While I was performing professionally as a stage magician in the 1960's, I was reminded one evening that a trivial act can have astonishing consequences.

My manager said that he had scheduled for me to make a brief appearance before a small gathering. I was then driven to an unassuming building and ushered down several hallways, through various sets of doors, and into the well-lighted end of an otherwise darkened room. There I nonchalantly executed a couple of "close-up" magical effects before about 20 indistinct individuals, who seemed too involved in their imperceptible activities in the shadows to pay much attention to my fleeting performance. Oh, yes ... and I remember a television camera.

It all seemed so incidental and was over 10 minutes after it had begun. Only one of the shadowy individuals even momentarily acknowledged my efforts. But as we left the studio, I remember one of my associates mentioning something about my image having just been transmitted live to tens of millions of people -- even more than had ever seen any of the first 30 presidents of the United States.

A few hours after I had left that unpretentious studio, I was dining as an honored guest at the best table in one of the city's finest restaurants, while a "buffer" was doing his best to hold autograph seekers at bay, and my manager was fielding a host of extraordinary requests. For instance, the governor of the state was on the telephone insisting on being photographed with me later that day and the wife of the Vice President of the United States was urging me to participate in a charitable event.

Although I made many more television appearances in the years that followed, the one that day was the most memorable. It was as though the universe had abruptly shifted. Just a few minutes of effective publicity from the mass media can significantly change anybody's life immediately, and almost magically. Someday it might easily change yours, too.

The advantages of personal publicity are many, but so are the disadvantages, particularly the lack of one's privacy. And any celebrated figure is "on stage" almost continuously. And the demands on one's time are never ending.

I have long since retired from the entertainment field and nowadays have neither any need for, nor want of, personal publicity. The extent to which I value my privacy is reflected by the fact that I no longer live in Beverly Hills, the Hollywood Hills, and Malibu, but in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, on the most remote land on Earth, more than 2,500 miles from the nearest continent.

Nevertheless, about a year ago I had a daring thought.

It all started one day when I was thinking about Walter Winchell, the most influential newspaper columnist of the 1930's and 1940's. At the height of his popularity, two thirds of the adult population of the United States read his daily column or listened to his weekly radio program, which began with fast 900 Hz Morse code tones and his rapid staccato delivery, "Good evening Mr. and Mrs. North and South America and all the ships at sea. Let's go to press!"

In the mid-twentieth century, many considered Walter Winchell to be the most powerful man in America.

As I mulled over something that he had once said, I began to dally with the idea of bestowing annual awards on famous people for their extreme misstatements and misjudgments. After all, from time to time we all have heard some celebrated figure suddenly say something so flagrantly stupid that we would have liked to have reached out a thousand miles, slapped him or her on the back of the head, and said, "What the hell were you just thinking?"

A "Mega Genius^® Editorial" in which I conferred the distinctions of 10 such awards on famous people for their stupidest statements of the year, however, would be one of a different tone than my usual editorials. Rather than being positive, insightful and workable, it would clearly have a negative implication.

Nevertheless, I decided to follow through on that daring thought, just for fun. And to see if what Walter Winchell had said was right.

So, a year later, in early January 2004, I published an editorial titled "The Stupidest Statements Awards" of 2003 by Mega Genius^®.

Then all hell broke loose.

On 5 January, at 3:36 p.m. EST, the editorial was picked up by MSNBC Wire Services and Market Wire and, almost simultaneously, by Business with CNBC; Yahoo Financial News; Excite Money and Investing; Quote.com; iWon Money and Investing; and My Way Finance. At 3:53 p.m. it was picked up by Internet Wire and News Alert. At 4:01 it was picked up by Hoover's Online; Lycos; Value Line.com; Optionetics.com; Interest Alert; Zap Zone; and, Women's Financial Network at Siebert.

Instantly many other news wires and syndicates had it, such as Associated Press; Reuters; United Press International; Bloomberg Professional Service; Dow Jones; New York Times Syndicate; and, research databases, including Factiva; Lexis-Nexis; Dialog; Standard & Poor's; and, Edgar Online.

Then it was distributed to more than 650 radio stations and programs, including ABC Radio Network; USA Radio Network; Spotlight on the Arts; Inside the Movies; Heart of Hollywood; E! Entertainment Radio; and Book Talk.

Simultaneously more than 3,293 journalists obtained the Mega Genius^® Editorial and more than 1,200 nationally circulated newspapers, including "USA Today" and the "New York Times," as well as most major local area papers, such as the "Chicago Tribune" and the "Los Angeles Times."

And it was suddenly in the hands of over 800 entertainment magazines and trade publications, such as "American Cinematographer," "Daily Variety," "TV Guide," "Time Out New York," "Rolling Stone," "Entertainment Weekly," "Hollywood Reporter," "Soap Opera Digest," "The New Yorker," "Movie Line," "Media Week," "Editor and Publisher," "Boston Book Review," and "Writer's Digest."

And it was broadcast to more than 350 television networks, stations and programs, including "NBC Television Network," "Access Hollywood," "CNN Showbiz Today," "E! News Daily," "Entertainment Tonight" and "Fox on Entertainment."

And then there was on-line syndication to more than 1,000 top sites across the worldwide web and more than 158,000 consumer e-mail subscribers.

But wait! That was just the beginning.

Holding my ground, I politely declined all requests for television interviews. Then an empathic lady from the "Morning Skoop" telephoned me -- which is a service that provides preparatory entertainment material to more than 1,000 morning television and radio shows -- asking for permission to disseminate the editorial to all their subscribers. In what must have been a moment of either insanity or my having a light stroke, I agreed to what almost immediately became a continual stream of radio interviews by telephone.

By the way, such telephone calls usually don't begin with the courteous greeting, "Hello." But, rather -- any time of the day or night -- with the show hosts at the radio stations abruptly shouting, "Good morning, Mega Genius! You're on the air live!"

Suddenly, across the Pacific and most of the North American continent, I was on the "Joe and the Poorboy" show (Z93 WKQZ) in Saginaw/Flint, Michigan. Then across the Atlantic with Vic "The Brick" Barry, on the "Cork Talks Back" show (Red FM 104 - 106), in Bishopstown, Cork, Ireland. And immediately on to a multitude of other radio programs throughout Europe and around the world.

The news media tends to feed on controversy, conflict and violence.  It was interesting that although I had issued the awards only for amusement, the media often colored the matter with a tone of aggressivity.  For example, NCBuy.com's news center reported, "Mega Genius -- real name Jim Diamond -- has just released his first annual list of the 'Stupidest Statements of 2003,' and no one is safe from his wrath, even world leaders."

Now, some two weeks later, there has been no letup in the interviews. It's never ending. I barely even have time to publish this editorial. Since MSNBC picked up "The Stupidest Statements Awards" of 2003 14 days ago, Chris McLeod has been trying to link up with me on the "Rock Mornings with Chris and April" show (95.1 CKUE-FM) Chatam / Kent, Ontario, Canada. Just minutes ago he finally made the connection and we conducted that interview.

I'm not complaining. The wise know that whatever one is experiencing, one is creating. As of this moment though, I'm calling it quits. Thanks to all of you in the media for the worldwide publicity, which would have cost a fortune to have purchased. At times it was great fun. But -- I want my privacy again ... at least until I issue "The Stupidest Statements Awards" of 2004.

It's worth repeating: A trivial act can have astonishing consequences.

And, incidentally, what was it that Walter Winchell said more than half a century ago that inspired me to have that daring thought? He said, "The fastest way to become famous is to throw a brick at someone famous."

Apparently he had isolated a workable truth. Although I only heard my barely perceptible tapping on my computer keyboard as I bestowed the awards merely for fun, the impact of 10 bricks landing was heard around the world.

Here is the Mega Genius^® Editorial that started it all, exactly as it was carried by all the wire services with their minor modifications:

"Stupidest Statements Awards" of 2003 Announced by Man with Perfect IQ

Kula, HI, Jan. 5, 2004 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- "The Stupidest Statements Awards" of 2003, bestowed on famous people for their misjudgments and misstatements, have just been announced by Mega Genius®, "the man with the perfect IQ™." His annual prizes of recognition for what he calls "crash-and-burn lapses in intelligence" by well-known personalities are just for fun. Beginning with what he calls the stupidest statement of the year, each award is followed by a quip from Mega Genius.

1. Saddam Hussein, Iraqi President, for his revelation to Iraqi citizens regarding American soldiers dismantling his regime: "God has ordered you to cut their throats." March 24, 2003. (Prozac has side effects.)

2. Jermaine Jackson, recording artist and producer, for his conclusion about "King of Pop" superstar Michael Jackson: "My brother is not eccentric." November 21, 2003. (Jermaine must have had encounters of "the third kind.")

3. Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf ("Baghdad Bob"), the Iraqi Minister of Information, for his disinformation: "The Americans are not there. They're not in Baghdad. There are no troops there. Never. They're not at all." April 7, 2003. (Now, let's all skip through the looking glass.)

4. William G. Boykin, Army Lt. General and U. S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, for his remark about a militia leader who was Muslim (as is 22 percent of the world's population): "I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol." October 17, 2003. (World peace through American diplomacy.)

5. George W. Bush, U. S. President, for his explanation of who was to blame for the 2000 - 2003 economic recession: "No one is to blame." September 5, 2003. (An evil spirit did it.)

6. Walter Cronkite, former Managing Editor and Anchorman of the CBS Evening News and "the most trusted man in America," for his reporting: "I was very disturbed at first when Fox [News Channel] came on-line saying it was going to be a right-wing news source." Texas Monthly Magazine, November 2003. (Trust me, instead. Fox never said that.)

7. William J. Clinton, former U. S. President, for his analysis of Saddam Hussein's intentions: "I think if we had given the U. N. a little more time, I think there's a serious chance Saddam Hussein would have disarmed." April 2003. (Just before French President Jacques Chirac would have rolled tanks into Baghdad.)

8. Kendel Ehrlich, Maryland's First Lady and former public defender and prosecutor, for her pronouncement at a forum on domestic violence: "Really, if I had an opportunity to shoot Britney Spears, I think I would." October 3, 2003. (Warning to Ms. Spears: Watch out for a woman with a bullet in her foot.)

9. Gray Davis, California Governor (subsequently recalled), for his evaluation of Austrian immigrant Arnold Schwarzenegger's qualifications to be the new Governor of a State in which more than half the residents have accents: "You shouldn't be Governor unless you can pronounce the name of the State." September 7, 2003. (And the "Archie Bunker Award for Insensitivity" goes to ....)

10. Emeril Lagasse, chef and restaurateur, for his explanation of how to roast: "I want roast leg of lamb. Now you pop this baby in the oven [at] 350 degrees. Some people's gonna tell ya, 'Well ... the temperature should be at 500 [degrees] first. When it gets here, turn the temperature down.' Isn't life complicated enough?" April 13, 2003, Emeril Live, Television Food Network. (Lowering a 500-degree roasting temperature to a 350-degree baking temperature later is not a complicated maneuver. That's what knobs are for, Emeril. Remember?)

Mega Genius

Mega Genius^®

19 January 2004

NOTICE - Although these "Mega Genius^® Intelligence Briefings" originate from beyond the top of the IQ scale, they are not substitutes for "The Mega Genius^® Lectures" -- "The Genius Formula™ Series," " The Uncommon Sense Series," and "The Whole Truth Series," -- which are the fundamentals of wisdom.  To learn how to skyrocket your intelligence in three easy steps with "The Genius Formula™ Series" of six lectures, in mp3 downloadable format, just select the glowing treasure chest below.