We foresee the BP disaster as being a case study that will be used by PR practitioners for years to come.

If this stuff really gets to you, why not try treating the press the way George Clooney or Meryl Streep does, man. They have boundaries, but generally don’t let the media get under their skin. Laugh it off. This petulant stuff plays right into their hands.

Whether you’re talking about sustainable architecture, accounting or the proposed convenience store you’re opposing in the neighborhood, the artful sound bite can make you case better than reams of facts and figures. Using a little bit of wordplay to paint a picture is a great way to go.

Keep it short and pithy. The news media–whether it’s TV, print or online–prefer brevity. They love the sound bite. If you’ve prepared a few good, juicy sound bites you will likely have a positive effect on the story. I won’t insult you by saying “be honest,” but I will caution you to keep the hyperbole to a minimum.

I went in, expecting to have to leave my Mac for a costly repair. The “genius” at the store fiddled with the offending key for a few moments, did some diagnostics and sighed. He then took out a piece of Scotch tape and stuck the key to the outside of the Mac. He didn’t ask, just did it, then picked up the phone and made sure that they had the parts needed to fix the machine.

For me, this brings perspective and a sense of some level of control over the chaos life throws at me (at everyone, right?). It doesn’t always work. Sometimes all I can think of is what’s next on my plate, but often I get to that green pasture of peace and quiet.

If that prospect terrifies or even intrigues you, then why not consider taking an hour or so and hearing the basics of interacting with our friends in the Fourth Estate?

I think these are all valid points in their marketing strategy; by the looks of the packed waiting room at the dealership, I’d say they’re doing just fine.

“I can’t imagine even one person in a thousand reads poetry on a regular basis,” said Tom Wayne, co-owner of Prospero’s Books in Kansas City’s historic Westport area. “Poetry is an obscure art–people are afraid of it for a variety of reasons,”

2,000+ ebooks from Smashwords authors and publishers appeared on the iPad yesterday.

Very few people in the publishing industry understand the profound implications of this. It’s not just about the iPad – it’s about how any author, anywhere in the world, can go from a Microsoft Word document to worldwide ebook store distribution in a matter of seconds or days.