Casual Observation

I hope you are not too attached to your bananas.

16 Comments

Marie3 on December 5, 2015 at 5:31 pm

The Dominican 2003, Fred Pearce Bye Bye Bananas. The projection may still end up being correct, but as is often said, getting the timing right is equally important.

The Voice In The Wilderness on December 5, 2015 at 7:19 pm
I had read Booman’s link a day or so before. Thanks for yours which really points up the sterility of the Cavendish.

There are only two solutions:
1. GMO bananas
2. Cloning the 5% survivors of the fungus. Maybe they have induced immunity like smallpox survivors.
Probably #1

Or:

Plantains anyone?

BTW, the government, in one of those “boondoggles” that the (R)’s hate, maintain genetic reserves of many many varieties of plants that also are grown commercially as monocultures. Of course, if say, the apple crops were totally wiped out. it would take at least fifteen years to grow and clone a new apple industry from the few sticks preserved in nitrogen by the government.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=13395

The link opens on peaches because I am interested in growing the Xin Tao peach which a friend from Shanghai assures me is the finest tasting peach in the world. Chicago may be too cold for it, though. I think they also have the White Doyenne pear that I mentioned in another thread. But am I a bonafide researcher?
- curtadams on December 5, 2015 at 9:21 pm
  
  #2 didn’t work for the Gros Michel (which still grows on a few Caribbean islands and as lone plants, incidentally) A clonal “species” with a slower reproduction rate just can’t keep up with parasites/diseases – this is currently thought to be the main advantage to sexual reproduction.
  
  However, there is a #3: Use a different banana. There are a LOT of different bananas, and some are resistant to the current Panama Disease. Also, we could go back to the sexually reproducing banana strains to pull out some new varieties with resistance. Eventually we’ll probably have to do that.

Marie3 on December 5, 2015 at 5:56 pm

How can this be?

CNN – The U.S. is running out of bombs to drop on ISIS.

Don’t we usually run out of good targets to bomb long before we run out of bombs?

The U.S. Air Force has fired off more than 20,000 missiles and bombs since the U.S. bombing campaign against ISIS began 15 months ago, according to the Air Force, leading to depleted munitions stockpiles and calls to ramp up funding and weapons production.

Sure glad we don’t have a warhawk in the WH.

BooMan on December 5, 2015 at 6:53 pm

I have to laugh.

No other president in our lifetimes would have kept our involvement in Syria to such a minimal level, especially w/o his own party or cabinet having his back.
- Jonf on December 6, 2015 at 9:30 am
  
  And the President gets little applause for keeping us out of that mess. Both right and left attack him.
  - Marie3 on December 6, 2015 at 9:59 am
    
    “Keeping us out of that mess” except for the weapons and training for the so-called moderate rebels in support of US policy demanding regime change in Syria, covert approval for the countries supplying the funds to all the anti-Assad factions, and so many US bombing runs that there being used faster than they can be replaced. If this is now what those on the so-called left view as “keeping out out,” we are truly screwed.
The Voice In The Wilderness on December 5, 2015 at 7:09 pm

Well, it’s the stupid Republicans that won’t pass a budget so the Pentagon can buy more.
- Marie3 on December 5, 2015 at 7:17 pm
  
  Since when has a budget stopped the Pentagon from buying anything it wants that carries a price tag of less than $100 million?
  
  Oh wait, maybe that petty cash limit has been increased to a couple hundred million.
  
  RT Pentagon spent $150 million on luxury villas for employees in Afghanistan
  
  The Pentagon is under fire again for excessive spending in Afghanistan. Following reports of the $43 million gas station, a government watchdog says nearly $150 million was spent on villas, meals, and security guards for a “handful” of employees.
  
  In the old days we were outraged over Pentagon $1,000 toilet seats and $10,000 hammers.
  - The Voice In The Wilderness on December 5, 2015 at 7:26 pm
    
    It has, believe me. I’ve seen a lot of “for want of a nail” situations. What you say may be true for Black Ops, but the regular services run out of mundane items all the time. some sexy new weapon gets Congressional attention, but buying nuts, bolt, transistors, ammunition, blankets, fire pumps, propellers and the like always have funding problems. Often, the money allocated for the mundane items is ~~stolen~~ reprogrammed to fund cost overruns on those sexy new weapons (which usually don’t work).