First world problems! Share them here!

[ciao_yall]

New Yorker Article on Bananas, 2011

Let me know if it's behind a paywall and I'll send you a PDF.

[Anselm]

I've read the same dire warnings about the cacao plant being threatened by some fungus.

My current problem is the NPR pledge drive, pure psychological torture and I am too lazy to get up and change the station.

[secundem_artem]

What amazes me is thinking about how green bananas must be when harvested, to still need ripening when they reach us in faraway places.

Some fun factoids:

The bananas that we usually find in the grocery store are all the same cultivar - Cavendish.  This cultivar is extremely consistent in the time it takes to harvest, ship overseas, work it's way to the grocery shelf and ripen to the degree that we like to eat them.  Unfortunately, this has (no surprise) led to a monoculture as to the bananas grown for commercial sale.  And that's a problem because Cavendish bananas are quite susceptible to a fungal disease - Black Sigatoka - originally seen in Fiji (I was in Sigatoka about 10 yrs ago).  The fungus can reduce yields by up to 50%. 

Spraying with antifungals requires multiple applications and is beyond the reach of small farmers.  Developing resistant cultivars is in the works, but they may not (1) taste the same as Cavendish (2) have the same ripening characteristics as Cavendish.

Last fun factoid - Some of you may have tried an old fashioned penny candy "Circus Peanuts"  They are shaped like an unshelled peanut and usually sorta orange in color.  They are flavored with artificial banana flavoring.  I am told that artificial flavor resembles what bananas tasted like before Cavendish became the banana that we know have in the stores.

And thus endeth the lesson.

I've heard about this before. It's one of those situations where, intellectually, I know I should probably worry about the State of the Banana, nation but I've never, ever cared for bananas, so I can't bring myself to be concerned. Indeed, I sometimes want the Cavendish to hurry up and die already so I can see if whatever variety replaces it is more to my taste.

I was talking with a friend a while back and we had more or less the same opinion about Donald Trump.  I loathe him completely and know that I should worry about whatever damage he can do, but realistically, the chance of any of his policies materially affecting my life is pretty low.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I've read the same dire warnings about the cacao plant being threatened by some fungus.

My current problem is the NPR pledge drive, pure psychological torture and I am too lazy to get up and change the station.

Nooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

[paultuttle]

The murder of crows near my office (our former dining room) are excited about something, so they're so loud the 1953-original windows of our house can't keep out the sound.

[apl68]

What amazes me is thinking about how green bananas must be when harvested, to still need ripening when they reach us in faraway places.

Some fun factoids:

The bananas that we usually find in the grocery store are all the same cultivar - Cavendish.  This cultivar is extremely consistent in the time it takes to harvest, ship overseas, work it's way to the grocery shelf and ripen to the degree that we like to eat them.  Unfortunately, this has (no surprise) led to a monoculture as to the bananas grown for commercial sale.  And that's a problem because Cavendish bananas are quite susceptible to a fungal disease - Black Sigatoka - originally seen in Fiji (I was in Sigatoka about 10 yrs ago).  The fungus can reduce yields by up to 50%. 

Spraying with antifungals requires multiple applications and is beyond the reach of small farmers.  Developing resistant cultivars is in the works, but they may not (1) taste the same as Cavendish (2) have the same ripening characteristics as Cavendish.

Last fun factoid - Some of you may have tried an old fashioned penny candy "Circus Peanuts"  They are shaped like an unshelled peanut and usually sorta orange in color.  They are flavored with artificial banana flavoring.  I am told that artificial flavor resembles what bananas tasted like before Cavendish became the banana that we know have in the stores.

And thus endeth the lesson.

If Circus Peanuts candy are flavored much like old-style bananas, then I'm just as glad that we have Cavendish bananas now.  I do wonder sometimes what some of those hundreds of other bananas out there must be like, though.

[ergative]

The previous owners of our home made some really spot-on decorating decisions (accent walls + curtains are *chef's kiss*), but then decided that the best type of illumination was 28-WATT INCANDESCENT BULBS in a ceiling fixture. Do you folks remember incandescent bulbs? Do you remember how much light a watt gives? I didn't even know they made 28 watt bulbs. I thought the lowest you could go was 40 watts. I still remember with great fondness the three-way 50-100-150 watt bulbs we put in our floor lamps when I was small. Nothing has ever felt bright enough since 150-watt bulbs went away.

Anyway, I went out early this morning and bought out the LED bulbs from the local grocery store, paying something like a 20% markup over what I could get if I bought them online. But I had to do it this morning, because the guy replacing our windows is finishing up today (HOORAY!) so today is the last day we have access to his ladder, and the ceiling fixtures are very, very high up. I was able to score 40-watt equivalent LEDs and screwed them in. For one room, the ceiling fixture has 6 sockets, so that's nice and bright, but for the other room there are only three sockets, so things are still a bit dim.

Then I went online and bought nine more LED bulbs which promise to be 60-watt equivalents. That seems to be the maximum light output available for the shape I need. Not sure how I'll get them in when they arrive, since the window-guy's ladder will be gone. Maybe I'll also need to buy a ladder.

Anyway, I've bought something like $100 worth of lightbulbs today. At least LEDs last forever, so I may never need to think about these fixtures again once I've got over this hump.

Are other people fussy about lighting, or is it just me? When I was a child I was fighting a perpetual battle with my mother over the use of the overhead light at dinner. She wanted it off, because she thought it was ugly. I wanted it on, because I hate being in dimly lit rooms.

[mamselle]

Maybe a few floor lamps or sidetable fixtures?

I won't climb up to 10' ceiling fixtures anymore, but I, too, like a lot of light.

M.

[Langue_doc]

I still remember with great fondness the three-way 50-100-150 watt bulbs we put in our floor lamps when I was small. Nothing has ever felt bright enough since 150-watt bulbs went away.


Are other people fussy about lighting, or is it just me? When I was a child I was fighting a perpetual battle with my mother over the use of the overhead light at dinner. She wanted it off, because she thought it was ugly. I wanted it on, because I hate being in dimly lit rooms.

I too miss the halogen floor lamps and the three-way bulbs. Nothing like bright lights to cheer you up. I can't stand dimly lit rooms especially when I'm reading.

[ergative]

Maybe a few floor lamps or sidetable fixtures?

I won't climb up to 10' ceiling fixtures anymore, but I, too, like a lot of light.

M.

Yes, I've got a few unbreakable tanks from Ikea that are butt-ugly and refuse to die and cost like $8. But nothing can beat proper overhead lighting.

[glendower]

You can get a long-handled thingie with a grip on one end designed to handle bulbs in high fixtures. Obviously I'm not sure what to call it, but I know they exist. Cheaper and smaller to store than a ladder.

[ergative]

You can get a long-handled thingie with a grip on one end designed to handle bulbs in high fixtures. Obviously I'm not sure what to call it, but I know they exist. Cheaper and smaller to store than a ladder.

Alas, these fixtures are dangly, and the lightbulbs face up, rather than down, and the grabby poles assume a stationary socket and a down-facing bulb. It's okay; maybe if I own a ladder I'll do things like dust the cornicing properly.

[Cheerful]

Anyway, I've bought something like $100 worth of lightbulbs today. At least LEDs last forever, so I may never need to think about these fixtures again once I've got over this hump.

Are other people fussy about lighting, or is it just me?

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but LEDs don't necessarily last forever or for many years, despite what the labels may say.  Here's hoping that yours do.

I miss traditional light bulbs (except for the heat they gave off).

[sinenomine]

This morning I put the required $1.75 into a dryer in my community's coin-op laundry room and just found, after the hour of run time, that my laundry is still damp. So now everything's spread out in my bedroom to dry. Grumble.

[ergative]

This morning I put the required $1.75 into a dryer in my community's coin-op laundry room and just found, after the hour of run time, that my laundry is still damp. So now everything's spread out in my bedroom to dry. Grumble.

I live in a place where laundromats are uncommon, and dwellings are not designed to accommodate dryer vents, so the standard is a condenser dryer, which is so terrible a design that the clothes are still wet after three hours. After six years I've finally figured out a system involving multiple drying racks, one of which is electric and plugs in to heat up the bars, plus a dehumidifier, plus help from the radiators on laundry day. It works, but I profoundly resent the fact that laundry is so much more complicated now that I am a grown-ass adult with her own home and her own career than it was when I was a child and the internet was dial-up.