Pecking: How Procrastinators Get Things Done When you’re facing a big project, starting is the key to finishing. Sounds easy, right? “Just get started.” But you and I know there is a tall stone wall between here and there. The other side of that wall is called “Doing the Project,” but this side of the […]

Roving reporter Rotbart is being mysterious about his guests this week. All he’ll say is that their names are Peter Desberg and Jeffrey Davis and their clients include Apple, Boeing, Toyota, Dell Computers, and Honda. But the roving reporter promises his guests will be incredibly entertaining and provide actionable advice, regardless of the business you’re […]

Strategy before tactics is not controversial.  I’d go as far as to say it’s not debatable. You can’t implement a plan without having a plan.  If you want to be known for something, you must first decide what you want to be known for. But I get repeatedly asked, “what’s the best way to advertise?”  […]

About eleven years ago, I attended Wizard Academy – a wonderful session on unleashing creativity.  I had just found out I was carrying twins – so all the available wine was hard not to swallow. I remember telling you this as you were leaning back on a chair in the kitchen. It was a wonderful experience, the […]

“They have so much time, these old folks. They stroll their grocery carts down the middle of the narrow aisle in the frozen food section looking for nothing in particular. These old folks wait to locate their purse or wallet only after the checker has totaled and bagged their three items—like it’s a big surprise […]

Brad, That’s what you see every month when you volunteer, right? And if I am correct, you’re the guy who brings the brownies. Who was Neil? What’s the title of the book?   The first two paragraphs frame the setting and introduce a few questions into the mind of the reader. Paragraphs 3 and 4 set the hook and make the reader […]

“The minute the phrase ‘having it all’ lost favor among women, wellness came in to pick up the pieces… Before we knew it, the wellness point of view had invaded everything in our lives: Summer-solstice sales are wellness. Yoga in the park is wellness. Yoga at work is wellness. Yoga in Times Square is peak wellness. […]

“My brother, Eddie, died on Christmas day of 2010. My fondest memories of him go way back to when I was in fifth grade and Eddie was in eighth. We played football on Curtiss Street with our neighborhood buddies. Eddie could rifle a football faster and more accurately than anyone I knew. Most often, he had […]

Jack finally made it to the white banquet table under the entrance covering, snagged a cardboard food boat loaded with fettuccine alfredo flecked with bits of bacon, baked broccoli, and a cheese bun, a plastic fork stabbed into the pasta. Bob talked him into a triple-chocolate brownie baked the day before by a volunteer who […]

“Geneticist, mathematician, surfer, ‘glamour’ photographer and winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, Kary Mullis comes from a rare and cherished school of intellectual activity – that of the deep and genuine eccentric. Indeed, in these times of academic blandness, when the power of the grants committee and the influence of the scientific referee so […]

11.1 Million The estimated number of job openings in the United States on the last business day of November, according to the median of estimates of economists surveyed by FactSet. That would be up from 11.033 million at the end of October and would roughly equal the July level of 11.098 million, which was the […]

The Final Four Paragraphs of Kary Mullis Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech For three months I did sporadic experiments while my life at home and in the lab with Jennifer was crumbling. It was slow going. Finally, I retreated from the idea of starting with human DNA, I wasn’t even absolutely sure that the Genentech sequence […]

#1 Wedding Chapel in the Heart of Texas Chapel Dulcinea became the world’s first Free Wedding Chapel in 2005. The chapel hosts more than 1,000 weddings/year at a cost of more than $240,000 for staff and maintenance. Yes, we’ve been spending $240 per wedding to let couples get married here for free. Obviously, this is […]

Volkswagen isn’t making these yet, but they say they’re going to in 2022. We’ll see. The Tiny Tribe and I think these are very cool. – Indy

If Clay Stafford were to put all of his titles on a single business card, that card would be the size of a movie poster. Clay is a poet, a screenwriter, a playwright, a film and television producer, a director, showrunner, actor, educator, reviewer, and top-tier public speaker. His books have sold nearly four million copies. He […]

Click here to read the story behind the Global GDP graphic above.Now, with the global economy in mind, watch the very interesting video below. – Indy

“Academic education is the act of memorizing things read in books, and things told by college professors who got their education mostly by memorizing things read in books and told by college professors. It is easier to be taught than to attain. It is easier to accept than to investigate. It is easier to follow […]

A wonderful story is dazzling and attractive… This is the basis of all successful advertising.

“Many times after one of my six-week classes is completed, a student, excited by what he or she has just learned, has said to me, ‘You should teach an advanced class!’ I am always flattered, but always a little surprised. Advanced? I know for a fact that they have not mastered the most basic principles, […]

“If you want to believe in something, then believe in it. Just because something isn’t true, that’s no reason you can’t believe in it… Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most: that people are basically good; that honor, courage and virtue […]

Hyundai doesn’t claim the Santa Cruz is intended to carry big loads or do heavy work. At 196 inches from end to end, It’s smaller than most other pickups on the market, even relatively small ones like the Toyota Tacoma or the Honda Ridgeline. Instead, the all-wheel-drive Santa Cruz’s four foot long bed is intended […]

“The Samburu warriors have arrived – four of them, two holding drums, a child in the shadows minding a yellow longhorn cow. They came yesterday, too, after the morning game run, when Lou and Mindy were ‘napping.’ That’s when Charlie exchanged shy glances with the most beautiful warrior, who has scar tissue designs coiled like […]

The peak of human intellectual activity occurs at about 70 years old, when the brain begins to work at full strength. The Brain of an Older Person is More Productive Larisa Ragozinaayurvedaplace.com25 Feb 2021   The director of the George Washington University College of Medicine reports that the brain of an elderly person is much more […]

Cyrus Freidheim was the publisher and CEO of the Chicago Sun Times, the Chairman of Chiquita Brands International, the vice chairman of Booz Allen Hamilton, and a director at Virgin America and Allegheny Energy. He has also held important posts at Union Carbide, Ford Motor Co. and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Tens of thousands of people around the […]

SANTA & the MYSTERY of LIFE Santa is of course a fabrication.He’s a rich tapestry woven from a number of different bits & bobs. Ancient impulses instigated by the sun. Religious mythology. Children’s books. Ad men. Children exist in a world of magic and emotions. Santa is not just a celebration of a winter holiday season. He is a character […]

“Robert Kennedy, whose summer home is eight miles from the home I live in all year round, was shot two nights ago. He died last night. So it goes. Martin Luther King was shot a month ago. He died, too. So it goes. And every day my Government gives me a count of corpses created by military […]

WRAL TechWire, Nov 25, 2021 – “For years many demographers have been warning of a permanent worker shortage in the coming decades. It may just be that the pandemic brought the shortage earlier.” “An important concept in demographics is the ‘replacement birth rate’. This is the birth rate needed to replace deaths and keep the […]

In his 1974 autobiography, Clive Davis, then president of Columbia Records, described his initial impression of David Clayton-Thomas singing at the Café Au Go-Go: “He was staggering… a powerfully built singer who exuded an enormous earthy confidence. He jumped right out at you. I went with a small group of people, and we were electrified. […]

Associated Press, Dec 21, 2021 – “I was expecting low growth but nothing this low,” said William Frey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s metropolitan policy program, Brookings Metro. “We have an aging population and that means fewer women in child-bearing ages. We see younger people putting off having children and they’re going to […]

Hi Indy,Last week you posted that great image from Grant Wood that is about to be auctioned. FYI – Grant Wood was from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His lifelong patron was the Turner Family who owned Turner Mortuary. Grant lived in a studio apartment provided by the Turners on the mortuary property. I grew up in Iowa […]

“Feliz Navidad” written by José Feliciano in 1970 is a classic known around the world. “Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad,” is “Merry Christmas, a prosperous year and happiness.” It’s followed in English by, “I want to wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart.”

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?  In what distant deeps or skiesBurnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire?  And what shoulder, & what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began […]

Helen Palmer Geisel met her future husband, Ted “Dr. Seuss” Geisel, in class at Oxford. She had a profound influence on his life, starting with her suggestion that he should be an artist rather than an English professor. She later said, “Ted’s notebooks were always filled with these fabulous animals. So I set to work diverting him; […]

OBITUARYRenay Mandel Corren A plus-sized Jewish lady redneck died in El Paso on Saturday. Of itself hardly news, or good news if you’re the type that subscribes to the notion that anybody not named you dying in El Paso, Texas is good news. In which case have I got news for you: the bawdy, fertile, […]

According to Bob Dilenschneider, most people are only “life interns” until they are 25 years old. So roving reporter Rotbart enlisted his daughter, Avital, (who turns 25 this week,) to help interview Dilenschneider! (Sounds fun already, right?)  As Avital points out, there is a great deal to be learned from history, no matter your age. Dilenschneider agrees, and […]

I believe Tolstoy was talking speaking, in part, about the writers of songs, of poems, and of books. “This is a place of mystery, Daniel, a sanctuary. Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed […]

In an interview in 2003, Depp explained how Pepe Le Pew is driven by his own objectives and goals and has a tendency to drift in and out of other people’s lives. And of course, there’s that unshakeable confidence. “What I loved about Pepe Le Pew was this guy who was absolutely convinced that he’s a great […]

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,We people on the pavement looked at him:He was a gentleman from sole to crown,Clean favored, and imperially slim. And he was always quietly arrayed,And he was always human when he talked;But still he fluttered pulses when he said,“Good-morning,” and he glittered when he walked. And he was rich — […]

Out walking in the frozen swamp one grey dayI paused and said, “I will turn back from here.No, I will go on farther and we shall see.”The hard snow held me, save where now and thenOne foot went down. The view was all in linesStraight up and down of tall slim treesToo much alike to […]

Summer Wine · Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood · The James Bond “da-dum, da-DAHHHH” happens just after 2:30 NANCY: Strawberries, cherries and an angel’s kiss in springMy summer wine is really made from all these things LEE: I walked in town on silver spurs that jingled toA song that I had only sang to just […]

This work of art by the legendary Grant Wood will be auctioned on New Year’s Day. The wizard will not be bidding.

Which billboard do you like better, and why?   Billboard “A” is above. Billboard “B” is below.Send your reply to indy@wizardofads.com

Time Travel My friend Don has a time machine. He takes me with him sometimes. You should come, too! Every person who rides in Don’s time machine is changed by it. The United States Department of Justice has booked passage on Don’s time machine for countless prison inmates. State and local governments and hundreds of […]

Today’s workforce is no longer white, male, straight, able-bodied, Christian, and upper-middle-class. So why do so many companies continue to design their systems, processes, products, and services as if it were? Listen and learn as Minal Bopaiah – an expert in diversity, equity, and inclusion – calls “bullshit” on the traditional ways of treating employees [quote] “equally.” […]

I learned the truth at seventeenThat love was meant for beauty queensAnd high school girls with clear-skinned smilesWho married young and then retired. The valentines I never knew,The Friday night charades of youth,Were spent on one more beautiful.At seventeen I learned the truth. Songwriter: Janis Ian At Seventeen lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC