Counter intuitive

October 15, 2006

Albert Einstein doesn’t have a blog. If he did he would probably have some crazy, complex calculator to count the visitors to his site. As it is, he’s having trouble counting anything because all that’s left of him is a brain in some tinted fluid on some laboratory shelf in area 51.

On my other Website(s) – there are about four or five – I have visitor counters that are slightly out of whack. The one on jeffcutler.com lists about four million visitors (maybe it’s 44 million) and the true number is around four billion.

Bearing that in mind I just added a counter to Bowl of Cheese. I did this for two reasons. One: so you don’t think you’re alone when you read this drivel. Two: so my potential advertisers and podcast subscribers can get a real feel for the number of people who might be hearing their messages or listening along with them.

To answer you question, yes it is accurate. I used the figures from the blog when it was hosted elsewhere. I then put in all the numbers from the companion blog on blogger (oh, yes there’s a blog there too). And then I multiplied by my height in millimeters and added 24 to it as that’s my new lucky number.

But this diatribe isn’t really about the new counter on BOC, it’s about how people measure things in their life. Albert Einstein has a quote (or had a quote if you believe that the brain in the jar has stopped functioning) that says – Not everthing that can be counted counts. And not everything that counts can be counted.

I love the quote because it applies to everything we encounter (use of count intended). Our health, our money, our love…everything.

So as you go forward through your days and life, stop counting the seconds, the minutes and the hours until the next great thing. Enjoy each moment, breathe a bit, and just be happy that your brain isn’t in a jar in some laboratory.

More to come…