Not buying Amazon

Did you see this?

http://markprobst.livejournal.com/15293.html

And I think the New York Times wrote about it, too. It seems like they took off a lot of books about sex from their ranking system, but the weird thing is most of them are either erotica or gay and lesbian books, but guess what, Playboy is still ranked. Even non-sexual books such as Ellen Degeneres biography are gone. If you search for homosexuality the books listed are now books like these:

• A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality
• Can Homosexuality Be Healed?
• You Don't Have to Be Gay: Hope and Freedom for Males Struggling With Homosexuality or for Those Who Know of Someone Who Is

Amazon.com offered some explanation that it was a glitch in the system and they're getting fixed. But according to some people, this has been going on since February. So, no one caught this since February? Bullshit. System glitch my ass.

I am going to stop buying from Amazon.com. I am also going to write to Amazon.com and say I won't be buying from them unless they fix this and apologize. This is unacceptable. And I urge everyone to do the same thing in solidarity.

Thank goodness for Barnes & Noble.

ETA: Here's a list (incomplete) books affected:

http://community.livejournal.com/meta_writer/11992.html

Different Stages of Curiosity

I am a man of curiosity. I like to think and find out how things work, and what makes something work, and how everything fits together. I like to wonder about the meanings of life, etc. But I have not been always like that, and I certainly went through stages.

When I was younger, I was more interested in figuring out how things work. I got into computers because I was fascinated by how a few lines of code could make the machine do something so utterly incredible. I got really invested in trying to figure out how all the pieces fit together, and how they individually work. I was like a watchman, taking things apart and putting them back together. I was curious.

When I was a bit older and none so wiser, I became more interested in figuring out how the system works. How an entire enterprise system work together to enable the business to run smoothly. How business and technology work together. How a project is built. How a novel is written. How the publishing business work. The bigger picture. I was curious.

And then when I got a bit older yet, I became more interested in how the world works. What is the meaning of all this? What is the purpose of telling a story? Why people behave a certain way and under what circumstances do they behave that way? Why things are, not exactly what they do. The really big picture. I was curious.

Through these different stages, one thing remains constant, however. That is: I am curious about how I fit into the picture? Where is my place? Or am I just a tiny flake in vast landscape? What is in it for me? What do I get out of this? I think, even now, I am still not completely sure why I am here, and the meaning of all this. Yet, I'm not in a big hurry to find out. Because, what's the fun of it if I know everything? What else is there to do?

I'm curious.