Mother’s Know Best
Working at the Green River Ordnance Plant near Amboy, Illinois during World War II. “Vesta Stoudt noticed that the boxes of ammunition she was packing and inspecting had a flaw.” Sealed with paper tape, with an opening tab, workers then dipped the entire box in wax to make it waterproof. But the paper tape was very thin, and the tabs often tore off, leaving soldiers frantically trying to open the box while under fire.” Stoudt had a better idea. Why not create a waterproof cloth tape to seal the boxes? Her supervisors weren’t keen on the idea. So, Stoudt wrote President Franklin D. Roosevelt describing her idea, complete with diagrams. Impressed with the idea, the president forwarded her idea to the War Production Department. And the rest is history, the military called the waterproof, cloth-backed, green tape 100-mile-per-hour tape. Today we know the product as duct tape. Could it be that Vesta Stoudt’s inspiration came from the fact that she had two sons serving in the Navy during the war. (J&J Lightbulb, February 8, 2018)
Snippets
- While walking near his Maine summer home, author Stephen King was hit by a van. The 1999 incident left King with a collapsed lung, multiple fractures and a gap to his head. Shortly after the accident, he purchased the van for $1,500. King said, “Now that we’ve got the van, I was going to take a sledge hammer and beat it.” (The Curious Reader-a Literary Miscellany of Novels & Novelists by Erin McCarthy, Weldon Owen 2021)
- A sixteen-foot albino python has been freely slithering through the neighborhoods of Austin, Texas since July. The snake was finally found warming up in a local residential garage. (The Austin Chronicle, December 30, 2022)
- During President Joe Biden’s first two years in office, Saturday Night Live satirized him eight times in sketches. During the former president’s first two years in office, the show poked fun at him 21 times. (Wall Street Journal, January 21-22, 2022)
“You Can’t Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd, But You Can Be Happy if you Put Your Mind to It.”—Roger Miller
Musician Roger Miller wasn’t too far from wrong, according to Robert Waldinger and Mark Schultz. They are the authors of the The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness (Simon & Schuster, 2023). Based on the “Harvard Study of Adult Development”, the researchers tracked 724 men and over 1,300 of their male and female descents over three generations asking lots of questions. Begun in 1938 and continues to this day, the goal is to learn what keeps people healthy and happy. The answer boils down simply to good relationships. That’s correct, not career success, exercise or good eating—good relationships.
Atypical Economic Indicator
King Size Bows are frequently placed on newly purchased automobiles—especially during the Christmas season. Sales of the bows in the 2022 Christmas season were down 35% from 2021. Perchance you are interested, cost for a 30-inch bow is just shy of $40. You may choose a magnetic or suction cup attachment. (Wall Street Journal, December 21, 2022.)
Rest in Peeps
Creator of the popular Easter marshmallow treat Peeps, Bob Born died recently at the age of 94. His company, Just Born Quality Confections produces 5.5 million Peeps a day, approximately two billion a year. Originally it took over 27 hours from batching to packaging the product to produce the final product. Dissatisfied with the production time, Born created a machine decreasing the time to six minutes. The majority are purchased the month prior to Easter. (The New York Times, February 4, 2023)
Some people like to eat them straight out of the package while others let them “breath” for a few days. They are popular used as S’mores while some creative souls infuse them with vodka. About 30% are not eaten at all. Instead they are used in centerpieces, as chess pieces, or woven into wreaths. Perverse fans like watch them explode in the microwave, others put them in vacuum tanks to watch them shrink, or drop them into chemicals to watch them disappear.
10, 2 & 4?
When I think Texas, several things come to mind—BBQ, queso, Whataburger, Buckee’s, TexMex, chicken-fried steak, HEB and the soft drink, Dr Pepper. Popular primarily in Texas, Dr Pepper is now the fourth best-selling carbonated soft drink in the United States trailing Coke, Pepsi and Mountain Dew. Sales of carbonated soft drinks are down 26%, with one exception, Dr Pepper. Created in Waco, Texas, sales of the beverage are up 9% (CNN 12.31.2022). Incidentally, have you noticed the Dr Pepper logo does not include a period.
I Told them the Truth, and They Fell for It.
Graza, a remarkably successful start-up company screwed up. Selling squeezable bottles of extra-virgin oil, the product immediately generated a plethora of loyal fans. However, their Christmas gift package disappointed customers—all 35,544. The product arrived late and poorly packaged—with peeling labels. It had been featured in hundreds of gift guides. The unanticipated demand overwhelmed the start-up.
Embarrassed, chief executive Andrew Benin sent an apology email to every customer who had ordered the item within the last sixty days. Acknowledging the company screwed up, Benin asked for a second chance. Benin told no one he was sending the unedited, typo laden email—which means he didn’t run it by legal or corporate communication. In 835 words, he offered no excuses and offered a discount promotion code for $4.43. According to Benin, the code was not rounded to $5.00 because it “was the most it could afford.”
Customers were so taken with Graza’s honesty, 866 sent grateful emails, many indicating they would not take advantage of the discount. Marjorie Ingall in her blog SorryWatch (https://sorrywatch.com) suggests Garza did everything right. Graza said:
- I’m sorry.
- For what I did.
- I understand why it was bad.
- I don’t have an excuse
- It won’t happen again.
- Here’s what I’ll do to make it up.
(The Wall Street Journal, 1.14-15, 2023)
