The drive to the terminal was pleasantly quick despite the early morning commuter traffic. Going through the airport queues took considerably longer.
I am now sitting outside Gate D1 awaiting the pre-flight boarding announcement heading to the Seattle-Tacoma Airport (SeaTac).
Gate D1
Apparently something I hit at the checking kiosk meant that I was volunteering to check my one free carry on bag. Because I had a white tag on my pack, I got to go to the head of the line for boarding.
So, I am now sitting at the very back of the plane in seat 31F near the bathrooms and the staff area. We still have about 20 minutes before the flight occurs.
There is background music playing in the plane. It’s like classic elevator muzak. Not my taste, but I’ve really only listened to kpop since 2009. I’m not exactly open to new experiences.
Thankfully, flight is not a new experience. I quite enjoy flying actually. Like many children, I wanted to be an astronaut. Plane rides are about as close as I can get to space.
I am getting ready to fly out tomorrow morning for a trip to visit my father in Port Townsend, Washington. I will be flying out from RDU in the wee hours of the morning and touching down around second breakfast (10AM).
I’ll be flying on Delta Airlines. I booked the flight on my American Express Delta Blue. Unfortunately, I forgot to use my accrued miles for the booking. I tried asking a phone rep if they could apply a credit using my points, but they wouldn’t allow it. I’ll just have to keep saving my miles for now.
It’s about a 6 hour flight, so I will be needing to grab a bite to eat before I ship out. I am thinking I’ll swing by the Starbucks in the terminal for something to nosh on before boarding. The last time I flew, they gave us crackers and liquor. I probably can’t count on similar amenities.
I’ll just be packing my phone, watch, and their chargers for electronics. I had planned on bringing my DSLR, but my mother needs it for recording, so I’ll stick to the phone for my photography.
That should actually be easier for uploading, I won’t need to fumble around with memory cards. I can only imagine losing a MicroSD card in-between the seats mid-flight. It might be something like that one time I lost an SD card down the A/C vent in my Nissan LEAF.
I expect to be away for about a week, so I won’t be playing games much. Sadly I think the first Landmark contesting period for the second season of Rome will be while I am airborne.
I have paused all of my eBay shops and this afternoon I swung by the post to ship the out the last few parcels. I am looking forward to finishing out this 4th quarters sales on a high note and beating last years totals.
Things have suddenly improved since my last report in July.
This morning, I received an email saying that my PayPal account had received a payment from Automattic for $106.31. I checked my Ads panel and found that it is the exact amount in my balance.
I had assumed the payouts were manual and needed to be requested. But this assumption was based on posts I have seen in the WordPress Forums. It seems the payments are automatic after reaching the necessary threshold of $100.
My previous post would have covered the periods of April, May, and June. In those months, I received, $10.88, $11.01, and $6.07, respectively. My ads served in April and May averaged 150k, but in June, the numbers dropped, and I only had 70k ads served.
At the time of the drop, my site traffic had not decreased, which left me confused. What noticeably changed was that the CPM had dropped 75%. This may have resulted from increased site traffic from non-US sources, which don’t accrue the same degree of ad revenues.
In July and August, ads served dropped to 23k and 38k. However, my CPM increased from $0.09 in June to $0.27 in July and $0.36 in August.
This increase resulted in revenue of $6.54 in July and an improved $14.18 in August. This last amount was what pushed me over the $100 mark and triggered the payout I received.
My annual goal for the site is $74, which would cover the cost of the upgraded plan and custom domain name for 3 years. The domain was free for the first year.
That’s it for the third quarter report. I wrote more below, but I started reminiscing about sort of unrelated stuff.
In the past, when I would try to research hosting with other providers, I would ask for advice from people who had experience with other services.
I recall previously trying out Hostinger for a different website. I was on the free trial and had selected a basic plan.
Despite all the ads saying how low hosting was, they tried to pre-charge me $660 for a year of hosting before the trial had ended. I had to fight them on the charge before finally getting it removed and closing my account.
I tried a couple of others that were spoken highly of on Reddit, but I had similar experiences. All of this led me to decide that self-hosted sites with .org WordPress are actually more expensive than what WordPress.com offers.
I think the main difference between the platforms is the availability of Plugins on self-hosted sites. With a .com-hosted site, we don’t get plugin access without an upgraded plan, but .org sites get plugin access right out of the gate.
This revelation probably has soured some folks on the platform. I wonder, though, if self-hosted sites are too dependent on plugins? Would they be able to succeed without a crutch?
I see a similar trend with the introduction of AI to web design and other facets of online life.
People may start using it as a helpful aid, but soon enough, they become dependent on it for all of their activities. If the AI is offline or there is a bug, it cripples their ability to function.
It’s the same with plugins; when a bug appears or an exploit, the entire ecosystem is affected because everyone is dependent on these plugins.
The information in this post is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to be legal advice. While I have tried to ensure that the content is accurate and current, I make no guarantees. You should seek legal or other professional advice before acting or relying on any of the information.
While doing yard work yesterday, I got a tree branch to the face. The butt end of a sawed-off branch impacted my face, and it hit my open eye.
The doctor’s report says CORNEAL ABRASION, basically, I scratched the center of the eye, the part you see out of.
It really hurts. Lots of nerves in that section of the eye. Apparently, it should heal pretty quick, but it will hurt while it does its work.
I’m just playing phone tag now, trying to track down the antibiotic prescription that was supposed to be sent to my pharmacy. It’s a game of he said she said with one side saying they sent it and the other saying nothing got sent.
For now, I’ve got some handy eye drops the doc gave me, and I am applying them every 2 hours for the pain.
Had I been more able and aware during my visit, I would have liked to compliment the staff on the gurney I was seated upon. It was surprisingly comfortable. I even fell asleep on it in between checkups by the staff.
So once again, I am a bit late in reporting the figures. Maybe it’s the ADD speaking, but I find it really easy to forget something I only do 4 times a year.
In my last WordAds Experience post, I reported on the Q3-4 period of 2024. That year, I had upgraded my account to one that supports WordAds and revenue sharing in March of 2024. By December, I had earned $51.77. That’s how much I got for 280,588 Ads Served at a $0.18 CPM.
Now, here we are in 2025, and I have seen a marked increase in site traffic. I did recently have a setback, possibly, but I am working to make up for the loss.
YouTube
Just last week, my YouTube account was shut down, quite unfortunately. I was disappointed, to say the least, but I was kind of expecting it after all the restrictions my content was generating. Some of these mobile games are more than a little risque. It’s just the nature of the beast.
I took it as a sign and decided to focus on this website alone. It wasn’t exactly a hard decision once I started thinking about my journey overall. After 3 years, the YouTube account wasn’t anywhere near the necessary watch hours for monetization. Even if I did get those hours, the content wasn’t really suitable for advertising revenue.
I have since closed my other social media accounts. It was nice having other sources of incoming traffic, but the effort to keep the other accounts updated meant that I was spending less time here on the site writing up content.
First Quarter
Got a little sidetracked there. For the first quarter (Jan-Mar), I earned $20.05 from WordAds.
Date
Earnings
Ads Served
January
5.58
98,167
February
5.67
81,765
March
8.08
137,929
Visitors and Views for the above period are as follows,
Date
Visitors
Views
January
10,870
22,998
February
9,009
23,768
March
13,104
56,844
You can see there was a considerable bump once we hit March. I believe that was from making several supporting pages and posts for one of the game wikis I host on the site. I’m thinking the internal links to the new dedicated pages kept visitors on the site longer.
Second Quarter
Since my social accounts only recently went away, I don’t think I’ll have any data points I can provide on traffic losses. Actually, my Reddit traffic increased by 120 visitors, and YouTube visitors dropped by 10 visitors under the previous period.
I don’t understand why there was a 50% drop in ads served for June. Site traffic was only off by 1.5k visitors. Maybe those 1.5k I missed were the prolific types who click on every picture and page?
Date
Earning
Ads Served
April
$10.88
166,178
May
$11.01
148,706
June
$6.07
70,747
I only published 5 posts during June, and although I published 5 Pages, those don’t get the same visibility as a post.
Posts will at least show up in the WordPress Reader under Discover. Pages need to be found by search engines, by accident, or by placing a button on the navigation bar.
Date
Visitors
Views
April
14,970
90,314
May
14,783
83,595
June
13,297
73,843
My total earnings for Q2 are $27.96, adding last quarter to the total brings us to $48.01. Now, looking at the chart, I can see the math is off. It may be that the calculation for June that I am seeing is not the full value. It would be nice if that were the case.
I am almost to the $100 threshold required to request a cashout on my ad revenue. The cost of operating the site was calculated based on the sale pricing I received when I upgraded my plan.
That cost was $66 per year for 3 years. If I can manage $198 by the end of December 2026, then I can say it all worked out.
We’ll call it a close here, I think.
Sales on eBay continue apace, social media is all gone, and the game wikis continue to flourish.
Thanks for reading. See you next quarter (hopefully).
This article was sourced and written using an AI tool. Human contributions include my anger, indignation, rage, and grudge–holding demeanor. Enjoy!
It’s back. This scam will just not die.
I was recently contacted by an older relative who had seen the news and was excited about the technology.
I had to explain, with some difficulty, that it was a scam. Although this particular hoax has been debunked by several news outlets globally, it continues to get traction on social media.
One source in particular continues to peddle this financial scam. The YouTube channel Zim Tech Guy (@ZimTechGuy) has continually released videos reiterating the false claims.
Fake news sites created with AI-generated articles are also used to claim that the invention is recent, but these are tied to videos created using footage from the original 2015 scam.
As other channels and news outlets pick up the story, it adds a sense of credibility to the hoax. Fooling unsuspecting individuals and stealing their money through pre-orders or investments.
News sites that do not fact-check or complete any due diligence are failing in their responsibility to journalistic integrity. They are in part responsible for the harm done to victims.
We must do right by the victims of financial scams by holding these news outlets accountable for their wrongdoing.
Google’s Gemini AI sums it up quite succinctly:
A “Zimbabwe self-charging car scam” refers to claims circulating online about a car invented in Zimbabwe that supposedly runs without fuel or electricity, charging itself through ambient radio frequencies; this is widely considered a hoax, with no credible scientific evidence to support such a technology, and experts dismissing it as a scam. [1, 2, 3]
The inventor: Most often, the inventor is named as Maxwell Chikumbutso in these claims. [1, 2]
How it supposedly works: The car is said to harness energy from radio waves in the air, effectively powering itself without needing any external energy source. [1, 2, 3]
Why it’s considered a scam: Current scientific understanding does not support the possibility of a vehicle operating solely on ambient radio waves. [1, 2, 3]
Fact-checks: Several fact-checking organizations have debunked these claims, highlighting the lack of scientific basis and evidence for a “self-charging car”. [1, 2, 3]
I dodged a bullet so to speak. On my last run to the Treasure Hunt store, I saw some water filters missing a box but otherwise sealed. I decided against buying them on a whim.
It turns out those water filters were fakes. I’ve been researching the products I bought and came across some public notices issued by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) that listed Ecley as falsely claiming to be certified.
I actually found multiple brands selling the same item with only the name swapped. This makes it easier to identify the fakes.
Without a real certification, you could be putting your health or your family’s health in jeopardy.
These Ecley filters come from an “Alphabet Soup” Amazon store. To get past Amazon’s strict registration requirements, sellers from Shenzen, China will often use random characters all in CAPS as their business name. This is done mostly to avoid common names that are already trademarked.
There are actually two businesses that have similar-sounding names and are both in the water business. There is a refrigeration shop called Eckley in Pennsylvania and an Elkay from Chicago. Fun fact: You’ve probably drunk from an Elkay water fountain at some point in your life.
I also found a few other eBay sellers who were selling the Ecley brand and some others selling Frigidaire branded filters. While these other sellers are all highly rated with tens of thousands of sales, there is an issue. If you look at their negative feedback, there is a significant number of people complaining about being sent counterfeit goods.
One of these sellers (M8FILTERSTORE) has American flags and Taylor Swift plastered all over their storefront. The page heading boldly claims “USA Filter USA Stock” and the listings all include US flags and certification logos. These markings are all to send the message to buyers that they are a US-based company and that you are buying American products.
This is quite untrue. The seller (jennie-solo) is based out of China. The products are being manufactured and shipped from China.
In fact, many of the brands we associate with America are actually owned by foreign firms.
GE Appliances is owned by Haier Group (Chinese)
Whirlpool is largely owned by Galanz (Chinese)
Frigidaire was sold to Electrolux (Swedish)
Maytag was bought by Whirlpool who belong to Galanz. (Chinese)
Kenmore, while still American-held, is largely manufactured in Asia.
Kitchenaid is another Whirlpool brand. The parts are made in China and assembled in Connecticut.
We’ve seen news reports about unsafe products being shipped out from fly-by-night operations. Children’s toys made from lead, food products containing mercury, or bedding stuffed with garbage.
While occurrences like these are not the norm, they are on the rise. And setting numbers aside we must remember the people who unknowingly bought these goods were affected by them. While some may have been sickened, others have lost their lives as a consequence of trusting these sellers and the brands they offer.
Sometime last month I received two letters addressed to people who did not reside at my address. Both letters were from the same hospital and I assumed it was an error. Interestingly, just after the street address on the letters each piece included “# RED” on the address.
Today I received a third letter from a real-estate-related class action lawsuit. This mysterious “# RED” was also on the street address line.
I have tried searching Google for information but have not found any references to “# RED” concerning mail, postal services, or addresses. Since the letters come from different companies I think we can rule out a typo or computer malfunction.
With each received letter I have returned to the post office and notified the staff of the misdelivery. However, I think this time I will ask to speak with either the postmaster or an officer in charge.
If I learn anything new or receive any further letters I will record the details here.
The first two letters were from a hospital, but I do not recall the name.
The third letter was from JND Legal Administration PO Box 91479 Seattle WA, 98111.
On Wednesday I noticed my body was slower than usual and my bones ached. I chalked it up to my recent late-night TV binges. When I realized I was heading for a cold, it was too late to counter it with the usual remedies.
I still took my Airborne and a full course of Elderberry, Goldenseal, and herbal teas. Anyway, when I went to bed on Wednesday evening I was in a good mood thinking I had limited the extent of the sickness by taking action when I did.
Thursday was the worst day. I had gotten some eBay orders in and told my phone, from the bed, to print the shipping documents. I honestly didn’t feel anything was amiss until I popped an orange slice in my mouth. It felt very odd going down and I could feel it in my stomach.
I got out of bed and started walking towards the office and the printer. I didn’t get very far. I lost all strength in my limbs and just collapsed on the floor with my face on the carpet.
Mostly I was surprised. I waited a bit and tentatively raised myself up on my knuckles and then stood after some effort. By this time I had become very aware of both a churning feeling in my gut and a dizzy sensation in my head.
I managed to make it to the office and sit in a chair before I started hurling bits of orange and herbals all over the floor. Thankfully there was a plastic mat in the office covering a portion of the floor. Some vomit did end up on the carpet, but not a great deal.
Still, there are orange stains I wasn’t able to wash out.
It’s quite the circus act to fumble with one’s phone in between the gut-wrenching heaves of throwing up. I eventually managed to call for help and after a short correspondence, I was advised to get to the bathroom.
Just in time actually, because I was soon hit with diarrhea, further ruining my day.
Throughout the ordeal, I was sweating buckets. The water simply poured off my skin.
On Friday I managed to send apology messages to my buyers letting them know that I would be able to ship out their packages by Monday. I normally offer same-day shipping. So, I let them know I could provide refunds if it would be an issue.
I stayed in bed all of Friday. I just drank fluids and used some Alka-seltzer Cold and Flu medicine we had in the cabinet. Mostly I was experiencing congestion and a sore throat, with a little bit of coughing.
By Saturday the sore throat had receded to a lumpy feeling in the back of my throat like something was maybe caught or constrained. Eating and drinking became painful.
Another order came in and I decided to take it to the post myself. I thought I could use the fresh air. I was in such a hurry to get outside that I forgot that the Post Office is closed on Saturday.
It was fine though. I spent a good 10 minutes sitting in the parking lot with the windows down breathing in the fresh sunny air. I was parked under an oak tree and would occasionally hear the sharp thud of acorns falling on my roof.
I went to Starbucks but found I’m missing my sense of taste now. I’ve read this could go away once my body gets over the cold or if I go around smelling strong scents like peppermint or citrus.
I am now into my third day of fall classes, well class, I only have a single enrollment this time around. I will be finished with my degree program in December.
It is perhaps a bittersweet feeling knowing I will be finished, but that I may not be able to put my degree to work for an employer. My 3-month job search was a total failure. It has become quite clear that I will not pass a background check.
If I am going to work it will have to be for myself.
But that is very much a consideration for the future. Presently, my goal is to earn an A+, or close to it in my Business Communication course.
Writing has never been a strong suit of mine. Neither was math, but I suddenly found it understandable once I started college. Somehow I couldn’t grasp numbers in middle and high school. Perhaps it was my ADD interfering?
I came across a quote in my textbook which I found quite humorous and wanted to share:
If you think an apostrophe was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, you will never work for me. If you think a semicolon is a regular colon with an identity crisis, I will not hire you. If you scatter commas into a sentence with all the discrimination of a shotgun, you might make it to the foyer before we politely escort you from the building.
Kyle Wiens, CEO, iFixit, the largest online repair community
I got a real kick out of this quote. From my experiences posting on social media, I can attest that punctuation is often treated as an afterthought if it is not completely ignored.
Far be it for me to morph into some sort of “Grammar Nazi,” I try my best to muck through the walls of text to get the message the OP wishes to relay.
Fat Wallet Refugee 