On BP's "Response in pictures" site, one photo, purported to be taken on July 16, 2010, sat for days, unquestioned. The photo shows BP's Houston Command Center, a desk with some massive monitors, lots of complicated things happening on them, and employees monitoring the situation in the Gulf. But all is not as it seems.

Among the various PR efforts that BP is engaged in, they've apparently sent out a "reporter" to file missives about the company's efforts to stem the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. And what "Paula Kolmar" is writing tips well over the line of self-parody, into some kind of bizarro world where bullshit smells like puppies and champagne--and where cleaning up the oil spill while being slathered in tar balls and oil fumes is a bit like being embraced by Fabio in a grocery-store romance novel.

Today at TwtrCon, the Twitter business conference in New York City, the infamous (and philanthropic) @BPGlobalPR ran out on stage looking very much the con himself, disguised in a ski mask, fake moustache, oversized nose, glasses, and a wig and top hat.

Fourth-generation Louisiana shrimper Doug Blanchard went to work for BP driving his "vessel of opportunity" through oil and dispersant -- until he went to the hospital with dizziness, nausea, and other symptoms. So why is Blanchard hoping to get back in it as soon as his doctor lets him?

For over a year, Jeffrey Yoo Warren, a fellow at the Center for Future Civic Media at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been messing around with kites, balloons and cameras. The goal is to come up with tools that can be used to take aerial photos without the use of expensive equipment.

Late last month, as the controversy over the Gulf oil spill was just heating up, BP tussled with the folks behind a popular spoof Twitter feed. Now comes word that the PR department at BP has forked over a healthy chunk of change to control the way Web users view the company. According to BP reps, the company has purchased a range of popular search terms – including "oil spill" – from Google, the most popular search engine in the US.

The Cape Wind project just approved for the waters offshore of Massachusetts will pump $1 billion into the local economy and create clean, reliable wind energy for decades.

But their opposition to BP's handling of the crisis has yet to achieve critical mass, and any attempt to dissuade customers from fueling their cars with BP is likely to hurt the small-business owners who run the stations and have little or no effect on the British oil giant's revenue.