I’ve held my counting fixation at bay recently although it lurks just below the surface ready to strike. It emerged briefly during the summer as I crossed the borders into several new counties in Utah and it disappeared just as quickly when I focused on other pursuits. It’s been much longer since I paid attention to the world map of new Twelve Mile Circle visitors. I think that’s because I’ve already colored-in all but the most stubborn territories.
Nonetheless, I continue to stay curious so I checked it again over the weekend. I’d added only two new nations since last spring: Andorra and Somalia. Don’t get me wrong, these are great catches. It’s awesome adding both of them to the list.
A Focus on Somalia
Somalia brought a particular sense of satisfaction. The Somalia internet domain did not exist for several years while the nation dealt with larger issues. A country code top-level domain (“.so”) didn’t become available again until April 2011 when ICANN re-delegated it to Somalia’s Ministry of Information, Post and Telecommunications.
I attracted my first Somali guest soon thereafter, thus coloring-in what had been one of the larger blank spots remaining on my map. The visitor landing on my website arrived from Hargeisa, the second largest city in Somalia and the capital of Somaliland, a self-declared sovereign state. I guess I’ll find myself in an interesting position if Somalia splits and Somaliland becomes an independent nation. Somaliland will have already been captured in my logs but I’ll have to go back and pick up Somalia again.
This is not an academic exercise according to my completely arbitrary yet fully binding rules of international website visitor fixations. That might have also happened to me with the creation of South Sudan. Google Analytics is a bit slow. It still shows the outdated Sudan borders so I’ll just have to wait that one out a little longer.
What’s still missing?
Antarctica, Ascension Island, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Comoros, Cook Islands, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Falkland Islands, French Southern Territories, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Kiribati, Montserrat, Niger, Niue, Norfolk Island, North Korea, Pitcairn Islands, Republic of the Congo, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Helena, Samoa, San Marino, São Tomé and Príncipe, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, South Sudan (possibly), Tokelau, Tuvalu, Vatican City, Wallis and Futuna.
Many of these locations are tiny islands in remote locations or they’re impoverished areas of Africa where English isn’t a prominent language. Still, I hold out hope that some of these places may check in eventually.
This is the part where I beg again
There are a number of regular readers from the UK. Perhaps one of you knows someone who resides in or plans to visit any of the more obscure British Overseas Territories? Maybe send them a link to this page and ask them drop by for a quick visit? I’ll give double bonus points and abundant recognition if they post a comment.
I can’t believe I’m still missing San Marino either. Surely somebody plans to stop there soon? However, Vatican City is a bit more enigmatic. I have it under good authority that someone once clicked from that location but it apparently registered as Rome in the statistics. A similar thing happened to me when I was on the French side of St. Martin — all of my activity registered as the Netherlands Antilles. I think in certain situations the Internet gateways may not aligning exactly with territorial boundaries.
I’m not sure I’ll ever get Heard Island and McDonald Islands though. It’s doesn’t have a permanent population.
Totally Unrelated
We’re one step closer to an American Meridian Happy Hour. The operative phrase is: “The nearly 5,500 square foot restaurant features a 54-seat bar…” Right now I’m thinking January after we get the Holidays behind us. I will send out a formal announcement ahead of time.
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