When Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

"Why did the chicken cross the road" is certainly an old joke, but just how old is it? New research from XooxleAnswers shows that the joke is considerably older than previously thought. Wikipedia, Yahoo Answers and Answers.com all cite 1915 as the year the joke first appeared in print. However, the new XooxleAnswers research dates it to the mid-19th century.

"This isn't earth-shaking news," said XooxleAnswers founder David Sarokin, "but it certainly highlights the importance of careful research and fact-checking. Not all information on the internet is reliable."

"The joke is generally dated back to the early 1900's," according Sarokin. "In fact, Wikipedia, Answers.com, and Yahoo Answers all cite 1915 as the first time the joke appeared in print."

"But our historical research team at XooxleAnswers turned up numerous earlier print versions of the joke, going back to the mid-19th century".

The earliest version of the joke found by XooxleAnswers dates back to 1847, and appeared in a New York monthly magazine, The Knickerbocker.

The joke, in its original form, went like this:

...There are 'quips and quillets' which seem actual conundrums, but yet are none. Of such is this: 'Why does a chicken cross the street? Are you 'out of town?' Do you 'give it up?' Well, then: 'Because it wants to get on the other side!'

"I had to read it a few times before making sense of the 19th century cadence." said Sarokin, "but sure enough, that's the chicken joke, as plain as can be."

"The internet has made so many tremendous tools available for historical research," continued Sarokin, "that it's critical to be thorough about your results before publicly presenting them as definitive answers. Otherwise, so-called facts become nothing more than urban legends."

Sarokin added, "Even when the question is about the history of a joke, unsubstantiated facts have a way of taking on a life of their own, especially on the internet. We've updated the Wikipedia entry and hope to be able to correct other erroneous sources soon".

Further information about the origins of the "Why did the chicken cross the road" joke can be found at the XooxleAnswers website.

Additional information:
More on the history of "Why did the chicken…?
http://xooxleanswers.com/chickencrosstheroad.aspx

XooxleAnswers main page:
http://xooxleanswers.com/default.aspx

Over 300 Web Sites Now Offer Videos

The number of Web sites that offer entertainment and information videos increased in the last year from about 200 to over 300, according to the report "Video Vision 2007: A Survey of Web Sites Offering Video" from Rider Research, publisher of the weekly digital media newsletter The Online Reporter.

To say that video on the Internet exploded in the last year or so is a vast understatement.

Videos -- entertainment, sports, news and information -- are flooding the Net, from first run movies and classic TV shows to user-generated, amateurish videos.

TV networks from the BBC to NBC, even local TV stations and magazines, offer shows online, either ad-supported or as for-pay downloads. Britain's ITV says it will stream all its TV channels over the Internet.

Amazon and AOL joined Apple, CinemaNow, Movielink and Starz to sell movie and television show downloads.

Microsoft turned the Xbox 360 videogame console into a networked entertainment device, offering over 1,000 hours of downloadable movies and TV episodes from the major studios and network channels -- in both standard- and high-definition. Sony is following with its PlayStation 3.

Apple TV lets consumers watch the movies and TV shows they downloaded from iTunes to their PC on their favorite TV set, even in another room.

Sites like YouTube and AddictingClips are good for a quick fix or a laugh. Blip.TV, Metacafe and the AOL Video site provide longer-length videos with higher production standards.

BitTorrent launched with content from major studios, using P2P technology to deliver large, high-quality video files faster than ever.

Netflix makes titles available for instant streaming for those who don't want to wait even the day it takes for a DVD to arrive.

The start-up Joost burst onto the scene, promising the best of TV and the Internet in a TV-like experience that offers the social networking and community features of a Web 2.0 site.

Source: Rider Research

Paying Taxes Lights Up The Brain

Want to light up the pleasure center in your brain? Just pay your taxes, and then give a little extra voluntarily to your local food bank. University of Oregon scientists have found that doing those deeds can give you the same sort of satisfaction you derive from feeding your own hunger pangs.

A three-member team - a cognitive psychologist and two economists - published its results in the June 15 issue of the journal Science. The scientists gave 19 women participants $100 and then scanned their brains with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as they watched their money go to the food bank through mandatory taxation, and as they made choices about whether to give more money voluntarily or keep it for themselves.

The study, said Ulrich Mayr, a professor of psychology, reflects the balancing act that every society must face. "What this shows to someone who designs tax policy is that taxes aren't all bad," he said. "Paying taxes can make citizens happy. People are, to varying degrees, pure altruists. On top of that they like that warm glow they get from charitable giving. Until now we couldn't trace that in the brain."

Source: http://www.uoregon.edu/

Video Site for Great Science Lectures

Bringing a new capability to the online video boom epitomized by YouTube and others, http://www.scitalks.com/ is a focused, searchable repository of video recordings of science lectures from all over the world. The site launches today with over 1,000 lectures online, and more are being added daily. Segments range from a series of hour-long lectures by the late Richard Feynman, to a short, hilarious Ali G interview with Noam Chomsky, and a fascinating talk on designing a semiconductor-based brain, by up-and-coming Stanford researcher Kwabena Boahen.

Access to scitalks.com is completely free; additionally, users can also set up a free username and password to create their own collection of favorite videos, which can be shared with students, friends and colleagues.

"Science and scientists are going to be more fun and accessible because of SciTalks. Students will be able to hear the voices and passion of the actual discoverers of the subject they're studying in class. Teachers can assign selections to their students... no matter how limited your school's resources, if you have access to the internet, you can now get a great science education. It's like crack for science geeks." says founder Lee Vodra.

Users can also submit links to additional lectures to be listed on the site, search for upcoming science conferences, and even upload their own video content - the site has subcategories for academic, business and personal science lectures. Linked sites for lectures in the humanities, government and business (www.humtalks.com, www.govtalks.com, and www.busitalks.com) are planned for launch in the next 3 months.

Upcoming Luncheons at the National Press Club

Following is a schedule of upcoming luncheons at the National Press Club. National Press Club events are open to NPC members and their guests only. Credentialed press may cover Luncheons and Newsmakers. Events listed are subject to last-minute changes. Space may be reserved at any NPC Luncheon by calling 202-662-7501. To save time and avoid waiting in line, tickets can be paid for in advance by using a credit card or putting tickets on a house account if there is a credit card on file with the Club. Reservations are not required for Newsmakers, unless otherwise noted.

To find out more about what's happening at the National Press Club,
check out the National Press Club's Web site at http://npc.press.org/

June 18, 2007
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Author of "Infidel" and research fellow, American
Enterprise Institute
Topic: "Islam and the West."

June 25, 2007
Chad Holliday, Chairman, Council on Competitiveness and chairman of the
board and chief executive officer, DuPont
Topic: TBA

June 26, 2007
Lou Dobbs, anchor and managing editor of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight.
Topic: "Politics and the Economy."

July 18, 2007
John Snow, Chairman, Cerberus Capital Management and former treasury
secretary
Topic: TBA

******July 24, 2007
Admiral William Fallon, Commander, U.S. Central Command
Topic: TBA

August 7, 2007
Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House
Topic: TBA

******August 14, 2007
General George W. Casey, Jr. Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
Topic: TBA

******September 13, 2007
Cristian Samper, Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian
Topic: TBA

September 19, 2007
Ken Burns, Documentary filmmaker
Topic: TBA

Writers Literary Agency Seeks News Writing Talent

The WLA Group of companies has acquired The Literary Agency Group of companies and has increased its capacity to accept new talent.

WLA is the second largest editing company in the world behind Scribendi. WLA is embarking on a vertical integration strategy that includes buying the best writing talent in the country through the acquisition of select literary agencies.

WLA is also seeking new authors to submit their work. "New writers and fresh talent are the lifeblood of the industry", states Robert West, Principal. "We are unique in that we are willing to work with writers to grow their talent. We will do what it takes to make our writers ready for the market."

"The acquisition of the literary agency is further evidence that we are creating a trend in what has been a fragmented and boutique industry," continued Mr. West. "We believe we may have the largest database of edited and credentialed writers in the world. This only serves to make our relationships with our publishers stronger."

WLA recently attended Book Expo America and exhibited in the International Literary Rights Centre.

Website: http://www.wlwritersagency.com/

Get Branded Blog

BrandingWire, a collaboration of 12 marketing, branding and communications professionals, has launched. The Wire's purpose is to look at business case studies, analyze them, and then share the best ideas and practices to grow that company's brand.

"There is too much bad branding and marketing going on, hurting businesses and the marketing profession," Lewis Green, says. "I won't go into the reasons why this is happening, but suffice it to say that we have all seen examples of marketing campaigns that don't deliver the goods. With BrandingWire, we hope that by showing and expressing our individual talents, experiences, knowledge and creativity that the dynamics between us will allow BrandingWire to share the best practices as well as the innovative strategies and tactics to solve real branding and marketing challenges."

BrandingWire (http://brandingwire.wordpress.com/) is a collaboration of high-profile branding and marketing professionals, who are banding together to tackle branding and marketing challenges and topics on a regular basis. They will tackle one case study per month, and apply their combined creative energy to showcase how great branding gets done. "We want to share and communicate branding that works," Green added.

Although the first case study is fictional, in future posts the groups will study real companies with real marketing challenges that need to be solved.

Veteran Copywriter Offers Online Library of Free Copywriting Tips

The success of a business relies on three key components. One, the person must craft an appealing, irresistible product offer that rivals that of their competition. Two, they must have a top quality mailing list if they’re a brick and mortar company and/or they must send laser-targeted website traffic to their website if they have a business that’s primarily marketed online. The last critical key to the success of a marketing campaign relies on their copywriting.

What is copywriting? Copywriting is the art and science of creating highly targeted advertising that employs calls to action. This method of advertising is far and away different compared to the image ads you see on TV as used by large multi-national corporations. Companies that primarily distribute products and services through direct mail, print ads and online marketing rely on powerful, persuasive copywriting to generate sales.

As more people try to start home based businesses and as more companies discover the magic of direct mail and online marketing, copywriting is becoming more in demand. To help answer questions about copywriting, Mike Jezek, a freelance copywriter, has created a web page on his consulting site that lists 20 detail-rich articles he authored that not only explain how copywriting can benefit your business but also explain some of his most closely-guarded copywriting trade secrets.

In the copywriting industry, there is strong competition between consultants looking for an edge, as often, competing companies in the market place will both employ copywriters as employees or consultants thus a duel of sorts between the skills of both copywriters takes place.

Right now, at http://www.mikejezek.com/ business owners and marketing directors can preview some of the techniques Mike Jezek uses to help his clients generate breakthrough results with their marketing. Mike Jezek is also offering a FREE email course on Psychological Marketing tactics that business owners and marketing directors can instantly use in their campaigns. To claim this email course, sign up at http://www.mikejezek.com/

The Cincinnati Playwrights Accepting New Plays

The Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative is a grassroots organization of playwrights, directors and actors devoted to bringing plays written by local playwrights to the Cincinnati stage in the form of staged readings.

CPI is accepting new plays for consideration for the remainder of the 2007 Season. Area writers are encouraged to submit a full-length play or three one-acts, along with $15 check payable to CPI. Author's name and contact information should appear on a separate cover page but not on the manuscript. The fee includes a year's membership in CPI and membership privileges. If interested, mail a typed unbound copy of your script along with a $15 check to: CPI, Box 141164, Cincinnati, OH 45250-1164. For more information contact: Phil Paradis at 513-241-5154 or visit http://www.cinciplaywrights.org/

Stage readings are an important step in the development of new plays. The audience is encouraged but not required to join in the collaborative process of bringing a new play to life. Preliminary to full productions stage readings allow playwrights, actors and directors to receive feedback from the audience about the script and play-in-progress.

Creatively Self-Employed Featured on Women's Radio

Kristen Fischer, author of Creatively Self-Employed: How Writers and Artists Deal with Career Ups and Downs, was interviewed by Pat Lynch as a part of the Women's Radio lineup.

"I enjoyed talking to Pat about the challenges of creative self-employment," says Fischer. "She has such a heart for helping women succeed and offers such a valuable platform for women to speak up."

In the interview, Fischer and Lynch discuss the logistics of making creative self-employment successful, covering topics such as combating loneliness while working solo, coping with rejection, staying inspired and publishing a book.

To listen to the interview online, visit (website).

Author Christine Conrad appears on Fascinating Authors Podcast

The Fascinating Authors Radio Show continues its podcasts with the most interesting and relevant authors and books by holding an interview with Christine Conrad, author of Mademoiselle Benoir, an unusual love story that reveals a look into French mores and traditions and can be downloaded at (website).

Fascinating Authors is one of the first radio shows to feature both new and established authors, but you won’t hear this show on your favorite local radio station because it’s beamed to your favorite MP3 player as a podcast, playing across the world via cyberspace. Using podcasting, Fascinating Authors brings a limitless audience to the authors who engage, enrich, and entertain us.

In Mademoiselle Benoir, thirty-four-year-old Tim Reinhart exchanges the bustling pace of New York City for a rundown farmhouse in the relatively undiscovered Lot Valley in southwest France. When the stunning - and much older - Catherine Benoir enters his life, their burgeoning romance faces a torrent of emotional and cultural complexities.

In writing Mademoiselle Benoir, Conrad drew inspiration from the real-life story of a friend’s son who had moved to rural France and had fallen in love and married a beautiful, much older woman from a local aristocratic family. Eventually Conrad traveled to France and met the newly married couple at the woman’s family chateau. "I was completely enthralled by their romance and the extraordinary strife it inspired, and I knew immediately that here was a one-of-a-kind tale, one that resonated for me with that writer’s sensation: This is my kind of story."

Conrad did extensive research on French culture and history to create an imagined story about the personal and cultural struggles of a couple in such a situation. She describes her writing process as "a slow alchemy of imagination and research that would transform the bare outlines of a story into a work of fiction that was completely my own."

"Love is the ‘glue’ of life and its greatest mystery," says Conrad. "Who can say why we fall in love, or why we choose what to others can seem the most unlikely of mates?" Her characters Tim Reinhart and Catherine Benoir would certainly agree.

Written in form of letters and diary entries, Mademoiselle Benoir is truly an unexpected love story.

Christine Conrad has enjoyed a dynamic and varied career. She has worked as a NYC film commissioner, a book editor at Warner Publishing, a screenwriter (Junior, a 1995 comedy starring Schwarzenegger, DeVito, and Emma Thompson), a best-selling author and advocate for women’s health (Natural Woman, Natural Menopause, A Woman’s Guide to Natural Hormones), and most recently, Jerome Robbins, a pictorial biography based on her long friendship with the choreographer. Mademoiselle Benoir is her first novel. She lives in Los Angeles.

Fascinating Authors is the brainchild of Penny Sansevieri whose company, Author Marketing Experts, Inc., has successfully harnessed the power of the Internet to promote its authors. She has long been intrigued by the idea of creating an Internet radio show for and about authors. “I really envisioned a place where I could interview whomever I wanted, not just the authors everyone wants to interview but the authors who live to write. Maybe they’re on your radar screen, maybe they’re not, but often, these are the most fascinating people of all.”

Fascinating Authors is syndicated in 16 markets as well as on iTunes.

The Fascinating Authors Radio Show launched with a bang in 2006, presenting interviews with mystery writer Hallie Ephron and New York Times bestselling authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Fascinating Authors is one of the first radio shows to feature both new and established authors. Get the story behind the story! Fascinating Authors takes a closer look at your favorite authors, what drives them, what inspires them and why they just can’t stop writing. Whether you’re a fan, an avid reader or aspire to become a fascinating author you’ll love this show.

Website: http://fascinatingauthors.com

Conscious Discussions Talk Radio Show Seeking Guests

Dave and Lillian Brummet, authors of the book Trash Talk, have launched a talk radio show called Conscious Discussions. Listeners are invited view the website and click on the Test session to hear what the show will be about. Anyone interested in appearing on the 1/2 hour show as a guest is welcome to contact the Brummet's through one of their websites (see below). The show will be recorded live and airs every Tuesday at 10 am PST.

RADIO SHOW DESCRIPTION: Discussions about the environment, the value of the individual and the world of writing.

HOSTS: Lillian and Dave Brummet, authors of Trash Talk (waste reduction), Towards Understanding (non-fiction poetry) & Purple Snowflake Marketing (book promotion).

KEYTAGS: author, book, book promotion, education, energy, environment, family, interview, lifestyle, money, promotion, recycle, reuse, talk show, trash, trash talk, waste, water, writing, zero waste

LOCATION: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/consciousdiscussions

TIME: EVERY TUESDAY @ 10:00 a.m. PST - (First show airs on May 8th)

AUTHORS WEBSITES:
http://www.sunshinecable.com/~drumit

http://www.myspace.com/canadianauthor

How To Find A Literary Agent -- Or How They Find You

Author: Dee Power

How to find a literary agent is the first lesson new authors must learn. Is it hopeless? Do you have to be published to find a literary agent? Fortunately the answer is no.

We asked over 60 successful literary agents:

Where Do Agents Find Clients?

• Referral from one of their other clients 39%
• Direct contact by the writer 33%
• Referral from editors and publishers 9%
• Referral from other authors not their clients 8%
• Referrals from other agents 5%
• Attendance at writers' conferences 3%
• Other 3%

It comes as no surprise that referrals from their current clients were the top method cited. Publishing is a relationship based industry. Contacts are extremely important. A recommendation from someone whose opinion an agent trusts always is valued and receives prompt attention. Several careers of top selling authors were launched when another bestselling author took them under their wing and introduced them to agents or publishers.

What might be surprising is that as many as one-third of the agents said direct contact from the writer was the most common way they found new clients. There is most definitely hope for the budding authors out there, sweating over the last draft of that perfect query letter to send out to agents.

Attending writer's conference is often recommended as a way to get some face time with a literary agent and make some contacts in the publishing world. The survey shows that only 3% of agents overall find a new client as a result of a writer's conference. But, and it's a big but, the agents that attend are there for that very purpose. Don't wait for the pitch sessions, talk to the agents during the break sessions and informal networking.

You can find literary agents interested in your book. Polish your query letter and pitch to those agents who represent the type of books you write.

---------------
Want to find out how you can avoid scams and still get your book published? You can receive a free report Perils and Pitfalls of Publishing for Writers.

Kurt Schork Awards in International Journalism

The deadline for entries to the Kurt Schork Awards in International Journalism is less than two weeks away. Two annual prizes of $5,000 each are awarded, one to any freelance print-based journalist covering foreign news, and the second to a local journalist in the developing world. The deadline for receipt of emailed or posted entries is June 15th. The awards were created to honour fearless freelance news reporting, and the best in local journalism. They were set up in memory of Kurt Schork, the American freelance reporter known for his committed reporting around the world, who was killed in a military ambush while on assignment for Reuters in Sierra Leone in May 2000.

The awards are being administered by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (www.iwpr.net), on behalf of the Kurt Schork Memorial Fund.

Last year’s winners were honoured at an award ceremony in London hosted by Christiane Amanpour of CNN. To watch the ceremony, visit the

Poetryfoundation.Org Wins a Webby

In its first year, the Poetry Foundation's website -- poetryfoundation.org -- has been named Best Website in the Association category for 2007. Notable for its comprehensive scale, poetryfoundation.org is a rich resource featuring an archive of more than 5,000 poems by more than 500 poets, daily and weekly articles on poets and poetry, podcasts of well-known authors reading and discussing their work, poetry news, cartoons, and Harriet the blog, named after Harriet Monroe, the founder of "Poetry" magazine.

Drawing inspiration from Harriet Monroe, poetryfoundation.org is one of several efforts underway by the Poetry Foundation to strengthen the relationship between poetry and its audience. As Monroe wrote in the first issue of Poetry in 1912, "This art, like every other, is not a miracle of direct creation, but a reciprocal relation between the artist and his public." The site's extensive poetry archive, searchable via the Poetry Tool, is continuously updated by editors, critics, and readers as they search, read, and comment on the poems they encounter.

The 2007 award for Best Association Website will be presented on June 5, at the 11th Annual Webby Awards at Cipriani Wall Street, in New York.

Website: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/

New Book Widgets Let Readers Promote Favorites on Blogs

At the BookExpo America 2007 in New York, NY, executives from LibreDigital, the creators of the first digital warehouse service that enables book publishers like HarperCollins and Bloomsbury to display valuable content in a high-quality, highly-searchable format online, will preview its new Book Widget technology. The technology enables readers to post their favorite books on blogs and social networking web sites like MySpace, while allowing publishers to control copyrights and the book content displayed. The move will help publishers to market their titles in the social networking world and give readers greater flexibility to include information about their favorite books in their personal profiles.

The Book Widget technology from LibreDigital will be demoed at BookExpo America conference, which presents the world’s largest English-language selection of books and is the premier gathering ground for everyone from publishers to booksellers; librarians to rights professionals from all major US publishing houses.

Website: http://www.libredigital.com

Three-Part Videocast on Creativity in Business

1to1 Media and its parent company Carlson Marketing have produced a three-part videocast series in which three acclaimed authors and industry thought leaders explore how ideas and creativity translate into productivity and profits for today's businesses.

The three videocasts will focus on distinct aspects of how creativity is impacting business:

-- Part One: Breaking the Mold discusses how work habits and behaviors can enable creative thinking and action, and how employers can encourage innovation when colleagues and clients want to play it safe.

-- Part Two: Crossing Boundaries: The New Creative Culture explores the development of creativity on individual, group and organizational levels.

-- Part Three: Senses Working Overtime looks at how emotional factors, intrinsic values and the five senses impact creativity in business and marketing.

The complimentary 15-minute segments are available for viewing at http://www.1to1media.com/links/creativity.html.

Your Personal, Automated Blog Reporter

Free Auto Blogger, a new software application from Advanced Interactive Marketing, allows bloggers to quickly and easily build power blogs on any subject.

"Many people who want to build a blog of fresh content just do not have the time or resources to do so," says Larry Brunken, co-founder of Advanced Interactive Marketing. "With Free Auto Blogger, you can set loose an automated blogger bot that can build content-related posts into your blog automatically every few minutes."

Free Auto Blogger (available online at http://www.freeautoblogger.com) is a free software package that allows bloggers to quickly load their favorite RSS, XML and podcast feeds into the program.