Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation since 05/27/2018 in Blog Comments

  1. Thanks Richard. Of course spam on your blog has increased since i blocked guest posts on the forum… i honestly believe someone just wants to make my life miserable. @Pioneer1 would say it is an overt act of racism.
    2 points
  2. I would like to live in this painting (the house by the river) with someone.
    2 points
  3. Thank you, Mel. You have made my day. Yes, the text next to each picture gives ingredients, process, and an anecdote that includes a quote from my mother or a story that illustrates not only her philosophy about food, but, of course, about life. From the beginning, I make it clear that it is not a cookbook or a how to book, but a book that will inspire some to create their own culinary art, others to enjoy the art when they frame the perforated large format prints on their wall, and everyone to be touched by my mother's story. It is a companion book to the first book, An Extraordinary Life: Josephine E. Jones. The talented illustrator has created an elegant cover that is a work of art, just like the contents of the book. Now if I can get the emergency loan-grant to pay the publicist, I won't have to attempt to do it myself. Thanks again.
    2 points
  4. Okay, WOW! I am going to make a notebook to keep up with this information. Thank you @Mel Hopkins I am going to break this down and digest this. OMGOSH! I can understand this.
    2 points
  5. @Chevdove Thank you for asking!!! (I'm so excited)...ACCESS = LOCATION and refers to where people are most likely to get information about something that interest them. Example - If you are interested in creole cooking - you're are likely to show up to a location that either serves creole food or teaches creole cooking. You will most likely search for creole recipes and even find a creole history club to join locally or the internet. You may even show up here AALBC to look for books on the origins of creole culture or if experts post here. You might even start your own thread about creole culture. NOTE: business owners provide what customers need so the customer can get what they want. Your interest in creole cooking means either you or loved one wants to eat it. So business owners fills the need - by selling a cookbook, opening a restaurant or inviting you to take a trip to the source. So, someone who is promoting, lets say Louisiana travel tours, will make sure they share their information at all those access points where you are likely to show up. They will be at the places where you might look for information creole cooking. It may be advertisement or even information about authentic creole cooking spot on the tour - or even the best dish and include a recipe... Now they have your attention you may even jot down their information for future reference - and remember them when you plan your trip so you can get some good food. This is how the best marketers are getting noticed in today's marketplace. EDUCATION = A MOVEMENT A lot of independent authors think they don't know their audience. My suggestion is to start of movement of one. Ask yourself, "what do I believe needs changing?" I did something similar when starting this blog. I believe Marketing = Change. Marketing is a force that shakes up the status quo. I believe independent authors are unaware they use marketing in the course of their daily living. Therefore, my mission is to help authors realize they can create change through intentional use of the marketing techniques they unwittingly use daily. I was the first person in my "marketing is a four-letter word" movement. I was the first one in the audience. I'm so passionate about this topic, I just want to spread the word to anyone who will listen. I believe, "If you don't believe in your movement or are passionate about it - no one will be." Creating a movement of one is the first step. It will help you clarify what you intend to change. Then, you will be able to identify the people who are interested in your subject matter. You'll notice there are "followers" who will agree with your mission. (note: it might not happen immediately - that's why you have to be patient and passionate.) These people are your core audience. Don't waste your time trying convert anyone who is not interested. Focus on those who are interested. -These "followers" will become your ambassadors who will bring other like-minded people to the movement. How to start a movement: Now, the best thing about being a writer is ideas and words are our movement. We just have to educate others and lead them to the goal we he hope to accomplish. If we didn't believe in changing something we wouldn't write in the first place. And the best way to help others make a change is by sharing information (Education). So when you start your movement answer "Who, what,where, when, why and how." from there you will understand what information you need to share to build your audience.
    2 points
  6. @Troy The action is here! Some of Independent authors here seem to echo the same thing "I didn't know how to market my book." Except, they do. -It appears they're not strategic in their marketing practices. I was the same way with my first novel - I knew what to do but I didn't work my plan. I like how you call it a (book marketing )"clinic" because it is! We, independent authors, already know what's wrong - we just aren't consistent with our "outpatient" care. I'm writing this out for me too. I believe this is one the best places for original content on the subject. By the way, I like that I don't even have to repost it to my profile - the software keeps track of all my postings as long as I'm signed in. Oh! I'll check out @dtpollard. @Troy OMG @hen81 is my writing "hero"! He didn't come here to play with us one-book every 20 year folks !!! 65 titles according to his last post!
    2 points
  7. You are giving a clinic now @Mel Hopkins. DT PollarUsed to posr here quiet regularly. He really was cranking the ebook several a year (or so it seemed).
    2 points
  8. @richardmurray Thank you! Happy New Year! @Troy LOL! You don't miss a chance to give facebook the boot LOL GOOD JOB!!! Facebook and anything it touches is anti-life...
    2 points
  9. Making money trumps (pardon the pun) serving the community everyday of the week. Johnson made it clear the "E" stood for "entertainment," not enlightenment or education. The reality is that it stood for enrichment, Johnson's personal enrichment, and that is the legacy of BET.
    2 points
  10. true @Troy Just today @Mel Hopkins the mayor to new york city, blamed trumps election or racial biases publicity in the usa on rupert murdoch or fox news. He blames someone whose role is to make money through the media for placating how white people raise themselves in their community. It is not murdoch's fault that he saw a mob and played to it, to make money, in the usa, where making money is the way to anything. Again, merit does not matter. De blasio today suggest a certain philosophical merit must come before fiscal profiteering when the fiscal profiteering is the philosophical merit. One note, when chernobyl happened the soviet russian government had soldiers pick up the waste, all those soldiers died of radiation sickness. Over 10,000 have died from the world trade center wreckage, but if we all recall, mayor guiliani let those people ,fiscally poor people or municipal workers,pick up waste just like the soviet government did the military at chernobyl... ah welll
    2 points
  11. I probably won't ask a question since I've never been into dungeons and dragons, but the movie looks very interesting. I might have to give that a looksee. In terms of boards games I'm more of a One night ultimate werewolf kinda woman. lol I also love monopoly, trouble, and others.
    1 point
  12. "Who does this chun-li fight in the street against? pooh bear?:) " No, but for real too funny
    1 point
  13. @Rodney campbell yes she does want attention ,she is a body painter who has won competitions for her work
    1 point
  14. my pleasure @Troy as always, all the best to AALBC
    1 point
  15. @Troyno I can't, nor do I get notifications of the spam. If it wasn't for you I will not know.
    1 point
  16. Thanks so much Richard for your response. You make a good point that goes to the heart of the contradiction in American history. The genocide of indigenous people and enslavement of blacks were conscious collectively racist acts by people who built a legal and constitutional framework around individualism. In a sense racism is systemic even collective yet it enables white people to view themselves and function as individuals. They then deny the systemic problem and black experience.
    1 point
  17. I remember the autumn gatherings when I was a girl; sparkling gala’s where my parents dressed me plus my siblings in glittering attire. I loved it. I felt always like a princess. The pumpkin pie, the cranberrry sauce, the rice pudding, the apple custard, the watermelon slices, the corn bread … I loved it all. A peaceful rearing for me, the magic was in merely being alive; I had no need of unicorns from mystical worlds gated in forests or aliens from beyond the sky or anything unearthly. I had a brilliant summer, and now my Autumn. My autumn is simple and in continuity, a life from a woman alone. My job I like to do while it pay the bills, allow me to save, and give me time off. I am unmarried, but I have all sorts of comforts: masculine,friendly,inhuman; I am not alone. I am the autumn, and I am at peace as when I was the summer. Thank you for reading, if you want to read more of my work read below Poetry or More https://www.kobo.com/ebook/poetry-or-more-1 Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/richard-murray-16885e64-6c28-459e-bf5f-45c7d458ce49 AALBC https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/blog/29-richard-murray-hearth/
    1 point
  18. I love your cute graphic:) will share:)
    1 point
  19. thanks @Mel Hopkins I am not receiving notifications on the webpage here, only through the email
    1 point
  20. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are listening, I am richard murray and I have a question for anyone who is listening. The question will only require a sentence to answer. I promise. I want us to make an anthology , not of complete stories or short films but sentences. An anthology of sentences, all you need to do is comment to this tumble to add to it. But! wait, before you type in , Rich shut up, :) I want you to hear the question to be answered. The question for this anthology of sentences is... drumroll:) If the title of a book is the following, what is the first sentence, or the first line in the book, the title of the book is, On March thirteenth in the year two thousand and twenty Breonna Taylor was not murdered by Louisville police but lived?... what is the first line of the book with that title? I placed mine in the comments section. Please let us make an anthology together. In the midnight hour, the moon over the city of Louisville Kentucky showers on it a romantic light, a resting EMT worker, left breast held by her boyfriend, feel a gentle nibble in her ear.
    1 point
  21. @Troy@Mel Hopkins@Cynique maybe AALBC community can do something together ? Wild idea throw, a panel on black owned websites? thoughts @Sarah Gordon Weathersby @sabine ziya@Maame Dede maybe shesolidarity panel on womens empowerment in comics? @rosa@Uniquelymade7 @Lauretha Ward@Neftali Rivera Jr@Jasonnicholson05@M'Bwebe@Tyr1Jax@zetkabawn FIYAHCON is a virtual convention centering the perspectives and celebrating the contributions of BIPOC in speculative fiction. Put in your email to get updates! Hop around the website and see all the features we have coming your way. Get involved! We're looking forward to bringing this to SFF BIPOC fam https://theconvention.fiyahlitmag.com/ ACTIVITIEs The Meloscriptorium- add a spotify song, good idea to get your name in the list- add a song Chef’s Tables- host recipes from your kitchen, discuss food as a vital element of world building- host a show The Tea House- a place for small gatherings Panels + Presentations - for panels to discuss topics- suggest one Office Hours- one on one meetings, suggest you be a host Workshops- 1 to 2 hosts doing an interactive learning session - host one https://theconvention.fiyahlitmag.com/features/ GET INVOLVES Volunteer Submit an idea to program OR place yourself for consideration Host an office hour Add to the MELOSCRIPTORIUM - https://theconvention.fiyahlitmag.com/get-involved/
    1 point
  22. @Wendy Jones "The Culinary Art Portfolio of Josephine E. Jones with Ready-to-Frame prints, where food and art intersect." You nailed it right here. I want to read, see and have this book on display in my home! So as you can see, just from this title and introduction; I already know I'm in this audience. I know there are others in the audience too. And here's why - #arthistory #africanamerican #womenshistory #chef #foodporn #gastronomy #oralhistory #pictorialhistory are some of the tags that popped into my head. I also believe "all art is political" ; so in the content I would expect to read about a change agent too. - Art is a movement. - Food is America's pastime and "Food Porn" as the young people call it today - is all over Instagram, pinterest and maybe even facebook as a club. In 2019 , We finally got our very first black woman Michelin star chef. In. 2019. So, imagine to learn there was black woman who was doing this way before social media was a thing! You are tying the past to the present and that would make this book hard to ignore. You've nailed this! Answering the rest of those questions just help you and your publicist to promote your brand in a way that secure you as an authority on Black/African American women history. While your mother may be the protagonist in the narrative you are still highlighting the journey of a group of black women and documenting the period for the annals of American history. Your brand is shining.
    1 point
  23. Hello, Mel Gladys Mae West is another Hidden Figure. She reminds me of my mother. Quite a story. I read your reply earlier, but I Just found this. Thank you. Having another example is helpful. I will refer to your questions to create the promotion for my next book, The Culinary Art Portfolio of Josephine E. Jones. I have mostly finished the text. It just needs one more revision before I send it to the developmental editor. What I came up before asking your questions was this: The Culinary Art Portfolio of Josephine E. Jones with Ready-to-Frame prints, where food and art intersect. This is my revision after using your questions. Please let me know if I'm on the right track. Who, Why, and How: The Culinary Art Portfolio of Josephine E. Jones with Ready-to-Frame prints The first black woman in management at a Fortune 500 company in 1967, who overcame racism, sexism, and classism, to create food that looked too good to eat.
    1 point
  24. @Chevdove YAAAY!!! More to come!
    1 point
  25. Yes, thanks! Great article! You wrote: S = solution - show us how your product helps us solve our problem. A = access - consider how your readers decide to make purchases... V = value - ask how does this product (book) benefit your reader. Every book is not for everyone. So first find out who reads your type of books - and then share with them how your book fits their desires. E = education knowing who your readers are allows you to share information on topics they enjoy. If your book is a romance - then romance readers would be thrilled to learn the latest - like a romance industry gossip website will bring them to you - and you can engage and build a community around mutual interests. I love this! I am very shaky on the 'A' for access aspect. I have no understandable clue as to how to market a book and find interested readers! And the 'E' I do not understand how an author can really know who their audience might be.
    1 point
  26. @Mel Hopkins I like the name, bittersweet soul I concur that soul is a secular version of gospel. All black music is from gospel from slave days/blues from the earliest days free/jazz from new orleans.
    1 point
  27. MLK jr day 1/20/2020 Many presented videos or text concerning M.L.K. junior today, the twentieth of January. As a point of note, Martin Luther King junior's birthday is on the fifteenth of January, not the third Monday of every January. I am not interested in trying to rewrite the legend of MLK junior. MLK junior like most other historical figures in the USA was made legend after doing legendary things by others, not themselves, by those with agenda. It is more important to change the message in current media than to try to change the influence of past media using current media. My issue is ownership. Martin Luther King junior, asked a simple thing to the black statian, the black community in the USA. Do not use the ways of whites on the path to ownership. It may sound simple but, it is not, historically the ways of whites have never been undone concerning ownership. Comprehend a simple historical fact. People of white European, white is a phenotypical label while European is a geographic, descent are not the majority owners in the united states of america based on positive merit, or decency, or any positive angle. Every inch of land in the u.s.a. today is owned or controlled by the u.s.a. government, itself ranked mostly with whites, or in private white ownership, through various transfers after it was originally taken by killing native americans. Absent land how many firms will exist in the USA? What will the banks or the agricultural firms be in the u.s.a absent slavery? For all the technological modifications by usa based agricultural firms or investments in Silicon Valley in the stock markets, where will any bank or agricultural firm be in the usa without their original fiscal activities involving slaveholders accounts or slave labor for growing produce. Notice I did not refer to an individual person. I am speaking to the white community. The white community in the usa used negative means to become owners and then become financially successful owners. Martin Luther King junior spoke to Black people, grow, be strong, become owners of your own community and beyond; but don't kill another for their land, don't take another person's land, don't enslave another, do not do for yourself, your bloodline, your community by harming others. This is the reality of ownership in the u.s.a. White people help themselves, their community, built on their forebears originally harming others or themselves continuing to harm others. Martin Luther King Junior did not want black people to develop a negative character, a negative legacy, to be unmerited while trying to help their own. He asked a very challenging thing. Martin Luther King junior once said, it is a crude jest to tell a bootless man to lift himself up by his bootstraps. But he also felt the bootless man should not lessen his character by stealing another man's boots. He felt the bootless man should be strong enough to merit his boots through craft, labor, or another's kindness. As a black kid growing up, in a black community, incorrectly labeled but widely labeled, the black mecca, I realized how little the black community in Harlem owned. And in parallel, I knew how much various white communities in New york city owned, more importantly how they owned them. What would the Irish or Italian or white Jewish communities be in new york city absent their mobs, correctly glorified in constant movies. It was the white jewish, italian or irish mobs, the gangsters, the rum runners, the extortionists, the thieves, that had a largest or initial role in the development of ownership in those communities in New York city. I end, with a simple truth, the Black community in Harlem, a cultural district in Manhattan in new york city in new york state, in the united states of america, owns little to nothing in Harlem, yesterday or today. The history of the u.s.a. proves all ownership in the u.s.a. comes from those who were willing to negatively, or through negative actions, earn it. MLK junior asked black people to reject that historical truth, even when we own so little. If the Black statian can keep that hope of MLK jr. alive and one day exist in a u.s.a. where Black people own more than all others, or at least enough to not need another community. It will be a testament to MLK junior’s faith. And make the Black community have a pride, worth more than all the years whites owned far more. https://youtu.be/RnKP__N7MNI Poetry or more audiobook series https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?query=Poetry or More&fcsearchfield=Series&seriesId=06baba96-5af5-5d24-9b8a-f06360287dc9
    1 point
  28. Happy belated new year/perihelion and any thoughts to the upcoming MLK jr day? @Mel Hopkins
    1 point
  29. Very concise! I wanna read this book! Was one actually written om this subject or was this just example?
    1 point
  30. Julia Wanjeri asked me to clarify what I meant using the following prose I say this is an opportunity to redesign womens world cup qual. as well as confed. title journey in #CAf agree? I say change to mirror the conmebol mens system. agree? https://twitter.com/jwanjeri/status/1200745066173812738 My Clarification- I admit beforehand I was purposefully vague In the beautiful game, flag play has many qualification systems to the world cup of confederation cup play. The cup of nations, the euros, the gold cup, the various world cup qualifiers. Of all the confederation cup tournaments or world cup qualifiers in the men's or women's game, which is the most fair or opportune? It is the conmebol men's world cup qualifiers. Currently, as of this writing, the CAF women's cup of nations has a problem finding a host to the tournament. As I alluded, this is an opportunity to overhaul the world cup qualification format as well as the CAF women's cup of nations format. How? The process I suggest is a repeat for the cup of nations as well as the world cup qualifiers. CAF has five sub confederations. Each sub confederation can become a round robin table like in the men's conmebol world cup qualifier. In two calendar years each table will have a champion, one for the south/east/west/central/north, and the champions will play in a five team round robin with each other, ending in a ranked table. The variance between the cup of nations and the world cup will be that for the cup of nations the team atop the champions table will be champions of CAF. While for the world cup qualifiers, currently the top three teams in the champions table will make it into the world cup. I know FIFA wants to advance the number of teams which may mean CAF may get five slots and possibly more slots in the future. If five slots, then all five champions make it into the world cup. If less than five slots, then the top "number currently three" get in, if more than five then the top slots determine the order of the remainders. So, for example, if the champions table ends, from first to fifth: west/central/south/east/north. Then slots six to ten are the second placed teams from the same sub confederation: 2nd place west/central/south/east/north this adds value to where the teams place. in the championship table in the world cup qualification. Now, what does my proposed system solve? First, it ends the need of a host. In my view, some countries not wanting to host demands a system where no one is asked to host. If hosting the caf women's cup of nations had value throughout CAF then a host would never be in doubt. Second, while more important, my system makes the caf womens cup of nations or world cup qualifiers harder flag team test than anything in the men's or women's game in FIFA. In four years', time each women's flag team in CAF has two long marathons, that will test their players/coaches/fans/organization. The best teams get two long marathons and at least one shorter marathon at most two shorter marathon that will be an undeniable proof that they are worthy champions OR the best preparation to enter the world cup. Third, this will reduce costs for all the lower ranked teams. Lower ranked teams may take many iterations before they ever reach a champions table. Thus, their matches will be regional, no long-distance travel. That saves money. No more worries about complicated traveling arrangements or fees, as every match is in a round robin setting. ... I do not have the power or influence to demand or implement my suggestion instantaneously. But this is a moment for all fans to women's soccer in CAF to consider a new system, one that not only deletes a hindrance no longer, but one that improves the opportunity aside the challenge in the caf region in the women's game beyond all other women's systems in other confederations. It's time for Africa.
    1 point
  31. Kobo Audio books- Kobo has set up an audio book system. It is straight forward. I already had audiobooks in their system but they were accessible through the kobo app, which i mentioned in their description. I made versions that I will link to in the newsletter and this post in the near future. Video Article https://kobowritinglife.com/2019/09/27/breaking-news-kobo-writing-life-launches-direct-audiobook-upload/ you see the video, it is that straight forward, I am considering continuing my sport audio blog through it now. @Mel Hopkins @Troy Kobo Audio FAQ Direct Audio FAQ Can I publish audiobooks in other languages? Yes! The interface is currently available in English, and will become available for additional languages by the end of 2019. However, you can publish is whatever language you like. Do I have to be exclusive with Kobo? Never! We believe in reaching readers wherever and however they want to read, and we encourage you to make use of the many platforms available to you. How should I price my audio titles? We want you to have complete control over your pricing. Take a look at other audio titles in your category and consider length and production cost when setting your price. What is the payment rate for audio content? For audiobooks, you will receive 45% of the list price for a-la-carte purchases, provided the list price is greater than, or equal to $2.99 USD. For subscription downloads, you will receive 32% of the list price. For more details, click here. https://kobowritinglife.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001056548-What-will-my-earnings-be-?utm_source=Kobo+Writing+Life&utm_campaign=c381073e6f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_10_01_03_31&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d7d32e9e8b-c381073e6f-31135551 I don't have an audiobook tab on my dashboard! The audio tool is being rolled out slowly and it not yet active on all accounts. If you would like us to enable the tool on your dashboard, please email us to request it. writinglife@kobo.com Can I opt my titles out of the audio subscription program? We want to offer audiobooks however the reader wants to purchase them, so all Kobo audiobooks are offered via the subscription programme as well as a-la-carte. Can I distribute my audiobooks to libraries? We are still in the beta stage at the moment; however, we are working hard behind the scenes to offer authors the opportunity to distribute their content via OverDrive. Stay tuned for an update coming soon! I'm already selling my audio content on Kobo. Are there any benefits to uploading my audiobooks directly? We are working closely with our merchandising team on future audiobook promotion opportunities, which will be available for all authors who upload directly. Keep an eye out for audio promos in the near future! How do I listen to a Kobo audiobook anyway? If you haven't already, get thee to the Kobo store and sign up for a free audiobook trial! Download the free Kobo mobile app, and you'll find all your eBook and audio content right there, in one handy place. Happy listening!
    1 point
  32. Gazette Fragments 62/63/64/65/66 Edition 62 excerpt The mouth - a tragedy, enjoy the trailer Edition 63 excerpt Alien the play - This was quite enjoyable, the special effects:) , the video is embedded in the article, but the link is below Edition 64 excerpt Perler - A cosplayer makes outfits using perler beads. as a samus fan I like it https://makezine.com/2019/04/26/constructing-cosplay-armor-from-perler-beads-with-cosplamy/ Edition 65 excerpt Mickey - yes that mickey mouse, love the cover viewed in this excerpt of a new bande. https://www.glenat.com/sites/default/files/liseuse/9782344034972/index.html Edition 66 excerpt Much Ado about nothing - what first comes to your mind? italy, spring, shakespearean speech? This version says it is an all black version but I think the creator missed a trick, that lays that claim false. HE made an all black cast but kept the context, italians side spaniards. … He could had made it an ethiopian Ras, maybe Ras Pero, ala Duke PEter, or Don PEdro and his military retinue can come in for a visit to Agordat, the setting is after the first ethiopian-italo war, which was won by Ethiopia. Then the rest is the same, he missed a trick. https://shadowandact.com/nycs-shakespeare-in-the-park-to-include-all-black-production-of-much-ado-about-nothing-ledby-danielle-brooks
    1 point
  33. I can understand why sites don't allow guest posting so many abuse the privilege. It is a pain to manage.
    1 point
  34. That is interesting. Deviant Art requires creating an account to comment. Too bS they stopped allowing embedding
    1 point
  35. Richard Murray https://photos.app.goo.gl/6Xf56Bb391NQuBo66 Black meaning the most ancient black peoples aside the current black people, Red meaning the forebears to the current black people, Green meaning the history from the forebears cover one Brown fist pairing each. Brown for the skin that link nearest all black people. A yellow text phrase the black/red/meaning colored for the bind between the sun side the soul. The blue is the water in which all black peoples have forebears who were forced in through slavery or war by others. Ann-Michelle Thurmond Powell A shield of peacock feathers symbolizing strength, power, wisdom and peace, 4 teal, purple, gold, green. Cream represents the unity of black people unbounded by their shade of skin or internal biases . https://photos.app.goo.gl/RnsG4hc5CR5ojdcj9 LeQuenta Marshall butterfly on a thorny rose. Butterflies represent transformation. The rose, commonly associated with classical beauty and romance, but it protects itself with the thorns. Purple is her favorite color/signifies royalty. Yellow is bright and signifies hope and sunshine. Sky Blue for clarity, calmness, & peace. https://photos.app.goo.gl/39B1oq9zyzcy1oR29
    1 point
  36. The Tiger inspired from The Tyger from William Blake Tiger Tiger, burning bright, In the fairway's grown in night; What media mouth or statry, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant green's or tee's, Burn from fire in thine ease? To what break's dare he conspire? What the hand, dare seize the iron? And what ankle, & what art, Could twist the sinew's of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hip? & what dread feet? What the driver? what the wedge, In what furnace burn'd all hedge? What the blade's? what dread club, Dare the deadly dimple's snub! When the bet's cash'd in their doubt's And water'd clicker's with their eclout's: Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb's make thee? Tiger Tiger, burning bright, In the fairways grown in night; What media mouth or statry, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? The Lamb https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43670/the-lamb-56d222765a3e1 The Tyger https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43687/the-tyger
    1 point
  37. @Mel Hopkins not you think , you know or,at least, you are 100% correct . And, yes, I am not suggesting,100%, that making money must have criminality but I am telling that 99.9% does, not in alway straight but it does. Excellent example: Robert Johnson sold something worth more than any price long term and sold it for fiscal profit, and was glorified from like minded folk, black or non- black, after doing it. Many hip hop artists did likewise, betraying their youth or their home life for the imagined gangster rapper imagery, that white owned corporations preferred over social critiques or artistic mobilizers. The problem is simple, define morals. Morals are not set in stone. Second, more importantly, function. Said black folk are looking to reject or deny function to remain in some ruleset, morals, while making money. At the least, that does not serve the function of making money to the best ability or serving a communities needs.
    1 point
  38. @Mel Hopkins Everyone,I repeat everyone, in the usa is in a mental conditioning program to suggest merit not making money is the key. My pleasure, but we all suffer from that. As someone who prefers efficient municipal structure, I do not know how many time I spoke truth to inefficiency in the usa /nys/nyc municipal structures when in truth i wasted and still waste my breath; cause said systems are not meant to be efficient but tools for those who have the most money to control. The true answer is always in the usa, very simple. Make money and do what you want. Crude, inefficient, non sustainable but that is the way in the usa. When DT first went bankrupt who saved him. new jersey and the banks led by goldman sachs who held his real estate transactions as well as alot of atlantic city property. If DT went bankrupt the first time, like many fiscally common folk <red/black/white/or other or any> Atlantic city would had plummeted in value and caused a severe depreciation in the banks. Whom we all learned later had too many DT -esque deals they were holding which is why the federal elected official class did to the banks what the banks side the elected officials class from the state of new jersey did to trump, made the later too big too fail. Sequentially, Donald trump did not strictly go bankrupt the first time and the last two were mere repetitions to the first. DT calls it the art of the deal when it is simply modern global fiscal capitalism. People who have money are deeply connected and will protect each other's finances to protect each other's finances. I don't know what they gave obama/clinton/emmanuel/et cetera for that blank check but they all paid when trump was elected as president. the party of lincoln party elders lost leadership to a man who has allegiance to nothing but his personal benefit. the party of andrew jackson was exposed as internally deeply dysfunctional. Returning, DT's fiscal condition is about protectionism from the fiscally wealthy and people do not admit it, though it was said enough to be common knowledge. We all know the truth behind DT yet we do not say it. We all know the truth behind the too big too fail but we do not admit it. Obama himself talked about the system falling down. that is a lie and we all knew. the banks falling down side all but one from the major usa car companies falling down would not had caused chaos. but it would had deleted many fiscally wealthy people's finances. And, those people used their money or power from money to maintain their fiscal wealth. Does it mean the banks or car companies are educated? how educated are the people in the banks in the center to the global empire when they have every advantage to make profit while be stable and failed? how educated are the people in the car companies when they are in the center of the global empire and yet fail to make a cost efficient technically superior automobile? How many people in the banks or car companies merited their job or were given their job? Many people allude to merit to everything else but having money and being cutthroat or coercive to keep it, no matter what.
    1 point
  39. Part to the end of this article is what I would had written otherwise, you wrote: "The reason, however, is this; Apple is run by people whose goal is to make money by any means. So, if you find you're in a place far different than you'd envisioned for yourself. Stop doing what you've always done. Lose the fear and do whatever it takes to allow you to live your dreams." I would had rewrote the last line:"Lose the fear and do whatever it takes to allow you to live your dreams." as "Lose the fear and make money whatever it takes to allow you to live your dreams." I know just one simple part. But, when you talked about apple's fiscal profiteering, your point is true. The USA or the european colonies that preceded it,financially, is a place for money makers. From those early whites, to the white murderers to red folk or enslavers to black, to later yellow or black folk in the fiscal illegal world, money making is the way it happens in the u.s.a.. Labels and rank don't have a value that you may find in parts to europe/africa/asia. I think sometimes people in the usa, do not speak bluntly enough to that. That is how donald trump went bankrupt three times but and came back financially from each.
    1 point
  40. yes @Mel Hopkins I have nothing against Justine or fiyah magazine but. a black writer, suggesting that a white writer is not warranting the fandom or the support cause the content in work from said white writer or perception to the value in said work is negative, is no other than what white media do to black artists all the time. I don't want white people to change. I want black people to be free from white physical assault. White people writing books or making movies or producing paintings where they depict their interpretation to black people as negative or positive is not a physical assault, it is emotional, pride based, but not physical. Some in the black community seem to want whites to speak well to blacks and I oppose that position. Donald Trump speaking ill to the central park five was negative, was ill, but the central park five suffered cause the assailed white woman who lied and the NYPD who interrogated, Trump is not the one who led to the pain the central park five went through. Birth of a nation, the original, is a vile movie to Black people, but that film was not hanging black people or incarcerating black people falsely, or financially entrapping black people through tricks, all supported through government initatives or actors, in 1915. That was city councils, mayors of cities, state legislators, state governors, federal representatives, federal senators, the president, white owned private enterprise. are the cause. The napir of american race relations, what I call the burning of southern black folk, was the fault of the us federal military leaving the south, which oddly enough they would had to return 100 year later, not the confederate flag, or statues or books written from whites.
    1 point
  41. Bravo! Art is often commentary and commentary reflects a perspective. Eliminating that perspective or the one who perceives it is akin to censorship ... and similar to what happens in war. Removing artwork and the artist is an attempt to silence. Not cool. I rather be offended than to be a witness someone losing the right to express themselves.
    1 point
  42. Okay, here is my Jaeger submission. I had three conceptsm first which i liked alot but didn't really fit the narrative was Old Jaeger Park. The second was the Legendary Central Park Five, whose story I wrote, and comic, whosei did not finish. The last idea was a superway. In each idea, i wanted to do something else with JAegers, old used Jaegers/another kind of interwoven wireless neurological system using also history revisioning, and lastly, just another kind of city. In the films, like most big mecha or being films, cities seem designed ignorant to these things running around that will create damage. so, instead of a regular city, what if New York City has a run way, or walk way, that is above the street mostly, sidewalk somewhat, and thus Jaeger can use it to travel fare more easily through the city. This also coincide to my particular Jaeger, the Parkour Jaeger, yes, not a well thought of name. But, the idea is this Jaeger has joints that allow for more comlicated acrobatic movement than other Jaeger. Most Jaeger are designed on the human body but when you are facing things that are reptilian or insect in variance, i think you need more flexibility. the ability to turn through momemtum three hundred and sixty degrees. Thus, the nodes you can see in the image, are as large as the limbs, they make the Jaeger taller than average but also allow for that flexibility. In the image, the ParkRei Jaeger... better name right?... is holding on to a section of the superway while it flicked another Jaeger whose beam cannon tip we see at the top. I could had colored but I wanted to really focus on my inking as it connect to other plans going forward. The other element in the rules was to depict a place where you live. I took photos for reference all about new york city. For the Old Jaegers I took for a local park. For, the legendary central park five i took empir estate building or world trade. For Old Jaeger park or Legendary Central PArk five i didn't have the photos I liked. i needed another angle for reference, especially as I had wrote up the concept. But for the last one, ParkRei, i used rockefeller center. The structure of Rockefeller center worked in terms of my vision. It has a central urban feel while also some true space to get the angle i liked. Well for my emailers, you will have image stills. For all look to the creating videos below, yes I am still getting used to being recorded while I draw, angle wise. The official submission is in my deviantart page. Enjoy, i wonder what ideas you have. Development videos part1 https://photos.google.com/b/116457345954364049850/album/AF1QipMlgm4ZrJBANbLMQ96eN21sSgxD1ZMycF9HoOY0/photo/AF1QipNJ4BpEYDumGd4hNFPnneEF8-loPXrkIsMV9Onx part2 https://photos.google.com/b/116457345954364049850/album/AF1QipMlgm4ZrJBANbLMQ96eN21sSgxD1ZMycF9HoOY0/photo/AF1QipP4azkVA2IPqDxV_0OgYXlR5lQksZ8RRAVGuTM7 part3 https://photos.google.com/b/116457345954364049850/album/AF1QipMlgm4ZrJBANbLMQ96eN21sSgxD1ZMycF9HoOY0/photo/AF1QipO4WtTc7fJ-pJqyVYkuOy52B2GEWYJ3lV0olbaM part4 https://photos.google.com/b/116457345954364049850/album/AF1QipMlgm4ZrJBANbLMQ96eN21sSgxD1ZMycF9HoOY0/photo/AF1QipMQZnJTsDGvm4l6bIFC-MUVBNz2EYO4bzJmmI8I DeviantArt Submission https://hddeviant.deviantart.com/art/ParkRei-Pacific-Rim-Jaeger-Submission-749463275?ga_submit_new=10%3A1528836929 I wish more had joined me:) I will see you next time
    1 point
  43. I'm glad you took the feedback as it was intended. We can all use Feedback.
    1 point
  44. Hi @Kween Yakini you can embed video directly by just pasting the the unshortened URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RriAEfw57W8 We need the truth for real! Just a bit of unsolicited feedback: the background music is too loud and distracts from you piece.
    1 point
  45. Ok, I learned about the Onmyoji contest on friday. While going to deviantart to look at some entries for the Jaeger contest. Well, having no knowledge to the online massive multiplayer game Onmyoji, and little time to conceptualize what my entry will be, I came up with the following. https://hddeviant.deviantart.com/art/Onmyoji-submission-emma-and-the-seven-748288623 The idea was the character emma aside seven deadly sins. I am content for such a hurried creation while having no thoughts to the content. In contrast, I am a fan to gundam, or mechas in general so the jaeger comes with more familiarity for me. In a prior post, I utilized links to my skydrive storage area, but i realized upon more videos that a space limit is inevitable. Thus, i had to figure out where to go to place the stores. I chose google photos. Instagram or snapchat are used for personal purposes. I know artists in that system but usually they focus on photos not videos. Laslty, google photos space is the largest. AALBC is my blog place, and I invite you all to join AALBC, especially if you are artist. But, the black owned website, has obvious limits to loading content like videos. Below are links to videos made as I sketched or created. My first time doing so many, and especially while drawing. Another learning experience. If you are seeing this in an email, the photos stages are attached at the end. If you are seeing this in AALBC, the videos are all their is. ...before the links to the Onmyoji videos , here is a link to the Jaeger contest which end in seven days. I invite you all to share any ideas you may have to that. https://go.deviantart.com/journal/The-Pacific-Rim-Uprising-Global-Jaeger-Contest-744541834 Do tell me if the links are blockaded, they are supposed to be public. Onmyoji-Fan-Art-Contest-Creation (1) https://photos.app.goo.gl/nW0odvDqiOuoW0R03 Onmyoji-Fan-Art-Contest-Creation (2) https://photos.app.goo.gl/RrdyWvyoJV07cLjt2 Onmyoji-Fan-Art-Contest-Creation (3) https://photos.app.goo.gl/P3FCCHJQZjQh5mhG3 Onmyoji-Fan-Art-Contest-Creation (4) https://photos.app.goo.gl/UnRC54SQJZYMf80k1 Onmyoji-Fan-Art-Contest-Creation (5) https://photos.app.goo.gl/mLkeakVn11ZiS5nF2 Onmyoji-Fan-Art-Contest-Creation (6) https://photos.app.goo.gl/bhHi7wbFG6XJVE3i8 onmyoji-fan-art-contest-creation-part2 (1) https://photos.app.goo.gl/rRnc6ZxWERa9EY4V2 onmyoji-fan-art-contest-creation-part2 (2) https://photos.app.goo.gl/yNojWgufIqFNJVbC2 onmyoji-fan-art-contest-creation-part2 (3) https://photos.app.goo.gl/Jo9T6xeLZTewubky2 onmyoji-fan-art-contest-creation-part2 (4) https://photos.app.goo.gl/VCP3PtNBAeTpXeHb2 onmyoji-fan-art-contest-creation-part2 (5) https://photos.app.goo.gl/KsmDiPPcjd9rxtJN2 onmyoji-fan-art-contest-creation-part2 (6) https://photos.app.goo.gl/hvCI58LxBb92ge4U2 onmyoji-fan-art-contest-creation-part3 (2) https://photos.app.goo.gl/3vNwF9x7iowBOUm03 onmyoji-fan-art-contest-creation-part3 (3) https://photos.app.goo.gl/S3ZlhhTTuTDdBRw12 onmyoji-fan-art-contest-creation-part3 (4) https://photos.app.goo.gl/uyoEcd9Mq8M5nDj29 onmyoji-fan-art-contest-creation-part3 (5) https://photos.app.goo.gl/01GHnNcGc4wuojpr1 onmyoji-fan-art-contest-creation-part3 (6) https://photos.app.goo.gl/TtLsnDtYVNMvbeVL9 onmyoji-fan-art-contest-creation-part3 (7) https://photos.app.goo.gl/ryKTzb9eCrDyVN5z1 onmyoji-fan-art-contest-creation-part3 (8) https://photos.app.goo.gl/Qurjw6pK3hxhcvZk2 onmyoji-fan-art-contest-creation-part3 (9) https://photos.app.goo.gl/EF2M5ynf8RzO33Bs1 The Folder Link https://photos.app.goo.gl/mZJ2RICfACZaSgtD2 Happy creating
    1 point
  46. The irony of this article dated May 7, 2018 appearing here as a post is that I believe it was inspired by awesomelyluvvie article - dated April 17, 2018 - Still, It drives home the point that unless a black woman's feelings are echoed by a woman of non-color - then those words are just another "fart in the blizzard." Further, tears of woman of non-color are assigned as the attributes of all women especially black women. And if we don't cry at the drop of a hat then we are labeled Angry black women. Or we're not women at all, or rather we're acting like "men"...because we don't act weak. When in reality women are not weak at all - but women of non-color just play men that way. Now, they've joined the me-too movement to kick men out of their offices all the while playing victim but getting the corner offices in the process. All I got to say is "well-played women of non-color; well-played.
    1 point
  47. Cryptocurrency is now a new object interest for me, thank you @Mel Hopkins. I've been researching, investigating digital assets that use cryptocurrencies using an encryption technique, for security; how it is used to buy and sell goods and services. People are able to use cryptocurrency under near-anonymity, peer-to-peer purchasing eliminating of financial intermediaries, and some other “smart,” programmable capabilities that Bitcoin currently does not possess. There two major categories utilized for the purchase of goods and services and those that allow for the creation of a sort of “smart contracts;” agreements that enforce themselves per a code rather than the courts. With over 1,000 cryptocurrencies in existence as of January 2018 (called “altcoins”); over 600 have market capitalizations of over $100,000. I've noticed at least five-countries using this form of digital financial assets as well as identified several major companies all of which are U.S. affiliated, and thirteen major retail outlets. Brother Troy is on to something very interesting, in his post response. Like the NRA whom I believe is unofficially trading in cryptocurrency. Though FEC has officially prohibited trading in this form of financial asset, some traders are seemingly getting away with it. I'm still sometime away from getting all the information to satisfy my curiosity; though the ease of getting involved and the direction global economics is heading, I'm quite skeptical. Cryptocurrency appear to be soaked in blood!
    1 point
  48. History is a great teacher when channeled through truth. Most potent is when a history can be truthfully known from an infancy. I remember when no Internet existed. I remember the early years when only a fortunate few had access, and later when it blossomed and later when it matured and to now, when it is mutating, into something. In the end of the day, the problem in the Internet is ever present in the miniature Facebook. Looking back, three thing did not occurred that needed to occurred. The first thing I will mention, based on mere typing chance not value or temporal occurrence in my mind ,Bill Clinton placed the lines that connected the early web and standardized the internet protocol addressing system through the IANA Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. Bill CLinton made one key error, that he had the power to change. He made the addressing a free for all, a fiscal capitalistic venture that served only those who had money. To be blunt, every single person on earth can have their own ip address. Why does it matter? The entire addressing system to the internet is where all the power reside. Most people never realize that accessing the internet can not occur if a map does not exist from you to wherever you address. These maps are controlled by the united states federal government; others who warrant through necessity or power have smaller segments from the maps, either governments or firms. But these maps you have to pay to be added into, and this is how firms control the internet. For example, someone like myself does not have an ip address, time warner does, they have many in a block and they use them to connect to the ip address centers. When I get online like most I am using an ip address from my internet service provider. Thus, when we talk about facebook or any online site owning identities, the firms you connect to the internet with from the mobile phone provider to whomever at your home owns your identity. Your credit card information, your name, your address, sent through their network which is how you connect to the internet. Not your own system through your own ip address. If everyone had their own ip address, the system through which people access the internet can be importantly other. Where people can choose to connect to each other through less steps, in a more secure fashion. To be blunt, if you are reading this post, then many firms have your personal data already. Facebook only is a target, like madoff with the banks, cause they are a less potent abuser. The heaviest abusers are too big to fail. The next thing I will mention is lawyers side bankers. Many people know but few comprehend the negative relationship internet firms have to banks or lawyers. To say it simply, banks/lawyers took over every single internet firm at some point, but not in ownership, in administration. Microsoft/Apple/Facebook/Twitter all have many bankers from when they needed money and had none or lawyers from when they needed legal aid and had none. Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Jobs did not control every aspect to their firms and definitely did not have control over the daily operation; this matters cause when AOL started they basically piggybacked off phone networks, which was the earliest abuse. Firms have benefited from the first thing I mentioned and the people who run them, will not go against it cause they lose money or power absent it. The last thing I will mention is computer scientist o engineers. When I was in college I weekly had a speech on inefficiency in the entire electromechanical sphere. From computers to the Internet, I said everything was wrong to my fellow students. But, the truth is we were all complicit in the problem. Do you know what separates engineers? It is not mentality or wisdom, it is financing. Show me an engineer in history who created vastly and I will show you financing in some form or another. The reality is, the larger quantity of engineers in the electromechanical world never came together and made alternatives. From browsers to operating systems, some tried to create public alternatives, free for all; all those things are now for profit, in one way or another. The security people want through the Internet or in their home systems will require an entire overhaul to the basic structure of the Internet or the computing systems that connect to it; outside a complete overhaul, only a viable alternative will suffice. Sadly, an alternative today will require more work than ever before, but that is the true solution. The modern global electron based computing system is based on providing information about yourself to use at its core. The only way you can connect to the internet is to have an ip address which requires government agencies to know who you are or use another who has to know who you are. Photographer: Alan Grinberg LINK Lightning on the Pacific Ocean Caption: I waited 10 years to take this photo.
    1 point
×
×
  • Create New...