Tuesday, December 4, 2012

One Million hits and Counting!

This blog has recently hit the one million hits mark.  Look at the site counter half way down the page on the right.  I know you are shocked.  So am I.

I started this blog three years ago out of frustration with not being able to find reliable whisky tastings notes that delivered the straight goods.  Ahh, the hedonistic thoughts and ambitions I have seem to be shared by people around the world.

Now you may be thinking why am I trumpeting this fact?  "Jason, leave the trumpeting to Miles Davis," you say.

I will try to hit a few high notes, maybe not as elegantly as Miles, but please take a listen for a moment.

I believe the high traffic is a testament to how whisky seems to be of interest to a lot of people around the world.  Check out the pie chart of readers from around the world:

55.2% of the readers are from the United States.  Within the US, the top three states that tune in are:  California, New York and Texas.

11.4% of readers are to be found in Canada.

5.1% of visitors are in the UK, who are probably shaking their head at what they read and muttering to themselves: What a stupid "git" that Debly is.

Crikey! 3.6% of web traffic is from Australia.

The kiwis from New Zealand like American bourbon, and so I receive a lot of visits and email from them.

And then there is the rest of the world!  Too many countries to list, but I can tell you India ranks the next highest.  Germany, Sweden Finland, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey and Greece are growing too.

So, what do I take away from this?

I need to post more whisky reviews!  People want more info!

What can you take away from this?  You need to post more comments so that readers get your point of view also.  Well, you have actually been doing a pretty good job.  At the time of this post there were 2,010 comments.  Thanks.  Keep it up.  Whisky and your thoughts are important!



















I always admired the American philosopher William James.  Why?  When he was at Harvard and chairman of the philosophy department, he had great influence as to the hiring of other professors.  He did something that exemplifies what university should be about.  He purposely hired professors who held views that were very different or even strenuously opposed to his own.  (It has been argued that others in similar academic positions of power were not as enlightened as James.  For example, I have heard compelling arguments that erroneous Freudian views would have been disposed much sooner if Freudian academics had . . . well not hired more Freudian academics.)

Similarly, I want to publish all comments (except for those ones about little blue pills and money making gambling schemes - I keep those for me).  Especially if those comments criticize or correct my errors as perceived by the critic.  Everyone benefits from this healthy discourse, regardless of how hedonistic the subject matter may be.

I suppose I have not threaded together notes as elegantly as Miles has done in his great career.  So, take a listen to the master in one of his more obscure recordings (1958 record, issued in France), but nevertheless great composition:



Cheers!


Jason Debly

P.S.  Next week I will list some holiday gift suggestions of the whisky kind.


Copyright © Jason Debly, 2009-2012. All rights reserved. Any and all use is prohibited without permission.   Note:  All images appearing in this article are for the purposes of nostalgia, education and entertainment.  Moreover, all images used are considered by the author to be significant in illustrating the subject matter, facilitating artistic/critical commentary, as it provides an immediate relevance to the reader more capably than the textual description.

22 comments:

  1. Hey Jason!
    Looks like I'm the first one to congratulate you! Best wishes from India! Must say I'm quite disappointed that only 2.8% of visitors are from India.
    Your blog has not only been the 'go to' guide in my whisky purchases but also a compass in my own whisky journey. And the fact that I'm a spaghetti western officiando myself only makes me like your blog even more! (I'm hoping someday you will share your thoughts here on "My name is nobody", my favorite spaghetti western!)
    Whishing you the very best in the years to come.

    - Darshan.

    P.S. Post more!

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    1. Hello Darshan!

      2.8% is a deceptive number. For example, last month there were 45,000 visitors. This means 1,260 visitors from India in the past thirty days. Not too shabby.

      "My Name is Nobody" is a great classic for sure, and I will have to weave some commentary on that great work of cinema into a future whisky review.

      Thanks for commenting, and I look forward to your thoughts in the future.

      Cheers!

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  2. Congratulations Jason! I just discovered your blog over a year ago and have been an avid follower ever since, checking at least once or twice a week. Godspeed!

    And definitely yes on this part:
    "I need to post more whisky reviews! People want more info!"

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  3. Congrats Jason! I'm not surprised in the least. You write about real world drams in the most engaging way possible. Keep it coming, maestro!

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    1. Thanks Josh, and please weigh in from time to time with your astute thoughts on various whiskies.

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  4. Congrats, Cuz --- cheers to the next million hits ! HD

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  5. Congrats! I think my own endeavours, which pale in comparison to yours, are more aptly described by the t-shirt I saw one day that said "More people have read this shirt than your blog." How long do you think it will be before you hit the next million? How long before you overtake PSY?

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    1. Hi! The next million hits? Traffic varies depending on the time of year. And, traffic has been growing a lot overall. Anyhow, I figure the next million hits will occur two and half years from now.

      Not sure what you mean by "PSY" You will have to elaborate sometime.

      Cheers!

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    2. PSY is a K-Pop Rapper best known for Gangnam Style.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0

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    3. PSY - Gangnam Style - which just recently topped 900,000,000 views on YouTube (and that is just the one song, not counting all the various re-uploads and parodies, my favourite of which is Kim Jong Style, by The Key of Awesome)...think you'll catch up? 900,000,000 by next Christmas? ;).

      In all seriousness, though, keep up the excellent work!

      Delete
  6. Jason, Congrats for entertaining and informing so many, so well. Best wishes for reaching ten million hits just as quickly. JK

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    Replies
    1. Thanks JK!

      It's all about having fun. Please keep commenting as I and the readers usually learn from your wise counsel.

      Delete
  7. Jason - although I haven't commented recently (has it been over a year?), this article exemplifies why you are my favorite whiskey blogger and just an all around good person! You absolutely deserve all the hits because of your excellent reviews and writing!! (FYI - I've been dabbling with rye whiskey...didn't like the bourbon as you may recall, but am enjoying the rye).
    Um - yes!! Whiskey (that would normally be single malt), old jazz, and MOUNTAINS!!!

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    Replies
    1. hi! Ripley,

      Keep climbing those malt mountains, as well as the beautiful ranges in NH!

      Cheers!

      Delete
  8. Congratulations! That is wonderful and a great encouragement to continue, please do, your blog is very interesting.

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  9. Thanks a million for the nice work you do Jason. Public service of the highest order. Cheers!

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  10. A great passage from William James, and also of interest to the whisky-taster:

    [R.B.] Perry…accused Pragmatism…of ignoring or denying that the real object plays any part in deciding what ideas are true . I confess that such misunderstandings seem to me hardly credible, and cast a ‘lurid light’ on the mutual understandings of philosophers generally. Apparently it all comes from the word Pragmatism ― and a most unlucky word it may prove to have been. I am a natural realist . The world per se may be likened to a cast of beans on a table. By themselves they spell nothing. An onlooker may group them as he likes. He may simply count them all and map them. He may select groups and name these capriciously, or name them to suit certain extrinsic purposes of his. Whatever he does, so long as he takes account , his account is neither false nor irrelevant. If neither, why not call it true? It fits the beans minus -him, and expresses the total fact, of beans-plus-him. Truth in this total sense is partially ambiguous, then . If he simply counts or maps, he obeys a subjective interest as much as if he traces figures. Let that stand for ‘pure intellectual’ treatment of the beans, while grouping them variously stands for non-intellectual interests. All that Schiller and I contend for is that there is no ‘truth’ without some interest , and that non-intellectual interests play a part as well as intellectual ones . Whereupon we are accused of denying the beans, or denying being in anyway constrained by them! It’s too silly!

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  11. Jason,

    Many congratulations on the million hits. I'm glad I was able to contribute to that number. Your creative and fun reviews are always a pleasure and equally informative. I've learned of many whiskys, bourbons, etc., from you.

    Especially thanks for the Miles Davis link. I had forgotten just how good he was. I saw him live several times at the Newport Jazz Festival. (Helps when it's your hometown.) My old LPs are long gone. Time to get the CDs.

    Jeff The Bear

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  12. Congrats Jason! Keep up the great work.

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  13. I'm sorry for being a little late with this! Congrats on the 1 million hits. You deserve it because of your original and independent style of writing. It was you and your site that inspited me to start writing about whisky as well. And you helped me a lot to get started. Thanks for that and lots of success with your site in the future! Cheers from your friend Jan

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