Flag Counter Update

Ahoy!

We've enjoyed a flurry of International visitors lately. The Top 48 countries have not changed much for weeks, but what has changed--dramatically--is the situation at the other end of the spectrum. Countries which had not visited these pages previously are visiting in droves. The list of "never" countries is diminishing! Before this flurry, the most recent new country was Fiji in Feb 2018. Then on Dec 25, we had our first visit from Vanuatu. In the past two days (Dec 25, 26), we've seen 8 more "never countries" join the Parade of Nations, leaving only 36 of 242 countries that have yet to send their first visitor our way.

To what do we owe the honor and privilege? We had no new countries in 10 months, and then what--Santa Claus filled my stocking?! How has this phenomenon come to pass? If I knew for certain what caused this activity, I'd do more of it!

One clue: Someone has "liked" one of my posts enough to share it. And now that post has caught some wind and is swirling around the globe on ethereal currents. I typically see about 50 visitors per day, most of them from English speaking nations, and most of them interested in the popular Road King post. For some reason, the recent post about Marcus Aurelius garnered 250 visits in 2 days, double the views of my most popular post (Road King). At the same time, the traffic shifted and diversified. Traffic from Russia was four times that of the USA, and a total of 95 different countries tripped the Flag Counter.

These numbers absolutely floored me. Forgive the uncharacteristic hubris. I have good reason to be humble about the content on my blog and no reason to think that this flirtation with something like a viral post is an indicator of anything but luck. Yet I do hope readers can appreciate how thrilling this is for me! To think that something I created has been seen, appreciated, shared, and seen again by people all over the world... it's immensely gratifying.

Fig. 1. The Flag Counter is located near the bottom of the page

Fig. 2. A closeup of the Flag Counter, showing the number of unique visitors from the top 48 countries.

Since August 2015, I have been updating an older Flag Counter post. At that time, there were 53 never countries. I went back and updated the list as new counties joined at the rate of one or two per month. But then, after our 10-month dry spell, there have been so many changes lately that the old post just doesn't reflect reality. I decided to update the maps and the list of never countries. I will return to this post to count down the countries until at least one unique visitor from every one of the 242 recognized countries on this planet has stopped by for a little Philosophy + Special Effects.

Table 1. Distribution of Visitors Across the Globe

0 visitors = 36 countries
1 - 9 visitors = 108 countries
10 - 99 visitors = 58 countries
100 - 999 visitors = 34 countries
1000 - 9999 visitors = 5 countries
over 10,000 visitors = 1 country (so far!)

as of 2018 12 27

Fig 3. Map of the globe, with 206 of 242 flags on display

Fig 4. Closeup of The Americas

Fig 5. Closeup of Europe, Africa, and Southwest Asia

Fig. 6. Closeup of Southeast Asia and Oceana

As of 11:00 AM Dec 27, 2018, 206 of 242 countries of the world had tripped the Flag Counter, meaning that we were down to only 36 countries who had yet to visit PhilosFX. Table 2. The "Never" Countries
American Samoa		Liechtenstein 1/5		Sierra Leone 12/27/18
Bhutan 1/3		Marshall Islands		Sint Maarten 3/2
British Indian Ocean Terr.		Mauritania		Somalia 12/27
Cabo Verde		Niue		South Sudan 12/27/18
Central African Republic		Norfolk Island		Svalbard 1/31
Christmas Island 12/31/18		North Korea 12/31/18		Swaziland 12/27/18
Comoros		Palau		Tokelau 2/16
Equatorial Guinea 4/18		Rep. of the Congo 12/27/18		Tonga
Eritrea 12/27		Saint Barthelemy		Turkmenistan
Falkland Islands		Saint Helena		Tuvalu
Greenland 12/18/2019		Saint Pierre and Miquelon 7/21		Vatican City 12/31/18
Guinea-Bissau 4/26		Sao Tome and Principe		Wallis and Futuna

Note: Updates are posted to the above table as they occur. As of December 18, 2019, we have 224 of 242 flags, and we are now down to only 18 remaining countries! The previous update occurred on July 21, 2019. When will the next new country visit PhilosFX?

Ladies and Gentlemen, by way of concluding this post, I certainly hope you occasionally find something of genuine interest here on these pages. Most of the content I provide has some redeeming value beyond self-congratulations. I blog mostly because I want to leave myself and my friends a catalog of interesting and thought-provoking posts that we can enjoy in our dotage. I trust that some social benefit comes from my effort--some greater good beyond my own entertainment. So, thank you for reading! Thank you to the creators of Flag Counter for enabling us to enjoy this mystery together. Thank you for sharing and commenting--these interactions inspire me to continue exploring, writing, and posting.

Please feel free to introduce your website in a comment. I will drop in for a visit sometime. We're all connected...

Cheers!