Prime Day!

Okay, set aside for a moment the less-than-stellar flavor Amazon has been getting lately, or the fact that "Prime Day" is more like a pretend holiday that doesn't have any real traditions attached. Or that there's no time off work. Let's talk about value for a minute. I try not to do this often but I, like lots of independent bloggers, am an Amazon Associate where I link to items I have used/read/watched/listened to/etc. that are available on Amazon, and if you are convinced by my pitch or in the market for them and buy it I get a little cut. Using an Associate's link does not increase the price or change anything but the (probably starving) Associate gets a small percentage of that sale. Hence, we are pretty motivated. Like door-to-door salesmen, but less annoying and we can't jam our foot in the door.

So the idea is that Prime is like membership at a wholesale club, at least that's the way it always seemed to me. I have been a Prime member for a decade now and have always gotten value above and beyond the price.

Here's the first link for Prime Day, it's not too late to sign up for a free trial and get some of the deals Amazon is offering only to Prime members. I first signed up in college so I could get the sweet free two day shipping on textbooks and then I started using it on other products that were not available in my area. The service has improved quite a bit since then, I promise that if you do a lot of shopping this alone will pay for the membership.

Next is for Prime Video, when I first signed up it took a while before I realized what this was. At that time I didn't have a smart phone or ability to stream video on my TV so I just watched stuff through my computer monitor, but even that was awesome. I actually had this before Netflix or Hulu, and it works really well on both my phone and through my Roku 1 Streaming Media Player (2710R).

Then there is Prime Music. Oh man, I was never a big fan of Pandora, which is the only parallel I can think of but I know there are other comparable streaming services. This one lets you stream whole albums or make playlists without any ads. And it is included in a Prime Membership but you get a free trial for each one through these separate links. The only concern I've ever had is that you can only use it on one device at a time. So Mrs. Kraken and I sometimes duel over it, and we also use it as bedtime music for the junior sea monsters as well. I found one day that they had given me a 6 month free trial of Unlimited, which is pretty much what it sounds like because I have yet to not find a song/artist that I looked for. I can even stream Jello Biafra's spoken word albums and stuff, which I used to have on CD but have since sacrificed to the moving gods when settling in a new nest. I will be renewing this service. It is beyond convenient to have every song I want to listen to available at a moment's notice and not having to thumb through racks of CDs. But I'm ancient, you may not even remember those days.

The last one is for Audible. Now unfortunately you don't get a completely free trial here but you do save 40% for 6 months. I started using this service in college too and took advantage of a commute to listen to history books, or maybe it was using the audiobooks to ease the commute I forget. But I have to say that it is great value even at full price. You get one credit each month to add a book to your collection and then a big discount on additional books each month. There's a very easy app to access the collection on your phone or sync them to whatever device you use.

I'm not going to link to the Kindle promotion because I don't personally have or use a Kindle. Maybe it's great, maybe not but I have always enjoyed print and turning pages. And not having to plug in my book. I guess I'm old fashioned that way. If you use a Kindle or similar E-book reader let me know how it works, I'd love to hear your story.

Thanks for taking a look at these links, I only want to plug things that I really use and value. It may be cliche but Amazon Prime is a great value and has been great utility for my family.

Gin and Tacos: A Beginner's Guide

Gin and Tacos is a political satire website. This is the first and foremost guideline for beginners. If you read something there or on the Facebook page that serves as kind of a Fight Club for over educated, underemployed, and cynical Gen Xer types that doesn't make sense to you, then you should seriously consider refraining from commenting on it. The boss's name is Ed, and I for one am tired of him having lecture the community when their friends and family show up and bleat about him being a communist, socialist, elitist, and whatever ad hominem attacks bubble up from random synapse firings, with no sense of humor. Or worse, take the satirical posts as sincere. However and wherever you come into a GnT post, be assured that most members of the community (at least the politically left-leaning ones, including me) were once outsiders as well. Surrender your pride and go to the back of the line if you want to be a part of this rogue's gallery. Be prepared for hazing and ridicule if you comment and didn't get the joke, they aren't laughing with you.

We all wish we had had that friend to take us aside and explain the joke while growing up. The eldest child in a family, the youngest kid on the block who was lowest in the pecking order, the transplant from another school, or any of a million reasons why you are the new guy/gal. What happens when you are exposed to some new form of art, humor, pop culture, or biological function? Usually it's not pretty. Pull up a chair stranger, and let ol' Uncle Kraken slip a sticky, slimy tentacle over your shoulder and explain what's what around the barnyard. Like Fight Club, we have a few rules for clean livin'.

1. Ed is smarter than you. Lay aside your ego and remember that fact before popping off an indignant or self-righteous quip in the tone of "well I never!" Or a comment to the tune of "this can't be serious" because no, it's not. His essays on the actual site are often serious, as well as insightful and necessary analysis into the evils of right wing government and political types but many of the Facebook posts are sturdily-constructed jabs at rural baby boomers who have been such a drag on progress. If these upset you, reexamine your life.

2. This is our clubhouse, we are under no obligation to dumb it down for you. If you don't catch on to the satire or obscure pop culture references, remember that Google is your friend.

3. Everyone has a sad story to tell. Your's isn't unique. Unless it will add something immediate and relevant to the thread, save it. There's a reason many of Ed's posts include a section about their relative's friend's roommate, etc. Anecdotal evidence is dubious at best. If you can't prove something, don't bother introducing it.

4. The humor here is often on the dark side. As evidenced by the sometime slogan of "Everything is terrible, all the time" employed by Ed and occasionally featured on GnT-branded merchandise. If you believe in a limitless future where things will be significantly better, stow that dream sunshine it's not going to do you any good here.

5. Be prepared to defend your arguments and be on the unpopular side at least half the time. About the only thread tying us together is the intelligent observation that we were too young to have made it in the old economy but too old to have prepared for the new. There is great comical significance to things like "retirement", "paying off student loans", "finding a fulfilling and prosperous career." Everything else is debatable.

6. You can comment but you can't publish original posts. If you have objections to this, see rule #1 above.

7. Remember, most of #1's posts are satire but the rest contain a heaping dollop of irony. There is very little that is straight-forward. Ed likes it this way to confuse the low-information trolls. See rule #1 and #2, political analysis does not need to be dumbed down to a childlike level just because cosmopolitan sophistication makes doughfacedonny's supporters' heads hurt.

8. If you see satire and immediately take offense because it sounds like you... Just leave, we don't want to deal with trolls. You'd be happier somewhere else.

9. Pop culture references have a pretty long shelf life here. If you recognized the Joker's voice in #8 you might be okay. Jack Nicholson's Joker that is.

10. #1's influences include H.L. Mencken, if you are familiar with Mencken's work, welcome. If you had to look up the name and cannot fathom why we need a voice like Mencken's (minus the racism and other 1920s vices) in this insane asylum of a republic, seek political engagement elsewhere.

So, depending on your circumstances, this list forms a baseline of introduction. And again, this is only for the impulse-control issues crowd that MUST. COMMENT. ON. ANYTHING. THAT OFFENDS. ME. IMMEDIATELY!