Posts Tagged ‘ Banana Weird ’

Crab Fishermen think Bananas are Bad Luck

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You may safely wear this brand of undergarment when seeking The Deadliest Catch.

My Dad sent in this one. Apparently it is bad luck to bring a banana on a fishing boat. There’s an entry on the “How Stuff Works” website that attempts to explain why. One theory is that boats carrying bananas – prior to refrigeration – had to move too fast (too keep the fruit from spoiling), which prohibited fishing. That idea dates back to the 1700s. Another was that sailors might choke to death on the fumes of overripe bananas in cargo holds. Finally, there was the idea that crew members could slip and fall on rotting banana peels.

I have no clue what the answer is. But the funniest part of the account of the superstition is that it is so extensive that it involves an underwear check: if you’re wearing “Fruit of the Loom” tight-whites, you’ll have to go commando – or at least cut the label off – before you’re allowed on board. Underwearfortunately, I am required to call shenanigans on this one, since there is not – and has never been (see images) – a banana on the company’s label.

You may board when ready.

Images of Discarded Banana Peels from London

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That’s all you’ll find on this blog – nearly 100 of them. Here’s part of the anonymous creators’ statement:

“I see them everywhere. They’re languishing on doorsteps, hanging out in the middle of the road, dangling off street signs, peeking out of piles of garbage, reclining in the middle of the sidewalk, riding the bus for free. A great number of them are bright yellow as if they’re fresh and have just been dropped, although they appear in all states of decay. I don’t know how or why they caught my attention, but within a week of being in London I couldn’t get my mind off these banana skins. Where were they coming from? Who was eating all these bananas and leaving the skins around? Why was it always bananas I was seeing, and not, say, oranges? Was it a sign? Was there something sinister going on? Apparently these little hazards were a covert operation going completely unnoticed; everyone I asked about it said that they had never noticed anything of the sort and looked at me as if I was nuts.”

I buy it.

By the way, you really can slip on a discarded banana peel – in fact, the hazard was so real back when the fruit was introduced about a century ago that cities enacted ordinances against discarding the fruit’s outer skin. The reason so many banana wrappers were left laying around? Spectacular popularity: the early banana marketers were so good at building demand for the fruit that municipalities were literally overwhelmed with an unexpected glut of rotting, slippery waste. Simply put: there weren’t enough trash cans to hold all the banana peels. No kidding, There’s a whole section about it in my book; you can also hear my talk about it in my Fresh Air interview, linked above.

Via Boing-Boing .

The two things I love most…

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Bikes and bananas, captured together in this $9.95 t-shirt I saw at a Jamba Juice in NYC. (I know, WEAK post. I’m on vacation.)

Banana Juice Research in India is conducted by Nuclear Energy Experts

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Atomic banana juice from India

This is really more than you’ll ever want to know about extracting juice from bananas, but it is interesting, because the folks at India’s Bhaba Atomic Research Centre have figured out ways to squeeze a lot more juice from the fruit than previously was thought to be possible. I don’t know why the nuclear scientists are spending time doing this, though my (absolutely uninformed) guess is that atomic research involves advanced centrifuges, and so do the juice extraction techniques described on the linked pages. A second guess might be more political: India’s atomic energy program is a huge source of national pride and strategic military importance. Bananas are also a source of national pride – and are of huge importance to the national diet. Maybe it isn’t so silly that top minds and resources would be devoted to working on both in a single facility?

Or maybe these guys just have a lot of time on their hands and got thirsty.

Heroic Clerk Saves Store from Banana Attack

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Battles Banana-Wielding Thug.

In my book, I note that one observer described the banana as a “weapon of conquest” in Latin America. This doesn’t apply in Maryland, where a would-be thief attempted to use the fruit to rob a 7-Eleven – and was denied by a brave clerk.

Incredibly (or maybe not so incredibly), this isn’t the first time this has happened – and the last time, the guy got eighteen months in the hoosegow for his malfeasance (third item down.)

This is so yuck I won't even comment…

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I’m sorry for this picture.

Click the link, to the Daijiworld newspaper, to find out the results of the study, if you dare…

Bangalore, May 29: Nagasandra, a village 50 km from Bangalore in Doddaballapur taluk, isn’t any different from the hundreds of others surrounding it. But in a remote corner of this small village is a 1-acre banana plantation that has been part of a unique research project: a study on the effect of anthropogenic liquid waste on soil properties and crop growth. In lay-man terms, it is a study on how human urine can be used as fertilizer in agriculture…

read on…

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THE BANANA BLOG is about the world's most endangered - and dangerous - fruit. THE BIG PARADE is about stairways, route and transit geekery, and pedestrian pursuits in Los Angeles. You can also read all the topics at once, which might also include productivity, geekery, DIY whatever, mountain biking, stuff that I think is funny that nobody else likely will, and other boring, useless crap.

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