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You know that one GM Olympics ad? The one that’s seemingly stuck on repeat, the one with the uplifting song that starts, “All of these lines across my face…” Well, I adore it, because it seems to be a rare specimen: the self-refuting argument. First, there’s the primary argument, made via the titles: “…goes for miles and miles on every gallon,” “hybrid,” “biofuel,” “clean diesel,” “fuel cell.” I.e., GM is Rainforest Pure. GM = Green Motors.

Then, at the end of the ad, as the song comes to an emotional close, comes the rejoinder: the HUMMER logo. Brilliant! Objection sustained.

The GM spot has made me dream of launching my own ad, with a (tough but inspiring) Lucinda Williams song playing over a montage of great moments in feminist history — from Seneca Falls to Rosie the Riveter, from Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Betty Friedan to Carly and Hillary. And then, with a dramatic flourish, as the cymbals crash and fade, comes: the HOOTERS logo.

The UK Open Memory Championships will be held next weekend in London. From the Times Online story:

To put it into perspective: on average most of us can recall between five and nine numbers in a row. The eight-times world memory champion Dominic O’Brien, 50, can remember the order of 54 randomly shuffled decks of playing cards – an astounding 2,808 cards.

Most amazing of all, several of the participants claim they’re not savants, they just practice a lot and use clever mnemonic techniques.

Pridmore’s system for remembering playing cards involves assigning a different mental picture to each combination of two cards. The ace of diamonds followed by the eight of diamonds is represented by Daffy Duck (Pridmore uses cartoon characters from Looney Tunes cartoons and The Simpsons, as well as random objects) whereas the ace of diamonds followed by the king of hearts is represented by a ladder. There are 2,704 possible combinations. These characters and objects then rapidly interact with each other as they embark on a journey. To recall the information, Pridmore reruns the story; as each character appears, he retrieves the two-card sequences.

Pridmore’s technique, like most mnemonic tricks, makes use of visualization. For more cool memory tricks, check out this article that introduces the “memory palace.”

I have mixed feelings about this series of spots from the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board in Ontario. (And if the “Safety & Insurance Board” sounds boring, well, you’re in for a surprise.)

The spots show regular workers — a sous chef, a forklift driver, a welder — who suffer rather dramatic and painful calamities due to improper conditions at their workplaces.

Positive spin: The topic of “workplace safety” puts us to sleep. It sounds boring and vaguely dorky (inevitably the solution will involve eye goggles, right?). And yet workplace safety itself is critical — people do get hurt, people do die. To break through the disinterest and inertia, you need to be bold. You need to shock.

Negative spin: It shocks alright. Even people who enjoy movies like “Saw” and “Hostel” will probably wince at this spot, about an accident that befalls a young female chef. But does the shock reinforce the core message of the campaign? If the core message is to take workplace safety seriously, maybe it works. If WSIB wants behavior change of some kind, I’m not clear what it is.

The spots are so brutal that I wonder how the campaign can be (or whether it should be) sustained. I would love to be a fly on the wall at those creative discussions. (“Hey, what if we spotlight someone who’s dismembered by a rogue meat slicer…?”)

Here are our last few Fast Company columns — hope you enjoy:

– Get Laziness on Your Side: How to sway people’s decisions with the gentlest of nudges

– A Dirty Shame: How marketers create disgust and embarrassment — and why we shouldn’t put up with it

– Anchor and Twist: How to get your audience to understand — and care about — your innovation

– Coming soon in the September issue: Lots of people make mutual funds their #1 investment choice. Have they been misled by a faulty idea that stuck?

The copywriter Marc Librescu reviews an ad every day over at AdMonkey, and his analysis is sprinkled with admirable sarcasm. I very much enjoyed his discussion of a mystifying Sequoia ad, which reveals the truck’s benefits for the growing consumer segment of Time Machine Movers.

Try that, F-150.