When I saw the little pair of googly eyes attached to the stick, I thought Google was trying to get into the car insurance business. But it turns out the truth is just as weird: Google is marketing to advertisers by giving a case study of how one might sell a pet stick. Over at the slimmed-down site, you can follow the case study through a chain of magical interlocking impact circles. They claim they chose the pet stick because it's "virtually unsellable" (though Ren and Stimpy already managed it brilliantly, and we all know how well the pet rock did). I would have given them more kudos if they had actually set up the pet-stick site and all the goodies Google promised. But what really concerns me is: How did Geico manage to completely own the notion of attaching googly eyes to an inanimate object so quickly that I can't think of anything else when I look at that stick?

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers