A boss of mine from years back would often say, “Figures lie, and liars figure” when others would present data to him. His words stuck with me through the years, as I don’t think he was alone in his mistrust of numbers, especially in today’s barrage of information from so many unreliable sources. Meanwhile, saying something is one thing. Proving it is quite another. 

Our business philosophy is simple: We need to reach a continually growing number of readers so we can provide the best advertising results for our customers. We do this by publishing relevant news and information about local people, places and events.

I just pulled our numbers to see how we are doing. The total number of monthly readers we now have from all our efforts is 14,257. Do the figures lie? No, but some explanation is necessary. 

Of our 14,257 monthly readers, 9,005 of them (63%) are from our print publications — Lake Panorama Times, Panora Times and Guthrie Center Times. Those 9,005 readers are estimated based on our total distribution of 7,277 with a 96.8% household receivership, a 79.9% household readership, and a pass-along of 1.6 readers per copy.

Of our 14,257 monthly readers, our websites have a total of 3,173 unique visitors per month (22%) with 2,020 of those from gctimesnews.com. 

Of our 14,257 monthly readers, our Facebook followers now total 1,123 (8%). 

Of our 14,257 monthly readers, we now have 956 email and text subscribers (7%) to our Times Vedette digital editions. We look forward to cracking 1,000 soon.

With our reader count more than the population of the county, one might question how this is possible. To be fair, there is certainly some duplication in these numbers, as many folks gather news and information from our multiple sources. Some of our readers are also from outside the area. And, although they are as accurate as Google Analytics can offer, one must question the validity of digital numbers, as the misinformation in that industry is rampant. 

As you can see, our print publications continue to be the primary way that people read what we do, and the other efforts are great ways to complement that. 

Can we do better? Absolutely, and we will. Meanwhile, I appreciate your support of our efforts, and I look forward to continuing to serve you. 

Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@dmcityview.com
641-755-2115

I bought a used record player a few years ago. My wife said it was stupid. I already had one from many years prior, but it was in disrepair. Despite my best MacGyver work to fix it, the songs still played in slow motion. So I bought another one just like it, and I kept the old one for parts. OK, that may be stupid. 

Meanwhile, I thoroughly enjoy pulling the LPs out of those musty smelling covers and placing them on the turntable. The crackle. The hiss. The skips. The scratches. It’s all part of the process, and I love it. 

Waylon Jennings. Elton John. B.J. Thomas. Prince. Elvis. And a few of those K-Tel compilation albums. These and many others are part of my growing record collection. 

A few years ago, my wife and I decided to have an album party in our garage. I pulled out the vehicles and moved in my stereo, complete with my record player. We invited many of our friends but with two stipulations:

1) They had to bring an album to play; and

2) They had to dress up like the band or artist of that album. 

Our courageous friends went for it. Rod Stewart. Michael Jackson. Boy George. Justin Timberlake. They were all there, and their music played into the night, complete with a disco ball hanging from the garage ceiling and some awful dance moves. 

This may sound like fun because it truly was. I encourage you to do it as well. Buy a record player. Search for used albums. Gather some costumes.

And have a spare record player, just in case. 

Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@dmcityview.com
641-755-2115

What do you dream about? Not your goals or visions or plans. I mean, what do you literally dream about while sleeping? Well, if you are in the 95% of us who forget our dreams, you simply don’t recall. Seeing how most of us have four to six dreams that last up to 20 minutes each, that’s a lot of dreaming to forget. 

Do you sleepwalk? My brother Steve did when we were kids. I thought it was funny. He didn’t laugh. About 15% of people do sleepwalk, and it can be a dangerous habit, especially when it involves grooming oneself, cooking food, or driving a car.

Do you dream about falling? More than half of Americans do, making this the most common recurring dream. It’s followed by being chased, being back in school, or being naked in public — or in my case, all three at once.

Does everyone dream? The vast majority of us do, and even blind people can have visual dreams. If you are a pet owner, you likely know that animals dream, too. 

Do we dream in color? Most people do (in pastel colors, to be specific), but about 12% dream in black and white. Either way, the visual aspect is the primary sense. People rarely use their smell or taste senses in dreams.

Did you know that we can only dream about people we’ve seen before? Whether we know them well or just met them briefly, the people in our dreams are all people we have seen prior.

Do you have nightmares? Up to 85% of adults do, at least occasionally. Nightmares are common for children ages 3-6, but the serious ones usually diminish with age. As a child, I would dream that Santa Claus was chasing me down to kill me. I hid under my lower bunk bed in each dream and would wake up in a sweat when he would reach for me. Merry Christmas.

And finally, how about recurring dreams like being late, failing an exam, being attacked, or losing control of a car? I often dream that I am driving a car too fast with hopes I can ramp over open water and land on ground. When it becomes apparent that I can’t, I usually wake up. Recurring dreams occur when people have to deal with unresolved conflicts in their lives. Hmmm.

Want to learn more about dreams? Check out the research behind the statistics I shared and much more at disturbmenot.co/dreams-facts.

Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@dmcityview.com
641-755-2115

If you had to name a device that defined how people of a specific era listened to music, what would you offer? Today, the options seem endless. Seems like just yesterday when the iPod was invented. Then streaming music. And now smart home devices. But how about past decades?

The jukebox for the 1950s? Albums on console stereos for the 1960s? How about 8-track players for the 1970s? And then there were the 1980s, the era when I attended high school and college. What would you suggest represents music listening habits for that timeframe? Cassette recorders? CD players? 

For people of all ages in the 1980s, it was all about the Sony Walkman. That single device changed how we listened to music, and it added an element of “cool” to cassettes. Sony truly was “the one and only.” I vividly remember my first Walkman. Silver metallic. Cassette only. (Who needed radio?) Lightweight headphones. Telescopic case. I listened to my cassettes in that player for countless hours. And when it finally wore out, I bought the yellow Walkman Sports version.   

The original Walkman launched in Tokyo in 1979. Ultimately, total production of Walkman units surpassed 200 million globally with more than 300 different Walkman models. But as cassettes became less popular, so did the Walkman, and this seemingly must-have gadget came to an end in 2010. 

Will the iPhone meet the same demise? Seems unlikely today, but many of us Walkman users thought the same in the 1980s.

Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@dmcityview.com
641-755-2115

I made mention of an upcoming Veterans Salute in a column I wrote in our March 29 digital edition. I explained how we were in the process of collecting photos of Guthrie County veterans for a special section that we will publish in October, and that we hoped to have it packed with pictures.

Many of you responded, and I thank you. We now have 74 photos of local veterans including William Warren Bailey, David Beidelman, Robert Embrey, Merl Goff and more. The number of veteran photos continues to grow each week, and we hope to surpass 100 soon. You can see what we have so far at https://gctimesnews.com/veterans.

You can submit a photo of your veteran at that same website, too. We make it easy. Simply fill in the blanks for the veteran’s name, the dates of service and the branch of service. Then upload a photo.

There is no cost to do this, and we welcome submissions for any and all veterans, alive or deceased, who have ties to Guthrie County. 

We realize that locating of photo of your veteran may be the most difficult challenge, and, unfortunately, we can’t help you with that part of the process. We do know, however, that you will appreciate the process in searching through photo albums to find one, and we encourage you to do so. Photos of veterans in uniform are ideal, but don’t hesitate to send any photo, as we want to recognize as many people as possible.

If scanning a photo is a challenge for you, please know that you can also bring the photo to our office in Panora at 111 E. Main St., and we will scan and return it to you immediately. Or you (or someone you know) can use a smart phone to take a photo of the photo and save it. 

Our plan is to publish all the photos and information, along with details on Veterans Day, in our printed editions of Panora Times, Guthrie Center Times, Lake Panorama Times and this digital edition prior to Nov. 11. 

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out. I truly look forward to honoring our local veterans with this special section. 

Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@dmcityview.com
641-755-2115

At our home, a brown paper bag simply cannot be found. My wife prefers the plastic grocery bags, and since she does most of the shopping, that’s what we have. Admittedly, they come in handy with the family dog’s duties, but I cringe each time I see them blowing in tree branches or stuck in ditches. The better solutions are the reusable bags, but we don’t seem to remember to put them back in our vehicles after each use. Change isn’t easy. Thankfully, Margaret Knight didn’t give up that readily. 

Margaret is the inventor of the iconic flat-bottomed, brown-paper grocery bag. She envisioned this idea while working for the Colombia Bag Factory in Springfield, Massachusetts, where her job was to fold paper bags by hand. This was a slow and inefficient process that resulted in many irregularities in the bags. Margaret began to draw up plans for a machine that would automate the manufacturing of these paper bags so that the bottoms were flat. She filed for a patent for her invention but was surprised to learn that one had already been awarded to Charles Anon, a man who was familiar with her design. Margaret hired an attorney and sued, claiming this invention was her own. The court ultimately sided in Margaret’s favor, and she was awarded a patent for her machine in 1871. Although improvements have been made to her design over the years, Margaret’s bag is quite similar to the brown paper grocery bag still in use, albeit much less, today.

I thought of the brown paper bags when I heard a reference to elementary grade students who wrapped their textbooks in them and then customized the covers to their liking with crayons, markers or pens. I was one of those students, although I am not sure I could recall the exact cutting and taping process today. Margaret likely didn’t envision that use, but her invention clearly made grocery sacking, carrying and delivering much simpler. And if she were alive today, she would certainly cringe at the sight of the plastic bag waste, too. 

Paper or plastic? If you are given the option, think of Margaret before you answer next time. 

Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@dmcityview.com
641-755-2115