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  Eric Yaverbaum, president and CEO of Ericho Communications, says the press might not be good, but this kind of attention effectively multiplies the company’s ad buy and drives consumers to want to go online and watch the video.

  (tags: social media public)

• Grammar Girl :: How to Write Your First Novel

  Since you’re listening to this podcast, you probably love the English language and the written word. And if you do, you probably have an itch to write that first novel. Well, you’re not alone. The dream of writing a novel, either for personal satisfaction or to make money, has been prevalent in our culture for decades, if not centuries.

• MediaPost Publications – Kmart Enlists Bloggers For Social Net Campaign – 12/12/2008

• /Message: Izea: Where Is That Line Again?

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• mrontemp: I still want my Swedish meatballs! The Izea brouhaha continues

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  Chris Pirillo, Jim Kukral, Tamar Weinburg, Aaron Brazell, Liz Strauss, Joseph Jeffe, and Chris Heuer

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• The Midnight Writer: Writing Boring Articles

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• Jeremiah Owyang Inserts Foot In Mouth (Again) Over IZEA Sponsored Posts | Technosailor.com

• Understanding Izea’s Sponsored Blogging Service… (Web Strategy by Jeremiah) » TechNews.AM

• TechWag » Chris Brogan and the Tempest in a teapot

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• Freaky Frugalite » Blog Archive » Blogging For Pay, Part 1: Preparing For Your Future

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• Young PR

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• Another Frightening Show About the Economy from This American Life

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• Credit default swap – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Flip MinoHD Camcorders | Flip Video

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• About Us – DC Navigators

I just received this announcement from Nancy Martira over at Ketchum, following-up on my blog post with the big announcement that Frank Luntz is leaving Luntz, Maslansky Strategic Research:

As you reported on your blog, the close of the 2008 Election Season also brings to a close Frank Luntz’s time as CEO at Luntz Maslansky, a non-partisan, market research and communications consulting firm.  As reported in Ad Age on Friday afternoon, Lutz Maslansky Strategic Research (LMSR) is pleased to announce that President Michael Maslansky will be taking over the role of CEO effective January 1, 2009.  The Luntz, Maslansky Method of Language Strategy, used recently by news organizations such as CNN and FOX News to track voter reaction to the presidential debates, is used to understand how target audiences “hear” messages and how to craft the precise language that resonates most powerfully with those audiences. 

Founder and outgoing CEO Frank Luntz will relinquish day-to-day responsibilities and assume the role of chairman emeritus.  Prior to his five years of service as the President of LMSR, Michael Maslansky was president of MarketResearch.com, a leading market intelligence company where he remains on the Board.  “Michael is the ideal person to take the firm to the next level,” said Luntz.  “At no time in recent history has the importance of clear, credible and persuasive communications been greater than it is today, with corporate American facing unprecedented financial challenges and a new era in Washington.”

A dear friend, who will remain nameless, enjoyed the lucky blessing of the bite of a wild rat while indulging in blatant noblesse oblige. Will he go mad from rabies?

Are wild rats ever found to carry rabies?

Very few rats infected with rabies have ever been found in the United States. Winkler (1973) reviewed the literature on rodent rabies in the United States. He found that during the 18-year period of 1953 and 1970, a small number of rabid rats (39 rats) were found in the United States. The numbers were extremely small: only 11 rabid rats were found in the U.S. during the three year period of 1953-1955. The number of rabid rats declined during the period of time covered by the review, and by the three year period of 1968-1970 only 2 rats were found to be rabid. This decline in the number of rabid rats is probably due to an improvement in diagnostic techniques which led to fewer false positives.

In other countries, no rats were found to be infected with rabies in surveys of wild rat populations in Sri Lanka (Patabendige and Wimalaratne 2003), Poland (Wincewicz 2002), and Bangkok, Thailand (Kantakamalakul 2003). In Thailand, 4.7% of Norway rats (9 rats out of 192) were found to be carrying rabies (Smith et al. 1968).

Have rats ever caused rabies in humans?

Rats and other small rodents have never caused a single case of human rabies in the United States (CDC).

A very few cases of humans infected with rabies by rats have been reported in countries such as Poland, Israel, Thailand and Surinam. In Poland, out of 9,998 cases of human rabies from 1990 to 1994, four were caused by rats (0.04%), while the vast majority were caused by foxes (Zmudziñski and Smreczak 1995, described in Wincewicz 2002). In Israel, one case of human rabies was caused by a bite from a small rodent — possibly a rat or mouse (Gdalevich et al. 2000). In Thailand, out of 7,000 human rabies cases reported each year, 1% are caused by rat bites (Kamoltham et al. 2002). The majority of rabies cases in Thailand are caused by dogs (86.3%) (Pancharoen et al. 2001). An outbreak of paralytic rabies in children in Surinam was attributed to rat bites (Verlinde et al 1975).

Why is rabies so rare in rats?

The answer is unclear. Currently, it is presumed that rats are so small that they almost never survive the attack of a larger rabid animal, like a raccoon, skunk, or fox.