Yes, it’s silly. Yes, it’s been done before and better. But there’s something oddly interesting – and, of course, unique to the Internet – about stuff like the “One Billion Clicks Project.”
The site, which launched April 9, claims the following as its “high-minded” purpose:”The average click limit is approximately 1 to 2 million per mouse. We are going to check what percentage of it you are able to dedicate to us. Please, note that some low end mice are only capable of 100-200 000 clicks. We are not responsible for the damage you can cause to your mouse by clicking around our website.”
But, of course there is no purpose. (There may not even be a real counter, although it seems real and I’m willing to suspend disbelief for something this mindless.)
Still, I am struck by the grandiosity of the goal … a billion’s a big number, even on the Internet.
So I break out the calculator (always a dangerous sign):
To hit a billion in one year would require more than 2.7 million clicks per day, or about 32 clicks per second. Not likely, even if each and every Buzzblog reader pitches in to help.
So maybe 10 years would be a more reasonable target, although even there you’re talking about 274,000 hits a day, every blessed one of those 3,650 days (spare me your leap year letters, please). And we’re still pounding away at just north of 3 clicks per second … every second … of every hour … of every day.
The American Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Prevention Society has already lodged a formal complaint (although they have bigger problems now, what with questions about causation and all).
When I first checked the site a couple of hours ago the count had yet to reach 10,000. It’s now at 14,067 … no, wait – click – make that 14,068.
Leaving a mere 999,985,932 to go.
We’ll provide periodic updates as developments warrant, although I am expecting to retire sometime around 2022.
Welcome regulars and passersby. Here are a few more recent Buzzblog items.
This Year’s 25 Geekiest 25th Anniversaries.
Women 4 times more likely than men to cough up personal info to a stranger.
Adults are too quick to dismiss educational video games.
He called my teen-age daughters slutty. … Should I hit him?
Talking tech with Cleveland’s famous ballpark drummer.
In defense of Caller-ID spoofing.
Google renames the Persian Gulf.
Top 10 Buzzblog posts for ’07: Verizon’s there, of course, along with Gates, Wikipedia and the guy who lost a girlfriend to Blackberry’s blackout.
8 can’t-miss tech predictions … for 1998
