Janie of Colloquium emailed me yesterday regarding my post about my personally-selected YouTube Videos. She said she was not able to view them because there was an error in each video: it says it is no longer available.
I’ve seen that one before. The first time in my own video. I got worried, thinking if I violated YouTube’s Terms of Service (TOS). Was the video taken down due to copyright infringement or copyright claim by other parties? I didn’t think so. Fortunately, the (only) video in my account was not deleted. So how did I fix the error?
I didn’t. It was on YouTube side. My instinct told me to press F5 to reload the page before I make a drastic move in my blog. Luckily, the trick worked.
So I emailed Janie back saying that it is normal when the page with embedded YouTube video is open for a long time. The clip is not gone, removed or deleted. All she has to do is refresh the page and the video will re-appear.
She thanked me for letting her know because she didn’t “realize that You Tube timed out like that.” to quote her.
I want to thank Janie for pointing this out. She inspired me to write a post because it seems to me that this issue looks like a big deal to a concerned viewer. I hope that this post somehow reaches YouTube so they can fix the annoying “Video is no longer available” error that makes their members and users worry.
I remember this girl in college that I really liked a lot. Let’s call her Kathleen.
I liked Kathleen so much that I kept enrolling in her class even though I didn’t really talk to her. As a matter of fact, I only talked to her once.
Her course, if I recall correctly, was International Studies. Mine was Computer Application. Huge difference, but what sent me to her class and kept sending me back was her. Always her.
She’s beautiful — my type of beauty to be perfectly honest. Her face was angelic and her smile was captivating. Somehow, her beauty kept me drawn to her. She was like a magnet; I was attracted and I liked it. I didn’t want to last a day without a glimpse of her.
Her class, however, in its entirety, was not as beautiful as her. I didn’t have any friends and nobody reached out to me, especially when there was a group activity. I was alone, sitting in one corner left to mind my own business. I was always near the door so I can sneak out of the room quickly after the lesson. (And after giving this girl one good look.)
Her classmates didn’t like “outsiders”, unfortunately, I was one. So I had to endure their aloofness just to see a girl who didn’t even know I existed. Despite that, I remained in my seat quietly, fantasizing about myself talking to Kathleen. It was like an addiction that I couldn’t resist.
And it was like that for 2 semesters, until I failed in some subjects.
The failures were a wake-up call. I asked myself: “Is it worth it?” Apparently, Kathleen did not and will not give me any positive response. She was just a fantasy, and my failures were real. Staying in her class didn’t benefit me at all. I decided to stay away.
I still saw her in the catwalk, in the canteen, and in the campus. Sometimes she was with her friends, sometimes she was alone. I don’t recall a specific time when my eyes met hers. Because it was more of me looking at her, than she looking at me.
Fortunately, I got over her and never enrolled in her class again. I realized what a fool I was for letting myself get hooked by her beauty, thus, hurting my college records.
There was a reason I was in school: to learn and eventually to get ready for work. Obviously, I wasn’t fulfilling my purpose.
Consciously diverting my attention to my purpose, I enrolled in classes where I knew I have friends who could help me out in case of academic hardships. This strategy was perfect. Everything was easier for me. I also enrolled in Summer classes to catch up. I graduated College, had a job, and lived a life. All because I learned to let go of a fruitless fantasy and served my true purpose.
In case you’re wondering, I’ve never heard anything about Kathleen since, but I spotted her one time while I was watching TV: she was in the commercial. That was before I got my first job as a programmer almost 10 years ago. I chuckled the first time I saw it, but I wasn’t really surprised — she was truly a model-material (One thing I learned from my fantasy is that, I had a good taste!)
The point is, there is nothing wrong with fantasies. But putting it on top your priorities to the point of hurting your objectives in life is another story. Don’t make the same mistake I did by prolonging it and wasting your time getting nothing in return. Let go of it and serve your purpose.
YouTube is a haven for people who love entertainment. It is a place rich in all kind of videos: hilarious, educational, thought-provoking. You name it, YouTube has it.
Since anyone knowledgeable with videos can upload anything he wants, YouTube has somewhat become contaminated by junk videos that present no meaning at all. Worse, some people abuse the system by writing offensive comments that can be considered as trash and immature.
However, if you are a person who exercise good judgement, you will know when to avoid those and how to find valuable videos that are worth remembering. I applaud video creators, who post insightful clips. They truly understand that a thing of beauty is meant for sharing.
Below you will find videos which I personally like as they inspire me and make me reflect on life.
You probably had seen some (if not all), but it never hurts watching them again. To go directly to the YouTube page of the videos where you can also read viewers comments, click on the title. Otherwise, simply click on the Play button of each video below to start watching:
This spliced video, which features a young Tiger Woods winning the British Open, is one of my favorite Nike Commercials. It makes me smile for two reasons, 1.) Seeing Tiger Woods as a young kid playing golf is amazing in itself. 2.) His relationship with his parents is masterfully captured in this concise clip. My full interpretation can be read in this post.
Fellow Filipino Byron Garcia probably didn’t see his idea becoming a huge hit all over the world when he published the video of the prisoners dancing “Thriller” (popularized by Michael Jackson). It was inspiring and amusing at the same time, and seeing the inmates dance like they have a mission is a sight to behold.
The video has been viewed approximately 11 million times, and has caught the attention of bigtime and international press. As a result, the inmates dedicated a dance to the whole world and CNN featured them on its website with their heart-warming stories of rehabilitation. I hope every prison in the world does something productive instead of letting the inmates hurt each other.
The world is spinning slowly everyday, and people from all walks of life have their own business to mind. In the midst is one man - Noah Kalina – who took pictures of himself everyday, for 6 years, and created a video out of them. The result was awesome. It started with the word “Everyday”, and then one by one, his compiled daily pictures which were taken in various places, flashed in quick sequence. It ended with a phrase “A work in progress.” Which, in my opinion, is open for interpretation.
This short film came out just a couple of months ago and immediately gained recognition because of its truthful message addressing an “unwanted condition”. Already viewed more than a million times, it won 3rd place in YouTube Project: Direct voted by the viewers. I don’t intend to spoil this clip, but here’s a short scene near the end to give you a hint of what the film is all about: An old lady suspiciously asked a young girl: “Who are you? What’s your name?” Confused, the 13-year old girl answered in a soft manner: “My name is Lisa…” Great script, great acting, excellent message.
A regular guy had a dream of making it to a professional basketball league and making a game-winning shot when he was young. It didn’t happen. However, he has a competitive drive to win and dreams of playing in an organized game. He continues to love basketball. So he continually practiced hard, working on his shooting in the community gym with his friends.
That regular guy is me. And when my awaited day arrived, I finally hit a winning shot for the first time in my life. Somehow, my dream came true. (Additional information in this post.)
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I know some of these clips might not mean anything to you. Some of you probably have your own selections, and that is perfectly acknowledged, because I also understand that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
So allow me to take this chance to say that I am truly thankful for the video creators who shared their masterpieces with public viewers. Their geniuses make it worth the stay in YouTube.
I’ve been reading OpTempo.com eversince I learned about it on BloggingZoom.com. The site is packed with useful information on blogging, and Frank - the author - writes using an “easy-to-read” approach at the same time displaying his credibility on the subjects he usually talks about.
During that time, I also learned that he does blog reviews for FREE. Knowing that Frank writes a fair and objective analysis, I decided to sign up for this free service. I also felt it was necessary to let someone with blogging experience outside my immediate connection to take a look at this site and provide an objective opinion.
However, since this is a free service, I had to fall in line and wait. It was a long list, but I felt it was worth the wait.
Couple of months later, PlanetSaedel has been finally featured on OpTempo.com.
Frank categorized his review in to two parts: Site Design/Theme and Content; it was concluded in Overall evaluation. Below is a snippet of his review:
“… The WordPress theme is a simple, two column right side bar, design with a custom logo graphic built around the K2 theme. It’s minimalist but looks good….Planet Saedel covers a lot of topics, sort of like OpTempo does in a way… Planet Saedel is an enjoyable personal blog with some interesting observations. I didn’t see anything of significance that should be changed…. ”
I am encouraging you to visit Blog Review: Planet Saedel for full details of Frank’s assessment of my blog. Then let me know what you think about Frank’s review.
I would like to thank Frank for taking time to go around PlanetSaedel. He even dug deep into my archives to look for old topics to review.
If you are a personal or professional blogger (or an aspiring one), don’t miss the chance to get your site reviewed. (Paid blog reviews range from $5 - $450). It’s a win-win situation: you learn, improve, and get promoted. On the other hand, the reviewer gains credibility, a link back to his site, and potential readers coming from his reviewee.
Quick question:
If I ask you to review this site, what would you say about it based on design and content?
Have you heard of the phrase “addition by subtraction?”
If you have not, I’m inviting you to read ahead, I’ll explain it using simple examples. Otherwise, stay with me, you might be able to share here or learn new perspectives.
Imagine you have a bag of tomatoes, and you noticed one of them is rotten. What do you do to keep the others fresh? You take out the rotten one to avoid contamination.
Same thing with a team. A team General Manager should always look to improve the pack by trading away or cutting the weakest link. That’s one form of addition (or improvement) by subtraction.
The same technique can be applied to everyday life. If you want to be successful, limit your diversions and concentrate on things helpful in achieving success.
Mert of searchforblogging.com, a hard-working blogging-friend of mine, applied similar technique in his blog to improve its traffic. One example he used was cutting his TV hours to 1 so he can focus on more important things.
Now, I will explain to you how I am going to improve this blog using Addition by Subtraction.
If you are new here in this planet, you will not even notice that the BlogRush widget already got the boot. Personally, I think it had potential, as it sent me few readers that stick around. But after its Phase 2, I believed BlogRush went downhill. While the widget is now gone, I haven’t deleted my account yet, just so I can check what kind of action Mr. John Reese is going to take against this blog. (I just checked — there’s now a notice in my control panel that says my account is temporarily inactive until I put the widget back within 45 days).
That’s improvement #1. BlogRush does not deliver. Removing the widget frees up a big space in my sidebar and at the same time, I used that space by installing a new widget called “Entrecard” (the box on the right side with picture/logo, and underneath says “Drop Yours” or “Get One”). I’ll spare you the details of its innerworkings**, but let me put it in simple term: it brings traffic more than BlogRush does. By traffic, I meant more people are clicking on this blog, and it is good, whether they are interested to stay or not.
Next, I decided to remove the ads on this site, more popularly known as AdSense. They are fetched from Google, and if a reader clicks on them, I earn money. When I started this site over four months ago, it was also my intention to monetize using AdSense. However, the earning was not good (less than $10/month) because the click per ad is worth less than .25c. I got smart-priced* which simply means that Google pays me very little per Ad click.
That’s improvement #2. Adsense only works well in niche blogs, not in general-interest blogs. I have learned this from reading useful blogs on SEO, internet marketing, and money making***. If your Adsense account is currently used in a general interest blog, remove it, wait for a few weeks and then use it in a niche blog. Doing so allows your account to no longer be smart priced.
My Amazon widget (see sidebar) is not performing good as far as monetization is concerned. It also takes time to load, therefore, any first time visitor hits the back button or browse away as soon as they enter. Consequently, I will try another variation and see what happens.
That’s improvement #3. Amazon does not perform as expected plus it causes slow page loading. I’ll see if the change I am going to do will have positive effects but if none, I’ll say goodbye to this widget as well.
Via improvement #2 and #3, I am allowing myself to focus on paid/tipped reviews, which will become the main source of income of this blog. However, I’m going to be honest that it’s a big risk doing this after reading this post about PageRank Slap by the Big G (Google). It talks about blogs losing their Google-calculated ranks. I can take that, mainly because I still have a dayjob to support me, and I am experimenting on different niche blogs for monetization. PlanetSaedel is aimed for readers, not money-making.
IN CLOSING
I also did other improvements using the “less is more” principle but I won’t go into details, since they are only minor. The key here is not to be complacent. Always explore your own site and check if there are tweakings to be done.
Planning your own addition by subtraction not only in blogging but also in life, is simply a common sense; but actually doing it and being satisfied with the results is called improvement.
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Have you heard of the phrase “addition by subtraction?”
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