press publish. No captchas and no other complications. I love any kind of comment. I mean, you can drop in just to say hello, I'd love that. The only comments that will be deleted are the insulting ones.

We cannot not say goodbye to Prince, can we? He was a wildly talented and innovative musician, who, along with Michael Jackson and Madonna, changed the rules of Pop in the 80s.

My favorite song of his is Sign O' The Times. It was the first time, as far as I know, that a hit song mentioned AIDS, even without actually mentioning it:

In France, a skinny man died 
of a big disease with a little name
By chance his girlfriend came across a needle 
and soon she did the same

Also it contains a line (devastatingly simple and thus simply devastating) on a young person's descent to addiction:

In September, my cousin tried reefer for the very first time
                Now he's doing horse - it's June

Here's the video (the song starts at the 1:40 mark):





4 comments:

  1. I was wondering if you were going to address Prince's passing and here it is. I already commented on the Briefs site so I won't repeat those words but I will say my favorite Prince song is 1999 followed by Purple Rain, Take Me With You, Diamonds & Pearls and Mountains. The other major hits are all favorites too, they just suffer from listener's fatigue. I fear for the next icon to go down.

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    1. Purple Rain would be my #2 and 1999 my #5, in a tie with If I Was Your Girlfriend. When Doves Cry and Kiss would be #3 & #4. Thieves In The Temple would also be up there, as well as songs that featured (or were offered to) other artists: Nothing Compares 2 U, I Feel For You, U Got The Look & Manic Monday.

      As for your closing sentence, considering that the Pop Megastars of the 80s were Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna and Whitney Houston... I guess Madonna has programmed a full medical checkup since Thursday. (Sorry for the macabre attempt at humor. You go on and live a long and happy life, Madonna!)

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    2. Believe it or not, I said the same thing to a friend the day Prince died. About Madonna that is.

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