Mel Hopkins

@Troy Any observation of the universe or species that reside within that hasn’t been tested is an opinion. Some don’t even rise to the level of hypothesis - but politics allows some opinions to enter mainstream - while actual theories are sidelined. ( i’m thinking of two separate documentaries one about evolution and the other about mathematics in reference to that last statement.) For centuries cancer and the various causes were opinions - - Today the opinion (scientific opinion they like to say) is damage to DNA ...Meanwhile over in the DNA lab the current opinion is there are some protein pairings that need to be investigated . And let’s not forget the opinion held today about the humble origin of the universe.

Even science is an opinion. That is until there's consensus through experimentation that result in the same outcome for everyone who uses the prescribed method. Unfortunately, that still doesn't make it gospel as many theoretical scientists are learning today. While repeating the same method may get the same outcome but when someone else comes along using a different method and gets yet another outcome we're left with more questions. Any way the scientific method is still young (17th century) and it rest on the fact that we have is agreement since we're taught not question authority. I imagine if civilization last another millennia - they are going to look back at us like we're barbarians.

@Delano, Exactly!!! As the header says - this is a discussion forum... where people exchange ideas. I don't mind exchanging ideas or even hearing new ideas. Also commentary...I'm tired of commentary. I'm tired of talking about what other people "think" Opeds, commentary - I'll may give it a like, laugh but I'm bored with commentary. It's time for us to come up with something new or expand on something old that has NOT run its course yet.

@DelanoAgree! I won't acquiesce to someone's opinion. I may even add a point or two for consideration but I've returned to my old ways of NOT debating opinions either. It's actually a waste of time.

Lol! @Chevdove that sounds like. Lifetime Movie Title! Lol! She’s there for a coding program - and just for the summer. She creates software programs. But from what my daughter told me - she probably will be Harvard Bound.

That sounds like an opportunity! In fact, that series query - sounds like a perfect addition to one of your newsletter Did You Know: If you search on AALBC site for “series” you’ll find many of our authors who have a series collection - you won’t find that google! This is the type of Marketing promotion small websites will have to do to build their community and get ahead of google’s shenanigans. @Troy thank you for that info! I recently read that there is a preference for authors who write series.

@Troy SHORT TERM SACRIFICE! Yes I was thinking this too...but I didn't want to write it... Do share the sacrifices just in case someone is reading this. One sacrifice I can think of is deep dive your area of expertise.. For example, if I search for films like The Fourth Kind - GOOGLE snatches top space with "films others also searched for" - but when I search for African American authors with book series- I get nothing from google. The results suggest some new books at the top spot but it doesn't return a match to my question. So if a small website creates a blog post with "African American authors with book series" - it would be hard for the search engines to ignore. By the way, I also did a search for Walter Mosley book series and google snatched that right up.

YEAH DABASTIDS!!! YEAH!!! I'm glad you included it because I'm about to be the website marketing evangelista for small websites The other day, I was actually thinking about that workshop we talked about. Someone contacted me to teach them about setting up a blog...and I thought of you - I got the monetization and marketing part for new startups but I was thinking there should be someone who speaks in plain English about dealing with google too... You know, teach them what googles does so they can do a creative endrun. But first folks have to know what they're up against. Once folks know how google can jack you up that's when folks get creative!!! #EFFGOOGLE!!!

The challenge with numbers is if applied wrongly can destroy us - since the only numbers I experiment with is in cooking - I'll leave it to the professionals and enthusiasts. Speaking of which, my oldest daughter's sister is at Harvard right now because she's some kind of math wiz... she's only 15 - I admire her - she probably knows about perfect numbers and their uses

@Troy , As I'm currently kneedeep in working out my own digital asset management issues- all I can say is I wholeheartedly agree with you... Google's management has decided to own the internet and police it too. - I'm kind of sorry that I took your and @CDBurns ' advice about "registering" my websites with google. Now they monitor everything I do - from whether my images are large enough and other things they send me notices about now. In fact, they send me warnings and then almost demand that I fix them and let them know when I fixed them. The funny thing is I don't even use their AdWords or any advertising through them. One thing that helped me back in the day is I relied on traditional marketing communication- not hoping that folks would stop by because I used the right words. So, recently I went back to the type of marketing -and EFF google. In the last month, I picked up 3 subscribers to my professional site and actually sold a magazine!!! The latter came from the community I'm building. I'm not interested in google sending me traffic... I'm back to building communities like I did in the past that got me featured in Black Enterprise. Also - because I'm paying attention now, do you know I realized I get more traffic to my site because of the domain name than what google sends my way? Don't get me wrong though, google is the top search engine to send me traffic - BUT my domain name is outpacing google traffic. Now the traffic that comes to my melhopkinsdotcom is abysmal but since I've changed the tagline to communication strategist and made my professional page static, traffic is on the uptick. ALL this to say - websites that aren't necessarily gossip or lifestyle sites - are going to have to do old-fashioned marketing and networking to get numbers up so that we won't be censored by google facebook and amazon. Speaking of AMAZON; folks are finally catching on about "fake books"...(they are really talking about the "buy box" that amazon made publishers pay for back in ??? I don't remember.) Anyway - there was an article on linkedin -(NYtimes /Washington Post) allegedly the FTC is looking into the trade practices -I think it's because "45" is so petty and Jeff Bezos pissed him off lol... (I'm no fan of 45 but he does seem to go after his enemies - and you know what they say about enemies …"enemy of my enemy is my friend" - OK I got to jet I've been extremely busy minding my business LOL....

Wow! Leave it to a technite to syndicate himself! Fabulous! Gotcha! Yes, that is unethical. In fact, it’s plagiarism! I’ve seen this happen on The Root and once on Black Enterprise. But they aren’t the only publications who “copy” - I’ve been on twitter when folks have outted white publications for “copying”original content. I’m an old school journalist - if I’m tempted, I simply just add one line intro and link to the source. Then I’ll go back later and write a synopsis.

Yes, this is frustrating and time consuming because I have to write so many version of my articles. I'm writing an article right now that I want to post on linkedin because it's professional insight but I also want to post it on my OWN website too. I have to decide what to do once I finish it. I don't think google should be in everyone's kool-aid like that but it does hurt the writer because we can't scale our work. We have to produce original works for everywhere our work appears on the internet. I have more than 300 posts on my websites but I have to re-write a lot of it because I don't always remember where it's visible. I end up making lot of my work private. I have even on occasion removed some posts from AALBC.

Insights News is owned by Al McFarlane - https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/al-mcfarlane Media executive Al McFarlane was born on September 15, 1947 in Kansas City, Kansas. He attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia from 1965 to 1966, and the University of Minnesota School of Journalism from 1969 to 1971and graduated from there with his B.A. degree in mass communications. McFarlane worked as a reporter for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press before moving to General Mills where he worked as the community relations coordinator from 1971 to 1972. He then was hired by the Midwest Public Relations division of Graphic Services as vice president, a position he held from 1973 to 1976. In 1974, McFarlane became editor-in-chief at Insight News, a community newspaper serving African and African American residents of Minnesota. He also established McFarlane Media Interests, Inc., a multimedia marketing and information services firm with newspaper, internet and broadcast properties. McFarlane purchased the rights to Insight News in 1975. In 1992, McFarlane served as chairman at Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium, a marketing and advertising sales advisory for Minnesota African & African American, Hispanic, Asian and Native American newspapers. He also was named president of the Black Publishers Coalition, which managed regional and national advertising contracts for Black newspapers and the member group of print media investor-owners in Chicago, Toledo, Detroit, Milwaukee and Minnesota. In 1996, he organized ethnic newspaper owners in the formation of the Minnesota Minority Media Coalition. In 1997, Insight News initiated a series of public policy forums, “Conversations with Al McFarlane.” McFarlane served as host of the series that aired in partnership with the community radio stations KFAI and KMOJ, in Minneapolis. In 2002, McFarlane worked as president and CEO at Midwest Black Publishers Coalition, Inc. In 2010, McFarlane won a Federal American Recovery and Restoration Act grant that provided the University of Minnesota a $3.7 million grant to create public computing centers in targeted ethnic and urban communities to increase broadband access and awareness. McFarlane also launched Garth McFarlane & Mudd, LLC, a national media buying and promotion firm in 2011. McFarlane was also elected chair of the National Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation Board of Directors from 2015 to 2017. Al and his wife Bobbie P. Ford McFarlane have five adult children. Al McFarlane was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on June 20, 2018. Do you mean through prnewswire or business newswire? I haven't checked through the my news releases in the past few days (kind of busy) but sure - every news outlet has access to news releases - but it's up to the journalist to follow up on it or include their own information. Are you implying there were some inaccuracies in the Insights News https://issuu.com/insightnews/docs/june_3__2019_-_june_9__2019_insight article? I'm sure if you contacted them - they would correct it. Mr. McFarlane seems to have been a journalist before you or i could write our name LOL (just kidding)

@Pioneer1 this is exactly how I felt - and see, you did understand. Some how I had a feeling you knew exactly why I responded the way I did! And yes, I understand why it struck you as irrational - because “love” is irrational and to actually have love for all living things equally is probably something you don’t come across on a daily basis. Now, before you throw my children in the mix - I also have an uber irrational “LOVE” for them but if I were to think it through ... it would be because they came from me... and there’s no greater love, I suppose than one who you’d lay down your life for..so yeah, my babies are on a whole different astral plane... one that even I can’t comprehend. Not at all! There are a lot of smart people. I don’t think it suits me. I’m curious and i keep digging like a dog looking for a bone. Someone might say “he’s hungry” ... but in most cases that’s not true—-The pooch is looking for his “treasure”. My definition of “smart” ? I like what you’ve said @Delano “pedigree” - a “person of letters” is my definition of smart. People who know enough to get the task completed by an agreed upon standard.

“Smart is not how I would describe myself.” “ I'm curious ...that may appear to be passion but it's more of an obsession“ “i don't have to think deeply” Sooooo... Out of all the things I wrote correcting Troy you chose to focus on “people” - why is that?

@Pioneer1 who cares about compliments? I prefer accuracy. ... I corrected Troy's description because while he's assigned it to me - it has nothing to do with me. And yes people are included in the set of living things but to focus on people would be a reductionist view of my outlook. I would provide first aid to a person just as I would provide first aid to a plant. I would relocate a person who seeks to harm me just like I would relocate a spider.

@Troy wow I didn't know that's how I appear to others. Welp, here it is. Smart is not how I would describe myself. I'm curious and sometimes that may appear to be passion but it's more of an obsession to understand the its properties. I build on a foundation of information so I don't have to think deeply - so while it may appear I think deeply, its actually an intimate understanding of topic. And no, I don't have love for people. I have a love for all living things and their ability to express life that will lead to evolution.

a student loan paid, and your student loan is paid and your student loan is paid too... The graduating class of Morehouse College had commencement Keynote Speaker Billionaire Robert F. Smith give them a send off into the real world...but in addition to parting words he will allow these seniors to be debt-free to the tune of $40 million. Wow just wow... CNN Breaking News https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/19/us/morehouse-robert-smith-student-loans-trnd/

@Troy I can't remember disagreeing with @Cynique @Chevdove or @zaji in any way that would cause me to want to express that disagreement. I may have a different opinion about something but their presentation allows for me to consider their perspective. I've even found myself doing some research and keeping an open mind for more information to possibly advance the discussion. But I don't disagree with them. Even if you can find where I said "I disagree" know that I misspoke. I believe most women are socialized to have a perspective that is built on a foundation of evidence. Unfortunately, here in America women are often dismissed as NOT having knowledge about a topic. Even In your thread about instagram - you decided I didn't have knowledge of world wide web and its commercial activities. You didn't even ask me, first. But that's the world women live in - so when we express an opinion or subjective observation, trust most of us have a mountain of evidence to back it up. I don't bet on stuff. Aside: I used to bet on horses but racing horses is cruel and inhumane so I don't do it anymore. I would absolutely miss Cynique if she leaves the board - but I saw that in my email and I had to stop what I was doing to respond to this thread. I really appreciate you @Cynique ! You add the je ne sais quoi to this forum that allows so many of us to think and consider your words, experiences and thoughts. You are a magus and beautiful philosopher!

@Delano “No lies detected.” I really do! There is one Pioneer that I really dig - that Pioneer makes me reflect on the world’s schism. Then there are a two others - one who I swear is a white guy from michigan - and you know that guy -he’s a lot like “Archie Bunker/Roseanne”... Then the other Pioneer is young-minded - doesn’t read much but is very much into street corner lectures. The scary part with that Pioneer - is i used to think the same way - I found some old school writings that revealed a similar philosophy - which makes me think that Pioneer is actually a 30-something woman! clearly you don’t - so I’ll leave it alone. But please, don’t EVER tell me my worldview without checking your own consistency.

Exactly @Troy! But I’m no lady... I would have agreed, @Pioneer1. If you wrote “the Americas” of even North America. - I would have given you a pass on PR and DR ... Yep! I will sometimes let those slide because I can’t keep up with the politics - like with Guam. BUT NOOOO..you tried to be tricky and write “America”...That was a technical foul in my book. Plus you tried to “shame” me - and that really pisses me off. I don’t take kindly to social engineering

@Troy Your “moral” judgement quote comes from AALBC.com. NEVER means NOT EVER in ANY context. So, it’s telling that you won’t impose your morality on a elijah muhammad impregnating youg girls in his charge. Impressionable young black girls don’t get your moral outrage. In their case you wrote you will NEVER make a moral judgement. NEVER means NOT EVER in ANY context. Except you reserve your feigned moral outrage against faceless institutions - and without proof. Yeah ok. Perspicere

I, I, I, .... LOL Use your search engine - I just did and bing returned washcloths are rare in Europe... Now I've never stayed with families or hostels when traveling the five continents ... but I'd imagined they would accommodate their guests with known amenities. However, for 8 years. I've only stayed at 4/5 star hotels in the five countries I've mentioned(I left out Belgium). AND they didn't have washcloths nor had a word that actually translated into washcloths. Any LEGACY CARRIER flight attendant will tell you bring your wash cloth if you use one. Note: German hotels had washcloths but they also have a U.S. Military bases so maybe the brothers/sisters hipped them lol...

Are you sure that's how you want to counter? First Twitter doesn't allow you to cherry pick quotes because you literally have to post the old tweet...that's where the twitter phrase "that didn't age well" comes from. You would know that if you actually engaged folks on twitter rather than blast them with website posts from an app. Second, If that quote is only true when speaking on the behalf of men doing questionable things to girls and women then you get the :sideeye: Finally, I posted the date when you made the quote ..The date is taken from your post. If you put together the fact that I mentioned Elijah Muhammad that would be what we call a"context clue". Now since you usually send us to the search feature - it should be quite easy for you to find it. Unfortunately, I don't think the context there will matter. "NEVER" in ANY context means "Not now" or Not EVER, NOT at any time. So that makes your "moral" rants about social networks, big tobacco and any of soapbox material you've presented invalid.

After reading several polls on Twitter, this week apparently a full- body wash is part of the african American culture. It appears washing legs is optional for those of European descent. Further, some from the medical profession agree that vigorous leg washing removes the oils - hence our “ashy” legs. Also “wash cloths” appear to be an African American item. I must research the origin. I know first hand whenever I traveled to Peru , Italy, Brazil and I think Argentina too I packed my own wash cloths because the hotels there only provided towels. When I went into the “black” section of Lima I was able to stock up on wash cloths there. But none in Miraflores. I could only conclude that wash cloths are used in the African Diaspora