Hello, Rovaniemi!

Sitemeter reports provide interesting information about how widely read one's blog is and, more specifically, where the hits are coming from. This week I see I've had contact in Arendal, Aust-Agder, Norway; Bangkok, Krung Thep, Thailand; London, Lambeth, UK; Mortsel, Antwerpen, Belgium; Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland; and Shumen, Bulgaria. Not to mention the exotic outposts of Westerville, Ohio, and Hightstown, New Jersey, USA.

Hello, Hightstown! Hello, London! Hello, Rovaniemi!

Not that maximizing hits or being widely read is the goal. Heavens no! How crass that would be, like writing a book specifically to become a popular, best-selling author. No, we thoughtful, literary types write for the sheer joy of tapping out pearls of wisdom for our own edification and that of the few, the obscure, the genteel, the cognoscenti. How? By using really cool words like cognoscenti!

Nor is the goal to remain entirely under the radar, I mean why publish at all? As others have said many times, the beauty of the Web is its capacity for almost anyone to reach almost anyone else with minimal restrictions, such as access to tools, time and inclination to use it, and language. Then, as the folks in marketing know, it's a matter of getting the sender and the receiver together. How does the reader in Finland find the blogger in Ohio?

Randonness, being one of my favorite themes, is a possible explanation. Stuff happens. People go places and run into other people. Messages are transmitted and picked up. Other connections are obviously more systematic, and that's cool too. But it's fun to make those unpredictable connections in improbable places through unlikely occurrences.

So hello, Bangkok! Hello, Mortsel! Hello, Shumen!