> I was initiating the same 150 retrievals, over and over again, in the same order.

>> This was the actual problem that resulted in the large cost.

That is not true, according to the article itself. The first request for the full 60.8gb already results in a $154.25 bill, regardless of the ones that follow. From that point on he can continue to retrieve 15.2GB/hour for the rest of the month without incurring further costs.