Affiliate & Privacy Info Disclaimer

Ugh, basic maintenance -- not the fun stuff but it needs to be done --> hence, the really silly pic of me over there ... :-)

Okay, it is apparent that I need to take some time for blog maintenance and clean up the stuff in the right sidebar.  And I need to add an affiliate and privacy policy disclaimer.

However, before I add those to the sidebar, I need to let you know the following:

• At present, (May 23, 2014), I am an "affiliate" with Amazon dot com.  That means, if you click on a link (usually a book title here) and it takes you to Amazon dot com, a cookie will be placed on your computer.  If you make a purchase at Amazon during the next 89 days, I will receive a small commission on your purchase(s).  Unless you click on a link to Amazon dot com at someone else's site in the meantime, then they get the commission.  (I hope you would come back here and click through to Amazon, find the item(s) you want to purchase and check out -- I really could use the income!)
• However, I will not be closing my Amazon affiliate account, but ... Amazon is currently engaged in some business practices that I find offensive and unethical.  Here is an article about that:  Amazon Flexes Its Muscles in Fight Against Publishers.  This behavior is one I do not agree with.  Also, I find that searching for book titles at Amazon takes me to the Kindle Store rather than to a page for a physical book.  If I click on the link to the physical book, I get a page that looks like I will be dealing with sellers who sell through Amazon and not be directly dealing with Amazon.  (Please note, sales through these sellers still result in a small commission to me, but many people prefer to deal with the company rather than an unknown seller.  My experience has been exceptionally good, though, dealing with other sellers through the site.)
• I have applied to Abe Books to become an affiliate there.  And may apply to Powell's Books as well.  If either of them accept my application, future book suggestions will take you to one of their pages instead of Amazon's pages.  Links already pointing to Amazon will remain in place. 
• Barnes and Noble's online store does not have an affiliate or partner program that I can find.  However, if you, like me, don't agree with Amazon's business tactics and want a different source for books and related items, Barnes & Noble is another option.
• (Since I cannot figure out how to get out of this bullet list, I'll go on to Privacy Policy issues in the list rather than as a separate paragraph ...  **sigh**)  I do not collect any info from you unless you sign up to follow the blog or for a newsletter (sign-up box for that to be added later).  Actually, I don't even collect and store that info, it goes to the service that handles that action.  
• I have seen a notice on some Blogger  / Blogspot blogs that they place a cookie on your system.  But that has not been at every Blogger / Blogspot blog I have visited.  And as far as I know, this blog does not do that.  If someone ever sees such a notice at the top of the page for this blog, PLEASE let me know immediately and I will do my best to find out what the hay is going on.  If it is being done, it is by Blogger / Blogspot (which is an Google application, by the way).