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Troy

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Everything posted by Troy

  1. DRM Lawsuit Filed By Independent Bookstores Against Amazon, 'Big Six' Publishers Three independent bookstores are taking Amazon and the so-called Big Six publishers (Random House, Penguin, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan) to court in an attempt to level the playing field for book retailers. If successful, the lawsuit could completely change how ebooks are sold. The class-action complaint, filed in New York on Feb 15., claims that by entering into confidential agreements with the Big Six publishers, who control approximately 60 percent of print book revenue in the U.S., Amazon has created a monopoly in the marketplace that is designed to control prices and destroy independent booksellers. The complaint centers on digital rights management, or DRM, the technological lock that prevents consumers from transferring any ebook they buy on an Amazon Kindle onto, say, a Nook or Kobo ereader. Read more at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/drm-lawsuit-independent-bookstores-amazon_n_2727519.html
  2. Visit this site to learn how Google make it very difficult to find information online: http://dontbubble.us/ I started noticing this years ago and was very frustrated because it seemed like no one else was getting it. Just visit the website site. The information is related very simply. The also explains why the internet has the effect of feeling like one big echo chamber. Facebook does the same thing. Discovering alternative view points of views or perspectives is very difficult. Which make learning difficult. If everyone agrees with you all the time and no one challenges you ideas you'll never learn...
  3. Del the market gives us what will generate the most revenue; whether it happens to be what we need or crave is incidental. Mzuri, It is not just Google that is out of control. All of the big players are. Facebook, for example, has changed dramatically for the worse, and Twitter seems to following the same trajectory. Basically someone introduces an interesting service which people use. After the service is up a running and has obtained a critical mass of users, then, and only then, does the service impose a revenue model. The model is always advertising sales and selling user data. Next businesses large and small use the service to buy advertising and get preferential treatment for whatever they post. Facebook, in this case, becomes one big customized commercial. Advertisers like it cause thy have complete information on who the are targeting and spammmers love it because their are so many marks waiting to be scammed with the bait of a free iPad. Meanwhile the typical user fails to notice right away as ads are setup to look deceptively like normal communication from "friends". Desperate to keep people on the platform Facebook has taken to copying information from Wikipedia and other websites. Eventually visitors get tired of being sold to. Ultimately a new platform emerges with a different gimmick and is free of the adverting, spam, privacy issues and people migrate over to the new service. Ultimately that service need to generate revenue and the cycle continues... All the while nothing of value is created or maintained. Did anyone have a Myspace account five years ago? Look at what has happened to it -- basically you have to start over. People who are using Facebook as their "website" are making a big mistake. Does anyone believe Facebook will be where they are now in 5 or 10 years? In case you missed it in the comments section of the "Pimping" article check out DuckDuckGo article about privacy and Google: http://donttrack.us/ (again an issue to which most people are completely oblivious).
  4. In many ways it is exactly the same Anika. But there are some fundamental differences, for example;. Google started out as a pure search engine. Today it still touts itself as a search engine but in reality Google is an eCommerse site. Search is used to attract consumers where Google ebooks, airlines revelations, and placement in the search results to other businesses, under the guise of sponsored links. I have no problem with Google selling airline reservations, but if they are getting their business by redirecting people who go to Google to do a search on airline tickets, then hijack those visitors and send them to the Google airline system https://www.google.com/flights/ this is problematic -- for all of us. If there is a competing website with a airline reservation system that find cheaper tickets, they are now at a competitive disadvantage to Goolge and the consumer is worse off because they do no discover the site with the cheapest tickets -- unless they are aware of what Google is doing or already know about the website. Most people have no clue. Now do I think the old style travel agents should all be in business and online tickets sales not exists? No. I think there is room and demand for both. I might choose to use a "traditional" travel agent if I need a lot of guidance. But if I just want to go from point A to point B, I'm glad I can do it myself online. I just don't want to be deluded into use Google's inferior airline reservation service when I do it online. Back to the mom and pop store analogy. I go to both Walmart and small independent grocery stores when I need a single item fast I go to the corner store. But if someone from Walmart was standing in front of my local mom and pop and told me the store was closed and provided free transportation to Walmart and continues to do so until the store was closed that that is dishonest and it is not "progress". Now whenever I want a loaf of bread I have to get in the car a drive to Walmart, who has now raised the price of bread due to the lack of competition. There are many small business that have been adversely effected by Google's practices check out this article someone sent me today; Is Google’s search manipulation hurting consumers? Google behaves like a monopoly, because it reality it is one. We haven't even touched privacy yet. This one reason I like DuckDuckGo.com they do search they was Google used to work. Ultimately I would like to see a model where service and content providers simply charge for the service they provide. Thay way to can be spared the advertisements, like a netflix subscription. One of the most useful sites I use is Ancestry.com. I play to use it. When I visit the website I do not get inundated ads or spam.
  5. Pioneer the post you referenced was not "my" argument it was Cheikh Anta Diop. I clearly referenced him as the author of the content I posted. I thought it was interesting for you to use the Bible because I'm aware about how you feel about it. My impressions of the book are best summarized by the following joke, "When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the Land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught us how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible." I think in 2013 America a man having multiple children by multiple women is virtually always a bad idea -- especially if all the women know about it.
  6. A GREAT new search engine http://DuckDuckGo.com (1) Each domain has only one link returned in the results. If you want multiple results from a single domain. You can click the "site search link" next to the results to get more results from that domain. No single domain dominates an entire page of results. (2) You'll find only one sponsored link and it is very clearly labeled. Sponsors links do not dominate the most prominent area of the search results page. Visitors get answers not commercials. (3) If you want Wikipedia results just type !w at the end of your query and you will be taken directly to Wikipedia. These "bang" queries are available for other popular sites !a for Amazon !g for Google (which is really more of a eCommerce site than a search engine), etc. (4) Official websites are list listed first and denoted as being his "Official Site". (5) This should have been listed 1st, DuckDuckGo does NOT track you rsearches. Read this: http://donttrack.us/ (it is brilliant). No lame excuses (lies) explaining that your searches are tracked to bring you better search results or better advertisements. Returning good search results quickly is very difficult but DuckDuckGo.com looks like it is up for the challenge and is able to do so with any observable bias in it results. The results do not skew toward big corporations, or scandalous content -- I'm actually excited about this new search engine! This is not paid commercial, but DuckDuckGo.com is the first viable alternative to Google that I've seen since Google joined the dark side of the Force.
  7. For the past 12 years, Go On Girl! Book Club has given two (2) writing awards - the Unpublished Award, given to an adult, amateur scribe and a Scholarship Award given to a student if African descent studying English or Literature. Both awards are $500. The deadline for this year's award is March 15, 2013. Visit http://www.goongirl.org/scholarships/index.php for more information
  8. If you are a reader wondering why it seems harder to discover good websites, or you run website or Blog that writes about authors or books you need to read this article. The Pimping of Wikipedia: Contributing to the Decline of the World Wide Web The mid- and late 1990s was an exciting time for the Web because so much new, rarely shared, or difficult-to-access information was now accessible. Today, there is more reason for concern, outrage even, than there is for excitement. The reasons are plentiful. One reason is the pimping of Wikipedia. (the full article: http://aalbc.it/pimpwiki) )
  9. Even Dr King had at least one affair. A Broadway play was even made about it It seems the church members were in fact trying to get rid of the guy: People dislike Thomas because he does not conform to the same liberal ideology all Black folks must comply with to be considered Black. Obama does not conform to the stereotypical Black ideology either, he is smart enough to lie about it
  10. The Black Egyptians--Original Settlers of Kemet The Black Egyptians are the original settlers of KMT. "The native Sudanese are one of the original pigmented Arabs in that region. They are members of the same ethnic family with the ancient Egyptians, the Ethiopians, the Southern Arabians, and the primitive inhabitants of Babylon. All founders and sustainers of the mighty Nilotic civilization we still admire today. They are very great nation of Blacks, who did rule almost over all Africa and Asia in a very remote era, in fact beyond the reach of history of any of our records The following is evidence from The African Origin of Civilization: by Cheikh Anta Diop Evidence from Physical Anthropology The skeletons and skulls of the Ancient Egyptians clearly reflect they were Negroid people with features very similar to those of modern Black Nubians and other people of the Upper Nile and of East Africa. Melanin Dosage Test Egyptologist Cheikh Anta Diop invented a method for determining the level of melanin in the skin of human beings. When conducted on Egyptian mummies in the Museum of Man in Paris, this test indicated these remains were of Black people. Osteological Evidence "Lepsius canon," which distinguishes the bodily proportions of various racial groups categories the "ideal Egyptian" as "short-armed and of Negroid or Negrito physical type." Evidence From Blood Types Diop notes that even after hundreds of years of inter-mixture with foreign invaders, the blood type of modern Egyptians is the "same group B as the populations of western Africa on the Atlantic seaboard and not the A2 Group characteristic of the white race prior to any crossbreeding." The Egyptians as They Saw Themselves "The Egyptians had only one term to designate themselves =kmt= the Negroes (literally). This is the strongest term existing in the Pharaonic tongue to indicate blackness; it is accordingly written with a hieroglyph representing a length of wood charred at the end and not crocodile scales," singular. ‘Kmt’ from the adjective =kmt= black; it therefore means strictly Negroes or at the very least black men. The term is a collective noun which thus described the whole people of Pharaonic Egypt as a black people." Divine Epithets Diop demonstrates that "black or Negro" is the divine epithet invariably used for the chief beneficent Gods of Egypt, while the evil spirits were depicted as red. Evidence From the Bible The Bible states"…[t]he sons of Ham [were] Cush and Mizraim [i.e. Egypt], and Phut, and Canaan. And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah and Sabtechah." According to Biblical tradition, Ham, of course, was the father of the Black race. "Generally speaking all Semitic tradition (Jewish and Arab) class ancient Egypt with the countries of the Black." Cultural unity of Egypt With The Rest of Africa Through a study of circumcision and totemism. Diop gives detailed data showing cultural unity between Egypt and the rest of Africa. Linguistic Unity With Southern and Western Africa In a detailed study of languages, Diop clearly demonstrates that Ancient Egyptian, modern Coptic of Egypt and Walaf of West Africa are related, with the latter two having their origin in the former. Testimony of Classical Greek and Roman Authors Virtually all of the early Latin eyewitnesses described the Ancient Egyptians as Black skinned with wooly hair. After the conquest of Egypt by Alexander, under the Ptolemies, crossbreeding between white Greeks and black Egyptians flourished. "Nowhere was Dionysus more favored, nowhere was he worshiped more adoringly and more elaborately than by the Ptolemies, who recognized his cult as an especially effective means of promoting the assimilation of the conquering Greeks and their fusion with the native Egyptians." {Endnote 15: J. J. Bachofen,Pages choisies par Adrien Turel, "Du Regne de la mere au patriarcat." Paris: F. Alcan, 1938, p. 89.} These facts prove that if the Egyptian people had originally been white, it might well have remained so. If Herodotus found it still black after so much crossbreeding, it must have been basic black at the start. Before examining the contradictions circulating in the modern era and resulting from attempts to prove at any price that the Egyptians were Whites, let us note the comments of Count Constantin de Volney (1757-1820). After being imbued with all the prejudices we have just mentioned with regard to the Negro, Volney had gone to Egypt between 1783 and 1785, he reported the Egyptian Race is the very race that had produced the Pharaohs: the Copts (p. 27). “All have a bloated face, puffed up eyes, flat nose, and thick lips; in a word, the true face of the mulatto. I was tempted to attribute it to the climate, but when I visited the Sphinx; its appearance gave me the key to the riddle. On seeing that head, typically Negro in all its features, I remembered the remarkable passage where Herodotus says: "As for me, I judge the Colchians to be a colony of the Egyptians because, like them, they are black with woolly hair. ..." We can see how their blood, mixed for several centuries with that of the Romans and Greeks, must have lost the intensity of its original color, while retaining nonetheless the imprint of its original mold. We can even state as a general principle that the face is a kind of monument able, in many cases, to attest or shed light on historical evidence on the origins of peoples. {End quote} When Egypt was invaded by Arabs - Egypt suffered turbulent times when, in 609 AD, the country had sided with Nicetas, a lieutenant of Heraclius, in the rebellion against the emperor Phocas. Only shortly after Heraclius overthrew Phocas, the Byzantines were attacked by the Persians. The armies of the Sasanid King Khosrau II invaded Egypt, inflicting cruel suffering upon its some of its inhabitants. This Persian occupation lasted six years.
  11. The Envelope Please: Who Will Win, Who Deserves to Win, Who Was Snubbed by Kam Williams Kam usually does a pretty good job with this. As far as Black folks go, Kam predictions are correct we will be frozen out of awards this year.
  12. The 6 seater high chair is too much!
  13. "It's not a black or white thing." -- It never was. Pick an issue.
  14. "...black folks are ridiculously forgiving of their leaders..." Collectively are standards are relatively low. I guess we just don't want to put any more pressure one each other -- unwilling to contribute to the shit we have to deal with from society in general. The American culture seems adopting the same philosophy. We have school teams where everyone has to play, no one gets cut -- regardless of ability. In fact winning isn't even the goal. Everyone gets a trophy at the end of he season. Teachers can make a test with red ink, the lowest grade is a 65 or 55. Women who used to wear a size 16 are now wearing a 12's even though they are 10lbs heavier than when they wore a 16. Being a bastard was not a good thing, now most kids are.... In schools the greatest disservice was dumbing down the education as not to make things too difficult for the students who needed an education the most. Now it is biting us in the ass 'cause the schools are crap and there is no one around who can teach. Teachers can't discipline kids, parents won't. The job is left to the police and the increase in the prison population is evidence of their effectiveness. ...and Jackson Sr. owes 12K in child support and Jackson Jr. charged with misusing $750K in campaign funds -- My heroes!
  15. Pioneer I thought you might feel that way I'll go out on a limb and say, in 21st century America having multiple children by multiple women at the same time is a bad idea (). I know you said it depends on how the children are raised; but that point is moot as it always depends on how the kids are raised. It is interesting you would use a story from the Bible to justify polygamy. As Anika99 implied our culture's fascination with dysfunction is sad. The ability to profit so greatly from showcasing this dysfunction exposes an even greater dysfunction within our culture.
  16. Sure Pioneer you can hold on to both positions, but the question is what conclusions or resulting actions are drawn? Jackson is a great leader of the Black community (good). Jackson is an adulterer unwilling to support his offspring (bad). So again, I ask should we reject this "great leader" because of his behavior or should we just dismiss as not to lose his leadership?. If you are in favor of him retaining his position then you must also acknowledge that you are also accepting, or ignoring his bad behavior. The more we accept or ignore bad behavior -- especially with leaders and public figure -- the more we saying to everyone that his behavior is OK or acceptable. Now it is fine if you want to do this, but you chose recognize the consequences. As far the 2nd part ("...BELIEVE that other races (not just Whites) look at the behavior of individual Black people..."), Of course I know white people stereotype Blacks. You also stereotype Black people. I don't agree with any of it. But I recognize it is the reality.
  17. Agreed the media distorts the problems. Dealing with guns in America will be treated as if it is solely an inner city Black problem (as the war on drugs is today). Black folks will suffer the brunt of the consequences of enforcement, serve stiffer sentences for smaller infractions. But that still does not change the fact that far too many Black people are killing other Black people. Media attention or not, the problem needs to be dealt with. The solutions are not politically correct or viable and therefore this problem will not be resolved by the government.
  18. I have not watched this video yet. I will catch it on my regular TV. But I suspect Clarke will address some the issues raised in this video: Dr. John Henrik Clarke: The Rise of Islam & The Fall of Africa (Full Lecture) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s22QFGnVRjk
  19. Pan-Africanism: Reality or Myth? by Playthell Benjamin Read the entire article One of the things that interest me most is the persistence of certain ideas in Afro-American thought. They are transmuted and refashioned to suit the particulars of the era, but some fundamental concepts persists none-the-less. One of these ideas is Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism, which has been called different things at different periods of our history. One of the fundamental things that distinguish human beings from other animals over whom we rule is the gift of language, learning, and the ability to construct a narrative i.e. tell a story....Read the entire article
  20. No there is absolutely no difference. Except when your kin, or family does it to you; it seems to hurt a bit more. This is why I always found Black on Black crime to so very disturbing. The reaction to it is so much more subdued than if a White person does it. Travon Martin national news. The countless other nameless, faceless Black youth go unnoticed, and under punished when the murderer is also Black.
  21. Pioneer you abhor adultery to the extent that you believe it should be a felony. However, when Jackson's adultery is made public you call it a smear campaign. The opinions seem to be conflicting to me? Seems you would be glad Jackson was exposed and would be grateful to see him fade into obscurity. Here is another difference between our world views Pioneer. I don't know believe Jackson's behavior "...embarrasses the community..." Jackson is his own man and his behavior does not reflect upon me or what you are apparently referring to as the Black community. Jackson should be embarrassed, perhaps his wife and family. But why should you or I be embarrassed? Now I appreciate some racist white folks tend to group us together and would assume Jackson behavior is a reflection on all Black people, but there is no reason for Black people to share that belief.
  22. Pioneer I'm April 8th what is your birthday?
  23. I believe this to be much more of a factor, "...unstable black households headed up by single women are a major contribution to the killings..." than a bad economy. At bad economy is fuel on a fire already raging. There are poor people all over planet Earth -- including poor white ones right here in the good ole US of A but white folks are not killing each other to the same extent.
  24. Many years ago, certainly more than 25, I heard Dr. John Henrik Clarke express in no uncertain terms how he felt about Arabs contribution to the destruction of African people. I was actually taken aback by his words, until I learned much more.
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