
The Frozen Banana Republic (2014) - JumpCrisscross
http://modernfarmer.com/2014/11/frozen-banana-republic/
======
lomereiter
Sorry for a stupid joke, but I misread 'lava' as Java and immediately thought
of all those Hadoop clusters big enterprises put into cold countries to save
on cooling costs.

~~~
ajankovic
Hacker News, a place where you have to say sorry before delivering a joke.

~~~
lmm
In the good old days you just wouldn't make the joke. Or you'd get downvoted
into oblivion even if you apologised. It was a much better site back then.

~~~
jameskegel
I sometimes wonder if we've already become Reddit, or at least are moving to
that direction. The remarks and comments sometimes just aren't appreciated; if
only there were more strict moderation.

~~~
lmm
We have. We became reddit about two years ago, just after dang took over. I
blame the rule against complaining that HN is turning into reddit, but also
dang's niceness initiatives, the interventionist moderation (particularly
"detaching" negative posts from threads) and the way your own posts don't grey
out any more when downvoted.

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FullMtlAlcoholc
A bit off topic, but Iceland is the most beautiful place that I have ever
visited. It's geographical diversity is astounding. Taking a trip around the
island felt like taking a tour of the Middle-Earth version of it's a small
world. Every few miles, the landscape drastically changes.

We picked up our rental car in to a desolate area near a volcano where the
ground was a reddish-brown clay. If felt like being on Mars:
[http://imgur.com/Z2oS0HS](http://imgur.com/Z2oS0HS)

After about an hour or two of traveling, the scenery shifted to a Shire like
area with lush green rolling hills:
[http://imgur.com/BCQECak](http://imgur.com/BCQECak), homes built into the
ground like hobbit holes:
[http://imgur.com/xf9Dmsg](http://imgur.com/xf9Dmsg), trolls that were turned
to stone after being exposed to sunlight:
[http://imgur.com/MM146hm](http://imgur.com/MM146hm) a pristine river snaking
through that eventually morphed into rapids:
[http://imgur.com/M0yIPkH](http://imgur.com/M0yIPkH).

The waterfalls were breathtaking. They were festooned with hexagonal column
sections formed from dark lava:
[http://imgur.com/IJXgMWL](http://imgur.com/IJXgMWL).

Further on, we came across some not so lonely mountains:
[http://imgur.com/QhcOCLo](http://imgur.com/QhcOCLo) and small glacier lakes:
[http://imgur.com/CuFhMhE](http://imgur.com/CuFhMhE)

Surprisingly, I learned that the first European visitor to the Americas,
Leifur Erickson, hailed from Iceland:
[http://imgur.com/PBWkafA](http://imgur.com/PBWkafA)

I'm leaving out so much more, like the naturally heated outdoor geothermal
pools of the Blue Lagoon spa.

The people were delightful, well educated, very technically literate and
luckily spoke fantastic English. As a country of just over 300,000 people,
they are the per capita winners of the world:

Lowest murder rate Most peaceful country highest energy usage Happiest
population Best gender equality Highest literacy rate, most books read, most
authors

I've toyed with the idea of taking a 3 month sabbatical there to work on my
game. (The only person I know there works for CCP, makes of Eve Online). It
looked like it would be one of the most romantic places in the world to spend
your honeymoon at.

~~~
toomanybeersies
If you enjoy the geographic diversity of Iceland, you'd live New Zealand as
well. Very similar, except larger.

We have rain forests, deserts, volcanoes, and alps, all in one country.

We also have geothermal springs (and geothermal pools) like Iceland, and big
glacial lakes too ([http://image.shutterstock.com/z/stock-photo-asphalt-road-
alo...](http://image.shutterstock.com/z/stock-photo-asphalt-road-along-lake-
pukaki-view-from-glentanner-park-centre-near-mount-cook-on-a-background-
of-186693569.jpg))

You can go skiing and surfing in the same day (if you enjoy cold water, that
is). And we also love per capita bragging.

Of course, being larger, you can't see everything in the same day.

~~~
FullMtlAlcoholc
Late reply, but that's exactly how I picture New Zealand! I described Iceland
as the _It 's a Small World_ version of Middle Earth. As LotR was filmed in
NZ, I expect it to be much the same, except that a trip around the whole
island is more than 18hrs drive time :)

NZ is definitely on my list of travel destinations in 2017. Anything in
particular I should see?

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jessriedel
Relatedly, Canada has started to outcompete southern US states at tomato
production through a massive use of greenhouses.

[http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/06/16/473526920/how...](http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/06/16/473526920/how-
canada-became-a-greenhouse-superpower)

It's economical, unlike banana production in Iceland.

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ghshephard
Highlights - single government greenhouse, “Banana plants can only bear fruit
once, and it takes a year and half for them to reach maturity,” " \- 600 Trees
produce about 3 pounds of bananas each. (1 ton)

~~~
misja111
The banana is a plant, not a tree. Another fun fact: all banana's are slightly
radioactive.

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vixen99
All bananas are slightly radioactive.

~~~
mrob
People love quoting this for some reason, despite bananas not having the
highest potassium content. Many greens (beet/kale/spinach/etc.) have higher.

~~~
legulere
Also people like to ignore that the body will keep the amount of potassium in
it constant. So you have always the same amount of potassium radionuclides in
you.

This leads to some people underestimating the effects of radionuclide intake.

~~~
bandrami
A body _with properly functioning kidneys_ will keep the amount of potassium
in it constant

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omegaworks
I've always wanted to try the old Gros Michel banana varietal. I wonder if any
plants have been kept alive in captivity.

We got stuck with Cavendish after a blight hit the monoculture[0]

0\.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavendish_banana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavendish_banana)

~~~
Qworg
It appears you can still get Gros Michel in Malaysia and Thailand? [1]

Can anyone confirm?

1\.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Michel_banana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Michel_banana)

~~~
stephenr
For context: I live in Thailand.

The 'common' banana available in Thailand is neither Gros Michel nor
Cavendish. It's a tiny little thing that (going by a photo on Wikipedia it's
something similar to a Latundan I believe) IMO is only useful for blending
(i.e. for a smoothy) because it's too 'moist' to eat as-is. Thai's seem to
mostly grill or fry them, rather than eating them fresh.

We recently (this year) have been able to grow the less common (and more
expensive to buy locally) 'big' bananas, which I've confirmed today are in
fact cavendish.

I'll ask my in-laws (who had already grown Cavendish) if they know anything
about where to buy/find either Gros Michel fruit, or plants.

This whole thing gets quite confusing (for me at least) as I don't read (and
speak very little) Thai, and software translators convert the Thai for
"Banana", "Cavendish Banana" and "Gros Michel Banana" all into "Banana" in
English.

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Malarkey73
If they have such cheap power (nearly free minus maintenance and capital) from
hydrothermal - why can't they convert it to electricity to power lamps?

It's economic for Marijuana producers even in countries with high energy
costs. I know bananas are not so high value - but then the energy is cheaper?

~~~
ptaipale
Not just lamps. They use the electricity to power aluminium smelters (a very
energy-intensive thing).

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gpvos
*Its single, tiny banana farm.

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lostlogin
And here is me trying to kill the bananas that randomly grow in the garden. I
hack them down then 2 weeks later there is another 1m tall one popping out the
hedge. I don't know if anyone else classes them as a pest, but my neighbours
and I do. When I first moved in I stopped counting after the first 100 3m+
ones cut down.

~~~
NoGravitas
I take it you don't live in Iceland.

~~~
lostlogin
No - New Zealand. Supposedly they don't grow well here although I think that
must relate to fruit ripening as the palms grow very fast. I've seen people
put big bags over the actual bananas to get them to ripen which presumably
helps.

~~~
toomanybeersies
I am yet to see a banana plant with edible bananas in New Zealand.

Fun fact, we're the second largest per capita importer of bananas in the
world, just behind Iceland, and bananas are the most common item in shopping
baskets.

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iaskwhy
I remember seeing (and walking around) what looked like a tomato farm nearby
Gamla Laugin (the Secret Lagoon) [0]. I was really surprised by the completely
stocked supermarkets everywhere with good looking vegetables and fruits. I
felt pretty ignorant by this even though I prepared my two weeks driving
around Iceland for months. Most incredible thing I've ever seen, obviously.

By the way, if anyone's in for a cheaper alternative around Europe, try
visiting the Azores Islands. I used to think of it as unbelievably beautiful
but then Iceland happened.

[0]
[https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@64.1369102,-20.3120604,431m/d...](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@64.1369102,-20.3120604,431m/data=!3m1!1e3)

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abalone
Also, Switzerland uses tunnel water to heat a banana farm.[1]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropenhaus_Frutigen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropenhaus_Frutigen)

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partycoder
Not lava but steam from hot springs, also known as geothermal energy.

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thomasfl
How could this be useful to other freezing cold nations? Like Norway that's
placed far away from any tectonic plates?

~~~
dx034
Norway is already ~100% renewable and can produce much more via wind farms.
It's likely that soil-less greenhouses in containers could work to provide
cheap food for small villages. The systems already exist in Alaska, but Norway
should be able to generate even cheaper energy. [1]

[1] [http://www.ecowatch.com/two-indoor-farm-startups-stand-up-
to...](http://www.ecowatch.com/two-indoor-farm-startups-stand-up-to-alaskas-
short-growing-season-1882142771.html)

~~~
saiya-jin
soil-less hydroponics produce awfully tasting crap that does slightly resemble
original fruit/vegetable only in appearance, only being paler. better than
nothing, but far from added value and quality of original

~~~
dx034
In remote regions, fresh vegetables are either very expensive or have been on
the road for a long time. Even though you don't get the best taste, it will
likely not be worse that the alternatives for people in small remote villages.

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dehef
Minecraft in real-life.

~~~
pearjuice
I think you mean Dwarf Fortress.

