“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 […]

A wildly successful Wizard of Ads partner forgot to warn the client and, well, he got fired. Let’s let him tell the story in his own words. If you like what Johnny is saying (and you will,) consider attending the 2-day class he will be teaching with Chris Maddock, (another of The Great Ones,) in […]

Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. 1. Polite Greeting2. Name3. Relevant Personal Link4. Manage Expectations – Inigo’s Guide to Networking Success, page 2

If you want your brilliance to be recognized, speak up! Bret Ridgway has witnessed a couple thousand speakers during his 25-year career, so he knows the many benefits to be had by men and women who take to the podium. You don’t need to be a gifted public speaker to win customers, employees, and investors. […]

Success has been kind to Noah St. John, the self-described “nerdiest nerd,” who started in a 300-square-foot basement apartment with no money, no girlfriend, and very little hope. The core idea for how to turn his life around — and that of the more than 1.8 million others he’s helped since — came to him […]

The first half of what I’m about to tell you, I have told you before. But you will understand why I chose to repeat it when you read the second half. – RHW The average person has 5 senses. We can see, hear, taste, touch, and smell.   We also have the ability to interpret […]

July 3, 2023: “Our Hunger for Relationship”

EXTRACTED FROM: Second Chances: ‘I survived jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge’ – ABC7 San Francisco SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — On Baker Beach, it appears a pair of tourists are talking like old friends, just trying to take a perfect selfie with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. In fact, Kevin Hines and Ken […]

This is where to click if you want to read about Stephen or talk to him. He’s fun. – Indy

    This is the link you want to click.

Lido missed the boat that day, he left the shackbut that was all he missed, and he ain’t comin’ back.At a tombstone bar in a juke joint car, he made a stopjust long enough to grab a handle off the top.Next stop, Chi-town, Lido put the money down, let it roll. He said, “One more […]

From NASA, In 1824, Joseph Fourier calculated that an Earth-sized planet, at our distance from the Sun, ought to be much colder. He suggested something in the atmosphere must be acting like an insulating blanket. In 1856, Eunice Foote discovered that blanket, showing that carbon dioxide and water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere trap escaping infrared (heat) radiation. In the […]

“The Death of Chatterton” by Henry Wallis (1856) The Death of Chatterton was shown at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition with a quotation inscribed on the frame from the Tragedy of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe: “Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight, And burned is Apollo’s laurel bough.” The famous writer, […]

A few years ago, the busted-up statue of Ozymandias was found (video below) and it is now assembled in a museum in Memphis, Egypt (2nd video below). Archaeologists believe eight-metre statue found in Cairo slum is of Pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled Egypt in 13th century BC. Ramses the Great or Ozymandias, ruled for 66 […]

Everything I’m about to share with you happened in England and France during the lifetime of Thomas Jefferson, while America still had its “new baby” smell. The English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge gave us “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” in 1798, while Napoleon sailed to Egypt to fight the Battle of the Pyramids and […]

Lieutenant Colonel Ricky Howard has handled more than $1 BILLION in purchase contracts, many of them with small businesses. His client is a reliable buyer, and once your company is selected as a vendor, you will likely remain a vendor for decades to come. Howard is an expert on how to win government contracts, from […]

Manley Miller said, “Accepting guilt is hard. Finding justification is easy.” Peter Wehner said, “The greater the ethical compromises we make, the fiercer our justifications become — and the angrier and more frustrated we get at those who won’t go along for the ride.” And then John Kay piped in, “I am irresistible, I say, […]

You’re in an elevator, moving from one level to another. Sometimes the elevator goes to a higher level.Sometimes it goes to a lower one.You won’t know until you get there. You are in that aimless time between one chapter of your life and the next.You are moving from a predictable past to an unpredictable future.You […]

“Any time I get a little money that I can spend on myself, I buy another typewriter and put it in another room and start another project. It could be a novel, it could be a poem I’m working on, it could be a translation, it could be an essay, a literary criticism, it could […]

When the founder of Hasidic Judaism, the great Rabbi Israel Shem Tov, saw a misfortune threatening the Jews, it was his custom to go into a certain part of the forest to meditate. There he would light a fire, say a special prayer, and the miracle would be accomplished and the misfortune averted. Later, when […]

“It is all settled beneath the chattering and the noise. Silence and sentiment. Emotion and fear. The haggard, inconstant splashes of beauty.” – Jep Gambardella, The Great Beauty How can you not watch a video that has racked up 1.3 Billion views?

“Bats can hear shapes. Plants can eat light. Bees can dance maps. We can hold all these ideas at once and feel both heavy and weightless with the absurd beauty of it all.” – CryptoNaturalist

The Vikings invaded the UK about 1,500 years ago and then continued to raid and plunder for a few centuries until they finally just blended into the people who are now the United Kingdom. Over a glass of wine, Ian Rogers shared 24-seconds worth of thoughts about the different nations that comprise the UK, then […]

Hi, I’m Gene Naftulyev, one of the newest of the Wizard of Ads partners. When Roy told me what Manley texted and told me that Indy wanted to put it in the rabbit hole, I said, “Tell Indy that I’ll mail a free copy to any of his rabbit readers who wants one” To get […]

Dateline: Austin, Texas Headline: Mickey Kennedy Has Spent 25 Years Helping Small Businesses Write and Distribute News Releases Body:  Mickey Kennedy believes small businesses should not have to pay exorbitant prices to write or distribute news releases. In October 1998, he launched a news release service that has since provided hundreds of thousands of small […]

Kindergarten, in Indonesia, is as expensive as college, but it gives kids whose parents can afford it a huge advantage that stays with them for life, allowing them to outperform the poorer kids year after year. Kindergarten for their child is the impossible dream of every poor parent. Roy and Pennie have known Misi since […]

In the Harvard Grant Study, the world’s longest running and most comprehensive psychological study, the five most mature, healthy defense mechanisms associated with higher life satisfaction were: 1. Altruism: focusing on others’ wellbeing 2. Humor: making light of difficult or stressful events or experiences 3. Sublimation: turning anger or frustration into productive energy 4. Anticipation: […]

According to a comprehensive study conducted by Yale University and published in the journal Social Science and Medicine, people who read books more than 3.5 hours a week live a full 23 months longer than the people who didn’t read at all. That extended lifespan applied to all book-reading participants, regardless of “gender, wealth, education or […]

  Savannah Drew was in a wilderness camp when she met Bosco, the camp dog, a lifelong friend of mine. When she saw the hat, Savannah suspected that Bosco might be a dog I knew, so she sent me this photo to see if she was right. Savannah would have asked him if he knew […]

“Does the chemical composition of Jägermeister cause a craving for string beans? Is there some property of string beans that becomes addictive on those rare occasions when they’re consumed with Jägermeister? I asked myself these questions as I shoveled string beans into my mouth, huge crunchy forkfuls, and watched TV – weird cable shows, most […]