Statistics

In his autobiography, Mark Twain confirmed that "there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." How true.

I've been looking at the various stats that Blogger offer you regarding traffic to your site, in terms of what posts are the most popular, where people live, what browser they are using. And was very surprised at what I found.

According to this, the most popular post that I have ever written since I started this blog was a small article about the Father Dowling Mysteries, that I wrote as part of my A-Z of Detectives a year or two ago. What?

The second most popular was a light-hearted post about 'International Talk Like A Pirate Day'. How random is that?

This doesn't really add up. What was so wonderful about these particular blog entries? In order to understand this a bit better you need to factor in other things, like the fact that that first post seems to get two or three spam attempts a week via the comments tab. Anything from internet mailings in Russian script to pedicures and the obligatory sales pitch for little blue pills. Thank heavens for Blogger's very effective spam filter!

Here's a few more quotes to round this entry off:

98% of all statistics are made up. (Author Unknown)

Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable. (Author Unknown)

N is for Nuns & Priests (Father Dowling)

'Father Dowling Mysteries' is a TV detective series, based on the adventures of the title character created by Ralph McInerny (Professor of Philosophy, Director of the Jacques Maritain Centre) and Michael P. Grace (Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame). Father Frank Dowling is a Catholic priest who acts as an amateur sleuth in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois. He is assisted in his investigations by Sister Stephanie "Steve" Oskowski, a streetwise nun who was born on a rough housing estate in the city. There were three series made, with Tom Bosley playing Father Frank Dowling, with Tracy Nelson as Sister Stephanie.

You may be interested to know Ralph McInerny's original novels were about Father Roger Dowling - and that's not the only change they made when they adapted the show for TV! Fans of 'clerical detectives' may wish to check out this link:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/philipg/detectives/intro.html