93,980?!

For the longest time, The Infinite Revolution pottered away at about 3,000 views a month.  Sometimes it would go over, sometimes it would be under, but 3K was the median for about six years.

Which was fine with me.  This blog was originally just an excuse to spend some time writing, an exercise in professional development.  I never promoted it on other platforms, although I did briefly monetize it through Google Adsense, but I was kicked off the program after I was accused of faking views.*  

At some point, I decided that it was a good enough sample of my writing style that I could put my name on it so that a potential employer could read it.  I didn't get the job, but to my complete surprise, it came up at my next job interview - they'd searched my name and found the blog. (I did get that job, although I doubt that the blog was a factor.)

Then, for the next six years, the median dropped down to about 2,000 views.  One month it went under a thousand - again, not an issue, but I was curious as to what might have changed.   

And then, sometime in 2024, it started to spike. In January, I cracked 10,000 views for the first time, an achievement which I repeated over six times that year, culminating in over 17,000 in December.  July of 2025 took me over 20,000; August, over 30,000, then back down under 20,000 for a few months.

February 2026 - 45,262, a number which seemed ridiculously high until June, which rocketed up to over 93,000 views - 93,980, to be specific.

What happened?  I suspect that with over 1,300 posts, I've simply reached some threshold of volume that makes for a visible presence. I'd love to think that it's more people reading the content rather than bots, but the alert reader will notice in the above screen capture that I only have four followers, which I feel is a far stronger metric of actual human readership that the views counter.

Still, it's hard not to feel a certain sense of accomplishment.  It's going to be interesting to see if it breaks 100K a month by the end of 2026 - and even a couple of months of half that would put me over a million total views for the blog.  I wonder if Blogger will notice?  If so, some kind of commemorative plaque would seem to be in order, like getting a letter from the Queen when turning 100. That would be fun, I wonder if there's someone I can contact about that?

- Sid

* After which I ended up getting a little money from Google after a 2018 class action suit accusing them of withholding Adsense payments was successful. Last year I attempted to rejoin Adsense just out of curiousity, and was accepted back into the fold. Since then it's generated about six bucks, it's certainly not a route to financial independence.

Glory to the Principality of Zeon!

"A mobile suit's abilities don't decide a battle's outcome. I'll teach you that!"

Char Aznable, Mobile Suite Gundam  

Wednesday night is Date Night for my lovely wife Karli and I, a tradition that we've maintained for over a decade, and this evening we decided on dinner at Zubu Ramen in Kerrisdale.  

It's a busy neighbourhood at the best of times, and it took a couple of circuits of various side streets to find a parking spot.  We ended up behind what I initially thought was a Toyota dealership vehicle of some sort, until I got out of the car and took a closer look. 

The truck in question was a rolling tribute to the concept of "if you know you know".  Its impressive iconography was derived from the Mobile Suit Gundam animated series, the polystyrene models of the various mecha in the Gundam franchise manufactured by Bandai Namco, and scale modeling in general. 

Let's start at the beginning.  The Principality of Zeon is the villain of the Gundam series, an association of Earth colonies which goes to war against the Terran Federation.  Zeon created the first combat mecha, the Zaku I and Zaku II mobile suits, which led to the Federation's development of the Gundam in response.

We also have some references to Bandai Namco, the company that manufactures the various Gunpla line of Gundam models, the Tomica cast metal model car company, and the Tamashii line of toy figures.

The rear gate references Zeon once again, along with the Tamiya model company, and the Metalbuild modeling brand, which features a combination of metal and plastic components. (Not to mention a witty 1:1 scale reference.*)  

But there were also a few just random non-Gundam stickers on the cab and fenders: VISA, KFC, Sega, Hot Wheels, Marlboro - cigarettes, in this day and age? - Los Pollos Hermanos, McDonald's, Shell, and so on. It's entirely possible that they were added post-production, so to speak, and were not part of the original design, but I didn't feel comfortable taking too close a look at someone else's vehicle just to establish provenance. 

Research revealed that, in fact, there had been a marketing partnership between Toyota and Bandai Namco in 2013, but it was for a customized Auris hatchback, not a pickup, and it was nothing close to being as detailed and involved as this example.

Ultimately, I'm at a loss - the internet seems unaware of anything related to a Zeonic Toyota pickup truck, I didn't see any site links on the vehicle, and, as per my initial impression, to the casual observer it's just another branded pickup.  It may well be that it's just the property of a really serious Gundam fan, in which case all I can say is well done, sir or madam, full points for proudly flying your fandom flag - I look forward to your future work.

- Sid

* Discussion with Karli revealed that not everyone is familiar with the conventions of scale modeling.  Generally models are categorized by the ratio of model inches to real life inches.  For example, when I was young, I built a lot of Airfix 1:72 tank models, which meant that one inch on the model equaled 72 inches - six feet - on the original vehicle, making a 20 foot** Sherman tank about 3 1/4 inches long. 

** In the unlikely event that any WWII otaku stumble across this posting, I am aware of the minor variations in Sherman M4 and M4A sizing, with a range from 19 feet 2 inches to 20 feet 7 inches depending on the iteration. Twenty feet was simply a convenient compromise for mathematical purposes, no need to leave any angry comments.

"Jinkies!"

Passed in traffic on our way to Superstore yesterday - and we would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids...

- Sid

P.S. A certain amount of soul searching - and research - was involved in this posting.  Initially, I wasn't certain that Scooby-Doo qualified for the blog. In my mind, there was no supernatural* element to the show, it was more of an ongoing cautionary tale that the villains in life are generally old white men disguised as monsters. However, some research into the team's 57-year history indicated that later iterations of Mystery Inc. did in fact deal with actual ghosts and phantoms.

* Research also revealed that there was also a Scooby-Doo crossover episode in Supernatural's 13th season: 

 I feel that they nailed Sam but Dean is a bit off.