Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for September 23, 2021

Looks like we both got us a theme, going, amigo!

So a sponge and a starfish were close to each other at the bottom of the ocean. Is that so hard to believe?

Now if only Smith & Santos could meet due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

According to the article I read about “SpongeBob” and “Patrick”, this particular breed of Starfish actually eats that particular breed of sponge.

Oh, great! I can’t stand the FICTIONAL Spongebob Squarepants!! Now, there’s a REAL one??? ):-p

Did he send an SOS to the world?

Dang. Shrinkflatation is real. And they increases prices too.

Jars of spaghetti sauce are a good indicator of this, if the jar reads 32oz. The economy is good, if it reads 28oz, then things are tight.

Shrinkflatation used to be called “salami slicing”, the butcher could adjust the cutting blade a little thinner, depending on the customer. This was one of the Starbuck success stories, many items were salami sliced including American coffee, Starbucks started to add more coffee, thus creating a better product or returning it to something your grandpa used to drink. Up here in Canada we have a lot of coffee roasters who like to put 454 on their coffee, as a name or batch number. 454g = 1 pound of beans but the actual package is 340g of beans, but you can be tricked into thinking you are buy a pound.

Why the surprise with the bottle as it went on the Gulf Stream (and missed all the other junk in the gyr)

‘Message in a Bottle’ – - now there’s a complete waste of a couple hours of your time!

Good on the boy to not use a random email address generator.

Take care, may cross-eyed bottle shop wanderer Theodore Sturgeonord be with you, and gesundheit.

I got a cake recipe that uses 18 oz box of cake mix with other things like sour cream. Now the boxes are 15 oz and I have to buy two and save the remaining mix to make it 18 oz.

Yawn

Remember when ice cream came in half gallon cartons?

The term decontenting is a better term than shrinkflation, and existed long before it.

Ice cream went from full half gallon to a quart and a half years ago. Price stayed the same and eventually increased.

Sean and Christian are now Pen-Pals

On the subject of service, Eromlig’s story reminds me of this one. Miss Kitty and Festus are on their way to the Long Branch Saloon for a Thanksgiving celebration when they pass a stud horse mounting a mare and Festus says “Miss Kitty what is em horses a doin over there”? She says "Don’t you know?’ Festus says "No.’ Miss Kitty says " er uh well that stud is serving that mare." “Oh well i’ll be darned” says Festus! They drive their horse and wagon a little farther and Festus spots a bull breeding a heifer and says “Miss Kitty is that there bull a servin that heifer?” “That’s right Festus she replies.” They finally reach the Long Branch just as Marshall Dillon is about to give the blessing! After the amens, Marshall Dillon says “Festus would you like to serve that beautiful turkey?” Festus says “Do what?” Matt repeats “Would you like to serve the turkey?” Festus looks at Miss Kitty and then back at Matt Dillon and says “Uh thanks but ,I think I’ll just stick it to the mashed taters!” Whew…that was a hard one to clean up but then most of mine are for some reason! See ya in the funny papers boys and girls!

No jokes about “Shrinkflation”? I almost did one, but I want to avoid being immature.

“Shrinkflation” was the subject of an arc in Brewster Rockit recently.

Another thing food makers can do is to keep the contents the same weight or volume, but change the ratio of ingredients. Your chicken soup, for example, might have more noodles and less chicken.

Unless the sponge and the starfish talked in goofy voices and did insipid things, they were NOT, in fact, like Spongebob and Patrick.

All the breakfast cereals we ate as kids (e.g. Captain Crunch) are still around, but the pieces got smaller. I used to think it was shrinkflation, but maybe it’s to prevent choking

Latest shrinkflation I’ve noticed is Kraft reducing the number of cheese slices by 2 per pack.

WAAAAY back when Hershey’s candy bars were a nickle, they’d make them bigger or smaller as needed and as their costs went up and down. Eventually they had to go up in price but that’s often how manufacturers avoid price changes.

Article and photo of the real-life SpongeBob and Patrick: https://www.wfdd.org/story/research-vessel-found-spongebob-look-alikes-mile-under-oceans-surface

With a cantankerous, clarinet-playing octopus living next door?

Few years ago I noticed the ‘extra large’ Hershey bar not only shrank but the price went up too.

The reason for Shrinkflation is to later bring back the larger box at a higher price.

Another ruse by manufacturers: they’ve started showing weight with fractions of ounces, hoping you won’t notice when the product shrinks [again]. For example today it’s 9.66 ounces, tomorrow it’s 9.24 ounces. For facial tissues: they use the same size box, but shear off an inch or so from the tissues. I noticed this when the tissues slid back and forth inside the box. As for TP—-it can’t get any narrower, can it??

i’m getting old…shrinkflation’R’us

I think its awesome that the 2 boys are now friends!! …. Do yellow sea spongers usually avoid pink starfish?

Small portions and costing more? Huh…like when I was a kid, candy bars cost 5¢ and now they’re smaller and WAY MORE then a nickel. I’d say how much but I haven’t bought one in decades.