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It promotes its Prime membership very aggressively. I have ordered half a dozen items from Amazon in the past year, but I am not yet eligible to review any of them because I paid for them with my gift card. I do not understand how…

One can self-publish books via Amazon Kindly Direct Publishing. The publishing is limited to certain languages. 

Oxbow NWR: Great for canoeing on the calm Nashua River. Minimally maintained, unstaffed, confusing directions. It has a northern part and a southern part, divided by R. 2. These two parts are not connected. by any trails. Parker River NWR: Well maintained, staffed, easy to…

Your input to AI can be used by it to train models and share the information with other users. This may not be a concern for most AI users who usually just ask questions and provide non-proprietary information. It can be a serious issue for…

There are many AI plug-ins. If you have a subscription from ChatGPT, it makes sense to integrate ChatGPT with Android Studio. Install JetBrains AI Assistant (File → Settings → Plugins → Marketplace → JetBrains AI Assistant → Install). IMPORTANT: do not use the default ChatGPT…

Pro of driving EV in Iowa: Iowa has one of the lowest electricity rates An inexpensive Nissan LEAF with a range of 150 miles can save a lot of money without sacrificing driving comfort in comparison with an EV with an range over 200 miles.

1% apps account for 94% downloads. Five shifts: The following will increase the visibility of an app: Video surveillance marketing tags: ONVIF, Network Camera, IP Camera, VMS, Viewer, Monitor, App, #ONVIF, #NetworkCamera, #IPCamera, #VMS, #Viewer, #Monitor, #App,

eBay, AliExpress, and Temu are great for purchasing small items. The shipping is free or inexpensive. Most small items are made in China currently. I usually buy things on eBay sold by US sellers. If an item on eBay has an estimated delivery time over…

Twitter API is like Twitter – simple, easy to use and informative. The most involving part of using Twitter API is the OAuth authentication part, and the tricky part of the OAuth authentication is the signature generation as usual. Twitter has an extremely informative page…

Europe Belgium (2009) Bosnia and Herzegovina (2022) Bulgaria (2025) Croatia (2022) Czechia (2024) Estonia (2023) France (2023) Germany (2009, 2023) Hungary (2022) Latvia (2023) Lithuania (2023) Moldova (2023) Netherlands (2009) Poland (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026) Romania (2023, 2025, 2026) Slovakia (2024) UK (2023) Ukraine…

Many people living under unstable totalitarian regimes are wisely transferring their assets to normal countries to protect their values. Opening a bank account in the US only requires a passport and personal presence. It is very beneficial obtain a Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) by…

In August 2018, I closed my bank account that was opened in 1996 when I moved to Greater Boston in 1996. It was initially with BayBank. The history: 1996 BayBank 1997 BayBank and Bank of Boston completed their merger to form BankBoston. 1999 BankBoston was…

The change of the servicer of a mortgage can be so frequent that it can be confusing to the mortgagor. An NBKC (National Bank of Kansas City) initiated mortgage has gone through NBKC (2021) Flagstar Bank (September 2022) (website: myloans.net) Nationstar Mortgage (September 2024)(website: mcooper.com)…

There are many online fax services. FaxZero is handy. You can send a fax for free without any registration. However, it takes 5 to 10 minutes to send a fax, so it may not be suitable if you have someone waiting for your fax on…

As many as 147.9 million consumers have been affected by Equifax Data Breach. Equifax has taken great steps to address the issue. Impacted users get FREE Credit monitoring (TrustedID.com) which usually costs up to over $200/year.

A friend Lucie recommended Sabadil to me in 2014, and I found it was effective with few side effects. Its name soon changed to RhinAllergy: Boiron changed the name again to AllergyCalm in 2023.

(originally written in 2009) 《百年中國 民主滄桑》 The idea of democracy was introduced to China in the early 20th century. The struggle for democracy has never stopped, with the last major movement being the June Fourth Movement in 1989. Many people have given their lives for…

It is not reliable. Sometimes making an RDP to that computer is needed before the share files can be accessed. Very strange. A program may have to try accessing the shared files twice before the success. Disabling firewall may help. Tips from a Microsoft engineer:…

I ordered a package of firs-aid supplied to bring to Ukraine under Rashist slaughter and requested to have the delivery by 2026-03-09, the day before my departure. Look at how inefficient UPS is: It took more than two days to move the package from Middletown,…