Lima de Freitas was a Portuguese painter, illustrator, ceramicist and writer. He illustrated over 100 books, most notably the Portuguese writer Aquilino Ribeiro’s translation of Don Quixote. The illustration above is a partial reveal of the 1954 image you will find on the following page. – Indy Beagle

This is guaranteed to be the dorkiest thing you’ve ever watched in your life. If you don’t smile, you’re dead inside. – Indy Beagle  

Good morning Indy, Loved the Nov 23 rabbit hole! The best part was the Monday Morning Radio page with Tim Ringo’s point about not hiring people with college degrees. It definitely caught my attention. To me the only thing a college degree reveals is one’s perseverance in achieving a long term goal (and in some […]

My favorite animal is the elephant and my spirit animal, as well. Elephants are not beautiful.That trunk (!) almost makes them comical looking. Bet you didn’t know that the funny looking trunk has 40,000 muscles. With their trunk the elephant can lift incredible weight. They can also pick up something as small a peanut and peel […]

Ryan Deiss and the wizard and I are discussing the possibility of hosting a nationwide livestream to think happy thoughts, tell sunlit stories and drink to the health of the nation. If this happens, it will be during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Join us in lifting a glass! Keep your eye […]

You want to start at the beginning of Manley’s book? Here’s how to do that. Next week, Manley is going to give us #3 of The Seven Things Worth Tattooing Inside Your Forearm.  – Indy

Dave Young is one of the original 6 Wizard of Ads Partners.

NOTE: I disqualified all entries that communicated a political position. (Sorry, I probably should have told you that in advance.) – Indy People who don’t appreciate the work of Dr. Seuss have a severe case of Adultitis. There’s also a pretty good chance they have a beige personality to go with it.🙂 – Jason Kotecki Once […]

Every beginning starts with an ending.This is one of the principles of Pendulum theory. And the middle is always in the middle. When our fight with King George ended in 1783, thirteen powerless colonies became “The United States.” This was the beginning of the first America; 3 million citizens clinging to the eastern edge of […]

Dear Roy,I shouldn’t have been surprised that you of all people found Шекспир плачет, my Russian-language  YouTube channel. To my knowledge, most of my English-speaking acquaintances are unaware of its existence – naturally so, because they wouldn’t understand anything. I have an old chum out here, Misha, who I taught English to when I first lived […]

You want to start at the beginning of Manley’s book? Here’s how to do that. Next week, Manley is going to tell us the Second of The Seven Things Worth Tattooing Inside Your Forearm.  – Indy

“Of the three factors driving social violence, Turchin stresses most heavily ‘elite overproduction’—the tendency of a society’s ruling classes to grow faster than the number of positions for their members to fill. One way for a ruling class to grow is biologically—think of Saudi Arabia, where princes and princesses are born faster than royal roles […]

Should you ask me, whence these stories? Whence these legends and traditions, With the odors of the forest With the dew and damp of meadows, With the curling smoke of wigwams, With the rushing of great rivers, With their frequent repetitions, And their wild reverberations As of thunder in the mountains?  Downward through the evening twilight, In the days that are forgotten, In the unremembered ages, From […]

Dear Indy, My father started out pumping gas, 10 cents a gallon, making a wage of a dime each hour. That was the best he could do as an engineering graduate in the thin job market of the 1940’s. So he joined the army and lived well as a newly-married Lieutenant on a dollar a […]

The struggling Gaya district is in the eastern state of Bihar, India. Kolithwa is a village there. Loungi Bhuiya is one of its residents. In a story by Judy Cole, “Loungi Bhuiya had become increasingly distraught as more and more farmers—including four of his own sons—left Kolithwa for greener pastures. Taking a leaf from Don […]

Hi Indy When I was training salespeople at Walnut Creek Ford in CA I would take salespeople on a little field trip. To diffuse the notion that price is all that matters I would take them to The Nordstrom Store and a Ross Store which was one half block apart and give them a tour. […]

Sadly no. My brother Ted took our family tree back to year 1525 but did not find anyone famous or notable. Ted did uncover some interesting facts about the Pylant family:The original spelling was Pielandt. Pielandt has since been converted to many different spellings; Pylant, Pilant, Pyland, Piland, etc, etc, etc. No matter how it’s […]

Thinking back, I am convinced the neighborhood I grew up in was ideal.  I lived in the same house in the same neighborhood until I was married.That was not unusual.People just did not move around in those days. It was extremely rare if someone moved away. Fathers tended to stay in the same job until retirement.Mothers […]

Dr. Seuss became a legend because he had  1. the courage to make up new words,  2. the confidence that his readers would understand what these non-words meant, and3. Seuss was a master of meter, the rhythm that is created when you arrange into patterns the stressed and unstressed syllables of words. There are lots […]

You can buy the book, “Mr. Jenkins Told Me…” by Jonathan Bancroft (with Roy H. Williams) at Amazon.com

You want to start at the beginning of Manley’s book? Here’s how to do that.Next week, Manley is going to tell us about The Seven Things. Prepare to ponder.I’ve heard him talk about this stuff before, and it’s good. – Indy

Jesse’s Challenge/Question: I’d define capitalism as the belief that everyone has the right & responsibility to use their own resources in the way which they think is most conducive to improving the world. If that’s not capitalism, what is it? My Answer: Christianity. And perhaps it is Judaism and Buddhism and Zoroastrianism, as well. But I’m not familiar […]

Sixty-six percent of Americans believe our nation is in decline, according to a study from the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture.

You want to start at the beginning of Manley’s book? Here’s how to do that.By the way, it’s not yet published so you’ll just have to keep waiting for achapter or two each week. Sorry about that. – Indy

What a fun question! I would buy a condo in Paris, my favorite city.I would buy a condo in Barcelona, my second favorite city.I would buy a condo in Manhattan, NYC, my favorite city in the USA.Naturally, I would keep my condo in Fort Worth, Texas. Then, so that I could travel to all my […]

I will now do a dangerous thing. I will explain it at the end, but in the beginning I must do it. Let us begin. Life. What is the essence of it?  If you squeeze it hard enough, what is its juice? Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life, and have it […]

Two-Minute SeductionBy Toni Morrison I took my heart out and gave it to a writer made heartless by fame, someone who needed it to pump blood into veins desiccated by the suck and roar of crowds slobbering or poisoning or licking up the red froth they mistake for happiness because happiness looks just like a heart […]

Battleground or Playground? Jacques Cousteau, the man who made the world care about the ocean, said, “A lot of people attack the sea. I make love to it.”  But he was French. Not being French, I don’t see each day’s work as a choice between attacking or love-making. I see the future unfurl each morning as […]

The ways the country has changed in my 82 years astonishes even me! I can remember World War ll.What I remember clearly is watching ‘news reels’ at the movies. I knew that the war was far, far away but ‘seeing‘ it was scary.When an airplane would fly over, I crossed my fingers hoping it wasn’t a […]

You want to start at the beginning of Manley’s book? Here’s how to do that.By the way, it’s not yet published so you’ll just have to keep waiting for achapter or two each week. Sorry about that. – Indy