Troy

Mel, there are thinks that are simply unknowable. For example, questions like; "What was there before the universe was created?" simply can't be known. We can, and do, speculate, but nothing we dream up can ever be tested, proven or observed. Also trying to use consciousness to understand consciousness is flawed. Even understanding ones own motivation is very difficult, if not impossible because we make up stories to explain much of what we do--creating inherent biases in our understanding. BTW that article you shared from the motherboard website was fascinating.

I had to google "IRL" myself. It means "In Real Life." Pioneer I doubt they teach courses like this in college. In fact, what they teach is more likely to help you fall how to fall prey these problems. I teach a college course in web design and I often find myself biting my tongue in order not to introduce my bias. I will, however, add a lecture to the course to talk about these issues. It will be a precursor to a talk I plan to give at the Sacramento Black Book Festival in June. I also plan to add it to a book I planning on various subjects as it related to the web and Black people. So @Mel Hopkins, going on tour is something I have considered. @Delano, it is not that I'm not interested in taking legal action against Google to get them to cease their monopolistic ways and get them to play nicely. I just don't have the spare bandwidth. Also, if I could not get others who have been hurt far more than I to even care enough to work together to do something about it, I have little faith in being able to mount a class action suit; but that type of activity is not my strong suit either. But if you are willing to work with Craig on our behalf I'd be willing o split my take with our 50-50. @Pioneer1, it would be helpful for me to understand what you do not get about Google's behavior. Over the years I've tried to explain to people with a vested interest what is happening and why it should matter to them. Typically they take no remedial action or they double down on the activities I told them was the cause of the problem--and it never works. Perhaps I'm not explaining it correctly, where are you getting lost? I also understand if this too broad a question to deal with online. Some things require a face to face meeting.

Del I think I'd be wasting Craigs time, plus I doubt he work in anticipation of payout from Google. There are real costs that would need to be incurred and google have the resources to drag this out forever. You need some serious paper to go after Google. Besides, there are companies much bigger than mine that have been hurt or destroyed by Google. I'm not suing Google.

Who knew the question would be so deep. Please; the question is not just for Del, anyone can answer. Google define spirituality as shown below. The answer presumes that to be spiritual you have to believe in the human soul. But there are people who consider themselves spiritual, who do not believe in a human soul or spirit.

Interesting analogy. Mel I simply lack the power to battle Google on any level. Unlike the streets where you can get some of your boys or hired muscle to retaliate. I have no one who will support me on this level. Think of it as everyone being on the the take, the government, the media, and all of your friend and family. Google can bitch-slap (continuing the analogy) AALBC.com at will. Indeed they have already done this. Consider the graph below: Basically, this publically available chart shows how my organic reach was removed by Google overnight. In other words, in January 2011 my websites traffic dropped 75% in a day! Let that sink in a minute... By the way, Google won't even give you the respect explain why they slammed so many businesses. They are not accessible via phone or even email. They rule with an iron fist and are untouchable. So while I rank high on many Google searches today. I also know Google still make my site disappear, in a fraction of a second. I have also considered that my ongoing critique of Google opens me up for retaliation from them--that is the power they have. Now my site's traffic has recovered, but it took five years! But it was not just my website -- every website whose data I had access to suffered too--some even more. Black book websites, in particular, were annihilated on a grand scale. While I wrote about this until my finger were numb, Black media were largely oblivious to what was happening or simply ignored it to cover the Kardashians. Not enough people knew or if they knew they did not care. As a result, we have far fewer strong Black websites. The lost revenue and enrichment provided to Black folks is incalculable. But Black folks don't demand very much and are easily placated. If Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia were the entire internet (no other websites). I do not think most Black folks would be disappointed. Nothing in our collective behavior suggests otherwise... During this same period, we witnessed the rapid rise of social media. This was fueled, in part, by desperate webmasters frantically trying to regain lost visitors. New webmaster, ignorant of the web and how it actually worked, touted social media as if it were the only way one could attract new visitors get them to visit their websites. While websites spent time amping up their followers on Facebook, at the expense of own websites, Facebook patiently waited. Once webmasters and their social media strategists increased engagement on Facebook, Facebook announced that organic reach on their platform would end. Today if you want to reach the followers, you worked so hard to attract, you would now need to PAY Facebook! My data show that Facebook has indeed made good on this promise. You can read some of Facebook's propaganda on the subject. Now we can do something about this--if we wanted. We could boycott Facebook and put them out of business tomorrow. We could also boycott Google search engine and use others that don't hijack and mine search result for profit. The 2nd most popular US search engine, Bing, returns results on African American Children's Books differently. Now AALBC.com comes in at #6 on the Bing search engine for the same query, but I suspect a higher percentage of visitors actually visit the websites returned in these search results, because Bing is not hijacking search result with their content. The ads shown are clearly presented as ads. Google use to return search results this fashion. But of course, I'm sure front running search results is more profitable. Ignoring the Google images at the top of their SERP (search engine results page), their results are superior to Bing's. I say because if you compare the websites on both SRPs and their treatment of the subject Google's result are superior. For example, Google returns the Brown Bookshelf as #8, while the site does not make the top ten on Bing. The Brown Book Shelf is one of the best sites for Black children's book on the web. While the Brown Bookshelf has SEO problems, Google search engine was still able to more appropriately place them on the SERP. But I digress... This is worth mentioning because the issues with Google are not simple. Google provides a great deal of value to the web--far more than Facebook if you ask me. But there has to be a better way to ensure that creatively flourishes on the web, that indie business are not wiped out on the whim of a single company, and that more than the ultra wealthy can profit from the web. Mel creating that Amazon affiliate link was smart! I created one myself: http://bit.ly/amazontop100kidsbooks I'm also using it on my site: https://aalbc.com/books/children.php#amazon

Mel I did not write, nor do I believe there is "nothing we can do about it." I did ask, however, "who" will stop them? Let me try another approach... Over the past 12 months, I've spent a great deal of time enhancing my coverage of children's books. It is an area of great interest but largely neglected by the mainstream media. Much of the coverage on the subject covers how few Black children's book are published. One of the most popular pages on my website is my Top 120+ Recommended African-American Children's Books. I started the page by asking industry insider and other experts which books they felt should be on a list like this. I have continued to expand and curate this list. In the process, I have added information on hundreds of authors and illustrators of children's books. Now if you run a google search on African American Children's books, my site is likely to come up first. I'd argue it deserves to be. But let's take a look at the screenshot of the results: Now consider the following: Google hijacks the search results by placing book covers and links to THEIR store. Do y'all understand what I'm saying? Do you know what this means? Google is grabbing visitors just as they are about to step into your store and pulling them into their with prettier pictures. Obviously, the sites most like to carry this content Are Black sites. These sites don't stand a chance. Anyone with the gumption to start a great Black children's website--good luck, because you can't do much better than I am and I'm struggling. But here is the kicker: Why is almost EVERY DAMN BOOK cover Google is displaying my MY LIST! Now I've been looking search results on these terms for a very long time and this is something new Google has pulled. I mean I pulled some obscure books for inclusion on my list and now Google is displaying them as if they came up with this shit on their own. Now the implications of this are profound. Not only has Google squashed all the competition, they are swiping content. Of course, one can argue there are a finite number of great books so any lists compiled will necessary have some overlap, but again I've monitored this list and the overlap is alarming. Still, even if I completely conceded point #3 entirely. Point #1 really should be cause for great concern. But because it is not, we are not doing anything about it and we don't have as many quality Black sites as we should. The growth of the sites that remain is constrained by Google. So what can I do? Sue Google for mining the search data for popular content then hijacking that traffic with content they've grabbed from Wikipedia and other sites and putting "their" content at the top of search results? Don't make me laugh. Work extra hard enriching other fantastically wealthy corporations by posting my stuff on their social media platforms, desperately trying to drag folks away to learn about some excellent book for children. Seek the support of people in my community by helping them understand what is happening and why it matters. This is just one small example, in one industry, that will never make the light of day. Sites like mine die in obscurity every single day. Lord only know what could have been, but never got launched because of the hostile environment we operate it. Look AALBC.com should not have been out of business years ago. I'm crazy for continuing to struggle with it. In some alternative universe, I'll be celebrating AALBC.com's 20th anniversary with a nice party, maybe a little press, and the promise of an ongoing legacy celebrating Black culture through books.

It is no joke. I stopped using Facebook for personal reasons more than a year ago I have just now decided to stop using Facebook and all the other corporate-owned social media sites too. I'll keep the accounts open to find people. But I'm not even going to post links back to the site anymore. I'm just gonna use the web. It will be interesting to see how social media derived traffic is impacted. Will all the traffic I get from social media stop completely as a result of my no longer using it? Thanks, y'all for helping me to make a decision I should have made years ago.

Mel 22 million dollars is nothing to Google. I picked Prince randomly I could have picked Michael Jackson, Jay-Z, or Beyonce it didn't matter none of them are immune. Besides, you don't think Prince's music only became available on YouTube after he passed, do you? Also you don't have to bring up the examples of musicians who are trying to reach an audience that's not who I'm talking about. I'm talking about established musicians who have an audience whose music is available on Google's for free, music that in our day would have been purchased.

I have not purchased music since my desktop's hard drive crashed last year. Itunes with their DRM has made it VERY difficult to move not just my music from my IPod to my laptop but ALL of the digital content I created including home movies etc, But was stupid enough to store using Itunes software. When my Ipod finally crashes I will be "assed-out" as they say in these parts. This is also one of the reasons I don't buy ebooks. At the end of the day corporations want to (need to) be in your pocket 100% of the time, so if it is not paying for cloud storage to listen to music you've purchased in multiple formats over the years or subscription fees they gotcha. Unless you were smart enough to save your LPs. @Mel Hopkins you think artists like Prince would have approved of his music being freely available for download from youtube, in exchange for making it more discoverable? Now the video I posted below may get removed by Youtube but someone else will upload again 5 minutes later... Google wil not stop them, but they will profit from the ads served. The younger generation simply does not buy music anymore--why should they? Mel I'll let you in on something, these disruptive technologies have not done anything but enrich the uber-wealthy. Everyone is not winning

@Mel Hopkins it is obvious Youtube is not trying very hard to police privacy. If you look at the two Camille Yarbough music clips I posted, I doubt both have permission to share this music. Of course downloading anything on Youtube is child's play. But if Youtube were not doing it; some other Napster-like platform would emerge. Youtube preempts the possibility of anyone else entering this space. It should come as no surprise that Google's Youtube is the 2nd most popular website, only surpassed in popularity by Google itself. Sure Google will remove copyrighted material if you file a claim-I've done this myself to have videos I've created removed. They will and even hunt for additional copies with it's algorithm. Still, despite that, I can download virtually any song ever made for my own personal use using Youtube. I stopped using Itunes because Itunes simply does not have the music Youtube has. Even if I never downloaded a single song--i can listen to them at will--for free (free to me that is). Youtube is smart enough to do a much better job o eliminating privacy but what is their incentive? Besides, who is gonna stop them?

That was one of the best things I've read on the subject in a long time Brittany--it belongs in a book. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

No, Del I have not read Amit's books but I have seen parts of the film. Below is a link to your original post on Amit from 2013, for the benefit of others. I have read a few books on the subject. What I find most amazing is that I went through 8 years of college and had no idea about the field of quantum mechanics. My idea of the behavior of an atom was from the stone age. It is a fascinating field and would probably interest kids if there were passionate teachers and systems willing to teach this stuff. I did even understand the relationship between atoms and chemistry, magnetism and light--nothing! You don't even have to get into the "we are all connected" stuff. I'm wowed by what little we know.

Cynique, who knows. Perhaps it is unknowable...

Pioneer the NEJM is wrong for using the term for all the reasons I provided. It is sloppy to use the term, but it is the language of our time. Perhaps when we learn more about the genetic basis of some diseases and physical characteristics we can use the names of those genetic markers to more accurately describe the differences between people. Hopefully when we are smart enough to understand genetics completely, we will also be wise enough not to use those differences to group some people as being superior to others. Just because the government, medical organizations, and even religious groups do something doesn't make it right. for centuries years they all believed in the superiority of white people over black people and they even made it legal for white people to enslave black people. none of this was right and it was based on stupidity, ignorance, and greed. Again, I wish we would move beyond using terms like black and white.

Hey everybody I would be careful trying to connect quantum physics with spirituality; only dudes like Deepak Chopra do that. Actual scientists, those who work in the field of quantum mechanics (experimentalist and theorists) rarely make these associations.

That fact that you can look at the photo I posted and are unable to assign a race illustrates my point. Further there is no genetic test one can run to determine one's race. Do you get it now? Race is as arbitrary as the screen name you picked. Gender is completely different. You can both examine a person and test them genetically to determine their gender. The person pictured is a man (mental issues aside).

So what is her race? I'll take your response as a you don't know.

Pioneer that fact that these women look different is a statement of the obvious. But your instance in grouping people into racial categories does not make any more sense than it did before But I will play your game. What so-called race is the person pictured below? Explain your answer. (Don't cheat and look for Time the article.

Pioneer, I wasn't trying to take up for you. No one who posts here regularly needs to be defended. I just wanted you to know I know where come from (most of the time). I can't tell you anything about TV sitcoms today because I don't watch them. I haven't even seen a single episode of Blackish yet. When I did watch sitcoms I really enjoyed All in the Family. It really was a smart and funny program.I like serval others as well but that show towered over the others in my opinion. But what about the Cosby Show that was entertaining. It did not resonate with me, simply because I did not personally know any Black people that wealthy at the time. In fact, the first brownstone (like the one they lived in) that I ever went into, that was not cut up into apartments, was the one I purchased as an adult--and I grew up in Harlem. Even today, while I know some wealthy Black folks, they are not friends who invite me over to socialize. The Black people I hang with are within one standard deviation of my socio-economic class... I suspect that is true for most Black people.

Pioneer, the Cash-Me-Out girl reference was completely lost on me. I had to google it. Please don;t make me seek this stuff out I guess she'll get getting a book deal from Simon and Shuster pretty soon.

Pioneer, race is an artificial construct it has no basis in genetics. For example, Del, who is relatively dark skinned may have more in common genetically with a so-called "white" person than he does with you or I. You simply can't tell by looking at him. Below is my ethnicity make-up. When you get these reports they don't say race, because again it has not basis in genetics. My genetic ancestry covers essentially all of sub-Saharan Africa is which is about a genetically diverse as you can get. I guess genetically that make me a mongrel, but culturally I'm Black American, the northern big city variety, but with a strong affinity for the south--perhaps because of a genetic predisposition for southern climates ;-)

Hey @Del , what is your definition of spirituality? It seems to be we are born spiritual beings. It is only the rituals and practices we have to learn. In much the same way we are born with an innate ability to communicate. If we are not taught a specific language, we will come up with one on our own.

Yeah, Yarborough is highly esteemed elder here in NYC. I'm sure someone like Talib would have mad respect for her. She actually intervewed AALBC.com on her cable access show, Ancestors House but this was over 10 years ago. I knew she was in the film Shaft, but did not know she had a signing career until Fatboy Slim remixed one of her songs. The official video (supposedly) is below. Slim's treatment has completely extracted all of the soul and meaning from the original. But this is what white boys always do when they appropriate aspects of our culture for profit. In fact, they taught us how to do the same thing. But Slim did create a resurgence in Yarborough's work, and I'm sure he paid her for the use of her music, so I guess it is all good. For comparison purposes Yarbrough's originals. Taken in the content of the original album it is even more powerful... not to mention the same cultural experiences. I've migrated Gil Scott-Heron earlier today. Man, I wish he was alive and in his prime today. I would love to hear his words on Trump. Listening to him talk about Regan was just so deep. I appreciate his work even more now. I also moved The Last Poets and Abiodun Oyeloe work was slow today listening to these folks. There are SO many Youtube videos of these folks now compared to when these pages were created it is incredible. There was a time I could actually make money selling their music and video, but those days ended years ago. I can;t even image how much money the artist has lost. Youtube can generate revenue by providing a platform for piracy and no one bats an eye--but that is a rant for another day.... @CDBurns I was not aware of John Kasandra before now -- thanks!

As I was migrating content to the new format I can across the CD review I wrote for the Iron Pot Cooker by Camille Yarbrough. So I listened to the entire CD again and was just as moved as the first time I heard it. But it also struck me because it reminded me of @Pioneer1, it made me think of him because I think of all the people on the forum he is most similar to me in terms of what it means to be Black. We share a similar "culture." I "get" everything Pioneer writes even though I'll disagree with him from time to time. Everything he writes is familiar. Now if you grew up Black in an urban ghetto you will understand this CD. However, if you were Black and grew up in an integrated suburban environment, you can still be moved but not in the same way as someone who lived this experience. Camille reveals a profound understanding of the dysfunction we have been talking about in another conversation recently. More importantly, Yarbrough is compassionate she loves the characters she is talking about because she loves them. This is a Black experience that not every Black person will relate to and that is probably a good thing. But if you listen to this CD I think you'll have a bit more compassion for the Brother and Sisters behaving in a dysfunctional manner in our ghettos...

I agree with most of what you wrote Pioneer especially the bit about Hollywood responsibility for relating our history. But I would not begrudge the educational system for leaving out the story of these three women scientists-provided they include the contributions of Black folks in their lessons. There are so many accomplished Black people, you just can't cover them all. Shetterly's book is on is on the NY Times Bestseller's list and I'm sure it is schools and libraries across the country. So the problem you are complaining about has been solved, right?