Hitting the nail on the
head: VC David Hornik was inspired to
provide this insightful advice after a presentation
yesterday: “As a general rule, it is best not to clip your fingernails
while pitching your company.”

What William Safire said: “The time has come to unbrand the word brand.”

(via: AdPulp)

Rug rats: Martha Stewart gets carpet burned by Shaw Industries.

(Source: FurnitureToday.com - those Topix guys are amazing)

Animated gif ads in RSS feeds aren’t cool: Josh Rubin’s Cool Hunting’s
RSS feed is the first I recall with an animated .gif ad appearing with
each post. I’m not against ads appearing in RSS feed posts (remember,
I’m a practicing capitalist and in my day-job, quite often, I actually
sell advertising), however I find the blinking animation
jarring in the context of my newsreader. So, while I believe Josh has
every right in the world to include such blinking ads, I have also
exercised my right to remove his feed from my newsreader. There are
better ways to incorporate advertising into RSS feeds than to, in
effect, replicate banner ads.

If I wasn’t an Apple-free speech blogger: I would probably blog about them finally providing a hard-date for release of Tiger: April 29, at 6 p.m.

New magazine-owned business-to-business blogs:  Primedia has launched two business-to-business blogs: the NABlog, an
event-related weblog and Bob Turner’s “The Cut,” from the editor of
VideoSystems, a publication for video editors. Both blogs have anchor
sponsors.

I guess that’s why I like it: From a St. Pete Times article about The Onion: “Our whole paper is an indictment of anything we think is dumb.”

(via: Romenesko)

No such thing as a “tax free” lunch: Even if you read something in a gossip column of a certain newspaper,
like, say, that 100 employees of O Magazine are getting a “tax free”
bonus of $5,000 each, don’t believe it. No such animal exists as a “tax
free” bonus. Obviously (to those other than a gossip columnist), the
big O and Hearst have “grossed-up” the bonuses so that the employees
receive $5,000 net, “after taxes.” I may not be an accountant, but
during a certain week in mid-April, I am aware of such things.

Say it loud: Nashville blogger Blake Wylie (NashvilleFiles) receives props from the Tennessean for leading a successful charge
against a big brother audio monitoring system planned by Metro
Nashville police that would have allowed them to randomly eavesdrop on
conversations in public places. (A video network, without audio
recording devices, remains on track, however.)

Update: On a related note, today’s NYT has a story about how a wide array of video evidence can be used by defendents, as well as the police. About the article, Dan Gillmor says, “The ubiquity of cameras has disturbing privacy implications. But it also means that the truth won’t always stay buried.”

(NashvilleFiles news via: Bill Hobbs)