On Starting Businesses

At the beginning of this year I sought to start a business.

I started using the SteemIt platform. SteemIt is a social media platform built around a Smart Media Token called STEEM. It is possible to sell STEEM on the open market; so it possible to make money on the platform.

I started using SteemIt 186 days ago. I've written 702 posts and have earned $16.92. That is about nine cents a day and about two and a half cents per post!

WARNING: Most Steemians make less than that, and the price of STEEM might go up in a puff of steam and my hard earned tokens will lose their value before I cash out.

I've made more on SteemIt than I've made through Facebook, Tumblr, or Twitter.

Social media is not leading people to widespread prosperity. It is making our society more polarized and class-oriented than ever.

I am using SteemIt.com, however, because I feel that it is attracting users who have an entrepreneurial spirit. It has a user base filled with people who might be looking toward creating real businesses.

Anyway, I just dropped a thread on SteemIt that introduce my intentions on creating a business. SteemIt.com just imposed some resource constraints that limit my ability to answer questions about what I am doing. So, I decided to drop this post in connection with my SteemIt post so that people can contact me using the blogger comment section below.

She and Her Ship Sailed Apart

Last night I had another vivid dream. It was about a person who blew his life savings to produce an off-Broadway musical. The highlight of the musical was a song called "She and Her Ship Sailed Apart."

I remember the song because the song actually made sense but I could only remember the title and not the lyrics when i awoke.

Odd Dream

I had an odd dream last night.

I dreamt that I was addicted to a computer game. The first half of the dream was me playing the game. I wanted to keep playing but was forced, by life, to stop.

The second half of the dream involved me doing things while I really, really, really wanted to get back to the computer game.

In the third half of the dream, I finally got back to the game device. I had a really hard time getting the gaming device to work. I finally got it on, but I couldn't remember what the game was and realized that I must be in a dream.

I really wish I could remember the game that had me so thoroughly addicted. If I could remember it; then I could write up the computer code, put it on the Internet and make billions getting people addicted to a computer game.

Actually this problem happens frequently. I have a two part dream and wake up when I can't remember the first half or can't find a way of reconciling the two halves of the dream.

Breaching the Queen's Peace

A independent reporter named Tommy Robinson was arrested outside Leeds Crown Court in West Corkshire, England for "Breaching the Queen's Peace."

"Conservative pundits" are fuming. The arrest violates Robinson's First Amendment Rights!

But, guess what? This case is taking place in England. English citizens don't have First Amendment Rights! They don't have Second Amendment Rights either. England is a different country. England has a different legal system.

So, lets look at the law that allows the crown to arrest people for breaching the queen's peace. What is the political group that would support such a law.

Well. It turns out that there is a political movement that promotes the monarchy. The group used to be called "Tories." They changed their name to "The Conservative Party" in the 1830s. The took the name from the effort to restore the French Monarchy after the French Revolution. Members of the Conservative Party continue to call themselves "Tories."

This idea that the crown need to arrest people for breaching the Queen's peace is fundamental to conservatism.

Mr Robinson, who identifies with the tern conservative, is being thrown into prison for a law the epitomizes the conservative tradition.

The Republican Party in the United States has a fundamentally different world view than the Conservative Party of England. Notably, the conservative party does not support either the First nor Second Amendments.

Republicans who use the term "conservative" to describe the traditional values of the Republican Party have created an untenable mess.

I feel bad for Mr. Robinson. He is in a very scary situation. He has been reporting about Islamic gangs in Britain and is being placed in a prison full of gang members.

This sad event shows what happens when people systematically misuse their terms. The "conservative" ideology was created by the Tories, Republicans are destroying our ability to defending freedom by using this absurd term.

Steeming Away the Hours

I am interested in seeing how one can use the "blockchain" to monetize web development; So, I've been wasting time on steemit to learn about the blockchain culture.

I decided that it would be fun to sell advertising for cryptocurrency. Because crypto does not have a large transaction fee, I decided that I could sell advertising in smaller blocks; so I offering 10,000 targeted ads for $2.50. That is 40 page views for one penny. Most of my web traffic is in the Mountain West (Az, Co and Utah). I have a small amount of global traffic that I can stick ads on.

Here is the ad order page. I made the image below for a SteemIt post about the need for people using steem to interface with the rest of the web.

Perhaps I was talking too fast.

I listened to a podcast in which the announcer was talking at an infuriatingly slow pace. While listening to the podcast, I noticed that the speaker made few mistakes.

I re-listened to my first three podcasts. It appears that I was talking too fast; So, I decided to re-record my second podcast at a slower rate. I think I was talking too slow. I would love feedback.

Does talking fast or talking slow effect your perception of what I am saying?

I am also super curious about how people respond to my terms. I use the term "classical liberal" for the ideals of the US Founders. I use a five dollar word "partisan dialectics" to describe the new think behind the left and right.

Minds and Steemit

I was binge watching Youtube, and got extremely depressed at how their stupid social-media algorithm and penchant for censorship is hurting the web. (Here is a video where I discuss my decision not to start a youtube channel.

While researching Youtube, I discovered that thousands of youtube content creators are upset with the platform. I am even more delighted to discover entrepreneurs creating alternatives to Facebook and Youtube.

So, I set up accounts at both Minds and SteemIt and hope to post at these locations regularly.

These platforms are fine, but what I think we really need is to find ways to revive the independent web. The independent web is one where people own their own web domain and have a hosted web account. My Steemit Post for today talks about the positive role that human edited directories play in the independent web.

The Two Sides of the Coin Intro

Well the podcast sounded better in my head than it does through speakers.

I put up the first episode of The Two Sides of the Coin.

The theme I want to develop is that the left/right split was created as an effort to destroy the American Experiment in Self Rule.

The goal of the first episode is to define terms. I need a term for the ideals of the US Founders and a term for the core methodology that exists in both conservatism and progressivism.

I define the term "Classical Liberalism" as the application of classical logic to the question of liberty. I also note that the US Founders play a key role in the classical liberal tradition.

I am using a five dollar term "partisan dialectics" to describe the core methodology used by partisans. Here is the podcast.

I Used to be Able to Speak

I used to be able to speak. As I am trying to create this podcast, I discovered that I've completely lost that ability.

I can't make it a full minute without my voice cracking.

I really wanted to get the first podcasts on the line quickly, but I find it takes a full day to record five minutes of speaking.

I knew I had lost my voice. I have to force myself to learn to speak again. Anyway, i spent most of today trying to write and record a very easy six minutes of talk. It's midnight and I failed to complete it. I still welcome comments on the first two episodes.

Introducing the y-intercept podcast

I decided to restart this blog.

As part of the relaunch, I wanted to include a multimedia feature. After researching Youtube I decided to go with a podcast.

I chose to go with the paid option at Podbean.com. Podbean charges $9 a month for "unlimited service." This is actually a fair price. This is the price I would have to pay to self-host a podcast.

My first podcast was about the decision to launch a podcast and why I decided to go with a paid hosted option rather than a free option on a social media.

The reason I did this is because I believe that content creators should created their content as a paid business.

So, I paid a hundred and eight dollars to host the account for a year. To justify renewing the account next year, my podcast needs to generate at least $250.00 in the next twelve months.

Unfortunately, the only way to fund things on the web is with advertising. I sell advertising on irivers.com at a rate of $25 for 100,000 impressions. $.25 per 1000 ads is based on what I get from Adsense and Affiliate Marketing for the same slot. My hope is to sell ten ad slots which would raise the $250.00 I need for my hosting fees. (note, generating a million page views is quite difficult.

Without further ado, here is the first podcast. I hope to improve the quality of the production.