Georeactor Blog

On YouTube algorithm and finding a 'Season 3' topic

When I was posting Alice Guo videos, I got the sense that the YouTube algorithm tests out a few placements and then finds an audience for them. If it reaches a larger audience I feel like it is more successful than this blog or a Substack. Each time it would seem to take a little too long, but they have a metric which lets you know how it compares to the releases of your past 10 videos. I was willing to reconsider the project once multiple videos didn't reach 200 views, but each would eventually take off. One of the initially underperforming videos, Episode 4 / The Exchange, continues to get views and likes two months later.

I expected that Season 2 (Supreme Court) would work the same way, but these clicks generally come from homepages or long court / crime compilation videos instead of related videos. The last two uploads didn't get picked up and the first videos of the series stopped getting recommended. But they are historical and evergreen, like in 10 years if someone searches Randolph Phillips the video will be there.

I tried asking a few people what my next topic should be. When I was into writing I had a few draft ideas, but ideologically I already endorse the reporting of Molly White on crypto, Taylor Lorenz on TikTok law, and 5–4 on courts. I'm newer to 'Getting Spooked' (re: UFO/UAP scares) and Asianometry (re: semiconductor fabs) but they seem to know which topics are important and relevant.
I don't feel good about creating clickbait or content only seen by people browsing clickbait. And even if my current upload schedule will reach YouTube monetization, the actual revenue is too small.

I'm open to a topic which is totally different (not political clips), more evergreen history, maybe something outdoors? Ideas include: finishing my PostGIS tutorials (maybe bilingual?), transit / rail in Indonesia, strange TV movies that stick in my memory, tracking my progress learning Nahuatl or Terraform…?

Flag updates

The Syrian community filed an issue for Google to update their flag emoji. It seems unlikely to make it this year because Noto already had a release, but maybe there's time for Apple, Facebook, and WhatsApp? https://github.com/googlefonts/noto-emoji/issues

I was thinking about the middle-grade book Frindle in light of my whole Sark emoji drive. The author died in 2019, but the publisher has a sequel out this year? https://booktrib.com/2024/04/23/the-frindle-files-andrew-clements/

Updates on Bougainville maybe becoming independent from Papua New Guinea: https://theworld.org/stories/2024/10/30/bougainville-the-worlds-next-new-country and https://www.usip.org/blog/2024/11/where-does-bougainville-peace-agreement-stand

Yugoslavia

People sometimes post about Yugoslavia in Geo / map jerk subreddits. In response to one, a Serbian suggested that Yugoslavia was split up by the US/NATO against Russia (sounds familiar) but that it was a Vatican plot against the Orthodox church (?).

Asianometry did a video about the Yugoslav nuclear program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIMnr0Ow2dk

https://www.startrek.com/news/how-star-trek-insurrection-reflected-real-world-conflicts

Cultural differences in Croatia (Istria / Dalmatia) and handover from Italy after WW2 explained with some context of Venetian empire and Austria-Hungary: https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/comments/1gcgh80/why_does_croatia_own_these_small_islands/

Updates to Previous Reads

Assad, who took over the Syrian government from his father in 2000 in The Clinton Tapes, has been removed from power. I noticed that his opponent in the most recent election (2021) has a sparse Wikipedia article, not even a photo.

Bo Xilai's son, who lives in Canada, got married in November to a Taiwanese woman who he met while studying in the US. Apparently this is still a bit weird for Taiwan? : https://www.reddit.com/r/taiwan/comments/1grs1xo/bo_guagua_son_of_xi_jinpings_former_political/

Smithsonian leadership problems https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/stephanie-stebich-smithsonian-american-art-museum-director-removed-1234724186/

Random

China extended its visa-free transfers to 10 days and more mobility across the country. I'm tempted to visit Xian or Chengdu in the nearer future.

My PR to HuggingFace's new evaluation library (fork of Eleuther's) got merged after 3 months! https://github.com/huggingface/lighteval/pull/306
Also positive signals for my year-old OSM tile fonts PR, which has picked up a few mentions as people are unwilling to update the current shell script.

I had to unsubscribe from the charter cities / libertarian YouTube channel after the election when they interviewed someone credulously about Twitter becoming 'the Everything App' and a bit of pseudohistory.

A new UNIDIR lecture/workshop on quantum computing has reassured me that I was in the right to talk about this at the IAEA in 2018, even as a non-expert, and to engage them on a concepts level. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTI0S7ONzrM

I looked into deleting an old Gmail account, but they reminded me that it would delete the Blogger posts from my first OLPC trips. I went ahead with deleting my sent emails and Google Drive to minimize damage if the account ever gets hacked.

A YouTuber had her "brain map" done with some gel and electrodes. Is this a new trend? They expected ADHD results and got more anxiety, insomnia, panic attack results. They returned for more neurostimulation sessions. A company (Creyos) that offers an ADHD brain scan says in its FAQ that ADHD can NOT be diagnosed by a brain scan (assuming by a scan alone).
I was under the impression that any 'brain scan' without shaving your head or implanting something was bogus, and that magnetic treatments for depression (TMS) are in the realm of acceptability but aren't well understood.

Video essay / review on John Mulaney's ex-wife's memoir, which I mentioned in relation to Everybody's in LA - the book adheres to an NDA or not referring to him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGBNq5FufmM&ab_channel=SiobhanBrierAguilar

Greek astronomers and mathematicians calculated the size and distance of the Moon relative to the size of the Earth about ~2100 years ago, and I think it would be quite scary to think about the Moon like this in ancient times https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Sizes_and_Distances_(Hipparchus)

Commenters say Czech and other European chocolatiers have always called small chocolates 'lentils' https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1hav8tx/til_individual_mms_are_called_lentils/

For months, librarians have reported callers ask them to look up "book titles" which are actually phrases. Commenters usually mention AI voice models, but it's almost certainly just recorded to be played back by less sophisticated scammers, or an art or personal project. https://www.reddit.com/r/Libraries/comments/1greinr/weird_phone_calls_at_the_front_desk/

Op Ed on Malay language https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2024/11/12/bm-is-a-living-language-but-lets-not-force-it-into-absurdity/

A new Peacock series Laid is a remake of a 2011 Australian series (2 seasons x 6 episodes) which I found and watched. The office desktop / web browser UI / shared drive in the first episode was accurate but extremely weird to step on those dead neurons again. The series also struck me as super British, maybe the very white casting or because they're not in the Outback or Tasmania?
On watching the new show starring Stephanie Hsu, the first episode was strongly tied to the original, but afterward they pick and choose elements. AFAIK no original actor cameos, just producer credits. One obvious change is what counts as adventurous in 2024 / streaming TV. In 2011 the main character remembers a female hookup and calls a mutual friend to check on her; in 2024 she gets a tattoo from that former partner and also meets a throuple.
The show is set in Seattle and was cast and filmed this year. The script is strongly 2021–22 ('no longer e-meeting', an argument about Malignant, multiple characters ask about long COVID, reference to Tom Hanks and Covid). Actually if she broke up with an old ex over Malignant is it believable that this is set in 2024?