smays.com

Good war?

Wow. Leave it to Dilbert's dad to make a reasonable case for attacking Iraq. Assume for a moment that it was something along these lines that put us in Iraq... would it have made sense to make such an argument to the American people? Maybe even let us vote on it? And, for the record, I no longer consider the bought-and-paid-for suits in DC as representing my interests. I'm suggesting a vote of the people. Or, perhaps, everyone but me understood from the beginning that this is what the war was about.

Blogging the NFL Draft

The NFL Draft is under way and that's a big deal in Green Bay, Wisconsin (home of the Packers). And all other NFL cities, for that matter. Bill Scott is the sports director for the Wisconsin Radio Network (one of Learfield's state radio networks) and has been covering the the draft for 16 years. This year he's blogging it.

In previous years we've put a live audio feed up on our satellite channel so Bill could do reports. And we've streamed the audio on WRN.com. But the physical setting and the timing just didn't lend itself to this kind of coverage. Now Bill has his laptop and wifi so he's blogging. I assume other media are doing the same.

I've posted on this subject countless times but still find myself a little amazed that blogging might be the best way to cover and event like this. Would live audio/video be better? Well, it would be good. But if you missed it, you missed it. The blog posts will be up there until we pull it down.

This is a first for Bill so it'll be interesting to get his thoughts on this. Watch this space.

Living Healthy Podcast #27

Henry talks about acne this week (Living Healthy Podcast #27) but he started off the podcast with a caution about "non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs." There's a bunch of these (prescription and OTC) and they're used to reduce pain, fever and inflammation. Arthritis sufferers tend to rely on this group (Motrin, Ibuprofen, Aleve, etc.). Henry points out that last year, more people died from complications associated with these drugs than died of AIDS in the U.S. He says tough it out and take two Tylenol.

Programmer responds to Lee Abrams blog post

Randy Raley calls bullshit on Lee Abram's recent blog post (XM Sound). As a long-time jock (I still love that term) and programmer, Randy was "there" when Mr. Abrams was making his radio bones and offers a local radio perspective. In a perfect blogging world, Mr. Abrams' blog would have his comments open and Randy could have added his. Then, Mr. Abrams could have responded. Then you have a conversation.

Maine Tourism: "Trailer Park Daycare"

Boston Globe: "A coastal Maine blogger who criticized the state's tourism office has been hit with a lawsuit seeking potentially more than $1 million in damages for allegedly making false statements and posting on his website, Maine Web Report, images from proposed tourism advertisements a New York agency prepared for Maine officials."

So some blogger writes something you don't like and you slap a million dollar law suit on him. Would they have run for their lawyers if the Boston Globe had written the same thing? No way, Jose. BG has their own lawyers. On the plus side, Maine Tourism is getting some nice coverage here in the blogosphere.

What do these items have in common?

• Christopher Garbacz (Professor of Economics @ Mizzou) business card
• 15 yards of Butler dental floss
• Iodized salt packet
• Free medium drink coupon from Hardees (Expiration date Sept. 1996)
• Cut-up American Express card
• 3-cent postage stamp
• Children’s Miracle Network pledge card (dated June 1989)
• Unused “I voted” sticker
• Illinois & Baltic Ave stickers from McDonald’s Monopoly game

A) Worst-case survival game pieces; B) Things McGyver needs to make a bomb; C) Things found in Bob Priddy’s desk after he cleaned it out.

This is an inside joke that means zip unless you know Bob Priddy and have seen his desk. Thanks to Andy Rawlings.

Bob Priddy replies:

Any good archaeologist is able to take disparate remains of a culture and weave them into a coherent description of the people who once inhabited an area. The archaeologist is able to determine the approximate age of the inhabitant, the diet, the religious beliefs, and the society of his time. You did not include paper clips, which also were found in abundance and which are a valuable clue. The number of artifacts is also important, but since the site as been disturbed and the paper clips have been removed, an important piece of information will forever be open to speculation. I shall give you a few clews, however, about the person who lived there.

He was a carnivore who did not like bland diets but who took excellent care of his incisors so he could properly tear at the meat that was part of his diet. The latest artifact located is dated September, 1996, indicating that he moved from the area or perhaps died shortly after that (did you check for burial sites?). He loved children, worshipped the God John Maynard Keynes, and felt plastic was Satan’s tool for a corrupt society. Now, you may build the story from there, based on the evidence you have found.

WSJ's Walt Mossberg on Internet and Radio

One of the highlights of this week’s NAB 2006 Las Vegas convention was the keynote speaker at Tuesday’s Radio Luncheon, the Wall Street Journal’s technology columnist, Walt Mossberg. Some of his comments, as reported by Kurt Hanson:

"Internet" won't be an "activity" in a few years. Currently, we talk about ‘surfing the Web’ or ‘being on the Internet’ or ‘I’m going online tonight’ as a discreet activity we perform on a PC, but in ten years, those phrases will sound absurd. When you watch TV, you may be on the Internet; when you listen to radio, you may be on the Internet. The Internet will not be an activity you do on a PC – it will be like the electrical grid. It will be all around you! I predict that talking about the Internet will fade, as we talk instead about devices, about software, and about services and content.

On the effect of iPods on radio: "We passed a milestone: There are now 50 million iPods out there. My music tastes don’t fit into the little boxes that Clear Channel in my market has decided I need to fit into. Your job is not just to string together a bunch of songs in a row, but to put on exciting new programming to attract new listeners and beat the iPod."

I wonder what Walt would say to the upcoming meeting of StateNets, the trade group that represents state networks (like the ones Learfield owns). A co-worker in the office next to mine helps organize the event. I'll ask if they have a keynote speaker. Props to the NAB guys for inviting Mossberg.

What does $600K buy in California?

Jim Mathies points to a property listing that illustrates the insanity of California real estate. I can't even imagine what our house and three acres would go for in the Golden State.

Just like it's spelled: Oconomowoc

There are just some Wisconsin-related words that people butcher: Chequamegon forest, Lake Butte des Morts, Lac Courte Oreilles tribe and even Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz. So our friend and co-worker, Jackie Johnson, decided she was tired of it and wanted to give newcomers, tourists and even natives a resource to find the correct pronunciation. She recently started the Web site MissPronouncer.com, which features recordings of her pronouncing Wisconsin's 190 cities, 400 villages and 1,260 towns. She also pronounces names of judges, famous Wisconsin people, like Brett Favre, state officials and legislators. [JSOnline]

XM's Abrams is blogging

XM Radio "Chief Creative Officer" Lee Abrams is blogging. Today's post reads like it might have also been an all-staff memo (and not necessarily today's memo) but, hey, he's hanging it out there and I hope he keeps it up. Would be fun to get even a tiny peek behind the scenes at XM. Couple of nuggets jumped out at me:

I can’t think of ONE FM station that would be worth taping and playing to the XM Staff. There are some OK ones, but most really are doing nothing especially interesting, compelling or new.

Local radio is dead. It’s irrelevant. For us we should be ALL OVER THE NATIONAL thing. Big ‘n bad ass. Local radio is a quaint relic. BUT—We are NOT taking advantage of this if we aren’t Talking to America.

It'll be interesting to see if Mr. Abrams groks the "conversation" part of blogging (Turn those comments ON, Lee). He strikes me a a passionate, opinionated guy. Can he listen as well as he writes? We'll see.

Podcasting a viable medium?

There’s been considerable debate about how iPod/MP3 ownership impacts radio listening. According to Jacobs Media’s Technology Web Poll II (conducted in late February, 2006, among more than 25,000 respondents), iPods are cutting into time spent listening to radio. About one-fifth of iPod/MP3 player owners say they listen mostly or exclusively to these devices. Four in ten now split their listening between iPods and radio, while over one-third primarily listen to the radio. The survey suggests that podcasting is also having an impact. One-fifth (22%) of those who own an iPod or portable MP3 player say they’ve downloaded/listened to a podcast: Of this group, nearly two-thirds (64%) subscribe to at least one podcast, and a majority listens to most or all podcasts that come their way. [via RAIN]

Seems like there's another report every week and the findings are all over the place. So pick the one you like.

Mark Cuban getting show on Sirius

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is getting his own two-hour weekly show on Sirius Satellite Radio. Cuban says he's "going to cover everything and anything, from sprots to business to technology, movies and entertainment." This just seems so much more interesting than David Lee Roth or Bob Dylan, for that matter. But not enough to make me switch. One of your Sirius subscribers could aircheck and send me an MP3 file. If you loved me. Wonder what sort of format they'll use? [Ft. Worth Star-Telegram via RAIN]

The beach is back

I was last in Destin back in October and the beaches had been savaged by the hurricanes. Just six months (and $5 million? $22 million!) later, they look pretty damned good. Amazing. Barb and some clients are going down for few days in a couple of weeks and we'll get a first-hand report and more pix. And I'm told the cottage is all booked up through May and June, and part of July.

Give me a shovel and tell me where to dig

I'm pleased to report I'll have help lifting those digital bales and toting that virtual barge this summer. Say hello to Lauren. She's completing her junior year at the University of Missouri where she is pursuing a double major in Journalism and Graphic Design (and she's on the Dean's List). It would be inaccurate to say I haven't had help feeding and caring for the 20+ websites for which I'm responsible. Andy and Phil are The Wizard and Glenda the Good Witch of the North (we're not sure which is which) to my Dorothy. And our reporters generate the good content. But for 10 years I've been scurrying around, trying to keep up with the day-to-day stuff and Laruen is arriving just in the nick of time.

Oooh! Aaah!

In time, I suppose I'll come to appreciate the the more philosophical (spiritual?) aspects of the Mac invironment. For now, I'm finding delight in small discoveries:

• Font Finder - I weep to think of the wasted hours trying to identify a font. No more.
• Dictionary - If Windows (Not Word) has one, I never found it. Yes, I know I could have installed one.
• Outliner - Just a simple little applet for organizing thoughts. (See Dictionary above)
• Lighted Keyboard - It was dusk and getting difficult to see the keyboard. As I reached for the lamp, the Mac keyboard became backlit. My Thinkpad had a wee light that shone down on the keyboard. Better than nothing, but...

I wonder if the Great Mac Mystique is really nothing more than lots of little "oohs" and "aahs" like these. I'm confident that, in time, I will come to appreciate, if not understand, the the more substantive differences between the two operating systems. For now, I will amaze the people of my village with tales of wonder.

How can I blog you today?

Sounds like my pal Chuck has figured out how to make blogging pay. He has event blogging down cold and I keep thinking I'll read about more and more people doing this. For now, Chuck is focusing on agrimarketing events but there's no reason someone couldn't do this for any event (assuming you have a clue and a willingness to work 18 hour days). Could you get $5k for one of these gigs? And maybe work up to two a month? Shoot, that's almost a business.

Concrete TV: Episodes 8 & 9

I first posted on Concrete Ron and his amazing videos in January of 2005. Since then I check back every month, hoping for a new video. The last one I saw was Episode #6. 8 and 9 are now on the website. If you know where I can find 7, please ping me. Concrete TV is on NYC Public Access (Channel 67) at 1:30 a.m. every Saturday morning. Let's add Concrete Ron to the list of People I'd Most Like to Have a Beer With. Videos are NWS.

On safari in an extradition-free country

I'm almost certain I posted on this a couple of years ago but I can't find it so...

For $10, Friends Beyond the Wall takes your prison visiting room photo, crops you and your loved one out of it, and digitally inserts you into one of dozens of exotic backgrounds. Instead of standing in front of a cinder block wall, you can be seen leaning on your Jaguar, on safari in Africa or taking a virtual honeymoon in Morocco. [Wired.com]

This story started me thinking about the calming effect of Henry's images. Why not put some of his wonderful panoramas on cell walls or even the prison walls? One might argue, I suppose, that this would be a cruel and constant reminder of what the inmates are missing. And we all remember how poorly this idea turned out at Shawshank Prison. Never mind.

Reduce stress, promote healing

If you only know Henry Domke from smays.com, he's just my podcasting doctor buddy with whom I goof around each week. His passion for healing is matched by his passion for digital photography and he specializes in images from nature. I've linked to his work before and some of his pieces grace the walls of our home. A lot of his work winds up in hospitals, clinics and doctor's offices where --like Henry-- they calm and heal. From the comments section of Henry's website (scroll down a bit):

"One of our patients told me how much inspiration she received from one of your framed pictures. She told me that while she waited for her name to be called to go back for chemotherapy, she would gaze at the picture. She said the way the sun shone from behind the tree made her think that the Lord was going to walk out from behind the tree."

Tell me, how gratifying is that for a photographer? Henry recently added some amazing new images that make you want to spritz on the Deep Woods Off and grab your Nikon.

Always connected

Sitting in the Coffee Zone, slurping some Rocket Fuel, connected to the world. The way it was meant to be. In all fairness, I rarely lugged my Thinkpad around. Just too heavy. Not IBM's (at the time) fault. I bought one of the heaviest models they offered. No idea why. But on the few occasions I took the thing on the road and attempted to connect wirelessly, it was usually something of a chore. Again, probably not the fault of Microsoft or IBM. I just never took the time to learn how to make it all work. It was too much trouble.

This morning I fired up the new Mac...it saw the open hotspots...I picked one...and here we are. All things in life should be so easy. Why wouldn't a boy just keep his laptop with him all the time? Stay tuned.

One in five say web ads most effective

More than one in five U. S. adults, or 22 percent, say the Internet is the most effective way to grab their attention about a product or service, according to a report released this week by Burst Media. The report, based on a March survey of 3,700 adult Web users, also found that magazines, newspapers and radio lagged behind both the Internet and TV, with 12 percent, 10 percent, and 6 percent, respectively. [Online Media Daily]

I guess I'm more disturbed by radio's ranking than the overall validty of the research. The part I have no trouble buying is 57 percent of respondents saying that the Net is where they turn first to research products they might purchase. Absolutely.

Now that I'm thinking about ads, here's something I wish I had time to try: record all of the commercials on one of our local radio stations between say, 6am and 9am. Then just mash 'em up in a montage of 10-15 seconds per spot. Just to get a gestalt of the commercial messages. Maybe I'll do an hour. Somebody remind me.

If we all lived in South Park

Daniel Henninger (WSJ.com) thinks blogs may be turning us into a nation of disinibition. "The breaking down of personal restraints and the endless elevation of oneself. Disinhibition is what the world would look like if everyone behaved like Jerry Lewis or Paris Hilton or we all lived in South Park." [Thanks, Darin]

If we had twins we could do the kitchen, too

A 37 year old Wisconsin man, Danny Vu, is facing charges for allegedly trying to sell his 18 month old daughter. Vu is facing one count of unauthorized placement for adoption. If convicted, Vu faces three years in prison. Authorities say Vu tried to sell the baby for seven thousand dollars because he was having trouble making ends meet and wanted to do some remodeling. The couple who considered buying the baby will not be charged. [Thanks, Bob]

Everyman Journalism

In a recent interview by Rocketboom, Dave Winer talked about making an introductory course in journalism a requirement for college students.

"Journalism is the new practice for Everyman, it's what we all will be doing all the time in this new century. As the professional media pulls back, the citizens, you and me, need to fill in and replace every pro with 100 of us, to cover every school board meeting, every planning commission, defense contractor, civic organization. It's like the Second Amendment for information and ideas. We need a well-informed electorate to make the tough decisions n our future."

I'm not sure why professional meda would "pull back," but I like this idea and see no reason why those of us that didn't go to J-School can't help cover some events that would otherwise go unreported. During my dozen years at KBOA, I covered every kind of event. Took my little cassette recorder, interviewed folks. Edited the audio. Wrote a little story. Put it on the radio. Could my reports have been more "professional." Sure. But the listeners to our little station were just happy someone covered the event and reported it.

For my money, we could drop the Algebra requirement and replace it with Journalism 101.

Web vs. Radio

Mark Ramsey points to this nugget in the latest Benchmarking report from Borrell Associates:

"The largest local Web site in most markets, typically run by a local newspaper, will generate more in ad sales this year than the largest-grossing radio station in that market."

I had to say that aloud a couple of times to get my mind around it. Can that possibly be true for small and medium size markets? Des Moines, for example. Does the Des Moines Register website generate more ad sales than WHO (or whatever the top-grossing radio station)?

I would love to see the full report but not enough to purchase it. Let's hope to see more of the findings online.

Christmas Morning Plus Two

I'm up and running on the Mac but it hardly seems worth mentioning. I commented on the "Mac Lust" post that I will --by popular demand-- file progress reports from time to time. First observation: There are enough presents under this Christmas tree to (further) cut into my blogging. Right now I'm opening up the train set and playing with that for a few minutes...then ripping open the Erector Set and spreading the pieces out on the floor... and then... well, you get the idea. Got me a book that Henry assures me will make the Windows-to-Mac transition easier. I keep insisting that I will maintain dual citizenship (Windows AND Mac). Be interesting to see what my at-home computing habits are 6 months from now.

Blended media

Mark Ramsey points to comments by Jim Nail on the blending of media:

"What if the notion of a single medium doesn't exist anymore? When media buyers start thinking more about audiences and less about distribution channels - as they are definitely doing now - the advantage will go to the media that leverage their content across platforms. This places a premium on content - that is, it will be expensive and worth it.

And it means that there will be two kinds of radio broadcasters: Those who are in the content business and those who are only in the radio business. The value will flow to the former. It's not about the "device" - it's not about ownership of the pipes. In the media business, those days are ending fast."

But we have such wonderful pipes. And they were damned expensive.

Now I want you to shave your head

News goddess and closet screenwriter Kay Henderson reports that her niece, who lives in Park City, Utah, took the Nevada bar exam when she lived in Vegas. She then took and passed the California bar when she moved to San Francisco; and passed the Utah bar in February. This is the story of how her significant other, Mike, obtained her exam results.

The results were posted on the (law school?) website this past Monday, but you needed your number to check. Kay's niece didn't have her number with her at work. Boyfriend Mike was anxious enough to call the local UPS office where they get their mail, and convince them to open his girlfriends's mail, and read the letter and results over the phone. Mike said the whole room cheered. Mike then persuaded the UPS folks to scan the letter and email it to his girlfriend who is at work in Salt Lake the entire time, unaware that this is going on.

Do we cheer UPS for their cooperation? Do we damn them for really shitty security? I just hope Mike never calls me and asks me to do anything really stupid.

Who's reading all the blogs?

Paolo poses interesting question: "Considering that we all have only a limited amount of time available, will we get to the point where we will spend most of our time reading stuff written by people we care for?" [via Scripting News]

Mark Cuban says bring back live commercials

Dallas Mavricks owner Mark Cuban says bring back the live commercial so neither the viewer (nor the advertiser) will know what to expect until it happens. Calling them Reality Commercials, Cuban claims implementing such a thing would not be a technical challenge or a creative one but it would entail a whole lot more work. I don't watch TV ads now but I just might watch a few if they were live. Could we make this work in our network newscasts? Doubtful. Our clients probably woudn't like it. Our sales reps wouldn't like it. Our anchors wouldn't like it. But our listeners might. [via AdRants]

Cheaper than a jet ski

The deed is done. Henry drove us to the Apple store in his space car and we were in and out in 30 minutes with a brand new MacBook Pro. My first time off the PC reservation. It's still in the box, seal unbroken. I don't plan to post much about my Adventures in Mac Land. PC users don't want to hear it... and Mac users have heard it all. How about this? I'll tell you if I return it.

75,000 new blogs every day

The blogosphere is more than 60 times bigger than it was three years ago, with 75,000 new weblogs created every day. And 19 million bloggers (55%) are still posting 3 months after they started. Technorati's David Sifry on the state of the blogosphere. [via Micro Persuasion]

Crossing the Rubicon

Here's the plan. Tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. I meet Henry and we head for St. Louis where I purchase my first Mac. I really think he is more excited about this Moment than I. This could be the let-down of all time but for a peek in my head, pop Sergeant York into the DVD and FFWD to the scene where a drunken Gary Cooper gets knocked off his mule by a bolt of lightening and stumbles into Walter Brennan's church, where they're singing "Give Me That Old Time Religion." If they guys at the West County Apple Store could pipe that song over the sound system as I walk up to the counter, we'd have us pretty good TV spot. My plan is to see if I can wait a few days before I crack the seal on the new toy. Just to fuck with the Mac users a little bit.

Three hours lost forever

Saw Thank You for Smoking and was disappointed. Spend the 90 minutes reading Christopher Buckley's novel, if you haven't. Giving Nick Naylor a son was lame-to-sappy. Deadwood fans will spot Kim Dickens (Joanie Stubbs) as Naylor's wife.

And for the record, The Weather Man (Nicholas Cage) is not a comedy. Had I taken the time to check out the IMDB description ("A Chicago weather man, separated from his wife and children, debates whether professional and personal success are mutually exclusive.") we could have skipped this wrist-slitter. But Hollywood loves Cage. He has half a dozen movies in post-production or on-deck.

Hotmail starting to suck

I moved the link to my email address. It was just under the masthead on the right. I moved it down to the My Stuff area on the sidebar. And I switched from my Hotmail account to my Gmail account. Hotmail just aint getting it any more. More and more sites won't accept email from Hotmail users because it's eat up with spam. This has always been my throw-away account and I'm about to throw it away. I'll keep it for now, just because it's difficult to get your name (SteveMays@anything.com) anymore. If you want to reach me you can use the Gmail accsount or just post a comment and mark it personal. But know that I won't be checking the Hotmail account very often.

LHP #25: Toenail Woes

My partner-in-podcasting-crime --Dr. D-- continues to break break new ground. This week's Living Healthy Podcast (#25) answered all your questions about toenail problems. Ingrown toenails, fungi, mashed toenails, etc. We pegged the grossometer. No way...NO WAY...any other podcast has tackled this disgusting topic. Personally, I enjoyed his answer to a paitent who wanted to know if it's a good idea to get a total body scan.

I support IPac

Leo Laporte did a special edition of TWiT this week, featuring a couple of guys with IPac, "a nonpartisan group dedicated to preserving individual freedom through balanced information policy." Based on the interview --and Leo's endorsement-- I'm convinced this group will represent my interests so contributed $500. At last, a PAC for me.

Website as newsroom apendage

Based on this memo, Miami Herald editor Tom Fieldler understands it is nut-cutting time in the news business:

"We are beyond being satisfied with incremental change and giving polite head nods toward other media platforms. We are going to execute fundamental restructuring to support that pledge. Every job in the newsroom -- EVERY JOB -- is going to be redefined to include a web responsibility and, if appropriate, radio. For news gatherers, this means posting everything we can as soon as we can. It means using the web site to its fullest potential for text, audio and video. We’ll come to appreciate that MiamiHerald.com is not an appendage of the newsroom; it’s a fundamental product of the newsroom.

No more will some people be strictly newspaper staff and others will be strictly on-line or multi-media staff. If you produce news, you’ll be expected to produce it as effectively for the electronic reader or listener as you would for the newspaper reader. If you edit or design for the newspaper, you’ll learn to edit and design for the web site."

Looking (from the outside) at our newsrooms in this regard, I would rank us at 5 or maybe 6 (out of 10). No higher. Reading Fiedler's memo, it sounds like he sees no reason the Miami Herald can't do "radio." For us to ignore that challenge, we have to believe there is something so magical about what we do, that nobody else can do it as well. I don't know. [Via BuzzMachine via Onsquared]

Sat radio awareness climbs; half of teens own iPod

According to a new study by Edison Media Research and Arbitron, both XM and Sirius have 61% awareness levels among American consumers. The research also showed some evidence of early use and interest in podcasting. Given a detailed description of podcasting, about one in ten people aged 12-plus said they had ever listened to an audio podcast, about half the number who had heard of podcasting. The podcast audience skews younger and more upscale than the general population. Nearly one in four Americans and more than half of teens own an iPod or other portable digital music player. [Billboard Radio Monitor] Thanks, Ben.

Expensive sand

Friend Jim reports the beaches at Sandestin are completely replenished. Just in time for the hurricane season. Only cost $22 million (paid for by touristas). He promises more pix this weekend.

We weren't expecting company

Between the link on Scripting News and the post on Mac Lust, we've seen a fair amount of traffic this week. 3,364 page views in the last seven days...486 just today. That's sort of like walking out onto my back deck and finding a couple thousand people standing in the yard, looking up at me, waiting to see if I'll say anything interesting or amusing.

"Uh, thanks for coming. Drive carefully on your way home. I gotta go back in now."

Almost forgot... be sure to check out Kay's ending to my screenplay.

All we need is (another) ending

I'm probably one of the last to hear about the guy that made a bet with his girlfriend that he could make a website that would get 2 million hits. If he fails, he admits he's an idiot. If he gets the 2 million hits, his girlfriend will do a threesome with with another girl. The guy is obvisouly not an idiot because the site he created (HelpWinMyBet.com) appealed to every horny geek on the Internet and there's waaay more than 2 million of those. He's passed 3 million hits and his girlfriend has conceded defeat. They're now reviewing applicants for the trois of the menage.

The site looks legit but who knows. When Darin forwarded this link, all I could think of was the screenplay that jumped out of my inbox.

As you know, I'm a terrible casting director but I could see Jack Black (maybe Ben Stiller) as the geeky boyfriend. Perhaps Janeane Garofalo as the girlfriend. Not sure who should play the other woman but here's my take on the story...

Starts off just like the "real" story. Guy wins the bet and starts putting photos of "other girl" candidates on his website. Which comes to the attention of a publicist for a rock (movie?) star whose career is starting to fade. The flack talks the star client into joining the threesome by putting together a movie deal that will jump-start her sliding career. (We're talking movie-within-a-movie here, right?)

At first the geeky boyfriend is giddy with delight. He's going to be in a movie where he has sex with his girlfriend and the star. But the star and the girlfriend become pals. Not lovers, but friends. As they begin to have fun with the whole idea, the boyfriend starts having second thoughts.

As regular readers know, this is where I run out of ideas... and my friend Kay bails me out with three or four really good, boffo endings. But you can play, too. Just click the comments link below.

PS: If this movie has already been made, let me know.

PPS: If this movie ever gets made, how pissed will I be?

PPS: Ooh, how about this. Starving (blocked) screenwriter scours the web looking for ideas. Comes across a blog where this smart, funny guy keeps posting movie idea without endings. The blocked writer is ass deep in good endings...steals the blogger's plots...and sells them to Big Studio where they bescome megahits. The blogger recognizes his ideas on the big screen and road-trips to Hollywood to confront the (now wealthy) screenwriter. I think we might have two movies here. Any ideas on who should play me?

Tiny little billboards

Mic flags are those little plastic signs that radio and TV reporters attach to the end of their microphones. It's a little harmless self-promotion. Let's the public know that KXYZ News or TV24 was on-the-scene. And we radio guys love it when our mic flag appears on the 6 o'clock local TV newscast or the front page of the Daily Bugle.

Now, our listeners already know we were at the big news conference because they're listening to us. So the purpose of the mic flag would seem to be to let the TV audience or the newspaper readers know we were there. Isn't this a little like having one of the newspaper guys come up while we're recording an audio interview and whispering --just loudly enough to be heard-- "News Scene 13!" so it could be heard in the background of our piece when it airs? No? Different somehow? Okay.

So let's say mic flags are a good thing. How big should they be? The size of a pack of Kools? Bigger? How about, as big as possible and still fit in the little satchel with my recorder?

You see? This is why I'm not running a business. I'm terrible at self-promotion. I hate tooting my horn. And I really hate tooting my horn at someone else's recital.

All the way from Guatemala

Zena is the travelling companion of Mike Mah, a pain management specialist who "practices healing techniques through martial arts." He's been doing his thing in Guatemala but will return to the U.S. He just rode in on his motorcycle, accompanied by his dog Zena, a five year old boxer-Dingo mix. She rides in front of Mike on the motorcycle and takes a rest about every two hours. Here's 20 seconds of video with Zena (the dog) wearing her goggles. You'll note that I lapse into my Bootheel mush-mouth when I'm around dogs. More images of Zena.

Net ad spending to overtake radio in 2008

Zenith Optimedia Group has revised it's global ad spending outlook and now predicts the Internet will overtake worldwide outdoor ad spending next year, and will catch up with radio (which will have a 7.9% share, down from 8.5% in 2005) in 2008.

If you're a radio station manager, you a) do not believe this forecast for one minute; b) think it might be true but have no clue what to do about it; c) don't care if it's true or not because you plan to retire in a couple of years anyway. [Radio Business Report]

Frappr map update

It's been a while since I checked in on the Frappr map and there's still plenty of room for pins. But the Frappr folks have added some neat features. I kind of lik the scrolling images. If you're not represented, grab a pin and stick it! It would be cool to have one in every state. Sort of like collecting shot glasses from Stuckies.

Clyde blogging the love

So here's the CEO of the company blogging a pat on the back to the men and women in our IT Department. How does the owner of the company discover stories like this? He roams the hallways, talking to the people that work for him. And now he shares the kudos with the rest of the company (and the world). He's using the blog to reinforce the values upon which the company was founded and has prospered. Does this sound like a place you'd like to work?

Isn't that Dave Winer over there? Don't look! Don't look!

Earlier this year I was on a panel at the annual meeting of a bunch of PR associations in St. Louis. The hotel ball room was packed so when I got up to do my little bit, I snapped a photo. It's been my masthead image for the last week or so. Imagine my delight to find a link and a reference on Dave Winer's Scripting News (the blog I check first every day). The first place I ever saw this use of a masthead image was on Scripting News and I proudly appropriated the idea for smays.com. The notion that Dave Winer visited my little corner of cyberspace is just too cool for school.

Where do I sign up for the transistor radio?

Power-blogger Chuck is covering the BIO 2006 conference in Chicago where everybody and their mama is giving away iPods. (Stop children, what's that sound?) Chuck's coverage is the next best thing to being at the conference.

Web surfers see only what they want

Certainly no surprise to anyone that designs or (in my case) maintains websites. A few specifics from recent study by Jakob Nielsen's Nielsen Norman Group:

• Individuals read Web pages in an "F" pattern. They're more inclined to read longer sentences at the top of a page and less and less as they scroll down. That makes the first two words of a sentence very important.
• Surfers connect well with images of people looking directly at them. It helps if the person in the photo is attractive, but not too good-looking. Photos of people who are clearly professional models are a turnoff.
• People respond to pictures that provide useful information, not just decoration.

And my favorite: When there is less on a page, users read more. They point to JetBlue Airways as an example of one of the sites to get it right.