Troy

People have allowed man to distract them from the Truth. They have been confused by technology, science, and other false ideas devised by man who is completely unable to fathom the Truth. Indeed, these men are really devils, interested in their arrogant self-importance. The Truth is God has all the answers and all you need it faith.

For anyone who cares. I picked the Wisconsin win over Kentucky. If Duke beats Wisconsin, on Monday, I'll have the winning bracket for a nice payday!. So do what you do to send positive vibes way :-)

Hi Tiffany, post your website information when you get a chance.

Thanks man this is helpful too. On the first table that you posted. What does do those large numbers like, 19747506, at the end of the first row mean? If you are interested you can read some of the conversation on twitter by searching on #bloggerweek @aalbc Of course Twitter does not lend itself to reviewing interviews, conversations, or anything historical. Someone mentioned that this conversation be better if it took place on one one of our platforms, rather than Twitter (I paraphrase), I said of course, but the belief is no one would participate and they may be right. This I find very sad and discouraging. Of course their were others that said, properly used, social can be a very effectively way of driving traffic, without spending a lot f money. I said I hear that a lot but I have never seen any data to prove that, all I hear from folks are complaints. The only ones claiming how great it is is those selling social media marketing services. Besides we have few active Black owned sites that generate enough revenue to support anyone. The new sites that launch don't stick around very long. ​My goal is to gather our resources to drive our own traffic, many seemed to be open to the idea. I don't see as we have much of a choice; we can give all of our money to the rich social media sites, for some short term, isolated gains, or we can build something together that will last and benefit all of us. I'm thinking about adding Black owned Blogs to Huria Search. I'll keep you posted on that idea. Oh yeah there will be a conference in DC the first weekend in May called Blogger Week 2015: http://bloggerweek.com/

This will be an interview that takes place on Tweeter, this evening at 8 p.m. EDT. Yeah, I know I said I'm not longer using social media. But I'm more than happy to make an exception for instances like this. An instance where the social platform will be used to support AALBC.com's activities, rather than the other way around. While I'm on the subject, not using social media is actually a lot harder than you would image, at least for someone like me. First often when I'm researching and author, I'll discover that the authors best, if not only, presence is on Facebook. I think this is a really scary trend. Image a world where the only place you can learn about an author is on Facebook? This is not as far fetched as it sounds. When we reach that day, creative and really personalized author websites. Second, many websites require, or make it much easier to create accounts on their website when you use you Twitter of Facebook account (including my own website). Before I posted this I realized my own account is tied to Facebook. I tried to create an account without using social media, and my first attempt failed (something I have to look into). At any rate, I must have dozens of account across the web that use my Facebook credentials as a way to login. Unwinding all of these will not be a trivial activity. Finally, I'm contacted a lot through social media, especially Facebook. Lately I've just been ignoring these communications, but that is obviously not good for business. I do not have a good solution for that, other than updating my profile to say if you want to reach me use email. At the rate things are going, if you are still using email instead of Facebook Instant messenger, or some other social platform to communicate with others you are looked at as if you are in the stone age. Social media, at least for those running a web based business, is really an inextricable part of life. But I like processed food I will do my best to minimize my interaction.

Hi Christina, great intro and welcome to the forum. Are you aware of any other twins that are published authors published authors? I see you two have published a bunch of books in such a short period of time--impressive.

My Power List site I just decided I will take the financial hit and promote and independent bookseller. Overtime, I hope the example will speak for itself and I will win more customers. Perhaps it will encourage other people to do the same. Peace, Troy

Cool, let me know when the new book is available. I eventually have to get a book out myself. As far as the ad on the homepage. I'll send you something shortly. I'm also running a report for another client (and myself), to look at click rates based upon ad position. I put all new ads at the bottom, as ads higher up roll off, the newer ads can move higher up on the page. Th client asked that I move his book to a higher position hoping it would increase sales. I explained how ad placement works on the homepage, but I also said that the subject and book cover are more important than placement (at keast for the books on the AALBC.com homepage). The report I run will see if place is indeed a factor. In other words does a nice book cover for a popular subject by a popular authors at the end of the book section perform poorly, while an ugly book cover about an uninteresting subject written by a no-name author perform well? Also does the click through rates for the same book improve as book moves up the page? To clarify, as far as Amazon is concerned are you saying that you make more sales on Amazon, but less profit per shoe versus selling the shoes directly via you own website? And that you are concerned (terrified) that if you migrated off of Amazon the increased profit per shoes would not make up for the lost revenue Amazon generates through higher sales?

You can order a pair of these adorable kicks for only $75 a pair on Mo'ne Davis' M4D3's website. Hey Chris, here is one way to get get a sneaker line launched. Whoever set this venture up is also claiming to support to girls in need through charitable contributions.

Harry I hear you. But check your numbers Black women being 64% of HIV cases seems high. Besides when you combine that with Black men being 42% of cases you get a total of 106%, which is not possible. I do believe our HIV infection rates are disproportionately high. I also believe a relaxing of moral standards that started before i came of age is responsible for many of the ills you describe. I do remember a time when unwed pregnancy was frowned upon, today it is seemingly encouraged. I remember when men worked hard and took pride in providing for their wifes and kids, today there is little pressure to do anything for anyone, other than yourself. The genie is out of the bottle and there is no way to put it back. People expect largely to have as much sex as possible and the responsibility of STD transmission and pregnancy seems to be the responsibility of the woman. Perhaps that is a consequence of the sexual revolution: Women bear less stigma, but men bear less responsibility. The old sexual mores seemed to help protect us from ourselves, but now that they have been removed nothing viable has replaced them, so people get sick and die and more women are left impoverished raising children by themselves

Man I completely understand. I can give people every option to buy a book and they will, virtually always, pick Amazon. When I don't provide Amazon, as an option, they do not buy (at least not from me). One popular author I've been working with says it is just so much more convenient. I guess that is how everyone feels. It does not look like we are willing to trade in a bit of convenience for independence. I swear the Montgomery Bus Boycott would not get past the talking stage today. I also remember how long it took to me to get folks to use PayPal, there are still many who refuse to use PayPal today, preferring to use paper checks, which prior to cell phone deposits, were a royal pain. I have not noticed any greater push back from Square, compared to PayPal. I took my first credit card payment from Square via my cell phone (without a card swipe (info was emailed to me) without a hitch it. Finally I decided not to actively use social media a couple of days ago. I will share from my website, but I won't engage with anyone personally or professionally. I'm just tired of working for Facebook, often paying for the privilege. I'm not closing my accounts. More and more people use Facebook as their primary platform on the web, as a result I will still need to go to Facebook, but again I will not be writing anything on the site. I will continue to use the Youtube social media platform, as that is a revenue generator.

Kam and I usually don't agree on movies. This one is no exception. I simply did not like Gravity as much as I liked Interstellar. I saw Gravity in Imax the visuals were great, but once you get used to them you were just left, well with whats her name. Interstellar, by contrast, addressed many fascinating things like multiple dimensions, time dilation, relativity, black holes, worm holes and even love, yes it was a film about love. I thought it was really good flick. Kam gave Gravity 4 stars (his max) and this Interstellar 2, I would reverse those ratings. The point after Blast off is where the film really gets really good. They even have a cool Brother in this flick unlike Gravity which represents yet another film where Black folk are not in the future. The wormhole Kam mentioned did not go to a parallel university, just a far away place in this one... at any rate I thought the flick was pretty good, probably the most interesting one I saw all of last year. This is a must see flick for anyone interested in space travel, science or just good cinema.

Interstellar DVD Review by Kam Williams Rated PG-13 for intense action and brief profanity Running time: 168 minutes Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite directors, and four of his pictures have made my annual Top Ten List, including Memento, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins and Insomnia. However, I had a hard time understanding exactly what was going on in Inception, an inscrutable mindbender that I found to be a little too hip for the room. The same could be said about Interstellar, an over-plotted, post-apocalyptic sci-fi with a few too many layers for its own good, in this critic’s humble opinion. Clocking in at a patience-testing 169 minutes, the movie had me harking back to 7-time Oscar-winner Gravity, a similarly-themed outer space adventure which managed to resolve its loose ends in about half the time. At the point of departure, we find the Earth devastated by drought and dust storms that have brought it to the brink of famine. With the planet almost uninhabitable, NASA decides that the last hope for humanity rests in finding another capable of supporting life. To that end, the agency is mounting a mission, codenamed Lazarus in order to search for a place with a compatible environment. The reluctant hero is Coop (Matthew McConaughey), a man understandably torn about being coaxed out of retirement to captain the Spaceship Endurance. On the one hand, the veteran test pilot is eager, since he never got a chance to experience a real spaceflight during his career. On the other hand, as a widowed dad, he hates the very idea of leaving behind and possibly orphaning his already motherless kids. Sure, 15 year-old Tom (Timothee Chalamet) might be able to man-up, but daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy) is only 10 and proves particularly clingy when he informs her of his imminent travel plans. Her angry reaction is perfectly reasonable, given the blight on Earth and the odds of ever seeing her papa again. But with his father-in-law’s (John Lithgow) blessing, Coop nevertheless opts to depart, which affords him an opportunity to belatedly pursue his lifelong dream. Joining him in that endeavor is a crew comprised of brainy scientist Brand (Anne Hathaway), astrophysicist Romilly (David Gyasi) and intergalactic cartographer Doyle (Wes Bentley), as well as a couple of very sophisticated robots (Bill Irwin and Josh Stewart). After blastoff, they head for a distant wormhole near Saturn rumored to provide a portal to a parallel universe. At this juncture, the picture turns terribly talky, relying on pseudoscientific claptrap to explain every farfetched development from black holes to unusual gravitational pulls to time slowing down. Eventually, Endurance rendezvous with a NASA space station stranded on a remote planet where they rouse the sole survivor from a cryogenic sleep only to discover it’s Matt Damon. How cool is that? I’m not too proud to admit I couldn’t follow the convoluted storyline anymore from about this point forward. At least the panoramic visuals remained absolutely breathtaking. Think, a remake of Gravity only featuring plenty of polysyllabic brainiacs who sound like they just stepped off the set of The Big Bang Theory. Good (2 stars) To order a copy of Interstellar on Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack,

From the Gary Hardwick files

Yes, it is true that we are being manipulated in many aspects of our daily lives. My focus on the media is that we are being lied to by the media, that really is the form of manipulation I'm concerned about. If I inform someone that they have been lied to, that is not telling them what to think, or an attempt to manipulate them. It is an attempt to help them. Of course this is not for purely altruistic reasons. I think Black people would be better off understanding we are being manipulated. Indeed if White people were aware of this too, perhaps they could get past thinking Black people are inherently inferior. The things Bill Cosby spoke about in the video above have not changed. I think I can make a good argument that things have gotten worse since that video was made almost 50 years ago. Interestingly, the intended target for this video was children. The video does not talk down to them. I guess today you'd need to craft the message as a music video... But as you know Cosby has dedicated his life to helping children learn more about their history and to do well in life. His decades long collaboration with Alvin F. Poussaint, M.D. is one such example. In this book, we look at the issues with an eye on what we need to do to help our youth and re-energize our neighborhoods to move in positive directions' We can change things we have control over if we accept personal responsibility and embrace self-help." --Bill Cosby We need more people with resources doing this work, not fewer...

Cancelled your account for selling you own stuff? I've sold tickets to events, on PayPal, then AFTER the event people would request a refund and PayPal would refund the money?! Yeah I've been using Square more lately. They also have a nicer interface. I plan to migrate to Square from PayPal.

I asked White House correspondent April Ryan a bunch of questions about Barack Obama

I'm not a psychiatrist so I won't debate the meanings of the technical terms. It is unfortunate you dismiss people's academic credentials so easily. I actually got a taste of that when you dismissed my engineering degree when talking about sampling rates. Dr. Mcintosh is a psychiatrist, but obviously, as you wrote, these credentials don't make a difference to you. I did not address Cosby's joke directly because it was a joke. No one reasonable, would hold up a joke as proof that Cosby is some as serious as a serial rapist. Again I as you Del, what specifically did Bill Cosby actually do that you think is worthy of the blitz of negative media? But more importantly what else, in your opinion, should we do to Bill Cosby that would satisfy you? Should we get a rope and drag him from the back of a pick up, or sting him up from a tree? What?

Harry, you better get used to the idea of a Republican president. They own the House and the Senate, and unless the Grand Ole Party throws up complete losers, like Palin, they should win the presidency quite handily, despite what Blacks folks do, which of course will be to vote Democratic. I shudder to think what our military will do once the GOP controls everything. I'll probably cast my vote on 3rd party candidate. I really wish presidents were elected based upon a popular vote.

Del your position on Cosby is clear. While the media is pilling on about how Cosby is a serial rapist I'd figure I do my small part to balance the perspective. Of course you are right. "If it bleeds it leads," as far as the so called news is concerned. Just keep in mind that mentality have never served anyone well except the media conglomerates--least of all Black people. Cynique, actually I do not think the general public truly understands how easily we are manipulated by the media. They not only mis-inform us they tell us what to think. Even when we are presented with amazing truths, like some of the revelations made public by Eric Snowden, we still don't seem to care. I guess as long as we are not staving, and have Empire to watch we are pretty much placated,

For almost a decade a few buddies and myself have a March Madness Pool. Over the last several years we have been using PayPal to send the entry fee. I already take it for granted that PayPal mines all our transactions for information. Perhaps the information they obtain is a revenue stream. But when they read our messages and arbitrary decide what is an acceptable transaction they have overstepped their bounds, on so many levels. When I send someone a check, Citibank does not email me to say, "Hey we don't approve of the reason for you writing a check, stop it." This is absurd!

Yeah that is how media works Del. We know all of the miscellaneous accusations of rape against Cosby, but his humanitarianism is largely overlooked--even by the popular Black media, which Black people don't own.

We can certainly agree that Bill is not two dimensional, indeed no one is. I'm not a psychologist (although the Dr. McIntosh arguing for Bill Cosby being lynched is) so I won't attempt to diagnose him. Del you say Bill may have felt like he did nothing wrong. I no idea what Bill's feelings are on behavior that he allegedly engaged, I'm not sure how you would know either. I won't even assume I know which characteristics of Bill's personality he is aware of, but given his advanced age I suspect he is more self aware that most. You describe Bill as a sociopath. There are degrees to everything. I think sociopathy has degrees as well. It is not like you are a sociopath or you are not. Perhaps Bill has some degree of sociopathy? I don't know. People accuse him of not caring what his wife may have been feeling, but I'm not privy to the nature of there relationship. I don't think a sociopath would bother producing a film like the one below: A sociopath would not produce the Cosby Show, or Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. I not sure if you are aware of all material and meaningful things Bill did for Black people. Hummm maybe you are and don't care. Let me ask this question. What specifically did Bill Cosby actually do that you think is worthy of the blitz of negative media? NBC and Netflix have both canned projects with Cosby that I'm sure would have been much more positive for Black people than the programing we have now, like Empire. Bill has resigned from the Temple's board; other colleges, like Spelman have ended their relationships with him. Even the U.S. Navy, a bastion for rape, has revoked an honorary title they gave Bill. Who knows how many appearances that have been canceled? All of this based solely on accusations?! Since when has a white woman ever had to be afraid to accuse a Black man of rape? There have been many Black men strung up for having consensual sex with white women. There have been many Black men sent to jail and killed for white women simply making the accusation.

It was interesting reading the reaction on social media about this book. While it seems people are willing to explore the possibility that organized Christian religion has problems. The idea that the practice of Christianity itself may actually be the problem, does not seem to occur to folks. Christianity started 2,000 years ago, but Homo Sapiens were running around 200,000 years before that and were certainly practicing other religions 100,000 years before Christ. I guess this is a Blue-Dress-Gold-Dress (BDGD) kinda thing. Some people will believe their religion is the "True" religion while at the same time steadfastly condemning all other religions. Even when their own religion exposes itself as flawed, they claim that it is not the religion, but a faulty practice of, or bad actors in said religion.

If is funny how much that Blue-Dress-Gold-Dress controversy has effected my world view. It is just so much easier for me to accept that people are simply wired differently. Reason can not change their minds, their biology makes this so. What does this have to do with Dr. Ben? Well I always viewed people like Dr. Ben as heroes. People who should be revered, not worshipped, but respected and held up as people we can learn from. Instead we devote time, efforts, and money promoting and elevating the uninformed opinions of Black celebrities, simply because they are celebrities. I now understand why others simply can not understand why elevating the words of a Kanye West and overlooking the words of a Dr. Ben is a profound mistake on the part of the Black media.