What did James McKay discover?

Posted at 00:00 on 01 January 2009

The answer: that someone reached my blog by typing that very question into Google. It's been a while since I last went through my Google Analytics search results, but when I did recently, I also discovered that people arrived here by searching for curiosities such as "busker in kilt bath" or "cool stuff that ten year olds like to put on descktop" (sic) or "dentist torture" or "deliverance ministry in horsham uk". And so, as another year has drawn to a close, here are some more particularly interesting searches from 2008, that I will take a moment or two to comment on:

"corporate dressing, corridors of power"

Does Google know too much about me?! When I came across this one, I had said almost nothing about my new job on my blog. But yes I am expected to wear a tie (except during recess and on non-sitting Fridays) -- however, it doesn't really bother me.

"curiosities of the number 23"

Wikipedia has a pretty comprehensive list. Including, as ever, "in popular culture."

"how not to look a prat in a cycle helmet"

Simple: don't wear one. Obviously, if you are concerned about safety, or live in a jurisdiction where the law demands it, this is not an option. You'll just have to put up with looking a prat.

"how do you pronounce mckay"

It rhymes with "eye," not with "day." Even Stargate Atlantis and the folks on the History Channel who interview a well known exobiologist who shares his surname with me get it wrong. Sigh. But talking of Stargate Atlantis, someone asked:

"what programming language do they use on stargate atlantis for the machines"

Hmmm, I don't know whether Stargate Command use .NET and C#, as whoever searched for "stargate c# dot net" must have been thinking, but apparently, it turns out that the Replicators are programmed in JavaScript. It also seems that one visitor to my blog thinks that there is a "stargate near m6 motorway".

You really wonder sometimes...