Thanks to one and all for playing VeloNoise on Sunday. It was an interesting experiment in what may well be modern journalism’s ultimate corporate goal — one unpaid staffer using his own tools to transform free resources into paying copy.
The only downsides, from management’s vulturine perspective, is that (a) there was no paying copy, since WordPress does not permit advertising on its free blogs; and (2) the enterprise lacked the customary seven layers of senior executive vice presidents farting through silk and issuing contradictory edicts to the pixel-pusher at the keyboard.
I slapped the website together for less than a hundred smacks, most of it spent to nail down the domain names and the rest to point those names to a WordPress blog that uses the same template as this one for simplicity’s sake. The banner I built in Photoshop Elements 8. The only thing left to do was digest video and excrete words.
Where’s it all leading, you ask? Beats the hell out of me. I basically did it for laughs, a bit of performance art directed at Pharaoh as I fled Egypt. “How’s this for bricks without straw, bitch!”
With that accomplished, VeloNoise could become many things — a blog, a column title, a T-shirt. As usual, I’m just making it up as I go along. Whatever happens as a consequence is liable to be a surprise to all of us.
Mad Blog Media 
Sounds like a plan. Worth hanging around to see how it turns out.
Bravo, well played. We must be our independent self’s these days. Keep up the good work. You are my new home page. I await your Noise.
Better fucking cross coverage than we saw on Velo Noose, for damned sure! Keep it coming!
As for turning this thing into $ coming in vs going out (something Herself probably is lobbying for right now?) why not quit dicking around with WordPress and make VeloNoise a gen-u-wine website? Hosting can be had pretty cheaply these days and would free you up for advertising and merchandising (in the Marxist spirit of course, where the worker controls the means of production) etc. You could also hire your talents out in the cartoon area for example – I’ve thought about a CycleItalia t-shirt with various cartoon images like Frazz (Jef drew us a cute one but we can’t use in commercially so it’s on the wall at the office) or something from David Brinton (what’s HE going to do now?) or even YOU. This is of course beyond your own stuff – can you make any real money using Cafe Press to create and ship the actual product, freeing you of inventory investment and stuff that seems like real work?
I think of television as an example – all kinds of total crap, like Degenerate Housewives, comes through for free and is worth what it costs (probably less since you lose the time watching it) while networks with good programs like HBO come through the same tubes but ya gotta pay to watch ’em. We don’t actually, but DO buy DVD collections of shows like the Sopranos, The Wire, Rome, etc. You could even use the PBS model, with some advertising combined with guilt-creating begging. As long as the content is good/bad/snarky/etc. (ie whatever can’t be found elsewhere for free) perhaps enough folks will pay for it to turn the thing into positive cashflow. I probably should have sent this to you privately but this way the other folks who visit VeloNoise can weigh in – and remember – all opinions are worth every bit you pay for ’em!
Good ideas from Larry, at least from my perspective as a lazy government scientist who has never run a small business.
Speaking of bad smells. Any more news of the Repug Primary in New Hampshire?
http://northmesamutts.blogspot.com/2012/01/bain-capital-and-mitt-romney-it-was.html
I would make a small donation to get this off the ground.
Much evidence in today’s comments that Larry’s wife’s rule is not always right.
A small donation to help get this off the ground, either for hosting or a better laptop to speed up the means of production, is a good idea.
Oow always wanted to be a venture capitalist. Does that make me a republican?
Great news! Love the graphic. Will have to tune in and drop in!
Thanks, all. I appreciate your advice, support and willingness to flush perfectly spendable fiat money down my loo.
I’m still muddling through my what-next period and racing to meet a couple of deadlines, but I’ll be giving these ideas some thought between chores. And thanks again for lending a paw to this old dog.
ARF,ARF ARF
I’m in.
Off topic – I had cataract surgery in my left eye yesterday, right eye will be in 2 weeks. I now have 20/20 vision in the left eye. I know who to thank for it at my (relatively) young age – my Father’s side of the family. Looks like I’ll be leaving the glasses behind. So if this comes up for any of you guys, don’t hesitate to correct it, the 20 minute procedure was a piece of cake.