Tapa Update #8 - More videos ... hopefully.

Instead of another deep dive into the crazy world of edutainment video creation, I thought I'd give you some current channel news.

Behind the Scenes
Faster upload schedule?! - * gasp *

As we're speaking, I'm in the process of hiring someone to help me in researching future video scripts. Although all of that stuff is a huge headache to get going, I'm expecting that step to help me cut production time for videos by at least a week. Now, that's not a huge time-save for a single video, but in the cumulative, that could easily mean one or two more videos per year. Now, of course, for that to be the case, everything needs to settle in first and there are still a number of things to work out, but I expect the effects of it to be noticeable in a few months.

There's a major financial component to that as well. Many of you are paying members, which is why I am still able to make videos in the first place. Well, the fact that I'll soon be able to make videos at a higher pace than ever before is also very much thanks to your support, here on Patreon. I realize that for many followers of the channel, the months between videos are a semi-big cause for irritation. Believe me, I'm right there with you. But for the first time since starting the channel, I now see a viable way to speed up the production process without compromising on quality, and I largely have your support to thank for that. Of course, if that whole thing pans out perfectly - ad incomes and memberships increase with more frequent uploads - there'd quite possibly be enough money to get more help with research and other parts of the process, to a point where one video per month or more are feasible. Right now, that's just an idea, but with your support and some luck, we can make it happen.

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Qomments and Cuestions
"500 Rupees in 1950s was equal to 500 dollars at that time. Adjusted for inflation, equivalent to $6500 dollars today."

A string of comments like these on the India video are absolutely breaking my brain. So, I'm always thinking and rethinking how to best express an idea to make it both snappy and easy to follow. With the 500 rupee bit, I tried to put some extra care into it to make sure people get that, yes, nowadays 500 rupees is not a lot of money at all, but also, back in 1950, when the pertaining law was enacted, it was literally twice the average annual income in India. The joke - god, do I love explaining jokes - is how a huge sum in 1950 became a minuscule sum within 50 years, and basically rendered the fine completely ineffective.

The lesson I keep learning again and again is, no matter how much you try to phrase a point in the least misunderstandable way, in a group of thousands of people, there will always be some that will - inadvertantly or not - totally miss the point your trying to make. 🌈

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Interesting Stuff
So many films and shows are just not available anywhere anymore

Recently, I heard about a show called "I Love That For You". It sounded interesting enough to me, so I decided to take a look. Well, tough luck. This show from 2022 is literally not available for consumption to me; excluding sketchy or illegal ways. Let that sink in for a second. A show produced three years ago cannot be watched by me, no matter how much I'd be willing to pay for it. This is, of course, only one example of a much larger problem of visual media not being available anywhere.

Now, it's not like this problem didn't exist in years past. The difference is, 20 years ago, if I heard about some weird little unknown film I wanted to watch, I could order said film's DVD from anywhere in the world, have it, and consume it at my leisure. That obviously wasn't cheap, but it was, at least, an option. Nowadays, many media aren't even released on physical copies at all, and if there's no service streaming it, you simply cannot watch it. To someone like me, who enjoys watching older things that have long left the zeitgeist, that's a real shame.

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You know what they say. You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs ... so, like, make something else instead, damn it.

Have a good one!
Tapa