“The evil that is in the world always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence, if they lack understanding.”
—Albert Camus

Looking for a $280 iPad with Windows 7 on it? A $100 netbook? How about a Presidential Blockberry? PCWorld, via CIO.com, has exactly what you want — and more.

… Molly the Owl.

I’m not sure which is more fascinating, the live feed of Molly and her hatching eggs or the ongoing scroll of comments being posted by some of the 17,000 or so people who are watching her. Head on over to The Owl Box and decide for yourself.

Politics and religion are two issues I try and steer very clear of in this blog, which purports to focus on “marketing and more.” But marketing is about messaging, and a new Harris poll demonstrates that the messaging by the far right in this country is taking significant root in the mainstream. The Daily Beast reports, but here are a few highlights:

>>67 percent of Republicans (and 40 percent of Americans overall) believe that President Obama is a socialist.

>>57 percent of Republicans (32 percent overall) believe that President Obama is a Muslim.

>>45 percent of Republicans (25 percent overall) agree with the Birthers in their belief that President Obama was “not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president”

>>38 percent of Republicans (20 percent overall) say that President Obama is “doing many of the things that Hitler did”

>>24 percent of Republicans (14 percent overall) say that President Obama “may be the Antichrist.”

It’s one thing to have legitimate arguments about policy differences and the best way to move the country forward, but when Hitler and the Antichrist take center stage in the national discourse alongside demonstrably false claims of religion and birth, then we truly have taken a giant step toward living in an Idiocracy.

Takeaway for marketers: If you want to see what a truly effective integrated marketing and messaging campaign looks like, start paying attention to the Republican echo chamber.

… by mounting your horse and taking part in the goat-grabbing competition. Okay, maybe not you, exactly. But if you’re a horseman in Kyrgyzstan, Kok-boru is all the rage.