When people fill out a “Contact Us” form on the Web, or send an email to the contact address listed on a site, they expect to get an answer. At least an autoresponder. Ideally, a human response within 24-48 hours.

Last week, I contacted about a dozen Web sites to obtain pricing information for online advertising (evidently, listing actual prices online would be way out of the question). Large sites. Well-known sites. Sites you’ve probably actually heard of.

As of this morning, only one has responded with any actual information.

If you’re not gonna bother responding, then go ahead and list the prices. If you’re not gonna list the prices, then respond, willya?

Don’t publishers want to sell ads?

My Dad’s memorialized on the World War II Web site.

He’s also memorialized by the incredible life-saving efforts of the Kenneth Peters Center for Recovery, run by my sister.

I heard it said once that you can tell you’re getting old when you see your father’s hands at the end of your arms. Nope. Not yet.

Happy Father’s Day.

There’s news today that personal customer information of up to 40 million credit card holders may have been compromised.

40 million.

According to PBS’ Frontline, there are 641 million credit cards in circulation, so 40 million represents about 6.2% of all credit cards out there.

So: For every credit card you have, you’ve got about a 1-in-16 shot of being screwed.

This is just the latest instance of data theft. Here’s one from April. Here’s one from February. Google away, you’ll find plenty more.

And people are worried about cookies on their computers?

“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.”
—Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

“A story of sin, betrayal, and the power of truth.”

Indeed. Check out the official film Web site for more details. Not that the site itself is extraordinary. It isn’t. But the film, an unflinching documentary about childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest, is. Even more extraordinary is the courage of Tony Comes, the Toledo firefighter at the center of the documentary who bares every conceivable emotional scar, and then some.

(A small example: How can you not be moved by the sight of a tearful father explaining to his young daughter why he’s upset that his abuser moved in down the block, and why she needs to stay away from him?)

Screenings all over the place this month, and an HBO premiere on June 28.

Great poster art, too.

(Full disclosure note: I am doing a bit of online marketing outreach for this film. This posting is irrelevant to my fee. I do work for a lot of films; I don’t intend to blog about them all.)