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Anheuser-Busch's recent attempt to distance itself from college binge culture is hardly unprecedented. In 2004 it dropped its sponsorship of the Miss Budweiser hydroplane when it learned that college students were staging "boat races" in which teams of four to six undergrads rapidly drank beers in succession at keg parties. In 1999 the brewer transformed the locks on its Pestalozzi Street facility from key entry to computerized card entry after it learned that some consumers were using metal keys to "shotgun" cans of Busch.

"Drinking's not a game," said Katz. "It's a very serious activity that can have positive social ramifications if practiced in moderation. Many successful courtships have their roots in level-headed consumption of Anheuser-Busch products, while drinking games inevitably lead to emotionally damaging one-night stands."

The public relations staff of Anheuser-Busch contributed pretty doggone heavily to this report.

Blog City

The ability to blog requires more than a second-grade education and not possessing crippling arthritis, don'tcha know. It also requires that you pony up $125 for a daylong session at the most prestigious institute of higher learning in Webster Groves, Webster University.

At least that's according to the folks behind the "In the Fog about Blogs?" seminar, held at WebU's Emerson Library on a recent Monday. And how! No fewer than 35 folks showed up to take in the wisdom of presenter B.L. Ochman, a "nationally recognized Internet and Outernet marketing strategist, publicist, author, and A-List Blogger." Whoa!

Unreal missed the event because we were at a $450 workshop being taught how to clip our fingernails. But no matter -- the blogging workshop was captured by blog workshop attendees on a blog workshop blog. (Follow along at prinstitute.blogspot.com!)

At 9:15 there was "Blog 101: How to tell a blog from a bagel." By afternoon Mayor Slay was on the scene, holding forth about "Blogging and Politics." According to the blog workshop blog, Hizzoner enlightened the crowd by telling them, "We have 20,000 that log into web site every munch." Later, Craig Hildreth, M.D., a.k.a. "The Cheerful Oncologist," wrote, "No matter how fancy you're website is, Blogging is writing."

SIC but so what?!? Blogging is totally awes, no matter how you spell stuff. And Unreal's not the only one who thinks so. Seminar attendee Beth Lammert said as much in the blog workshop blog: "Wow! I knew nothing about blogs, and now I have enough knowledge to know that."

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