YouTube stars make big money — but why?
“The top 10 YouTube stars have one thing in common. They’re awful. Just really, really bad. What I mean to say is, they suck. So who the hell is watching them? According to analytics and advertising company TubeMogul, these guys — and one gal —brought in six figures over the last year.
The “how” is fairly obvious. The money comes from banner ads — the revolving advertisements for Tortino Pizza Rolls, “World of Warcraft,” Vitamix blenders, etc., that reload every time you click a video. The more views a video gets, the more money it earns from banner ads — and splits with YouTube parent company Google. To earn the $100,000 to $315,000 that TubeMogul estimates, each YouTube rock star gets watched a whole heck of a lot. But it’s why these YouTube auteurs are raking in six figures that’s annoying.
You won’t see one-hit viral wonders such as “David After Dentist” or “Double Rainbow” in the top 10. The YouTube stars in the Top 10 have a growing body of work and a loyal viewer following that pretty much guarantee repeat viewings. It helps that the majority of the top earners appeal to an adolescent audience, that special demographic that enjoy watching videos over and over ad infinitum if it’s something that strikes their funny bones. Have a look at the list and you’ll get what I mean.
Shane Dawson $315,000…”
Read more at MSNBC (Thanks @XxLadyClaireXx)
Smoking two year old kicks 40-a-day cigarette habit after month-long spell in rehab
An update on a story we posted a while ago:
“He caused a storm around the world when filmed chain smoking cigarettes – aged just two years old. Now Indonesian toddler Ardi Rizal is centre of attention again after kicking his 40-a-day habit. The reformed smoker spent 30 days in rehab after his shocking behaviour was filmed by a TV crew at his home in Musi Banyuasin, in the South Sumatra province. When the two-year-old’s smoking was first exposed, his parents said they were reluctant to stop his £3.78-a-day habit because he threw tantrums between cigarettes.
His mother, Diana, 26, wept: ‘He’s totally addicted. If he doesn’t get cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall. He tells me he feels dizzy and sick.’ His fishmonger father Mohammed, 30, added: ‘He looks pretty healthy to me. I don’t see the problem.’ Despite their liberal attitude, health officials intervened to help the four-stone boy improve his already obvious poor health.
The Jakarta Globe reported the couple handed over Ardi for the rehab programme and he was weaned off cigarettes. During his time with doctors, tests showed he already has heart problems – although that could be from his obesity rather than his serial smoking. Ardi was followed by U.S. TV’s The Early Show who filmed him as he enjoyed what was – hopefully – his last cigarette before going into rehab in Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta. They then showed him the next day as he rolled around on the floor screaming and crying as he threw a fit at being refused a cigarette. His mother Diana was also given ‘therapy’ – effectively training in how to be a proper parent.
Read more at The Daily Mail (Thanks Liam R)
Is science teaching undermined by religious instruction in faith schools?
“From time to time there are concerns raised that some state-funded religious schools teach creationism, or intelligent design, in their science lessons.
The last Labour government and the Conservatives in opposition have always denied this is a problem and have always said that they will not stand for the teaching of creationism in science lessons. Ministers always say that creationism can’t be taught in science lessons
Whenever this issue cropped up in parliament I was always concerned that the debate was missing the point. It is no good teaching about evolution (which is a scientific fact) in a science lesson at 9am then at 10am, in a religious education lesson, instructing pupils not to believe it.
The whole problem with RE lessons is not that they exist but that they amount to religious instruction in some schools. There is no basis for allowing state-funded schools to indoctrinate their pupils, even if that is what their parents want. They can provide this in optional after-school (or lunchtime) classes or clubs. They could even have something on a Sunday where children are taught to be believers. They could call it Sunday School!
The recognition that RE lessons can be proselytising is reflected in the right that parents have to withdraw their children from these lessons. In contrast, they can’t withdraw their children from biology lessons even if they have profound religious objections to their being taught about sexual reproduction or evolution – these subjects are recognised as non-proselytising.
Secularists like me believe that RE is a valid subject for study in the curriculum but should be about what different religions (and other world views like humanism) believe; it should not be about what ought to be believed. So Catholic schools should be allowed to use RE lessons to teach that the Catholic church opposes contraception and believes that homosexuality is a sin, but not that the children ought to believe those things. The lessons should set out contrasting views on that subject.”
Read more at The Guardian (Thanks @XxLadyClaireXx)
Bringing tiger bones to life…
“We asked artist Mark Coreth – the man behind last winter’s mesmerising Ice Bear event – to create a majestic 3.4-metre tiger sculpture on the banks of the Thames in London. And he wants you to lend him a hand…
If you’re in central London from 4 September, come along and witness (and maybe even help sculpt) a stunning larger-than-life tigress next to the river Thames, near Bankside Pier.
Inspired by sculptor Mark Coreth’s own encounters with endangered Bengal tigers, the Bringing the Bones to Life project is part of our Save the tiger campaign.
Our ambitious but very achievable plan is to double the world’s wild tiger population – currently as low as 3,200 – by the next Chinese Year of the Tiger in 2022.
Mark will bring his particular big cat to life, starting from just a plaster tiger skeleton, with hands-on help from members of the public and local schoolchildren, who’ll get involved by mixing and applying the plaster.
Or visit it for yourself at Bankside Pier, London SE1 – on the South Bank near the Globe Theatre, not far from Tate Modern. Nearest stations are Waterloo (rail) or Southwark (tube). The sculpture will be there until Sunday 19 September.”
Watch the sculpture develop via live webcam…
Visit WWF to find out more (Thanks Max)
Colombian declared world’s shortest man
A 70cm (27-inch) tall Colombian has been named the world’s shortest living man by Guinness World Records. Edward Nino Hernandez, 24, weighs only 10kg (22lbs). His mother said he had not grown since he was two years old. Mr Hernandez, who works part-time as a dancer, told the Associated Press: “I feel happy because I’m unique.”
The previous record holder was He Pingping of China, who was 4cm (1.5 inches) taller and died in March – before Mr Hernandez was discovered. Mr Hernandez is not expected to keep the title for long, however, as Khagendra Thapa Magar of Nepal is expected to take the title when he turns 18 in October. Khagendra, currently recognised as the world’s shortest living teenager, is only 56cm (22in) tall. The shortest man on record was Gul Mohammed of India, who measured just 57cm – 1cm taller than Khagendra.
Mr Hernandez’s mother, Noemi, said doctors in the Colombian capital, Bogota, never explained why he had grown only 40cm since birth. She said doctors at the National University studied him until he was three and then lost interest. Her youngest child, 11-year-old Miguel Angel, is himself only 93cm (37in) tall. Mr Hernandez left school in the eighth grade and now earns some money dancing at department stores. He is also currently playing the role of a drug dealer in a film. Although he liked the attention, he said there were some drawbacks. “It bothers me that people are always touching me and picking me up.”
Via BBC News
Derren Brown Special: Hero at 30,000 Feet
Derren Brown, the acclaimed psychological illusionist, returns to Channel 4 for an amazing 70 minute special on Wednesday 8th September at 10pm.
Hero at 30,000 Feet takes an ‘average Joe’ on an extraordinary psychological journey which will culminate with him facing a life-changing decision of whether to take control of a Boeing 737 packed with passengers, which he believes is about to fall out of the sky.
Viewers will also witness the extraordinary personal challenges the subject has already been through with Derren in the run up to this event, as he becomes empowered by life-skills that transform his unconfident character.
Derren Brown says: “I hope it’s a show that people take something from. We easily let life pass us by, and ultimately this is about engaging with life and understanding that it is the choices we make right now that define us, not what we’ve done in the past.
“One unwitting volunteer gets to have a deep understanding of this, and for him to experience real and lasting change, I have to push him to the extreme.”
A master showman, Derren describes Hero at 30,000 Feet as his “favourite and most ambitious TV project to date” and promises to have the nation glued to their seats as the drama unfolds in his latest Channel 4 special.
It follows the success of previous television specials such as Russian Roulette Live, Séance, The Heist and The Events – a series of four 1 hour specials which included How To Win The Lottery and How To Take Down A Casino.
His latest feat will see Derren using his powers to make positive, lasting change to someone’s life and has involved months of planning and secret filming.
He says: “The show was born from a desire to do something edifying. The experience of doing it has been truly extraordinary: genuinely changing someone’s life in such a good way has left us all on cloud 9 ourselves.”
Watch the trailer at channel 4 or here on the blog.
We’ve set up a special page for you to discuss the show during and after it’s aired.
You can find the page here, or by selecting it from the ‘TV show discussion‘ menu above.
Residents phoned 999 dozens of times over ‘ghost and UFO worries’
“Worried residents phoned 999 to report sightings of ghosts and UFOs, including a man who claimed to have seen the spirit of actor Paul Newman, a force has disclosed. Officers say one emergency call came from a man who rang police claiming to have seen the ghosts of ”two old ladies in a white Fiesta” on a dual carriageway. Other worried calls came from people who spotted ghosts or poltergeists on CCTV cameras and another who said he’d seen a ghost which could ”make me a million quid”. Dozens more calls were also made claiming to have seen aliens including one man reporting that his wife and dog were being abducted by Martians.
More than 150 calls, details of which were released under the Freedom of Information Act, claimed to have seen spooks or UFOs were made to Devon and Cornwall Police over the past 15 years. One caller claimed a spectre gave him a ”horrible hairstyle and some dodgy photos. Ghost is Paul Newman.” In one case in October 2003, the force recorded: ”Caller states he has got a ghost on CCTV. Caller wanted advice on who he could contact as the footage was going to make him a million. Advised to go to the press.” In July 2004 someone from Newton Abbot in Devon reported seeing a ”ghost driver” on the A38. The police log recorded: ”Two old ladies in white Fiesta – come onto the A38B carriageway on the off slip facing the wrong way. Stopped on the hard shoulder, trying to reverse back up the off slip.” A man in Callington, Cornwall, reported his wife and dog being abducted by aliens, while another said he’d seen UFO over a pie factory in Okehampton, Devon.
Other 999 calls were made to report ”a long, white cylinder thing like a train in the sky” and ”orange balls moving slowly upwards and in all different directions”. A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said most of the incidents were logged as ”non attendance” or ”routine” although in some cases officers were forced to respond. ”Our call centre operators take many types of calls and the vast majority are for emergencies or relate to non urgent inquiries of one type or another,” he said. ”There are occasions though when a more unusual call is received. “These are all dealt with professionally by our highly trained staff who access and process them in an appropriate way.” ”
Read more at The Telegraph
Stephen Hawking: Physics Is Enough
September 3, 2010 on BBC Newsnight
Britons apathetic to Pope visit but disagree with state funding
A poll suggests that three quarters of Britons believe the taxpayer should not have to fund part of the cost of Pope Benedict’s forthcoming UK visit. Seventy-seven per cent of participants on an online survey of 2,005 adults did not agree that the taxpayer should contribute to the bill for the four-day state visit this month. The survey, conducted by theology think tank Theos, found that only 24 per cent of respondents were actively opposed to the visit, but the majority disliked the idea of state funding for it. Paul Woolley, director of Theos, said: “The British public clearly has a problem with the funding of the papal visit.” But he added: “It is only a relatively small proportion of people who are actively opposed to the visit itself. On the whole, the public is more disengaged than hostile.”
Although the majority disagreed with the taxpayer funding part of the bill, 79 per cent admitted to having no “personal interest” in the Pope’s visit. Forty-one per cent said that the Pope should not speak out on social and political issues, while 36 per cent said he should. The survey also asked respondents whether they agreed with 12 statements the Pope has made – without citing him as the source. The majority of those polled agreed with 11 of the 12 statements on the environment, the economy and human rights. Eighty-one per cent disagreed with the statement ‘poverty is often produced by a rejection of God’s love’.
Read more at Pink News
Tube Full of Plasma Creates Solar Eruption in the Lab
“Explosive bursts normally seen only on the surface of the sun can now be captured in a 13-foot-long tube using lab-created plasmas and bursts of laser light.
Physicists have created a scaled-down model of solar eruptions called coronal mass ejections, which can wreak havoc on satellites and create beautiful northern-light displays on Earth. The new experiments suggest these eruptions are set off when gushes of charged particles flow into twisted loops of magnetic field that extend from the sun’s upper atmosphere.
“You can do things in the lab that are absolutely impossible to do in space,” said plasma physicist Walter Gekelman of the University of California, Los Angeles. Gekelman and UCLA physicist Shreekrishna Tripathi created miniature versions of enormous loops of solar matter called arched magnetic flux ropes. Their results are described in the Aug. 13 issue of Physical Review Letters.
These twisted magnetic ropes — also sometimes called coronal loops, prominences and filaments — can sit comfortably on the sun’s surface for hours or days, transporting energy and matter from the solar surface to the outer atmosphere. But eventually they explode, shooting tons of charged particles out into space like a slingshot. These loopy time bombs have been photographed by observatories like the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory — but how they form, and what makes them collapse, is still unknown.”
Read more at Wired (Thanks @UKgnome)
