I have no way of knowing how many people are listening to the Blaincast through iTunes, since iTunes downloads a copy of every podcast and then uses their own copy to deliver podcasts to their subscribers without providing statistics on how many subscribers listen, but I can keep track of the stats through Podcast Spot. It gives me some small idea of what's going on.

And some of those things make me wonder what's going on. First, I'm getting more downloads than I can account for through people I know. Steve Runner, host of Phedippidations, a great running podcast that will doubtless be Podcast of the Week sometime soon (hmm...), jokes about having ten listeners, even though his podcast has been the top rated sports and recreation show on Podcast Alley for more than two years. I have more than ten listeners, but I can't account for more than that, really. It's weird.

Also, the first Mormon show has now surpassed the Jerk show. Interestingly, the Jerk show is the least downloaded show of any of them. I don't know why.

I'm going to try to get some more writing done and get a show out in the next week or so. There is no way I'm going to use the whole 125MB I paid for for the month, but I would like to use something beyond the 25 I would have gotten for free. I might get a bit done today, and some more tomorrow on the writing, and maybe on my graveyard shift Friday. It's hard to write much when I'm really tired.

If anybody reading this has listened to any of the other shows, but not the Jerk show, maybe you could tell me why. I'd like to know.

I have no memory of this columnist, but I find that her position in this column is very close to mine. This was an example of the State overreaching its power due to the unpopularity of the idea of polygamy.

And I'm feeling dumb.

I got it edited (it still has some rough spots, but I'm trying to avoid perfectionism), and compressed and went to upload it. I looked to see how big it was, and I found the script, rather than the .ogg file, and noticed that the size started with 38, and assumed that that meant that it was 38 mb. I couldn't figure out why it was that big. That was big enough that it put me over my quota for the month at Podcast Spot, so I went and upgraded my account, then uploaded the file.

And then I checked the statistics, and found that the file was only 19mb. I could have gotten it in without the upgrade, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to get another show out by the end of the month (will try -- I can work on the script tomorrow night during my graveyard shift).

Anyhow, someone has been bugging me about a Paypal donation button, so I made one and put it on the user info page for this account. It's set to do a $10 donation. It's something to work with. Let me know if you'd like something different.

Here's another copy of the button:

It's not even mostly dead. It's just been pining for the fjords while I was getting some stuff done and figured out -- and just being lazy. Lovely plumage.

I just froze the script and did the recording. I still need to do the post-production, and I'll try to get to that tomorrow. If I don't finish it then, I will finish it during my graveyard shift Friday and post it by the end of the weekend.

The title of the show is An Introduction to Mormonism, Part 1.

Tentative title: An Introduction to Mormonism (part 1)

I'm not yet sure what all I'm going to include, but, before I'm doine, I'm going to have to talk about polygamy, blacks and the priesthood ban, and women and the priesthood. I'm going to include some basic Mormon history, doctrine, etc.

Anybody else think of things that would be good to address, or questions you'd like to have answered? There will be other Mormon shows, getting into issues like marriage and divorce, addiction recovery, Mormon culture, etc., so this would just be basic questions about the Church and Mormon life.

No idea when it'll be out, but the plan is for it to be longer - 20-30 minutes.

Thanks for paying attention and listening.

It talks about podcatchers, which I recommend -- they find the new episodes for you automagically. If there are any questions about that, this is a good place to ask them.

I'm not certain what show I want to do next. I was thinking a Mormon show might be good, or a politics show. Something topical. I'm kinda open to input on that. I can also deal with a Question of the Week, if anybody wants to run some up here.

Looking forward to the feedback.

Well, I got through the Jerk Show and added a bit more material. I have about enough quota left to do another show about the size of the Introduction show between now and the end of the month. Next month, I plan to upgrade my account to give me a larger quota by a factor of five, which will be more than I'll be able to use for some time.

Well, maybe -- I have some essays I've already written on various topics that I'm planning to turn use for show topics that can take up more time than the shows have up until now. Thus far, I've been testing out the technical side of this -- figuring out how to produce and distribute the podcast, and to begin to find an audience. I've also been figuring out how I want to structure the podcast, and the learning curve on that has been pretty steep. I think by Summer I'm going to be ready to start numbering the shows, and will have a pretty clear design for how the shows will work. Between now and then I'll be looking for thoughts and feedback on my thoughts on the matter.

One of the ideas I brought up was to put a Paypal donation button someplace so people can donate to help with the expenses of the show. I've looked into it, and this looks not too hard to do (although I'm not yet sure where to put it), but I'm not sure exactly how to do it. I'm not looking for huge donations here -- I'm thinking $5-10 donations will be plenty big -- but even a little bit can help. Hosting the podcast for the foreseeable future will only be $7/month, with an occasional $5 or $10 for extra upload quota that could go quite a long way. A donation or two every month or two would cover the hosting of the podcast indefinitely. There are other useful things, like for about $5/month I could add a voice line where people could call and leave voice comments that would be relatively easy to add to the podcast. So, I could do a $5 button, a $10 button, a "pick your own size" widget, or some combination.

My plan for the stub show to finish up this month is to do a topic on podcasting, talking about how it works, how it started, what the point is, and some pointers and thoughts on things that make podcasts good and not-so-good. I'd appreciate your thoughts on how I'm doing with those good and not-so-good things.

That's what I'm thinking for now. I might be able to get that done this week.

That's right, we have a new Blaincast, about a week after the first one. And the new one is about twice as long as the last one, and includes a Movie Review and a Featured Podcast. What will they think of next?

Maybe a doohickey to make it easier to get to it. Like this:


The Jerk Show


So, if you haven't got a podcatcher that will collect this for you, check it out. Feedback and promotion are still appreciated. Thus far, we have 15 downloads of the first episode, and probably three of those were me testing things out. Another promotion opportunity I forgot to mention, for those willing to subject themselves to iTunes, are to leave comments there.

Thanks again.

Update: Yeah, I know the doohickey isn't working. I don't yet know why or how to fix it. Watch this space.

New Update: The doohickey can't work because it's javascript. I don't know why it needs to be javascript. So I'm going to do my own thing and see if it works.

But I've set up the Blaincast on iTunes, for those who like/use that. I can't see it -- a site that requires you to give credit card information just to create an account when they offer free content that might be all you're there for -- but, then, I'm a little odd (at best).

I'm working on a review of the movie Vantage Point that I watched yesterday, and might get it recorded and posted today/tonight. I've got a big job tomorrow and won't be able to do much. I might do a Mormon topic on Sunday.

I appreciate the positive response I've gotten from several of you. Encouragement is good, and spreading the word is also good (thanks in particular to a lady whose name starts with MA and ends in RA). Feel free to post ideas/comments/questions here.

Welcome to the Blaincast journal. This is where I'll be leaving show notes and talking about show ideas. You can leave feadback here about the shows, some of which might be included in future Blaincasts.

Thus far, the only Blaincast has been the introduction, opening up the idea of the Blaincast and a bit about me. I'm thinking more about the structure of the Blaincast, particularly questions about including music, and having more segments-of-the-week. One of those would be the Spat of the Week, where I talk about a spat I've been involved with somewhere on the net, perhaps in that week if there has been one.

Show ideas I'm working on (to a greater or lesser degree):

Blain is an arrogant, egotistical jerk.
Fake-money fortunes and the politics of change.
Computerized telecommunication and the internet -- a history.
Political parties are not the devil.
Mormon Doctrine.
Mormon History
Mormon Policy and Practice
An Introduction to History
Lies about the Ancient World
The Awakening of al Anbar
Orson Scott Card and Me
Genealogy for the Beginner
World Wars
Working in The System
What You Should Know about Foster Care
The Art of Puppy-whipping
LDS Divorce
How to Lose Custody of your Children Without Hardly Trying
Country Dance isn't Country Line Dance
Romantic Comedies
Talk Radio and Blogs
Dittoes

Just to name a few.

If you have any comments or questions on any of these topics, feel free to post them in comments here.

Other things I'm wondering about include soliciting donations to sustain the Blaincast -- a few bucks a month will pay for more uploads to the Podcast Spot account. Right now, I can only post 25mb of files per month, which turns out to be about 30 minutes of material at a quality bitrate. I can lower the bitrate a little bit if I'm just talking, but adding music will require about the bitrate I'm using now. If I've got the money, I'll pay it myself when it gets necessary, but I don't always have the money. Would a Paypal button somewhere be too objectionable to anybody?

So that's it for now. I'd prefer not to beg and grovel for your help with promoting the Blaincast, but, there's really no way this podcast is going to reach much of an audience without your help. So, if you have slightly odd friends who like slightly odd things, please pass this along to them. If you've nothing better to do, Podcast Alley will have a listing for this sometime in the next few months, and your vote will help it reach a few more people as well.

Thanks for your time and attention. Keep listening.