Arthur was making a sign. It said Bikes Washed…Good as New, 25 cents.
    “There is no soap or Brillo,” said Violet. “We have to buy some.”
    Arthur put his money in a bag and they went to the store.
                                            from Arthur’s Funny Money
                                  written and illustrated by Lillian Hoban
                                                       Harper & Row, 1981

    My grandpa (Mom’s dad) had a banker’s set that my brother and sister and I played with when we visited. It was hinged metal and folded out to a three-sided “banker’s window.” A drawer was full of play money, and we’d take turns counting and sorting the coins and bills. Sometimes we’d pretend to buy stuff from each other. 
    Grandpa taught us how to save money. He taught me about interest, too, the money the bank paid me for letting them use the birthday and Chanukah gifts I added to my account. I was little, and I didn’t get how they used it. Giving my money to the bank so someone else could buy a house or a car didn’t make sense to my six-year-old brain. Grandpa never got into the part of the interest equation where the house-buyer or car-buyer had to pay the bank for using its money, which when you think about it could have been mine.
    And when he convinced me to put my collection of silver dollars into my bank account, I did it. I gave my ten silver dollars to the bank teller. He stamped my book with the amount of the deposit. I’m still sad that when I wanted them back, well, let’s just say I learned a little about how you don’t get back the exact same money you put in. I still had ten dollars, but I never saw those beautiful, silver women in their flowy dresses again.
    I like the feel of cash in my wallet and the heft of a pocket full of coins. It is real, solid, tangible. My husband likes to buy everything with his credit card. When he gets his statement, he pays in one fell swoop. Everything’s in one place. One payment and he’s done. 
    When I buy new shoes or have lunch with a friend or a get my car washed, I like to pay with cash. I feel in control. 
     An amusement part a couple of hours drive from my house announced that beginning this season it will no longer take cash. All purchases: parking; rides; food; are paid by credit card or debit card. When your credit card bill comes, you’ll be days or weeks away from the amusement park experience. All you’ll have left are your memories. So, maybe it’s the memories that we are really buying when we spend money to go to a baseball game or a concert or an amusement park.  That’s pretty nice, actually. 
    Cashless venues are becoming more common.
    It’s more convenient, I agree. But most people who rely solely on their credit or debit card spend more than they would if they spent cash. Turns out, a lot more. According to shiftprocessing.com consumers spend 83% more on credit cards than they do with cash. The average credit or debit card purchase is at $112, while the average cash purchase is just $22. Factor in, though, that most people spend cash on small purchases while most large-ticket items go straight to a credit card. 
    Spending cash is final. No debt, no interest accumulation, no paybacks. Spending cash might be safer than using credit, too. In 2018, the identity of 14.4 million Americans was stolen. Stealing credit card information is the way most of this happens.            
    And what about all the people who don’t have access to a bank?
    The latest FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) statistics (2019) show 6.5 percent of U.S. households did not have a checking or savings account. In order to access credit, they need to use an alternate source like payday loans, check cashing services, money orders, pawn shop loans, or borrowing from friends or family. Most of these options come with a heavy interest cost. So while using cash instead of using credit usually means spending less overall, some people just don’t have enough cash. That’s a subject I’ll have to save for another time.
    Now there’s a new way to pay. Actually, it’s not so new. people started talking about cryptocurrency on the internet in 2008. In August, the name bitcoin.com was registered online. Bitcoin’s mission is to create more economic freedom in the world by providing choices regarding a one’s own personal resources. Bitcoin’s complete Mission Statement is here. 
    Enter Satoshi Nakamoto. Maybe a single person or maybe a small group of people, no one knows for sure, Satoshi Nakamoto circulated a white paper (an in-depth report that explains a complicated topic and provides a solution) in 2008, to describe the powerful banks and banking institutions and the public’s distrust of them during the financial crisis. 
    Instead of depending on a bank or lending institution, transactions can use cryptographic proof to verify the movement of money from one person to a corporation like Amazon or a seller on Ebay or Etsy without using a bank or third party as an intermediary. So no check to write. No debit card amount to keep track of. No need to pay off credit card debt.
    “Bitcoin was created so people don't have to rely on government or financial institutions to make financial transactions.” (usnews.com Feb. 4, 2022)
    But cryptocurrency itself is complicated. And extremely volatile, worth thousands of dollars one week, and crashes to almost nothing the next. It’s almost impossible to know how much you have. 
    So, while I don’t have those beautiful, silver women in their flowy gowns in a tangible form anymore, I keep my checkbook balanced and try hard to stay within my means.
                             -—stay curious! (and responsibly generous)

Come Mr. Tally Man
Tally me bananas
Daylight come an’ me wan’ go home.
                                                                    “Day O” 
   from The 2nd Raffi songbook : 42 songs from Raffi's albums 
                           piano arrangements by Catherine Ambrose 
                            design and illustration by Joyce Yamamoto
                                                  Crown Publishers, 1986
     Also watch live performances on YouTube (if you love Raffi)

    Ever since my mom fed me solid food, bananas were on my rejection list. I spit them out every time. There’s not much that I hate, especially when it comes to food, but bananas—yuck! I don’t like the smell, the texture, or mostly the taste, but I love the color. All my grandkids think this is the funniest thing! How can yellow be my favorite color when I hate bananas? They’re yellow! I don’t know, is the answer they always get.    
    My oldest grandson’s favorite color is green. He loves everything green except green beans, okra, spinach, pretty much all the green vegetables.     
     When he was really young, maybe 5 or 6, I had an idea. I told him I’d take a very small bite of a banana if he’d try a green bean. He ate his green bean and waited patiently for me to live up to my end of the bargain. Boy, was that hard. The smell. The squishy-ness. The awful anticipation. 
    I took the smallest nibble I could get away with. YUCK! It was the first time in my life (and the last!) that I actually swallowed a banana, a microscopic bit to be sure, but still.
    So why should I care that bananas might go extinct? 
    The demise of the banana would effect the economies of some of the world’s poorest countries. Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Guatemala all depend heavily on their exports of bananas. For export, these countries and virtually all other exporters grow the Cavendish variety exclusively. It is the only kind you find at the grocery store. 
    But that was not always true. Before the Cavendish replaced it, most of the banana exports were the Gros Michel variety. Most people thought the Gros Michel was tastier than the Cavendish. It was definately more difficult to bruise. But in the 1950s, a strain of banana wilt hit the crop so hard that a banana emergency was announced. The Gros Michel variety was declared commercially extinct in 1965. Commercial extinction is when a particular species is so depleted that it is no longer profitable to harvest. 
    The fuel for the helicopters and fixed-wing planes used to spray fungicide and the fungicide itself harm our environment. Pulling off the affected leaves and burning them can (and does sometimes) promote  fungal spread by sending airborne some particles that find their way to unaffected areas. The disease that started in Central America quickly spread to most of the world’s commercial banana plantations. There was no choice but to destroy whole plantations.
    And so the replacement. Cavendish bananas at first seemed resistant to the fungus that wiped out Gros Michel. But now the Cavendish banana is the only species currently being produced commercially, and now it is threatened by a different strain of the same fungus, Panama Black Sigatoka, that thrives in hot, humid conditions. 
    Bananas are the most popular fruit in the world and rank 4th in commodity exports after rice, wheat, and milk. World banana trade totals $2.5 billion annually. An acre of land on a banana plantation can yield 30,000 pounds (15 tons) of bananas per year. With over 1,000 types of bananas, the global market is made up of Cavendishes, exclusively. Cavendish bananas are clones. They are genetically identical. New banana plants are cultivated from an existing root or propagated from a “pup,” a small shoot near the bottom of the plant. They don’t have seeds. 
    Wild bananas *do* have seeds. Black, inedible, unappetizing seeds. Here’s the inside of a typical wild banana. (Scroll about 1/2 way down)   
    Countries that grow Cavendish for export grow some of the other varieties for consumption at home. Some are too fragile to ship. Others ripen too fast to survive the journey. 
    Research scientists are working on a grafting technique that could save the Cavendish. Banana trees lack an internal tissue called the vascular cambium. It is this tissue, from two different plants, that fuse together to propagate a new plant. Now scientists are doing a work-around by grafting the seeds and roots of a banana plant instead for the propagation. If it proves successful, a fungus-resistant banana could be in our, well make that your, future.
    My family likes bananas. When the kids come to visit, I buy bananas for them to snack on or add to their oatmeal. They like banana pancakes, but that’s a step too far for me. Most of the time, one or two bananas are leftover. I peel them and stick them in the freezer till I have enough for banana bread. Here’s the banana bread recipe from my old Settlement Cookbook. (Simon and Schuster, 1965)
    (Almost) everyone loves it! We mark up our recipes. This one has a happy face, a star, and “yum!” next to it.

BANANA BREAD
2 cups sifted flour (I have never sifted flour. The recipe is fine with
          flour straight from the bag.)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter (I only ever use real butter.)
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 medium ripe bananas (if you use them from your freezer, let them
          thaw first. Use the liquid.)
1/2 cup sour milk or buttermilk (I use what I have, usually almond milk and add 1/2 teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice.)
    Sift flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, mashed bananas, and milk. Gradually add flour mixture to dry ingredients. When well blended, pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake 350 F for 1 hour. Toothpick or butter knife will come out clean when it’s done. May be doubled. 
                            -—stay curious! (and try something new)

At night, of course the dark went out and spread itself against the doors and windows of Lazlo’s house. … But in the morning, the dark would be back in the basement where it belonged. … and without the dark, everything would be light, and you would never know if you needed a lightbulb.
                                                       from The Dark
                                         written by Lemony Snicket
                                            illustrated by Jon Klassen
                                             Little, Brown & Co., 2013
   
    I usually wake up before the sun. I can use the bathroom, turn on my coffee pot, feed the cats, and find my way to my reading chair before I turn on a light. If I’m lucky enough to have a book downloaded on my Libby app, I can read on my phone or iPad and not turn a light on all morning.
    It’s not that I have anything against electricity or that I prefer the dark. Even though he did not act alone, Thomas Edison was really onto something when he invented the lightbulb. Roads and stores, barbershops, playgrounds, and sidewalks are safer if we can avoid trippers and other hazards as we move through our day. 
    But, let’s step back into history. Remember that kite and key experiment we all learned about in elementary school? Well, turns out Benjamin Franklin didn’t really discover electricity after all. According to an article on the Franklin Institute’s website, people were aware of electricity for thousands of years before that famous experiment. What Ben Franklin (and his son) proved by flying a kite in a thunderstorm was the connection between lightning and electricity.             
    Franklin’s kite was a simple square. He attached a wire to the top to attract lightning to his kite. He attached a length of hemp to the bottom and a silk thread to the hemp. He attached a metal key to the silk thread. Then he waited for the thunder and lightning. When lightning struck the kite, it traveled through the hemp, soaked by the rain, to the silk, kept dry in his hand. When Franklin noticed that the loose hemp strands stood out in every direction, he moved his knuckle toward the key. He felt an electric jolt. Fortunately, he had brought a Leyden jar, a container with conductors on the inner and outer surfaces that become positively and negatively charged. When it is charged, the jar holds electricity. Franklin “collected electric fire very copiously,” as was recounted by a contemporary British scientist, Joseph Priestley. 
    The first constant electric light was demonstrated in Great Britain in 1835. For forty years, scientists and inventors from around the world made improvements to the incandescent light. Basically it works like this. A filament, a slender, threadlike fiber, is attached to the base of a glass bulb. The filament is heated by electricity passing through it. When the filament is hot enough, it glows. It emits light and heat. Only 5% is emitted as light. The other 95% is generated as heat. What a waste! But it was the best we had for a long time. Those early lightbulbs were expensive to produce. The filaments burned for a very short time. 
    Thomas Edison looked for an improvement. It is said he tested “no fewer than 6,000 vegetable growths, and ransacked the world for the most suitable filament material” (Franklin Institute) as he looked for a much longer-lasting bulb that was much less expensive to produce. When asked about his many, many tries to find a better material for his filament, he’s quoted saying, “I have not failed 10,000 times—I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.” (Smithsonian Magazine )
    Edison made a carbonized filament of uncoated cotton thread that could last for 14.5 hours. But he and is team continued to experiment with filament fibers. He settled on one made from bamboo that gave his lamp a lifetime of up to 1,200 hours. He received a patent for his bulb that used carbon-coated bamboo filament on January 27, 1880. He continued to use the bamboo filament for 10 years. 
    In 1904, European scientists invented the tungsten filament. Tungsten is a metallic element with an extremely high melting point. Tungsten filament bulbs burned brighter and lasted longer than carbon filaments. Placing an inert gas like nitrogen in a lamp doubled its efficiency to 10%. The vast majority of energy was still being lost as heat. By the 1950s, researchers began to focus their own energy on finding a more efficient solution. 
    The march of progress included neon lights, florescent lights, and CFLs (compressed florescent lights). At first, CFLs were expensive and bulky. Now you can buy a four-pack for less than $2.00. They last about 10 times longer and use about 75 percent less energy than incandescents.
    Enter LED, a light emitting diode. They don’t get hot, which is proof of their efficiency. Their energy is converted to photons, not heat. They last up to 30 times longer than an incandescent bulb. They can be made with epoxy lenses instead of glass, so they’re much less likely to break. (The discussion of epoxy requires a blog post of its own!)
    And now new rules put LEDs in the forefront of energy conservation.
    Joe Biden’s Energy Department will require manufacturers to sell energy-efficient light bulbs. Incandescents will not be available after July 2023. Besides saving money on family utility bills ($100/year), businesses, schools, and factories will save billions of dollars. The Department’s rules are projected to cut planet-warming carbon emissions by over 7,000,000 metric tons per year.
    Even though merchants will be allowed to sell incandescent bulbs until July 2023, why in this wonderful world would anyone want one?
                       -—stay curious! (and look on the bright side)