It’s All About The Numbers!

Numbers. Everything we do boils down to numbers. How much we make, how many of something we need or want, statistics, records, quantities etc. We wake up in the morning and check the time. We calculate how many cups of coffee we can have and whether or not we have time to read that great computer column blog, courtnederveld.blogspot.com.
Numbers. They are so important. We check the lotto numbers to see if we have to go to work tomorrow. Goals are set around specific numbers. I will mow the lawn by noon. I need four new tires on the car. Dinner tonight will cost approximately some number so I should go to the bank. The electric bill arrived today and there are way too many numbers on the amount due line.
Numbers. Even a columnist pays attention to numbers. There has to be a column every week. How many columns ahead should I be? Two, three, four? How many words in a column? How many people emailed me and said they enjoy or hate my column. (Martha, how do I open this email program?) How many readers or followers do I really have?
Remember the story about taking a penny, double it the next day, then double that again the next day for a month? At the end of thirty days you have a million dollars. (of course the downside is the weight of a million pennies would probably kill you) Email chain letters are the same thing. One person emails something to every address in their contacts list, they send it to everyone in their email address book and then everyone they sent it to sends it to everyone in their address book and so on. The numbers of recipients expands exponentially.
So how can this power of exponentialism (I made that up, but it could be the basis of a new doctrine. Remember you saw it here first.) be put to use?
This weeks blog is the twenty-fourth posts and in the newspaper this week is the 356^th weekly column of Bits and Bytes published in the Charlotte Sun Newspaper in Southwest Florida. Consider it my six year anniversary. My editor tells me that the subscribers receiving my columns total 40,000 readers. Here is what I would like to do to test my new theory of exponentialism. On the right side of the blog are some buttons that say Share on Facebook or Tweet this blog. Click on one and share it with friends that may find it useful. If they don’t use Facebook or Twitter then click on File in the toolbar at the top of the browser and click on Send link by email and send friends a link to the blog so they can read it themselves. Let me know if you like the column, hate the column, (be gentle) or just don’t care. But let me know by posting a reply to my post. Let me know if a particular topic might be of interest, or perhaps a prior topic should be expanded. Some of the topics I am toying with are Firefox, performance issues, (the computers, not yours) and some “how things work” columns.
I will compile all the responses I get, and make sure future blog posts are about items that interest my readers. Now, to prove my new theory, send an email to everyone in your email book, and ask him or her to visit courtnederveld.blogspot.com and ask them to send me a note as well. I want to see email from every corner of the globe.
One last thing. Loyal reader Shirley notes, I read your interesting column today and am reminded that when I leave for Holland Sunday. I shall miss the Q&A column you are working on for the Sun Herald in a few weeks. Another fan of Bits and Bytes, Eli writes, I read your articles in the Charlotte Sun but have been away for the past month so today's was the first article I've read recently. What can you do to make sure that you don’t fail to see a single column?
Remember, if traveling away from Charlotte County this summer, Bits and Bytes columns can be read at http://ee.yoursun.net/login.aspx?. There is a free trial subscription or for a nominal fee access to the Sun Newspaper can be had year round. This is an electronic version of the newspaper. It is laid out exactly as you would see it if you were holding the paper in your hands. Actually even easier, since the only thing in your hands is a cup of coffee and your computer mouse. Don’t miss a single exciting issue.
Don’t forget, if you don’t get the paper or are planning to stop, many of the best columns are available in Grumbles From The Keyboard or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer. This is my latest book and takes over eighty-nine columns, updates them, expands them and categorizes them by topic. A bonus vocabulary builder is written right in so the pesky grandkids will be amazed when you start rattling on about motherboards, search engines and other mysterious topics.  The book is available by clicking on the link to the right, amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, special order from your favorite bookstore or even from the Bean on 41 where some of the best coffees and sandwiches are served.
I’m counting on you and you and you!