Supply and Demand

 

Go ahead and admit it, the subject of this Foolishness...Or Is It? "Supply and Demand" is all you remember from the Economics Class you took in college.

Those of you who did not go to college are also familiar with "Supply and Demand" because you have heard many Talking Heads on TV say it over and over for many years because that is the only thing they remember from the Economics Class they took in college.

However, if you combine your Supply and Demand knowledge with what I am about to tell you, you could become very rich in the years to come.

I will give you the Bottom Line right here at the top...

Invest All You Have In the Raising Of Sea Snails

I know what just happened. You just said to yourself, "Self, the Fella has lost it this time for sure. Sea Snail raising is Foolishness of the highest order. I'm not going to read any further."

I would advise you to resist this stop reading impulse of yours. What's the matter with you? Don't you want to be rich?

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OK. I'll give you the Rest of the Story...

Researchers at the University of Portsmouth may have found the strongest natural material humankind has ever known.

And it's a sea snail. Specifically, it's a sea snail's teeth.

The snail I am talking about is the Limpet which is a small aquatic snail with a distinctive cone-shaped shell.

Its teeth are so small they had to be examined under a microscope.

The article goes on to say that the teeth are so strong the material could be used to make the "cars, boats and planes of the future".

Prof Asa Barber said, “We discovered that the fibres of goethite are just the right size to make up a resilient composite structure. This discovery means that the fibrous structures found in limpet teeth could be mimicked and used in high-performance engineering applications such as Formula One Racing Cars, the Hulls of Boats and Aircraft Structures.”

Did the light just go on? Yea, you got it. Do you realize how many snails are going to be needed in the future to supply us with cars, boats and planes?

Start lining up your investment capital now. Go to the pet store and buy all the fish tanks they have. We are going to need a lot of snails. There's millions of dollars in those little teeth!

Good luck and I hope you have a very big backyard.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

What Do You Mean I Know Nothing? I Don’t Have To Know Anything. My Smartphone Knows Everything For Me.

Walter Brennan did It, Gabby Hayes did It and I understand the Duke of Wellington did It but no one does It any more.

Did I just hear you say, Do What? Pardon me. I got ahead of myself again.

Immediately I am going to digress again before I reveal what It is. The reason why we are not doing It any longer is because we are too busy.

Actually, that’s not right either. We are not doing It because we are distracted by...

Ø Messages coming out of our Smartphones.

Ø Notifications coming out of our Smartphone.

Ø Reminders coming out of our Smartphone.

Ø Emails coming out of our Smartphone.

Ø Tweets coming out of our Smartphone.

Ø Insta Things coming out of our Smartphone.

Ø Snap Things coming out of our Smartphone.

The Smartphone is dominating our lives...

Ø More and more we are not wearing Wrist Watches because we use our Smartphone to find out what time it is. Since our Smartphone is in our hand at all times, it is easier to look at it to see what time it is than having to go to all the trouble of having to push up our sleeves to see what time it is.

Ø After pulling into parking spots many drivers play around with their Smartphone for awhile before they get out of their cars.

Ø People walk while looking at their Smartphones and fall down as they bump into trees, benches, parking meters, walls and other people. Many times they do not seem to notice they have fallen down because they keep looking at their Smartphones as they get up and walk away while still looking at their Smartphones.

Ø People get off Greyhound Busses from Baltimore look around and say, "This does not look like Toledo".

Ø After getting into their cars and before they pull out of their parking spots drivers play around with their Smartphones for awhile.

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I did not forget about what Walter, Gabby and the Duke of Wellington did that we don’t do any longer. What they did and we don’t do is Whittle Wood.

Whittling was relaxing. It was therapy. It was fun you do not know you were having while you were having it.

There once was a whole industry built up around Whittling Wood. There were Whittling Retail stores everywhere. All of this is gone from the Fruited Plain. It has been replaced by people playing around with their Smartphones and pecking out things like this...

Ø I had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch.

Ø I fiddle with my Smartphone while I watch TV. Yesterday I saw something really shocking on my TV while I was fiddling with my Smartphone. I would tell you about it but I did not see what I saw because I was looking at my Smartphone when I did not see it so I can’t remember seeing it.

Ø Do you wanna do lunch?

Ø Are you as bored as I am?

Ø The other day one of our fighter planes shot something or other out of the sky over Billings or St. Louis or the Atlantic Ocean or the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California or South Dakota or one of our other coastal states.

Ø I just fell into a water fountain while walking through the mall while I was looking at my Smartphone! My brother-in-law is a lawyer and, if that fountain water has ruined my Smartphone, he is gonna sue whoever put that water fountain there! He says I have a good case.

What do you mean I don’t know what I am talking about? I don’t have to know what I am talking about because what I don’t know my phone knows and it will tell me (if it is still working after I and it fell into that water fountain).

I’m gonna get a new Smartphone because I understand there is a new App that will warn you if you are approaching a water fountain.

I don’t know what I did before I got my Smartphone. One thing is for certain, before I got my Smartphone, I did not fall down near as often.

I know we love our Smartphones. What I do not know is do our Smartphones love us back.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Are You Having Trouble Understanding Cisgender? Fella Is Here To Help.

I started to not understand what I was reading when I reached the word “Sociologists”...

Sociologists Kristen Schilt and Laurel Westbrook define cisgender as a label for "individuals who have a match between the gender they were assigned at birth, their bodies, and their personal identity".^[1] A number of derivatives of the terms cisgender and cissexual include cis male for "male assigned male at birth", cis female for "female assigned female at birth", analogously cis man and cis woman,^[5] and cissexism and cissexual assumption.^[6] In addition, one study published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society used the term cisnormativity, akin to sexual diversity studies' heteronormativity.^[7][8] A related adjective is gender-normative because, as Eli R. Green writes, "'cisgendered' is used [instead of the more popular 'gender normative'] to refer to people who do not identify with a gender diverse experience, without enforcing existence of a normative gender expression".^[9] In this way, cisgender is preferable because, unlike the term gender-normative, it does not imply that transgender identities are abnormal.

Now do you understand?

Glad I could help.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Get The Rope! Get The Paint! We Gotta Get To Work!

 

Dumb Guy said, “Hey, Dumber Guy, I just found out who that there memorial is dedicated to. The fools who created that memorial chose to honor an awful man who single handedly was responsible for more damage to the Earth’s Environment than any other person in all of recorded history. This terrible person was Edwin Drake. He was the guy who drilled the First Oil Well. If he had not done that, oil would never have been discovered and the Earth would have more than the 12 weeks it has left to be the Earth.”

Dumber Guy said, “Unbelievable! People like that should not have memorials dedicated to them. I’ll get the paint so we can desecrate his statue. I’ll get the rope so we can pull his statue down! Then you and I can jump up and down on his statue. No need to remind me to get the sledge hammers we will need to break his evil likeness into small evil pieces. I always carry sledge hammers in my back pack.”

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Then it happened. A nearby Potted Plant spoke up and asked the Dumb Guys a simple question, “Hey, Guys, what is made from petroleum?” They did not know where the question came from but they, in unison, answered, “The only thing that comes from Petroleum is Gasoline!” as they continued to look around for the source of the question.

Out of the Potted Plant came a hand holding a printed list of some (but not all) of the things that are made from Petroleum. It read as follows...

There is quite a large list of products made from petroleum. This list is constantly growing as new inventions are created. Here are some of the items which are made from petroleum...

Solvents	Diesel fuel	Motor Oil	Bearing Grease
Ink	Floor Wax	Ballpoint Pens	Football Cleats
Upholstery	Sweaters	Boats	Insecticides
Bicycle Tires	Sports Car Bodies	Nail Polish	Fishing lures
Dresses	Tires	Golf Bags	Perfumes
Cassettes	Dishwasher parts	Tool Boxes	Shoe Polish
Motorcycle Helmet	Caulking	Petroleum Jelly	Transparent Tape
CD Player	Faucet Washers	Antiseptics	Clothesline
Curtains	Food Preservatives	Basketballs	Soap
Vitamin Capsules	Antihistamines	Purses	Shoes
Dashboards	Cortisone	Deodorant	Footballs
Putty	Dyes	Panty Hose	Refrigerant
Percolators	Life Jackets	Rubbing Alcohol	Linings
Skis	TV Cabinets	Shag Rugs	Electrician’s Tape
Tool Racks	Car Battery Cases	Epoxy	Paint
Mops	Slacks	Insect Repellent	Oil Filters
Umbrellas	Yarn	Fertilizers	Hair Coloring
Roofing	Toilet Seats	Fishing Rods	Lipstick
Denture Adhesive	Linoleum	Ice Cube Trays	Synthetic Rubber
Speakers	Plastic Wood	Electric Blankets	Glycerin
Tennis Rackets	Rubber Cement	Fishing Boots	Dice
Nylon Rope	Candles	Trash Bags	House Paint
Water Pipes	Hand Lotion	Roller Skates	Surf Boards
Shampoo	Wheels	Paint Rollers	Shower Curtains
Guitar Strings	Luggage	Aspirin	Safety Glasses
Antifreeze	Football Helmets	Awnings	Eyeglasses
Clothes	Toothbrushes	Ice Chests	Footballs
Combs	CD’s & DVD’s	Paint Brushes	Detergents
Vaporizers	Balloons	Sun Glasses	Tents
Heart Valves	Crayons	Parachutes	Telephones
Enamel	Pillows	Dishes	Cameras
Anesthetics	Artificial Turf	Artificial limbs	Bandages
Dentures	Model Cars	Folding Doors	Hair Curlers
Cold cream	Movie film	Soft Contact lenses	Drinking Cups
Fan Belts	Car Enamel	Shaving Cream	Ammonia
Refrigerators	Golf Balls	Toothpaste	Gasoline

Having read through the entire listing, they, in unison, said, “See. I told you so! Gasoline does come from Petroleum!”

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: I just heard a shouted out question from one of my Dear Readers, “But we are running out of Petroleum and other Fossil Fuels! ... Or are we?”

According to the American Petroleum Institute...

Ø We have enough oil in North America to fuel every single passenger car and long-haul truck for the next 430 years.

Ø We have enough natural gas to provide electricity for every business and household for the next 535 years.

Ø We have enough coal to provide electricity for about 500 years. 

More About Montana

 

On January 27, 2023 I published a blog about Yellowstone. Being Sly, Cunning and Alert (and a noticer) I noticed something very interesting about Montana while watching Yellowstone on TV. They are into the 5^th Season of Yellowstone and it has yet to snow for one minute in any episode.

My wife was born and raised in Montana and she is sure it did snow in Montana. The only thing I can think of is some politician must have fixed their Snowing Problem.

I am certain there must a Statue in Montana of the person who got rid of the snow.

What I am not certain of is has that statue been spray painted, torn down and jumped up and down on by a bunch of cowboy and cowgirl college students who used to want to do something constructive with their lives.

It snowed a couple of years ago here in Georgia where I live. I wanna go live in Montana because it snows less there than it does here!

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

John McEnroe Was Not Born Only To Play Tennis. He Was Also Born To Shout At Us From The Tennis Court.

Did you just say to yourself, “Fella, pray tell. What was he born to shout at us about?”

Fella to Dear Reader, “You Can’t Be Serious! Don’t you know he was born to shout at us You Can’t Be Serious!”

Fella’s strongly held belief is, “The Internet ought not to feel obligated to bring to us every Foolish morsel of Foolishness spoken by Foolish People”.

Little Joey from the movie Shane is visiting with me today and he just agreed with what Fella pecked out above by saying, “You are right, Fella, there’s too many!”

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Prepare yourself for, “encourages people to hug for 21 days consecutively, and to have each day a hug that lasts for a minimum of 21 seconds”.

This from the Internet...

Health Benefits of Hugging

“Hugging has been proven to have health benefits. One study has even shown that hugs increase levels of oxytocin and reduce blood pressure. Hugging can also buffer against the release of the stress hormone cortisol if a romantic partner hug is shared before a stressful situation. This effect was however only observed for women and not for men.

Based on significant research indicating that a 20-second-or-longer hug releases oxytocin, motivational speaker Leo Buscaglia encourages people to hug for 21 days consecutively, and to have each day a hug that lasts for a minimum of 21 seconds. He recommends ‘getting lost in the hug’, encouraging people to slow down and ‘use the power of the hug to be fully present in the moment’.”

Fella is particularly distraught with himself today. He tried to do what the Internet told him above (don’t we all try to do what the Internet tells us to do?) but he messed up. He only did 20 days and 20 seconds and, instead of fixing everything, he fixed nothing.

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As if that was not enough the Internet also contains this...

Prepare yourself for, “Similar to hugging, cuddling is a more affectionate and intimate embrace, normally done for a longer period of time (usually lasting from a few minutes to several hours)”.

You read it right. It actually reads...“several hours”.

Cuddling

Cuddling is a related form of physical intimacy in which two people hold one another with each other's arms wrapped around the other's body for an extended period of time. Cuddling can be with family members, friends or lovers. Similar to hugging, cuddling is a more affectionate and intimate embrace, normally done for a longer period of time (usually lasting from a few minutes to several hours). In contrast to hugging, which can often be a nonverbal greeting or parting tradition, cuddling is usually shared between two people who are lying down together or sitting somewhere in an intimate manner. Like hugging, cuddling makes the body release oxytocin, which has a variety of effects. In some cities around the United States, cuddling has evolved into a social activity, where individuals gather for the purpose of cuddling.^[20]

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Thank heaven the Internet was not around when Alexander Graham Bell was working on his Telephone Thingy. We would be still talking through tin cans with string between them, if, just when he got close to making any breakthrough, the Internet Loudspeaker in his laboratory would have shouted out, “Now hear this. Now hear this. It’s cuddle time! Stop whatever you are doing and cuddle for the next several hours!”

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OK, I got carried away...Or did I?

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: This picture had 2 different captions: 1^st was, “Group hug among young men” and the 2^nd one was, “Bromances”.

 Which do you like best?

If It Were Not For the National Soap Shortage We Could Wash Out Their Mouths with Soap

 

I am watching Yellowstone.

I enjoy it.

I think it is well done.

I think it is ground breaking entertainment.

I wanna be a cowboy.

Having said that, think of this...

Ø If you have been watching Yellowstone along with me, think of the number of times you have heard the F-Word used.

Ø My memory is not what it used to be but I feel absolutely certain I am correct when I say I have not heard the word "Swell" used one single time. (See 1942 Coke billboard above).

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Forget Everything You Know About Passwords, Says Man Who Made Password Rules

 

We need a Password to get into darn near anything on the Internet (I probably could have left out the “darn near”). It is a Confusing Mess.

We all have our own systems of setting up our Passwords. Many sites we want to get into have their own Requirements for the Passwords they allow us to use. A problem arises when many of the many go out of their way to keep their Guidelines a Secret from us.

After creating our Password according to the Guidelines we know quite well (because they are our Guidelines) we are told our password is unacceptable because it did not meet their Guidelines (the ones they did not tell us about)...

Ø We should have made our password a minimum of 8 characters but not more than 16 characters.

Ø We should have included one or more lowercase characters.

Ø We should have included one or more uppercase characters.

Ø We should have included one or more digits (0-9).

Ø We should have included one or more of the following symbols: @ # $ % ^ & * - _ + = [ ] { } | \ : ' , ? / ` ~ " ( ) ; .

We are capable of doing this but we must be told we need do this before we don’t do this because we were not told we needed to do this.

************

Ø Do our passwords need to be extra long? Not really.

Ø Do our passwords need to be complicated? Not really.

Ø Do our passwords need to have squiggly things in them? Not really.

Ø Is it permissible for us to use a password that that we can actually remember? You betcha it is!

Bill Burr is the guy who started all this Password Confusion. He has now come clean and he admitted He Was Wrong!

Read All About It! 

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/forget-everything-you-know-about-passwords-says5-man-who-made-n790711

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If there is a statue to Mr. Burr somewhere in the Good Ole USofA, it ought to be spray painted, torn down and jumped up and down on by a bunch of college students who used to go to class to learn something useful before they decided their calling in life was to spray paint, tear down and jump up and down on statues.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

I could say The Sky's The Limit But The Sky Is Too Low...Part Next

If you are smarter than Fella you don’t know that our 9% Approval Rated Congress is all tied up in knots again about raising the Debt Limit.

You can certifiably certify you are smarter than Fella is if you have stopped watching the Nightly News on TV. Fella is still watching the nightly news and that proves he ain’t too smart.

Because I am still watching the nightly news I know that Congress is again wrestling with their re-occurring ritual about whether or not they will Raise the Debt Limit but they are not good wrestlers and they will give in quickly and Go To Happy Hour. In wrestling they call this a Pin and in this case it means they are about to pin a darker future on the Good Ole USofA.

One thing is for certain. They will all be blaming someone other than themselves and each member of Congress will come out of all of this craziness “knowing” it’s not his/her fault.

************

If you think that our rulers in Washington D.C. have to raise the Debt Limit so they can spend more money you are as confused as most of the Folks Back Home (that’s us).

That’s not what’s happening here. They have to raise the Debt Limit because they have exceeded the Debt Limit. They are actually seeking authority to borrow enough money to cover what they have already spent.

Why do they bother to even put up the facade that they have a limited amount of money to spend? Once they have spent all they had, they simply make more.

At least they ought to change the name of the National Debt Limit. Here are my recommended names…

• The Temporary Debt Limit.
• The Debt Limit Until We Zip Right Past the Debt Limit Limit.
• The Unlimited Debt Limit.
• The What Debt Limit Limit?
• The Absolutely We Ain’t Gonna Go Over Limit Unless And Until Such Time As We Spend So Much Money That It Is Necessary To Borrow More Money To Cover The Money We Already Spent But Which We Did Not Have Authority to Spend Limit.

Until they get a new official name change in place they ought to put a Smiley Face before and after the old name. This way we will know they are just kidding.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: What can it hurt? It’s not a lot of money...Or is it?

• In 1917, somewhat counter intuitively, Congress established the debt limit so it could have more flexibility for deficit spending during World War I. The first official debt ceiling was established on the eve of World War II, in 1939, when Congress set the amount at a mere $45 billion.
• In 2002, Congress raised the debt limit from $6.0 trillion to $6.4 trillion, the first time it was raised in six years. In the decades following, Congress has abandoned any semblance of fiscal restraint as it has resorted to increasing the debt limit 20 times.

Since this is the Bottom Line, here is the Bottom Line...The current National Debt Limit is $31.4 Trillion. That’s 31.4 Thousand Billion Dollars. The Good Ole USofA is embroiled in Out-Of-Control Totally Unsustainable Deficit Spending.

LGBTQ+ Part 2...I Apologize For the Leaving Out the “IA”. I Should Have Used LGBTQIA+. Please Forgive Me.

Here is the link to prove I did not make this up: https://abbreviations.yourdictionary.com/what-does-lgbtqia-stand-for-full-acronym-explained.html

 LGBTQIA+ is an inclusive term that includes people of all genders and sexualities, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer, intersex, asexual, pansexual, and allies. While each letter in LGBTQIA+ stands for a specific group of people, the term encompasses the entire spectrum of gender fluidity and sexual identities.

What Does LGB Mean?

The letters LGB stand for lesbian, gay and bisexual. These terms mean:

• lesbian - term for women sexually and romantically oriented toward other women
• gay - any person attracted to the same gender
• bisexual - those who are sexually and romantically attracted both to men and women

What Does the T in LGBTQIA+ Mean?

The T in LGBTQIA+ can have several different meanings but typically deals with gender identity. Some words have fallen out of favor or their meanings are slightly different depending on the person.

• trans - an inclusive term for anyone whose gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth
• transsexual - can mean someone transitioning from one sex to another using surgery or medical treatments; not in common usage
• transgender - term for someone who identifies as a different gender than what was assigned on their birth certificate

What Does QIA Mean?

QIA stands for questioning or queer, intersex and asexual. These terms mean:

• questioning - when a person is exploring their sexuality, gender identity and gender expression
• queer - an inclusive term or as a unique celebration of not molding to social norms
• intersex - used for individuals who don’t fit into specific gender norms of woman or man; can also be used for those with reproductive anatomy that isn’t biologically typical
• asexual - uses for those who don’t feel sexual attraction to either sex or that don’t feel romantic attraction in the typical way

The + in LGBTQIA+

The plus sign at the end of LGBTQIA+ can include members of other communities, including allies — people who support and rally the LGBTQIA+ cause even though they don’t identify within the community itself. Other identities included in the LGBTQIA+ are:

• agender - refers to those who do not identify as any gender at all
• demisexual - describes someone who requires an emotional bond to form a sexual attraction
• genderfluid - describes one's gender identity as self-expression and not static
• graysexual - refers to the “gray area” between asexuality and sexuality
• non-binary/genderqueer - a term used for those who do not conform to binary gender identities
• pansexual/omnisexual - a term for individuals with desire for all genders and sexes
• polyamorous - a term for those open to multiple consensual romantic or sexual relationships at one time
• sapiosexual - describes a person who is attracted to intelligence, regardless of a person’s gender identity
• two-spirit - a term used by Native Americans to describe a third gender (sometimes included as 2S in the main acronym as LGBTQIA2S+)

(This is Fella: Looks like I left out more than the "IA" in the first blog. Now we see there is the above LGBTQIA2S+. Don't worry. I'm not going to do a Part 3.)

Other Terms in the LGBTQ Community

In today’s society, people are challenging social norms associated with relationships, sexuality and gender identity. These people may not be gay, so other terms to describe them were created or popularized.

• ace - short for asexual
• bi - short for bisexual or bicurious
• cis - shortened version of cisgender (a person who identifies as the gender they were assigned at birth)
• closeted - state of being totally private about one's sexual orientation or gender identity
• coming out - the act of sharing one's sexual orientation or gender identity with loved ones
• deadnaming - calling someone by a name they no longer use 
• fluid - term that describes one's sexual identity or gender identity as not set or binary
• gray-a - short for graysexual
• pan - shortened version of pansexual
• per - gender-neutral pronoun for those who do not identify as male or female (short for person)
• poly - short for polyamory or polyamorous

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Did this Blog Posting help you to understand more that the first one helped you understand? I sure hope it did but I doubt it did.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: The not yet late John McEnroe is visiting with me today. I bet you can guess what he said. Yes, you guessed it, he said “They can’t be serious!”