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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • It was in college and I sat down next to her in the library. I did my best to ask her out but she shot me down.

    2 years later we were in the same genetics class and I sat down next to her the first day. We ended up being assigned as lab partners much to her dismay. She immediately requested a new partner. Professor told her to “Either work with him or take an F.”

    4 weeks later we were counting fruit flies and she invited back to her place for dinner. After dinner she pounced on me (she has a different version of the story).

    Couple weeks later the genetics professor caught us in the stairwell kissing before class and about died laughing.

    We got married a year later after she graduated. Been married for 25 years now.





  • I get around 250+ trick or treaters every year. So I have 30lbs of candy ready, I might need another 10 or so. Maybe I’ll go get some of my favorites. You know just in case I need it.

    Last year I barely had enough and only had like 5 pieces of candy at the end of the night. I had to wrestle my 16 year old to get into his stash the next day. It was so much easier to steal his candy when he was little. Little shits been hitting the weights this year as well.


  • India is nuts as well.

    Honduras has the added spice of being very mountainous around the major population zones. Most major roads on the edge of a cliff or very steep hill. So you get the “this traffic is nuts” combined with “oh fuck that’s a long ways down.” Frequent mud/rock slides along the routes add a bit more spice as well.





  • Like everything, it depends upon the country and the IP protection sought. Even in the U.S. with the most stupid IP laws, the standard PVP (plant variety protection) has what is called breeders rights. This allows a breeder or researcher to use the genetics for research or development of other products. In most countries around the world this is the only type of IP available.

    In the U.S. every so often a dickhead gets a utility patent on a variety or inbred. This has fallen out of practice for any variety sold internationally as the patent is not respected once the plants cross the border. Instead they patent GMO or mutagenic traits. Since these can be inventions, they are usually protected internationally.


  • I worked for an company that specialized in growing apples for 5 years. They are seriously dull. I always enjoyed talking about the grass they grew between the rows than than apples. I still have a few of them as customers although I ban all that bullshit apple talk. Yawn…

    Apples are stored in large coolers with all the O2 removed. The lack of O2 prevents molds from growing. They are also all coated with some complex polymers to help prevent yeast and bacterial activity. They can last for about a year in storage. They juice apples that don’t make the grade or start to break down in storage. Once the juice market is full, they dump the apples to dairies or feedlots.

    Apples varieties are all clones of one plant. They don’t really change over time. Fruit quality like the infamous red delicious mealiness is due to growing temperature, water, fruit load and nutrition. Every apple variety has its own special needs and growers often screw it up especially in mixed variety orchards. Climate change also adds complexity as apple varieties are genetically uniform and therefore respond to environmental stresses uniformly. So you can get good and bad years for certain varieties. For example cosmic crisp can be variable in internal quality depending on the year (From a WSU presentation in 2022). So they have done all sorts of trials to ensure a more reliable performance.

    Special Note for those that like to visit older orchards: When visiting a older orchard, you must carefully wash all of the fruit. Every older orchard on the planet is contaminated with lead and arsenic (lead arsenate was used for over 100 years as an insecticide). These are not transported by the trees to the fruit but the dirt is still contaminated.



  • Context: Historically there were two separate types of scouts: Mormons and everyone else. The two programs were only tengentally related. Mormons made up around 50% of the numbers. For Mormons 100% of the teen boys were enrolled in the program (whether they wanted to or not). The scout leaders were voluntold to run the program usually with zero experience. Parents did fun things like make rules they had to have their eagle scout before they could drive. etc… So let’s just say, it was a complete and absolute clusterfuck.

    I was forced to be in the Mormon version. I had zero interest in it. I thought the whole merit badges and stuff was bullshit so I never completed any of them.

    One of my fondest memories was the jamboree I got to go home early from because I was kicked out. Apparently a snipe hunt, unauthorized bonfire, a hatchet throwing contest against the main lodge, and flipping off the camp leader and walking away was a no no. Before I got the boot, I did win all sorts of contests like knot tying, fire building, and first aide (had a bit of practical experience for some reason). That was the last one I had to go to for some odd reason.


  • I have changed my career multiple times: Ranching/farmer, Statistician, Microbiologist, Geneticist, International Marketing, Agronomist, and eventually Sales. 2 years ago I started my own business at the age of 47. I have had to learn bookkeeping and accounting which is not fun (fuck QuickBooks). I have also lived in 2 countries with many moves of 2,000 to 3,000km to new jobs.

    Here’s the key: You don’t have to choose permanently. Pick the one that you are comfortable with doing now and go for it. If you fail, try again or try the other option.

    The guitar sounds like it has the lowest barriers for entry. So I would do that one first. If it doesn’t work out, go do the medical route. If that doesn’t work out, try something else. There’s always options and you have another 20+ years to work.