I’d hoped for perhaps 100 logos. So far, we’ve had a total of 281 logos submitted, 150 of which are now here.

We’re hugely pleased with the quality of contributions. A friendly designer had suggested that we’d only get 1 great submission for every 50 (something about the second standard deviation), but I think that roughly one in five are fantastic. I’m also happy about the level and quality of public involvement. We’ve had roughly 120 comments so far; in a number of cases, designers have taken advantage of feedback and tweaked their designs; some generous designers are offering each other tips.

Submissions close on September 9. You can wait until everything is public, or head over now to comment while designers still have time to incorporate your suggestions.

Some staff favorites: Oneshape, talking logo, Tangerine Garage, Chalkboard Garage, hodgepodge, Rip Torn (not the actor). Beyond these, there are a number of brilliant designs… the trick is trying to picture how the design would fit on our site AND on t-shirts and bumperstickers. There are a number of other great logos in the “unpublished” category — these will be uncovered once submissions close.

We spent the weekend hiking in Western NC. The weather was perfect — 75 and low humidity. And the wildflowers were… wild. We waded through what seemed like hundreds of different species. Beneath rocks in the torrent way up near Pot Cove Gap we found a few giant salamanders and cray fish. How do they manage to get that high?

Jeff Jarvis asks his readers whether he should accept a blogad for a t-shirt bashing FEMA. So far, his readers say no, 9 to 0.

Chug Roberts, who has Blogads running in many corners of the blogosphere for his publications, suggests that advertisers donate space to relief efforts. He’s been replacing his own ads with appeals for the Salvation Army.

Rogers Cadenhead is catching some flak for mooting the idea that liberals and conservatives stage a friendly competition to raise money for Katrina relief. FWIW, I’ve heard this suggestion from people on both sides of the aisle and thought it was a good idea, though the various efforts have diverged at this point and a horse race would be difficult. Having said that, I’m waiting to hear from the folks who work with MercyCorps to talk about separate landing pages for various networks, including John Hawkin’s conservative network, who are already running MercyCorps ads.

At this point, the liberal network has raised $157,000 for Katrina relief.

We’re having trouble right now with the servers at Voxel.net that host our images. We’re trying to get things straightened out. I apologize for the problems. If you are an advertiser, we’ll be crediting you a day. If you are a blogger, the easiest approach is defering your currently running ads until this freak storm passes. Again, I’m very sorry for the problem.

Update 5.15 I called Voxel 30 minutes ago and heard that I’d be getting an answer shortly. I guess shortly might be longly. The good news, at least until Tuesday morning, is that as folks go home for the long weekend, bandwidth consumption is dropping off so our load balancing is doing a more adequate job. At this point, though Voxel’s problems continue, everyone’s adstrips should be working Ok. If not, please drop us a line.

Update 6.30 Tracked down someone Voxel and he was super helpful. We’ll have the problem solved tomorrow morning.

At least that is what this graph shows.

We’ve spent the morning playing with the UI of the logo contest. Cleaned up the navigation a little and added a logo with most comments page and recent comments page. We’ve seen a couple of instances in which a logo has gotten a comment and then the designer has created a new version building on the feedback — maybe the new pages will accelerate discussion and collaboration. (My wife agrees with Jeff Jarvis, BTW.)

Tessa Wegert spots a key trend that I’ve been jawing about at conferences… DIY advertising, which is quietly transforming advertising. Wegert focuses on the word of mouth angle, but her point also applies to advertising purchase and distribution models. Just as blogging upends publishing, tools like Google Adwords, Blogads and Adbrite make it simple for advertisers to place their own ads. We’re doing to the ad industry what Dell did to computer sales and distribution.

As Wegert says, all is not lost for media buyers. But the game is changing:

In many ways, online media has become a self-service communications channel. Advertisers, even those with little online experience, are discovering what consumers have known for years: at its core, the Internet is a medium “for the people.” It doesn’t necessitate assistance from the pros. One can develop ad creative using a home software program, launch a site using inexpensive Web design and hosting tools, and promote one’s initiative with blogs, discussion boards, and good old word of mouth — all without traditional advertising agencies, media brokers, or placements experts.

Where does that leave media buyers, whose livelihoods depend on the demand for ad placement expertise? There’s no denying the need for evolution. Today’s buyers and planners must prove their worth by showing versatility and demonstrating expertise in new formats to makes themselves indispensable. Though it’s certainly possible to work without media buyers, they possess a knowledge of the Internet space and its users that professional and amateur advertisers alike would be remiss not to exploit. Having access to DIY online advertising is one thing. Making it work is quite another.

A bunch of bloggers have written asking about coordinating the donation of ads for Katrina relief. While an individual blogger can always give an ad with his/her own “offer code,” some bloggers are trying to coordinate a larger effort. For example, last night the liberal blogger network donated a bunch of ad space for money that will go to the Red Cross, thanks to the efforts of Kari Chisholm and Chris Bowers.

Update: John Hawkins Right Wing News spearheaded conservative blogad sellers in donating an ad to MercyCorp.

Amid lots of other juggling, I’m working on similar stuff with other networks. Some folks have mooted the idea of having a friendly competition to make things happen.

And NZ Bear has a round up of blogger charity efforts.

Update As of 6.22PM Thursday, the Liberal network’s ads have raised $58,920.80.