I'm trying
something new. Twenty years ago, before
Amazon revealed its monopolistic intentions,
I signed on to their associates program,
where I'd get a % of any purchases made via
my links. It worked great for about a year
or two, then they arbitrarily changed the
linking conventions. So, if I wanted to get
paid, I had to manually recode all my old
links. Not surprisingly, those links still
worked to get customers to the right pages
at Amazon--they just wouldn't give me my
fair share of the sales. This became a
pattern which continues to this day--a
continually changing set of rules and rates
which benefits Amazon and screws the
so-called associate. Over two decades, I
created scores upon scores of links, all of
which still work to deliver customers, none
of which result in payment for me. Classic
bait and switch and I loathe them for it,
but it shouldn't be a surprise--exploiting
peons is their business model. Even
worse, I still buy stuff from them when it's
convenient/cheap enough for me. I am a
selfish hypocrite! But I'm working on it.
Part of my penance is to go through PoD and
replace every amazon link with a link to Powell's,
an independent bookstore in Portland, OR,
that has a partner program of its own. I
predict their links won't go stale. Won't
you join me in the disentanglement?
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West With
The Night
Found this in a free book kiosk, a
single blurb on the back saying
Beryl Markham put most
"professional" writers such as
himself to shame; the quote was
from Ernest Hemingway. Markham was
the first woman to fly the
Atlantic solo from east to west,
but that adventure is treated
almost as an afterthought to a
rich and varied youth in British
colonial Africa. Worth a look!
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1959: The
Year Everything Changed
Once you get past the hype of the
subtitle and a slightly
over-the-top introduction intent
on proving that point, this is an
interesting cultural assessment of
significant events, some of which
really can be pinpointed to 1959,
while others are blips on a
broader historical continuum.
Everybody's gotta have a gimmick.
Regardless, this book goes down
easy and is quite informative.
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Lost
Connections: Uncovering the Real
Causes of Depression & the
Unexpected Solutions
Heard an
interview with the author and
was so impressed I listened twice.
You don't have to be depressed
and/or anxious to read this. In
diagnosing what we get wrong about
mental health, it confronts larger
social, economic, and cultural
maladies.
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