A grateful thank you to all who contributed during July’s fund-raising campaign
My annual July fund-raising campaign for Behind the Black, celebrating the thirteenth anniversary of my first posts back in 2010, has now ended.
This was the second most successful monthly fund-raising campaign ever. Thank you again to everyone who has who donated or subscribed. I would like to email thanks to you all, but there are too many. Please accept this general thank you instead. It is difficult to explain what your support means to me, as it has raised the earnings so far this year to almost match last year’s numbers.
This thank you notice will remain at the top of the page for the next few days. Scroll down for new stories.
From the original post:
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I sincerely dislike begging for donations and subscriptions, which is why I shortened my February campaign from its normal four weeks to only two. I wanted to spare both my readers and myself some of this pleading.
Sadly, that decision resulted in a total drop in donations, so that at this point in 2023 the website’s income is down 25% from last year, even though my traffic continues to be robust, in the range of four to five million hits per month. I am therefore forced to run this July campaign for the full four weeks, unless the donations and new subscriptions in the next few weeks make up this difference.
Please consider supporting my work, by using one of four methods (Zelle, Patreon, Paypal, or check) described in the tip jar elsewhere on this page. I take no advertisements nor accept any sponsors in order to keep the website clean, easy to read, and to avoid any accusations of conflict of interest. Your support leaves me entirely independent, able to say whatever I think while being free from censorship or reprisals.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Mr. Z.,
Holy cow! 4-5 million hits a month–that is…. Amazing!
{Well done Sir, very well done!}
Sending you a donation via US mail, today! (Not going to wait until Wednesday!)
wayne: Thank you for the donation, and your years of support and contribution to BtB. You are one of the reasons so many people come here.
I sincerely dislike begging for donations and subscriptions
You are not “begging” you are asking for payment based on customer-perceived value.
I’m rather surprised my PayPal account still works; I haven’t used it in years.
markedup2: If you are thinking of starting a subscription, consider using Patreon or Zelle instead. Patreon takes a smaller cut, while Zelle takes nothing.
markedup2: I just realized you had already sent a sizeable donation via Paypal. Thank you!
Just sent you some money. Keep up the good work and fighting the good fight for freedom
Jim: Thank you again. My work is mere reporting. Your work is the real thing.
Robert – All the best. Did what I could do. Your site is a must read for me every day.
Thank You
Doubting Thomas: Thank you, as always. The support, in all its varying ways, is much appreciated.
This is going to kill my already minimal site cred.
Early on, I spent 26 years teaching astronomy. Please, pay me for what I’m doing. Please.
Then, for 25 years, I operated a tax accountancy small business. I didn’t ask for Alms, I traded value for value..
I never had to define ‘value’. Everyone already seemed to know what it meant.
I got paid by the job.
My investment portfolio is not a consequence of teaching Astronomy.
This is where things start getting rough. When I’m asked for hand outs, I state that I don’t do child support.
That’s not to say I won’t contribute. It does mean you’re not trying hard enough to adopt a more lucrative business model.
Yes, I’m a soulless bastard.
With a portfolio.
1A.
What an annoyance.
That’s the point.
Adam Curry on the Value 4 Value Business Model
Time, Talent, or Treasure
https://youtu.be/PgihPtnBSek
12:26
Whoops– I intended to focus on a specific part of the longer clip linked above:
Adam Curry
Value 4 Value Model, “The Ask”
https://youtu.be/PgihPtnBSek?t=557
Zimmerman is a national treasure. His contributions continue to inspire investigative curiosity into government spending in the aerospace and defense industry. He does so with class and with great respect for the hard-working men and women in the industry. A modern-day Paul Revere for those who deplore the misappropriations of government funding for programs not worthy of our resources.
Michael Langeloh: Thank you for your very very kind words. They are greatly appreciated, especially as I have had to spend my life struggling to get heard. (This is the reason I now self-publish my books. I will rate them without hesitation as good as anything published by any Ivy League historian, but not being written by an Ivy League graduate who abhors leftist dogma, the publishing has never been interested in my work.)
I’m not sure why I posted.
Don’t get old.
I’m running for President.
Please vote.
You do the heavy lifting in gathering this information and presenting it in a manor that’s interesting and easy to digest.
Thanks
Jerry Greenwood: And thank you for your kinds words, and your donation.
Congratulations Robert.
And thanks for your blog. The space information is the draw but as we found during covid it’s one of the decreasing number of places things can be discussed honestly.
markedup2 nailed it: “You are not “begging” you are asking for payment based on customer-perceived value.”
Your blog is a valuable resource to support.
James Street: Thank you for the kind words, and thank you as well for your incredibly generous support.