I'm watching this situation closely. It seems like a lot of half.com sellers are moving to alibris.com.

To sell there, there is a one time 20.00 fee with a minimum of 500 books on inventory at all times.

So while they will fill the need for larger volume sellers, the average little joe college student with 5 books to sell will currently be forced to pay up on eBay it seems.

Sellyouritem.com could pick up the slack, since they have free listing and the ability to import from excel files, but they are missing the boat and not jumping on this.

-K.

Acidus wrote:
] ] Ebay is closing half.com in mid July.
]
] GOD DAMNIT! I have turned to half.com for several years now as
] the place to get technical books cheap that are not listed
] anywhere else.
]
] The void for cheap online store service will hopefully be
] filled by someone else. I don't have the time to watch ebay
] for a few weeks to happen to catch when a item goes up for
] auction.

RE: Half.com closing in July

Nothing ceases to amaze me.

] After 219 years, the University of Georgia could become
] the school with no name.
]
] UGA's already messy divorce from its fund-raising
] organization took a nasty, unexpected twist Thursday: It
] turns out that the university doesn't hold the trademark
] to its own name. Instead, in papers filed last year, the
] University of Georgia Foundation has declared itself the
] owner of all things labeled "University of Georgia."

Man, present Tech students must be loving this...

UGA to loose rights to bulldog.

The Board of Regents has ordered UGA to quit accepting funding from the University Foundation. This amounts to 400 million a day in lost funds.

They are doing this to preserve the integrity of the academic establishment.

GA Board of Regents gives up 400 million in funding today

Perhaps we need a topic called "Corporate Greed"

Ebay aquired Half.com a good while ago. At first they claimed they were intrested in the ISBN/UPC database listing capabilities the site had.

Now, the truth unveils itself.

Ebay is closing half.com in mid July.

Currently sellers are able to list any book on half.com with no up front fees. If the book sells, 20% of the selling price goes to half.com. If the book does not sell, it can sit forever or until canceled.

This is great for readers who like more obscure titles as it increases selection and supply.

eBay has closed half.com, saying that sales are not brisk enough. In reality, eBay is driving sellers to a thirty cent weekly minimum nonrefundable listing fee. For sellers that establish eBay stores, the listing fee is a bit lower, but its been my experience that stores have very little traffic without concurrent auction exposure.

To force the blood out of the turnip, eBay will also be able to derive profits from transactions that are completed via credit card on Paypal.com.

I believe that this reeks of monopolistic business practice (buy your competition and ruin/close them) that will raise the average cost of books (How can you sell a book for .75 cents it if costs 1.40 to sell it?) and will also lower the supply of books available.

ROME - The eight-month cleaning of Michelangelo's statue of David is complete, the museum which houses the Italian Renaissance masterpiece said, almost four months ahead of its 500th anniversary celebrations.

Eight-month cleaning of Michelangelo's David is complete

What K. Said.

] "We are not talking retarded people here," the clinic
] spokesman said. The two "were simply unaware, after eight
] years of marriage, of the physical requirements necessary
] to procreate."

[ Ok, how sheltered do you need to be to miss out on this knowledge. I mean, on top of that, wouldn't biology... you know, instinct, take over at some point. I guess they sleep in separate beds and don't talk about things like desire or certain physical alterations that may accompany it? Some kinda marriage.

Fuck it, I think the clinician is wrong... these people *are* retarded... in the strictest sense of the word. Their stupid families retarded them by not telling them things. So much so that some seriously fundamental human bahaviors were totally blocked. If I were them, i'd be on the phone with mom and dad right now like "HEY, WHAT THE FUCK!?"

I'm holding back the rant I want to make, but suffice it to say that i don't approve of fundamentalist bullshit or 'protecting' kids by telling them nothing, ever. This would be funny if it wasn't so sad. -k]

FOXNews.com - German Couple Finds Out Stork Isn't Real

Just how much will people give up to feel safe?

This article explores privacy issues in the age of paranoia.

Getting Naked for Big Brother

Great article. I've been building my own computers for years but I picked up some excellent tips.

How to build a computer for almost nothing at all

There's no conspiracy theory section here, but I have to admit I was thinking the same thing as the writer of this article.

The shaved head in the picture, just the way Berg looked. What he was doing there. I can't help but feel like he HAD to be a spy.

BERG- 98% Chance That This is a Military-Industrial Complex Psyop

I've never been much of a Bradd Pitt fan, and at the beginning of this movie I was wondering how they were going to pull off a man of his stature as being the best fighter around.

This is a war movie with eye candy for everyone and artists will enjoy the play of colors in the movie. The settings and costumes were extraordinary. The cinematography and art direction were stunning. The use of the color blue in the movie at times knocked my socks off.

The acting, while not stellar, was just right for a portrayal of the Greeks.

The biggest weakness of the movie was in character development. Just why were some of the main characters doing the things they were doing? There were lame attempts to explain why Achilles and Odyseus were there fighting in this war against Troy for a king they disliked, but they didn't add up. Just WHY Helen defected to Troy, but they were superficial and unbelievable. My son, 8, is still trying to figure out why they brought that hideous horse into the beautiful city. It doesn't take a kid to see that it was roughly hewn, rustic and primitive, and certainly didn't belong in the shining city.

I did miss the lore behind the hero that was only hinted at, and thought it would have been a great addition to mention that Achilles had been rumored to have been raised by a Centaur. It would have certainly given a little insight into his unusual tactics and the very way that he moved. That his mother, in attempt to make him immortal, dipped him in the river styx as a baby - leaving only the ankle dry and hence mortal. Of course there were only vague hints of these things.

Still, if you are a lover of Ancient Greece, you will enjoy this movie. For me, it was just wonderful to see such ancient times brought to life.

After the movie my mind was changed - no one, I thought to myself, could have possibly played Achilles like Brad Pitt did. He was perfect for that part.