Had to take down my Adbusters calendar because the September image was just too haunting for the kitchen (not to mention terribly difficult to explain to the children:

“Well, you see, that man is driving a truck, and he’s frowning and eating a junk food sandwich. His truck is decorated with beautiful fringe like a nurturing authentic home might have thrown over a couch. But this man is not at home, rather, he’s driving a truck full of something for other people to buy with money they’ve made by being in their own life of mindless driving toward something all the while trying to make it feel a little like home…” and the children are just staring at me politely, quite possibly wishing they hadn’t asked)

…and came across this quote captioning January:

“The future will be small, slow, and local” Woody Tasch

A couple of sites I pay attention to are national brands grappling to harness local search advantages in the context of more traditional large-site search optimization strategies.  One aspect of local search – that you don’t have to have a website to be listed in the 10-pack – is particularly interesting. Certainly a leveler of the playing field.

Another nuance is the value of a #1 organic ranking compared to being in the 10-pack (since the 10-pack appears above the #1 ranking [update fall 09 - now it's at rank 3, or, somewhere else...depending...so the conclusion of the next sentence has aged]). It looks like what used to be assumed was a greater value of a #1 organic ranking now is evolving to the 10-pack listing having equal or greater value.  This specific review takes in to account some on-site activity so it’s not apples to apples, but presents a trend to keep an eye on.