Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World

It's a little know fact that bananas are the single most popular fruit in the world.  More bananas are sold than apples and oranges combined.  Another little know fact is that most of us have only had one banana in their lifetime, genetically speaking.  We may have had multiple pieces of fruit, but we have been eating genetic clones the whole time.  A banana is not grown from seeds, at least no the ones that humans consume.  No, the bananas are grown by cutting the corm (root) of the tree and replanting it.

Why does all this matter?  It's all about evolution.  The banana we eat is the Cavendish.  It was selected as the main banana, because of its size, durability, and taste.  It does taste good doesn't it.  Oh yeah, there's another reason the cavendish was chosen, it was found to be resistant to Panama Disease.  Panama Disease is a soil borne fungus that attacks the root of the banana tree, eventually causing the leaves to collapse.  The tree ultimately dies.  The disease was discovered in 1876, which is also about the time the banana began to make its way into american markets.  The banana sold at that time was called the Gros Michel (aka the Big Mike).

Unfortunately, the Gros Michel was susceptible to Panama Disease.  It took 100 years before the Gros Michel was phased out of the market and replaced by the cavendish.  The Gros Michel had been the perfect banana.  It was sweeter than the cavendish, plus it was more durable.  No special transport needs were necessary, other than refrigeration.  The switch to the cavendish required the invention of the banana box.  As stated above, the cavendish was chosen because it was resistant to Panama Disease and of the other varieties, it most closely met the best attributes of the Gros Michel.

The problem now is the cavendish has lost its resistance to Panama Disease.  Because each banana is a clone of every other banana.  Panama Disease evolved, while the cavendish remained the same.  Panama Disease is not the only disease set to ravage the banana crops.  Fortunately at this time, the diseases are confined to Asia, but with today's mobility it's unlikely it will stay that way.

That's the chief take away from the book.  The author, Dan Koeppel also spends considerable amount of time showing the destruction in Central and South America.  Not just the physical destruction, most of it to combat Panama Disease.  Most significant came in the political involvement from the US.  Few were left untouched by the hand of the US government and the banana companies efforts to abuse the political powers in the region.  We are still living with the effects of the pursuit of banana profits.  Some things have changed, but not much.

The book is entertaining and pretty informative.  I've read some of Koeppel's other work when he's written for Mountain Bike magazine.  He's got a good sense of narrative and it comes across in the reading.  I don't think the book is for everybody, but I think that what is discussed in the book is important.  The banana industry is an example of conformity causing problems.  Because everything is the same, it more susceptible to disease and other problems.  Thus is the world in which we live.  I only wish there had been more pictures showing examples of the diseases and the major players in the banana industry.

Best of the Original Six

Brian McFarlane compiled a treasure trove of old time hockey stories for his book Best of the Original Six. McFralane includes stories from stars of the older era as well as names that are unfamiliar. This is definitely a book for the true hockey fan. While Tropic of Hockey could easily appeal to people who may not necessarily be hockey fans, Best of the Original Six is for hockey fans.

The book is organized into six chapters, one for each of the original six (Montreal Canadians, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Redwings, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks). There a couple of cases where a story comes up twice when two teams were heavily involved in the event, but for the most part the stories are original and largely specific to each team. McFarlane goes back into the 1930's and into the early 1970's, but stays within years of the original six.*

The stories are invigorating and exciting. McFarlane is a great storyteller and he has the benefit of having been around for many of the events he describes. That experience adds noticeable vividness to the stories. The best stories came with the section for the Montreal Canadians. The Canadians are the most successful franchise in terms of Stanley Cup victories** which provides a rich soil for exciting stories. Among my favorites are those involving the legend Maurice "Rocket" Richard. In one story, Richard spent all day moving furniture into his new house on game day. He was unsure of his ability to play that night; the coach was not particularly happy about it considering it was the playoffs. As it turns out, Richard scored a whopping 5 goals in the game.

The Detroit Redwings history came with a number of exciting stories. One story, which involved Redwings great Gordie Howe, actually occurred after Howe had moved to the WHA*** later in his professional career. While playing for the Houston Aeros with his sons Mark and Marty, a brawl broke out in a game. One son was pinned to the ice by a larger player for the other team. When one teammate skated over and instructed the player to "let him up", the larger player ignored him. Gordie Howe came over and gave the same instruction, but was met with a string of obscenities. Howe removed his glove and inserted his fingers into the fella's nostrils. The player responded immediately.

There are a number of similar stories that fill the pages and are all exciting, minus a few duds. While I liked the layout of the book, going through each team. The stories seemed random with not a great deal of order to them. Each story was a "sub chapter" of sorts and some appear to have been written in another publication and merely added to the book without any editing. Some sort of order to the stories along with some language to transition between stories would have made the book even better. I think leaving out a few stories and tying the rest together more cohesively would make the storytelling more meaningful. The book lacks a chronology reference, which would have been a nice addition to the book. McFarlane included some great pictures. I wish there could have been more, but what he includes is a good collection and he has shots of the most important players of the era; Rocket Richard, Booby Orr, and Gordie Howe.****

This is a great book for any hockey fan. I found it hard to put down and I recommend it to anybody interested in hockey history.

* Technically the original six era spans 25 years from about 1942-1967. 1942 represents the last year teams folded (the New York Americans being the last team to fold) and the league was left with six teams. In 1967 the NHL finally added six new teams (California Seals, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and St. Louis Blues). Three of which have since moved from their original city. Not all of the original six began with the start of the NHL, but there are the ones that were able to survive the financial difficulties of the Great Depression.

** In all the Canadians have won the Stanley Cup 24 times, nearly double second place Toronto with 13 victories.

*** Howe's career lasted 26 years in the NHL plus several years in the World Hockey Association, an attempt in the 1970's to compete with the NHL for fans. The WHA folded in 1979 and several of the teams moved into the NHL including the Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers.

**** The photos allow me to educate Ryan on his hockey history. He now knows Rocket Richard, Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe. So far Rocket Richard is his favorite, which is mainly because his nickname is Rocket and what kid doesn't like rockets. He even picks up the book to look at the picture of the Rocket.

Freedom for the Thought That We Hate

Freedom for the Thought That We Hate is authored by Anthony Lewis a two time pulitzer prize winner.  The book is subtitled as A Biography of the First Amendment.  Lewis takes the life of the First Amendment from its inception and how it's meaning has evolved from then down to the present.  The book is current and addresses issues through 2007 and the Iraq war.  Lewis demonstrates the value that the First Amendment in our society and the trial it has gone through during its existence.

The most powerful part of the book revolves around the original meaning of the first amendment and how it's changed over time.  What struck me most was the blatant attempts to circumvent the amendment so soon after it was implemented.  It is true that the meaning was nearly as wide as it is today.  Sedition laws were common, relatively speaking.  They have been enacted as recently as WWI with Woodrow Wilson.  In most case they were struck down shortly after being implemented.  One interesting case was with John Adams who had a sedition law put in place, largely to keep his VP, Thomas Jefferson, quiet.  The sedition laws made it illegal to criticize the president.  The Adams law lost out when Jefferson was elected and he had the law removed from the books.

Lewis continues with a number of court cases that changed how freedom of speech is viewed.  In some cases the same supreme court justice ruled differently on similar cases.  I didn't make it a point to memorize the cases, or I'd never finish the book.  The most interesting change was how libel came to be judged.  In the early times just stating something that was true, but negative could be ruled as libel.  Over time that interpretation lost it's hold and libel became something where the damages needed to be proven along with malicious intent.

I left the book appreciating the first amendment much more after seeing the road that it's followed and the opportunities that existed to send it down a different path.  What makes the amendment so important is that it protects what we don't necessarily like to hear.  It brings to mind my OB (Organizational Behavior) class from grad school.  One of the keys to effective meetings/decision-making was the inclusion of the devils advocate.  This was important to avoid groupthink.  What allowing these voices do for the public mind is to keep us honest the the same way I learned in the OB class.

If we only have one accepted opinion, then we can't earn anything new; we are also unable to truly defend our position, because we don't know how to view it through the skeptical lens that these rabble-rousers force us to.  When an idea is solid and reasonable, it will withstand criticism and dissent.  Where it is weak it will be made stronger.  We come into serious danger when we can't criticize or think critically about people and issues.  Next thing you know we're sending up a Space Shuttle with defective O-rings, metaphorically speaking.  The other good thing about the dissenters is that in general they aren't necessarily that off the rocker.  It's a new view that can lend to the larger society, though it takes time.

I guess I didn't cover the book that much, but it is worth the time.  It's a short book and I think that al should give it a read.  I really think the book would be ideal for a high-school government class.  The approach is simple enough and I think it can generate good discussion not just about the first amendment, but about the other parts of the bill of rights.

Good Old Eminent Domain

I admit I'm no expert on the subject, but this whole concept bugs me.  My understanding was that Eminent Domain could/should only be used as a last resort for public works projects.  I remember reading about people "losing" their property to help out corporations so that cities could get more taxes.  I know people are compensated at "fair market value" (as not determined by the fair market), but that doesn't do much.  I understand that cities/counties/states need tax revenue, but governments are not for profit organizations.  It is their job to set a reasonable tax rate and "compete" for residents with to some degree; they then must work within the tax revenue that they collect based on that rate.

I have no real problem for a local government to attract a business by making some adjustments to the tax rates.  I do oppose the use of eminent domain for the use to help out private business.  If a business wants a bunch of land, then I think they can work out a deal with the residents.  It might make things difficult for them, but the government is there to serve the people, not business.  Just my thoughts.  I thought this clip from CATO was pretty cool.  Enjoy.

Tropic of Hockey

Dave Bidini is a founding member of the canadian band the Rheostatics.  Up until reading this book, I'd never heard of the band.  Bidini has established himself as a bit of an author and now a sports commentator in Canada.  Tropic of Hockey is Bidini's second book and was published in 2000.  Though the events he describes took place 10 years ago, they seem fresh and current.

What is Tropic of Hockey?  It's a travelogue of a hockey fan.  It's not just any travelogue.  Bidini set out to see places not traditionally known for their hockey-ness.  Even though Bidini travelled with the Rheostatics, he hated it, because it meant he couldn't play hockey.  His wife had travelled around the world with out her man, so he wouldn't have to miss hockey.  When Bidini discovered that he could play hockey and travel, that's when he decided that he could visit places not known for their hockey and write about it.  Thus Tropic of Hockey was born.

The book takes place in three parts, each representing one leg of his search.  He begins is China, then to the United Arab Emerites, and finally to Romania.  Each area had something different to offer and each history was different, though the passion was equal in each area.  Bidini didn't just go to play pick-up hockey either.  He was able to hook up with some teams and play in tournaments, except in Romania.

China was the first stop, and it had the most interesting tournament.  Bidini took part in the HK Five, a yearly tournament that'd been active for more than a decade.  Teams came from al over the world, mostly asian areas.  Teams were of a healthy mix, one team from UAE others made up of Canadians and Europeans living in Hong Kong and surrounding areas.  Once the tournament was done, Bidini stayed in China but went north to Harbin, a city that had exposure from the Soviets and their hockey culture.  Here Bidini hooked up with a team traveling from the U.S., a group of well-to-do folks.  While he found playing with them fun, he was disappointed in the way the group looked down on the chinese.  They took some cheap-shots during games and would trade stuff with the chinese, deals that were usually strongly in favor of the Americans.

In UAE, Bidini was exposed to an area very new to hockey.  He met up with the same UAE team he'd met in Hong Kong and had the chance to actually play in a game with the team.  The rink is UAE was quite nice and resembled a Muslim temple in many respects.  Some Expatriates who'd gotten in good with some of the local rich folks and sold them on the game.  The entire trip took place in Dubai, know for it's efforts to adopt winter sports to the climate by building massive indoor facilities (Ski Dubai is possibly the most famous).  UAE provided the nicest facility by far of the trip.

The final stop was a small Romanian city called Miercurea Ciuc, Ciuc for short, located in Transylvania.  Bidini was in town for the start of the Romanian hockey season and a game between the local team from Ciuc and Bucharest.  One thing of note is the Cuic area is comprised of ethnic Hungarians who are not particularly popular with the rest of the country.  It's reflected in the fact that the Bucharest team was well staffed and equipped via the government, while the Cuic team was left to fend largely for itself.  They did not experience much success, but they had a deep hockey history in the town and a deep passion for the game.

Overall, I found Tropic of Hockey to quite engaging.  Bidini is a good storyteller and does a great job of understanding the people he's talking about.  Rarely to they come across as one-dimensional.  Bidini seems to capture multiple sides of their personalities.  That's quite good considering the short time he spent with most of them.  While this is a book dedicated to hockey, Bidini does justice to the places he visits.  He gives very vivid descriptions of each city and of the people.  Not only that, but even connects what's happening to his past and his personal history with hockey.  He even has some fun exchanges with people he meets where they name off players they know from the NHL.  It's like a little game or an international hockey language.

The main issue I had with the book is rather minor.  At times, Bidini over described things.  Sometimes it seemed like I was reading the opening to A Tale of Two Cities.  I can take a nice vivid description, but there comes a point when it's too much, and that happened on occasion.  It didn't ruin the book by any means, but it was distracting at times.

Tropic of Hockey is a hockey book, but it's not just for hockey fans.  I think anybody that has a passion about anything, whether a sport, traveling, or art could enjoy the book rather well.  I think the approach Bidini takes makes it easy for a non-hockey person pick up the book and understand what Bidini is trying to say.  Hopefully I'll get a chance to take my own Tropic of Hockey trip, maybe just get to watch hockey in different places.  We'll see how my employer accommodates that desire with a healthy raise sometime.

66: Lemieux Over Time

I'm still in the midst of the sports books.  I've been into hockey since high school, but I haven't read a lot of hockey books.  The only other one I'd read prior to this one was the Wayne Gretzky autobiogrphy.  66 is almost a coffee table book.  It was just about 200 pages, but in the large format with a lot of pictures.  I just picked up the book, because I thought it would be fun to read.  And it was.  It was actually much better than I expected, not that it's spectacular.  It just did a decent job of telling the Lemieux story without being cheesy.

The book is mainly an attempt to chronicle the Lemieux's return the NHL.  I was forced in to early retirement due to some back problems.  When he retired, he left hockey entirely with no intent of getting back into the game.  About three years after he retired Lemieux's team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, were in serious financial trouble.  There was a strong possibility the team would fold or move to another city.  Ticket sales were way down.  Something very different from Lemieux's days with the team when they won two Stanley Cups.  Lemieux decided to get involved, but this time as an owner.  He was able to pull together a team of business folks and lawyers to make a purchase of the team to keep it in the city.  This began Lemieux's return to hockey.

At this point there was no inkling that the big man would return to the ice as a player.  It certainly was not on his mind.  He just wanted the team to stay in Pittsburgh.  After some time off from hockey and with some new exercises, Lemieux noticed his back felt much better.  He also knew his team needed some life injected into it.  He finally realized he could return to hockey as a player and finally go out on his own terms.  It was one of the biggest stories in hockey.

The book goes through Lemieux's career from a kid through his return.  The return itself is covered throughout the entire book.  Each chapter begins with a description of a game from his return to the ice and some of the important plays.

The book is fun, though I found the layout a bit distracting.  That's not a big deal, because it's not really written to be a book you just pick up and read.  The story telling is pretty good and I think it touches on the human side of Lemieux.  Even though he is certainly one of the best players to play the game, the book gives the sense that's he's still a pretty regular guy.  I think the only people who would enjoy it are avid hockey fans.

Here are some highlights just for fun:

Why the Curveball Curves

This is a special book for all the sports fans out there.  Why the Curveball Curves was produced by Popular Mechanics and it draws from articles from the magazine as well as articles written especially for the book.  Don' be fooled though, because it's not just about baseball pitches.  Baseball is by far the most represented sport, probably because so many aspects of the game lend themselves to differing principles of physics.  Sports range from baseball soccer and hockey to bicycling, running and golf.

I won't go too much into the principles of the books, largely because it's been so long since I finished it.  The book is for the sports fan, any sports fan.  It's not worth buying, unless you are into every sport, or at least really into baseball.  I think it's a worthy check-out from the library (that's the only reason I bothered to get it).

The most interesting article was in the cycling section.  There's a race called The Hour, where you ride for an hour on a track.  The test is to see how far you can ride in that hour.  Lance Armstrong has never attempted the task, at least not at the time the book was released.  What was striking was a particular rider who took up the challenge.  There's a weight limit, so the bike cannot weight less than 30 lbs (or something like that).  Well, this fella noticed there was not maximum weight limit, so he opted for a heavier bike.  That may seem counter-intuitive, but it works.  The bike takes longer to get up to speed.  Once up to speed it's actually easier to maintain the desired speed and keep control of the bike.  I don't recall if this guy actually broke the record, but the theory was very interesting.

Since the title references the infamous curveball, I should at least touch on that.  I remember from a physics book about how a curveball works, so that that part wasn't new to me.  There's been a debate as to whether the action of the curveball is the result of an actual curve, or an illusion.  It's a mix of both.  The ball curves, due to the rotation of the ball.  The curveball drops more than a normal pitch would.  The illusion comes in the fact that it doesn't drop as fast as it appears to, if you're looking at it from the batter's perspective.  The ball appears to drop two feet within the last five feet of the pitch.  It actually takes a greater distance for the drop to happen, but because of the speed of the pitch it appears to happen much faster in a much shorter distance.

One interesting fact I learned about pitches what that a curveball will fly farther when hit by the bat than say a fastball.  The reason is simple.  The curveball and fastball come into the plate with opposite spins.  The curveball happens to be spinning the say way it will be spinning when it makes contact.  Whereas a fastball must reverse it's spin, thus reducing the distance it will travel.  I can't remember the whole principle, but that's the basic idea.

Anyway, it's a worthwhile book, but not a must read.