Troy

@Cynique who know it is interesting that I rarely have to ask you probing questions because of how clearly you express yourself. @Del on the other hand is more enigmatic, perhaps deliberately so, which is why I have to ask him more question. He and @Pioneer1 seem to be on the same wavelength lately, as it simply did not occur to me that Del's question was rhetorical, which would make sense since the question he asked about a new Colin contract could have been found with a 2 second web search. Taking the question as a rhetorical one. I will say that he proven the NFL's billionaire owners are powerful and do not give a crap about players (Black or otherwise) and are only concerned with profits. This is not exactly a revelation. If you watch any football lately you will notice all the flag-waving, hyper-patriotic segments featuring Black players during the break... It is disgusting really. As far as my proposed boycott of Amazon. I would consider it a success if a critical mass of us simply availed ourselves of our own products and services by eliminating dependence on Amazon. This admittedly is a long shot, but sheesh our livelihoods indeed our culture depends upon it. One can't know if Colin will be hurting or not. But he did make a personal sacrifice. As @Pioneer1 said, I doubt Colin thought this alll the way through. He obviously wanted or needed his job, otherwise he would have sued the NFL. A million dollar book deal is big, but is little compared to his multi-million dollar annual football salary and endorsements.

Actually @Cynique, @Pioneer1's response was completely understandable and consistent with what he's previously expressed. Now I gave y'all a clue that the author might be Black (I have many non-Black authors on the site) because I wrote I was adding all the Black authors of the 100 NY Times Notable books to the website. Here is author, Danzy Senna's, background: “Senna herself is mixed race. Her father is half African-American and half Mexican, while her mother is Irish and English. Growing up in Boston, Senna was raised to self-identify as black.” —from NPR Interview about Senna's collection of stories, You Are Free. I'm treating her as Black by including her on the list; Pioneer says she is white; and Cynique says she is "mixed," claiming hair is the giveaway. Race is in the eye of the beholder. The terms are "mixed-race" or "biracial" are in the eye of the beholder too. Again, since there is only one race of humans alive today, these racial terms make no logical sense and are at best inconsistent. But we live in America and we do a lot of things that make no sense.

@Pioneer1, I could not help but think about you as I looked at this photo. Which of your racial buckets would you put this lady? She wrote a book that the New York Times called one of the 100 Most Notable Books of 2017. I'm in the process of making sure that all of the called "Black" writers who earned this recognition have that fact reflected on the website.

I know that title reads exactly like something I would say, but if comes from a recent opinion piece in the New York Times, “How to Get Your Mind to Read.” In one experiment, third graders — some identified by a reading test as good readers, some as poor — were asked to read a passage about soccer. The poor readers who knew a lot about soccer were three times as likely to make accurate inferences about the passage as the good readers who didn’t know much about the game. That implies that students who score well on reading tests are those with broad knowledge; they usually know at least a little about the topics of the passages on the test. One experiment tested 11th graders’ general knowledge with questions from science (“pneumonia affects which part of the body?”), history (“which American president resigned because of the Watergate scandal?”), as well as the arts, civics, geography, athletics and literature. Scores on this general knowledge test were highly associated with reading test scores. Current education practices show that reading comprehension is misunderstood. It’s treated like a general skill that can be applied with equal success to all texts. Rather, comprehension is intimately intertwined with knowledge. That suggests three significant changes in schooling... read the complete article.

I know, I don't understand what you have written. That is why I, like the proverbial dentist, asked you a couple of direct questions to help me understand what are trying to communicate. Do you not believe that majority (even if it is not 97%) of the world's climatologists believe that man is having an man's impact the Earth's climate change?

And @Delano you selectively answer questions making it very hard to have a meaningful discussion, for I can't easily tell what you know or believe. Of course, as a open discussion forum there are no stringent standards or expectations for stringent standards. We are just people. There will be typos, there will be mistakes, there will be false claims, and maybe even some deceit. But this is not a peer review academic journal, but discussion forumd are better than the echo chambers found on social media, because your views will be challenged. Tell us what you believe Colin proved?

OK I'll bite @Delano you've been highly critical of "proof," "right versus wrong," and the precise use of language. What was Colin proven to be right about? You realize in the time it took you to write the question, you could have determined whether or not Colin was signed to a football contract.

Here is another example where I fundamentally agree with your conclusions @Pioneer1 but reject your premise. When you write things like, It just sounds so crazy if not outright racist to me. You know there are many so called "Asians" that don't do very well academically, indeed those in southern Asia have some of the lowest literacy rates on Earth. Being Asian doesn't meant you do well academically. If you have the resources, intelligence, support, conditions, and study anyone can do well academically. One could say well what difference does it make, as long as you Brothers agree. Well the problem is, if we see the underlying causes to be different the solutions we come up with will have to be different. Which means at least one of these solution will not work, as it is not addressing the root of the problem.

That is why you are not a member of a church @Pioneer1. There are many people who need the structure, the community, the hope that church provides. Others like yourself can find this in other ways. I grew up in the church, so this is plain to me. I don't go now, perhaps for many of the same reasons you don't, but understanding why other do should. It is not be that complicated. I think it is terrible that some evil but charismatic ministers fleece their members of their money or take advantage of them sexually. But many of us forget that ministers are human, like the rest of us and given too much power some will abuse it. There are many others, perhaps the majority, who are righteous and working very hard to make there members better people and bring them closer to God. This is a good thing.

@Del are you saying that so everyone who is reporting 97% is just wrong? Or are you saying they are imprecise or inaccurate? If so how far are they off or what is the correct percentage? Do you not believe the vast majority of the world climatologists believe man isimpact on climate change?

So I gather you were unaware of how the GPS calculates position. These digressions first with quantum mechanics and now with the difference between accuracy and precision are irrelevant to the original statement you rejected and are strawman argument I'm not going to pursue. As long as you understand that Newton's calculations can not be used with the GPS system and that relativity must be accounted for, I've made my point. Newtons calculations are good but flawed Einstein's calculations are better. You can call it whatever you want as long as you understand the difference.

You are a wily one one Del LOL! I'll assume you are conceding that quantum mechanics and no place in this conversation. What you are now doing is playing words games. My sentence speaks for itself and is correct as stands. Einstein's calculation are correct and Newtons are wrong. Sure Newton is close (43 arc-seconds, based upon the information you found), for Mercury's orbit, but it is not as accurate as Einstein's. Did I tell you I worked on the GPS satellite system in the early 1980's? I bet you did not know that if you used Newton's calculations you would you would not be able to accurately pinpoint one's location on Earth. You HAVE to use Einstein's calculation which account for relativity. This is a practical example where the inaccuracy of Newton's calculations make a real difference.

That sounds consistent with what I've previously read.

There were 69 people who confirmed their interest in helping to organize a Boycott Amazon's bookstores by signing up for the Boycott Amazon mailing list. I just emailed everyone on that list and provided instructions on how they may sign up for participation on this platform. That email message may be found here.

ISIS?! On its face that seems unlikely. Given the action however I can see where people might find that plausible. I thought this guy was just a garden variety white boy--albeit a very disturbed one. What possible ties could he have with ISIS?

Troy Johnson, Tyehimba Jess and Ron Kavanaugh after the 2017 Harlem Fete (Photo by Marcia Wilson). Tyehimba, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry this year, actually showed up about an hour after the party ended but found us in the restaurant next door keeping the festivities going :-)

Del all you have done is provide evidence to support MY case. Now if you would be kind enough to explain the relationship of any of this to quantum mechanics I'm be happy to admit I was imprecise, inaccurate or however you'd like to describe it. Otherwise, I was not "wrong," as you have clearly demonstrated.

I ponder that question question of "supply and demand" often. If it bleeds it leads, sex sells, etc, etc. I'm not convinced the appealing to our baser natures is more profitable because it is what is what we are supplied or because it is what we demand. Of course if you put Cardi B or Minaj's big ass in front of some teenage kid he is going want to see more... Every weekend buildings are filled with people seeking spiritual enlightenment or to grow closer God. Of course their is not shortage of self improvement books... Saying we are just giving people want they want is like big tobacco saying they only sell cigarettes because "people want them." Of course people want them, but they would not want them if the highly addictive products were never manufactured. The fact the cigarettes kill more people than AIDS, murder, suicide, drugs and alcohol combined just makes the whole business so deeply disgusting. The fact we allow people to get rich off these products is criminal. I'm more inclined to believe that we provide whatever it is that is cheapest to produce and generates the most profit. It does not matter if the product is good or even deadly. Profits are the bottom line. This is what makes selling cigarettes perfectly fine, even though we know the manufacturers knew how deadline they were. Fake news is gaining ground on journalism, because it is so very profitable and costs very little to produce. Look, anyone willing to pervert religion and science to justify enslaving Black people for hundreds of years will do anything for money... including making the planet uninhabitable for the human race.

Whoa, you got banned?! I can't image what you could have possibly written for that to happen, because they are off the chain over there I'm pretty sure the sister using the Condi Rice avatar is in change. Try messaging her. That is about the limit of my knowledge.

I'm glad you all posted this information here, earlier in the year I removed this event from my events calendar because I did not see anything on your website. I have just now added the event back onto our calendar: https://aalbc.com/events/index.php?st=District+of+Columbia#Magical+Mirrors+Book+Fair I also see that you are direct people to Facebook. I would MUCH rather link potential attendees to your website, as I did for the 2016 children's book fair.

Del I boldfaced the questions to be sure you would not dodge them, but you did anyway. Newtonian mechanics CAN NOT describe the quantum world. This is patently false (why am i having this conversation?). But again ,why do you keep bringing up the quantum world in a conversation about planetary orbits? You can not properly predict the path of Mercury without taking into a account the warpage of space/time, which Newton was unaware of. This has nothing to do with quantum mechanics. in fact, the relationship between gravity and quantum mechanic is currently unknown. Del, creating an analogy between the choice of options a Dr. give you for treatment versus whether considering whether climate change is real in inappropriate. A better analogy would be climate change is the diagnosis, and the treatment options are analogous to what we should do to address man made climate change.

I read he article, it seems reasonable to me, but it does not say that climate change is a hoax. Indeed it supports climate change, and even references a site which show scientific on consensus. All the article is saying is that we should not jump to the conclusion that the 2017 hurricane season is a direct result of climate change, because weather (which is obviously different than climate), is impossible to predict.

@Cynique, you are a talented writer. Not because I agree wholeheartedly with what you wrote but you just have a talent for succinctly expressing yourself, one that I wish I had. @Pioneer1, technically you're right this is our country, but as Cynique pointed this is really not true. Here is an anecdote, that might help emphasize the point: I started a web based business, 20 years ago, selling books. The vast majority of other businesses like mine have long since failed or they disappears as quickly as they emerged. As far as I know, my web based business was the only one capable of proving a mostly living for someone. This is not to toot my own horn, but it is to explain that we don't have as many websites selling Black books online. This also means readers will find it harder to discover good books, which means that those books will be read less, and the publisher and authors of those books will make less money, which means fewer good books will be produced and the downward spiral continues. But why are there fewer web based booksellers? First, Google controls a website's discoverability. Google alone can dictate which sites survive and which sites fail. I've already described how almost 7 years ago Google took 75% of my traffic cut my adsense payments by over $2K a month--over night! I did nothing wrong, but I say this to explain Google's power, who in one day put many websites out of business. Google also uses the search engine to put the book store in front of organic search results. This had the additional impact of reduce traffic that bookseller websites would normally get if Google were not using their search engine to hijack customers. This is a tactic only monopolist can utilize. They are prevented from doing this in the EU, but in America Google can go buck wild. Of course Amazon is already effectively a monopoly when it comes to Black books. Has anyone noticed that virtually all the authors who post information about their books here direct people to Amazon? Even the few that link to their own websites, direct readers to Amazon when they get to their websites. This might sound like a minor thing, but it is a seismic shift in our collective behavior and that hurts the Black book economy and will ultimately kill if were it not for the activities of a few folks like myself doing what they can to stop it. Of course on the horizon is another existential threat to the Black book ecosystem, Net Neutrality which basically prevents internet service providers like Verizon from slowing down or even blocking, access to other websites. This means that if Net Neutrality is repealed on December 14th (you can petition to stop it here) it is almost certain that business like mine will need to pay a lot more for their website to have decent access to the internet. The price for access could conceivably be more than I can afford! No, Black people do not own the country, but neither do most white folks. The country is owned and controlled by oligarchs, and there is seemingly nothing that we plebs can do about it. People are so dead set in behaving against their own interests. This is a function of our education system, which by necessity, must create a population too ignorant understand why electing a "45" is a grave threat to our way of life... Yes @Delano, we can be our own worst enemy.