On my way home, really!

It was touch-and-go for a while — I arrived at the Dublin airport with over 2 hours time left, but then American paranoia struck. Would you believe I had to wait in a long, slow-moving line to get my boarding pass, because they’d also check your passport and give you a long grilling about all the mischief you’d been up to in Ireland? And then you’d line up for Irish customs? Then Irish security? Then to enter the American Pre-Clearance Zone? Then for American customs? Then American security, again? I spent over two hours slowly shuffling forward in line. When I finally emerged from the mess, the plane was finishing up final boarding and they were about to close the jetway doors.

Very exciting. I’ll have to remember to give myself plenty of leeway next time I’m in Ireland (may there be many opportunities!)

Anyway, I’m still not home. I’m in Chicago. Then Fargo, then the drive, then the shamble into the shower and the collapse into the bed.

Amazon did what?!??

Greg Laden alerted me to a surprising message that I then found in my spam mail: Amazon has unilaterally terminated their contract with associates in Minnesota. They have a program called Amazon Associates which bloggers could take advantage of: we registered with Amazon, they gave us a little personal code to imbed in links to books, and in return for promoting Amazon with our linkage we got a little gift certificate every month, a small percentage of the profit. It wasn’t a lot of money, but it was a handy revenue trickle. For instance, I cashed out a couple of months worth of certificates from them and the money is being used to buy all the widgets (many of them through Amazon!) for the laboratory fish facility we’re building here.

So when you click through a book link here and it took you to Amazon, and you bought something, you were actually contributing a few pennies to undergraduate research at the University of Minnesota Morris.

But no more. Here’s the letter I got.

We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to notify you that your Associates account will be closed and your Amazon Services LLC Associates Program Operating Agreement will be terminated effective June 30, 2013. This is a direct result of the unconstitutional Minnesota state tax collection legislation passed by the state legislature and signed by Governor Dayton on May 23, 2013, with an effective date of July 1, 2013. As a result, we will no longer pay any advertising fees for customers referred to an Amazon Site after June 30 nor will we accept new applications for the Associates Program from Minnesota residents.

Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to July 1, 2013, will be processed and paid in full in accordance with your regular advertising fee schedule. Based on your account closure date of June 30, 2013, any final payments will be paid by August 30, 2013.

While we oppose this unconstitutional state legislation, we strongly support the federal Marketplace Fairness Act now pending before Congress. Congressional legislation is the only way to create a simplified, constitutional framework to resolve interstate sales tax issues and it would allow us to re-open our Associates program to Minnesota residents.

We thank you for being part of the Amazon Associates Program, and look forward to re-opening our program when Congress passes the Marketplace Fairness Act.

Sincerely,

The Amazon Associates Team

So…all the Amazon links scattered throughout my site will still be contributing to Amazon’s revenue stream, but I no longer get any reward for them. That’s fai…wait, no, that’s totally unfair. Is this the kind of treatment we can all expect when the New World Order of Amazon achieves complete domination of the planet? That’s worrisome.

Hey, legal people: if I were instead to have my daughter, who lives out of state, set up Amazon Associate status, and then replace the code in my links to redirect income to her, would that be reasonable? I have no interest in evading state taxes and would happily pay those, but I would be interested in evading Amazon’s punitive behavior.

20903 days

4 October 1935 to 26 December 1992. 57 years, 2 months, 22 days. 20903 days. Almost 21,000 sunrises and sunsets, almost 750 full moons, 57 steelhead seasons. 6 children; 13076 days sharing the planet with one of them, me. It seems too short, it was too short, but still…thousands of days and millions of moments, and it was a good run for a man I’m proud to call father.

To you, old man.

dadfishing

Jim of the strong hands,
Son of William and Carilda,
Husband to Darlene,
Killer of fish,
Digger of clams,
Railroad laborer and whistlepunk,
Water color artist,
Generous friend,
Pumper of gas,
Perpetual romantic,
Diesel mechanic,
Water meter reader,
Dreamer of far Barsoom,
Hunter of chanterelles,
Dark humored laughing joker,
Faultless navigator,
Immortal young strider through the cathedral forests of the Cascades,
Master caster and patient angler,
Fruit picker,
Fierce labor unionist,
Broad-shouldered carrier of children,
Inventor, Tinkerer,
Irreverent, profane, good man,
Father.

And to all the good men who go into the dark after lives of earnest toil and dedication to family, forgotten except for the spark they leave to their children. Their contributions never seem to make it into the history books, but they and the mothers are the ones who build the world we live in.

They were 20903 good days, precious, every one.

Diversity building at Coyot.es Network

USA HDR 2012-08-10 (12)

I’ve been in work and personal overload lately, and I apologize for not annoying people here nearly as frequently as I’d like. The work overload, at least, will likely lift soon. In the meantime, I wanted to pass something along about an opportunity for biodiversity-oriented bloggers. It’s below the fold. For you non-fold-looking-under Hordelings, here are some cuddly cacti:

[Read more…]

Dinner in Romania

So tonight I went to dinner with various bigwigs of the IHEU at a place that I think was called “La Mama”, and tried some of that authentic Romanian food. I had something called a Transylvanian bulz, which I chose just because I liked the name, and something that in the English version of the menu was called “mindblowing spicy pan as at mom’s house”. They were both very good. I have discovered that at least these Romanian dishes expressed a distinct fondness for paprika — I think I’ve sweated most of it out now.

I’ve only got a few days here. Somebody make recommendations for must-have true Romanian food before I leave.

(Also, it’s quite late here and my brain is beginning to drip out my ears. I might just pass out for a few hours and with any luck, wake up with my circadian rhythms reset to Eastern European time.)

23½

That’s how many hours it’s taken me to get to Bucharest. But I’m here now! The sun is shining! I’m about ready to pass out! I’m hoping a shower will reawaken my will to consciousness.

This is the view from my 18th floor hotel room window:

bucharest

I think I’m going to go for a walk in it.

Zoooom! He’s off again!

I just returned from Washington DC yesterday, and early tomorrow morning I have to fly off for the IHEU General Assembly and to speak at the Humanism Romania conference. The theme is “Education, Science, and Human Rights” — I might be able to say a few words about that.

I don’t think I’ve fully recuperated from the last trip, though, so I’m going to be thoroughly worn out by this one. Blogging may be a little intermittent for a while, especially since I think my flights and layovers total about 13 hours each way. And I’m plunging into the lab as soon as I get back, too.

The gang that terrorizes the internet

Adam Lee has a nice summary of the Women in Secularism conference. However, he does reveal that we Ftbullied him into talking the picture below, which is a no-no. You were told not to tattle, Adam Lee. The next time we meet, expect a pantsing, or even a swirlie. Also, put your lunch money in an envelope and mail it to me right now.

FTBullies

Oh, and look — even more ftbullying! We’re all holding signs abusing the theocratic governments that jail atheist bloggers.