A vending machine down the hall from my office was misloaded one day recently, and colleagues of mine began to get a variety of unexpected drinks when they put in their money. Daughter Gray http://zhurnal.net/~violconey/ was inspired, as I recounted this story to her, to describe her invention of several years ago:

Mystery Pop comes in a can (or opaque bottle) labeled with question-marks, cabalistic symbols, and images of befuddled customers. The contents vary — so you'll always get a surprise when you open one. (Ingredients are simply the famous "water, sugar, and artificial flavors" that predominate in soft drinks nowadays.)

And for those conservative-yet-adventurous consumers who would like to bias the odds on what they're about to chug, the manufacturer of Mystery Pop has introduced the following unique product line:

• Occasionally Orange
• Might Be Mango
• Possibly Peach
• Random Root Beer
• Likely Lemon Lime
• Guess It's Grape
• Conceivably Cola

About half the time the cans are mislabeled. The Mystery Pop quality control process, in fact, devotes great effort to measuring and maintaining an optimum level of error.

On sale soon at a super market near you!

TopicHumor - TopicPersonalHistory - 2004-05-04

(correlates: Ben Franklin on Intellectual Property, GrowingUp, GrayGreenGap, ...)