SEVEN YEAR GLITCH

*Sob* What on Earth am I going to do about my Google ranking?

The above cover for Milton White’s Cry Down the Lonely Night dates from 1954 and features art by Barye Phillips. The novel tells the story of Nora, who wants to be loved and constantly degrades herself looking for validation. Which brings us to the fact that today marks the end of our seventh year maintaining Pulp Intl., a run that began in November 2008 with the post at this link and has lasted far longer than we expected. That’s 2,555 days, and 3,114 posts on the site. We know—it’s shocking. It still doesn’t truly sink in.

For a while this was the most trafficked pulp-themed website in the world, as near as we were able to tell from our analytics measured against research we did about other sites. For an entire year we pulled in about 50,000 unique visitors a month. Since then Google has adjusted its rankings and is penalizing sites that aren’t fully compatible with various mobile apps.

What that seems to mean is though we still have killer traffic, thanks to all of you, we would have to rework Pulp Intl. to retain a high ranking—i.e., like Nora, we’d have to degrade ourselves looking for validation. But we’re not going to bother, because there will inevitably be even more streamlined internet interfaces, and we won’t fit into those either. So we think we’ll just stay as we are—imperfect, arcane, and incompatible with mobile tech. At least for now. Here’s hoping for more great years ahead. 

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

1976—Gerald Ford Rescinds Executive Order 9066

U.S. President Gerald R. Ford signs Proclamation 4417, which belatedly rescinds Executive Order 9066. That Order, signed in 1942 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, established “War Relocation Camps” for Japanese-American citizens living in the U.S. Eventually, 120,000 are locked up without evidence, due process, or the possibility of appeal, for the duration of World War II.

1954—First Church of Scientology Established

The first Scientology church, based on the writings of science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard, is established in Los Angeles, California. Since then, the city has become home to the largest concentration of Scientologists in the world, and its ranks include high-profile adherents such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

1933—Blaine Act Passes

The Blaine Act, a congressional bill sponsored by Wisconsin senator John J. Blaine, is passed by the U.S. Senate and officially repeals the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, aka the Volstead Act, aka Prohibition. The repeal is formally adopted as the 21st Amendment to the Constitution on December 5, 1933.

1947—Voice of America Begins Broadcasting into U.S.S.R.

The state radio channel known as Voice of America and controlled by the U.S. State Department, begins broadcasting into the Soviet Union in Russian with the intent of countering Soviet radio programming directed against American leaders and policies. The Soviet Union responds by initiating electronic jamming of VOA broadcasts.

1937—Carothers Patents Nylon

Wallace H. Carothers, an American chemist, inventor and the leader of organic chemistry at DuPont Corporation, receives a patent for a silk substitute fabric called nylon. Carothers was a depressive who for years carried a cyanide capsule on a watch chain in case he wanted to commit suicide, but his genius helped produce other polymers such as neoprene and polyester. He eventually did take cyanide—not in pill form, but dissolved in lemon juice—resulting in his death in late 1937.

Unknown artist produces lurid cover for Indian true crime magazine Nutan Kahaniyan.
Cover art by Roswell Keller for the 1948 Pocket Books edition of Ramona Stewart's Desert Town.

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