Twentieth Anniversary Thoughts

 Tomorrow marks 20 years since I began this blog.  Some 45,000 posts and millions of words later, I am still at it.  I don't post as much as I did and mostly news briefs of note.  I kind of fell out of the blogging when Trump became president.  I decided to scale back because the news was so depressing.  Nowadays, I am working full time again, so that doesn't leave me with a lot of time to delve in depth about things.

Unless, of course, it has to do with deaths of certain people who I think might be worth commenting on.

I never gave this blog the time or had the following that so many bloggers did early on in the craze, so therefore I never had the hits and or was able to make a career out of it. I never intended to make a career out of it.  Furthermore, I wasn't part of the clique that got off the ground early on.

These days, Substack and similar "newsletter" platforms are being touted as "get rich quick" schemes.  The problem, of course, is few people are going to want to pay to read something on subjects can be had for far cheaper in a "niche" magazine.  Why would I want to pay to read somebody writing about photography, for example, if for far less money I can subscribe to a real magazine and keep the copies?  It is all a bunch of hype.  Only established writers can make anything off of newsletter-style platforms.  No "niche" is necessary if somebody is an established journalist or writer.  They aren't typically "niche" writers. This is the nasty little truth about these platforms.  In the end, it is no different than trying to make money off a blog or off of YouTube.  It is difficult, if not impossible, to do so.

I have always enjoyed writing and always will, but I have made very little at it.  One of my nephews tried to make a living freelance writing, and he found it next to impossible to do it.  Fortunately, he found a regular job as a staff writer, and he is doing well for himself financially.  Freelance is self-employment, with all that entails.  Unless you have an income stream already, it is impossible to make it.

Anyway, it has been 20 years since I started this blog.  I will likely continue with it until I drop dead or can't write at all anymore.

Changed Part of the URL on This Blog

I have been wanting to do it for years, but I finally got around to doing it yesterday.  I wasn't sure how it would impact visits and such.

It is now this:  http://rogueofthevalley.blogspot.com/

I can't believe I have had this blog for seventeen years.

I didn't want my name on the URL anymore.

Tuesday Miscellaneous

I removed the BlogHer ads from the site per the notification it was not renewing my contract. I was right when I wrote that it was bought out by somebody, and their slant is clearly on "women's page" type of blogs, certainly not my type of blog which tends to go for more general topics rather than a niche. The company, SheKnowsMedia, took over ownership of BlogHer last November. I do not follow the conventional "wisdom" of what bloggers do by catering only to a niche but focus on topics more general and frankly more of an interest to me. If other people read it, fine. Obviously, my mission is different than this particular ad company's is. I am now running Google AdSense and may go back to putting Amazon.com ads on the site.

With regard to the "women's pages," for people who are younger, in the old days, newspapers used to have what they called "women's pages" that featured advice columns, recipes, diet tips, engagements, wedding, and anniversary notices, and similar things. Feminists were highly critical of these "ghettos" because women had interests different or broader than what was depicted in the women's pages. Newspapers gradually phased these sections out altogether or renamed them "lifestyles" or "styles" or some similar name so that they would not be seen as sex-typed.

Anyway, it appears the "new" BlogHer has a lot more narrow focus, as was shown in the ads that were displayed. Lots more food-related stuff, more makeup crap, that sort of thing.

It was a good run while I had it. I had BlogHer ads for about eight years.

Miscellaneous Notes

I have started running Google Adsense on this blog because BlogHer has decided not to renew my contract after June 23. I think it was bought out or something, and I suppose the new owners figured my hits weren't enough or that my content wasn't enough of a "women's page"-like content to keep advertising here.

I had the BlogHer ads for about seven or eight years. I would get paid a couple of times a year from them.

Google had been paying me, too, but I didn't know about it until I went to the Nevada Unclaimed Property page a few months ago. Google didn't have my current address.

If I can get the code from Amazon, I will start running ads for there, too. I did before I signed up with BlogHer.

Looks Like Sitemeter Has Bit the Dust

No warning, no nothing. I can no longer access my account; in fact, it just shows a webpage but there are no links to anything.

There were always issues with that service undercounting hits and visits; I know I had a lot more of them than it ever counted.

If it ever comes up again, it will be a miracle.

Blogger's stats tend to overcount visits and hits, but then again it counted things Sitemeter wouldn't count.

It appears Sitemeter's owners didn't renew the domain name registration, and some have said the site has come back.

It hasn't here.

Edit at 2 p.m.: The widget came up and Sitemeter is up, with no loss in stats. We will see how long that lasts.

Ten Years Ago Today

Yours truly joined the world of the bloggers and started this blog. It has resulted in 40,300 posts, millions of words, and several name changes to the blog's name, but I have enjoyed every minute of writing here and sharing my viewpoints, pictures, and links to reports and articles.

I had thought of doing a "best of" here, but it is simply too much work.

I intend to keep up this blog for another ten years if I am still around that long.

Etc.

Since few bloggers have the training and wherewithal to engage in actual reporting, they are piss-poor substitutes for real reporters.

In fact, their posts for the most part are little more than op-ed pieces.
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With the rise in poverty in the United States comes increasing class tensions.
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There was a big bash in Louisville today celebrating boxing great Muhammad Ali's 70th birthday:

The self-proclaimed "Greatest of All Time" remains one of the world's most recognizable figures, even though he's been largely absent from the public eye recently as he fights Parkinson's disease. Lonnie Ali said Friday that her husband has mixed feelings about the landmark birthday. "He's glad he's here to turn 70, but he wants to be reassured he doesn't look 70," she said.

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God is a Patriot.

At least I will be spared the Tebow hype for another year.
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The instituting of mandatory uniforms in public schools is very dubious legally speaking because of the longstanding concept of dress as freedom of expression which in turn falls under free speech. Good ol' WCSD has been sued in federal court over its allowing principals to mandate school uniforms. Naturally it turns out this is not legal in Nevada. Only school boards can mandate uniforms.

I came across this organization opposed to mandatory school uniforms.

I will re-link the lawsuit. There will be a hearing on it in federal court this Tuesday.

link

WTF s the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

and what does it mean for the great free speech zone known as the internet?

It sounds like bad shit, that's what.

The Nutroots Chronicles

This link, among others, has a video an interview with writer Eric Boehlert talking about the joys of blogging and its (dubious) impact on political discourse.

I for one am very upset at the recent newspaper/traditional media downsizings or even closures. For all of the hype, "alternative" media can't possibly give readers the quality of traditional media. They also don't have the manpower or the resources to make the traditional media obsolete. At best alternative media is a supplement to traditional media.

Yes, the nutroots have a lot to answer for its mindless support for Barack Obama last year. Now that Obama is president and the Kool Aid has worn off, more than a few of them are shocked--SHOCKED--Obama is not the "progressive messiah" he was made out to be last year. He is just another politician, a neoliberal, just as he always was for those who bothered to look behind the 24/7 hype. And more of these people are pissed off at him.

As for me, blogging is merely an outlet for expressing my opinion on many things, as well as having a permanent document on personal matters. I used to have journals, but this more or less replaces them.

Campaign Notes.

A few bloggers are working to boost their candidates' presence online.
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Even though she could barely stand the heat, Hillary Clinton still continues to stay in the political kitchen.
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As the World Turns.

Actually, it is "As the West Dries Up," thanks to drought conditions.

We went to Lake Mead and Lake Powell this past summer, as I wrote about, and both lakes were very low. That was the first thing we noticed about both of them. Yet, especially in Las Vegas, people are moving to that part of the country despite water shortages.
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Oklahoma has an unfortunate reputation as a "puppy mill" state.
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One of these years I am going to visit Hearst Castle.
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A very, very lucky few who toil at blogs can actually make enough money at it to do nothing else.

Yours truly obviously can't.
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Noted educator and social critic Jonathan Kozol is making a strong personal statement against that piece of shit known as NCLB.

Kozol is one of the great people of our time who actually wants to make this world a better place by promoting social justice.
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I Got Bored

so I changed my blog layout once again. When I get it all figured out, it should look halfway decent.

I was sick of the green shit.

I also added some recent favorite photos of mine. I'll probably remove those after a time and add new ones.

I added some new photos over at the links blog.