Kerfuffle

"Sometimes when God closes a door, He opens a window... And sometimes standing outside that window is a circus peanut wearing a badger."

With Herman Cain's exit from the campaign, Donald Trump takes his seat in the clown car. Comedians rejoice!

As hilarious is this is, is says a lot about how Republicans view the eloctorate and our country.  Pretty sad.

Selling a mild energy boost to your inner 12-year-old

Coffee is big business these days.  After all, how else can we get that jolt we need in the morning?  Don't really like coffee?  Well, there are all kinds of energy drinks out there.  There's old-school Mountain Dew too.  Too much to deal with when trying to travel light?  How about what these guys are selling...

Clever, huh?

These little things, individually wrapped and similar to those Listerine breath strips (gelatin based, dissolves quickly) actually started out as a patch, but people thought that was dumb.  So they changed to little sheets you slap on your tongue.  They offer a smattering of vitamins and 100 mg of caffeine... about what you'd get in a weak cup of coffee.

There's certainly a convenience factor, in as much as you can throw a package of 10 in your backpack for $5.95.  Of course it takes more than three Sheets to give you the same buzz as the 330 mg of caffeine in a Starbucks Grande (almost the same price per mg according to my math).  By comparison, these are a bargain compared to those little bottles of 5-Hour Energy, which only offer a 120 mg jolt (twice a can of Mountain Dew).  So... cheaper than some things, more expensive than others.

What about the "cool" factor?  As it turns out, I found out by posting this video on my Facebook page that the brother of one of my friends is the one marketing Sheets.  And we just happened to be going to last week's Badger game.  So we stopped by one of the many pre-game gatherings near Camp Randall with some samples and did a little focus group work.

The porch full of Wisconsin students were impressed.  Well, I think they were impressed.  They were very receptive, liked the few "Take a Sheet" t-shirts we had to give away, and were more than happy to try the product.  I mean really happy.  Screaming happy.  One guy ate four of them, which we tried to discourage... mostly because we only had a single pack of ten.  (He claimed he was hoping to offset the effects of the liquid refreshment he was enjoying... since maybe noon.  Whatever.  All I know is the damn things were popular.  And they turn your tongue red.

I have to admit I love a good pun, bathroom humor, and anything that can make me laugh out loud the first time.  But I doubt I'll ever buy any of this stuff.

And yes, there is a Take A Sheet website.

[cross-posted at J646 Overtime, my course blog)

If you have still have to make some last minute gift purchses, here's a suggestion...