I came across this shelf placard in a grocery store in the Republic of Lebanon. Negro is a brand of steel wool made in Sweden. As I did not write down the address of the company, I have no further information about this particular brand, or its choice of packaging. However, I have been told that this brand has been available in Lebanon for decades, and that the man in the picture has undergone hairstyle modifications in the past. According to local shoppers, the Carl Lewis-style ur-fade flattop he currently sports was preceded by a rounder and more traditional Afro. Whether Negro's failure to give its mascot a more à-la-mode wig for the 1990s was due to Lebanon's devastating civil war or Swedish economic stagnation cannot be determined. If you know anything more about this brand of steel wool please don't hesitate to tell me.

This personal greeting appeared in the pages of Indian Country Today, a newspaper I heartily recommend, although its comics page is among the least funny I have ever seen. I'd like to join Mr. Little Owl's family in wishing him the best on his birthday, and throughout the year.

This is an official nametag for David Talbot, Founder, Chairman and Editor in Chief of Salon.com. It was issued during the University of Southern California's Online Journalism Conference. Although my appearance as a panelist at this conference — videotape of which is available online — seems to have been successful, I am not at all comfortable in these public settings, and for my money the high point of the conference came when I managed to pick up this memento of Mr. Talbot, whose work I have long admired and who unfortunately was unable to make it to the conference.