EPIC AMAZON REVIEW THREADS

What a great gift - received this from one MidCoast - one of our retouching vendors. They are very detail-oriented and they obviously did their homework when it came to a timeless gift. Can't beat the Stanley Classic 8oz Flask: good looks, sturdy design, and durable stainless steel wall, and a Stanley-backed lifetime warranty. I'm looking forward to using it for stove fuel when backpacking.

Now about the Kablamo! (aka amazonemperor) five-star review at Amazon.com of Stanley's Classic Flask.

Obviously this was in jest. But what kind of process does Amazon have for reviewing product ratings? Unless it is reported, the prank review will live on - possibly tarnishing a brand in the name of fun. Stanley should be monitoring their products for reviews like this and flagging them as needed.

Unless that is, they are trying to get a little extra buzz out of Kablamo!'s post. After all, four of six people found this review helpful. I checked Kablamo!'s profile and found that he had an equally rye sense of humor regarding a Clue game.

Epic Amazon Review Threads are the latest attack on boredom sweeping the internet. College Humor Internet Archeologist, Susanna Wolff, has an article with step-by-step instructions on "How to Write an Epic Amazon Review." Clever. Kind of reminds me of the Anarchist's Cookbook except these saboteurs subtly sneak in unaware and plant their Web-side humor with glee - knowing they just played the newest practical joke around.

New York Times Delivers

The Detroit Free Press is going digital, well sort of. They are cutting daily delivery of the paper to three days a week. The morning ritual of coffee and a newspaper is ruined. Irate customers are writing in declaring their loyal dog will be in a fix without a paper to retrieve.

Management at the Detroit Media Partnership are trying to shift to a digital delivery of the news. Unfortunately, even though our family is entrenched in the digital domain, the facto-o-the matter is that we still like the renewable resource of tactile paper. You can use it to train a puppy in the finer matters and it can be split into sections - comics to the kids, sports to dad, and lifestyle to the wife. I'm not going to buy a Kindle 2 device for everyone. We only have one computer and that my Freep-friends is the dilemma.

An ad posted recently that caught my eye. The New York Times must have a local zip-code driven targeted advertisement in the Free Press hinterland. The Free Press has been trying to keep loyal readers from defecting to the Oakland Press with an option of mail delivery. It worked for my uncle, but came too late for my family. We already switched allegiances to the Oakland Press (even though its parent company has filed for chapter 11 protection). Now the NYT is advertising daily delivery for $3.35 a week. I know the digital age is here ... but I still want ink on my fingers.