The 2007 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree – The Photoblog!
By Brian | November 10, 2007
OK, I’m trying something new here at I Should Be Sleeping – a photoblog. Every weekday between November 8 and November 28, I will take at least one picture of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree (which stands in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York – just across the street from my office at 50 Rockefeller Plaza), and post it to this page. Click back there every day to follow the arrival, hoisting, decorating, and finally, lighting of the most famous Christmas Tree in the World.
While I’m at it, some background: This year’s Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was planted in 1947 in Shelton, Connecticut by the first owner of Joseph and Judy Rivnyak’s house on Soundview Avenue. It was cut down with a handsaw on November 7th, loaded onto a flatbed truck, and transported into New York City. Four of the past nine Rockefeller Center Christmas Trees have come from Connecticut.
The tree is 84 feet tall and 48 feet in diameter at its base. It is estimated that by the time it is taken down, more than a billion people will have seen the tree, either live or on television. Or, of course, on the Internet.
If you’d like to fall into this last category, remember to click on the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Photoblog each day for an update!
Categories: New York, New York | 1 Comment »
1 Million People Cancel the Paper
By Brian | November 9, 2007
James Lileks calls this chart, “horrifying, if you’re in the newspaper business.” He’s not in the newspaper business, of course, but yet he still works for a newspaper. Ah well, my life is complicated enough without trying to figure out his.
Anyway, as regards the numbers, the basic message is this: in the last 2.5 years, over a million people have cancelled their subscription to one of the Top 20 newspapers in America. TV News viewership has been declining for years as well.
There is always much speculation as to the reason, but for my money, it’s simply this: why would I pay anything (even a few cents) to read news that is at least a few hours old when I can read up-to-the-minute news on one of a dozen widely available devices for free?
Everyone says that newspapers will never die, just as television didn’t kill the radio. But here’s the thing: the radio changed. “All News, All the Time” stations have been largely replaced by (opinion-based) talk radio, local traffic and weather reports, and quick news snippets at the top of each hour. If newspapers don’t find a new niche quickly, it won’t be the Internet that killed them, it will be their own stubbornness.
Categories: News and/or Media | 1 Comment »
Tic Tac Two?
By Brian | November 8, 2007
OK, here’s a phrase I’ve never typed before: Following up on my post about Tic-Tacs…
But seriously, there’s more.
You see, the orange-in-flavor-but-not-in-color tic tacs are truly awful. They don’t taste good, and they don’t freshen your breath, which is the main reason I bought Tic Tacs in the first place. So, I went to a different newsstand in hopes of finding the old standby: plain, white Tic Tacs. Well, I found them, but guess what else I found!
So apparently, there are two types of orange Tic Tacs. Excuse my french, but what the fuck is up with that? The mind truly boggles…
Ah, but wait, there’s still more: looking closely at the back of the containers, I learn, well, more than I ever thought I would reading the back of a Tic Tac container. To wit:
The orange Tic Tacs are listed as having 1.5 calories per mint. The white ones are listed as having 1.9 calories per mint. Anyone else remember the “one and a half calorie breath mint” commercials? Are there really different formulas for these things? Did Tic Tac add something to the white flavor to give it 0.4 more calories? Was there fine print on the commercials that said “Calories refer to orange flavor only” that I missed all those years ago?
Also, the back of the orange-flavored-but-white-colored Tic Tacs doesn’t list calorie information at all, but lists the ingredients in both English and French. Maybe these are French Tic Tacs being sold illegally in the United States? Ooh, a Tic Tac scandal! You read it here first!
And…there’s a website. Here’s the product page at TicTacUSA.com. You’ll notice if you click around – no white Tic Tacs that taste orange. We’re definitely looking at some foreign mints here, folks…
Finally, I just couldn’t resist checking why they used TicTacUSA.com, instead of TicTac.com. Turns out there is no site up at TicTac.com, although the domain is registered to an Italian gentleman named Oscar Saglietti from Alba, and the technical contact is in the UK.
Someone ought to write a book (someone other than me, that is…)
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 3 Comments »
No Comment
By Brian | November 5, 2007
The Writer’s Guild of America has gone on strike over the issue of residuals for DVD and internet sales.
When asked for a comment, an Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers(AMPTP)spokesman said, “Er…..um…….well, you see…….uh…….hmmm…….let me think……ah! No……errrr………LINE?!?!?”
Categories: Primetime TV | Comments Off on No Comment
Trinity College – 15 Laterals for the Win…
By Brian | November 2, 2007
So, the inexplicable popularity of my Cal/Stanford post makes me think I should post this:
Trinity College uses 15 laterals to beat Millsaps in a Division III game in the final seconds of the fourth quarter. Amazing…
Categories: Sports Talk | 2 Comments »
How People Found Me – October Edition
By Brian | November 2, 2007
The Categories
| Category | October Count | September Count |
| Technology | 196 | 146 |
| Billy Joel | 183 | 112 |
| Celebrity Look Alikes | 54 | 30 |
| DSL | 46 | 44 |
| Bruce Springsteen | 27 | 0 |
| Adult/Porn-Related | 23 | 33 |
| Cal/Stanford | 23 | 22 |
| ISBS Song | 18 | 14 |
| Politics | 15 | 17 |
| Concerts | 14 | 14 |
| Penn | 13 | 16 |
| Overrated Films | 12 | 10 |
| Baton | 12 | 0 |
| Baseball | 11 | 23 |
Queries were up dramatically again this month (736 vs. 626), thanks primarily to increased Technology queries, and queries about Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen.
Technology still leads the pack, but rumors of Billy Joel touring again seem to have fueled a resurgence in Billy Joel related queries, to the point where he almost caught the technology queries this month. The other categories were pretty much the standard group, although I’m pleased to see that the Adult/Porn-Related queries have died down a bit. The one that continues to surprise me the most is the Cal/Stanford queries – how so many people wind up on my site as opposed to YouTube for that clip is beyond me. It kind of makes me wish I had something meaningful to add on the subject, so that all the visitors to that post have something interesting to read. I don’t, though – I just like watching the video…
The Referring Sites
Each month seems to have a new favorite referrer. Last month, it was The Gothamist, who linked to my taxi burning post and generated hundreds of visitors and thousands of pageviews. This month, the honor goes to Backstreets, the site dedicated to all things Springsteen. I posted a link to my review there, and 51 visitors looked at 86 pages because of it. A comment on John Scalzi’s blog, ironically about the practice of commenting on blogs to drive traffic to your own blog, yielded 16 visitors and 36 pageviews. My friend Ilya’s blog generated a consistent 14 visitors and 41 pageviews, although for some rather shady content (you’ll have to click over to find out what). Also, the Penn Band’s baton related shenanigans drove some traffic my way from IvyGate, digg, Facebook, and del.icio.us. Ah, college…
The Keywords
All told, 736 queries resulted in hits to Familygreenberg.com in October (about 110 more than were used in September). Here are some samples:
In honor of the baseball post-season, we begin this month with baseball:
| Query | Rank / # of Results | Comments |
| when’s the world series | >500 / 250,000 | Clearly a huge baseball fan here… |
| commentators for rockies padres game tonight | >500 / 23,400 | I’m only watching if I can hear Jerry Coleman… |
Moving on to some interesting Billy Joel-related queries:
| Query | Rank / # of Results | Comments |
| belly joel my life lyric | 4 / 232,000 | Belly joel – it’s like “jelly roll” with a head cold… |
| billy hoel just the way you are lyrics | 1 / 15,900 | Billy Hoel – the German version! |
| use of transistor radio in billy joel songs | 1 / 35,300 | For listening. In 1975. Time to upgrade to an iPod, my friend… |
| what can i expect in a billy joel concert | 1 / 297,000 | Get out of the blogs and get over to YouTube, my friend… |
And onward to the just plain wild and whacky:
| Query | Rank / # of Results | Comments |
| can someone find me a monologue from harry potter | >500 / 164,000 | Hermione, or not Hermione – that is the question… |
| html- celebrity look alike | 55 / 1,710,000 | Here’s someone who’s not so much interested in what celebrities he/she looks like, but more about how the website works. My kind of Googler… |
| is section 36 row d good seats in madison square garden | 13 / 120,000 | No. It’s on the floor, so it’s not elevated, and it’s all the way in the back. |
| madison square garden seating sec 94 reviews | 4 / 176,000 | Section 94 was in great form tonight. They started with a couple of well known rock tunes, then sat down comfortably for a ballad. Their encore left something to be desired when the first three seats in the second row left early, and the fourth row, seat 5, kept getting up to go the bathroom. Now, section 92 – that was a great show… |
| scalp wachovia center price concert | 1 / 750 | A criminal who does his research. Redeeming qualities? Perhaps… |
| incredible lawsuit | 5 / 1,470,000 | Maybe a guy who’s suing a Disney cartoon? |
| inverted universe | >500 / 901,000 | This guy was querying with Bizarro-Google. |
| 8 track tapes | >500 / 9,770,000 | Googling for 8 track tapes? What a mixed anacrhonism… |
| funny quotes using the word “overconfidence” | >500 / 15,200 | Ah, those overconfidence jokes – hours of fun for the whole family… |
| should i keep cds | >500 / 3,650,000 | No. Buy an iPod. |
| titanicstop | n/a / 10 | Iceberg. Next question. |
| warning underwear why should we have them | >500 / 914,000 | Ewww…if you have to ask, it’s way too late. |
| what 7 thing i should do if you are in a hurricane | >500 / 1,880,000 | #1) I should help you. #2) I should help you. You get the idea… |
| what is a reason people should live new york | >500 / 10,900,000 | It certainly makes the commute easier, no? |
| when is ross gelbspan’s birthday? | n/a / 267 | Ross Gelbspan is a Boston Globe writer who wrote about global warming. This guy must send birthday cards to his favorite columnists… |
| spotlight search for windows xp | n/a / 487 | No. Spotlight Search for Mac. If you want that with Windows, upgrade to Vista. |
And finally, back by popular demand, it’s the Adult/Porn-related queries (WARNING: You have been warned):
| Query | Rank / # of Results | Comments |
| wife sleeping pictures, pictures of sleepy naked wife, rate my naked sleeping wife pics, spouse took nude pictures of wife while asleep | 122 / 2,260,000 >500 / 2,020,000 >500 / 1,2340,000 63 / 263,000 | I can only imagine that these wives don’t use the Internet much… |
| daddy does sons sexpics, mom and son sex pics | >500 / 274,000 >500 / 2,290,000 | Gross, gross, and gross. I can promise you these folks were disappointed when they clicked over to my site… |
| naked guys asleep, naked guys washing cars | >500 / 1,340,000 231 / 749,000 | How about naked guys washing cars while asleep? |
| breast sleep sex pictures, sleeping breast sex pic | >500 / 2,130,000 >500 / 2,130,000 | The problem with sleeping breasts is that when you wake them, they get all cranky… |
| mythical creature sex pictures | >500 / 286,000 | OK, this guy is weird even among this crowd… |
| should i sleep naked | >500 / 1,820,000 | Apparently not – someone (probably your spouse) will photograph you and put your picture on the internet. |
Categories: Blogging about Blogs | 2 Comments »
Familygreenberg.com Health Check – October Edition
By Brian | November 2, 2007
| Metric | September | October | % Change |
| Visits | 2,203 | 1,519 | -31.05% |
| Pageviews | 3,573 | 2,380 | -33.39% |
| Pages/Visit | 1.62 | 1.57 | -3.39% |
| Avg Time on Site | 0:38 | 0:43 | +14.45% |
| Bounce Rate | 80.44% | 79.46% | -1.21% |
| % New Visitors | 91.47% | 86.18% | -5.78% |
OK, I was prepared for this. Last month, my post about a taxi cab that burned up in front of my office generated an incredible 870 visits and 1,300 pageviews. While it felt good at the time, I was mentally prepared for the stats to drop back down to earth this month. The fall was cushioned a little bit by the Penn Band’s Guinness World Record Setting Conductor’s Baton, which generated around 180 visits. Also, Billy Joel going back on tour, which has regenerated interested in my most popular post ever, my concert review of his Madison Square Garden show. That post received 352 visits in October, up from just 139 in September (+153.24%).
For a better comparison, I ran the stats last month without September 18-20, the three days that generated the bulk of taxi-related visits/pageviews. Here’s how October stacked up against those numbers:
| Metric | September’ | October | % Change |
| Visits | 1,080 | 1,519 | +40.65% |
| Pageviews | 1,570 | 2,380 | +51.59% |
| Pages/Visit | 1.44 | 1.57 | +9.02% |
| Avg Time on Site | 0:48 | 0:43 | -10.42% |
| Bounce Rate | 83.43% | 79.46% | -4.76% |
| % New Visitors | 86.56% | 86.18% | -0.44% |
Looking at it this way, October was a great month indeed. Traffic was up 40-50%, and my visitors looked at more pages and left after one entry less often. The only site that was down was Avg. Time on Site, which dropped 10.42% (or five seconds). I can definitely live with those numbers.
Here’s hoping something cool happens in November to keep the momentum going…
Categories: Blogging about Blogs | Comments Off on Familygreenberg.com Health Check – October Edition
Dog Shoots Man
By Brian | October 31, 2007
Jeez, remember when it was considered news for a dog to bite a man? Well, now they’re ARMED!
DES MOINES, Iowa — A hunter is recovering after he was shot in the leg by his dog, who stepped on his shotgun and tripped the trigger, an official said yesterday.
[The man’s group] shot a bird, and when [he] went to get it, he put his gun on the ground and crossed a fence. As he crossed the fence, his hunting dog stepped on the gun…
Categories: The World Wide Weird | Comments Off on Dog Shoots Man
Take That, Taco Bell…
By Brian | October 31, 2007
Much has been made of Taco Bell’s Steal a Base, Steal a Taco campaign, in which everyone in America is (was) eligible for a free taco at participating Taco Bell’s today, October 30th, from 2pm – 5pm, because there was at least one stolen base in the 2007 World Series.
Not to be outdone, Chipolte is running a Boo-Rito campaign tomorrow (on Halloween). So says the website:
Come in on Halloween, Wednesday, October 31st, from 5pm to Close, dressed like a Chipolte burrito, taco, bowl or salad, and we’ll complete you costume with a FREE BURRITO
Quite the master stroke, huh? Now if only they told anyone about it…
Categories: The World Wide Weird | Comments Off on Take That, Taco Bell…
And Nobody Got Hurt…
By Brian | October 30, 2007
In the world of cheerleader video, this has got to be at least in the Top 5:
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