Fruitful discussions

You'll have to refresh my memory, Uncle Ken.  I reviewed my posts for the past month and I have no recollection about any comments regards the notion of "sin."  I know I talked about lying in the context of the two major candidates, but not sin.  Perhaps you are confusing a recent post with the discussions during the Ten Cat seminar of this past Friday, when you discussed your notion of sin, at great length.

I don't know if you were born to argue.  You many have simply converted from Methodist to Orthodox Contrarian.  Or 'Trarian!

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The use of term "watermelon" is insensitive, but I'll give Mr. Beagles the benefit of the doubt in that no malice was intended.  I will speculate that he was referring to racist imagery of times past, which is part of the historical record.  Or not.  This whole business of racism in the United States is a minefield through which it is too easy to stumble, and in most cases I am not qualified to speak of it with any authority.  I still try to deal with folks on a case by case basis, which so far has worked well.  And being a wise-ass, I'd like to say that watermelons are out of season in November during election time, and they usually no longer have those big black seeds that you can spit across the yard (or dining room).

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Watermelons aren't the only fruit that has changed over the years.  We, in the Institute, may be the last generation that has ever eaten a really good banana, the Gros Michel or "Big Mike."  Remember those?  They died out in the mid-50s, due to a fungus, and were replaced by the Cavendish varietal for commercial consumption, which is what we buy today.  But the Big Mike was, well, bigger, with a smoother texture and more intense banana flavor, superior in every way to the Cavendish.

But now the Cavendish is threatened by another fungus and may be gone from the shelves in a few years to be replaced, no doubt, by an even crappier banana.  That's the problem with bananas; they are all clones and what kills one kills them all.

I've read that the Big Mike still exists in some remote areas of Africa, but I can't prove it. If it's not a rumor, perhaps there is a black market trade in them and a Kickstarter campaign could be started.  Would anybody pay twenty dollars for a single banana?  I might.

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I personally don't like the notion of straight ticket voting; it's too reminiscent of the machine politics of the old man Daley era in Chicago and I trust the good citizens of Michigan to decide what is best for them.  Voter registration is different; there should be no impediments for citizens to register.