Mostly Ebay updates

Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.

I'm a lucky guy. The latest book I'm reading is John Maddox Roberts' latest mystery featuring Decius Caecillius Metellus, The Oracle of the Dead. I'm only on page 22 and I've already laughed out loud six or eight times, much to the annoyance of all living creatures within earshot. The full review won't be out until the ILAM in December, but I can tell you that this series appears to only be getting better, if possible.

*** You all know how much BBG loves lists, so here's one that's pretty subjective but has some of my favorites, so I'm including it. Funniest books is hard to categorize, but as you read the list I can only agree with the fellow who commented: 'anything every written by PG Wodehouse.' Note the great photo of Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry as Wooster and Jeeves. It's also hard to go wrong with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

A list of the funniest books

*** A while back ebay teamed up with Microsoft to run this fabulous sounding cash back promotion. Now, I have to admit that I shopped a bit looking for a bargain, it sounded almost too good to be true. I almost pulled the trigger on a juicy book on obscure German armored vehicles from WW2. Almost. Then I remember with whom I was dealing. Ebay, King of the Broken Promises. I demurred.

So here's the inevitable article about the broken promise: the cash back offers have not come through yet and I feel like a prophet.

Trust ebay? Ha!

*** Okay, today seems like a decent enough time for something of an ebay-crash update, so here's the third article in a well-thought out look at the history of the site's demise. Current Numbskull-in-Chief Donohoe didn't start the collapse, he merely accelerated it. Think of it this way: remember the old Three Stooges episode where they are duck-hunting in a small boat and Curly accidentally shoots a hole in the bottom? With the boat sinking, Larry starts drilling more holes to let the water out. That's ebay. Meg Whitman shot holes in ebay's bottom, then Donohoe wandered along and began drills more holes to let the sellers out. What buffoons. Even I couldn't screw up the site as badly as those two have managed, but in case you're in doubt as to who has done more damage, by far it's Donohoe.

Ebay's wandering course to oblivion

*** Never one to mince words, the Motley Fool has a look ahead at ebay's upcoming share-holder meeting. Boy do I wish I could be there for that. Can you imagine what tricks Donohoe and company must be planning to try and convince the stockholder's that while the market is down a whole lot versus last year, ebay has managed to grossly under-perform even so, losing more than 60% of its value? Ha! And it has done this during a cycle when it should have been way up, given that ebay's format lends itself to people selling their personal items to make ends meet. Worst of all, it has plunged while Amazon has soared. This could get bloody.

How much BS will ebay stockholders swallow?

*** I warned you that today was beat up ebay day, didn't I? could it possibly get worse for the once-fun, once-loved company? Well, sure it could. Because the one thing that ebay has always failed at doing, its one long-term unresolved issue, customer service, has officially hit bottom. With all of the negatives surrounding the company it could not even improve on the one area that was historically its weak point.

Ebay's customer service continues to disappoint