Recommended Site: Jackassletters.com

A lot of people can post funny pictures and write amusing captions like I do here. Only a rare few come up with a theme for a humor blog that is both original and captivating.

I've just run across a site that definitely fits that latter category: jackassletters.com.

The premise is simple, but brilliantly executed. Jackassletters writes complaint or suggestion letters to established big companies, like Cracker Barrel and Toys 'R' Us. The letters are always teetering on the edge of over the top, but never quite step over to be obvious hoaxes.

The fun comes when the companies reply. Some are predictably form letters, and the humor comes from how wide they miss the mark of whatever was requested. Some are sincere but bumbling or baffling attempts to answer the query. And occasionally, there is a response that reflects a company that is truly committed to engaging with its customers, no matter how weird they may come across.

Aside from the humor of all this, anyone who works in or is interested in the field of public and consumer relations could learn a lot by browsing jackassletters.com.

Mad Cow? It's a Riot!

Today's picture is from and in honor of the brand new blog from the folks at Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me, the best thing to happen to radio since the doctor said to Mrs. Marconi, "Si tratta di un ragazzo!" 

The actual story here is a protest by European dairy farmers over falling milk prices. One shudders to think what might have happened to those police if they had not had riot shields! As the caption at the Wait Wait blog points out, what if one of them had been lactose intolerant?

(Photo credit: Georges Gobet / AFP/Getty)

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FUN INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES to REINFORCE this LESSON!!!

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4. Leave a comment with a better caption than ours. Then go get your own humor blog and never come here again.
4. Call NPR newcaster Carl Kasell and tell him he's won your voice on his home answering machine.

Let Me Try to Make This As Simple as Possible

And if referring to the Up and Down buttons as "No. 1" and "No. 2" doesn't help you, perhaps if we called one "peepee" and the other "poopy"?

(Photo credit: @Jchawes)

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FUN INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES to REINFORCE this LESSON!!!

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3. Right below the Fan Box, subscribe to PublicLens in your favorite Feed Reader!
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5. Research all the SFW alternative names for No. 1 and No. 2 and post them in the comments section here.

Miracles Just Aren't Worth What They Use to Be

"Used burning bush: 40% Off Original Price! Only used on sabbaths by one God. Mint condition -- hardly singed."

Photo credit: @linc4justice from his blog: The Habitation of Justice.

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FUN INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES to REINFORCE this LESSON!!!

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3. Right below the Fan Box, subscribe to PublicLens in your favorite Feed Reader.
4. Leave a comment with a better caption than ours. Then go get your own humor blog and never come here again.
4. Find me the missing audio to Freaks and Geeks episode 4 part 4 on YouTube and bring it to me, along with the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Because Even Vampires Need a Buzz Now and Then

Every bar in the world should stock this.

Why? OK, Mr. Bar Owner, how many of your patrons last night were vampires?

Are you sure? Are you really sure? 

 We're just talking basic proactive safety measures here. Patrons who get bitten on the neck and subsequently become undead don't have a tendency of becoming repeat customers.

Image by lism. via Flickr

So the next time some wispy, emo-haired, doe-eyed young dude with incisors that Billy Mays would have sold on late night TV as "better than Ginsu knives!" shows up at your bar, you serve him up one of these.

And if you never get a vampire customer....you could always serve it to your white supremacist clientele.

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FUN INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES to REINFORCE this LESSON!!!

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3. Right below the Fan Box, subscribe to PublicLens in your favorite Feed Reader.
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4. Jump down, turn around, pick a bale of cotton. LiveJournal the experience.

PublicLens Proverbs #2 (Adventures in Internet Marketing)

The other day I posted PublicLens Proverbs #1, a brief collection of my riffing off the stream of inane proverbs and aphorisms being posted on Twitter by an "Internet Marketing Guru" robot account following @publiclens.

It was so much fun coming up with those, I've kept it up, now tagging all my remixed proverbs with #pubprov. Here's a realtime compilation of those, culled from Friendfeed. Since Friendfeed allows embedding a realtime search, if you come back to this post later there should be new ones at the top of the stream.

If you spot any inane proverbs on Twitter and would like to have a go at adding the unspoken second line as I have, leave them in the comments.

Tired of That Screaming Infant? Park It!

How much does it cost to get the Infant Parking privilege? I know some parents who would gladly pay it. Come to think of it, I've been in stores where I'd pay someone to park their infant.

(Photo credit: @linc4justice http://www.habitationofjustice.com/ <~~ Habitation of Justice is a very funny site. We recommend it!)

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4. Find a PublicLens post where you don't like the picture? Get a black Magic Marker and color over it. There!