Visual Description: The problem with American society.
ZOREF = FROZE, GTIEH = EIGHT, CIPCIN = PICNIC, FIRTDA = ADRIFT — Giving us: RZEGPNIADR
Clue/Question: With $1000 being the most that could be won on the scratch-off game, it was the – – –
Answer: GRAND PRIZE
(Our good friend, LindaLee, likes to say it was a grand puzzler! She is always a positive ray of sunshine when she visits our blog. I’m sure we’ve had a similar – GRAND – Jumble with this answer, but I don’t remember when. One of my favorite candy bars, growing up, used to be the 100 Grand Bar, but they’re not what they used to be. It used to be made by Nestlés, but they sold it off to Ferrara, an Italian company, in 2018. Same with the Crunch Bar, and other Nestlé chocolate confections. A lot of American chocolate has really gone downhill over the last few years. I also used to love Kit Kat bars, but I find them sickeningly sweet now. James Corden comes right out and says that American chocolate is terrible, and I can’t disagree with him. The Twix Bar is still – surprisingly – good, but my go to candy bar is the Milky Way! Some folks who like to claim that the Milky Way is just a Snickers Bar – minus the peanuts – are WAY off base! Cut each one open and do a side-by-side comparison, and you’ll see – and then taste – the difference in the nougat. The Snickers nougat is paler and less flavorful, while the Milky Way’s is richer and more maltier. While I DO love peanuts, I prefer my chocolate to be peanut free. You might be a big peanut and chocolate person, but do the comparison test, and see what I’m talking about.
Nothing new about today’s clue words. Two of the jumbles appear to be new, but we’ve definitely seen both “cipcin” and “firtda” in earlier Jumbles. Fairly easy, but it did take me a few looks to see “eight” though. The answer letter layout was a tasty ten letter jumble. Properly cryptic. But the double mention of a thousand made for a quick solve.
Interesting cartoon. I’m not above trying my luck at the occasional scratch-off games, but I always stick to the $2 and/or $5 games when I do play them. Some people go a little nuts, buying multiple $10 and $20 scratchers. And you can tell that a lot of these people probably do not have much disposable income. They’re just desperate. And that is sad. Like most forms of gambling, the odds are not in your favor. I also thought the guy behind the plexiglass was a little extreme, but I suppose some urban convenient stores are like that. That is also sad. Good Jumble. Be well and do good, friends.) — YUR
Images courtesy of Google
Unclerave's Wordy Weblog 
Human Population . . . again!
Published April 10, 2022 Commentary , Current Events , Education , History , Life , Observations 7 CommentsTags: human population, Marilyn Vos Savant
On occasion, some of you haven’t exactly supported/subscribed to my assertion that the world is quickly being overpopulated by human beings, who are resulting in climate change, aka: global warming. Granted, I’m much more of a wiseacre . . . wise guy . . . wise ass – take yer pick – than an actual wise man, but I am certainly not alone in my contention.
A reader of Parade Magazine, a Mr. Don Vollmer, posed to “Ask Marilyn” if the growing human population was enough to cause climate change. The noted genius, Marilyn vos Savant, pointed out what I’ve said numerous times. It took around 100,000 years for us to get to a population of 2 billion by the year 1900 – or so – which was just as the Industrial Revolution was getting into full swing, but since then we’ve skyrocketed to nearly 8 BILLION souls! In a mere 122 years we’ve quadrupled what took us 99,878 years (998 CENTURIES) to *achieve*! A lot of the growth is because we’ve solved smallpox and many other major killer diseases, but also it’s because of how of our modern conveniences have increased our standard of living. Until a few hundred years ago human life expectancy averaged around 28.5 – 32 years. By the 1950s it had grown to an average of 45.7 – 48 years. Now, the world average is up to 72.6 – 73.2 years. And, it’s even higher in first-world countries, like the U.S. and Canada.
Marilyn pointed out that if we lived the simpler agrarian lives, of days gone by, the population increase would be sustainable, but because of how we now live – our increased standard of living – the continued growth cannot be sustained. She didn’t go into detail, but one can infer she meant we’ve all become such huge consumers, and a lot of that consumption comes in the form of burning fossil fuels, both in the generation of electricity, and in powering our automobiles. And, also the petroleum we use to create all the plastics, that so much is made of these days, and the rare earth metals that our electronics use. And, all of our single use paper products – like toilet paper, napkins and paper towels – are contributing to the global deforestation, just as the reliance on palm oil – in the foods that we eat – is causing deforestation in the rain forests of the world. We’re spoiling too much of our ground water, and we’re running out of places to put our trash. The genie is out of the bottle, folks!
Marilyn vos Savant has the highest recorded I.Q. in the Guinness Book of Records. She has served on numerous boards of directors, and was the Chief Financial Officer for Jarvik Heart, Inc., as well as authoring “Ask Marilyn”. No one is saying that she’s the smartest human on the planet, or anything, but she is a very respected thinker. Dismiss my diatribes if you will, but don’t mess with Marilyn! Be well and do good, friends. — YUR
Image courtesy of DeviantArt