A loyal reader asks: I try reading over my daughter’s shoulder when she’s texting (when did THAT become a verb?) and I have to plea ignorance. I don’t know what she’s writing. Why does she care about Point of Sale materials? Is she working for an ad agency behind my back?

You need to catch up. And quick. POS means ‘parent over shoulder’ so you are busted. We understand your need to know what’s going on! There are great directories of text abbreviations, but our favorite is this search at No Slang.

Prepare to be shocked (and amused) when you check out these directories:

Net Lingo

Lingo2Word

Chat Slang and Acronyms

A loyal reader asks: My kid is off to college and tells me she can download music free. And it’s legal. Sounds fishy to me.

Stealing music is a serious crime. But your daughter might be on the up-and-up. Read on.

Hitting the bigtime on college campuses – Ruckus\. Ruckus Network, Inc., the provider of a multimedia network that supplies free and legal music downloads specifically for college students. The website is…

LOUD!

Okay, that’s our age talking. But seriously…

On member campuses, students can access the Ruckus service anytime – on or off campus – to enjoy the full-featured music service. They can access the first, college-only service that blends social networking features with a massive and continuously expanding library of free, legal and safe music downloads. Ruckus has already proven successful at more than 120 colleges and universities across the country, including Brown University, Duke University, Georgia Tech, Indiana University, North Carolina State, Princeton University, University of California-Berkeley, the University of Denver, Penn State University and the University of Pennsylvania.

I’m sure there is no ulterior motives here. Righhhhttt……

But still.

A loyal reader asks: I have a young staff. I would love to find something to reward and motivate them. But all the incentive programs I know about are, shall I say, stodgy?

The times they are a changing, loyal reader.

Check out Snowfly.

When employees meet crucial business goals, their reward is two-fold: the opportunity to play a game and the chance to win big. Every play is a guaranteed winner. When given the option to play the game or settle for a predetermined number of points, employees choose to play each time. They can then redeem earned points for prizes they actually want, such as an item from the Internet, a gift card, a day off from work or any other prize the company wants to offer. With Snowfly, you give your employees the right rewards, in the right way, for the right reasons, so your company will receive the right results.

Intriguing.

A loyal reader asks: I have a client in the tennis business. They want me to find national publications with tennis subject matter on their editorial calendars. I’ve done some Google searching, but I feel like I’m drowning in irrelevant results. HELP ME!

Score 1 for us. We have a great idea.

Check out MRI+, a free database of magazine planning information run by Mediamark Research.

MRI+ is a free digital library of competitive data that serves as an electronic information link between planners and the publishers of major consumer and business publications.

MRI+ consolidates the databases planners use to evaluate magazines at one site:

• Top-line data from the Survey of the American Consumer™
• ABC Circulation Reports
• Advertising Expenditures
• Editorial profiles and calendars
• Subscriber Studies
• Links to Publisher sites

MRI+ is free to registered users.

So here’s what you do.

1. Log in.
2. Go to New Search.
3. Select Consumer Publications in part 1.
4. Select Profile and Editorial Calendars in part 2.
5. Select contains and type ‘tennis’ in the keyword box.
6. Click on search.

And there you have it. A list of publications with tennis on the edcal or in the publication profile along with circulation, and other information.

Of course, you still need someone to apply some judgment, but it’s a great start.

A reader asks: I’ve been reading about CEO’s and blogging. Like this article BusinessWeek a few months back; but also tidbits in some of my daily reading. So how can I find out which CEOs really are blogging?

One great place to start is The NewPR/Wiki’s CEO Blog List. Listed by country, this list is constantly updated.

You can check out the CEO Blog Watch blog…..

The Fortune 500 Business Blog Wiki… or the Fortune 500 Blog Project.