# This is a JOKE.

#### soroban

##### Well-known member

I posted this joke some time ago (maybe at this site).

Two graduates from an agricultural university bought a farm from an old timer.
Within a year, they were bankrupt.

They contacted the old timer and asked why his methods were so successful.
"Well," said the old timer, "I ain't too greedy, that's all."
He scooped up a handful of his potatoes and said,
"It costs me one dollar to grow these and I sell them for two dollars.
And I'm happy with my one percent."

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One person responded and explained how and why the old-timer's
math was faulty. .Another pointed out that "two dollars a handful"
is an unrealistic price for potatoes. .Yet another declaimed the
value of a unversity education. .And someone said, "I don't get it."

Did anyone notice that I was telling a joke?
Did anyone even smile? .Anyone?

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#### Jameson

Staff member
Didn't laugh out loud but I smiled It's clearly a joke. For the record, you haven't posted that joke here before.

#### topsquark

##### Well-known member
MHB Math Helper
Okay, so I'm a dunderhead. I imagine that I'm missing the obvious. (One of the qualifications for being a Physicist!)

-Dan

#### QuestForInsight

##### Member
I don't get it. I think my sense of humour isn't that sophisticated. I find that in everyday life too. Just yesterday, something like this happened to me. Me and my friend Ted were alone in one of those private study tables in the library when an old gentleman came by and saw a biography of Socrates in front of me. He came to us and related the following joke. It says a student asks Plato and Aristotle whether the man who administered the poison for Socrates in prison was morally more accountable for his death than those who ordered him to do so. "Well," says Plato smiling, "that really isn't a practical problem", and Aristotle laughs. I didn't get it. But I looked to my right and noticed my friend got the joke and was laughing. I looked to my left and noticed that my other friend got the joke too. What's wrong with me?

Did anyone notice that I too was telling a joke?

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#### Evgeny.Makarov

##### Well-known member
MHB Math Scholar
Two graduates from an agricultural university bought a farm from an old timer.
Within a year, they were bankrupt.

They contacted the old timer and asked why his methods were so successful.
"Well," said the old timer, "I ain't too greedy, that's all."
He scooped up a handful of his potatoes and said,
"It costs me one dollar to grow these and I sell them for two dollars.
And I'm happy with my one percent."
This setting is completely unrealistic. This document (PDF) from the University of Kentucky estimates total expenses for potato farming at \$\$$2,300 and gross returns at \$$2,750 per acre. This corresponds to a 20% markup, so the old farmer's 1% is laughable. Second, how can the wrong selling price be the main fault of the graduates? Would they not compare their price with that of competition, and how could they not been taught to come up with a reasonable price during their university studies? Finally, how could the old timer pick a handful of "his potatoes" one year after he sold the farm? After one year, potatoes become shriveled and covered with sprouts, even if the two guys inherited some of the old farmer's crop, they would have thrown it away within a year. This whole situation is preposterous.

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I am kidding.

#### Deveno

##### Well-known member
MHB Math Scholar
note that doubling the cost to get the sell price is indeed a mark-up of one cent per cent. you'd think college kids would know that.