8000 Q Before the end of today, Pacific Daylight Time, 753 days after bltaher went public, slightly more than 8000 different "words" will have been blathed about. Now that blather has become "established," an average of about 21 new words are blathed about each day. This average has held for about the last 6000 new-word blathes, although that has been over only about the last nine months. Maybe blather is about to deliver? A cow perhaps. The overall daily average of new-word blathes since the public opening of blather is still only about half of the approximately 21 word/day "established" average. This is because there was a long lag period, a sort of prepubescence (to extend the pregnancy metaphor) before blather became "established." It lasted about 15 months, with an average of less than 5 new words per day being blathed about, from blather's public opening in August, 1998. The average of about 21 new words per day is exceeded significantly during December and January, presumably because many blatherers are still in school, and so have words on their minds, but on break for the holidays, and so have time to imagine and blathe. It seems also to increase somewhat from mid-August to early September, perhaps because students are coming back to school but haven't been bogged down yet with the demands of being in school. All of this is hypothesizing. Much more blather history will be needed to ascertain whether any of this is correct or not. Of course, if the number of active blatherers (those that do not just lurk but also blathe) would significantly increase or decrease, the rate of new-word blathing would be expected to also change significantly. Data is lacking on how the number of active blatherers has changed since blather started. The number of active blatherers is not the only factor that influences the rate at which new-word blathes are made. Another factor is the total number of words that have been blathed about and sit waiting to be blathed about again. In this sense blather is like, well, the lives of many of us. As this number of words increases, the probability increases that a new blathe will not be a new-word blathe but instead will be about a word that has already been blathed about. There is perhaps some comfort in that. More detailed statistics follow for your excitement: 2000 different words had been blather about as of December 19, 1999, 488 days after blather officially opened to the public on August 19, 1998. (Average since beginning: 4.1 new words per day) 3000 different words were reached on January 22, 2000, 34 days after 2000 and 522 days after blather went public. (Average since 2000: 29.4 new words/day; average since beginning: 5.7 new words/day) 4000 different words were reached on March 9, 2000, 47 days after 3000 and 569 days after blather went public. (Average since 3000: 21.3 new words per day; average since 2000: 24.7 new words/day; average since beginning: 7.0 new words/day) 7500 different words were reached on August 21, 2000, 165 days after 4000 and 734 days after blather went public. (Average since 4000: 21.2 new words per day; average since beginning: 10.2 words/day) 7777 different ones were reached on August 31, 2000, 10 days after 7500 and 744 days after blather went public. (Average since beginning: 10.5 new words/day) Today, at 8000 different words, is 9 days after 7777, 19 days after 7500, 184 days after 4000, 231 days after 3000, 265 days after 2000, and 753 days after blather went public. (Average since 7500: 26.3 new words/day; average since 4000: 21.7 new words per day; average since 2000: 22.6 new words per day; average since beginning: 10.6 new words per day) Blathe on! 000909 ... birdmad perhaps this is the great and secret show 000909 ... User24 is this true? 031012 ... u24 still wants to know. 040113 ... meta meta 060501 what's it to you? who go blather from