600!

600 posts...ridiculous

It's another milestone here in the Den.  Today marks the 600th post!  When I wrote the 500th post back in September 2011, I noted that I was surprised I'd made it that far, and now here it is, the 600th post.

When I look (obsessively) at my blog stats, the top five most widely read posts haven't changed much from those at 500.  Again, it's not because of my writing.  It's all about the Google Images search.  And speaking of Google, here are the top five search words that have brought the unsuspecting to the Den:

• 21
• Apollo 13 crew
• home
• apollo 13
• mowing the lawn (I'm not kidding about that one!)

As we commemorate the 600th post, I'll share a few facts about the year 600 from my favorite arbiter of all things true on the interwebs, Wikipedia:

• In the year 600, the population of the Earth reaches 208 million (I'm not buying this one. How does anyone know that?  Where's the census on that one?)
• Smallpox arrives in Europe for the first time (lovely).
• King Ingvar of Sweden invades Estonia but is killed by the locals (perhaps this was the genesis for the Swedes overall pacifism).
• Nazca culture ends in the Andes (shoot, never got to try Nazcan empanadas!)
• The moldboard plow is invented in eastern Europe (and what a relief that was).
• Pope Gregory I codifies what comes to be known as Gregorian Chant (well without him we'd never have had that freaky one-hit wonder by a bunch of Gregorian monks). Name that band and the year!

To those of you who took a seat on the sofa in the Den from the very beginning, I say thank you.  I hope you've enjoyed the read ride.  It's been good to hear from you. Keep the comments coming.  To those of you who are new to the Den, I'm glad you're here.  Take a seat on the sofa and stay for awhile.  It's good to have you along as well.  After 600 posts, I hope I've made you laugh, made you cry, made you mad, but most of all, I hope I've made you want to keep reading.