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Links for 2012-06-19 [Uncertain Principles]
In which we look at an impassioned plea from a gay seminarian, a satirical video about the Singularity, and two more dispatches from the imminent death of traditional publishing.
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- Letter from a gay Christian classmate « Mercy not Sacrifice
I am asking you to set aside your quiet whispers for a potent disquietude; I’m asking you to turn over a few tables in the temple; I’m asking you to upbraid the violent language of your church; I’m asking you to openly speak truth to power, as one you said you would; I’m asking you to do risk crucifixion within your order; I’m asking for your civil disobedience – refuse to marry anyone in your congregations until you could wed me to one who would be my betrothed; I’m asking you to take the floor at your annual conferences until so ruled out of order and carried out in shackles that it makes the front page of the local paper; I’m asking you to do what true friends would do for one another. I’ve sung with you, traveled with you, lived with you, laughed and cried with you, studied with you, argued with you healthily in the midst of academic intrigue, apologized for you, and now respect you enough to ask you directly to do more.
- Welcome to Life: the singularity, ruined by lawyers – YouTube
Please accept these terms and conditions in order to continue Life…
- Mysterious Matters: Mystery Publishing Demystified: Vanity Publishing, Self Publishing, and ePublishing, Redux
I understand that people want to be published – I really do. But to equate a self-published project in any way with a professionally edited and published work is to do a tremendous disservice to those who have passed the quality-control process. All of this said, I have expressed support for ebooks in the past, and I’ll do so again. They’re not my cup of tea – I don’t like reading on a screen. But many people do – and it’s our job as a going business concern to give people the products they want to buy. That DOESN’T mean, however, that we should sell products for less than the market would bear – that would be sheer foolishness. It’s going to take a while for all of this dust to settle, so stay tuned.
- The only necessary people « PWxyz
[Web-based authoring] tools would not be of much effect if we didn’t have companies that supported online media retailing. But beyond the mere selling of books, what is most notable about web-based media companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft is that they are not simply creating sophisticated recommendation engines and robust consumer marketplaces; rather, they are aggregating a vast array of web-based services into online super-nodes that encourage user participation and focus. Their opportunity is not restricted to content discovery and support for commercial transactions; it is enabling the kinds of things that the web makes possible: connecting people with each other, and to the things they care about.
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