Showing posts with label # musing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label # musing. Show all posts

21 March 2016

Monday musings: What's the strangest thing that's ever happened to you during a show?

I've seen a lot of strange and unexpected things happen at shows.  I've seen stage platforms give way.  I've seen entire sets fall over actors (thankfully no one was injured), I've seen audience volunteers walk off the stage.  And there was that one time when a smoke machine caused a cape to catch fire...

I haven't performed often enough to experience anything like that.  Best I can do is report a family member who zealously tried to make a fool out of grade-school-me (boy was he surprised when he opened his hands to find an entire family of sponge rabbits!), and the suggestion of "Abracadabra, hey presto!" as a magic "word" by a grade-school student.

I'm sure a number of you have some juicy tales to tell though, and I'd love to hear them!

I'll let James Alan start you off with this video from his Reality Based Magic post, "The weirdest thing to ever happen to me on stage."




And now, over to you. What's the strangest thing that's ever happened to you during a show?





14 March 2016

Monday musings: Popcorn and milk

I wonder if anyone has ever incorporated this into their act? A fun experiment for little hands during March break!
"You can fill a glass full to the brim with milk, and fill another glass of the same size brim full of popcorn, and then you can put all the popcorn kernel into the milk, and milk will not run over. You cannot do this with bread. Popcorn and milk are the only two things that will go into the same place."[1]

I wonder, does it really only work with milk?  And if so, why?


From Peter Brown's YouTube channel:



--

[1] Wilder, Laura Ingalls, and Garth Williams. "Winter Night." Farmer Boy. New York: Harper & Bros., 1953.

07 March 2016

Monday musings: Search engine optimization


It's time consuming to become a master of manipulation.  I get that.  On top of that you're trying to grow your business.  One of your tactics, you're told, should be harnessing the power of your website through search engine optimization.

"Search engine optimization" as defined by Wikipedia:
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's unpaid results—often referred to as "natural," "organic," or "earned" results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users.


But you find the tubes and gears and pulleys of the interwebs overwhelming.  So you decide to outsource this task to people who know it better than you.  This makes perfect sense.

What do you really know about these people who promise you high search ranking for your money?  Does it matter?

Yes.  Yes it does matter.

When you hand over the promotion of your internet identity to the lowest bidder, some interesting things can and do happen.  The people doing the work may be located in a different country and may not have a great handle on the English language.  The people doing the work may use the strategy of comment spamming any semi-related website they can find.


Why should this matter to you?

How do you think it reflects on you if the people who are promoting you uses spammy language?  It's a red flag for many people, who view paid comments as meaningless.  (If you're a believer that any publicity is good publicity, then maybe it doesn't matter.)

As for comment spamming to impact SEO, not only does it not work, it can work against you.  It doesn't work for one or more of the following reasons: a) the comment section of many websites are coded so as to not pass on "Google juice," b) comments are sometimes left on untended sites which don't have high PageRank, and c) when comments are left on actively managed sites like this one, the spam comments are deleted within 24 hours  (you've paid good money for something that gets permanently deleted in less than a day!!).

Worse than that, some SEO organizations will target blogs of potential clients, and leave comment spam representing themselves as you and your brand.  These can hurt both you and your SEO in the long term.

When I get those types of spam comments, it's annoying to be sure -- and I remember who you are because you're wasting your money and my time every time I have to cleanup the spammy mess you paid for.  However, when potential clients get those kinds of spammy comments, they often black list you and share your name around with all of their contacts as people to avoid.  It happens.  I've seen it.  It's not pretty.


What should you be doing?

You know your business best.  You know your budget.  I can only suggest to you that you do a quick search for "things you should ask before hiring seo company," and that you remember you pay for what you get.











22 February 2016

Monday musings: Tom Mullica

A Tom Mullica moment from the first CAM convention:


15 February 2016

Monday musings: Windows 10

We seem to have a case of #Windows10NotWorkingProperlySyndrome that's taking longer to resolve than we had hoped.

We're keeping the lights on here as best we can.  Please note, however, that there may be delays in responding to e-mail and social media until a definitive cure can be implemented.

Thank you for your patience and understanding!