I read a couple dozen great nonfiction books each year. While I’m reading those books, I feel like I’m learning a tremendous amount of new information. But just a few days after I finish each one, all that information slips away. That pisses me off.
I enjoy learning, but I’m not very big on doing. For example, I’m studying J. D. Salinger at the moment. I’m reading biographies, watching documentaries, and reading his fiction. Eventually, I’ll summarize everything in a blog. But that’s not applying the information. Unless I were an English professor submitting articles to academic journals, I don’t have any reason to apply that information.
I’m also studying the programming language Python so I can create animations that will illustrate Euclid’s Elements. However, I’m putting so little time into learning Python that I’m not getting the kind of practice that will help me remember it.
I feel I’ve accomplished a fair amount by installing Python, Visual Studio Code, Homebrew, UV, and Manim, and getting them working together in a virtual environment that doesn’t conflict with my Mac’s version of Python. I can even get Gemini AI to write programs that produce Manim animations.
However, I didn’t write the code; Gemini did. I’d like to know how to do it myself, so I started working my way through Python Crash Course, 3rd edition, by Eric Matthes. I’ll also need to learn Manim.
Here’s where the video about the secrets of studying Math comes in. Reading the books and documentation won’t cut it. I need to spend months practicing what I learn to get up to speed before I can even begin programming my own animations.
At 74, I only have so much physical and intellectual energy to expend each day. To learn enough Python to use the Manim library could take months. I would probably have to jettison all my other interests.
And that points to a failing personality trait that I’ve dealt with my whole life. I can never fully commit to anything and stick with it. I have too many interests I chase after.
I can study the common way people study math in that video, but not the way smart students study. That’s how I got through school and college. I studied enough to pass tests. I never pursued the kind of regular practice that video promotes. I was able to be a programmer at work because I did it all day long. But I’ve never been able to pick a hobby that I’ll work at all day long.
I’m at a crossroads. At 74, I need to decide if I’m capable of changing. Or just accept that I’m a bookworm and not a student. I hate to give up, but there’s a certain reality to aging.
It’s easy to read books and watch TV. I can do that all day long. I’m well trained for it. I’ve put in my 10,000 hours.
However, I can imagine being on my deathbed and regretting that I didn’t stick with any of the hobbies I fantasize about pursuing.
If I worked hard, spending four hours a day studying Python and Manim, I’d get my 10,000 hours in about 6.8 years. But here’s where my Hamlet complex cuts in. Is Python/Manim the single project I want to pursue over all my other interests?
Some of you might say I’d have plenty of time to pursue other interests if I apply myself to my main interest for four hours a day. But working at anything for four hours would drain me. I’m not even sure I could apply myself for four hours. I think there’s a reason why most old people aren’t that productive.
But there’s something else to consider. I’ve already put in my ten thousand hours writing blogs. I could work harder at that. I could specialize in analyzing short stories, something I’ve been doing for a while now. I could practice to get much better at that. Or even writing short stories.
Maybe Python and Manim are the diversion?
But after watching that video, I realize I need to work on applying myself to something, rather than just being an information consumer.
On August 29, 2025, this blog had 10.5K hits. That’s small compared to big sites, but huge compared to my daily average of around 400 hits. Supposedly, those hits were from 322 people, which is 1% fewer than the day before. Normally, most people read just one page when they visit. But to reach 10,500, those 322 would have to read 33 pages each. That’s not normal.
In other words, I have a mystery. Here are the stats for August 30th. It had 399 hits, but 330 people. Now that’s normal.
I can only assume a web crawler, bot, or AI was reading my blog. But here’s another mystery.
Whoever, or whatever, was reading my blog was reading my most popular posts. Above, list my most popular essays in order. Why would some mindless bot or brilliant AI want to read these pages more than once? Were AIs recommending pages to their AI pals?
I wish I had Google Analytics, but the price tier I’m using with WordPress doesn’t offer that.
Do any of you living readers know what’s going on? Hell, do any of you AI beings know?
I did asked CoPilot: On 8/29/25 my blog got over ten thousand hits. It normally gets about 400 in a day. Can you explain what happened. My blog is auxiliarymemory.com
That’s a huge spike, Jim—congrats! 🚀 Going from 400 to over 10,000 hits in a single day suggests something unusual happened. While I couldn’t access the site directly just now, here are several likely explanations based on patterns I’ve seen with blogs like Auxiliary Memory, especially given your focus on digitization, cultural memory, and thoughtful essays:
🔍 Possible Reasons for the Traffic Surge
1. Viral Post or External Share
One of your recent posts may have been shared on a high-traffic platform like Reddit (e.g., r/ObscureMedia, r/OldSchoolCool, or r/DataHoarder), Hacker News, or a niche Facebook group.
If your post touched on digitization, rare media, or philosophical insights, it could’ve resonated with a specific community.
2. Mention in a Newsletter or Article
You might’ve been featured in a popular newsletter (like The Browser, Recomendo, or Morning Brew) or cited in an article about media preservation, Moon travel, or cognitive science.
3. Search Engine Boost
A topic you covered may have suddenly become trending—like a documentary release, anniversary of a Moon mission, or a viral debate on consciousness—and your post ranked high in search results.
4. Backlink from a High-Authority Site
If a university, archive, or tech blog linked to your site (especially in a post about digitization workflows or Obsidian setups), that could drive thousands of hits in a day.
5. Bot Traffic or Scraper Spike
Less exciting but worth checking: sometimes automated bots or scrapers can inflate traffic. If the bounce rate was high or session durations were low, this might be the case.
🧠 What You Can Do Next
Check your referrer logs in your blog’s analytics dashboard (WordPress, Jetpack, or Google Analytics) to see where the traffic came from.
Look at the top-performing post on 8/29 to identify what drew people in.
If it was organic and positive, consider writing a follow-up post or updating that entry with links to related content to keep new readers engaged.
If you want help analyzing the traffic patterns or crafting a follow-up post that builds on the momentum, I’d love to collaborate. Want to dig into your analytics together or brainstorm what might’ve caught fire?
My Reply: What was strange is it wasn’t a boost to one page, but many of my old posts got 50 to 250 hits each. Is that some kind of attack?
That pattern is definitely unusual, Jim—and it’s smart of you to question it. When many older posts get moderate traffic all at once, it’s not typical of a single viral share or organic surge. Here’s how to think through what might’ve happened:
🧠 Possibilities Beyond a Simple Boost
1. Bot or Crawler Activity
Some bots (especially aggressive scrapers or indexing tools) will hit multiple pages across a site in rapid succession.
If the hits came from a small number of IP addresses, had very short session durations, or lacked referrer data, that’s a strong sign.
Check for user agents like curl, python-requests, or suspicious browser strings.
2. AI Training or Archival Scraping
Your blog’s rich archive and thoughtful essays might’ve been targeted by a large-scale web crawler—possibly for training an AI model or building a digital archive.
These crawlers often avoid detection by mimicking real browsers and spreading requests over time.
3. RSS Feed or API Aggregator Spike
If someone added your blog to a content aggregator or feed reader with a large user base, it could trigger distributed traffic to older posts.
This would show up with legitimate-looking referrers but still hit many pages at once.
4. Search Engine Reindexing
Sometimes Google or Bing re-crawls a site deeply, especially if there’s been a sitemap update or structural change.
These hits are usually low-impact and spread out, but they can spike if your site was flagged for deeper indexing.
🛡️ How to Investigate
Analytics Deep Dive: Look at referrer URLs, session duration, bounce rate, and geographic origin. If most hits came from one country or IP block, that’s a clue.
Server Logs: If you have access, scan for unusual user agents or request patterns.
Security Plugins: Tools like Wordfence (for WordPress) can help detect and block malicious crawlers.
🧭 What It Probably Wasn’t
A typical “attack” (like a DDoS or exploit attempt) usually targets login pages, admin panels, or specific vulnerabilities—not dozens of archived essays.
If your site stayed responsive and didn’t show signs of strain, it was likely non-malicious.
If you want, I can help you interpret your analytics data or draft a robots.txt strategy to manage future crawlers. Or we could even turn this into a blog post—“When Your Archive Gets Raided: A Blogger’s Guide to Sudden Traffic Surges.” That’d be very Auxiliary Memory.
My reply: Unfortunately, I don’t have access to logs from my site, which is hosted at WordPress.com and I don’t pay for the advanced level that supports Google Analytics. But you’re right, this might make for an interesting blog post.
That limitation makes it trickier to diagnose, but it also opens the door to a compelling narrative—especially for Auxiliary Memory, where you often explore the intersection of technology, memory, and mystery. You could frame the post as part detective story, part meditation on digital presence.
Here’s a possible structure to spark your thinking:
📝 Working Title Ideas
“The Day My Blog Was Raided: A Mystery in Metrics”
“When the Archive Woke Up: A Blogger’s Traffic Spike Without a Trace”
“Ten Thousand Hits and No Clue Why”
🧩 Suggested Structure for the Post
1. The Setup
Describe your typical traffic patterns (400 hits/day).
Introduce the anomaly: 10,000+ hits on August 29, spread across many old posts.
2. The Investigation
Share what tools you do have (WordPress stats, Jetpack).
Note the absence of referrer data or analytics granularity.
Speculate on possible causes: bots, AI crawlers, reindexing, or a hidden share.
3. The Philosophy
Reflect on what it means to have a digital archive that suddenly gets attention.
Explore the idea of memory—how old posts can resurface, like forgotten artifacts.
Tie it to your broader themes: preservation, access, and the unpredictability of digital legacy.
4. The Takeaway
Offer thoughts on how bloggers can prepare for or interpret these events.
Maybe even invite readers to share if they were part of the traffic surge.
If you’d like, I can help you draft the opening paragraph or brainstorm a visual metaphor—like comparing the blog to a dusty library that suddenly had all its books checked out. Want to sketch it out together?
My reply: I’m good. You’ve described my regular approach to writing a post. But I will mention your help. That is an interesting aspect in itself.
Conclusion
I think this might be the best answer:
3. RSS Feed or API Aggregator Spike
If someone added your blog to a content aggregator or feed reader with a large user base, it could trigger distributed traffic to older posts.
This would show up with legitimate-looking referrers but still hit many pages at once.
I checked the stats for my other blog, Classics of Science Fiction, and found it had a similar bump on August 21.
If an RSS aggregator shared my most popular posts from each site, I don’t think it generated any subscriptions, likes, or repeat visits. Thanks for the promotion, though. I haven’t received increased traffic, but it was kind of you.
Every once in a blue moon, some big site will link to my little site, and one of my pages will get several hundred to a few thousand hits. That’s kind of nice. But I never know where the link is published.
I’ve always written my blogs with the idea that I was writing to myself. I just didn’t care who was reading my diary. It’s flattering that some people enjoy reading what I write. But I don’t want to think about that too much. I don’t want to start writing to get hits. I don’t think I have to worry about that because I seldom get hits from Google searches. Evidently, what I’m interested in is not what most people are interested in reading.
On the other hand, I wonder if AI minds are reading my blog. I’ve always loved robot stories in science fiction, so it would be cool if I had a few robot readers.
Auxiliary Memory 