I was standing on a street corner. A man, slightly under the weather, came up and started talking, "Hey, buddy, you know that an alligator lays 10,000 eggs. And, you can depend on it." I didn’t reply, hoping he’d go away. But, "And, out of that, 9,000 float away. The fish eat ‘em."

"So ..." I started.

"And you can depend on it." He continued, "Out of the 1,000 left, other alligators eat up 900."

Sarcastically I said, "And, I can depend on that, I suppose."

"Yup, you sure can. Furthermore, of the 100 left, 99 get squashed by the mother," Proudly. "You can depend on that, too."

By that time I was irritated. "Just why is it so important that I can depend on these things?"

"Well," he drew himself up to his full stature, "if it weren’t for that, you’d be swimming in alligators."

It is ex…