Very rarely do we give A-List link-love on Blogs of Fire. This is that rare occasion. Copyblogger posed a great question on Tuesday. Do we really want transparency and authenticity? Or do we quietly want to be lied to? You’ve got to like the tough questions.

Scatterbox highlights how the Michael Vick incident has caused the Greyhound Track Operators Association to get active on pro dog racing PR. “Dogs bred solely to race around a track for the benefit of gamblers are no more ‘athletes’ than deer in the woods are ‘hunting partners.’ The greyhound racing industry?s critics ? and there are millions ? don?t buy it, either.” Amen, Steven.

Brandstorming reveals some interesting stats on how most corporate blogs are not yielding good results… And how most corporations still haven’t adopted blogging. Perhaps they are not blogging correctly? Like Jim, I find that when businesses try to serve their community rather then selling down to it, blogs seem to work.

For a little while, I’ll be highlighting a Now Is Gone post in each week’s entry. Why? Shameless promo, plus I actually think the content is valuable, and might interest you. So, this week’s Now Is Gone post is Wii’s Social Media Impact. This discusses how the Wiimote, or more importantly, how gesture recognition technologies can benefit virtual world’s like second life. “Social media will take on new levels of interaction and reality. Imagine test driving that car, simulating actual classroom environments, or just having a better game experience”

Book publicity is a rare art. And Nettie Hartsock has a great blog on some of the basics. And she’s a pretty good blogger. Here’s a post on ten ways to increase creativity in your blogging.

BlinnPRReport is thrilled to be ranked 405 on the Ad Age 150. Here, here! “And unlike those other blogs from PR firms whose only entries are about themselves, almost all of what we say is not about us. How can you beat that?” Just did, here’s my hat tip. I found you on the Ad Age 150 looking for unusual content.

Last up! Let’s roll into the long weekend with a good laugh. Strategic Public Relations’ Kevin Dugan created a hilarious video, “Is Friend a Four Letter Word on Facebook?”