Odds and Ends 8

I have a slew of short topics not befitting an entire article on their own. That means it’s time for another installment of Odds and Ends.


Non-Native English Readers of 12MC

Pie chart of 12MC's Audience from Non-English Speaking Nations; underlying data from Google Analytics
Breakdown of 12MC’s Audience from Non-English Speaking Nations

Twelve Mile Circle receives a robust amount of website traffic from readers in nations where English is neither a predominant nor an official language. It doesn’t come close to the number of visitors from the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia and the like. However, it’s more than I’d generally expect. I have a hard enough time writing for an English-speaking audience so people from other nations have a double handicap — my trouble stringing together an intelligible sentence along with reading my gibberish in a foreign language.

I examined statistics generated by readers since the beginning of 2013. Thus I recorded the following Top 10 non-English language reader nations: Germany, France, Russia, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland and Japan. Those ten comprised a little more than half of the set with another 150-or-so nations taking up the rest. I don’t have a point to make with this compilation, I just found it interesting. That’s all.

Loyal reader “January First-of-May” probably pushes Russia up as high as it is. Russia would still be in the Top 10 although a few slots lower, otherwise.


Metropolitan Area Pattern Game

Metro Area Web Traffic for howderfamily.com; image via Google Analytics
U.S. Metro Areas with 12MC visitors on August 10, 2013

I based the article “Room to Grow” on the metropolitan area tab in Google Analytics, last November. I mentioned at the time that I hadn’t used that tab much before. I’ve kind-of grown fond of it since then. It doesn’t tell me anything useful that I don’t already know, however I’ve turned it into a little game. Each day I check to see if I can trace a route from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean following a contiguous trail of 12MC readers. I award myself double points if I can also connect to the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. I completed a route and nearly won double points from yesterday’s example.

No, I don’t actually track the points or anything like that. It’s a fun little mindless activity when I open Analytics each morning, like pulling the lever on a slot machine. I can’t trace a path as often as one might think.


Supreme Court

Supreme Court in Gaithersburg Maryland. Photo by Brandon M.; used by permission

I’m not sure how many readers went back and noticed the comment from “Brandon M.” or saw my recent tweet (a good reason to subscribe to the 12MC Twitter feed). So I’ll repost his photo. Brandon read Order in the Court and noticed he’d be near one of the streets named Supreme Court. This one happens to be in Gaithersburg, Maryland (map).

Also he said he checks the 12MC Complete Index Map for local geo-oddities when he travels. I thought I was the only one who did that so it’s nice to hear the index provides a useful purpose for someone other than myself.


Tripoint House for Sale

Wouldn’t you like to own a state tripoint? Longtime reader Bill forwarded an article link recently. It was called “Delaware Spaces: Three states in the backyard, near Newark.” [article no longer available]. It talked about homeowners who generously allow people to access the Delaware-Maryland-Pennsylvania (DEMDPA) tripoint, even though it’s located on private property. The article included an additional surprise, though. The property is for sale and can be yours for only $525,000!

I thought briefly about snapping it up and doing like Joe Biden used to do when he served in the U.S. Senate: commute daily from Wilmington, DE to Washington’s Union Station by Amtrak train. I certainly knew the route. I guess it was probably after the third or fourth time I mentioned this to my wife, ignoring her eye-rolls and icy glares, when she finally said, “It’s a good thing I love you.” My tripoint dreams were dashed. That’s good news for the rest of you, though. You’ll have one less person to outbid if you want to own DEMDPA.


Great Captain Island

Great Captain Island, Connecticut. Photo by howderfamily.com; (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The same correspondence that inspired my Tombolo(s) of Connecticut article the other day also inspired Steve of Connecticut Museum Quest to finally complete his Southernmost Point in Connecticut page (subtitled “Then Things Really Went South”). This is the true, untold story of our visit to the island last summer. Well, with a modicum of embellishment for amusement’s sake. Visit Steve’s page — you’ll find it entertaining.


Great Taste of the Midwest

Founders at Great Taste of the Midwest. Photo by howderfamily.com; (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
12MC Visits Madison, Wisconsin

Saturday was my annual pilgrimage to Madison, Wisconsin for the Great Taste of the Midwest beer festival. This is one of the best beer events in the nation in my opinion, which I know is a bold claim. It’s casual although exceptionally well-run, and it’s hard to beat the lineup of breweries represented. I’ll mark my calendar and hope to return again. 12MC readers in the Midwest should feel free to let me know if they’re one of the lucky few to get their hands on tickets next year.


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5 responses to “Odds and Ends 8”

  1. The Basement Geographer : Avatar

    I was laughing out loud at CTMQ’s story. A journey of epic proportions. Awesomeness.

  2. stangetz Avatar
    stangetz

    Re tripoint house for sale….

    I traveled to that area about a year and a half ago and relied heavily on your articles (and waymarking.com) to go exploring. It was a great adventure! Got to see the tripoint marker, the SouthEast Corner of PA, and the “Post Mark’d West” (Mason Dixon’s starting point in DE). Also, had dinner at the Wedge Restaurant – there’s a lot going on in that area.

    The house that is closest to the tripoint, from New Loudon Rd is the one in MD, though. and that guy has tons of “No Trespassing” signs in his yard/driveway. It kinda sucks, but hey property is property. Luckily, there were warnings and good directions on getting back there on the waymarking.com page (http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMMWA_USCTE_BM87_PA_MD_Corner_1849_Delaware_Maryland_Pennsylvania).

    I ended up hiking from Arc Corner Rd about a mile away to get there. Fun times.

  3. John of Sydney Avatar
    John of Sydney

    Re tripoint house
    I assume that this means that the land actually has three titles – one for each state.
    Complicates the transfer process en!

  4. January First-of-May Avatar
    January First-of-May

    You might have noticed the blip in activity emanating from Kaliningrad Oblast. That was me as well ๐Ÿ™‚ I’m currently in Baltiysk, supposedly the westernmost city in Russia (or maybe westernmost town – there’s no words in Russian corresponding to this terminological split).
    And tomorrow, I’d be visiting Vistula Spit, which itself is kind of an exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast (an exclave of an exclave… funny situation, though I can think of several other places where that happens). Hopefully you could notice that from your data ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Twelve Mile Circle Avatar

      Indeed! I’ve recorded 3 hits with an average of 1.67 pages/visit from Kaliningrad Oblast recently!

      UPDATE: 4 more Kaliningrad visits recorded in this statistics this morning. You’ve been busy. ๐Ÿ™‚

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