ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
Yours is the much safer way to do it, for sure. I'll just go ahead and retrain myself. We need a new salt grinder.

 BlueHeronDruid wrote: 
Hmm. Well then now I'm not so sure. If he said that...

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
Okay. I asked Bill about this a few weeks ago. He said he didn't know, but would look into it.

Thanks.

 BlueHeronDruid wrote: 
How the thing got into your shopping cart is what determines who gets a cut, if any. If you just go to amazon and put a bunch of stuff in your cart, then later go to RP, click the affiliates link and complete the purchase, I am 99% certain RP doesn't see anything from that.

 
However if you use the RP link to get to amazon, put a bunch of stuff in your cart, then later go back to amazon directly, without stopping at RP first, then RP does get a cut.

at least I think so.

Dear BillG,

Didja ever figure out if you get the same commission when I begin my shopping at Amazon.com through your affiliates link, as when I merely use the link to go straight to my "shopping basket"?

Sincerely,

Needs To Know If I Must Train Myself To Be A Better RP Supporter

 BillG wrote: 
A couple years ago when I first landed on the best coast, I was working for a marketing firm that acquired all their research data from online surveys that promoted a chance to win jewelry. That was their market focus, the jewelry 'industry.' So they would conduct these surveys for many of the BIG box stores and of course the retail value of jewelry that the participants had a chance to win was just as inflated as it is in the showroom. This firm would tell their box store clients that they had 750,000 verifiable participants but since I had access to the database I happen to know that they only had about 45,000 and who knows how many of those were duplicates or triplicates because it's human nature to try to get something for free (especially if it's a $2,000 diamond tennis bracelet.) Anyway in addition to skewing the number of participants the firm would regularly cook the numbers to influence what they wanted to promote in the consumer jewelry market and guess what most people end up buying? The junk that this marketing firm would promote to the box stores via their skewed survey results. That's how "choice" works in our illustrious 'democratic' nation and it's about to influence healthcare options, the next war, or possibly a mandated vaccination for swine flu!

 BillG wrote: 

 Beanie wrote: 
1. No

2. Serve both. They'll go great together. Trust me.

:-)

Dear Bill G,

Do you ever get tempted to create an alias and and go on the boards pretend to be joe1?  Just to get back at all of us for being such a pain in your patella?

And which do you think it better:  green tea ice cream or a nice mango smoothie?  I'm trying to plan a menu for Sunday.

Thanks.

Your friend,

Beanie

 Beaker wrote: 
You're pretty much right on when it comes to how radio stations pick their playlists. Everything is focused on determining the "safest" possible list of songs, usually somewhere between 300 & 600 of them. "Safe" is defined, as you surmised, as "least likely to make you change the channel". To determine "safety", programmers rely on research data. This means that they rely on data that is skewed in a particular way — the same skew that causes endless problems everywhere someone is making decisions based on opinion polls (like, say, most major world capitals).

The data that so many rely on is based on the opinions of people who are willing to participate in opinion polls. I don't know about any of you, good readers, but I have never belonged to that particular subset of the general public.

Gotta run, but that's a start on an answer. I think that the "who participates in polls" question holds the key to an awful lot of otherwise-bizarre decision making that goes on these days.

 smokinsean wrote: 

Yeah, I don't know how you managed to capture the spirit of "the X" so well here on RP, but methinks it had something to do with all of the "sunshine" you were exposed to in CA and HI back in the day!

Dear BillG,

THANKS!!

Sincerely,

Sean

Dear BillG:

Although I know I bitch and moan with the best of them about my LRC rejects (come on - "Montego Bay" doesn't even get a run at the LRC?), I very much appreciate that 1) the LRC even exists and 2) that you've accepted more than a handful of my uploads to the main playlist.

Also, do you think you might add an emoticon like this to the library:



All best,

maryte

i thought beaker's question was a serious one. pretty reasonable. don't know about anyone else.
<shrug>
dear billg,

what do you think about all these "aps". i'm kind of sick of hearing about them all. how about you?

your friend,
lily34

 MsJudi wrote: 

Dear BillG,

I want a dolly with red hair, a new bike, and for Mommy to stop hitting Daddy with that little leather thing when they think I'm asleep. I hope you like the milk and cookies. I baked them myself. Your friend, Judi.

Dear BillG;
I love listening to RP. The music is great.
The community is ......ecclectic, so I guess it sorta all works out in the end.
 Thanks!

Dear BillG,

My friend Roger who lives next door says fire trucks can go more than a hundred miles an hour and also what's the most cheese you ever ate?

Sincerely,

Manbi Bob Slattery

Dear BillG,

Isn't it kinda fun but at the same time kinda hard to deal with all of us groupies that admire you so?