Press "Enter" to skip to content

Category: Miscellaneous

‘Bout those Amazon Native Ads

Published November 1, 2016 11:58 am by Claire

Remember those Amazon “Native Ads” we talked about last week? I ran the first of them today at the bottom of the interview for Lies of Omission. Take a look. Do you see it? If not, would you very kindly turn off your ad blocker for this site? (Instructions below.) For the month of November, Amazon is paying a 12% commission for purchases made through those ads. That’s huge; Amazon commissions usually range from 2% to 7.5%. The 12% applies only to the items listed in and purchased through the native ads. I believe it may also apply to items…

Continue reading‘Bout those Amazon Native Ads
40 Comments

Friday links

Published October 28, 2016 6:47 am by Claire
  • Fred Reed: “The beginner’s guide to death throes.”
  • Kit Perez: “Does entrapment really make good people do bad things?” A must-read.
  • From Jim B. in comments. There’s yet another new nation, this time in space. Hm. Aside from the slight matter of inaccessibility, Asgardia already seems to have a suspiciously large number of government ministries (and a rigidly top-down structure) for someplace that claims to be about freedom.
    Continue readingFriday links
    11 Comments

    • Midweek links

    Published October 26, 2016 12:02 pm by Claire
  • Oh weep! Oh wail! Oh, such a tragedy. Some 100+ DMV offices in California were closed for business up to two days due to a presumed hardware glitch. (H/T ML) Seriously, though, this does give a preview of either a) TEOTWAWKI or b) election day; take your pick.
  • Hm. Seems Iceland isn’t the only country where clowns and jokers are rising in national politics. Italy, too. (Tip o’ hat to the elusive J)
  • Hardly news, but always a good reminder: activists must be on guard against entrapment. (Also: read Rats! the free no-snitch book and pass it around.)
    Continue readingMidweek links
    11 Comments

    • Monday links

    Published October 24, 2016 7:18 am by Claire
  • There should be a special hell — a very special hell — for so-called private companies that thrive by enabling mass, unlawful government surveillance. (H/T MJR)
  • I’ve complained of authoritarian bigotry from some of the most ardent Trumpists. But ain’t nothing compares with this from some San Francisco Clintonista, who wants Trump supporters to die and their houses to burn down. Unless this is particularly wicked satire, it’s additional evidence that the authoritarian left is more violent than the right in the U.S. will ever be.
  • Though I don’t, can’t, and won’t ever support Trump, I understand those who find themselves increasingly pushed in his direction.
    Continue readingMonday links
    15 Comments

    • Sunday links

    Published October 23, 2016 1:57 am by Claire
  • Actual support for “gun control” is so lacking that the Clinton campaign chose to fake a supportive editorial.
  • Of course, we know there is plenty of support for “gun control” — in the most insanely misguided way. Hate to see somebody legally carrying a firearm? Does his potential “violence” offend you? Just grab his gun and shoot him. (And hopefully go to prison for a very long time.)
  • Google, having left “don’t be evil” long in its past, has now breached the never-very-solid barrier of supposedly anonymized tracking. They’re tracking you by name wherever you go. On a strictly voluntary basis, of course. For now.
    Continue readingSunday links
    5 Comments

    • Would anybody object …?

    Published October 22, 2016 11:40 am by Claire

    … if I ran some Amazon ads at the bottoms of blog posts in November? Amazon is offering a 12% commission (i.e. big; really whopping big) on purchases made from “native ads” during the month. The ads would look like the two below (which are just screenshots, not functional ads). Each is based on a single keyword chosen by me (in the first case “SHTF” and the second “tech”) and receives product feeds from categories I know are popular with blog readers. Ads would display anywhere from four to eight products. If you’re using an ad blocker, you’d only see…

    Continue readingWould anybody object …?
    32 Comments