Widespread Spike in Interest of Traditional Conspiracy Topics?

I was checking out the stats here and there seems to be, (I can't verify this), an awful lot of new interest in Conspiracy topics. I see that many new accounts have opened in recent days. Is this traffic and new account opening typical of ATS, or has there been a spike?

I only ask because while in the early 90's I was all about this area of inquiry, as were many others, my interest declined when FOX started having programming that dealt with these issues. I then of course knew that there would be a deluge of delibaerate misinformation and lo! there was, so I stopped looking..

But recently, with the availability of new immediate data/info my interest has returned, regardless of deliberate disinformation.

Has anyone noticed that the Vatican just decreed that it OK to believe in extraterrestrials?

And how about the impending NASA announcement? Odd timing.

And there have been a few other unaddressed coincideneces that I won't specify out of fear, but relate to the geographic proximity of certain recent "natural" disasters. Maybe someone has pointed this geographic coincidence out, but I haven't seen it...

And what about the setting of the new Rambo movie?

A Haliburton pipeline conflict through a certain Asian country around 2000 AD?

Just me ? I fear to say more!!

wait... is this too pedestrian for everyone? mundane? dumb? Or did I make an ATS faux pas? Do we not respond to threads started by non-avatar/picture types?
Is the answer staring me in the face?
Sorry if I screwed up. I'm new.

Tom Bearden, anyone?

Haliburton in Myanmar? Takers?

Chinese City of Baoshan and the adjacent border with Burma? No?

You guys are freaking me out....