Ripe Bananas

I've seen people throw bananas out when they start getting brown spots on them.  Now, I don't know if they think the bananas are spoiled or will make them sick or what, but let me just say that fruit with high sugar content is rarely ever a cause of food poisoning.  If you are throwing out bananas with spots on them, you are missing out.  This is when bananas taste their best!  They are the sweetest they will ever be at this stage.  You don't have much time though because they will rapidly deteriorate after this and will start to become mushy and brown inside.  Even if you were to eat a slightly brown and mushy banana, it wouldn't hurt you.  You have to let you nose be your guide.  If it smells fermented, well it's probably too far gone.  I think some people get weirded out by foods that seem like they are spoiled - maybe it's past pull-date or it looks funny. That's not always necessarily an indicator of edibility.  The foods you have to watch out for the most are those with proteins in them (beans, for example) and meats that can have a whole host of bacteria in them... and many times you wouldn't even know if the harmful bacteria were there because there are no visual indicators and you may not be able to smell anything unusual.  But fruits, in general, are safe up until they start to get soft, leaking fluids and smell fermented.  Bananas with spots?  They're in their prime. Don't throw them out - they are the best!  

The Hornets Nest Analogy

I've learned a few things by casually observing nature.  What I find astounding is that over and over again, patterns in the plant and animal world are witnessed even in our highly-sophisticated human society.

yellow jacket's nest on a transformer

When a rock is thrown into a hornets nest, the hornets angrily swarm, randomly stinging anything that moves… interpreting any passersby as hostile and directing all of the defenses and their punishment against that which they deem culpable.  Hornets are creatures of habit (or instinct) and demonstrate very little in the way of adaptation to their environment and are thereby predictable – and anyone knowing the instinctive habits of hornets will know how to inflict significant damage on a nest and escape without injury, leaving open the possibility of injury to others who have had little or no involvement with the hornets.  Humans, however, have the capacity of virtually infinite adaptability.  We are capable of doing much more than swarming and randomly lashing out at anyone and anything that appears fearful, dangerous and culpable, but rather can use our experiences to our advantage and learn from our mistakes, to fortify or evade or even prevent future catastrophes.  We have not only become smarter, but we also have technology on our side.  We have the capability to work together to identify genuine threats and to adequately protect ourselves against them.

“Swarm” mentality is the antithesis of efficiency that not only results in the loss of precious resources and life, but also has the effect of apprising even a mediocre adversary of your capabilities as well as establishing a reputation of spontaneous hostility and aggression.  One other aspect to note is that while immense energy and fervor is initially expended in “swarming” efforts, the mass hysteria is short-lived and the residents of the communal hive rapidly revert to their baseline level of complacency and false sense of security, while the perpetrators who have laid plans to destroy the nest become more astute, using not only their previous weapons, but having evolved in their wisdom – using patience and cunning as their most powerful assets.  The ultimate key then, is to deliberately evolve to a level beyond your adversaries, using more advanced tools, skills and even weapons (where necessary) that transcend those that wish to take advantage of your position and seek to destroy you – to have the ability to confound and diminish their strength – as opposed to fueling their efforts with instinctive actions that are based purely upon instinctive passions of fear or anger (example: fight-or-flight instincts).