No disrespect to any of my colleagues who might be current employees of the LA Times (believe it or not, there still are folks over there), but with no ill spirit, and in passing, my mother gave me an apropos ‘media nugget.’

We were discussing the choice to name the LA Times‘ ‘alternative’ web entity Brand X in the first place. I felt it connoted Douglas Coupland’s pioneering novel Generation X–a bit of a throwback retro reference. My mother insisted that it sounded like a prophylactic.

I can’t agree with her more. In fact, it not only sounds like a prophylactic, but it’s a GREAT name for a line of condoms. I can picture the black wrapper with a silver name logo emblazoned on it. Hey, maybe if the LA Times (and its entities) fold, your libido doesn’t have to.

Great fakes, tea and crumpets, and a nearby Portuguese-speaking gambling capital….I’m there.