"Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple." Barry Switzer

"There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot." Steven Wright

"When the paddy wagon comes, they'll take the good girls with the bad." Archie MacAllaster

"Will the headline make you want to read the first sentence of copy, and will the first sentence of copy make you want to read the second sentence? And you go right straight through the piece of copy. It ought to be at the very last word when the reader wants to drop off." George Gribbin


Today's image, t now on offer at ThinkGeek (thanks to the Steve Safran and the LR gang for the tip).

Howie Kurtz is asking the right questions. In today's WaPo piece headed Tightened Belts Could Put Press In a Pinch...

"Times Publisher Jeffrey Johnson was ousted this month when he refused demands by the paper's parent, Tribune Co., to cut the newsroom staff from 940 to about 800. Five years ago, the staff numbered 1,200. And anyone who thinks investigative projects are unaffected by such corporate slashing doesn't understand the business."

"Newspapers and networks face the same dilemma: too many people doing other things with their time, from Web-surfing to podcast listening, or simply losing interest in news altogether. Some of these customers are consuming the companies' wares online, which is great for exposure but doesn't produce the revenue needed to support long-form reporting. If this erosion continues, it would be bad news for serious journalism, and good news for corrupt politicians."

Well said Howie. Bravo! Read his entire writing here

To succeed sooner, fail faster: Google seems to be failing in their legacy media initiatives (e.g., dead tree, first tribe of wireless). But, please, it is way too early to make a definitive call. My sense is Google, Yahoo and Microsoft will each crack the code at about the same time. Donna Bogatin over at ZDNet has been chasing the Google story for some time. Get her latest read, Google failing to snag $116 billion print, radio, televsion ad markets, here. Bravo Donna, well done.

"Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart" Henry Clay (via Tom Peters). Tom Peters offers today's object lesson in the use of Weapons of Mass Politeness. Worth more than the minute of your time it will take here. Bravo TP! As my mom used to say "There is never an excuse for bad manners."

Jeffrey Zaslow, writing in today's free WSJ, offers up an interesting take on the folk that cable rock star Tammy Haddad calls "street meat" those rising star pundits, here. (Closed circuit to MSNBC, Tammy is the perfect person to help reinvent all of the firm's cable assets).

Seth shares secrets, ten of em, including...

4. Irrational, strongly held beliefs of close advisors should be ignored. It doesn’t matter if they don’t like your logo.

5. If it makes you nervous, it’s probably a good idea. If you’re sure you’re right, you probably aren’t.

6. Focusing obsessively on one niche, one feature and one market is almost always a better idea than trying to satisfy everyone.

Check out all ten here.