The Bruce Willis Effect on My YouTube Channel #SHORTS

Published: July 9, 2023 YouTube Shorts
The Bruce Willis Effect on My YouTube Channel #SHORTS

Men who shaved off a full head of hair are confident, dominant and masculine. Otherwise known as the Bruce Willis effect. Did shaving my head bald contribute to the growth of my YouTube channel?

  • For the three years before shaving my head bald, my channel got an average 100+ subscribers per year.
  • For the three years after shaving my head bald, my channel got an average 200+ subscribers per year.

Shaving my head bald improved the performance of my channel, right? Not so fast.

I must point out that the subscriber growth for the last three years may have been a coincident. People watched more YouTube videos than before because they had nothing else to do during the shutdown. Since the world had returned to normal, people are watching fewer YouTube videos.

Many YouTubers—myself included—have noticed a tapering off in performance since the beginning of this year.

NOTE: Check out the longer version of this blog post.

3 Years After SHAVING MY HEAD BALD During The Pandemic

Published: July 7, 2023 YouTube Videos
3 Years After SHAVING MY HEAD BALD During The Pandemic

During the early months of the COVID-19 shutdown, I really needed a haircut. With the barbershops closed, I had to give myself a haircut. I used my electric trimmer to cut back my hair and my razor blade to shave my head bald.

That was three years ago.

I’m still shaving my head bald even though the world went back to normal and COVID-19 remains a lingering threat. Men who shaved off a full head of hair are confident, dominant and masculine. Otherwise known as the Bruce Willis effect.

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My “Hair-Raising” Personal Experience With The Pandemic

Published: May 15, 2022 YouTube Videos

Philip DeFranco called for videos about personal experiences with the pandemic. The timing was great since I wanted to make a pandemic-related video. I can also put his picture on the thumbnail to get more clicks. Here’s my “hair raising” personal experience with the pandemic.

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Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2021 Shopping Haul

Published: December 5, 2021 YouTube Videos

For Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2021 deals, I bought four products to change different aspects of my life.

Let’s look at my shopping haul for this year.

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George Floyd’s Death Blurred Out

Published: November 2, 2021 Medium Essays

YouTube sent me a late night email on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, informing me that a video on my channel was no longer compliant with the Community Guidelines and age restricted (a viewer must be 18 years or older and logged in to view the video).

That was odd.

I maintain a family- and advertiser-friendly, and, under the Federal Trade Commission’s COPPA, not “made for kids” channel. All my videos are suitable for a general audience (13 years or older).

Which video got age restricted?

My montage video that alternated clips from George Floyd’s death and the first SpaceX crewed flight while Gil Scott-Heron narrated his 1970 poem, “Whitey On The Moon,” about poverty on the earth and white men on the moon.

Read the rest of the essay on Medium. If you’re interested in supporting my writing on Medium, become a paid member and I’ll get a referral bonus.

Does Storyblocks License Supersedes Creative Commons License?

Published: October 19, 2021 Medium Essays
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

On my YouTube channel, there are two types of videos that get copyright claims I can do nothing about.

  • Copyrighted music at public events
  • Videos I make on purpose with copyrighted music

A copyright claim allows a collection agency — a third-party working on behalf of a copyright owner — to collect ad revenues from videos with copyrighted music.

A third type of video that sometimes get copyright claims are the videos that I make with Creative Commons music. I always appeal to release the copyright claim on these videos.

Creative Commons is an irrevocable license. If a musician signs a label deal, their new licensing doesn’t affect my usage of the music under the Creative Commons license.

The relevant part of the license is this: “The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.”

When I cite that line in a appeal, the collection agency releases the copyright claim within hours or a few days.

A recent copyright claim on the behalf of Storyblocks took a bit more effort to resolve because they tried to assert their licensing over the Creative Commons licensing. That was unacceptable.

Read the rest of the essay on Medium. If you’re interested in supporting my writing on Medium, become a paid member and I’ll get a referral bonus.

Why I Buy $20 US Mouse When I Have $300 US Keyboard

Published: October 17, 2021 YouTube Videos

I tweeted last month that I replaced the Cougar Minos X5 mouse with the Cougar Minos X2 mouse. The scroll wheel on the X5 became “twitchy” when cycling through inventory in FortNite. The last thing I want to pull out during a firefight is an unloaded weapon. The X2 was half the cost of the X5, similar in size, and didn’t have RGB. That created a controversy for some viewers of my YouTube channel. Why do I buy a $20 US mouse when I have a $300 keyboard on my desk?

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