“The thing about the systematic reduction of a woman down to her parts is that she doesn’t always know it’s happening while it’s going on. Just one day she wakes up and realizes that all she was was a face, a line of cleavage, two legs, a couple of hands, the swivel of her […]

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In 1855, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in his Journal:  “If a man has good corn, or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles, or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad, hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods.” In time, […]

Willie K. Vanderbilt II (1878–1944) Michael Franti, “Sometimes” (acoustic) This particular version is extremely hard to find. – Indy

This is the Anacostia, a steamship of which Cornelius Vanderbilt was so proud that he commissioned this photograph to be taken of it. The original was badly faded, but I was able to restore it in Photoshop to what you see above. – RHW

Do believe I’m gonna clap my hands.Think I might tap my feet.Put together a one-man band, take a walk on down the street.Have a one-man parade! Nobody needs to know.Cause I’m right good at holding on to secrets, and I don’t believe they show. All I want is a little dog to be walking at […]

The original Michelin Man from 1894. The Michelin Man is white because rubber tires are naturally white. It was not until 1912 that carbon chemicals were added, turning them black. The change was structural, not aesthetic. By adding carbon, tires became more durable. Michelin began reviewing restaurants so that people would travel further distances to […]

  On October 16, 1923 — precisely 100 years ago today — Walt Disney and his brother Roy launched an entertainment business. It filed for bankruptcy shortly thereafter. But the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio rebounded and evolved into one of the world’s best-known and most beloved companies. This week, roving reporter Rotbart explores the history of The […]

Here’s What Happened I could afford furniture that was poorly constructed, but what I wanted was ridiculously overpriced, very expensive, high quality designer furniture: a Ferrari for the price of a Ford. My grandfather designed and manufactured the world’s finest furniture, but when he died, no one in my family wanted to run a furniture […]

When it comes to gaining and holding attention, “Predictability is Death. Spontaneity is Life.” This is Spontaneity. – Indy Beagle There is nothing exciting about driving on the long, bleak stretches of Eastern Oklahoma highway at the end of winter. It has to be one of the most mind-numbing, energy-sucking experiences that I’ve ever squeezed […]

After a concert in South Carolina in 1977, the band boarded a chartered plane for Baton Rouge to play at LSU the following night. After running out of fuel, the pilots attempted an emergency landing before crashing into a forest 5 miles outside of Gillsburg, Mississippi. Most of the band was killed. On Skynyrd’s 1976 […]

If I leave here tomorrowWould you still remember me?For I must be traveling on now‘Cause there’s too many places I’ve got to see. But if I stay here with you, girl,Things just couldn’t be the same‘Cause I’m as free as a bird nowAnd this bird you cannot changeAnd this bird, you cannot changeLord knows, I […]

  There were two options: work midnights, or be Public Information officer. I had already done midnights a lot in my life, so I said, “I’ll take that second choice.” So one of the jobs of the public Information officer is to handle the Facebook page. I talked to our Chief, Mark Hathaway, and I […]

I spent 114 hours creating these two books for guests who will attend the Wizard Academy Reunion on October 28. “Wise Men, Wise-ards, Wisards, Wizards” is 143 pages of my favorite depictions of the namesakes of Wizard Academy, the wise men – the magi – of Matthew chapter 2. The book is filled with paintings and […]

  Curt Tueffert has spent four decades helping people enjoy world-class sales success. When it comes to selling, Curt has seen it all, done it all. Qualify customer prospects, help them past their hesitations, and never feel rejection when rejected: Curt can tell you how. According to roving reporter Rotbart, this week’s episode will instantly […]

  To capture a sequence in perfect time in one long, unbroken camera shot, may seem like it could easily be done, but I assure you, it is not. Five short minutes is all I askand I know that you can make the time,though you feel urgency pressing all around…Doesn’t it count I took the […]

  You may think this is about hearts that rend,or whiskey, or Celts, or making amends.But that’s where you would be wrong.The End. I tell you this truth with lips and penand on me you know you can depend:I just want to spend some time with you.My friend. – Indiana Beagle

“The Parting Glass” has been sung by friends saying goodbye in Scotland since 1605, the year Cervantes sketched Don Quixote in the air with his pen. Variations and fragments appeared across time until the melody was finally collected and codified in 1782. “The Parting Glass” is often sung at funerals. Of all the money that […]

In every heart there is a room, a sanctuary safe and strongTo heal the wounds from lovers past, until a new one comes along. I spoke to you in cautious tones, you answered me with no pretenseAnd still I feel I said too much, my silence is my self defense. And every time I’ve held a […]

Q: Can people change? A: Identity would seem to be the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self; in which case, it is best that the garment be loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which robes one’s nakedness can always be felt, and, sometimes, discerned. This trust in […]

Vi Wickam wrote a summary that will save you money:“10 Ways to Know if Your Digital Marketer is Legit.“ You definitely want to take 3 minutes to read it. Really. – Indy Beagle

Vicky Brown knew she was wading into shark-infested waters when she opened a consulting firm specializing in Human Resources. Four of those sharks were Accenture, ADP, Deloitte, and KPMG. By focused on emerging and mid-size companies, Vicky won an impressive roster of clients from coast to coast and now even the biggest sharks know her […]

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General George Washington and the Continental Army crossed the Delaware River on Christmas Day, 1776, so they might launch a surprise attack on an army of Hessian mercenaries hired by the British. Washington’s plan of attack included three different crossings. Colonel Cadwalader was to lead his force of 1,800 men across the river near Burlington, […]

Cal Worthington dies at 92; car dealer known for wacky ‘dog Spot’ ads BY MARTIN MILLER AND ELAINE WOO FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES SEPT. 10, 2013 12 AM PT   If you watched television in Southern California in the 1970s and beyond, it was impossible to miss Cal Worthington, the lanky pitchman in the cowboy hat […]

Gregory Shepard is autistic, dyslexic, and has a sensory condition known as synesthesia, commonly described as “having the brain’s wires crossed.” Universities wouldn’t admit him and the U.S. Navy said, “no thanks.” Greg could have allowed his neurodivergent struggles to defeat him. Instead, he leveraged his atypical mind to build and sell 12 businesses, co-lead […]

“Workers are paid, on average, one US dollar for a thousand [clicks.]” – WIKIPEDIA, from their “Click Farms” page. “The paid-to-click (PTC) industry paid out around $13.2 million to remote workers to click ads for profit in 2020 (Campaign/CHEQ research)” LET’S DO SOME MATH:$13.2 million in payroll at 100 clicks/dollar = 13.2 Billion clicks13.2 Billion clicks at […]

“If I knew that today would be the last time I’d see you, I would hug you tight and pray the Lord be the keeper of your soul. If I knew that this would be the last time you pass through this door, I’d embrace you, kiss you, and call you back for one more. […]

I have a dear friend who is in the hospital. His wife stands vigil at his bedside, worried. Pennie and I stay in touch with her. I woke at 1:30AM this morning, early, even for me. I texted my friend’s wife a message that could prove to be precisely the wrong message to send, but […]

We humans are both miracles and catastrophes. We must, he demanded, acknowledge both death and joy, horror and awe. Itis an astonishment to be alive, and life calls on you to be astonished; but lifelong astonishment will take iron-willeddiscipline. Wake, his writing tells us, over and over. Weep for this world and gasp for it. […]

“I was bribed into loving John Donne. My parents pinned poetry on the bathroom wall next to the sink where my siblings and I brushed our teeth and paid us for each poem we memorized. I was a mercenary child, with expensive taste in small plastic dog figurines; the exchange rate was roughly four poems […]

This is a really fascinating video about the purchasing of FaceBook “likes” and the consequent discovery of bots and click farms.

According to Berry Gordy, Motown routinely recorded without a singer present, in violation of union rules: “We were recording sometimes tracks without the singer, and according to the Union, you had to have a singer singing it live. You couldn’t do tracks in those days.” A union representative made a surprise visit, and Berry said, “Everybody […]

To obtain power and influence, you don’t need wealth or privilege. Anyone can become widely known and respected if they can generate a compelling idea and communicate it effectively. That is the conclusion of Bob Dilenschneider, an author, historian, and strategic communication advisor who has been studying and dissecting the elements of power and influence […]

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The same 3 girls wearing the same 3 dresses, but now they’re rocking London with “Heatwave.”

Want to know how this song became the civil rights anthem of 1964? Curious, I Googled, “What is a Vandella?” Turns out it’s an Ethiopian word for “a character that haunts you in your dreams.” – Indy Beagle

This video below was made by Mick Jagger and David Bowie in 1985, the same year that Nancy Reagan’s “Just say no” was sweeping America. It was a weird time. – Indy Beagle

Once upon a time, I lost a friend because I thought facts beat feelings. Nope, lesson learned. When someone loves you, they trust you all the way – and facts can’t melt hearts. That’s why I learned to write ads that help people fall in love with you, not just trade money for stuff. Love: it’s stronger […]

Forty years ago, when Lori Poland was only three, she was kidnapped from her front yard, molested, and left for dead at the bottom of a remote mountain outhouse. By chance, after three days, a bird watcher answering the call of nature heard the little girl whimpering 12 feet below. “What are you doing there?” […]

Today’s memo had already been written and recorded when the wizard watched this video Charlie Moger sent him. I’ve cued it up to the part where Aaron Sorkin starts talking about the important of meter (rhythm of syllables) and phonemes (sound of syllables. The wizard learned these things from reading Robert Frost every day for […]

“Jefferson could not abide personal conflict. One of the reasons he was so notoriously ineffective in debate was that argument itself offended him. The voices he heard inside himself were all harmonious and agreeable, reliable expressions of the providentially aligned universal laws that governed the world as he knew it, so that argument struck him […]

Color is a language far more intricate than the names we give it. Mix red and green paint and you get Hershey’s brown. Mix red and green light and you get lemon yellow. The rainbow is supposed to contain the full spectrum of color, so why does the rainbow have no magenta? We looked into […]

“I’m an expert on Nixon because he and I went to the same dentist. He got drilled and X-rayed just as I did, in the same chair. So I can get on the radio and tell you all about his place in history. In this endeavor, I am being monitored and closely watched by faithful […]

Twenty-eight years ago, Carl Sagan published a book just before he died. “I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the […]

There is a famous quote about radio from Hunter S. Thompson that says, “The radio business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” Recently, I noticed the internet was teeming with misquotes from musicians […]

What Hunter S. Thompson really said Article from Nov 4, 1985 The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California)

Last week, Roy said, “Vulnerability is the price of intimacy.” In the video clip you’ll see below, John Sorrell spends about 60 seconds being vulnerable. When you hear him speak, it’s impossible not to like and trust him. We should all learn to be vulnerable. – Indy Beagle This is the transcript of what you’ll […]

Living in the Nick of Time You cut a nick into a stick to mark a moment. Then, at the end of the time being measured, you make another nick. To do a thing at the last possible moment is to do it within that second nick, “in the nick of time.” Millions of us […]

The phonemes that sound the strongest and cleanest are the stops, also known as the plosives. Every language spoken by humans contains at least a few stops that end with a plosion. The stoppage of the air is made with the tip of the tongue when making the sounds represented by D and T, as […]

Asia Gregg is clairvoyant, irreverent, and brilliant. She has an edge you could shave with. Doesn’t look like it from the photo though, does it? In the video below, you’ll hear what Asia wrote as an online real estate listing for a seriously unimpressive house. After you experience that real estate listing in all its […]

Chris Jabas can assemble a small team of his Wizard of Ads buddies to help him grow your business. Together, they will write and produce the ads and buy the media that will grow your business really big.And because Chris is young, his is still very affordable.

The odds of a small enterprise surviving for 50 years are fewer than one in a hundred. Now imagine trying to survive half a century while relying on employees who are called upon regularly to risk their lives and who are not paid. That’s the story our roving reporter Rotbart has spent the past 18 […]

“Nitrogen dioxide plays an important role in the formation of ground-level ozone and particulate matter pollution, and is itself a toxic gas. These pollutants are harmful to both human and ecosystem health.” – NASA Scientific Visualization Studio “Sometimes data, rather than exposition, is how to illuminate the recalcitrant minds of naysayers.” – RHW to Anthony […]

“Mrs. Lincoln and some ladies from her church served supper afterward to her husband and Ralph Waldo Emerson and a number of other guests.” 

According the the Lincoln Museum, Abraham Lincoln was a harsh critic of the anti-immigrant Know Nothing movement of the 1850s. He seemed to particularly resent their claims of patriotism while trying to take freedoms away from targeted groups. On August 24, 1855, Abe said in a private letter to Joshua Speed, “I am not a Know-Nothing—that […]

One of the best lessons was by Russell Friedman. I was riding in his car in LA and another driver cut in front of us abruptly.Scared the crap out of us. There was a long pause … and then Russell simply said “I forgive you, drive safer” or something along those lines. My reaction was, […]

Oatmeal has a long history in Scottish society because oats are better suited to the short, wet growing season of Scotland than is wheat. Hence oats became the staple grain of that country. Samuel Johnson referred to this in his 1755 dictionary definition for oats: A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, […]

1785 Though his apologyFollowed our Declaration,Brother Burns was notSpeaking to our nation. His frost-bit vindicationWas offered without reservationTo a mouse turned out of her habitationIn Scotland, in the winter. His plow lifted her out of her nest.So he said to the mouse on high,‘The best-laid plans of mice,And men, often go awry.’” – Indy Beagle

Roving reporter Rotbart is taking a Sabbatical until Labor Day so that he can finish his new book about Volunteer Firefighters before the deadline. I’ve suggested to the rover that his son, Maxwell, ought to interview him so that you and I can hear all about this new book after it is finished. Volunteer Firefighters! […]

This is one of the Libraries of Randal Spangler.

This is The Eye of the Storm classroom and library in the tower at Wizard Academy.

The Eye of the Storm classroom in the tower at Wizard Academy was built by Tim and Kathleen Storm. Their home in Maui was spared, but they are living in the aftermath of the raging wildfire that erased the town of Lahaina, the historic heart of Maui. You can help the locals who lost everything […]

How Does Advertising Work? I have a friend who is a famous online marketer. Last week he sent me an observation that I found interesting. It occurred to me that you might find it interesting as well. “Now that targeting is pretty much dead on Facebook and Instagram, I have a theory that the rules […]

Our resident roving reporter Rotbart is taking a few weeks off to complete his new book about Volunteer Firefighters, so we’ll wrap up this week’s rabbit hole with this happy little hyperlink to a delightful post from Wizard of Ads partner Rick Willis called, “Is Captain Crunch Driving Your Marketing?” Aroo, and Ciao for Niao,Indy […]

“Hotel California” live from the Capital Centre in Largo, Maryland in 1977, performed by the Eagles.  Click here to see the final page of this week’s rabbit hole.

To help with the filming of the 1968 Beatles sing-along (below,) an audience of around 300 local people, as well as some of the fans that gathered regularly outside Abbey Road Studios, were brought in to sing along on the song’s finale. In the words of Wizard of Ads partner, Michele Miller-Nelson, “Don’t you wish […]

This fascinating 12×18 print of Don Quixote with a ballet-dancing Sancho Panza and an equine that is either Quixote’s horse, Rocinante, or Sancho’s donkey, Dapple, is available on Etsy for only $40.  The image on this page is only the top half of the 12×18. You should click over to see it if you want […]

A third group of physicians are seeing the pineal gland in the Eye of Horus. Okay, now we have a decision to make. Are none, or some, or all of these researchers guilty of familiarity bias – seeing faces in the clouds that are not there – due to their familiarity with the shapes within […]

Ken Paskins witnessed his grandfather and his father struggle to run a successful business. He was determined to find a better way. So Ken went to work for giant companies like Oracle and BEA Systems. Today Ken is the co-founder of a CEO coaching and peer advisory community that shows owners and CEOs of companies […]

  Michelangelo hid a second anatomically accurate painting of the human brain in the Sistine Chapel fresco, The Separation of Light from Darkness, says Dr. Rafael Tamargo, a professor of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University. “As we studied the lines that Michelangelo had included in the neck, we were surprised to find that if you […]

  Michelangelo dissected corpses to better understand human anatomy. “The Creation of Adam,” one of his iconic works in the Sistine Chapel, contains a representation of the human brain, most likely added by Michelangelo as a covert criticism on the church’s contempt for science. And believe it or not, this is not the only time […]