Thursday, January 13, 2011

Money, It's a Drag

Those of you who read this blog regularly may have noticed a new feature since yesterday in the upper right-hand rail: a PayPal donate button. I have been wrestling with the issue of money almost since I began this blog. I am more fortunate than most in that I live quite frugally and am good at saving money. However, my cash flow has become sharply curtailed since October 2010 and I am trying to develop alternative flows of cash to make up for the missing regular paycheck. I decided to put the PayPal donation button there to give my readers the opportunity if they so choose to support my writing efforts and Alma's art without having to view a bunch of annoying cyber ads.

It turns out that blogger.com allows its writers to display ads from Google and get money from the views of people looking at the ads. Since so much of the internet has devolved into a giant cyber strip mall with all the attendant hucksterism and plain out ugliness, I decided not to inflict the ubiquitous Google ads upon my readers, a decision of which I hope Thoreau would approve. This blog is meant to be a refuge from the 'getting and spending' that so dominates every cyber minute these days, a place the reader can come to catch his breath and reflect upon some of life's simpler (and less expensive) pleasures. And, of course, read my scintillating commentary on current events and the consumer society as seen from the trenches.

However, I will say this. As much as Alma and I will be able to put your donations to good use in further funding my writing and her art, we would prefer that anyone making a donation here first make a comment on the blog or at Alma's virtual gallery. In fact, my preference is that my readers comment first and donate second. I will accept any donations but would really prefer that anyone donating first comment on one or more of the posts that move him or her.

On an adminsitrative note, Alma and I share a PayPal account for her virtual art gallery: http://almasartasylum.com/. So if you do click to donate, you will see her art gallery's primary email address: alma@almasartasylum.com It's the address of record on our PayPal account and it seemed the height of silliness to me to create yet another PayPal account just so that readers thinking of donating would not be confused.

To those who do donate, thank you in advance. I will endeavor to respond to anyone donating, technology willing.

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