The end of summer bums out a lot of people, but I look forward to it. I really do not like summer very much. I am an Ice Person, which means I am built for a climate where the civilized people build civilized things. Let the savages have their tropical weather, where they can wriggle around as their barbarian nature instructs them. I would prefer it if the temperature never got much above 70° American. If that means cold snowy winters, so be it. I like snow and cold. I am an Ice Person…
The podcast is going better than expected. I have been fiddling around with different things, seeing what works for me. One thing that seems clear is YouTube is a waste of my time. I get very few listeners via that platform and there is no reason for them to listen there versus this site. I think I will just drop YouTube entirely once I sort out how to post the whole podcast as parts on the site here. That is not a technical hurdle, more of a lazy man hurdle. I just need to commit the time to doing it….
The interesting thing I have learned about YouTube is that it is just an elaborate skimming operation. They have an algorithm for checking if you are uploading content that is owned by another. That means if I use a Willie Nelson song in my podcast, I get a notice that the copyright holder has laid claim to my material. That means YouTube gets to keep the ad revenue from my upload, presumably to give it to the copyright holder, who has made the claim. There is, of course, a dispute mechanism.
The first thing that is clear is a clip shorter than 20 seconds does not trigger the YouTube copyright algorithm. I tested this. The other thing is the notice that the “owner” of the copyrighted material has made a claim is a lie. YouTube is just pattern matching against a database. The real owner has no idea that their material is being used by another person on YouTube. What this most likely means, given the theft culture of Big Tech, is that YouTube is using this to steal from the owner as well as the uploader.
“A dog that will bring a bone will carry a bone” is an old time expression to mean that a person who will steal for you will steal from you. That is true of Google. They steal from the people who use their services and they (most likely) steal from the people on whose behalf they are stealing. Their fraudulent traffic numbers scandal is probably the tip of the iceberg. Google is based on a theft culture. That means they will steal from everyone, including their employees and potential employees…
As far as listener numbers, each week the numbers go up by about 10% versus the previous week. Depending upon who you talk to, the goal in the first year is to get to between three and five thousand listeners. That is the base. Then, in fits and starts, you see the numbers go up quickly. That is how it went with this blog. I was at those numbers for a while and then traffic started to leap each month. Assuming that is true with podcasts, I am ahead of schedule. I thank everyone for listening and recommending…
The site had record August numbers. Historically, July is the slowest for traffic and it was the slowest month this year, but well above 2016. August traffic took off, probably due to the Prog Loony Outbreak after Charlottesville. Traffic was ~30% higher in August 2017 versus August 2016. I seem to be getting famous so I am getting a lot of “alt-curious” people visiting for the first time. I have gotten twenty-five e-mails in August from first time readers happy to have found a home. It is good to keep Hell stocked with souls.
As to the real numbers, August had 90,000 unique readers versus 67,000 for the same period last year. It is not an all-time high, but July and August are the slowest months for web traffic. Strangely, 1.6 million pages were served up, which is a record. Sailer says he gets a million page views a month and I know he has more readers than me, so maybe page views is not a useful metric. It probably depends upon how your site is constructed and how often you post. Regardless, the site gets more popular each month….
I have been mulling a rework of the site’s look and feel. The main reason is to keep it fresh, but I am also thinking about how to curate the podcast here, rather than on Spreaker. I am also thinking about doing some video on some empirical topics like race, crime and demographics. YouTube is a terrible company, so I will want to host the videos on my server. No, I will not be making an appearance. I have a face for radio. I am thinking about presentation type videos. If anyone has a suggestion for topics, I am all ears…
The interesting thing I have seen looking through the site stats is that DuckDuckGo is becoming one of the more common referrers to the site. For those unfamiliar with DuckDuckGo, it is a search engine. I have started using it because it is better than Google. For a while now, I have noticed that Google search results are increasingly erratic and I have to use their advanced features to find things. That and the revelation Google is run by lunatics seems to have pushed people to seek out alternatives.
Along the same lines, there is a search machine called Qwant. It is especially useful for esoteric searches, because it vomits up everything. There is a lot more to it and I have yet to explore it fully, but if you want another option for searching, there is that. I have also started playing around with Opera’s new browser called Neon. It is a major re-think of the browser. I am not sure I like it, but Opera has been on the cutting edge when it comes to privacy so maybe they are blazing a trail with this thing.
The fact is, alt-tech is mostly vaporware at this stage, but there is a demand for products and services not made by bloodthirsty lunatics, with no respect for human rights or your privacy. An opportunity invites lots of experimentation. Tech 2.0 looks like it is going to be a rework of existing ideas but based on a traditional customer relationship. That means lots of people trying to figure out how to make that work, while avoiding the bloody hammer of the Robber Barons of Silicon Valley. Let a million flowers bloom…
Thank you to all of my readers, listeners and those who bully their friends and neighbors into visiting the site. It is a long war and we have to support the media that supports u, so use this as an excuse to throw Steve Sailer, VDare and American renaissance a few bucks if you have it. They need it and you need them…
Really enjoy your posts. The intriguing titles are entertaining as well. Proud to consider myself one of the Dirt tribe. Don”t see any “…failure to communicate” here.
I definitely second others calling for some systematic coverage of prog worldview elements; I’d benefit from some clear ways of organizing just how radically their baselines about the world differ. Struggling toward this myself. Tough to argue all the time when the basic terms, goals, values, ideas are so slippery.
If you haven’t seen The Circle, with Emma Watson, do. It’s terrible in many ways but as a sort of satire of some elements of Google it had me scared and laughing at once. The late Bill Paxton is one of the more actually human performers.
The allegedly happy ending struck me as bowel-watering terrifying. I think it represents the prog world view on some levels.
On that, some clarity on how Google keeps manipulating its search results and how to deal with it could be useful. That sort of propaganda strikes as more important than the attention it is getting now.
Probably won’t be of any interest to anyone outside of myself, but I have problems with depression. This has always been particularly bad in the coldest months, until the last 2-3 yrs, when it flipped. Now, my depression has manifested itself in the hottest months of the year. I wonder if there’s ever been on study of depression in women, middle age, and all that jazz. This whole hormone rollercoaster of getting old is not fun, as a woman. Makes me almost have sympathy for the crazy cat ladies.
Middle aged male here. Developed that on a sporadic basis a few years ago. Then, it was situational- physical health, life, what have you. Little seasonal element to it.
Still is mostly situational, and with some of those same elements, but now with the big picture stuff thrown in.
The plus side- seasons aren’t decisive for me. It’s year round fluctuations.
Down side- seasons can have impact at margins. Curiously, for me it’s the transitions. Winter is worse than summer, but I get used to it. It’s the autumn anticipation that makes it worse. Spring has its challenges- stupid nature bursting out all over…- but I enjoy the riot of green where I live.
FWIW. Just commiserating from another perspective.
Zman – please don’t appear as a talking head. Your appeal is your ideas, not your celebrity. It’s about what you think, not what you are.
Z, one suggestion for a tweak is a change to the text fonts. I find the thin font in use is difficult to read (at least on the ‘pad). Alternatively, a reflow of the page when zooming.
Throughout August, it was impossible to get in here. Attempts were met with “connection not available” message. A couple times I slipped in, only to find that after reading the article I would lose connection upon trying to access the comments. I’m glad to be back, but still wonder if others had similar problems.
Z Man;
Love your blog. No reason to change formats (except to allow by-segment playing of the podcasts). I seem to recall that your home page header was once in color. But B&W that loads faster is just fine, because content should rule.
However, I have to ask, “How can an ‘ice person’ live in MD_?” An actual ice person lives in places where one can drive their trucks on local lakes in the winter.
Z, always good stuff. Agree there’s no need for appearing on video. I’m sure a fetching fellow but talking heads are a distraction. Why else does every network employ guys and dolls as news readers..
Hineslty, I find all of these video podcasts a bit annoying. Most look like hostage videos. It’s just weird having someone stair back at me from the computer.
Using ddg, I did search for European people history, then for American scientists. Are you kidding me? Someone explain to me how this happens. Who the hell does nonsense like this?
Some German social scientist visited a subtropical tribe that lay around for most of the time, yet would dance frenetically when the spirit hit them (and they were drunk) for like 36 hours straight. These sun people could exert themselves, but only in spurts and when the mood hit them. When this German tried to get the natives to do something, like chop trees for eight hours straight, their aversion to work was so strong he called it something like “Arbeitschrecken” (literally “work terror”). I know some sun people and some ice people with sun people tendencies who exhibit Arbeitschrecken.
Off Topic, but perhaps of interest to readers here. From the Washington Free Beacon August 31:
http://freebeacon.com/issues/southern-poverty-law-center-transfers-millions-in-cash-to-offshore-entities/
Headline: “Southern Poverty Law Center Transfers Millions in Cash to Offshore Entities”
The article reports incidentally that Apple Computer has announced a gift of $1M to the $PLC, as well as a two-to-one match of employee contributions.
Morris “Bernie Madoff” Dees is quite the grifter.
Below is a list of corporations that support SPLC (click logo or link for citations):
http://www.2ndvote.com/splc/
Page view jump may be newbies rifling through the back posts. I know I did. Podcast is now the Friday morning “go to” if posted early before conference call Hell commences. Don’t monkey with what works. The UI is clean and simple. Particularly like the links. Found LaFond that way. Don’t look to fuck up what’s clearly working.
Content is king, form is secondary. Nor is what you look like important. I don’t know what Sailer or Derbyshire look like and I’m not anxious to find out. Regarding possible topics for presentations, a series on the top frauds on the left might be fun, both its high priests and it’s most absurd ideas. We all know who and what they are, but primers aimed at the vast middle might open some eyes.
As newer reader of yours I do enjoy the podcasts as well. For me that is saying something because I have this audio sensory issue where certain voices make so absolutely crazy I cannot listen to them (Obama’s voice was a perfect example although not because of his policy; I can only listen to Steyn for so long before I start envisioning murder). So related to that, might i suggest one of those microphone screens that filter out some of the peripheral noise, such as the lip smacking noises I hear after you take a sip of your coffee. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the search engine and browser tips. Damore was the last straw and I’m looking for both.
I’m super ignorant on this stuff: is there a decent phone operating system outside iPhone and Android does anyone know?
Let us all take a moment to thank that witless professor, Leonard Jeffries, for giving us the wonderful and incisive distinction between ‘ice people’ and ‘sun people’. Having no feel for irony, Jeffries (like HRC with her disastrous ‘basket of deplorables’ remark,) had no premonition that such an “insult” clarifies the battle-lines and rallies the spirit and self-identity of the enemy.
Wow. “Barbarians”
Racist much?
All I can say is thank goodness for demographic change.
If whites are so great how come white women prefer Black Men as lovers and fathers of their children?
Are you talking about all white women? You should open your eyes before posting gibberish like that.
Hulk Smash is working with a small sample of white females, like those found in the ghetto, in a trailer park, or in NYC, home of the college educated thug lover since at least the 1990’s.
When you see the white women who are with black guys you might just want to thank those fellows instead for taking up the slack. it’s genetic genius; improve one pool by subtraction and the other by addition.
He’s working with no sample of women, or at least that’s what he claims. It’s tiny duck who claims to be gay.
Hey Tiny.
Hulk smashed your tiny dick. Thus, your brain too.
What ‘race’ is barbarian? I find the white antifa and blm to both be barbarian. I’m an equal opportunity racist.
It’s the duck. He literally cannot stay away.
I agree with those who like the site the way it is. U Tube is just a duplicate of your post here and so doesn’t offer your regulars anything; it’s worth is whether or not it brings in New traffic. Cold climes gave us civilization and warm provides change and ease.
Glad to hear that your audience is growing, and that is both a credit to you and a reflection of the appeal of your writing content and style. There was a time when “common sense” was common, but not any more. You seem to embody that characteristic in your messaging, so perhaps a common sense Renaissance is in our future also.
C’mon, man! Don’t use the word “curate”!
I was waiting for someone to catch that. That really is Prog sounds now.
OK…I want to kick Google down the road….so what’s the name of a reliable, nonliberal search engine and can I download it without money involved? I trust the viewers of this site. Thanks, Easy Money
Duck duck go.
I can’t be the only one here that after a while wonders, what does this guy look like?
I don’t think it is a well kept secret that DuckDuck uses Googles data, justs masks the searchers. Not that I place much faith in that.
Boy, if you monetize this thing right you can quit your day job or at least go into independent consulting.
A survival website changed their look recently and have lost interest reading it. Lke this blog for its clean lines and simplicity.
Congratulations on the rising numbers . Wish much success !
“I’m an Ice Person, which means I’m built for a climate where the civilized people build civilized things.” ~ 100%
Great blog and podcasts, Z. I commend you and thank you. Been a reader for 1 year now. You are an asset to free-thinking folk everywhere.
Hell, even my libido is only 100% in the cold!
And when i think vacation, i think ski slopes!
While at the sea i always feel like Papillon.
How do i escape from this Devil Island?!
Winter is coming.
Schwing!
I am a daily visitor to your site and generally enjoy the content. I am text-oriented for information gathering–either that, or eavesdropping on conversations. Otherwise, I am not big on audible data collection, i.e, listening to podcasts. Takes too long to get to the point, for the way my brain is wired.
This August was a gift of unseasonal coolness to us Marylanders. I don’t remember a summer when my AC bill was so cheap. Much prefer the misty mountains to the mid-Atlantic sauna.
Regarding the search engines, including Qwant, it appears they all use the same faulty algorithms or simply link back to google for much of their data.
Search, for example on google for ‘European people history’ and then click on images and you find the vast majority of folks that made up European history happed to be black. Do the same search on duck duck go & you end up with the same images. Do the same search on Qwant and the same set of images appear.
Thought it was just me that hates summer. Absolutely can’t stand the heat, and the season has a deadness about it with everyone gone from their homes to go to their summer homes and vacations, such a feeling of ennui.
Damn, wish I’d thought of that “ennui” description. As it is, I’m just regarded as a cranky guy who doesn’t like sunshine and heat. Years ago started doing my 10K run predawn – stars and quiet, just a few coyotes who nod and keep going. Arriving home as sun comes up.
Reminds me when I was housebreaking my dog in February. Would have to take him out at 2 AM. I thought the stillness, cold and the winter night sky were awesome.
Keep the content fresh. Leave the site’s look and feel alone, at least for now. I think consistency at this point is important.
Z
You’re a regular font of entertainment across your vast various media domain.
Thanks for all you do, brother.
Congrats on the big numbers! You surely deserve it. I don’t do podcasts — I just can’t do it, or watch videos either — but I’ll subscribe (or whatever) if that helps pump up the numbers. Here’s to another, bigger, better month in September!
I’ve been trying out the Brave browser this week. So far so good. It’s founder is Brandon Eich, who is famous for being ousted from Mozilla for his paltry donation to Prop 8.
The browser itself has a big emphasis on privacy and ad-blocking, and purports to be faster as a result. It definitely feels zippier and all my usual sites are rendering just fine. Recommended.
No, thank you! #wizdom
You could upload to archive.org, apparently it’s free:
https://turbofuture.com/internet/How-to-Host-Podcast-Audio-on-Archiveorg
And while VDARE is struggling, the SPLC is on a roll:
The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Profits of Hate Make no mistake: hate makes a great business model for those pretending to fight it.
“In their 2015 declaration (the most recent available to the public), the SPLC admits to $58.2 million in revenue and…(are you ready for it)…a staggering $328.4 million in net assets. That’s right, this “nonprofit” legal advocacy group, this ragtag bunch of civil rights lawyers and anti-hate do-gooders, now has a war chest totaling 1/3 of a billion dollars. To use the internet parlance: WTF?”
REPLY BUTTON FONT MICROSCOPE IS THE ONLY CHANGE REQUIRED
Oh and also banning TD xP
“I’ve been mulling a rework of the site’s look and feel. The main reason is to keep it fresh, …”
Please don’t change the site. It looks great now, and some of us are dead set against change. Tradition! Give me tradition. 🙂
Amen. A well regarded site of this ilk drastically changed format a couple of months ago, and now, reading it is like wading through molasses. These days, I just skim the headings instead of reading it, and rarely comment. From the looks of his comment numbers I suspect a lot of others are doing the same.
Yup VanderLuen fucked up American Digest big time.
Have to agree, though some of his content is still rockin’ so I can’t quite stay away.
Buffeting the winds of change are what you pilots do.
Stay the course.
The winds always buffeted me. Never figured out how to buffet them back. Of course that was 40-60 years ago. They probably now have an iPhone app that lets the pilot buffet the winds.
Congrats on the numbers, thanks for the tips.
Here’s another vote to keep the look and feel as is.
I agree. I want good content that is easy to access. This site has it now. Don’t need frills.