I’ve spent the last week in Vegas on business and I can’t wait to get home to NC. I really miss the color green, and although it was something like 900 degrees in Vegas I wouldn’t know because I was in a conference center, thus I’m also looking forward to seeing the sun again.

BTW, it rained in Vegas while I was there and I learned that the news folks there treat rain like we treat snow in NC. They rolled out team coverage with quadruple Doppler technology to let everyone know that when you get a cloudburst that produces 1/10 of one inch of rain the ground gets wet and the roads get slick. They also want you to know that the cumulative rain total for June is 1/10 of one inch and that they are just as capable of finding the dumbest people in the city for “man on the street” interviews as the news folks in NC are. Oh,, and 109 is frickin’ hot.

Yep, looking forward to getting home. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Amazon.com is in a tax tiff with North Carolina and as a result any North Carolinian based person or business is apparently no longer welcome in the company’s Associates Program. Not that it means a whole lot to me because in the however many years I’ve been a member I think I’ve earned a grand total of $6 which is less than the minimum they require to actually go to the trouble of sending me money, and now that I’ve been tossed I’ll never attain my goal of becoming an Amazon gazillionaire. Despite the fact that this means literally nothing to me I still feel like I’ve gotten a “Dear John” letter…oh wait, I guess I kind of have. Anyway, here’s the text of the email they sent to gid rid of me:

Subject: Important Notice from the Amazon Associates Program

We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to notify you that your Associates account has been closed as of June 26, 2009. This is a direct result of the unconstitutional tax collection scheme expected to be passed any day now by the North Carolina state legislature (the General Assembly) and signed by the governor. As a result, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com after June 26. We were forced to take this unfortunate action in anticipation of actual enactment because of uncertainties surrounding the legislation s effective date.

Please be assured that all qualifying referral fees earned prior to June 26, 2009 will be processed and paid in full in accordance with our regular referral fee schedule. Based on your account closure date of June 26, 2009, any final payments will be paid by September 1, 2009.

In the event that North Carolina repeals this tax collection scheme, we would certainly be happy to re-open our Associates program to North Carolina residents.

The North Carolina General Assembly s website is http://www.ncleg.net/ [ http://www.ncleg.net/ ], and additional information may be obtained from the Performance Marketing Alliance at http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/ [ http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/ ].

We have enjoyed working with you and other North Carolina-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program, and wish you all the best in your future.

Best Regards,

The Amazon Associates Team

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

• Groundbreaking set on apartment complex for people with disabilities
  (tags: ping.fm)

• EdCone.com: Diners, Drive-ins and Dives
  I got an email from a researcher for the teevee program Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, asking for recommendations in the Triad. "We are looking for restaurants that serve fresh, made from scratch, homemade interesting food. It is always helpful if…
  (tags: ping.fm)

Yesterday I got an email from a researcher for a Food Network show called Diners, Dives and Drive Thrus (or something like that) asking for suggestions for local joints to feature on their show. I offered up one or two and suggested she contact Esbee and Ed Cone since they know way more than I do about local eateries. I also figured that they would post the question on their blogs and get a ton of suggestions since they have lots of readers who are, uh, enthusiastic in their commenting. (I don’t know if she contacted Ed or Esbee before or after I suggested it, but it doesn’t really matter). Sure enough Ed posted it and the last time I looked he had over 24 comments. http://bit.ly/QouK2

Through this process we learned that the researcher had reached out to lots of local bloggers and, most importantly, to Smitty who HAS to know more about local eats than anyone. How did she find them? I know she found me via my blog and I’ll bet she found Smitty’s Notes simply by doing any kind of search on Winston-Salem. And really, what better way to do local research than to “crowd source” it to a bunch of people who love nothing more than writing about local happenings.

BTW, if you have a local joint you’d recommend for the show feel free to leave it in the comments and I’ll email it to the researcher. Locally, family owned and unique are the basic criteria. Also, I’d say anything froo-froo is out. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

• Pet Python Slithers Into Man's Apartment – Winston-Salem News Story …
  Man finds a python in the bathroom of his apartment in Winston-Salem. I hate snakes.
  (tags: apartment)
• Some data on health care and health care reform in North Carolina …
  As Ed wrote, the BCBSNC numbers in this piece are eye opening.
  (tags: healthcare insurance healthinsurance)

• Esbee Points to a Great Obit
  "Charlie always had a knack with animals and children and ladies." Obviously the third is the most important knack.
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• Yes! Weekly Piece on How Compromise Came About for Jordan Lake Rules
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  (tags: greensboro environment northcarolina)

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  (tags: economics healthcare)
• Winston-Salem Scam by TXT
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  (tags: scam winston-salem)
• Comparative Research for Drug (and other Health Care) Companies? Uh, probably not
  Lex points to an article about a bill sponsored by some Republicans that would ban Medicare and Medicaid from using comparative research on the efficacy of medical devices and drugs to deny coverage. Think they're looking out for patients? Right….
  (tags: health healthcare pharma)
• Ed Cone's Fathers Day Column
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  (tags: family)

• Local Froomkin Connection
  The to-do du jour of blogging this week was the cancellation of political blogger Dan Froomkin's contract by the Washington Post. It was vaguely interesting to me at first, but became more interesting when I read Winston-Salem Journal editor Ken Otterbourg's blog post about having dinner with a young reporter named Dan Froomkin at Mr. BBQ in W-S. I wonder how many reporters who have gone on to (relative) journalistic stardom have gotten their start at the Camel City rag?
  (tags: winston-salem newspapers)

• The housing and finance sectors caused the economic mess. Here's why …
  Why we shouldn't depend on housing and finance sectors to get us out of the economic mess.
  (tags: economics)
• Converting Condos to Apartments
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  (tags: realestate greensboro taa apartment)