"I don't want to call her back."

"Why not?"

"Because I just emailed her a week ago and I haven't heard back yet. I don't want to be annoying…"

We understand. You and I have been on the wrong end of one too many eager salesperson's relentlessness. To them, "No" is merely the first two letters of "Now I'll buy it!" How then, to be professional, yet personable? Persistent, yet polite?

It was a dark and stormy night. Out of the shadowy alley saunters a trench-coated man, collar turned up, face obscured by the brim of a black fedora. He casually sidles up to the red-haired woman at the bus stop. "I've heard that Piccadilly Circus is beautiful this time of year," he says in the most casual of tones. She slowly exhales pungent cigarette smoke through pursed lips and replies, languidly, "But I really do miss the clowns." The man smirks back, "I heard they all went on strike for bigger company cars." The Redhead quickly glances into his square-jawed face and whispers, "Come on, our ride is waiting." They hurry off through the rain and fog to a waiting taxicab and disappear into the night.

“Honestly, if you're given the choice between Armageddon or tea, you don't say 'what kind of tea?’”

― Neil Gaiman ¹

There was something very unusual about April 21st 2015. It was no surprise… We all had plenty of advance warning. It was the talk of blogs and worldwide industry scuttlebutt for months in advance.

The hype machine went into overdrive. "The End of Days is upon us!" it wailed.

What Can You Buy with $120,000?

Samsung’s 105-inch curved Ultra HD TV.

This house at 126 N 38, Omaha NE 68131

One tall coffee from Starbucks every single day for the next 184 years

These days, most commerce can be tracked with a level of precision that old school marketers might dismiss as voodoo magic, but it’s not always easy. The good old Nielsen Ratings are great example of the struggle against obsolescence. When TV first became popular, advertising rates depended on paper diaries filled out by viewers every time they watched something, Eventually Nielsen developed a box that electronically spied on your TV habits.

If you're a James Bond fan, thank Tatiana Romanova. In 1964's From Russia With Love, she is tasked by SPECTRE's Head of Executions, Rosa Klebb, to lure Mr. Bond into an ambush on the Orient Express where he will be eliminated. When that fails, and Bond escapes back to England with Tatiana in tow, who should appear but Rosa Klebb disguised as a hotel maid!? In the ensuing struggle it is Ms. Romanova who shows her true colors and dispatches Klebb with a single shot.