Shoestring Theory

This was too appropriate not to post (especially given the news of the last month). Click the picture for a full size image where you can actually read the text (or go to Bunny’s site). You should go there anyway and enjoy the wonderfulness that is Bunny.
Bunny is created by Huw Davies and [...]

Classy folks, real classy.
So normally I despise the celebrity gossip/rumor mill, but this one intersected with two of my favorite sites, Wikipedia and eBay.
The St. Petersburg Times is reporting:
It’s war of the Web roses between St. Petersburg’s Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, and his ex-girlfriend, Rachel Marsden. She claims he dumped her via his Wikipedia [...]

I had known this was coming, but eBay sent out a notification to buyers today announcing that complete user IDs will no longer be displayed on any auction format listings.
Soon we will no longer display the complete user IDs of people bidding on any auction-style listing. Instead, we’ll use asterisks such as x***y to protect [...]

Looks like eBay has agreed to fork over some money to MercExchange and finally end the long patent battle over eBay’s “Buy It Now” feature. The San Francisco Gate is reporting:
As part of the agreement, eBay will buy three patents for e-commerce from its adversary, along with some additional assets. Financial terms of the [...]

Many years ago, I pissed away a golden opportunity. The University of Kansas, private organizations and assorted government agencies heaped money on me to go to school (hint: NMS). Who knew, brains actually can pay off. But, being young, foolish and a little lost, I dropped out, giving up all that money. [...]

Dan Ariely explains why your life needs fewer options.
Keeping too many options open could actually hurt you. Maintaining options in life can sap time, money and resources, explained Dr. Dan Ariely of MIT in a New York Times interview.
Areily and economist Jiwoong Shin tested students at MIT with a simple computer [...]

Let’s play a game! What’s under the keyboard? (Note, not the actual keyboard in question.)
Governments really shouldn’t use laptops. They just seem to lose, misplace or let the dang thangs get stolen a little too easily. In another privacy embarrassment for the British government, an encrypted CD with “highly confidential” government [...]

More stats from PowerSellers Unite.
Put a fork in it, for it is done. Statistics are again from PowerSellers Unite. You can visit them to see the current volume versus the same time on the previous day at their site anytime.
Total listings increased 203,254 over the same time yesterday, or a 1.49 percent [...]

More stats from PowerSellers Unite.
Barring any shocking (or even interesting) news about this year’s eBay boycott, this should be the next to last post dealing with the numbers. As always, statistics are from PowerSellers Unite. You can visit them to see the current volume versus the same time on the previous day at [...]

Let’s cover some background before we get to the funny auction. There were a ton of news stories this week about Paul Mawhinney putting his legendary music collection up for sale on eBay for three million dollars.
From the Pittsburg Business Times:
After 46 years of collecting and 36 years of running Record-Rama, Mr. Mawhinney’s collection [...]