Mel Hopkins

LOL! I'm still trying to figure out how that happened too! #giggles ... and @Troy , I'd swear you were 125 years old, if I didn't know you... "Fornication/Deflowering"? You are cracking me up over here!

My college group of friends were really open about their sex lives that's how I knew I was the last one in my group to have sex . And it still baffles that one of my friends came forward in 2015 to say Bill Cosby assaulted her... We really didn't keep secrets like that because sex wasn't taboo ...there was no "good/bad" girl blah blah - but I guess assault was the taboo topic - Also in my generation practically no one cared if their future husband or wife for that matter was going to be the first. Shoot, the best any of us could hope for is if we didn't have sex with each other's future husband/wife ... (Edit)

@Troy I wasn't talking about my very first time having sex... and were you talking about other women's experience Here ? I was referring to the the first time with that particular man... not my very first time having sex... although that was ok - but dude was more into himself vertical, so I imagine it wasn't going to ever get any better and it didn't... Did you really write "deflower" pwuahahaha...

Oh my... Sorry to read that... LOL Excellent perspective, because sex is definitely a head game... I can say, I've never had sex with an ignorant man in my life... If you "stupid" that's a huge-a turn off for me. We can't even be friends let alone engage in sex. It's frustrating to have awful sex.. a huge let down... so wanting to punch someone in the face is for wasting my time...

Is this possible to make love any other way? do you mean sexual intercourse using different holes -mouth, anus, vagina? Or meaning a variety of people i.e. menage a trois? BDSM ? same-sex? If you are referring to sexual intercourse - do you mean same wo/man in both situations or different man for the first and same man for the latter or combination for both... If you're referring to opposite sex - sexual intercourse .. then Same/different man fabulous sex but the same every time is a yes for my lifetime. I've once had sex with a man and our first time it was freakin' amazing. I mean, so mind-blowing I had to write a blog post about how good we were together... and then the next few times it was different but never measured up to our first time together. A lifetime can be too long to have "different " sexual intercourse that makes me want to punch someone in the face

I don't need to wish for superpowers because I already possess what some call superpowers. They really aren't superpowers more like "unacknowledged or undeveloped abilities" ...Having said that can feel and read energy (vibrations) so I'm an empath. I help people listen to themselves so I am clairaudient (that one gets me in trouble because I hear people before they say it" ... Now here's one I will call a superpower (but it probably isn't either, but is to me) I would like to transform my energy into the highest level of LOVE in an effort to move through dimensions.

It's still broken to you, the page administrator so there's still a lesson for us all!

@Troy It's there and I even put a like on it!

Thank you for making me aware of this transaction. When we finally have our meeting - would you teach this concept to me? Is this something that would need to go into our webinar? Can other independent authors do this too?

@Troy , Why I’m devoting a year to helping black newspapers survive by Regina H. Boone Columbia Journalism Review article Mentions AALBC... "The African American Literature Book Club, which tracks independent, black-owned newspapers, counts more than 100 such papers, including the Richmond Free Press. "

Thank you, Troy! I saw it! It looks great! Please let me know how the distribution works through AALBC.. Once I publish, I'd be more than happy to drop ship books to the buyers that are sold through AALBC... You're beyond generous with your space and time - and I want to support through sales too! Edit: Wait - when I publish, maybe you can just have the buy direct from AALBC and you just send me the ship-to, my royalties via paypal and shipping cost (I'll let you know if I do free shipping too) and I'll send you copy of the tracking number (I usually ship USPS priority mail envelope)??? OR somehow we can determine the sale came from AALBC and we can settle on your percentage??? And to be clear on my part, I can't prove it but I'm not letting amazon off the bootlegging hook! Yes, it is easy for others to grab my digital and bootleg but specifically related to amazon, so many people have told me they purchased my book SWADM through amazon, yet it's not reflected in my royalties ...same with my digital short story.. My daughter bought several copies for her friends - I saw her receipt but it never showed up on my statement. So even if create space isn't printing - which I believe they are what stops them from not printing if they already have the digital copy. At least if I sell physical copies there's a paper trail...

Yes! This is exactly why I won't put another book on their platform... I probably sold a lot more but if Amazon is printing out my book and selling it - how will I know? So I'm not going to worry about it - if my book is gains some interest then folks will be willing to buy from me... And if indie booksellers pick up my book - I will promote them too but I'm no longer putting my books in digital format format for someone to bootleg - that's ship has sailed.

Now that's just funny - even though I suspect you might be right... We don't rally around our own when it comes to securing a financial foundation. This goes on my list of "what the black community can do better"

@Troy , The EU just BITCH-SLAPPED Google with 2.7 BILLION DOLLAR FINE for promoting their own ads in the search query https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-slapped-with-2-7-billion-eu-fine-over-search-results-1498556971 Google Slapped With $2.7 Billion EU Fine Over Search Results EU orders Google to treat rival comparison-shopping services equally in its search results By Natalia Drozdiak and Sam Schechner Updated June 27, 2017 9:36 a.m. ET 231 COMMENTS BRUSSELS—The European Union’s antitrust regulator on Tuesday fined Alphabet Inc.’sGOOGL -1.72% Google a record €2.42 billion ($2.71 billion) for favoring its own comparison-shopping service in search results and ordered the search giant to apply the same methods to rivals as its own when displaying their services. The decision, if it is upheld, would force Google to reshape the way it presents search results for products in Europe, the latest move by Brussels to rein in the tech world. The decision could also have further-reaching implications for other Google products and services—as well as those from competitors. If the ruling sets a precedent that holds, these firms might all have to rethink how they make products that—like Google’s search engine—have become more than just tools, but dominant gateways to the wider internet. More at the WSJ -

We bloggers are short on time but have to spend a lot of time writing articles. So. I wrote this post for my blog " Long on Words, Short On Time; Pitch to Your Inner Editor in it, I give 10 steps to complete to create a story idea pitch to yourself for future article development. It's an attempt to get the blogger to form blogging "muscle memory" for content production. Step 7 is to how to use a news hook in the intro of the blog post ... A News Hook ties your author and their book into a national news story and/or event. In addition, a blogger can use a news hook for SEO to continue to generate traffic . In January of this year, I followed up on "Nasty Woman" the poem Ashley Judd performed at the Women's March and it's the number 1 search term that brings visitors to my site, So here's one way booksellers can use a News Hook in their article: Make even the most staid topic provocative, titillating, timely and SEO friendly by using a News Hook. Hint: Check out a social network trending topics such as Twitter or Google.

I'm wondering if the indie booksellers are using their blogs to promote little-known books. Writing articles focusing on the benefits of a book / using a news hook as a tie-in to books they're selling could be a win - win.

Glad to know it wasn't my imagination.

@Troy , of course not, they are referring to the people of Afroia... J/K it used to - but when I began flying around the world I learned it was European /Asian term.. In fact, I think the Latin countries use it too. But I became familiar with the term when dealing with the Dutch - I think the Dutch refer to black people as "Afro" descent.

4 year old start-up Fly Jamaica Airways, owned mainly by Captain Ronald Reece and his wife Roxanne.

I'm not a "bestseller", great review, "award-winner" kinda reader. So, it doesn't matter to me what any bookseller such as Amazon/BN promotes, I read what interest me . I think You @Troy and I both agreed we often hear of books through news articles placement. (Do you remember that conversation - I think it was a facebook conversation some time back when I was on facebook the first time. ) When I do, hear of book through an article or in conversation, I go to the author's website first to buy. In fact, I just linked to a book and its website here on my profile. Today, was the first time I actually went to the author's website and could only purchase the book there. woo-hoo! Mostly, I haven't been successful. I'm not sure why authors aren't selling directly from their website. It's so easy to sell direct now since there are so many ways to collect money online. When I publish my next book, I will sell direct and most likely through lulu distribution (since they're the printers) BUT I'm NOT distributing through amazon and I'm NOT distributing digital. But I digress, Next I do a search engine query to see where I can purchase the book. Since I purchase mostly out-of-print books I find them on ebay, abe's books and other spots or via Amazon. I remember you mentioned you had a bunch of old books, and I just don't understand why you didn't sell those on here. I'm in the process of selling gently used and almost new books from my website. But in answer to your question, Yes I'd buy from indie booksellers!

Oh snap! LOL... I got so much stuff on my plate... Ok, Bet! BUT put it on the warming tray, but not on the stove somewhere in the kitchen -but out of sight.. I need to get my portion in print first.

This is exactly what I noticed too - as soon as I syndicated my blog posts to facebook - wordpress sent me a message and said my page views were booming, more than the whole time I've had the website.. Speaking of which, because of your advice, I do everything from my website now ...I even use the portfolio feature for my consulting business... I really think that you should host a webinar (paid or introductory) that includes your social media findings and how advantageous it is to have a personal website for community news and to extend our personal brand.. I rarely "share" articles - I now press and discuss them on my website, along with the books I read. This way it strengthens my brand; promotes other black media (getting ready to promote an amsterdam news article that did a feature on a black-owned airline) And I hope retains the power of our voice in media. You are the champion of this cause and I support you!

I just returned to facebook and...the first few days were torture! In fact, I wrote on txt.fyi about my terrible experience. I wanted to test out the ads and for $10 I thought it was a bargain to reach a specific group. Needless to say, I've now killed my professional page - and only have a personal page because that is the only page that provides engagement and it's free. I no longer believe facebook is the advertising juggernaut it claims to be.. I think something different and tricky is going on and i don't trust it.

@Delano even to this day! "PROOFS are the currency of mathematics, but Srinivasa Ramanujan, one of the all-time great mathematicians, often managed to skip them. Now a proof has been found for a connection that he seemed to mysteriously intuit between two types of mathematical function. The proof deepens the intrigue surrounding the workings of Ramanujan’s enigmatic mind. It may also help physicists learn more about black holes – even though these objects were virtually unknown during the Indian mathematician’s lifetime. Born in 1887 in Erode, Tamil Nadu, Ramanujan was self-taught and worked in almost complete isolation from the mathematical community of his time. Described as a raw genius, he independently rediscovered many existing results, as well as making his own unique contributions, believing his inspiration came from the Hindu goddess Namagiri. But he is also known for his unusual style, often leaping from insight to insight without formally proving the logical steps in between. “His ideas as to what constituted a mathematical proof were of the most shadowy description,” said G. H.Hardy (pictured, far right), Ramanujan’s mentor and one of his few collaborators. “His ideas as to what constituted a mathematical proof were of the most shadowy description” Despite these eccentricities, Ramanujan’s work has often proved prescient. This year is the 125th anniversary of his birth, prompting Ken Ono of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, who has previously unearthed hidden depths in Ramanujan’s work, to look once more at his notebooks and letters. “I wanted to go back and prove something special,” says Ono. He settled on a discussion in the last known letter penned by Ramanujan, to Hardy, concerning a type of function now known as a modular form. Functions are equations that can be drawn as graphs on an axis, like a sine wave, and produce an output when computed for any chosen input or value. In the letter, Ramanujan wrote down a handful of what were then totally novel functions. They looked unlike any known modular forms, but he stated that their outputs would be very similar to those of modular forms when computed for the roots of 1, such as the square root -1. Characteristically, Ramanujan offered neither proof nor explanation for this conclusion." From the New Scientist... there's also a movie about this "amateur" called "The Man who knew infinity"

@Delano, folks don't want you to do that.... in fact, people get extremely nervous if you actually attempt to put in the work. I'm also leery of cause and effect folks who swear something happens as a result but always seem to miss a step... I told my mom years ago - everything I read about cholesterol and cardiac arrest was missing the link - but big pharma went ahead with their drug dispensing.. just the other day, a "new" study came out and stating the "drugs" are killing people faster than high cholesterol. All this to say - I see evidence of "climate change" as the "experts define it but I flip flop on the cause - with mostly believing fossil fuels may be causing climate change but maybe because - we continue to unearth it...