Given that 2005 is now all but wrapped up, I thought it would be good to go back and look at why it is that 2005 has been the most amazing year yet for sjhoward.co.uk. 

In 2004, the site generated 238,122 hits.  That’s quite a lot for a little site like mine.  In 2005, I’ve been blown away by 1,200,000 hits – the exact figures aren’t yet in at the time of writing, but that’s very nearly one million more hits than last year.  That is truly incredible.  Since January, the average daily number of hits has more than tripled. 

Of course, this popularity boom comes with inherent difficulties.  In the early part of the year, the site was plagued by Internal Server Errors as my host struggled to keep up with the sudden explosion in site traffic.  Over the course of the year, however, B-One have become used to the traffic level, and so Internal Server Errors have almost become a thing of the past.

This year has also been an incredibly prolific one, with 640 posts filed, and special sections set up for coverage of the devastating tsunami of 2004, and the political excitement of this year’s General Election, not to mention being asked to write for Channel 4 News.  The amount written, though, only reflects the amount that’s happened this year – it’s been incredibly busy, with news events covering the broadest possible spectrum of emotion.

On another subject entirely, I’ve conducted several experiments with advertising on the site this year, one of which is still ongoing.  I’m happy to report that, for the first time, the site has generated enough money to cover costs during 2005, and that’s something about which we can all be glad, as it will continue to allow me to innovate and introduce new features to the site.

On the subject of new features… at the beginning of 2005, there was only one way to access the site – visiting it at sjhoward.co.uk using a standard web browser.  Now, there are many more ways of getting your fix:  You can get us on your mobile, on your mp3 player, and in your email inbox to name just three, in addition to the traditional browsing method.

On the technical side, I started the year with Blogger and finished it with WordPress, following the ‘big move’ in January.  And some exciting news:  As of today, the site is running on the all-new WordPress 2.0. This should make the site faster and more reliable, and certainly does give me more to play with, in a more intuitive way, backstage.

Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of my visitors, readers, advertisers, and others, for your support during 2005.  With you, it’s been a great year for the site, but without you, the site is nothing.  Thank you so much for your continuing support.

If this doesn’t scare you, nothing will…

Skirt-chasing playboy Daniel Anceneaux spent weeks talking with a sensual woman on the Internet before arranging a romantic rendezvous at a remote beach — and discovering that his on-line sweetie of six months was his own mother!

“I walked out on that dark beach thinking I was going to hook up with the girl of my dreams,” the rattled bachelor later admitted. “And there she was, wearing white shorts and a pink tank top, just like she’d said she would.

“But when I got close, she turned around — and we both got the shock of our lives. I mean, I didn’t know what to say. All I could think was, ‘Oh my God! it’s Mama!’ “

And it gets worse…

…a patrolman passed by and cited them for visiting a restricted beach after dark…

Read the whole thing. And be afraid. Be very afraid.

I wish all my readers a wonderful and very merry Christmas today.

To celebrate this wonderful Christmas season, here’s Chudleigh the dog. Have you ever seen anything more pointless?

The number puzzles Sudoku, first brought to Britain by The Times earlier this year, spawned something of a craze. A craze I covered in some detail. So it feels right to do some kind of six-months-on follow-up.

As well as the old Sudoku, though, a whole new raft of puzzle variations have arrived. The Daily Mail’s innovations are Sudoku X, which also includes diagonals, and Super Sudoku X, which includes a whole other set of boxes. The Mail’s efforts sadly seem to make the puzzle somewhat easier, but more protracted in actually solving it. That is, the puzzle is no more challenging, it just takes longer. The Times has experimented with several formats, including Alphadoku (exactly the same as Sudoku but with letters), Samurai Sudoku (which has five interlocking grids), Dodeka Sudoku (which is the usual but on a 12×12 grid), Superior Sudoku (which I don’t really understand why is different), and – most recently and prolifically – Killer Sudoku. This involves a normal Sudoku grid, but with the addition of small korals of letters bordered by a dotted line, with the total given for that group of letters. In this way, no numbers (or very few) are given initially, and the player has to find them all. Personally, whilst I find Killer Sudokus quite enjoyable, the challenge is essentially the same for the most part, and you simply have to factor in a single additional variable. Still, they’re worth a try.

More enjoyable in my opinion, though, is the completely different puzzle of Kakuro, which first appeared when the Guardian relaunched. In this puzzle, the player is presented with a the total for a given run of numbers, and must slot them into a grid. It has some similarities to Sudoku, and is even more similar to Killer Sudoku, but moves away from the basic Sudoku logic, to give a completely different puzzle. It’s clearly, therefore, more satisfying to attempt the paper’s Sudoku and its Kakuro, because it doesn’t feel like you’re doing the same thing twice. Kakuro is also now published in the Daily Mail, but once again, to me, The Guardian’s seem superior, with a definite process, whereas the Mail’s just seem random.

Neither The Mail nor The Guardian have seen fit to publish Kakuro on their website, but there are plenty of Kakuro websites about, including this, this, and this.

With the introduction and marketing of other Sudoku products (witness the DVD, electronic and board games, not to mention the ever-increasing plethora of books – links to the best of which appear on the right), the Sudoku craze shows no sign of slowing down. Susie Dent has even made Sudoku the Word of the Year. Which might be taking things a bit far.

Either way, I just hope that everyone stays addicted to the country’s leading number puzzles. Because if they don’t, then the papers might stop printing them… and whatever will I do then? 😉

When it’s a Mandle Candle, apparently.

This is one of the most hilariously awful products I’ve seen in ages. Not only is it truly hideous, the advert and website are terrible. Witness the sheer pleasure on the woman’s face at the beginning of the TV ad (on the site, or – amazingly – national TV), and note that it can “delight and entertain you for hours” (you’d have to be pretty damn bored) or “set the tone of an evening” (if you’re going for the cheap look).

Notice too that the headline 0n the site announces it’s “perfect for conversations”…
“I really think we need to talk”
“Okay, let’s light the Mandle Candle”

I haven’t seen anything so laugh-out-loud funny in a very long time.

This is something I considered blogging about a couple of months ago, but I wanted to see where it went and whether it took off before leaping in there.

There is a new scheme known as the Pipeline Card, which is free to sign up for, and promises to reduce the cost of petrol. The idea is that if enough people sign up and agree to buy their petrol at one chain, it will be possible to negotiate a discount with that chain for Pipeline members.

I first found out about this scheme when it was mentioned on Times Online, and it actually seems to be taking off, with the organisers saying that they should be ready to launch the scheme officially in Spring 2006. It’s completely free to register for updates and for your card, which will obviously be issued once the scheme is running, and over 50,000 people have done so thus far. Since you’re not committing yourself to anything, nor providing payment information and the like, even if the scheme doesn’t take off, you’ve not lost anything. And if it does, you’ll be getting discounted petrol next year. You really have nothing to lose!

I’ve signed up – why don’t you?

This site allows you to see pictures of models before and after they’ve been retouched – click on an image, and roll your mouse over to see the before picture. Some of them have changed beyond all recognition – shocking!

Pre-budget statement? African earthquake? Saddam trial?

No way… Not when there’s ‘MAN OFFERS GIRL, 11, LIFT IN HIS CAR‘. Stop the presses!

You’ve got to love local news:

The man … is believed to be in his 40s and bald, with only a little bit of hair at the sides

You really couldn’t make it up.

So now we know the Bible says it’s bad to be gay, I have a couple of other questions regarding Christianity which regularly find their way to my email inbox…

a) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

b) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

c) I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

d) Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?

e) I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

f) A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an Abomination (Lev 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can you settle this?

g) Lev 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

h) Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev 19:27. How should they die?

i) I know from Lev 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

j) My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Lev 24:10-16) Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

Anyone have any advice?

You think you’ve seen Christmas lights? You haven’t, until you’ve seen these. Whack up the volume, and be impressed… though how on Earth the people in that house sleep at night with those lights, I’ve really no idea. (via)

Update
To save you having to download the video in bit-hungry format, here it is streamed for you…