Thursday, March 24, 2005
Amazon camera deal, purse rebellion, and spamming blog commentsSo I decided to take the plunge & buy a new camera :) It's been a long time in the coming, almost 3 years? maybe more since I purchased my happy little canon s200 for my trip to Puerto Rico (oh man what a wonderful place, I would so be a good trophy wife to someone who owned a home in Old San Juan with the garden in the foyer...) But lately it can't hold a charge, even after purchasing new batteries, new charger, replacing media... bummer too since I love this camera. I used ot take it everywhere with me, taking macros of flowers and trees (my favorite pic is almost always of a cherry blossom tree in bloom, up close and shivering)... and have been bummed for it not to work. So I bought its bigger older brother from amazon today, s410. It's been discon't to make way for sd cards, but this was a good fit for me since I alread have all the compatible media and I really love the convenience of putting it in my pocket. See, I don't carry a purse. I think I may be one of the few women in the United States who doesn't drag a big bag of crap around with them wherever they go. Why do you need to carry a bag of lozenges, hand cream, eyeliner and a behemoth change purse checkbook combo (why are you still writing checks??)... when all you need are keys and id/atm? That's what pockets are for... (maybe this is why I can't attract anyone. I am missing the magical purse element that exudes loveme from the handles and pheremones from the buckles...) Which is *not* to say I have never carried a purse. And the weird thing is, when I carry a purse I am overtaken with the compulsion to stuff it full of useless crap I would not otherwise need if I were not dragging it around. Like, I *have* the space for this little kleenex carryalong, and it *is* a carryalong, says so right there on the package... and wouldn't I be the *hero* if someone were to have a running nose and I could whip this fantastic (waste-of-)plastic pack of kleenex to wipewipewipe germs (eeks!) away... So I get it -- the compulsion, but I don't get the compulsion when I'm not carrying a purse. Like, I never think I should be shlepping around a pack of kleenex, but if I have a purse I may as well... I just don't carry a purse. Just a cardcase, keys and money... and the camera! (See, you thought I forgot what I was talking about in the first place, eh?) Okay, so I know what I want, it's an okay price but dammit if I do call myself a "bargain shopper." I mean, like everything I buy has to have some special deal about it, coupon code, free shipping, no tax-- etc. So I scour fatwallet for the best way to put this together, and I found two really cool tricks for saving money at amazon.com (this is not affiliate crap, I won't link it either), since amazon so rarely has coupons on anything. But it's still always a great place to shop, free ship no tax to me in cali... Okay, program called dealpass which is a subscription "savings" program. You pay them $160 or something a year, and get the privilege of buying giftcards to various retailers for 80% od face value. The restriction is that you pay 100% up front and are credited back 20% to the paying credit card at the beginning of each month. There's also a restriction of say $500 in cards per retailer per year. Now, dealpass will give you a "free" 30 day trial, during which you can purchase giftcards. So, join during the middle of the month, buy the cards the SAME day you join so they ship faster, get the credit at the beginning of the month to the credit card, and cancel the program before 30 days are up. Easy peasy eh, and you net 20% off at certain retailers, incl. amazon :) Amazon also does not regularly have "cashback" deals with places like ebates, fatcash or upromise but they recently started their "share the pi" percent off program. Use their a9 search service, and after a predetermined (but not disclosed) amount of time using the search engine for all your search engine needs, you qualify to save pi/2 (1.57 %) off of your amazon purchase, INCLUDING tax & shipping. I'm thinking it took me about 3 days, and about six searches a day maybe to qualify. I also looked at the alexa.com website, and once I closed it I noticed the pi/2 discount was available in my amazon shopping cart. Yay! Bought the camera, winning at internet poker for dummies, super system 2, and some more cookery gadgets for a hair under $300, incl. the pi/2 discount. (Without it, the total was abot $305, so I saved $5 on top of the 20% I saved from using the giftcards I purchased from dealpass for the entire purchase. So, it'll end up being about $240 for the camera,... so I figure I got winning at internet poker for dummies, ss2 and the cooking stuff for more than free ($10 off retail of $250). See, if I were a guy I'd have half one right now thinking of how proud I am to have done it... :) $60 is like, 10 more balls of that niiiice yarn that came in the mail today. (This is how I've justifed my way into over 15 pounds of yarn sitting beneath my desk and no time to knit any of it!) Oh! and it is "Dummies" month (March)... so my "winning at internet poker for dummies" book comes with a $5 rebate by mail using this P!D!F! link. More yarn! I used the a9 search... it's google search results "augmented" with alexa and a9 results. It *is* nice, but I guess I miss my old pal google when using it. So, of course being me I used a9 to search for "gamesgrid poker" and ran across so many blogs that had been spammed in their comments... which to tell the truth was a strange sight for me. See, I only recently started reading poker blogs,and I have never noticed these kinds of comments dumping links into the blog. I also have been a long time fan of knitting blogs and also have never seen that... I found it weird the programmers for these spambots wouldn't target gambling blogs. I guess volume and not correct routing is key... So I've been keeping my eye out for articles about spamming and blogs... Interview with a link spammer says the target for spamming blogs can be anywhere from twnty thousand and a hundred thousand blogs as one target; that there are revenues of £100,000 to £200,000 per month to be made from click-thrus on email/blog spam, and that the "principal" goal of blog comment spamming is to "come top of the search engines for his chosen site's phrase." Revenues are generated from clicks, when a user has clicked thru to the receiving ad the spammer gets paid, no matter the end result of the click-- which points to the fact that content or value of the blog is not as important as much as mass commenting for generating revenue is. And according to this article on bad email habits sustaining the spam industry, one in three have clicked on links in spam email messages, and one in ten actually bought advertised products via spam. So there is also value in email as well, but the blog spamming is easier to run and has no need for targeting. So, what's the answer? I think that a valid argument is found in the abovementioned guardian article about the structure of affiliate programs that encourage this type of spam and makes it profitable enough to do: "Perhaps the affiliate system could be seen as a form of outsourcing: the top-level site gets lots of people competing to find the best way to get visitors to the site. Darwin would understand. Link spamming, with its abuse of common resources, turns out the most efficient, just as cutting down virgin Indonesian and Amazonian rain forest is the most efficient way for loggers there to get wood. If it raises the global temperature of the blogging community, well, that's life on planet internet, isn't it?" Copyright Charles Arthur, 31 Jan 2005. I find it fascinating, and I regret being flippant earlier about the spam not being a problem for bloggers. Not from the articles, but from the fact I easily waded thru five a9 pages of spammed blogs looking for something, and it was a shock I suppose. aK gamesgrid
10:00:59 PM |
Knit WIPs inside! Mmmm, malabrigoMore, More! -slimey Since my true love is knitting blogs, I was thinking yesterday-- why do I pour over them like a new lover's skin? Pics. I love pics in blogs... (again, trying to justify buying a new camera!) so I took pics of all the WIPs (works in progress, for non-knitterly folk out there) to play along, along wih a new love... Handpaintedyarn.com, aka Malabrigo. I cannot cannot say how much I am in love with this yarn. I literally almost kissed the mailman today when he brought me this package... I special ordered this color combo from marcos since I have a strange fascination with the color orange but can't bear to use solely orange yarn (insert, pumpkin candle imagery inside: orange on the outside, yellow on the inside...)  6 skeins of merino heaven. This stuff can *totally* be worn against the skin (unlike some wools). I have it earmarked for clapotis, since I like to be the last one on earth to do anything and the clap was *so* a year ago! But it's a beaut, and kate is a genius, so there you go. I'm totally going to order more... maybe I'll work up to a sweater in time for next fall :) My "shimmer" shrug, of course again from knitty, the most inspiring place around for badass patterns from the community. I'm using Cascade's pima tencel, since I wanted something a little less bright for eeryday wear. The pima is so nice-- this is the 1st time I've earnestly used cotton (except sugar & cream for washcloth/stitch pattern experiments), and it is wonderful. I didn't like the Lily so this was a nice surpirse for me... Don't you love the color? I was going to get red but when I saw this I had to have it :) And, I don't think I'm bold enough yet for red.  I started the back before I started the sleeves, and found out I need the sleeves since they're not sewn on but added via live stitches. Oops. Oh well, I hinked up the diamond/lozenge pattern anyway, so I think the entire back piece I started (2 days worth) will be frogged. My mind wasn't on it but Richard Chamberlain ::swoon:: so, you really can't blame me. I think I'll also go one needle size down (6/7 from 7/8), the 7/8 combo is on gauge but seems "holey". The sizing is a little off as well, I'm a L grrl esp. when it comes around the bust/ribcage area, but the L is too big for me. Same with the M sized sleeves I'm on... I think it may be that the pima tencel has much less drape than the glimmer yarn of the original, and is much thicker than glimmer yarn. I'm hoping this will be a nice cool summer nite shrug-- and maybe coax me into a tank/halter top (so not my style, which I'm trying to change. See cameltoe post above for how that's working out...) A scarf! How original. But I had to buy the one lone skein of one ply Anny Blatt on the clearnace table, eevn though it is SO not bulky wool weather. It's so pretty-- blues & dark grey mix. Using the "wavy gravy" pattern from Stitch N Bitch Nation (in love with this book! marry me debbie!)... It's so hard to find real unisex/mens scarves I like, so I'm kinda toying with the idea of giving it to a (guy) friend, but not sure. I'm sure once wool weather rolls around again I'll know ;) But I could keep it if knitterly gift gets rejected ... knowing me though I'd rip it apart and set it on fire in the backyard.  Finally the lone sock. I always do this, knit one sock and then have no desire to do the other :) I actually taught myself knitting socks on 2 circulars to combat the problem, so I have no idea what drove me to dpns (double pointed needles). A gift for the coolest baby around, and since this is a toddler size (I'm guessing? Looks huge, from the opal kids sock pattern) and also in superwash wool, I'm not feeling as guilty that it prolly wont see the light of feet for a while now.  It's cherry tree hill supersock merino... my dreamstuff. I love the feel of koigu, but don't like to knit with anything much finer than the CTH whcih has a wonderful softness of its own, as well as a springy hand. I buy endlots on ebay, they last me quite a while (I think I bought this endlot colorway almost a year ago! Was sitting at the bottom of the yarn box, crying for attention.) And a gratuitious pic of my new klacka-klacka...  It's like the red clover one, but it has a little button to "freeze" the dials so it can't be accidentally advanced. For an extra $2 I think it was worth it and really has been a help... ::whew:: okay. So, the next thing that will prolly appear is clappy, since I'm selfish and want to knit with this yarn for myself. Thanks for looking, aK gamesgrid
2:45:54 PM |
Breakfast of champions!
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2005
Asia K
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Last update: 4/3/2005; 3:00:12 AM .
Last update: 4/3/2005; 3:00:12 AM .
