With the number of Amazon affiliate links this post has, how come it doesn't get flagged as spam? Is it the authors celebrity?
Kinda, yes. The author is Jeff Atwood, founder of StackOverflow (you probably don't need a link) and Discourse ([1], ruby-based modern open forum software). He's also a hardware "enthusiast", to say the least, such posts where he's all excited about his new shiny shiny thingie are not uncommon on his blog. As such (and because he's probably already full of $$$), I wouldn't say the affiliate money is his primary motivation to blog this, I think he writes a geek post then puts Amazon affiliated links because he can, but maybe I'm naive.
Say the number 1 spot on HN gets him 10,000 views. 1% buy rate:
10,000 views * 0.01 buy rate * $100 commish per user = $10,000
Dudes expected to bank 10k from this single post.
Guess that explains why he doesn't write about USB sticks.
Last time I checked an Amazon cookie lasts about 24 hours. Also, honestly what is your problem with his Amazon affiliate ? It is not like you are forced to buy a monitor if you follow his link. I'm more interested in what he has to say than in actually buying a display now.