Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line: FunnyBusiness

Iraq's Only All Women Radio Station

If there is one thing that unites all small businesses it's cash flow. Yesterday as I was driving in my car and listening to the Satellite Sisters  I heard them mention the campaign to save radio Al-Mahaba--the only first all independent women radio network in Iraq.

They are having some serious cash flow problems and need to raise $100,000. It seems that a roadside bomb blew up their transmitter. A new one costs $100,000.

The fund raising is being managed by  OKIINC.org—Opportunity for Kids International, a nonprofit  American relief organization that helps the street children of Iraq. OKIINCwas instrumental in starting the station with a grant from the United Nations Development Fund for Women.According to the Satellite Sisters, "100% of the donations will go directly to the radio station for a new transmitter and other operation expenses.

The fund raising campaign started last October. At the time the radio station did receive a great deal of media attention including The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today
Mona Mahmoud wrote an article in USA Today...

A woman called to say she had been beaten by her husband so much she feels like killing him. Another  woman said she was afraid of her husband at the outset of her marriage, but she has learned to assert herself. Now he is the one who is  afraid.              

Other women said they never wore a hijab but are now being forced to wear the head covering because of pressures or threats from  newly powerful religious groups in their neighborhoods.

Launched earlier this year, al-Mahaba, which means "love" in Arabic, is the first independent women's radio station in Iraq. The format is a mixture of news, music and talk.

Ruwaida Kamal, 30, who hosts a program, said callers address a slew of personal and political issues that affect them as women,  including family relationships and the wearing of head scarves.The station receives between 70 and 100 calls a day, says station executive director Ali Abbass Hamoudi, 42.

And as Donn Esmonde wrote in the Buffalo News

"The station is the 21st century version of Radio Free Europe, which broadcast the sweet               breeze of freedom across the Iron Curtain's stale air. The same message falls now on ears of Iraqi women still in shackles who fear that the new constitution will turn extremism into law."

 

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A Million Girls Would Kill For This Job

This is a story about bad bosses, books,blogs, movies and the influence they have on mass media. The book is The Devil Wears Prada. Until last weekend I had vaguely been aware of the book. Yes, I knew it was about a ridiculous boss but I just hadn't bothered to read it.(And, if I had not decided to wash my duvet cover on Sunday morning I would have finished the last 150 pages of the  book before going to the movie.)

Let me just ask, "Do you know what happens to a paperbook that goes through the washer with a Duvet cover?" While I'm at it, "Do you know how to get the pulp off the duvet cover after it's gone through the dryer?"  Your responses will be  greatly appreciated. The experience has given me a whole new appreciation for pulp fiction.


I picked up the book on Saturday afternoon after I noticed a media storm of attention on the topic of bad bosses. First, there was the contest on MSNBC.You can vote on Bad TV Bosses From Hell .There are 10 bosses to choose from ranging from speakerphone "Charlie" on Charlie's Angel, to Danny DiVito in Taxi,and C. Montgomery Burns on the Simpsons.

This contest is tied to a report scheduled for July 7th:Real Life Bosses You Have to See to Believe. For those who want to share their real life stories, MSNBC is inviting readers to share a bad boss story. They do have this disclaimer,"remember your emails may be published."  They then ask people for their names, city and state and email address.

I would be very surprised if many people share their current stories. There's something about giving your real name when asked to write about your boss that puts the fear of being dooced in  people.

If it had just been MSNBC I might not have read the book, but then, as I was driving around Saturday morning,I heard an invitation from NPR to go to their website and share bad boss stories. They are putting a slightly different twist on the story. They want to hear from people who have been bad bosses as well as from people who've had bad bosses.

The Bad Boss. Ever had one? Ever been one? Sometimes Hollywood inspires us. The new film The Devil Wears Prada is about an assisant to a powerful and difficult fashion editor, and it got us thinking. We want to hear about the bosses you've worked for -- and if you've ever been a bad boss yourself.

Not to be left behind, the AFL-CIO has just launched MyBadBoss    Contest which promises readers they can win a free vacation by telling their stories. The first winner is called Wounded Healer. Confirming my theory, Wounded Healer is sharing a story in the past-tense.

He paints by the number," was the excuse I was given when I wanted to okay a psychiatric hospital stay for a patient who was out of state. My patient was a veteran suffering from trauma triggered by watching news coverage of the war in Iraq. He had been taken to emergency and when they called for authorization, my boss said they cost too much. I tried to get the hopsital to bring the price down. So, they discharged my patient after making him put $5000 on his credit card. I tried to get the money back for him and get my boss to okay paying the hospital. It went back and forth for too long. The patient committed suicide. He shot himself in the head. I couldn't quit crying when I heard and took the rest of the day off. I used my personal time to do it. My boss complained to my supervisor . He said, "I don't know why she had to take the day off. People commit suicide everyday." I no longer work there. I'm in therapy now.

So far, over one thousand people have written their stories. The website is featuring an article by Barbara Ehrenreich, journalist and author of the New York Times bestseller Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America,who says  the problem isn't bosses by bossism.

Much as I'd like to see all these miscreants brought to justice--in something like the "thought reform" camps of the Chinese Cultural Revolution--I tend to think the emphasis on bad bosses is a little misguided.  The problem isn't particular bosses, but what I call "Bossism"--the hierarchical system that governs all known bureaucracies, both public and private.  Giving one person huge power over others is like giving a 3-year-old a hose: Not everyone will get soaked, but the chances of coming out dry are slender.

The Devil Wears Prada had a very successful weekend at the box office. Since I am not an entertainment writer I will refrain my sharing my review only to say I'm aligned with the Claudi Puig's review in USA Today.

I will watch Dateline Friday with lots of interest and I will look forward to listening to the report on NPR. The issue of bad bosses is important. I've had them. I've been one.

I once thought that simply sharing the stories of awful bosses  would help change attitudes and behaviors. I believed that if people had an opportunity to tell their real stories that corporate cultures would change. I'm not so confident. How many bad stories do we have to hear before we say-- you can't do that? As bloggers will attest, writing about bad bosses is risky business.Heather B. Armstrong, who coined the phrase Dooce shares---

I started this website in February 2001. A year later I was fired from my job for this website because I had written stories that included people in my workplace. My advice to you is BE YE NOT SO STUPID. Never write about work on the internet unless your boss knows and sanctions the fact that YOU ARE WRITING ABOUT WORK ON THE INTERNET. If you are the boss, however, please don’t be a bitch and talk with your hands. And when you order Prada online, please don’t talk about it out loud, you rotten whore.

Then there was Ellen Simonetti, the Delta Airlines Flight Attendent who was fired for some photos she shared--she is now writing a book.  And, there was Opinionistas who quit after she landed a book deal--just days before she would have been dooced for her tell all tales of life as a lawyer in a New York law firm.

And now there is J.Y.N's Pagan Girl In Corporate America. As far as I can tell she still has her job...but if the past predicts the future, it's only for the time being.

Elana is a Contributing Editor for Business & Careers at  Blogher-  And, at one time she too had a job that "a million girls would kill for this job."

Six Degrees of Blogher aka The Busines Girl and the Sanitary Pad

Some days you just feel like you've hit the jackpot. That's exactly how I feel because I found AD ACCESS ( a project at Duke University) which I found by way of  Gingajoy where I landed by way of ZeldaFest which I  visited because of Mocha Momma which I found on Blogher.

It was this ad on Gingajoy's blog that caught my attention.  The Headline Reads "Don't Be a 'Fraid-Cat, Mother,There's No Danger."  It is an ad for Modess sanitary pads circa  the 1920s. Many of us who came of age in the 1960s have very definite memories of Modess and their every wedgy sanitary belt that used to be a real pain in the butt.

"Life is so much more fun when one is not afraid. It is her happy
courage—the zest with which she welcomes every new delightful freedom—which is
the charm of the modern girl. What mother can bear to stay in the drab
shadows of middle life when such a daughter beckons back to
youth?

Youth—which will not tolerate senseless drudgery, the
slavery of old-fashioned ways. "

If you love this ad, there are about 7,000 more where this one came from.

"The Ad*Access Project, funded by the Duke Endowment "Library 2000" Fund, presents images and database information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955. Ad*Access concentrates on five main subject areas: Radio, Television, Transportation, Beauty and Hygiene, and World War II, providing a coherent view of a number of major campaigns and companies through images preserved in one particular advertising collection available at Duke University. The advertisements are from the J. Walter Thompson Company Competitive Advertisements Collection of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising, and Marketing History in Duke University's Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library. "

And with that I bring you another sanitary ad from the 1920's. It's headline:

"If Only I Could Tell This To Every Business Girl" 

It"In offices throughout the country-in offices all over the world-women are realizing the full value of every working day, free from problems which once retarded their progress. Kotex has not only meant new comfort and better health but it has brought a priceless mental relief.

Piler, Tossers, &Filers

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The "survey" is a beloved PR tool because the media adores reporting on surveys --it doesn't matter who the source is, surveys are fun. They have numbers. They categorize people. They are easy to report.

Often whey a company wants to promote a new product, service , program or organization they will conduct a survey on a related topic and then hope the media will credit them a the "source" of the survey.

And so Kudos to Pentaflex for coming up with a fun ( who knows if its actually factual) survey about people's organizational styles. What I really like about Pentaflex is they are being very transparent that the survey is part of the launch of  a new product.

According to the survey there are three styles Pilers, Tossers & Filers. More on that in a little bit.

As it turns out the largest group is Pilers --48% strong. So here's the thing. Pentaflex is a company that makes filing products. If 48% of the potential market fesses up that they don't file then to some folks, Pentaflex has a big fat problem--an untapped market share.

But marketing folks don't see problems they see "opportuntiies" and so someone came up with the idea that if you can't take the filing system to the worker, create a faux desktop filing system that doen't require getting out of the chair, swiveling over to the filing cabinet or bending down to insert the files in the cabinet.

Here's the product.

It's called the PileSmart Label Clip. Here's how Pentaflex describes is on their special PileSmart Label Clip Campaign Page.

"Documents are piling up.  Stack upon stack.  Everything looks the same. No Problem.
The new Pendaflex® PileSmart™ Label Clip allows you to quickly clip and label documents in one easy step. "

Did they actually talk to any pilers? Did they observe pilers in action? This is what a pilers desk looks like on a good day .

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Their website provides "tips" on how to use these clips.

TIP #1Label the files in your piles clearly. ( I'm not going to include the entire tip but the last sentence says " Remember to write legibly on your labels to avoid confusion.

If a real piler was going to make the effort to organize their papers, write on a clip, they would probably be willing to file them-- I actually looked for a file the other day.  I considered putting a group of papers in that file. I drilled down through the random pieces of free will that occupy my desktop looking for a manilla, puprle or orange file. Couldn't find one. So, I cleaned up my desk and created three key files. That lasted about 10 minutes until I needed a piece of paper and completely merged the separate piles back together.

TIP 2  Color-code your piled files  ( that would require using the PileSmart Label Clip) The benefit they say is you'll save time.

Tip 3  Keep your desktop piles straight and orderly  Are you jokin' me?

Tip 4  Leave room between piles   Please tell me this is supposed to be funny!

Tip 5  Keep same-subject files to their own respective piles.  I've already addressed this issue. That just isn't going to happen.

Now to the survey. You know who you are. Did Pentaflex nail ya?

"POPULAR PILERS (48 percent)

“Pilers” are commonplace in offices, encompassing nearly half of the workforce.  Apparently, the office isn’t the only place they let clutter accumulate, as 59 percent describe their house as ‘somewhat messy.’  They are ‘workaholics’ and ‘sophisticated,’ but loosen up by watching their favorite sport, baseball.  Besides enjoying the company of man’s best friend, “Pilers” relax in natural surroundings, such as parks.  They are intellectuals, holding the most master’s and doctorate degrees. 

FAITHFUL FILERS (38 percent)

Unsurprisingly, enigmatic “Filers” allow their organizational habits to extend past the office, with a majority (63 percent), deeming their home to be ‘neat.’ They manage to be both ‘conservative’ and ‘easy going.’ Using their education from bachelor’s degrees, “Filers” boast office management titles.  In their spare time, they love tropical island vacations, swimming and listening to R&B, as well as jazz. 

TART TOSSERS (14 percent)

Although some might describe throwing away documents as careless, cutting down on clutter clearly has its benefits – “Tossers” have the highest probability of describing their living area as ‘perfect,’ with everything in the right place.  Besides throwing around papers, “Tossers” toss hoops, with 37 percent hailing basketball as their favorite sport.  These social butterflies are drawn to big cities for vacation and enjoy going out on the town with friends.  ‘Young at heart’ “Tossers” work as team leaders and are most likely to have only a high school diploma.  "

To support this campaign, the company has created the "I hate filing club"--it's a place where organizationally challenged people can ask for organizational advice. My favorite was from a freelance writer who wanted advice on how to manage his "mound of paper. He wrote that he had paper everywhere. The response was simplhy this :Any ideas? Welcome to my world. Technical note: the "embarassed" smileys are supposed to sandwich the question any ideas? I can't seem to get that to happen. But hopefully you get the idea.

It's my Weltschmerz and I'll Cry If I Want To

Just One Day after International Women's Day,this headline graced the pages of Gawker  "Sawyer Scratches At The Glass Ceiling." The gist of the story is that pregnant Elizabeth Vargas is out and childless Sawyer is in as anchor of the ABC News.

Hence my Weltschmerz. Thanks to  A. Word.A.Day for sending me just the right word when I need it. Between Schadenfreude and Weltzschmerz I'm feeling i need to take German 101.

Weltzschmerz, according to AWAD means:

World weariness; pessimism, apathy, or sadness felt at the difference between physical reality and the ideal state.

And, used in a sentence,"I hate being told to have a good time! I'll feel the weltschmerz if I want to."

I'm definitely feeling the weltzschmerz about a pregnant news anchor given the boot. Over at Corsair, Ron provides some back story.:

"are we about to see a catfight on the evening news?...This is sure to start a debate about career-path versus having children. Of course women can, and do, do both; but in the hypercompetitive -- and hyper-observed -- TV News fishbowl, we ought to be asking the question: Is it possible to get to the top of the network news food-chain AND have children, if you are a woman.

Merideth Vieira, then at "60 Minutes (and, coincidentally, Diane Sawyer's replacement)," also faced difficult times navigating maternity leave, day care and, most importantly, the infamously grueling schedule at CBSNews. Ultimately Vieira left, but not without painting a particularly damning portrait of Don Hewitt and Mike Wallace -- who were the proximate causes of her leaving -- as leathery old bastards intent on making a young mother's life miserable in the newsroom. Having babies, they seemed to be implying, is for sissies; CBS News should be priority-one.

When Lucille Ball announced she was "with child", television networks censored the word pregnant. And, it was a big deal that a pregnant woman was shown on TV. The network suits almost wet their pants in fear of viewer backlash.

Fast forward 50 years and it appears that the network powers that be at ABC haven't learned a thing.

The real issue isn't that Vargas is having another child and may have to take a six week pregnancy leave. She's already a parent and obviously is balancing her work-home life in a way that is acceptable at ABC.

The issue  for them is  her pregnancy and what pregnancy does to a women's body.Pregnant women aren't thin. The network suits believe that their viewers won't take a pregnant woman seriously ( you know the hormone thing). They believe this because they don't take a  pregnant woman seriously. Oh, and also there is the loss of the F#@%able factor- which is still a criteria for choosing many women in network news.

Several years ago a friend told a story about a pregnant executive who was in charge of new business development. The executive  was around 7 months pregnant. My friend's assignment was to do some undercover work for her boss to find out if the potential client would be 'uncomfortable' with a 7 month pregnant executive pitching the business.

My friend had to find out if the decision maker was married with kids and a variety of other variables to determine whether the pregnant executive was a 'high risk"

It seems that ABC News feels a pregnant Vargas is 'high risk" It's simply weltschmertz.

Tracking Schadenfreude

In my post that I lovely called, "Notes From The Road - Seattle Day 1", I shared my observation that the term Schadenfreude has become  the 2006 vocabulary  media darling --much like the overused gravitas did in 2000 ( first used widely to explain why Dick Cheney was good for the republican ticket --he brought needed gravitas).

I first read the term in an editorial by Kathleen Parker where she basically spanked people who had turned to blogs for their news.

"Schadenfreude - pleasure in others' misfortunes - has become the new barbarity on an island called Blog. When someone trips, whether Dan Rather or Eason Jordan or Judith Miller, bloggers are the bloodthirsty masses slavering for a public flogging. Incivility is their weapon and humanity their victim. "

Intrigued, I decided to keep a watch out for schadenfreude. I've heard it said by the talking heads on cable TV and then today, there it was again. This time  in a column in the National Journal written by William Powers. He too was talking about blogs. This time responding to reports that the blog bubble has busted.

"The Chicago Tribune pounced on the blog bust in an editorial dripping with old-media schadenfreude: "You're forgiven if you cling to the conventional wisdom that blogging, like half-pipe snowboarding, enjoys an unrelievedly rich future. Forgiven, but maybe behind the curve."

So now I want to really start tracking schadenfreude. I'm more convinced then ever that this word is going to rival truthiness in the near future.

And so  I ask your help. If you see it printed in a newspaper, magazine or online,or if you hear media types using it during their talking heads, add it in the comment section.  I will continue to update the list, when I hear someone using schadenfreude to describe the attitude of a particular person, group or political party.

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They should have said NO

For the past couple of weeks, I have been watching in embarrassing agony as Connie Chung, Maury Povitch, Chris Matthews and a host of other journalist participate in a promotion campaign for Connie & Maury's weekend television program on MSNBC.

In one a journlist queries, " I'm not sure Connie is actually Chinese."

The question is, if your boss asked you to do something that you believe is completely humiliating ,would you do it?  Now, we're not talking about breaking any laws or violating the Geneva Convention,  we're just talking about a willingness to abandon your better judgment ( or contract) and do it for  the Gipper .

I haven't seen their show. Not sure I will.  It has gotten mostly negative reviews.

"> Alessandra Stanley calls it a "cheesy talk show" that "almost makes Fox's Geraldo at Large look dignified."

> 5 Things: "The opening banter was lame but the newsreel-esc production was pure Liz Winstead. Very funny."

But, it isn't the show that fascinates me, I'm intrigued with  the promos.. They are hideous.

Why in the world did Connie Chung, Maury Povitch and for that matter Chris Matthews agree to participate? As far as I'm concerned it's a lose-lose situation. If this is their idea of cleaver, I am concerned about their professional judgment; if they knew that the promos reeked, then I've lost respect on an entirely different level.

There are two families of promos; one "endorsing Connie and her supposed talents and one endorsing" Maury and his gifts. At the end of each of their promos they either say, " I'm Connie Chung ( I'm Maury Povitch) and I approve of this ad a la a political candidate.'

If this is MSNBC's idea of edgy, sophisticated, cleaver, amusing, delightful, engaging, motivational, endearing or in any way appropriate, they need to hire a new promotional team.

However, it's one thing for someone to try to push a bad campaign, it's another for supposed intelligent and responsible human beings to agree to participate.

Sometimes, you have to be willing to push yourself away from the table an just say 'thanks, but no thanks".--regardless of the consequences.

Blackberry, Crackberry

The email from the Wall Street Journal was stamped 6:51 p.m. I viewed it at 7:23. It would have been sooner, but I had been at the gym working out and decided to leave the Blackberry at home.

"Hello,I am a reporter at the Journal in New York writing a story about how people will adjust if their BlackBerry service is suspended due to the ongoing lawsuit. I saw a blog post of yours and was wondering if I could ask you a few fun and quick questions regarding you use of the device this evening or early tomorrow..."

Two minutes after I left her a message, we began a conversation on my alleged addiction to my Blackberry. A snippet of the conversation is captured in the WSJ today ( no subscription necessary)

Here is what didn't make it.

I check emails at stoplights.

I have been known when there is no traffic to glance at an important email while driving -- I know, I know. My rationale ( and I know its an excuse not a rationale) is that its no different than reading a map or directions while driving. And at least I'm not putting on mascara.

I'll glance at emails during long meetings.

Oh, and being an insomniac, before I turn on my computer in the middle of the night, I'll glance at the Blackberry.

It's hard to believe that Blackberry is really going down. But then it is a Federal Judge in Richmond-- when I was  a reporter in Richmond I covered those courts. There was one judge ( this goes back 30 years) who was really unreasonable.

One day, an attorney was making a pleading  to the judge. The only people in the courtroom were the judge, the attorney, myself, and another reporter.

The judge had the room set up so that a podium faced the jury box. As the attorney started addressing the court, the judge demanded that the attorney face the jury box -- which would have been okay accept it meant it was talking to the wall since there were no jurors sitting in the jury box.

The attorney protested. The judge demanded. The judge won. it is in his memory that i await the outcome of Blackberry's fate. Good luck.

One in 2.7 million

It was a phone conversation about search engine optimization. She is a potential client. I wanted to demonstrate that blogging is good for search engine optimization.

To demonstrate, I asked her to type in Open -Toed Shoes in Google. Since we were on the phone, I was relying on verbal cues and not able to see what she was doing.

While I was Googling and seeing Open -Toed Shoes pop up as the number one entry ( out of 2.7 million results), my potential client was struggling.

After some conversation, we discovered she didn't Google. She uses MSN. I was taken by surprise. I wanted to ask "Why?" but that was off topic.

Now, before there was a Google, I must have used a different search engine. I just don't remember which search engine I used.

I'm not the only one who has Google on the brain. Writing in Information Week, Alice LaPlante discusses Google's rise to a top 10 brand to its potential Achilles Heel.

"How hot is Google?

- Google's market cap, now hovering at around $132 billion, is bigger than IBM and Chevron.

- Piper Jaffray analyst Safa Raschtchy said the stock would likely soar past $600 this year.

- Unlike high-flying Internet bubble companies of the 1990s, Google is profitable, with revenues growing an average 110% quarterly since it went public in August 2004.

- Google has a war chest of $7.6 billion for doing whatever it pleases.

- Google is one of the top 10 Web brands in the U.S., and the second-fastest-growing Web site, building traffic 29% in the past year, according to Nielsen/Net Ratings. Only Apple's Web site is more popular; Yahoo and MSN lag far behind.

- Google is king of search-related advertising, and search-related ads are the fastest-growing sector of the online ad business, which is growing at 41% annually, said Piper Jaffray.

- Google has almost twice as many search ad clickthroughs as runner-up Yahoo. In December, Google had 16.5 trillion ad clickthrough, compared with Yahoo's 9 trillion, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

- Google earned $3.64 billion from U.S. online ad revenues in 2005, representing 69% of all paid search advertising, according to eMarketer"

It's a great read and be sure to click through to The Guardian's piece on how they manipulated Google's Search Engine with their spoof site for "eco-friendly flip flops".

Web search has become the focus for a legion of marketers over the past decade, and their tactics - known as search engine optimisation (SEO) - are the basis of a multibillion pound worldwide industry. Most are legitimate businesses, but some so-called "black hat" SEOs use unethical strategies to boost their clients.

Meanwhile, after I finished my phone conversation, I decided to treat myself to a vanity trip through the search engines.  I was having a great time until I stopped by Ask Jeeves where I got a big fat dose of search engine reality. It seems they never got my dance card.

The Saddest Day of The Year?

If you are to believe the news readers on MSNBC.com today, January 23rd is the saddest day of the year.

In sharing this tongue and cheek story, the MSNBC readers quote a British Psychologist Cliff Arnall who has created a formula to predict the year's saddest day.

Found the formula in the news.telegraph that is also giving Arnall lots of coverage today.

"An expert in winter disorders first identified January as the most stressful month. Now Cliff Arnall, a health psychologist at Cardiff University, has devised a formula to work out the worst day of the year and has come up with Jan 23 for 2006.

His calculation is based on the poorest weather, debts owed for seasonal spending, the time since Christmas, the period of time before you abandon New Year's resolutions, the dates when motivation levels seems to be at their lowest and the timing for the need for action to escape the blues."

Thanks to a British Blogger, Simon Jeffery, who is no fan of Cliff Arnall or the media's habit of quoting him at will,  it turns out that the good Cliff Arnall is less concerned with the mental health of Brits than he is with the health of his client's bottom line.

"Others went for the less rigorous approach of pointing out that his discovery of the most depressing day (the only answer for which, Dr Arnall said, was to book a holiday) was commissioned by the satellite channel Sky Travel."

The "others" Jeffery links to is MOHO.org--a website promoting four resorts in the Virgin Islands. In their newsletter they shared this...

"The formula was devised to help a travel company "analyze when people book holidays and holiday trends," said a London-based PR agency. "People feel bleak when they have nothing planned, but once they book a holiday they have a goal, they work toward having time off and a relaxing period," When you imagine yourself on the beach it makes you feel positive. You will save money, go to the gym and come back to the optimism you had at the end of 2004."

So Kudos to the PR agency who came up with the idea -- it worked. You got lots of media placement and that's your job. You did it well.

SHAME. SHAME. SHAME on mainstream media who

(a) didn't take the time to research Arnall's credentials
(b) didn't disclose that the formula was created not as an academic exercise but as a corporate exercise.

Kudos to the bloggers -- who got it right.

Oh, and as far as January 23rd goes. To me it's one of the happiest days of the year. It's my son Noah's 22nd Birthday.

Happy Birthday!