Bearded, bubbly pitchman Billy Mays passed away today in his home in Florida, according to press reports. It was stunning news–Mays was only 50 years old, and kept up an intense schedule of travel and (of course) pitching. (My condolences go out to Mays’ family, friends and colleagues.) Perhaps most famous for his OxyClean commercials, Mays pitched a long list of products and services. There’s probably a Billy Mays...

This past week I was down for a few days with something I’m going to call the flu. Not bad enough to go to the doctor, but bad enough that I felt like crap and productivity ground to a halt. I passed the time by posting quasi-cranky marketing-related rants at HypnoThoughts.com, a social network I have started to frequent. It became immediately apparent that some members of the site (most of whom are professional hypnotherapists and...