Amazon Prime is the Best as long as you like paying the fee

Amazon has a program (aka Amazon Prime) where you can pay $79 a year to get free second day air shipping for any Amazon product, no matter the size of the order. A pack of razor blades, toilet paper, books, cd, you name it, just click and it arrives two days later. I use it and save tons because whenever I see something I want at a store, cd and book stores in particular, I wait until I get home, and either I reconsider my purchase or buy it for $2 cheaper than the store price (and I buy a crapload from Amazon). Apparently, some people sign up for the free trial and when the trial runs out get charged the yearly fee. Angry that they have to pay the fee, they google “Amazon Prime” to complain and funny enough Techdirt.com comes up first on Google Search Results because Techdirt wrote about the Prime program two years ago. Techdirt (link) has apparently gotten hate mail because these unhappy patrons believe that the first result must be Amazon affiliated. Just shows you it may be better to not be mentioned on Google, much like Better than a Wooden Nickel.

Next time read the fine print:

By clicking the button below, you are purchasing the item noted above (at its regular price) as well as signing up for a Free one month trial of Amazon Prime. As the trial ends, if you want to join Amazon Prime, do nothing. At that point we will enroll you in an auto-renewing, annual membership and charge a $79 annual fee. If you prefer not to upgrade to full membership, you can easily let us know at any time before your introductory membership ends, by changing your preferences in Your Account.

Better than a Wooden Nickel has no fine print, or anything fine at all.

Attention Amazon.com: You Have A Bunch Of Pissed Off Customers… And Some Are Blaming Techdirt

 

Fireants Deserve to Die!

Fireants blow. My father swells up elephantiasis style whenever he is bit. I read today that scientists have found a virus that kicks ant ass. I am a bit worried that introducing a virus to eliminate the fireant problem may not stop with the ants, but if we can figure it how not to kill ladybugs, praying mantis, and ponys, lets exterminate those ant bastards. I have a biologist friend who if given the power would not kill all mosquitoes, and presumedly all fireants. I realize even bugs may play a valuable role in the ecosystem, but I vote mosquitoes off Earth. If you ever get malaria and feel otherwise, please comment. The article is below. I hope this is the last time I cite an article from Lubbock, Texas:

link

LUBBOCK, Texas – Imported red fire ants have plagued farmers, ranchers and others for decades. Now the reviled pests are facing a bug of their own.

Researchers have pinpointed a naturally occurring virus that kills the ants, which arrived in the U.S. in the 1930s and now cause $6 billion in damage annually nationwide, including about $1.2 billion in Texas.

Signs in China — English is not their first language

When I was in China, I noticed that the Chinese tried very hard to translate signs into English, but were not always successful. I took lots of pictures of signs during my trip. Now posting crazy translations are all in vogue on the internet, including a mention of a sign in Beijing of “Racist Park” that has now been renamed to clean up the city for the Olympics. Hopefully China removed any racists, and not just the signs. Today I saw the latest Chinese bad translationsign being posted which of course I transmit to the world. Pretty dumb actually, and whoever wrote the sign writes much better English than I do Mandarin.

Get Rich Slowly Blog — He is getting rich very slowly writing his blog

One of the blogs I read is Getting Rich Slowly, a personal finance site. Today the author describes how his much more popular blog than mine makes peanuts–$13,752 and change last year, as much as he says “[t]his is not peanuts.” Blogging is tough, go to law school or become an i-banker if you want more than peanuts. He is truly getting rich slowly. I am getting rich quickly at my day job. Then I plan to get poor even faster.

link

He says:

I made $13,752.12 (before taxes) during the first twelve months of Get Rich Slowly. I expect to make about $30,000 in the coming year. This is not peanuts. However, it’s not great pay either. I spend several hours every day reading books, searching web sites, and exchanging e-mail. And I write. I spend more time each week working on this site than I do at my day job.

I believe Get Rich Slowly is an atypical example. More normal, I think, are the results at my other blogs. My six-year-old personal site gets about 1100 visitors each day. It earns me an average of $120/month. I also run several minor blogs. They earn me about $20/month combined.

Another map of subway systems

http://www.radicalcartography.net/?subways

Speedread the internet — Get a RSS reader — Bloglines is my favorite

Slate says:

But there’s a way to keep track of the New York Times, the Washington Post, Talkingpointsmemo.com, Wonkette—most major newspapers and nearly all blogs—in a lightweight, speed-readable format that lets you scan dozens, even hundreds, of fresh headlines a day without the time-wasting tedium of opening one Web site after another. All you need to do is download and install an RSS reader, which is no harder than installing Netscape’s browser was in 1994. You can then scroll through cleanly organized headlines and story summaries. The result is an executive summary of what’s new on the Net today. When you see a story you want to read, you click on it. One screenshot is worth a thousand words:

My favorite reader is www.bloglines.com.

Best Personal Finance Blog — 5 Wooden Nickels Rating

The Simple Dollar is the best personal finance blog. Besides great advice, the author reviews personal finance best sellers and gives comprehensive summaries of the books as part of his 52 personal finance books in 52 week project. He even summarizes Consumer Reports every month. Check it out at http://www.thesimpledollar.com/