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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Your Home Doctor
A lot of you suffer from swollen feet and lower legs and want to know what to do about it. You've tried all the usual and have wisely decided to live with the condition. The first thing to do is to cut through the elasticated part of your socks. This will give you the illusion of having solved the problem for some months. But there is still a nagging sense of discomfort. Cut off the toe ends of the socks! In the business, we call this 'a pedular Fagin'. The discomfort is now banished to the bit in between.
PS You won't have ready access to pinking shears and nor are they available at your pound store. But a giant pair of ordinary scissors will be and, with a little time and application, these will do the job!
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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I'm definitely winning this one though. So far. There's a nice reverse use of 'bogus lists' in there as well if you look carefully.
A rumptirum review of the film detailing the knavery and crypto-fascism of the evil toffs, then and now. Their enthusiasm for Appeasement to the fore. They had so few redeeming qualities I was obliged to take up arms in their defence.
| Mick Harper wrote: | | It is difficult to imagine a culture more at variance with German and Italian fascism than that of the British aristocracy. It is preposterous to link them in this way. The only feasible connection would be via Appeasement, but that was a policy supported by most people at the time, not just the British aristocracy. Also opposed by some people, including many in the British aristocracy, notably Winston Churchill. |
| Marc Barham wrote: | | What "culture"? |
| Mick Harper wrote: | | Representative democracy is down to them. The modern university, as well as museums and art galleries, various contributions to the gaiety of nations. Including of course most of the world's favourite competitive sports. Tourism, mustn't forget that. Stovepipe hats... no I think they were more middle class. Possibly waistcoats though. I'll get back to you when I've got the full list. Good of you to ask though. |
| Marc Barham wrote: | | I love irony, Mick. You are giving me a fantastic laugh mate. The English aristocracy was responsible for "Representative democracy"!!!!! You should be a comedian. |
| Mick Harper wrote: | | I've looked again through the movers and shakers of the Whig and Tory Parties and they still seem largely aristocratic to me. But if you can give me some guidance on where I'm going wrong, I'd be much obliged. |
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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I knew it was my lucky day when I found my return-from-Tesco resting place, the steps next to the 'Julia Roberts' blue door completely free of tourist snappers. No sooner had I got my vape out to make my blissful rest stop complete when tourist snappers immediately started descending on the door from all directions. It was as if they had been somehow waiting for me to complete the Notting Hill authenticity.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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How do you work out this sequence? Thomas Smith writes a Medium story Kate Middleton’s Doctored Photo is a Sign of Something Much More Serious. This gets eight thousand claps and a hundred and forty seven responses. One of which is
This response gets nine claps from five different people. When you click on the link you get More royal scandals by me. This got zero claps and zero responses (though eight views and a dollar from Medium). Why would anyone clap a link but not what is being linked to?
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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Don't know, but I prefer Sandee, for the simple reason that I can read the whole of her articles, whereas yours always say I must sign up for something to see the whole thing, which is annoying.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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I'd very much like to find out. Would you mind investigating on my behalf?
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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I think it's because you only allow Medium members to view your articles (member only stories) who have paid for unlimited access. Sandee lets us misers (Medium free) read for free. I reckon she is playing the game of building up her fanbase, with a longer term strategy?
You are a sort of Amazon Prime guy. She is the Freevee girl.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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I had to do that in the old days when you had to acquire a hundred followers to opt for making money. Which in turn puts you behind a firewall. But there does seem a way to supply them free to people you specify. I will investigate and report back. The problem then will be, "Why isn't the bastard responding to my stories?" You won't be able to win. Though anything you do will be of enormous benefit to me.
The alternative is to open a thread here and just reprint my stories on it.
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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How does the paywall work?
If you decide to close your story, it becomes “member-only”. In reality, readers who are not members will be able to see a number of closed stories for free per month, before they are asked to sign up for a Medium membership (US$5/month in most markets). Medium will also give you, the author, a “Friend Link”, which is a specific URL you can share with your network so they can read your article for free, regardless of having a Medium account or membership.
If you choose to keep your stories open, your story will remain free and open for every reader, including logged out users. |
It's down to you, Sandee is probably trying to develop a fanbase, then close her stories and generate revenue?
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Yes, I can click on a Friends Link on any particular story I put up but this involves people being on my list in the first place. I don't really want to do that because it puts an onus on people to read that story. which in turn creates an expectation that I would rather not have. After all, most of the time people will either not read it or not respond to it..
There seems to be no way to do what I want to do which is just to have a list of people able to access my stuff whenever they want for free without me consciously or unconsciously monitoring what they are doing. It all sounds a bit precious on my part but I have found over the years it's not a great way to proceed. Ends in tears more often than being helpful.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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It's happened again! Somebody else has clapped the link but not the story. But they must have told their friends because twelve non-members suddenly came out of the woodwork and read the story. I may do one of those telly programmes featuring Stuart Maconie Hundred Best Royal Links (as voted by you).
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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And again. That's seven clappers for the link but still no claps for the story. It's got twenty-eight views though -- sensational for me -- so it's a sound technique. On the other hand, twenty eight people reading one of my pieces and the sound of no hand clapping is a bit depressing. You can't have it all ways, Sunny Jim, as my mum used to say.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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My continuous voyage through an alternate universe continues. I got an email from medium.com that included this
| It was a real treat to witness a few thousand writers and editors gather online to talk shop, exchange stories, and share writing advice. |
This was a propos The Pub Crawl, an online Zoom hook-up in which we were promised all kinds of goodies to help us in our careers as Medium writers. I dutifully logged on for the start and listened to an engaging intro from the Head Geezer, after which I headed off, as per his advice, to join/listen to discussions in specialist areas I was interested in.
I had no luck, there were not only snafus in their starting times--they still hadn't opened for business several hours after the advertised time--but all attempts to either work round it or go elsewhere resulted in the whole site closing down and me having to start all over again with a new entry number provided for me via an email.
Eventually I gave up. I wasn't that surprised, such massive online gatherings are often beyond the capacity of organisers who are more literary folk than electronic ones. But, as you can see, it was just me.
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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The point of the test they set you, was to develop your mental resilience, in the face of apparent failiure. You controlled your emotions and became at peace with them, learning the value of also seeking personal inspiration from within, rather than relying on others.
Well Done!
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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All right, Mr Medium Know-All, get a load of this. The stats for my stories may be dismal but the stats for my responses to other people's stories are dismaller. Overwhelmingly one view, presumably from whoever wrote the story and had been notified of a reply to it. Sometimes they clap, sometimes they don't. This morning I got this notification
| Moses Budiwarman clapped for I asked my wife (she's a cardiologist, by the way) if I could stop being a shopkeeper and go prance… about 15 hours ago |
I clicked on it and was taken to this near-year old story:
It wasn't at all a bad account in the 'American tourist gets cracker-barrelled by local' genre. But he did rather overdo the quality of the home--spun wisdom so, from details gleaned in the story, I responded with
| I asked my wife (she's a cardiologist, by the way) if I could stop being a shopkeeper and go prance around with animals somewhere nice, and she said OK. |
I heard no more about it until this morning when I discovered unbeknownst to me it had been gathering a hundred and eleven views with seventeen different people clapping. Go figure.
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