Bananas and Pres. volleyball team 1971

Something lighthearted  to brighten the week.

Did you know that bananas cannot reproduce? That they are sterile hybrids created by a cheap low tech form of cloning?


This is true, so now you know.

The downside to this is that clones are not terribly genetically diverse. An lack of genetic diversity is a great way to make yourself vulnerable to disease. Back in the 1950s, a fungus all but wiped out a variety of banana called the Gros Michael. Up until then, the Gros Michel had been the top-selling banana in the world. It was the banana your grandparents ate. You eat the Cavendish, a different variety that replaced Gros Michael largely on the strength of its resistance to the killer fungus.

The disease banana plantations now fear: Black Sigatoka, a different fungus that can kill trees and reduce yields in the survivors. The solution: Goldfinger, a new banana clone bred to resist Black Sigatoka.

And so farewell Cavendish, hello Goldfinger.

‘They were bigger in my day’, you’ll tell your grandchildren. ‘Sure there’s no aytin’ in these little yokes at all’.


(lesson taken from the internet)

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This sign in Clash, Tralee has been causing much mirth recently. The sign on the other side says Honk if you love the Kingdom. Motorists seeing this sign presume that oncoming motorists are seeing the same sign and wonder why they are all honking. Hilarity ensues.

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Warehouse, Listowel's latest night club

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1971, I think.

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"A wet and windy May fills the barns with oats and hay." 

In these times of recession, at least someone will be happy.