If you don’t know by now, today is April Fool’s Day, and it’s not too late to still pull off a good April Fool’s prank. Just remember, as the old saying goes, it is better to give than to receive.

Our oldest daughter, Sara, enjoyed April Fool’s day in her youth, as she would put green food coloring in our milk jugs at home and set all the clocks in the house at different times. Her favorite prank, though, was to brush oral numbing gel on pieces of stick gum and wrap them back up, waiting for a friend to ask for a piece.

If you appreciate this type of humor, here are a few more to make your April 1 a bit more exciting. 

Have coffee drinkers at your place of work? Swap out the sugar supply with salt and watch the looks on their faces after the first sip — then get ready to pour more cups of coffee.

If you work at an office and have a co-worker who uses a computer, cut out a small piece of paper with the message “GOTCHA” and tape it on the bottom side of the mouse, covering the sensor that makes it work. 

I have read about this one in the past but haven’t tried it. It is worth repeating, as it is incredibly clever. Unscrew your friend’s showerhead and pop in a bouillon cube. Who doesn’t like the smell of hot chicken broth in the shower’s streaming water?

Do you have rugs in your home? If so, place bubble wrap underneath one and get ready to laugh. 

You may remember the “kick me” signs that you taped to each other’s backs in middle school. Here is an adult version. Write the words “HONK AT ME” on a large piece of paper and tape it to the back of your friend’s car. 

And while you are at it — and if you just happen to have a harmonica laying around — secure one to the front of a friend’s car bumper. As the car goes down the road and the wind blows in the instrument, the driver will be baffled by the newfound noise, even with the windows rolled up. 

Like Oreo cookies? Carefully unscrew a few and replace the filling with white toothpaste. 

This one is especially good. Take a pair of a family member’s socks and sew them shut about halfway through.

Do you have a bottle of clear nail polish? Take a bar of soap from the shower and coat the entire bar with the polish. The victim of this prank will work up a sweat while trying to lather up. 

And here’s my all-time favorite April Fool’s prank. Smear a glob of peanut butter on a person’s shoe. Enough said.

Have a thoughtful — and cautious — Tuesday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707

I have four pictures of my grandfather. Four. That’s it. To be honest, he probably only allowed his photo to be taken five or six times throughout his life, so four isn’t bad. I have one image of him as a young man in his work clothes (shown here). Another of him with one of his prized horses. One of him and Grandma and their five kids at their 50^th wedding anniversary. And one of him and Grandma taken at my aunt’s kitchen table just a few hours before they died in an auto accident. As you may imagine, I treasure those four photos. 

My youngest daughter takes at least four pictures of herself every hour and posts them on various social media apps. I sometimes act like I am doing the same to annoy her. She doesn’t fall for it. 

The whole selfie rage seemingly came out of nowhere. Who would have thought that taking pictures of yourself would be a thing? I remember a timer on a film camera I once had that could be set and would give 15 seconds to get ready before it snapped a shot. Of course, you couldn’t see the image until the prints were made. Even so, I thought that was high-tech. 

I am not amused by selfies. I am amused by smellfies. Yes, smellfies.  This was demonstrated to me by a young female employee of ours who took a sniff of her armpit to see if she needed a deodorant refresh. A smellfie. Now that’s funny. 

Back to photos. Some of you may remember the Polaroid rage in the 1970s when photos could be viewed almost instantly. This seems archaic today, yet Polaroids have made a comeback in recent years. When my youngest daughter isn’t taking selfies, she actually uses Polaroids — sparingly. 

When we used film cameras and had prints made, we valued those photos, often storing them in scrapbooks. Polaroid photos were kept in those as well. Then we saved digital photos sparingly on small storage cards, then larger storage devices, and now in the Cloud. Most of us feel that our images are safe in this mysterious storage place, even though we recognize that Big Tech is somehow tracking, sorting and selling the data from it in some way.

When our company websites went down a few years ago and the data was potentially lost, it made me think twice about relying on people I don’t know to be in charge of storing our valued files and images. Then the sites were restored, and I am back to having faith in the Cloud again. Although my grandfather didn’t seem to see much value in photos, I am guessing this kind of trust would have made him sweat. He might have even tried a smellfie.

Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707

Do you ever notice how so many products today are challenging to use because of their packaging? Some have improved, like Band-Aids. Many of you remember the old system with the red string that you had to pull to open the package, which almost always yanked out. Other products could use improvements as well — like plastic gallon milk jugs. Sure, the cap is easy to screw off, but that seal with the tiny tab on the protective film that rips off in my hand is more than irritating. 

Garbage sacks are another challenge. It’s like those things are ironed together. I carefully attempt to open them, only to realize that I am working from the wrong end. You may have similar problems with the bags in the produce aisle at the grocery store. Uggh. 

How about starting a new roll of cellophane or packing tape? Worse yet, when the roll rips off, and you try to restart it? I struggle to get under the tape, and when I do it inevitably tears off sideways to the edge, and I have to start all over again. 

If you take any over-the-counter medications wrapped in foil packages, you likely know the effort it takes to get those tiny pills out. And if you are not careful, you get a foil cut on your fingertips. Ouch.

Hot dog packaging drives me crazy, too. I am not fond of hot dogs to begin with, but trying to open a package without a knife or scissors results in hot dogs on the kitchen floor, packaging water on my shirt, and an empty wrapper in my hands. 

When our kids were young, they were fans of juice boxes. If I was fortunate enough to find a box with a straw attached to it, I then had the task of inserting the straw into the tiny hole without cracking it and making it unusable. I was glad when the kids learned to do this on their own.   

I continue to struggle with anything that deals with plastic wrap used in the kitchen. I can’t seem to get it to stick to the bowl, but it most certainly sticks to my hands and to itself, leaving me with numerous rolled balls of plastic to dispose of. 

Unwrapping items sealed in hard plastic takes the cake. Of course, a sturdy scissors is required, but one must then carefully avoid the newly created sharp plastic edges that are sure to draw blood — and require some of those handy Band-Aids. 

How about you? What products have packages that leave you in fits? Send me a note and let me know.

Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707

There are good ideas, and there are bad ideas. And sometimes a good idea becomes a bad idea, and vice versa. 

Last year, we decided to launch a text notification and link to the Times Vedette. It was a simple message sent out via text each Tuesday and each Friday with a link that would take subscribers to the website with the latest version. I used it, and I loved it. And so did 24 other people… but that was it. 

I thought we would have hundreds of people sign up for the texting option, rationalizing that the segment of people who don’t use email regularly but do check their text messages quite often would prefer it. We were not able to garner many, and that’s OK. I just couldn’t justify the cost of that service for only two dozen subscribers. Hence, a bad idea.

On a positive note, our email versions continue to grow. We now have 1,075 digital subscribers who have signed up to receive this Times Vedette email version. We also have 665 Lake Panorama Times digital subscribers, 525 Guthrie Center Times digital subscribers and 511 Panora Times digital subscribers. Add them all up, and the total number of digital version email subscribers is 2,776. Hence, a good idea.

Of course, our print versions continue to be our bread and butter with more than 7,260 copies being printed and distributed, generating nearly 9,000 readers. Hence, another good idea. 

If you were one of the 24 text subscribers, we encourage you to convert to the email version. You can do so at https://gctimesnews.com/join-our-email-list/.

So, we swing and miss once in a while in our efforts to keep hitting home runs. That’s all part of the game, and we are honored to be able to play. 

Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707

A few decades ago, I participated in a continuous quality improvement training class, an in-depth study of the statistical control principles promoted by W. Edwards Deming. One of the many lessons I learned in these training sessions was the definition of “quality.” Our instructor, Bob Gelina, said this one word can be defined in just two words: low variation. 

In the world of process improvement, this is certainly true. The more we can do to avoid the spikes of change, the more consistent and predictable our output will be. Makes sense.

On the consumer end, quality may have a different definition, and it varies by each person’s expectation. 

My first luggage was an inexpensive set that was quickly trashed after a few visits to the airport. When Jolene and I were married, we received a high-end set as a gift. It was also quickly trashed after a few visits to the airport. As a result, I now only buy inexpensive sets of luggage and plan on replacing them as needed. Quality doesn’t seem to matter much with luggage, at least in my air travel experiences.

Shoes are another story. A few decades ago, I worked with Jeff Watts, the owner of a Des Moines clothing store called Bond’s of Beaverdale. As a young man in the business world, I needed to dress more professionally, and Jeff was a great help with suits, shirts and ties, which were standard wear of the time. The store also had a selection of high-end dress shoes that I wasn’t ready to step up to, despite Jeff’s encouragement. As my income increased, and Jeff’s sales pitch continued, I finally decided to ante up and buy a pair of shoes that cost three times as much as I had ever spent prior. “It’s an investment you won’t regret,” Jeff told me. And he was right. I had those shoes re-soled twice, and they lasted for more than a decade. I eventually tossed them only after a piece of sharp metal cut through the top of one. Quality, in this case, did prove to matter. 

Our throw-away society is troublesome, and I am certainly part of the problem. In our efforts to pay the least amount we can, we often settle for lower quality. Sometimes that makes sense, but more often it results in rapidly expanding landfills full of broken stuff. 

Unfortunately, the mass production of these throw-away items has become standard. The variation is low, and the outcome is predictable. With that in mind, the process may be quality, but the products created typically are not. We live and learn, hopefully. Meanwhile, this dilemma may be defined best in six words: You get what you pay for. 

Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707

You may have read recently that the cost to produce a penny is now nearly 4 cents. With that in mind, pennies no longer make much sense. I sorted through a bunch the other day and contemplated what to do with them. A handful of pennies won’t even buy a Tootsie Roll today. For the most part, pennies are a useless coin. But, if you are looking for cheap entertainment — and a bit of nostalgia — read on. 

I clearly remember learning alongside my elementary school classmates about the art of “coin snatching” in the 1970s. We were inspired by a 1977 episode of “Happy Days,” the must-see TV sitcom of the generation, seen every Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. central on ABC. Most all of us tuned in to learn what Richie Cunningham, Ralph Malph, Potsie Weber and the Fonz were up to. In season four, we were introduced to Fonzie’s cousin, Angelo Fonzarelli. Angie, as he was called, had an incredible skill to catch coins stacked on his elbow with his hand. 

After this episode aired, kids across America were practicing “coin snatching” in an effort to see if they could break the world record. For those of you not familiar with how this works, here is a quick description: Coins are placed on the elbow, the hand of the same arm is placed on the arm’s shoulder, and the hand is swung forward to catch the coins. Easy enough, right? Check out the YouTube clip and see how Angie fared.

Well, like most things in life, the devil is in the details. While the Fonz’s cousin was attempting the world record of 40 coins on TV, those in the real world learned to do many more. 

Chris Redford snatched 39 coins in 1973, only to be out-snatched by Dennis Cole with 60 in 1976, and then Andrew Gleed with 62 in 1978. Then it got complicated. Dean Gould set the world record of 328 coins in 1993 in accordance with British rules specifying that the coins must be 10 grams or heavier, that they can be arranged in multiple stacks, and that the catcher is allowed to drop some of the coins, counting only those remaining in the hand.

Well, that’s cheating. In my third-grade class, we used pennies, as none of us had that many quarters. We also required that the coins be placed in one stack on the elbow. The contestant also had to catch them all for it to count. My pal Johnny set our record at 26. But those were our rules. The official rules for coin snatching — and the world records — can be found here for those of you who wish to explore this further. In the meantime, hang on to those pennies and give it a try. Just be ready to pick up some coins. 

Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707