Spring Break and Kitty Study Buddies

It is spring break, so I am using this week to catch up on lectures and school work. My cat Chaucer is a great study buddy, always by my side. He's the Himalayan pictured on the right. Below is Geno when he was a kitten. We think he is part Ragdoll, since he is such a big boy now at 16 pounds! Geno is not a very good study buddy since he tries to lay on the keyboard and swats at the arrow on the computer screen.

In addition to companionship, it turns out pets are good for our health, too. A study at the Center for Human-Animal Interaction at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine has shown that interacting with animals can benefit you physically and emotionally. The article goes on to say that so much evidence is piling up that the National Institutes of Health is going to invest $2 million into new research on the topic. I was doubtful, but it's true: Feds offer research grants on interactions between pets, children.

So, thank you to all pets! Now, move out of the way, Geno, it's time to get back to work...

Swimming in Magazines

Magazines Team Up to Tout 'Power of Print'
By Russell Adams and Shira Ovide, The Wall Street Journal

Magazine executives spent much of last year telling anyone who would listen that they were taking their brands digital. Their message this year: Print rules.

Five leading magazine publishers have pitched in on a multimillion-dollar ad campaign touting the "power of print." They say nearly 1,400 pages of the ads will be sprinkled through magazines including People, Vogue and Ladies' Home Journal this year.

The ads press the case that magazines remain an effective advertising medium in the age of the Internet because of the depth and lasting quality of print, compared with the ephemeral nature of much of the Web's content.

"The Internet is fleeting. Magazines are immersive," says one ad, which is slated to appear in May issues of the participating publications. The first spread features a photo of swimmer Michael Phelps from ESPN The Magazine, with the headline "We surf the Internet. We swim in magazines."

Backing the campaign are Time Warner's Time Inc., Hearst, Advance Publications' Condé Nast, Wenner Media and Meredith. The ads were created by WPP's Young & Rubicam. (full article)