Tell me why (Jack Bog's Blog)

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on October 27, 2006 10:05 AM. The previous post in this blog was Cogen vs. Frederick: The video. The next post in this blog is A well-named product. Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.

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« Cogen vs. Frederick: The video | Main | A well-named product »

Friday, October 27, 2006

Tell me why

HowManyOfMe.com

There is:
1
person with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Here's an odd service. Is this information that anyone really needs to know?

Besides, it says there's only one of me, but I know there's actually another Jack Bogdanski in Arizona. (Via TaxProf Blog.)

Posted at 10:05 AM | Permalink

Comments (16)

It says there are 2 Dave Listers in the US. Heck, there are at least 2 in Portland. I am not impressed.

Posted by Dave Lister | October 27, 2006 10:39 AM

Highly underwhelmed. I saw this the other day, and it insists that there are no other Kerezmans in the country. Considering I fathered two of them, I know better!

Posted by GreyDuck | October 27, 2006 10:49 AM

I don't need a web site to tell me how many Chris McMullens there are. There's three or four in Oregon (including me).

I've had bill collectors call me thinking I'm one of the other three. That was fun.

Posted by Chris McMullen | October 27, 2006 10:56 AM

Uff da! 28,780 with my name.

Presumably this searches phone book registries, no? Given the number of people who decline to be listed, and then add that to the growing number of people who don't have a land line, and I'd say this information is less accurate with every passing month.

Posted by Dave J. | October 27, 2006 11:34 AM

And there are, supposedly, 0 people in the U.S. with my last name.

Don't tell anyone in my family...

Posted by al | October 27, 2006 12:22 PM

Same here - no others with my last name. And to think I didn't even hear about the massive Kotan eradication.

Posted by Larry | October 27, 2006 12:34 PM

Hmm...38 matches for me if I use "Jonathan", 14 if I use "Jon". Weird.

Posted by Jon | October 27, 2006 12:49 PM

# of Ted Kulongoski in USA: 0

# of Ron Saxton in USA: 4

G'head, try it yourself.

Posted by got logic? | October 27, 2006 1:01 PM

I think it's a statistical extrapolation, not an actual listing. I didn't spend a long time looking at it, but my guess is it takes the Social Security info on name popularity for first and last names and applies it to the total number of people in the U.S. Then it combines your first and last name and, statistically speaking, estimates how many of you there should be.

So it's really a good illustration of the limits of statistics. If I'm right about the methodology, it would be more accurate to say something like "There is a 99.9% probability that there are fewer than 5 Jack Bogdanski's in the U.S."

Posted by Miles | October 27, 2006 1:04 PM

# of Tom Potter in USA: 53

# of Randy Leonard in USA: 120

# of Sam Adams in USA: 245

# of Erik Sten in USA: 0

# of Dan Saltzman in USA: 2

Posted by got logic? | October 27, 2006 1:08 PM

Well, they got that right. Sten's on another planet.

Posted by Jack Bog | October 27, 2006 1:30 PM

Now, lets try that with SS numbers!

Ahora, deja el intento que con números de los SS!

Posted by Abe | October 27, 2006 3:44 PM

Weird. There are four of me. Hmmm....

Posted by ellie | October 27, 2006 6:55 PM

Well, according to this site, my wife does not live in the US.

Posted by butch | October 28, 2006 12:13 AM

Miles: that was my thought, too. You can get census data on last and first names. My guess is that they're taking the percentage of people with your last name and multiplying it by the percentage of people with your first name, and then multiplying it by the estimated number of people in the country. Something along those lines, anyway.

Posted by no one in particular | October 28, 2006 12:34 AM

I did searches for people with my name a couple years ago. Found a professor of Agricultural Economics (male) in Kaintuck and the owner of a smoked sausage boutique in Little Rock (female). They always get a phone call or a Christmas card from me. I also send vacation postcards to the guy who has my house number but lives on SE 12th. I live on NE 12th.

Quality entertainment can be really cheap.
Sometimes I also pay to put an extra hamburger in the bag of the guy behind me in the drive through.

Posted by ConcordBridge | October 28, 2006 10:36 AM

In Vino Veritas

Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007

The Occasional Book

Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 21
At this date last year: 52
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269