It’s been several months since I last updated the header links at the top of the page. Those are the ones that appear randomly (one at a time) at the top of the page each time you visit this blog, or a page in the blog.

Originally, it replaced the “Hot Blogs” listing I had in my sidebar. Those were the blogs I visited most frequently and/or/but-probably-both frequented my blog. I decided long ago to move them to the top, randomly displaying them, to both save space and (hopefully) draw more attention to them, as things get lost in the sidebar.

Anyway, it was time to sort through them. I’ve removed the blogs that are defunct or no longer active. Some of the bloggers don’t visit me anymore and vice versa. And I’ve removed some inactive blogs while keeping others–often, this was not due to any rhyme or reason but rather that I may have had a new one to add, so I swapped out the spot for another. Thus, some that probably should be taken out (due to inactivity) are still there. So, don’t expect a logical reason for why some are there and others not.

Plus, this list only includes actual blogs, not static websites, unless, of course, they are my sites because it’s my header thingamabob and I’ll break the rules if I wanna.

Anyway, here is the current list:

Frugal Upstate
How to Train Your Mind
Internet Marketing Backstage Pass
Momma Mia, Mea Culpa
Redhead Ranting
Eric “Speedcat Hollydale”
The Vaguetarian Tea Room
Between the Waking and the Dream
Beyond the Rhetoric
Freelance Writing | Freelance Writer
Coach T.I.A. - Take Inspired Action!
Exit 78
I Do Things
My GPS Camera Phone
One of a Kind, Wisconsin, LLC
Revellian
The Extraordinary Guy Living In The Ordinary World
The Laidback Buddhist
Writer’s Notes

These are in no particular order. They may have been alphabetical once but, as blogs have been added or deleted or blog names have changed, the end result is whatever mess of an order they are in now.

It’s crazy. The spammers are every where these days.

Perhaps you remember this video of mine?

That was from my post “‘Real’ Video Footage of a UFO Chase” from almost two years ago.

It only has 438 views on YouTube, but I guess that’s good enough to attract the spammers. In the past week or so, I’ve had to delete a number of spam comments from this and other UFO animations and videos I’ve done. I block the users too, but that doesn’t do any good because they just open a new account and start leaving spam comments again.

Geesh. You can’t go anywhere without spammers these days.

I’m changing over my videos to require approval on comments before they get posted. I’ll have to remember to set that by default from now on whenever I post new videos. Hopefully that will keep the YouTube comment spammers at bay.

Remember this post? Well, today I am doing some recycling…

As you should know by now, I have been working on a new design for one of my under-attentioned sites which I will be relaunching, well, as soon as I can wrap things up, which is getting closer and closer. As of this writing, I am down to thirteen items to do to finish it.

Of course, that number may go up, as it has previously, if I discover things I forgot that I needed to do or if I decide to add new features. Anyway…

If you like reading and talking about science fiction (scifi) or speculative fiction, listen up…

If you like reading and talking about fantasy fiction, listen up…

If you like reading and talking about horror fiction, listen up…

If you like reading and talking about bizarre (bizarro) fiction, listen up…

If you keep tuning into 30 Rock and are constantly disappointed because they apparently dropped John Lithgow and French Stewart and replaced them with Alec Baldwin and Jack McBrayer and moved the show to New York, listen up.

Okay? I will need some testers. People I know. People I can trust. That means you, if I know and trust you and you’re not a complete psycho.

So, if you think that is you, speak up now or forever hold your peace, or at least hold your peace until the public relaunch of the site, and then only if I decide to let you in then. You know. You hesitate and you takes your chances.

You must like to read.

You must have patience.

You probably shouldn’t be offended easily.

You must be talkative (type-a-tive?). Maybe a little overtly textual.

You know where to leave your pledge to be treated like a number and a guinea pig. Oh, no, I didn’t mean in the Halls of Congress. I meant below…

Sometimes recycling can be a time-saver…

D. has a post today on “A Fatal Attraction to Science” wherein he mentions some websites where you can find details on science experiments you shouldn’t actually do.

The good thing, in my view, is that they actually tell you why you shouldn’t do the experiments that might be a wee bit dangerous, if not deadly.

When I was a kid, I had a chemistry set. One of the chemicals said “Do not mix with acid.” Why? Why shouldn’t you mix it with acid? Nothing in the instructions or experiments or anything told you why you shouldn’t mix that chemical with an acid.

So, naturally, you have to mix it with an acid.

In an enclosed area.

And, when absolutely nothing happens, you might try something like heating the mixture.

In an enclosed space. (Yes, this bit of info is important too.)

And then you end up with a spot on the wall that, decades later, might actually still be there.

And, a decade or so later when you’re surfing the Internet and discover, at last, why you shouldn’t mix that chemical with an acid, you’ll thank your lucky stars that you used a weak acid (vinegar) because, otherwise, the hydrogen cyanide may have killed you.

A note for chemistry set manufacturers: While knowledge may sometimes be dangerous, a lack of information combined with adolescent curiosity could be deadly.

Looks like the scammers are getting even lazier.

Not content to write a lengthy appeal, they’re resorting to shorter messages.

Just received one from a presumed bank manager in another country that wants to discuss a matter regarding a bank account, and to contact him if interested.

Interested in what?

Couldn’t even be bothered to harvest my name like the other scammers. No personalized greeting, nothing.

And no sad story about how poor person and their whole family were killed in a horrific accident or natural disaster or man-made strife, and left millions of dollars in the bank with no next of kin to collect it.

No lengthy appeal as to how this person might be some long-lost relative of mine because we share the same (unmentioned) last name.

No cry for help that the person hadn’t done good things in their life and was soon to die of AIDS or cancer or staring at the sun too long and found me on the Internet and just knew that I would do good things with their money and provide them with some measure of redemption so that they might enter the next world in a better place than they might otherwise.

Nope. Apparently this scammer could not be bothered to make up a fake story try to lure me in. Nope, just a simple, let’s discuss this bank account.

Geez. At least give me something worthwhile to post in my blog.

Oh, wait…

You may recall a little over a week ago, I posted about my new “My Mind Control” product, which was really just a rebranding (as far as promotions go) for the “How to Train Your Mind” guide I’ve had available for several months, or more.

If you’ve yet to purchase the guide, now is a good time. You see, there is a new marketplace for Internet marketing products and services online called WSO Gold.

For a limited time, I’ve got an offer up there where you can purchase “My Mind Control” at an incredible price. Seriously, it’s pretty darn low. You don’t want to miss it!

Also, if you’ve been itching to get a copy of the Internet Marketing Backstage Pass, I have a very special offer on that running over on WSO Gold as well. That’s another fabulous deal you do not want to miss out on!

Of course, WSO Gold doesn’t just have special offers on my products—it’s not my site—so you’ll find other Internet marketing related offers there as well. So, be sure to visit the site to grab some golden deals!

Yesterday, on Big Hollywood, I read “Flyover State of Mind: Hollywood’s Red State Prejudice” by Carl Kozlowski.

In it, he mentioned that Avatar was the highest-grossing movie of all time but that, based on his estimates, only about 20% of the population had even seen it. (I came up with 31.34%, as you’ll see in the below table, but I used a different method of estimation.)

I decided it might be interesting to see the statistics on movie ticket sales as compared to the percentage of the population that had seen the movie.

Through Box Office Mojo, I got a list of the top 100 movies by ticket sales. (I only used the top 25 here.) And, through the U.S. Census, I was able to get population estimates for the years 1900-1999. I found the 2009 estimate through U.S. News & World Report.

Of course, these estimates are not going to scientifically accurate, and are presented more as a curiosity than an accurate accounting. For one thing, there is no way to filter out repeat ticket sales to the same people. So, one person may see a movie once while another may go back to see the film ten times. As such, the ticket sales will be higher than the number of individuals who have seen the film. On the flip side, this chart also does not account for VHS/DVD sales. These days, some may wait until the film is released on video so they can view at home. On the other hand, some will view it in the theatre and then buy the video to enjoy at home. So, again, there’s no way to determine that based on the available data. On a related note, the films before the advent of home video may have an advantage in ticket sales simply because, back then, the only way to see the movie was at the theatre.

The bottom line is that we cannot get a truly accurate measure of how many individuals have actually seen a given film.

That said, however, it can still paint an interesting picture and provide an alternative perspective to conventional means of estimating a movie’s popularity.

Some things of note. First, you’ll see that Gone with the Wind had more ticket sales than the U.S. population. According to the stats, 154% of the country saw the film. Of course, we know that’s not possible and must necessarily include multiple ticket sales by individuals. Still, this is a striking number, considering this was at the tail-end of the Great Depression.

By contrast, the #2 film on the list, Star Wars, had just 12% fewer ticket sales than Gone with the Wind, but those ticket sales represented under 81% of the population.

Similarly, The Empire Strikes Back was almost equal in ticket sales to Ben Hur, but was seen by 12% less of the population. And, while Avatar had more ticket sales, it was viewed by half the amount of the population of Fantasia.

On the other hand, if you rank the movies by percentage of the population, 8 of the top 10 films remain in the top 10. Only The Exorcist and Titanic leave the ranks of the top ten, dropping into the teens. Fantasia moves into the #7 spot and Ben Hur just makes the cut at #10. It’d be interesting to see how ranks changed if all 100 top films were thrown into the calculations.

Anyway, for your consideration, debate and enjoyment, here is the table:

Sources:
Movies & Ticket Sale Estimates: http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm?adjust_yr=1&p=.htm
U.S. Population Estimates: http://www.census.gov/population/estimates/nation/popclockest.txt
U.S. Population Estimate (2009): http://www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/2008/12/31/us-population-2009-305-million-and-counting

I was thinking today, if I were famous, I might like to do an autobiography.

I think I’d call it “In My Own Words” and then I’d do the whole book like this post: “Say It In Your Own Words.”

I think that would be fun.

People would buy it off of Amazon.com, then gleefully open it when it arrived in the mail. They’d sit in a comfy chair and crack it open to read it. Then they’d be like, “What the frak is this!?”

Or, maybe they’d say “Uft hu hokihaki yx huawee!?”

You know, ’cause maybe they’d take the hint and say their exclamation in their own words.

Back in the seventh or eighth grade, or thereabouts, I started creating my own language. I wonder if I still have my notes somewhere? I had my own letters too. Technically, it wasn’t my own language—it was a language I created for my own characters.

But, the characters were mine so I guess that makes the language mine too. Right?

Anyway, until next time…

Buhauweewanikee. Uftatigee. Uftatigelee!

Um, how about I just skip to the comments and see who everyone is congratulating on their win?

A HUGE time saver over watching a video, you know?

It’s kind of ironic that I originally found my way online through trying to start a video production company, yet I dislike watching videos online.

Actually, though, what I dislike is watching boring, pointless videos online.

Which there appear to be a lot of these days, especially sales videos.

There’s nothing like a long, droning, boring video that goes on for 30 minutes, having promised you the world, only to ask you to pull out your credit card somewhere around minute 28 so you can buy their product in order to find out the secrets they’ve been avoiding telling you the prior 28 minutes even though they explicitly promised the secrets to be revealed in the video.

Unfortunately, a lot of marketing videos are like that. Huge snore fests. Get to the point already.

Much easier with a long sales letter. At least with that I can skim through the boring parts or skip right to the price or the offer and such.

Otherwise, a video is just a waste of my time. I generally only watch videos for entertainment or education. For a long boring sales pitch, those video makers can go jump in the nearest lake.

But that’s just my opinion. And some people with a lot of time on their hands might not mind sitting around watching a sales presentation on video. Sometimes, I think I’d rather watch paint dry.

Ordinarily, this would be one of those moments where I’d put up a picture, but I cannot.

Which is a major bummer, because I’ve taken some nice photographs recently.

My Weigela bush, for example is in full bloom and just covered in pink flowers. It’s like a bouquet of flowers with just a spattering of leaves poking out here and there.

I also have some pretty purple Columbines. If they were closer to the Weigela, there’d be some good contrast.

Too bad you can’t see them.

On the other hand, what I can do is recycle a previous image…

This was something I was working on back in December and still am…

Anyway, getting closer to having it done. In the meantime, you can become a fan, or like it, or whatever they decide to call it this week, on Facebook here: Become a Fan.

It needs fans or likes or whatever. I had three fans or likers or whatnot, but now I’m down to two, one of which is me, so that’s not good.