Thursday 7 November 2013

Another stupid number

One million five hundred thousand is a large number.  A very large number.  How large?  If you were to take 1,500,000 standard light bulbs and put them end to end, it would make it from the Tower of London to Stonehenge with a few hundred light bulbs to spare.  Why light bulbs?  Because it's my damned blog and I'll use whatever random measurement I want to make the number look more impressive.  And why London?  Because the distance just happened to match.  I could have used the Eiffel Tower to Rouen, The Leaning Tower of Pisa to Bologna, or the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to Haifa, so don't read too much into it.  Seriously, stop it.

Not that the number needs any assistance to look better.  It's pretty impressive on its own.  To put it in perspective, here are some statistics:

  • There are 1.5 million non-profit organisations in the United States.
  • 1.5 million years ago, modern humans (Homo ergaster) were skilled tool-makers and hunters and had just learned to control fire.
  • 1.5 million people are killed worldwide due to indoor pollution from cooking fires each year.
  • There are 1.5 million new Android devices registered each day.
And one final statistic - As of today, this blog has been read 1.5 million times.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating: THANK YOU.  Without my loyal readers (and random people who I'm sure have accidentally stumbled across my crazy little nook and run away screaming), I would have quit writing years ago after the first post.  If anyone missed the million mark and wants to leave a comment letting me know where you're from, this is your last opportunity.

Until we hit two million.

45 comments:

  1. I did post on the "million" post, so you'll have to look up my location from there, but let me congratulate you again on that new numerical milestone and thank you for being a constant source of sophisticated entertainment and the exhibition of the stranger sides of human stupidity.
    I'd probably comment more often, but I usually read your blog on my phone and that makes commeting royal PITA (for example comment nesting doesn't work, and typing is annoying). But I've read, and enjoyed, every single post here.

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  2. I might've missed the Million post, but here's a shout to you from the United States, in the Midwest, somewhere around Illinois!

    Been reading this blog a long time, enjoying the many crazy stories about crazy people. Wandered here from FML after seeing one of many interesting profile images...

    So I'm here to congratulate you on a new milestone, and for making me realize that human stupidity is a worldwide epidemic, not just related to the United States as everyone seems to think.

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  3. I love you blog. I am a senior in high school and when I first found your blog from FML, I went all the way back and read from the very first post! I aspire to be a doctor and am seriously looking at trauma! Love reading your posts! :)

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  4. Your blog is amazing. I recommend it to my friends all the time. I missed the million post though. A shout out from United Kingdom. Because of your blog I have considered medicine as a possible career path for the future(not sure yet). Anyway I enjoy your posts and keep it up :D

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  5. Wow Congrats!
    I'm reading this from a little town called Eastbourne in England, UK. I've also introduced my mum and boyfriend to your blog!

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  6. New reader from Michigan, United States! I had stumbled across your blog a few days ago, and I have not stopped reading your past posts since. Your stories are very intriguing. I'm a veterinary technician, even though it's not human medicine I understand the medical lingo, and I had my share of traumas in animals. Congrats Doc, looking forward to more stories!

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  7. I really enjoy this blog. I look on Twitter often to see if you've posted anything new because your stories are always so entertaining. I like learning new things and seeing things from the perspective of a doctor. I think it helps people become better patients.
    Anyway, I'm a chemical engineering student from Ontario, Canada and I really enjoy your blog. Please keep writing :)

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  8. Shout out from Winterpeg, manitoba, Canada! Great blog doc, you make me laugh so hard sometimes :P

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  9. I expect I commented before, but bad luck! I'm going to comment again.

    1,500,000 is a pretty big number. If you had a cent for every time a post was read you could come to the UK from wherever you are in the world and take a trip from the Tower of London to Stonehenge. If you're going to buy all those light-bulbs, however, your going to have to keep posting!

    Thanks for your efforts from here, only a few thousand lightbulbs away from the Tower of London. Keep up the great work.

    Ugi

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  10. hehe
    will wait the 2 m then;)

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  11. Hi Doc, I'm a senior at Beverly High School in Beverly Massachusetts. I read FML, so I stumbled upon your blog that way. I likes it so much, I read every single post all the way back to your first ever post. Congratulations!

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  12. Congratulations from Addlestone, Surrey UK! Love your blog, very well written and entertaining.

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  13. Congratulations from North Carolina, Doc! Thank you for bringing humor to a subject that can quickly get dark, and for bringing knowledge to some of the people less gifted in the cranial region! :)

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  14. Israel here! Not interested in medicine in the slightest, but this blog isn't the least bit less fun to read.

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  15. I'm from Australia. I wish to study medicine and I was trying to find some blogs that might offer tips and advice. Instead I found this one. Not an ounce or regret here :) !

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  16. Shout out from Toronto, Canada. You rock Doc!

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  17. Shout out from a medical student in London - I love your blog! As do some of my medic friends :P keep them coming, you remind me that there's still a light at the end of the long tunnel of medicine. :)

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  18. Congratulations from (the area of) Jerusalem!

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  19. I'm a 20-year-old dental hygiene student from Quebec, Canada. Love reading your blog, it makes me laugh my ass off. Congrats on the 1.5 millions hits! :D

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  20. Congratulations on 1.5 million reads! I always look forward to your posts & enjoy your comments on FML. Much support from southern California!

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  21. I found this blog as an animal science undergrad at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I've shared it with my friends back home in Chicago and my new friends at Iowa State University as a graduate student in Biomedical Science!

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  22. I've been an FML fan of yours for a while, but only recently discovered the blog. I read through the entirety of it on...Monday, I think? Sometime in the past week.

    Anyhow, I'm a substitute teacher from Southeastern Ohio. Not a very medical person, myself, but I am a writer and, as such, really appreciate your way with words, Doc.

    Congrats on 1.5! It'll only go up from here~

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  23. I stumbled onto your blog from your account on FML about 6 months ago and have been reading it since. I always look forward to the next post, Eager to hear another story about another biker, drunk, dumb ER docs or just a classic foreign object stuck in odd places. KEEP WRITING! Greetings from Southern California

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  24. Melbourne, Australia & love the stories - I'm in HR in healthcare....oh the things people get up to....! Brilliant blog.

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  25. Greetings from a psychology student from Italy!

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  26. Congratulations or félicitations, as we say here! *waves hand from Strasbourg, France*

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  27. Well, one shout from the Czech republic :)
    Congratulations on your success - as a medical student and a person, who knows some doctors I think it's amazing, that you spend some of your time to inform us about your cases. Actually, your blog is one of the things that remind me, why such a underpaid and hard job (at least in my country) is worth it. Keep on please and good luck on your crusade against worldwide idiocy ;)
    And, eh, I'm sorry for my english... I know, how you hate it ;)

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  28. Love your blog and hello from Utah.

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  29. Winterpeg canada!
    Love your blog doc. Keeps me entertained in class.

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  30. From another loyal reader in North Carolina, congratulations.

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  31. Much love from Ohio! Your blog is so much fun to read!

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  32. WHOOOOOO 1.5million! Congrats and I'm so glad you didn't stop writing!
    Love from Singapore :)

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  33. My sister in law showed me your blog after she saw that I read Agraphia, much love from St Louis Missouri!

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  34. Congratulations once again, from Finland! Your blog has a great mix of disdain and empathy.

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  35. Congrats on hitting 1.5 million. I've definitely put my share of clicks into that pot. Thanks for opening a window into the real world and showing us all the almost Darwin winners you've managed keep going.

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  36. Congratulations on the 1.5 million reads from Prince George's county, Maryland.

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  37. I'm from London (Canada...not the UK). Love reading your posts!

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  38. Congratulations from Des Moines, IA. I love your blog.

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  39. Woohoo!!!!!!! 1.5 million!
    Allen, TX

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  40. Congrats -

    Followed from FML, ditched them but kept you.
    Psychology student in Oregon.

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  41. Doc I've always found your blog to be a thoroughly good read (quite addictive infact), congratulations from a Master of Rehabilitation student living in Oxford, England.

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  42. I have been reading your blog from Manchester, UK every so often for around 2 years. As posted above, I also find your blog to be quite addive! Congratulations for a month ago!

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  43. Hey Doc, I discovered your blog about an hour ago, from a reference in the comments section of a discussion of the Jahi McMath case on the Trials and Tribulations blog. I am a voracious reader and I am always on the lookout for anything well written and intelligent. I've tabbed you, so you now have a reader in Fruita Colorado. (Funky friendly little town on the border of Utah that claims to be the mountain biking capital of the world). Thanks for the writing, I am enjoying the reading.

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  44. I found you a few weeks ago. Gives me a good laugh for the day. I hail from the village of Pottstown PA.(near Philly). Thank You

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  45. I'm late to the party. Can't remember how I found your blog a few days ago, but I'm now a loyal reader

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