It’s Time To Take YouTube Seriously

The Wacom One budget tablet arrived today through eBay. I was out and about with my friend, but thankfully, my housemate helped collect the parcel on my behalf.

When I got home, I opened the box and set it all up. The previous setup was using OBS on the laptop and capturing the screen from the iPad to record on OBS. It worked ok but I wanted to add a red dot whenever I wrote because I know for a fact that having a hovering red pointer in the videos will increase the average view time.

It’s to do with the attention span of people in the 21st century really.

You see the red dot in the middle?

So now the set up is to connect the tablet to the laptop and use the iPad as a second monitor for OBS.

The webcam is the MacBook’s camera and at the moment I also use the default microphone for my voice.

So here’s what it looks like from my perspective. And it’s far from perfect because the audio can benefit from a bit of fine-tuning to reduce the background noise. And at some point I should also invest in an external camera so that it captures my gaze properly when I film.

You see how maths communication has more to do with understanding these peripheral and technical details way way more than knowing the mathematics.

In truth, a lot of people can do these maths puzzles that I have been blogging and filming about.

So it’s not insanely pertinent to be exceptionally good at the subject, it’s about having that general intelligence and wisdom to gain that macro view of what one’s doing.

You know how best to play this game of being favoured by the algorithm.

I think I already know what to do, and have been doing it somewhat consistently for the 2 weeks. I try to upload once a day.

And I can get monetized as soon as I reach 1000 subscribers and 4000 public watch hours on my long-form videos.

This is my goal because there’s a demand for recreational maths puzzles, as evidenced by this very own blog and countless other books, channels and pages on the same things.

People like this sort of stuff. And I must capture the market so that I can survive.

At the end of the day, if I am not able to make any money from this, I will NOT be doing this. I think that’s what sets me apart from other overly enthusiastic STEM advocates on the Internet and primarily those working in tertiary education. These people almost always put on an act and romanticise how ‘cool’ or ‘beautiful’ or ‘exciting’ maths is, but it’s not. It’s pretty dry and dull and mentally taxing for some people, and that’s okay.

Some people like vanilla ice cream more than mango sorbet, and vice versa. Just let them be.

I don’t want to persuade someone who doesn’t like maths to like maths. They can just go do something else, and still lead meaningful lives.

But I do want to provide an avenue for light-hearted intellectual play. Play of the mind and the brain that’s challenging enough to pass the time, cuz why not? But playful enough that it won’t take away from the more important and fundamental experiences of the human condition.

I always say people should spend more time with their loved ones than maths, really.

Anyway, thank you for reading til the end. You must be one of my biggest fans.

If you’d like to be one of the earliest stalwarts of the Math Games Empire, but above all, the recreational maths puzzles movement, then please subscribe to our channel. It’s the least you can do.

And if you are feeling generous and would like to help cover some of the costs of my set up, **please consider making a donation here today**. It really does help with the momentum of growing our YouTube channel and Medium blog through the stratosphere.

To infinity and beyond!

That’s what Buzz said. I first got called Baz by my maths teachers in the UK school.

So I guess I will say

The King of Math Games forevermore!

Thank you. I wish you an amazing day, and night, my friend.