Blog stats 2024: 10.000+ visits

In 2024, my English language blog Utopian Realism and my Norwegian blog Utopisk Realisme had 6.665 and 4.071 page loads respectively and 10.736 altogether. For both blogs this is the highest for several years - though not an all-time high. Visits to Utopian Realism almost doubled from 2023, whereas visits to Utopisk Realisme increased more than 5-fold (although I don´t post much in that blog anymore). All-time accummulated number of page loads is at about 50.000 for each of the blogs and 104.520 page loads altogether.

The vast majority of the 10.669 unique visitors (6.609 for Utopian Realism and 4.060 for Utopisk Realisme) were First time visitors.

Almost 5.000 visited Utopian Realism in 2014

I use StatCounter for keeping track of the number of visits to my blogs etc. In 2014, Utopian Realism had 7.091 visits (or page loads) (up from 6.252 in 2013 and 5.576 in 2012). My Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme, where I have been far less active, saw a decline to 3.410 visits (down from 4.379 in 2013 and 10.540 in 2012).

The number of unique visitors to Utopian Realism increased from 3.802 in 2013 to 4.706 in 2014. The number of returning visitors, however, declined from 674 in 2013 (17,7%) to 341 in 2014 (7,2%). The trend was the opposite for Utopisk Realisme, with declining visitor numbers but the proportion of returning visitors increasing from 5,5% in 2013 to 15% in 2014 (likely in the main due to this blog post on Kulturverk.com). This can be interpreted in the following way: While in 2013 things "happened" in my academic blog Utopian Realism (related to events in the biosemiotic community), in 2014 things "happened" in my Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme.

5th issue of Minding animals Norway newsletter composed and distributed

Yesterday I composed and distributed the 5th issue of the newsletter of Minding Animals Norway (in Norwegian) - 8 pp. The table of contents is presented in my Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme. The newsletter is sent to paying members.

Rector comments on NENT statement in UiS news article; article links to Utopisk Realisme

In response to this Wednesday's statement of Norway's National Committee for Research Ethics in Science and Technology (NENT) on the research ethics of petroleum research, the rector of University of Stavanger, Marit Boyesen, has yesterday issued comments in form of a UiS news article ("UiS-rektor ønsker NENT-uttalelsen velkommen" [UiS rector welcomes NENT statement]). The newsarticle links to several news articles on the NENT statement, and also to my blog post in my Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme,  "Hvordan vil rektor følge opp NENTs forskningsetiske vurdering av petroleumsforskning?" [How will rector follow up NENT's research ethical consideration of petroleum research?]. Among other things Boyesen says that the NENT report will be included in the university's future strategy work.

See also:

UiS debate letter: How will rector follow up NENT's statement on petroleum research?

National Committee for Research Ethics critical to current petroleum research policies

Today Norway's National Committee for Research Ethics in Science and Technology (NENT) has released its statement on the research ethics of petroleum research (in Norwegian). The statement is critical to current policies on several points. For excerpts (in Norwegian), see my political blog Utopisk Realisme.

See also:

National Committee for Research Ethics still considering research ethics of petroleum research

Short version of joint chronicle on petroleum research posted in Utopisk Realisme

A short version of the chronicle "Forskning for klimavennlig omstilling" [Research for climate-friendly restructuring], which was co-written by six researchers including me, altogether representing five Norwegian universities, has been posted in my Norwegian-language blog Utopisk Realisme.

See also:

Joint chronicle on petroleum research published in Energi og klima

Blog stats 2013

No. of pageloads, 2013 (change from 2012):

1 (2) Utopian Realism [academic blog] 6.252 (+676)

2 (1) Utopisk Realisme [political, Norwegian language blog] 4.379 (-6.161)

3 (3) SemioPhenomenon [site for the Tartu phenomenology meets semiotics workshops in 2009] 166 (-1) 

4 (4) The Schopenhauer Experience [existentialist electronica] 144 (+8) 

2013 was likely the first year where this blog, Utopian Realism, was my most visited blog, overtaking my Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme. As the numbers show, however, this is due to a sharp decrease in visits to Utopisk Realisme rather than to the small increase in visits to Utopian Realism. Combined the four blogs mentioned above had 10.941 pageloads, which is 5-6.000 fewer than in 2012.

All-time no. of pageloads (here numbers conflict - these are from the bottoms of the blogs themselves):

1. Utopisk Realisme 49.524
2. Utopian Realism 26.566
3. SemioPhenomenon 3.814
4. Kardemomme Tidende 1.784
5. The Schopenhauer Experience 1.024

Grand total: 82.712 pageloads, on this count.

See also:

Web stats 2012 (blogs etc.) (January 2013)

Web statsand most viewed at Scribd (January 2011)

Chronicle on Norwegian universities' petroleum research in Aftenposten

This Monday, signing as Associate professor at University of Stavanger, I had a chronicle published in Aftenposten, Norway's biggest daily, entitled "Hva slags forskning er etisk forsvarlig?" [What kind(s) of research is ethically justifiable?]. The original text of the chronicle, which I had named "Universitetenes petroleumsforskning og fremtiden" [The universities' petroleum research and the future], has just now been posted in my Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme.

Lecture to be given at Norwegian animal ethics conference: "What is nature in a world without wilderness?"

I will give a lecture on the Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference 2013, in Oslo on August 22nd, with the title "Hva er natur i en verden uten villmark?" [What is nature in a world without wilderness?] (currently scheduled for presentation at 10.15-10.40 a.m.). An abstract has been posted in my Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme.

Minding Animals Norway's 3rd research seminar to be held August 23rd in Oslo

Minding Animals Norway's 3rd annual research seminar will be held in Oslo on Friday August 23rd. The deadline for submission of abstracts - in Norwegian or another Scandinavian language - is August 15th. The Call For Papers is available in my Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme.

General Meeting of Minding Animals Norway to be held in Oslo August 23rd

The General Meeting of Minding Animals Norway will be held in Oslo on Friday August 23rd. The Norwegian language call for GM is available in my Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme.

Letter to the editor in Norwegian daily Dagbladet: "Aren't animals among society's weakest?"

Today a letter to the editor by me is published in the Norwegian daily Dagbladet, which is Norway's third biggest newspaper. The whole text, entitled "Er ikke dyr blant samfunnets svakeste?" [Aren't animals among society's weakest?] is posted in my Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme. The letter to the editor is written in response to a commentary article published yesterday, entitled "I bås og samfunn" [In cubicle and society] and written by Dagbladet's staff journalist Gudleiv Forr. Forr comments on the special issue of the Norwegian academic journal Sosiologi idag, "Dyr i samfunnet" [Animals in society], where I contribute with a book review of Ulvekonflikter [Wolf conflicts], written by three sociologists. Forr basically claims that sociologists should not waste their time on animals, but be occupied only with improving conditions for human beings, as they used to.

My letter to the editor is signed M.T., Chair of Minding Animals Norway and Associate professor in philosophy at University of Stavanger.

Another letter to the editor in weekly magazine - debate with farmers' union on predator management and sheep husbandry

As mentioned in a recent post I published a letter to the editor in the Norwegian weekly newsmagazine Ny Tid just before Christmas, titled "Gjør sauen en bjørnetjeneste" [Doing the sheep a disservice]. In the January 11th issue of that weekly the deputy chair of The Norwegian Farmers' Union, Berit Hundåla, replied, in a letter to the editor titled "Ulven løper ikke forbi matfatet" [The wolf does not run past the dinner plate]. An image of her article is to be found in my Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme, as is my reply which was published today in the January 18th issue, "Sauen som ble til fem høns" (The sheep that were turned into five chickens). Both my letters to the editor were written on behalf of Minding Animals Norway. Among the topics I address is today's low price of animal feed and its consequences for use of outer pastures (or lack thereof). One of my points is, implicitly, that the farmers' union has chosen to complain about predators' predation on sheep rather than to address the problematic and often not desirable ramifications of its own policies with regard to the low price of animal feed (which supports expansion in pig and poultry husbandry - animals that are kept indoors all year - but discourages use of outer pastures and thus outdoor keeping of animals and sheep husbandry in general).

Web stats 2012 (blogs etc.)

Webstats, 2012 (pageloads)

1. Utopisk Realisme [political, Norwegian language blog] 10.540
2. Utopian Realism [academic blog] 5.576
3. SemioPhenomenon [site for the Tartu phenomenology meets semiotics workshops in 2009] 167
4. The Schopenhauer Experience [existentialist electronica] 136

Combined these four blogs/webpages had 5% returning visitors - Utopian Realism had the highest percentage, with 7,8% (307 out of 3.919), while Utopisk Realisme had 3,6% returning visitors (279 out of 7.788). Whereas the numbers of this blog thus represented more than half of all returning visitors, almost 2/3 of all visitors at large visited my Norwegian language political blog, and about 1/3 this blog.

Webstats, all-time (pageloads as of today, January 3rd 2013)

1. Utopisk Realisme 45.174
2. Utopian Realism 20.230
3. SemioPhenomenon 3.646
4. The Schopenhauer Experience 878

See also similar post from January 2011. Unfortunately, I did not post on webstats for the year 2011 as a whole (though the math could be done in hindsight as well...), but all numbers indicate that 2011 was the year so far with most hits and reads. This must be understood in light of my blogging frequency: Whereas I wrote 217 posts in Utopian Realism in 2010 and 228 in 2011, for instance, I wrote only 137 posts in 2012  - not due to any lack of activities to report, but rather due to lack of time for blogging about my non-blogging activities, due to a heavy work-load*. Similarly, in Utopisk Realisme I wrote 135 posts in 2009, 117 in 2010 and 134 posts in 2011, but only 60 posts in 2012. Nevertheless, some 200 posts in these two blogs combined is not all that bad, is it?

* I still hope to get to the bottom of my Utopian Realism backlog, in time.

I have a couple of other blogs as well, but do not regularly keep track of their web stats.

Letter to the editor in weekly magazine

Today my letter to the editor "Gjør sauen en bjørnetjeneste" [Doing the sheep a disservice - a reference to Norwegian Farmers' Union and Senterpartiet's policy of wanting to drive the wolf to extinction in Norway] was published in the Norwegian national weekly Ny Tid. I am writing in capacity as chair of Minding Animals Norway. 

A readable scan of the text is available in my Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme.

Web stats

Following my post on most read documents at Scribd the last year or so, here's an update on overall web stats.

Scribd - totals (change since January 26th 2011)
Total reads: 27.842 (+11.497)
Uploads: 47 (+19)
Followers: 18 (-)

Web stats, all-time (change since January 26th 2011, see also post dated June 9th 2010)

1. Utopisk Realisme 36.514 (+18.012)
2. Utopian Realism 15.616 (+8.310)
3. SemioPhenomenon 3.495 (+270)
4. The Schopenhauer Experience 750 (+187)

I am further the webmaster of arnei100.no, but I am not integrating that here. Post to follow on that.

Altogether my two main blogs and my documents on Scribd resulted in 37.819 displays online the last year, bringing the total to approximately the double of what it was, at 79.972. At current pace there are in average above 100 displays of my work or writings every day online through these sources.

Zapffe; tick attack on Larry David: Links to excerpts from "Semiotics of being and Uexküllian phenomenology"

I have published excerpts from "Semiotics of being and Uexküllian phenomenology" in two Norwegian blogs of mine: Utopisk Realisme, my political blog (on Norwegian existentialist Peter Wessel Zappfe's use of Uexküll), and Kardemomme Tidende, my comical blog (on the distinction between semiosis and phenomena, illustrated by a tick attack on Larry David).

See also:
"Semiotics of being and Uexküllian phenomenology" published: Reference; abstract

Letter to the editor addressing alleged islamisation of Europe, democracy, and freedom of speech

In this week's edition of the Norwegian daily newspaper Dag og Tid there is a letter to the editor written by me, entitled "Sanninga om framtida" [The truth about the future] (p. 26). The text is written in response to the terror acts in Oslo and at Utøya July 22nd, and addresses matters of democracy, freedom of speech, critical use of sources, and relating to future scenarios made by scholars from various professions (notably demographers and historians; in this exact case with regard to the alleged 'islamisation' of Europe, a claim which does not have solid scholarly support or foundation).

In the signature of the letter, I am presented as "philosopher and semiotician [plus blogger of the blog Utopisk Realisme]".

The unedited Norwegian text can be read in my Norwegian blog Utopisk Realisme.

The semiotics (and philosophy) of terror

The last few days I have been blogging and tweeting on the terror in Norway. All in Norwegian.

My writings on this topic includes a 9-page blogpost entitled "Terrorens retorikk: Analyse av Anders Behring Breiviks tenkning, og de siste dagers hendelser" [The rhetorics of terror: Analysis of Anders Behring Breivik's thought, and the last days' incidents], and today's "Fjordman: Jeg utfordrer deg til å møte i åpen debatt" [Fjordman [pseudonym for a right-wing extremist anti-islamist who inspired the terrorist]: I challenge you to face me in an open debate].
Today I was interviewed by the regional daily newspaper Fædrelandsvennen. The title of the story is "- Nå begynner krigen" [ - Now the war begins]. Excerpts:

Tønnessen has background in philosophy, and is a doctoral student in semiotics. Which means the theory of symbols and signs.

- And I think Behring Breivik chose the government block as a bomb target exactly because the destruction here is a strong symbol, says Tønnessen.

I further address the culture of online political debates, among other things.

***

Update: My challenge to the anynomous blogger Fjordman is referred to in "Massemorderen hyller anonym norsk blogger" ("The mass murderer praises anynomous Norwegian blogger", written by Gunnar Stavrum), a news story which is at the moment the lead story of Nettavisen, a national Norwegian daily. In the news story I am referred to as "samfunnsdebattant og filosof" (/societal debater/ and philosopher).

Chronicle on agriculture and carnivores

Today a chronicle of mine, "Landet som grodde igjen" [The country that /overgrew/], is in print in the national Norwegian daily Dagbladet (Norway's third biggest newspaper).

An unedited version of the Norwegian language text has been posted in my Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme.

***

Here's the chronicle on Dagbladet's pages. As of now there are 69 comments.