Troy

I may be projecting but that is part of the human condition, that and the fact that I actually do think less of closed minded people. Also if we know anything about people it IS what they do. It is what people think is much more difficult to devine. But soon there were be machines capable of reading out thoughts before we are consciously aware of them ourselves. Ok so you are not a fanatic about this topic. What about your children? Are you fanatical about them? Would you do anything to protect them, including giving your life? Would you make great personal sacrifice to ensure their comfort and well being -- beyond what you would do for a stranger or even a friend?

Del, I think you are fanatical, for example, about your belief that we are not just a soulless biological mechanism, that ceases to exist, in all forms, at the moment of death. I say fanatical because you would not entertain this idea for a split second, nor would you tolerate this idea being taught to your kids in school to the exclusion of any alternatives. I also suspect you would even think less of people who believed this (though you probably would like this about yourself). By fanatic, I don't mean to suggest that you would strap a bomb to your chest and blow yourself up and others up who believed my statement above; but fanatic in the sense that you are very passionate about your beliefs, so much so that you study them far beyond what the majority of people do. How is that?

Pioneer very interesting and humorous post. There is a lot in there to address, but I'll pick one thing out. I've mentioned a number of times here how I think the culture is striving to feminize men, to make them more active consumers of every thing from clothing, shoes, hair care products, salon services, and so forth. I never considered texting to be feminine, but I have to admit a I can certainly see the point A generation ago girls were known for spending hours on the phone gossiping with other girls. You would look sideways at any dude on the phone for hours everyday with some other cat. Today teenage girls send hundreds of texts to each other. When I see guys doing this it does not come across as the most masculine of actives... I admit the same cultural forces that formed my impressions of what a man should be are the same ones that make me dislike the trends that I see today. I do find texting, useful because I can get information from people without having to talk to them which can be VERY time consuming and I have a permanent record of the information. I can then address the issue on my schedule as opposed to being interrupted throughout the day. I send less than a handful of texts a day and receive just about as many.

Pioneer you ever notice those letters from the 1800's. You know the type, the ones used in say the Kens Burns documentary about the Civil War; Some farmer with an 8th grade education writing to his old lady from some battlefield --- those letters were amazing. Today I'm told many HD students don't even know how to put their address on an envelope -- but why should they? I hand write one letter, maybe, every 5 years. My penmanship is horrendous today I rarely have to write. I teach a class now so I'm writing on the board is not easy for me because I've been writing at a key board since 1980 -- for everything. Today's young adults have never known a world without text messaging, and the associated abbreiations. Not always a sign of laziness just a sign of the times. But to your point I do agree we are lazier and we relequish too much to technology. Nah-sun mentioned in a post recently that people can't read maps. This is something that many people found difficult anyway but today there is no reason to learn, even though a GPS often does not give you the best route. People can't cook either... But then I don't really know how to grow anything, hunt, fish, preserve food or even build a shelter. These skilled were required for survial 100 years ago, but today the knowledge is not required. What is better? Living closer to nature eating what you kill, or to spending all day looking at the world through a LCD screen and inputting messages for imaginary friends to ignore. I don't know but I'd like to try living closer to nature for a few. Then again the way things are going I might get my wish.

I don't take issue with 50 page books that other than calling a 50 page document a "book". I think there is certainly a place for them in the market place especially for non-fiction authors. Hickson, honestly one person's personal experience does not say much. I could easily counter your experience with my own but none of this really means very much in terms of what is really happening. That said, I've seen many 50 pages books. Some of them may have acutally spanned 100 pages but with the extra wide borders, large fonts and blank pages -- I doubt some of these books would have made 50 pages. Now I can't say how much demand there is for these things but they are being made and presumably purhcased... HIckson, I don't know where the industry is going. I do know, things for Black books are as bad as I've seen them and I've been in the industry for over 15 years. Not a long time, but enought time to know things have been going in the wrong direction for our literature for several years now. There are many reasons, the economy, education, the industries business models in turmoil... So a 50 page, 99 cent books would not surprise me in the least bit. Cynique I agree that people who prefer long books are not automatically intellectual. Cane and Beloved both required a certain mental capacity to appreciate but Toomer's Cane was much shorter though no less deep. I would actually argue that it is more difficult to write a compelling story, with well developed characters, interesting plot, climax and resolution in 50 pages.

I was looking at the "trending topics" on the website, basically the most popular content on the site in real time. This image shown below -- not the webpage -- just the image was on the list. I placed a white circle which hides a humongous penis about to be inserted into the brother's behind. Other websites, 10 that I found, all pornographic, including one pedophila site called "TEEN HARD F--K MOVIES" were kind enough to display the images -- served from my site! I never noticed the imagine since the time it was posted back in 2005. Judging from the conversation no one took offense though ABM suggested that I might and I do. I don't care about the image per se, but advertisers do. You sign documents that say your site does not carry pornographic material and this stuff is taken seriously. This is the page where the original image was found: http://www.thumperscorner.com/discus/messages/7242/5996.html Despite the title I used I don't think Kola meant to harm the site, but who could have imaged I'd still be removing content she posted almost a decade later and how other sites would exploit this for traffic! And of course Google did not have my site ranked 1st for the query on this image even though all of the sites simply linking on the omage on my site. I know that is probably an odd thing to observe in this circumstance

The list is out! Visit http://powerlist.info

Pioneer my quote, "One can believe homosexuality is wrong and/or abnormal and still support gay marriage." stands. If I wanted to attribute the sentiment to myself I would have written "I believe homosexuality is wrong and/or abnormal and still support gay marriage." This is just English. Any hints or or imnpression derived beyond what I wrote are yours alone. Apparently there are many rights heterosexual enjoy that homesexuals, who are "out" do not. I understand, work place descrimination, adoptions rights, miliatry service, etc are some examples. Of course the right to marry same sex people is that main issue. But again, if marriage was not something sanctioned by the government this would not be an issue, like race, sexual orientation is something, the goverment should stop concerning itself with (in my opinion for Pioneer's benefit ).

I hear so Hickson, but your standards , and mine, go counter to the prevailing sentiment. I took a course at Standford Universilty, where we were taught to "webify" our content online. That means, among other things, writing very short articles with short paragraphs. The thinking was text dense, detailed content would turn one's website visitors away. I became concerned at that point because the nature of my site's content defied "webification" which requires an over simplification or a dumbing down of the material I presented. The idea the this concept is now be applied to books, does not surprise me or concern me less. If you look at the most popular (white owned) Black sites they webify everything. You would never see content as long as a typical use comment posted here. Cynique, there is defintely a distinction between writing short books delibrated simplied to appeal to a culture with a limited attenion span, the ability consume indepth information and aiming for the lowest common denominator and writing a book in the form of a novella (a story with a compact and pointed plot).

You nailed Cave Canem. You also reveal how good your education was in stark contrast to the justices being perputrated against our young people today. Good to see Chicago still has Black talk radio. WHat are the call letter and program name, I'll listen on tunein radio. In NY City we really not such thing. Thanks for the tip about The Book of Mormon. The Boradway ticket prices are outrageous and it is sold out until forever... I thought about buying tickets for the family but it seemed more like a tourist attraction than serious theater -- display the numerous awards...

You just answered your own question. You asked me to tell you what you are fanatical about, but then you immediated told me two things you admit you are fanatical about.

The revolution, in conventional terms, will not come from the people who live in the US Nah'Sun for the reasons you mentioned. People lament Amazons "control" over publishging, but they will not stop patronizing them. People will bitch and moan about how Amazon is contributing to the demise of local indepedent book sellers, but they will not suport those book sellers with their money perfering to go to Amazon. People only support what is in their own, short term, financial interest. Today there are about 100 Black owned independent bookstores in the US and many of these are struggling. I could go on all day with examples. As you implied we have less choice today than we did 10 years ago. New York City with perhaps the nation's largest Black population, has one radio station with a "Black format" and it is terrible. Steve Harvey in the AM the same stuff I can listen to in Houston TX or Raliegh NC and the same 20 songs all day, every day. The best local talk program "Open Line" just recently had it's time slot moved to some ungoldy hour and had it's time cut from 2 hours to 1. There could be an "economic revolution" where people vote with their wallets, but things will need to get much worse before even that happens. But by then folks might be primed for an conventional revolution. I'm sure this why right wingers are fighting to keep their guns... and why our corporate run government is invading our privacy online, putting cameras everywhere and exploiting tracking devices in our phones. The New World Order indeed!

The Current Issue of "The Crisis Magazine" features an article about Cave Canem: A Home for Black Poets written by Eisa Ulen Richardson. In the pece poet Gregory Pardlo is quoted as saying, "...the futility of defining a community according to nation and race -- constructs the global intellectual community increasingly recognizes as irrational at best, counterproductive at worst." I agree completely with the spirit of Gregory's statement, as some may surmise given my recent rants on our preoccupation with the artifical construct of race. I don't know Gregory personality, but he must reside in a particularly rareified world where organizations like Cave Canem would be considered futile. In the world I encounter each day, the vast majority of people -- including educated ones (at least ones with college degrees) are particularily tied to the concept of race. As as far as nationality is concerned the hold might even be tigher than the one race exerts. I wish this were not the case and I wish a Cave Cane, or an AALBC.com where not necessary, but from my vantage point these entities will be needed more, not less, in the coming years. The one glimmer of hope I see is that as nations like the US continue to screw the population,taking away jobs, homes, access to education, a healthy and safe enviorment, so that rich people can get richer, people with wake up and see that our fixation on race amoung others is a complete waste of time. As far as a truly global community emerging, I suspect mankind will destroy itself before that happens.

I never wrote that Homosexuality was wrong. I don't even oppose it. I don't support government control of marriage. If they were not involved this gay marriage thing would not be an issue. The government's role should be to protect the rights of all people, period.

No worries Del no one has ever said anything to me here that causes me any personal problems I prefer the honesty. But again I assert your definition of "a Fanitic" is relative. Even this definition, "A fanatic holds a belief and is not willing to examine it." depends upn who holds the view. I could very easily argue you are a fanatic about some things. Most of humanitty are fanatics about something :-)

In Book Publishing, Less Is The New More by Michael Levin The hottest book publishing trend today: less is the new more. “The first time I saw a 73-page ‘book’ offered on Amazon, I was outraged,” says New York Times best selling author Michael Levin. “But I thought about how shredded the American attention span is. And I felt like Cortez staring at the Pacific.” The trend in books today, Harry Potter notwithstanding, is toward books so short that in the past no self-respecting publisher—or author—would even have called them books. But today, shortened attention spans call for shorter books. Levin blames smartphones and social media for what he calls “a worldwide adult epidemic of ADH…ooh, shiny!” “Brain scientists tell us our brain chemistry has been transformed by short-burst communication such as texting, Tweeting, and Facebook posts,” Levin adds. “Long magazine articles have given way to 600-word blog posts. And doorstop-size books have been replaced by minibooks.” This sudden change in attention spans changed the way Levin approaches ghostwriting. “Even five years ago, we aimed for 250-page books. Today we advise our business clients to do 50-page minibooks to meet impatient readers’ expectations for speedy delivery of information.” Levin, who runs the ghostwriting firm BusinessGhost.com and was featured on ABC’s Shark Tank, says that people are looking for leadership disguised as a book. “Today,” he asserts, “people don’t want you to prove your assertions. They just want to know that you have legitimate answers to their questions and that they can trust you. If you can’t get buy-in with 50 pages today, you won’t get it in 250.” The trend toward shorter books caused Levin to offer what he calls the “Book-Of-The-Quarter Club,” which creates four 50-page hardcover minibooks a year for BusinessGhost’s clients. “This allows them to address four different major issues, or four different sets of prospects, and provides quarterly opportunities for marketing events,” Levin says. How short will books eventually run? “Can you say ‘haiku’?” Levin asks. “We’re waiting for a three-line, 17 syllable book. It could happen.” About Michael Levin Michael Levin, founder and CEO of BusinessGhost, Inc., has written more than 100 books, including eight national best-sellers; five that have been optioned for film or TV by Steven Soderbergh/Paramount, HBO, Disney, ABC, and others; and one that became “Model Behavior,” an ABC Sunday night Disney movie of the week. His new minibook, “The Financial Advisor's Dilemma,” teaches how to create trust and distinctiveness in the highly competitive marketplace.

OK, your definition of "support" is more accurate Pioneer and I did mean "support" it in the way you descibed. The logic I was applying to gay marriage is the one behind the oft quoted line in support of free speech: "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." --Voltaire

Quite the contrary Del, peoples differing beliefs intrigue me. I welcome them. I read them I even occassionally revise my beliefs and unsubscribe to one that I previously disagreed with. They call it learning. In our culture diagreement is often viewed as dislike, a lack of understanding or the opposing position or even "troubling" to the disagreer. That said. Regarding De Ja Vu and even near the death experiences both have been replicated in a lab. We know what causes these things. That is not a mystery. Man's ability to ascribe a other worldly or spiritual explaintion to these things is nothing new either. Del you should talk about the people you describe as "fanitics" because that term is realtive and very subjectve. To some a person who goes to church every Sunday, gives 10% or their income to that chruch, believe homesexuals are damned, and that dinasaurs roamed the earth with man be a fanantic to some. But in their community they are in the mainstream. Disagrement is normal and we are all "fanatics."

Until the revolution...

This film is gonna be the shit! I like exciting science fiction. I plan to see Oblivion even though the reviews are mixed. I'm not sure what the draw is, maybe I'm a little geeky, maybe I like the imagining a future where one can roam the universe with where unmimaginable discovers lie ahead.

Seize the Time: The Eighth Defendant Fundraising Video This is a fundraising video for an upcoming film about the Black Panther Party and it's Chairman, Bobby Seale. Click here to contribute

"It wouldn't be wise to be flippant and disrespectful to such a powerful Being." Pioneer, I used to feel that way when I was younger, but I've long since abondoned those fears. My gut tells me that any entity with the ability to transcend space and time, one capable of calling into creation the infinitely vast universe, would simply not be preoccupied with instilling "fear" in me. No I don't think 'Frisco or the NYC reflect typical world views -- no city does. I just mentioned these examples because you used the word "Universal" which means, everyone -- which simply is not true. You also failed to consider homosexual themselves. They make up a significant portion of the population (obviously). Some people suggest 10% or roughly 600,000,000 people. Hyperbole may help when you are appealing to people on an emotional level but it is not a good way to support an argument. One can believe homosexuality is wrong and/or abnormal and still support gay marriage.

"homosexuality is universally condemned" Perhaps in your narrow world view Pioneer. But homosexuality is not even universality condemed in the US. Have you even been to a major city like NYC, or San francisco? Pioneer have you considered that you can't be both a "rational and logical man" and "God fearing man"? The fear of God is based in neither rational though or logic. I have no problem with poligamy as long as it is not practiced, condoned or legalized in the US. I'm not saying we throw people in jail or execute them if they are caught doing it, but we have to have some boundaries defining acceptable behavior if we want a stable culture. Right? "...black clergy should be more vocal about advocating marriage among black heterosexuals, instead of condemning it among homosexuals." --WORD! It is much easier to say what someone else is doing wrong in their house than controlling what is going on in your own home.

Sorry to jump in here but, Pioneer there is a very large postitution indistry in the US not every whore is a street walking drug addict, though they too have their appeal... for some... so I hear. Cynique, do you ever feel that you too young for your age cohort? Basically how many people your age have such progressive views, are open minded regarding spirituality, actually use technology, etc?

Cynique, De Ja Vu can be induced. It is pretty much known to a be a natural conidtion that occurs from time to time in people, basically you experince something and part of the brain recognizes it to late and when it catches up you think you previously experienced it. There are people suffering from this condition perpetually. There is even a name for it. I'm just saying