writing.ebdean.com

Be An Abolitionist!

2010-03-17T14:22:00.005-04:00

It is hard to believe, but it's a sad fact. Between 250 and 350 young girls are trafficked, for sex, each month just in the state of Georgia. My hometown of Atlanta is an identified focal point for this atrocity! This simply cannot be allowed to continue.

There are a lot of ways to help, and I'll blog about more of them soon.

If you would like to help, please consider supporting my friend Darlene Park. She is a volunteer with Street GRACE here in Atlanta.

"Street GRACE (Galvanizing Resources Against Child Exploitation) is a 501(c)3 organization that is dedicated to supporting, enlarging and allying with those individuals and organizations working toward eliminating the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC)."

Darlene is raising money and awareness for Street GRACE on March 21, 2010 by running in the ING Half-Marathon. She and her husband have set a personal goal of raising $1000.

THIS IS A GOOD CAUSE! Please, please, please consider making an on-line TAX DEDUCTIBLE contribution by clicking HERE. (Please remember to put "Darlene Park" in the 'on behalf of' box so she knows if she has reached her goal.

After you've donated - why not tell some people about this. Most people are shocked to hear that slavery is still a major problem in the United States. Many people think that kids are only sold into sex slavery overseas. You can find out a lot more at www.streetgrace.org.

What Should an eBook Cost?

2010-01-08T14:36:00.005-05:00

I've been hearing from people that they think e-books cost too much. Someone actually said to me, "Why should I have to pay six dollars for a book when there is no paper? They should just sell the books for ninety-nine cents like iTunes sells music." The author in me wanted to punch him in the nose.

First of all, ninety-nine cents for a song is not cheap. It's roughly the same price we paid for songs when we bought them on compact discs. Books, however, should not be sold by the chapter. We are always going to want the 'whole album' when we buy books.

Second of all, the cost of a book is not found in the paper. (Heck, you can buy a ream of paper at Office Max for a couple of dollars, and I'm sure publishers buy in bulk.)

Money Magazine did a breakdown of the cost of a typical book. They used John Grisham's novel, The Associate:

Hardcover list price $27.95

$4.19 to the author. (He pays his agent, publicist, etc…)
$3.55 to pre-production. (editors, graphic designers, proofreaders, etc…)
$2.83 to printing. (ink, glue, paper, etc…)
$2.00 to marketing. (book tour, ads, printing/shipping pre-release to journalists, etc…)
$2.80 to wholesalers. (distribution to retailers)
$12.58 to retailers. (This is not all profit; they have overhead and personnel costs.)

From this we can see that it costs $15.37 to make this book. An e-book won't require printing or wholesaler costs and will only cost $9.74 to make. IT'S ONLY SIX DOLLARS CHEAPER TO MAKE AN E-BOOK!

Of course the retailer is entitled to a reasonable amount of profit. (Barnes and Noble stores routinely sell new release hard cover books for 40% off the list price. In this case bringing their cut from $12.58 per book down to $1.40; hardly price gouging.) Let's guess that their overhead eats away half of that, so we could expect that savings to be passed along to the e-book purchaser, giving only seventy cents profit per e-book sold.

So, allowing for a very slight amount of profit, we should see the e-book price at about $10.44.

Now, this is a specific example. Costs are going to vary based on the size of the book, the popularity of the author, and other factors. Also not included in this analysis is the cost of creating the digital version of the book, (although this is probably only a minimal cost.) And if a retailer wanted to increase their profit margin a bit by raising prices slightly it wouldn't be evil.

Once a book is no longer a new release, the cost of the e-book should fluctuate based solely on demand. The phenomenon of 'clearance' prices doesn't apply to digital media. With retailers already slashing their cut to be competitive there is not a ton of room for discounting.

So let's give e-book publishers a break. Electronic publishing is fantastic and more convenient, and overall, cheaper. Count your blessings and keep in mind that profitable publishers will bring you more books in the future.

Lord, Save Us From The Christian Film Industry

2009-10-13T13:28:00.002-04:00

I went to see Dan Merchant's, Lord, Save Us From Your Followers, on Sunday. The sound quality was terrible, but otherwise this was as decent a low-budget documentary as anything I've seen on IFC. It was enjoyable, humorous at moments, visually creative, and when you get right down to it, thought-provoking.

First, you have to understand that this was a post-modern approach to filmmaking. Dan Merchant did not intend to give us his conclusions or suggestions, but rather to expose an issue and then guide us toward a place of understanding in the hopes that this will result in meaningful discussion or debate. It begins with the question, "So why is the Gospel of Love dividing America?" The goal, it seems, is to show that we can have discussions about faith, even with non-believers, without being contentious.

In my opinion, the film really misses the mark. It does a fine job of showing that people, in general, are distrustful of Christians and view us as judgmental hypocrites. However, the examination of why this is true and whether or not it can be changed, I found to be disjointed, confusing, strangely homosexuality-centric, and ultimately incomplete. Like those liberals who assume America must be doing something wrong if the whole world hates us, Dan Merchant seems to begin from the assumption that the Church is doing something wrong if the non-believers hate us. I'm not saying the Church doesn't have some changes to make, but the reality is the non-believers hated Jesus and he got it perfectly right. In fact, Jesus pointed out that the world is definitely going to hate us just because we follow him.

The film also completely glosses over, or outright ignores, crucial elements that should be included in any discussion about the collision between faith and culture. Hollywood's deliberate and frequent false portrayal of Christians in movies and on television, the liberal media's selection of spokespeople for all of Christianity, the mandate for Christians to participate in political debate and policy, the inclusion of heretics in the reputation of the Church both presently and throughout history, revisionism of history and anti-Christian education within the government schools, and I could go on. All of these factors shape how the culture views Christians, and impose boundaries on how we are able to behave as believers.

Overall, I'll give the movie a decent review. It suggests we should be loving and grace-filled and well I can't argue with any of that. There was nothing cheesy about the movie, which is an accomplishment for a Christian film. (Kirk Cameron wasn't in it, and that's an accomplishment for a Christian film as well.) I've already seen people having discussions about it, so I guess it's accomplishing its purpose in that regard. On a scale of LEFT BEHIND to PASSION OF THE CHRIST, I'd give it about a FACING THE GIANTS.

I Don't Understand Hollywood

2009-10-01T13:50:00.001-04:00

If I found out one of my friends used my house to rape a teenager I would be livid. I want to hear Jack Nicholson and Angelica Huston stand up and say, “Roman Polanski deserves to spend the rest of his days in Chino Prison finding out what it feels like to be on the receiving end of anal rape.” The support for this rapist is outrageous and unjustifiable. Who cares if he was arrested at an international film festival? Who cares if this somehow hurts our ‘friendship’ with France? He anally raped a teenager! This is not a travesty of justice – the travesty of justice was the plea bargain he was offered when he pled guilty to a lesser charge – the travesty of justice was letting this bastard live in luxury in Europe giving him awards for filmmaking when he was guilty of rape and making child pornography.

And would someone, anyone, please, slap Whoopie Goldberg.

Going Green Requires Sacrifice

2009-01-08T12:49:00.005-05:00

I read today that burning one gallon of gas produces ten times the amount of carbon dioxide as one person produces in an entire day.

This means that a person existing for 10 days = using 1 gallon of gas.

The Hummer H3 has a 23 gallon gas tank and gets 18 miles per gallon. Thus, the H3 gets 414 miles per tank. Assuming you drive 15,000 miles per year (41 miles a day) you will go through a tank of gas in 10 days.

1 person existing for 10 days = using 1 gallon of gas.

1 H3 driven for 10 days = using 23 gallons of gas.

Therefore, 23 people existing for 10 days = driving an H3 for 10 days.

At 15000 miles per year, your H3 will probably only last 13 years or so. Generally people live longer than 10 days; indeed most adults will live at least another 13 years or so.

So, what does all of this mean? If you simply drive over 23 hippies on your way home from your first fill up, you can drive your H3 for the rest of its life and be completely carbon neutral.

Why?

2007-06-05T11:01:00.000-04:00

Over the past few months I have noticed a trend in my life. Invariably, when greeted by my friends and family, I am asked a variation of one of the following six questions:

You do know that 'writers' usually actually sit down and write something don't you?
Are you ever going to have that heart surgery?
Why don't you get up off the couch and get some exercise, you fat, lazy slob?
Seriously, you are going to homeschool your kids - seriously?
Have you seen any good movies lately?
I know you don't have anything better to do that sit around browsing the Internet and reading political rags so can you please tell me who to vote for?

This website is my effort to keep people informed on these very critical issues. If you are reading this, you are probably someone I know and care about, so please feel free to leave comments harrassing me.

If you want regular updates on my life go ahead and subscribe to my postings in the right hand column. If you need help figuring out how, email Brad.

E.B.