Dear Readers,
Happy New Year to you! May 2019 be a year of peace and prosperity for us all.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE ON MY WEBSITE ADVISORY GROUP?
The new version of WordPress is here! – that’s the software that runs my websites. This new version is a major update, giving the platform a lot of new features and capabilities. I will be reworking the website and the layouts to take advantage of all these new features. I’d like to have a group of people I can bounce ideas off of – a website advisory group.
What it entails is answering some surveys about features of my websites and about what is working for you and what isn’t. I may send you some sample layouts and ask for your opinion, maybe ask you to beta-test something, that sort of thing. I won’t be sending out emails on any regular basis. You can participate or not as you choose, and of course you can unsubscribe at any time. If you are interested, sign up here: http://eepurl.com/dgUK8f (If you signed up previously, no worries, you’re still on the list!)
SUBMIT YOUR PHOTO FOR THE SUNDAY DAILY DIGEST!
I’m tired of my photos, believe it or not. And my photo drive died the other day, so I have to figure out what to do about that. Do you have nice pictures of California waterscapes? You can submit them to me for the Sunday Daily Digest as the header photo! Simply email your picture to maven@mavensnotebook.com . The size for the header photo is 880×350 pixels. I can cut it to size or you can submit it at that size, either way. Note that not all pictures work well at that size. Please tell me where in California the picture was taken, and if your picture has a title, please include that. Also let me know how you would like to be credited. Please no recognizable people in the shot. By submitting your photo to me, you are giving me permission to cut it to size if necessary and use it one-time. If I want to reuse your photo, I will contact you for your permission to do so.
HOW TO TURN OFF BROWSER NOTIFICATIONS
If you have signed up to receive browser notifications (those little boxes that pop up in the right hand corner whenever I post) and you want to turn them off, it’s easy. When you visit the website, there is a blue bell floating in the lower right hand corner. Click on the bell, and you’ll get a pop-up box with a link to adjust the settings. Take that link and you will be able to turn them off. If you are having problems with this, please let me know.
STATISTICS AND DEMOGRAPHICS … IS THIS YOU?
2018 was a record year for Maven’s Notebook! Last year, Maven’s Notebook served up 712,815 page views, an increase of 20.3% over the previous year. And in December, the Notebook served up its 3,000,000th page view!!!
The three most popular Notebook articles for 2018 were: Dr. Jeff Mount: The consequences of sustainable groundwater management; Groundwater rights primer: What agencies and project developers need to know; and Earthquake resilience of Southern California’s water distribution system. In terms of aggregated content, the Sacramento Bee had the most out-clicks, followed by News Deeply (RIP 😥 ) and the LA Times.
It’s always fun to take a look at website demographics. I don’t have much faith in the accuracy of this kind of thing. I know I don’t answer those pop-up surveys in any sort of a truthful way. So with that being said, is this you? 
According to Quantcast, if demographics are to be believed, my readers are predominantly Asian childless men with graduate degrees, making more than 150k a year, and over 65 years of age. Wow, are y’all old! Looks like I could sell ads to AARP. Although the Notebook is surprisingly popular with the 13-17 age group, too! Well, theoretically … 😆
AND LASTLY … THANK YOU DONORS, SPONSORS, AND READERS
In order to run my websites and to do what I do, I rely on the generous support of individual donors and organizational sponsorships. To all of you who have donated or sponsored my websites, I am extremely grateful for your generosity and hope you take great pride in being part of the difference my websites make. Here is a list of my major funders.
My statistics last year were awesome – a record setting year! So for all of you who read one of my posts and retweeted/Facebooked my articles, thank you! You are also part of my success.
So to all of my sponsors and donors, my heartfelt gratitude! I couldn’t do it without you. And to all of you who show up here every day and read my posts, well, I wouldn’t do it without you.
With warmest regards,
Chris Austin (Maven)
P.S. If my websites are useful to you, please consider making a donation to help fund continued operations. Every dollar makes a difference and it’s tax deductible!
