This is the pattern on the new tie I just got via eBay. Actually, I think it’s a used tie – I cannot find this one for sale anywhere now – but in good shape, so it doesn’t matter. Now, I’m not a tie guy, but clearly either this is a tie made for this guy, or I am a guy made for this tie.
If your looking for Peanuts ties, Amazon certainly has a good selection of them, but not this one.
And that bridges me to my next topic: Amazon. As you may know, the money that Amazon slips me when you follow a link from here and order something there goes a long way to funding the AAUGH Blog, helping pay for the AAUGH.com Reference Library and a wee bit for the time that I spend writing posts, answering questions, and so forth. Unfortunately, that may come to an end; California may pass a law saying that if you pay Californians like me referral money, then you have to charge sales tax on items shipped to this state. And I know that in other states where such a law has passed, Amazon has chosen to stop paying referral fees rather than to start charging sales tax. Personally, I’m undecided how I feel about this law; it definitely hurts me, but I’m not one of those people who feels that laws can be judged simply by their effect on me.
I’ve been thinking about this for a while – thinking about doing a post like this – but since Amazon just sent out warning letters, I reckon other bloggers will be speaking on this, so I might as well myself. (I’m unsure if the goal of the warning letters is actually to warn us, or if it’s to encourage us to Write Our State Congressfolk). Should this law pass, and should Amazon follow through on their threats (and I’m not sure that they will; they’d lose a large portion of their referrers, opening up an opportunity for competitors), you will see a few changes in the AAUGH Blog. One is that we’re likely to switch our links to some online booksite that still has a referral program. However, even with a respect site, that is likely to generate less money than the Amazon links currently do. As such, I’m likely to put up a “tip jar”, a link where regular readers can, if they wish, slide me a few bucks. It’s not how I’d prefer to do business – I’ve never been attracting to busking or table-bussing or other tip-based endeavors – but I slide enough money to NPR and PBS and such that I don’t feel it’s illegitimate (although perhaps a little silly in a site dedicated to letting you know minutae about Peanuts media.)
That’s more than you probably care about at this point; certainly more than you should care about. I just wanted to give some warning so it doesn’t come as a surprise if and when it happens.
