Jonathan and Jenny Selbin—two people who deserve one another—are both attorneys and the worst neighbors you could possibly imagine. In February, they filed a lawsuit against their neighbor for smoking in her own apartment, taking her to court even after she bought air purifiers because her smoking was "endangering" their sensitive child. The note they slipped under her door at the time read "As you may not be aware, we are both lawyers and both litigators, for whom the usual barriers to litigation are minimal." That bit made them the runaway winners of our February ""Which snippet from the Times Real Estate section makes you most want to assault the person in the story?" contest. Now, the suit has been settled [NYT]—and the Selbins are concerned about their own reputation.

Kevin Trudeau is the infomercial star and dressed-up hustler who cons the gullible of America by claiming to sell things that "THEY" don't want you to know. Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About. The Weight Loss Cure "They" Don't Want You To Know About. Debt Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About. The Federal Trade Commission (maybe the real "They?") has fined Trudeau millions over the years and tried to ban him from making misleading claims, but he just keeps it up [WBZ TV]. In the olden days, thousands of people who had wasted money on his worthless books would storm his home with pitchforks and torches, and that would be that. Today, though, it has to go through the system. After the jump, a look at Trudeau's scams.

So many PR tactics are shrouded in secrecy: off-the-record briefings, front groups, "file sharing." And lots of things that PR firms get paid a lot of money to do—devise corny slogans, make pretty marketing materials that get ignored, or think up new and creative ways to say "no comment"—are really big wastes of money. There is only one real live PR tactic that consistently works. It is maddeningly effective at getting reporters to like flacks, and by extension, their awful clients. Even the ones who know better! It preys on human instinct. It's called lunch.

Lit blogger Mark Sarvas displays the condescension and rudeness for which he's become notorious in a recent interview with Fishbowl LA. Asked "Last book you read?" he responds, "Hah! You're kidding, right?" Also, "I have neither TiVo nor TV. It's not a snob literary thing—I just don't have the time." Also! When asked what his enemies feel is his worst quality, "That I have a bigger audience than they do." [FishbowlLA]