Tag Archives: blog

Help Wanted: perrinlovett.net Requires a Washington Correspondent ASAP

15 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

Well. It’s more of an unpaid internship really. Style the title as you will; the unpaid part is certain. But I’m going to need someone in D.C. possibly as soon as next week.

Talk radio hosts and bloggers could be invited to official White House press briefings once the Trump administration takes office, under a highly irregular proposal being floated that may also remove briefings from the West Wing.

Trump’s pick for White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, said on Sunday that due to “off the chart” interest in the new administration, the president-elect was considering moving briefings from the James S Brady press briefing room, which has been used by presidents to address the media since 1970, to a venue with a greater capacity.

A report published by Esquire magazine on Saturday indicated the venue could be inside the Old Executive Office Building, just west of the White House.

“I know change is difficult sometimes,” Spicer told Fox News. “But sometimes change can actually be better.”

Spicer argued the proposal would mean “you can involve more people, be more transparent, have more accessibility”. He suggested that this would mean outlets that are not traditionally part of the White House press corps would be able to ask questions during presidential press briefings.

There’s a lot of talk radio and bloggers and people that can’t fit in right now and maybe don’t have a permanency because they’re not part of the Washington elite media,” Spicer said, “but to allow them an opportunity to ask the press secretary or the president a question is a positive thing. It’s more democratic.”

4096

Could be calling on you. Justin lane / EPA.

Yes, more democratic. More bloggers. Carlos Slim has his blog’s reps there. Why can’t I have mine? More then, here, for you, from there.

I may have to make the first few trips myself. GoFundMe page for that coming soon…

If you’re serious about this unique employment opportunity, then I’m serious about the unpaid thing. Otherwise my H.R. protocols are much like Fox News – legs and all that. Apply in the comments section below. Only independently wealthy, free/anarchist-thinking, cigar-loving, gun-toting, hot, single women between the ages of 19 and 27 will be considered. Looks and attitude count more than degree or professional pedigree. I discriminate … but do not pay… No money…

2016 Year In Review

31 Saturday Dec 2016

Posted by in Other Columns

≈ Comments Off on 2016 Year In Review

Tags

, , ,

As we close out 2016, here’s a look back at a few posts from the last 12 months. I’ve done nearly 600 this year alone. Some were excellent. Others were … a little less. Some I thought would be hits, flopped. Some came out of nowhere and surprised me. A little blog history:

January. Half Day Snow Day.

February. The Old Man’s Guide to the Gym.

March. Death at the Academy.

April. A Den of Vipers and Thieves.

May. FDA ASSAULTS CIGAR INDUSTRY.

June. The Battle of Orlando – connected to – My Name is I Pledge of Allegiance…

July. Death of a Facebook Friend. This might have been my highest trafficked article of the year, at least by initial views. And just something I wrote on a whim.

August. Come Out of the Churches, Thou Unclean Spirits.

September. Mapping The Real Vote.

October. The Time I Met Reagan.

November. Ohio State Terrorist Attack Highlights Need For Guns On Campus.

December. Maybe The Russians Are Not THEIR Friends.

And that should be a wrap for 2016.

rtss

Next year will be fantastic. See you then.

-P

November Was To Remember (And To Be Thankful)!

05 Monday Dec 2016

Posted by in News and Notes

≈ Comments Off on November Was To Remember (And To Be Thankful)!

Tags

,

Well, it was bound to happen. After four months of unprecedented growth on this site and record after record, we slipped backwards ever so slightly last month.

It was the Thanksgiving week that broke the stride – and not by much. I think November 2016 was the third best month ever, close on the heels of one and two: September and October. You were busy, as I was. I can live with that.

In fact, I’ll focus on month over month and yearly growth for a second. This November was head and shoulders above last November (2015’s best month, by the way). And 2016 will see total site traffic nearly double (if not double completely) over 2015, which was previously the best year ever. I’m impressed and I as always thank you.

I extend a special “thank you” to all my friends from Facebook, and Gab, and the prepping community, as well as all the Google searchers of the world.

Next year, hopefully early, I’ll be introducing some serious changes and upgrades that will take everything to the next level and beyond.

December is generally a slower month though I’m already forecasting at least doubling last year’s numbers. And January should see post number 1,000 – maybe early February.

This little post about posts happens to be number 900.

3exem98bqe0

The Simpsons /Fox.

Thank you all and good night!

– Perrin

Happy November!

01 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by in News and Notes

≈ Comments Off on Happy November!

Tags

, , ,

Happy All Saints Day, friends.

have-a-blessed-all-saints-day

This morning I had a great, short chat with Matt Patrick on the Morning Show of KTRH, 740 AM, Houston. I saw that a few of you clicked the “listen live” link I provided yesterday. Maybe you heard my coffee-swilling rambling about the state of education. It’s not my main subject and at 6:45 on a vacation morning I wasn’t at full throttle. Still it was a great segment.

Matt, Dale and the crew over there run a very professional operation. I haven’t been on the radio in about five years. I have lost some of that quick, DJ voice. Those guys are fast and succinct. A great show. I was happy to contribute what I could. Many thanks to the crew and staff.

And many thanks to all of you for making October the biggest and best month in blog history. In was close but last night we managed to edge out September by a slight margin. This morning I already have visitors from: the USA, UK, Australia, Spain, Mexico, Germany, and Hungary. Hello, all! This month I’m looking for another increase – a new order of magnitude if you will. Thanks for all the help.

I’m proud of the little site. I wrote a cigar story that led to some “professional” reviews. I wrote a book review for a best-selling author. That lead to a dialogue with the author – a great man with a great message. (And, hello, Gabbers!) I wrote about the colleges and I got a request from the media in a major market. I am humbled.

I’m also tired. In a good way. Been toting bags around amusement parks and trotting after tweens and teens and other crazies. Fun times. 500 miles and I’ll be back with more rambling finery. There’s big things a happening out there.

Stay tuned!

No. 801: The Top 1%

17 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by in News and Notes

≈ Comments Off on No. 801: The Top 1%

Tags

, , ,

Last night’s Great All American High School Football Friday Night Shotgun Raffle was my 800th post here. I forgot that amid the excitement of the evening.

 

nimbus-image-1476701538323

This weekend I refrained from any criticism of President Obama due to his recent contributions to the cigar world. I suppose all is fair once again though I still thank him. I’ll dedicate that first legal Cuban to his honor.

So, this is post no. 801. I have the SEO skills of a drunken sea otter but I think volume has something to do with it; if we can’t have quality, we’ll have a ton of rambling and such. Seems to be working, whatever it is. I checked my web ranking and I have crossed the threshold into the top 1% of all websites on Earth (over a billion active sites). Technically the traffic is higher than 99.35+% of the web. I think I’ve improved by something like 23,000,000 slots in the past three months – all thanks to you folks.

That’s great. Yet I would like to gun for the top 1% of the top 1%. That’s possible. Maybe in a year or two. I write for some other sites that are pushing closer to that range right now. That in turn pushes my site to a small degree. And, I’m finding that some of that outside work is now being cited by third parties. Every little helps.

 

SEO or not somehow the word is spreading. Web engine searches lead people here. I mentioned Ivan Throne’s excellent new book the other week and, this weekend, he acknowledged. I’ve promised him a full review here soon – as soon as I finish the book.

And soon I’m going to upgrade to full pro status with WP. For you that should mean more and better, etc.

Thank you and happy Monday! Go to work.

-Perrin

September to Remember

02 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by in Other Columns

≈ Comments Off on September to Remember

Tags

, , , ,

A few blogging updates about last month.

This site is in its fifth calendar year. I’ve only posted in three Septembers (2013, 2015, 2016). 2013 only saw one measly post. 2015 was a decent month with thirteen posts and good enough traffic. Last month was on fire, the heaviest trafficked month in history, with a near 20% increase over August (itself the previous record). In the first nine months of this year I’ve exceeded all of 2015 by almost 40% – I’m on pace to more than double traffic from last year and possibly outperform all previous years combined.

An International Presence

This is a quintessential American/Western site though I did have September visitors from 36 countries. The top five, accounting for 97% of visitors were: the U.S., U.K., Honduras, Canada, and Germany.

The Top Posts Of Sept.

Fifteen Years Ago – my recollection of 9/11.

Cigars Are Healthy – medical vindication of my hobby.

A Tale of Two Charlotteans – when the society slides, guns keep the peace.

By the way, the most popular post of all-time is Gunning For Votes (Sept., 2015) followed closely by Democracy in America (May, 2015). I’d pick Democracy out of those two though it’s still not my favorite.

Who Are Y’all

After four years I’m finally building up some regular followers here – I add 1 – 2 per day. Thanks, peeps!

Additionally, I get a healthy clickage from: Facebook, the prepping community (welcome again!), and Linkedin. I also see an increase in Google and other engine-direct traffic. I have the SEO skills of a drunk wharf-rat but something seems to be working.

_20161002_084728

perrinlovett.me is like a giant caterpillar – green and sure to eat all the peppers…

I said a little over a week ago I was redefining what makes a “good” day here. Wouldn’t you know it, that triggered Murphy’s Law. With the exception of last Sunday, it’s been a struggle and the new daily average has been just shy of the new mark. Growing pains.

Anyway, this is number 768. Fall is here. It’s October. This is my favorite season and I’m ready to roll!

Thanks, again.

Perrin

Necessary Recalibration

23 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by in Other Columns

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

A while back I wrote about how well the old blog is doing. It was great. Now it’s starting to almost scare me. Thanks to all my old readers and, again, welcome to my newbies.

I have consistently hit what I consider good daily traffic for more than 30 days in a row now. (That means at least 2 views per day, 3 per week. ;0 ). Some days we quadruple the old number or better. Therefore I am re-calculating what a “good” day is, raising it by a factor of 50%.

The weeks and months are outstanding too. August was a record by a large margin. And I might smash that by this evening for September.

The yearly traffic is crazy. I’m already 33% better now than I was through all of 2015 (a good year by my standards). Very likely 2016 will see more traffic than all previous years combined.

burning-smell-from-computer

Only you can prevent blog fires. Please don’t.

I’m at the point now where I could make decent money with annoying ads. I won’t. I’m going to be offering more products and maybe services as the year fails but no ads. There may possibly be small, targeted promotions for things I think will benefit the audience (i.e. guns, cigars, cigar guns). Those, however, will be offset and never interfere with the layout or operation. NO POP-UPS or SHIFTIES EVER! Remember, any ads you see now (at the bottom) are from WordPress and a by-product of my cut-rate plan. I will upgrade that sooner or later.

This, by the way, is post number 750.

I’m going to go celebrate. Maybe with a cigar. Or a nap. I am the world’s 832nd most interesting man.

Well, Then There’s Excuses

21 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

≈ Comments Off on Well, Then There’s Excuses

Tags

, , , ,

Last night I promised a big, hard-hitting article on Western civilization, invasion, and terrorism. I had paid work today, a workout and a headache. I did next to nothing. Then I went to a happy hour party of sorts with some friendly recently graduated sorority girls and an open bar…

In short, there will be no big column today. Sorry. Tomorrow. Soon, I promise.

I looked at the news this evening. Turmoil as far as the eye can see. This story caught my eye: UN fears third leg of the global financial crisis, with epic debt defaults. It’s worth a read. It is from the Telegraph, one of the last remaining honest news agencies.

The third leg of the world’s intractable depression is yet to come. If trade economists at the United Nations are right, the next traumatic episode may entail the greatest debt jubilee in history.

It may also prove to be the definitive crisis of globalized capitalism, the demise of the liberal free-market orthodoxies promoted for almost forty years by the Bretton Woods institutions, the OECD, and the Davos fraternity.

Honest enough to admit to an “intractable depression” in progress. Sad but true. And they mention Bretton Woods by name. This warrants further investigation. I actually have another big draft in the works – several years in the making – my solution to the world’s debt problems. Or, at least, those in America. Maybe I can get to that in a few months.

I had been planning to write up a brief story about why you should vote for me as Sheriff. I may run for Sheriff in a few years. I have to establish residency first. I’m not even disclosing the location yet – a rural mountainous county. I will make one Hell of a Sheriff. Anyway, even that can wait.

nimbus-image-1474508123274

So, in the end, all you have are my excuses. Pretty good ones if I may say so.

On the bright side, one of the lovely young ladies I met tonight may be able to get me a discount on my twiner alternative transportation that I’ve been looking at. So Sheriff Perrin can beat a hasty retreat from the mountains to the beach and so forth. (Clovers look like the insects they are from up there.)

Blah, blah, blah … think I’ll just call it a night.

Good night!

The 700 Club

01 Thursday Sep 2016

Posted by in Other Columns

≈ Comments Off on The 700 Club

Tags

, ,

This post has nothing to do with Pat Robertson except for success. Robertson’s show is a huge, long-term hit. The blog still pales in comparison but I’m getting there. We, rather, are getting there. This is post number 700! Thank you all.

WordPress.

I’d like to give a special welcome to my new subscribers and visitors. Hello! Thanks for joining the party. From time to time I take a post like this one to note where the show is going.

I also track trends. Right now just about everything is trending upwards. In addition to 700 articles I have maintained at least a post per day for 12 weeks in a row now – 18 weeks with a few brief interruptions. Longtime followers know I had an early habit of taking time off – looong periods. No more. I’m on a roll.

I look at where traffic comes from. For a short time in the not-to-distant past I paid for a little (very little) advertising. It was worth it but is no longer remotely necessary. I get traffic from Facebook and LinkedIn. Many of my new friends from Freedom Prepper are stopping by. And, I am finally noticing increased numbers straight from web searches. Four years of plugging away and a little SEO operation have gone a long way.

Last month saw a massive uptick in hits. August 2016 was, by far, my busiest month ever. Even now – even early this morning – I was able to extrapolate that September will be even busier. Over last year and previous falls it may be an order of magnitude.

Until recently I had in my mind a cutoff number for what I considered a good day. It now seems sadly antiquated, an embarrassment even. Lately, I’ve been hitting it by early morning. I may have to adjust my expectations, substituting what used to be an average week for what makes a “good” day.

I even “helped” a new blog into existence. Check it out sometime.

I still get asked if I plan to “monetize” the blog. Outright, no I do not. I’m still mid-level in the WordPress plan world. Soon I will go full pro which will allow me commercial control. Honestly, I hate gimmicky ads all over a page. And the people who run the ad programs tend to shy away from my brand of … ideology.

If I do allow any advertisement here it will be targeted and directly linked to the source. That will probably mean firearms and cigars. We’ll see. Of course, I will continue to sell books. More of those and many related items are coming hard and fast. Ready those credit cards please.

And please keep coming back. I have some changes in mind. I think they will help the overall flow here.

Thank you so much and please stand by for number 701!

-Perrin

PS: Other numbers. I still have about 50 drafts cooking. Hmmmm.

PPS: More numbers. My thrilling success here has carried over to the physical world. It helped pull me out of an exercise rut. Thanks for that too! I will never bench press 500 pounds. Not without steroids or bionic modification.Not going to happen. I did however hit 365 lbs – today – twice (2 consecutive reps) – unassisted. That’s 207.4% of what I weigh. Not bad for an old crazy man.

Advice for Writing and Publishing

29 Monday Aug 2016

Posted by in Books For Sale, Other Columns

≈ Comments Off on Advice for Writing and Publishing

Tags

, , , , , , ,

A talented friend asked me how I do the crazy things I do. This was going to be an email to him. However, I thought it better to share with everyone. I suppose I can give this now. Sometimes its easier to give it than to live it. Do as I say!

Here are a few ideas:

Start a Blog

I use and recommend WordPress.WP allows for easy and professional startups. The base level is absolutely free. I pay a nominal fee to keep the “wordpress.” out of my page name and a few other perks. Next I will step up to the expensive level. Start small – and cheap. Just get started. There are other free hosts out there too.

Social Media

From WP you can link your posts to Facebook, Twitter, etc. This will help generate traffic and maybe build some new friends. Don’t forget LinkedIn.

Email List

They say for real on-line success one needs an email list – a go to group of dedicated followers. I spent a lot of time building mine this summer. I took it from about 20 people to almost 1,000. Sadly, I have not tested the system out. I will. I use Gmail which is okay for one to one emails. For a list there are vastly better options – MailChimp, Aweber, etc. Those cost money. Keep it simple (and free) to start.

Publishing

My friend has a wealth of historical knowledge he would like to share. There’s no reason he shouldn’t get paid to do it. One sure-fire way to do that is to publish a book:

Createspace

Createspace is Amazon’s professional publishing wing. Account setup is free and relatively easy. Converting, editing, and formatting everything takes a little work. However, the services are free and one can then directly upload to Amazon. These are books “available on demand”. Someone sees it, orders it and pays for it and CS prints a copy and mails it out. They also have other formats which I have not experimented with – audio, video, etc. For a fee they also have editing and design services.

You can make a book like this:

IMG_20151118_152219936

This is the way of the future – self publishing and Amazon. A few more years and traditional publishers and bookstores won’t exist. They are committing suicide.

CS is also a stepping stone to:

Kindle

Once one has a manuscript ready it can be converted to Kindle for ebook publishing and sale. This is not necessarily easy. I have one book in Kindle and the format is horrible. Worse, I have never gone back and fixed it yet. Learning curve here. One can also pay to have the formatting done. Otherwise the system is free. There are books available on the subject. I suggest reading them.

Amazon Tools

Once one has a book out, odds are people are going to find it on Amazon. Remember to set up an Author Page with links to your Blog posts.

PDF

There is a super easy way to make an ebook. Just convert a Word, WordPerfect, or Docs text to PDF and link it to your blog or email it. Freebies build business although it is possible to offer these for sale.

PayPal

Set up an account and use it to receive payments for the PDFs and other services offered until you can afford a real e-commerce system. Amazon and Kindle offer direct deposit for their sales of your work. PayPal also comes in handy for freelancing (see below).

Some Writing Resources

These are in no particular order and there are so many out there:

James Altucher offers a wealth of publishing tips and other inspiration. Read this.

The Write Life. All kinds of advice for all sorts of things.

That will do for now. If you have an idea or a question, don’t forget the Google.

Freelance Ideas

Independent contract work can be a great way to build business and make money. Many of these jobs can be found just by looking around. Then there are “content mills”. The mills are marketplaces where people look for work and companies look for talent. I list three of them below. I can’t really recommend using them because so much of what is offered is pure crap. However, the gems are out there. It’s just a matter of finding them.

As for my friend or really anyone, I would recommend searching hard within the author’s niche. I’ve stumbled into some great projects that fit my crazed topics and style. One might as well be happy when working.

Jobs for Bloggers

This is just a board published by ProBlogger. No account to set up; just communicate directly with projects by email or their sites. I’ve had the most success with this service. And jobs are posted daily and are searchable. Most pay by PayPal.

Freelancer

A true content mill with required setup. They frequently handle payment but they also take a cut. That’s also how it works at:

Upwork

They handle all payment issues in-house. I think it’s a slightly better system. A good deal of hassle and BS but you can search out what you’re looking for.

As I said there are many other resources. This is a gateway not only for writers, but also for speakers, artists, professionals, and anyone with something to offer. I hope it helps. Happy hunting.