Bedtime story: Researchers from Rush University Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School say they discovered low doses of caffeine throughout the day is more effective than the traditional method of having a large dose in the morning. (Personal observation: Using absolutely no federal research grants, I have discovered that a large dose of caffine in the morning followed by large doses throughout the day can also do the trick.)

The findings were published in the Journal Sleep. It appears to me that the Journal Sleep is, itself, actually intended to put its reader to sleep. Why else would they report the findings thusly:

Low-Dose Repeated Caffeine Administration for Circadian-Phase–Dependent Performance Degradation During Extended Wakefulness

Plasma caffeine concentrations rose in an exponential saturating manner during wakefulness. Rising caffeine levels markedly attenuated wake-dependent deterioration of a number of measures of cognitive performance, particularly at the circadian performance nadir. Moreover, caffeine enhanced the ability of subjects to remain consistently awake for extended periods, holding subjects back from completing the full transition to sleep, but at the expense of increasing subjective sleepiness.

After that, all I can say is noq;ef.q,,……..Oh, wait. I’m sorry. Where am I? Oh yes. Did Starbucks fund this research? Speaking of Starbucks, I understand that researchers have discovered that after a day-long caffine binge, some of this is a great thing to exponentially saturate oneself in, however at the expense of decreasing cognitive performance.

Custom publishing update? Actually, this article isn’t about custom publishing. However, it’s about Clear Channel offering marketers a custom publishing-type approach to live events and entertainment…and ultimately TV. But like custom publishing, there is nothing new about this concept. Indeed, the early days of both radio and television broadcasting in America had lots of “branded entertainment,” from soap operas (Guiding LIght, for example, is owned by Proctor & Gamble) to the Texaco brand on entertainment properties ranging from the Jack Benny Show (I think, but I’m not quite old enough to be sure) to the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcast. But then, come to think of it, doesn’t Budweiser (and dozens of other brands) sponsor NASCAR teams and races and TV properties they spawn. And country music tours are branded by everything from Bud Light to Crystal Lite. Come to think of it, there is absolutely no news in this news.

Revulsion: I hope this sickening atrocity helps some people comprehend the vast difference between the meanings of the words “abuse” and “atrocity.”

Can you read it now? Because some of you whiners Because some of my friends have suggested that the font display on the rexblog required the use of a magnifying glass, I’ve decided to “enhance the size” of the type here for research purposes. Any comments? (Thanks to Blair, who actually knows how to correct things when one who shouldn’t attempt such things starts indiscriminately messing with cascading style sheets.)

Google blog: Frankly, only hard-core blogging or search engine geeks will care about this, but Evan Williams has launched the official “Google Blog” at the URL “www.google.com/googleblog“. (via ResourceShelf.com)

O give me a home update: O at Home, the Martha-Living-esque spin-off from O, The Oprah Magazine that I blogged last October, launched today.

Quote from the press release:

This newsstand-only magazine will be published twice in 2004, in May and October. It will include lush photography and sophisticated writing by the finest contributors and editors. There will be features on decorating, makeovers, quality products, collecting, entertaining, organizing, home finance, and more.

“We’ve been playing with the idea of expanding the home content in O for more than two years,” said (editor Amy) Gross. “When we started re-thinking the typical shelter magazine, we realized there was room for something more, something that captured Oprah’s point of view - the sense of abundance, comfort and warmth that she brings to her own environments. O at Home is for readers who want their homes to reflect their lives and passions - not just trends.”

The first special issue of O at Home features 164 total pages and includes advertising from many home-related companies, such as Drexel Heritage, Karastan, Pergo, Sub-Zero, Wolf and Vera Wang silver and gifts. More than two-thirds of the advertisers are new to the O brand. It will have a rate base of 600,000 and a cover price of $3.95.

When I saw the first issue’s table of contents, I thought that second article was headed, “Knock-off, Knock-off.”

Rock bottom? Magazine advertising pages in B-to-B books continue to decline (Note: I’ve given up ever trying to educate anyone that revenues are more important than ad pages). The good news: within a month or two, lousy previous-year numbers will make such comparisons look impressive. Most flagrant faux statistic in this article: 300,000 advertising pages “have been loss” since the beginning of the recession. Lost? How can something be lost that never existed? That’s like politicians using the word “cut” to describe a slow-down in the rate of growth of a government program.