“Burbank was a plant mystic who created new plants with little more than his imagination, his pollinating abilities, and his skill for selection.” —Jules Janick Luther Burbank was born in 1849 in Lancaster, Massachusetts, to Samuel Burbank and his third wife, Olive Burpee Ross. The thirteenth of his father’s fifteen children, Luther was drawn to plants and flowers from an early age. A flower could give him greater pleasure than any other kind of toy, according to biographer Henry Smith Williams.
George Harrison Shull, a biologist who worked with corn, reviewed Burbank’s work in the early 1900s and determined that Burbank’s processes were “more art than science.” Luther Burbank’s role in the creation and development of the Russet Burbank potato was his first great success. In his early 20s, he read Charles Darwin’s book The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication and was impressed by the ideas. He also purchased a 17-acre farm where he planned to grow vegetables and also to “accelerate evolutionary changes,” according to biographer Jules Janick.
Cultivated potatoes depend more on their tubers than on flowers and fruit for reproduction, and the appearance of an actual seedpod is relatively rare. Inside this single seedpod were twenty-three seeds. Burbank planted all twenty-three to see what would come of them. One plant produced large, excellent tubers that tasted good and could be stored for a long time. This was the “Burbank” potato.
Burbank had a connection with plants that went beyond intellectual curiosity. He did have a method for producing his hybrids, but I think that the plants responded to his positive attention and connection as well. I’m not saying that plants have emotions or animal-like consciousness; I am no fan of anthropomorphizing. Plants do not have brains or nervous systems in the animal sense. Plants do respond to stimuli from their environment, however, and part of those stimuli may come from organisms around them, including humans. Just because we have no explanation at this moment doesn’t mean the idea is impossible. In any case, Burbank loved plants, and he certainly reaped rewards from his wizard-like work with them. For further exploration
Michael Pollan has written a fairly well-balanced article about the topic of plant “intelligence”—it appeared in the December 23 & 30, 2013, issue of The New Yorker. You can read it here. Jules Janick, “Luther Burbank: Plant Breeding Artist, Horticulturist, and Legend.” HortScience Vol. 50(2), February 2015. American Society for Horticultural Science. You can read and download a PDF here. Henry Smith Williams, Luther Burbank, His Life and Work. New York: Hearst’s International Library Co. (1915). Available in ebook/Kindle form from HardPress, Miami, FL (2017).
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About a month ago, I came across an article about how repairing broken items not only supports sustainability, but also empowers people, providing a psychological boost in these troubled times. (You can read the article here if you’re interested. It seems mostly to be a promotional piece on Kyle Wiens, who has an online repair community called iFixit.)
The vacuum handle release pedal holds the tubular wand in an upright position when locked. To unlock the wand, you step on the release pedal, and you can then lower the wand at an angle for use. It’s useful in that when you stand the wand up, it doesn’t just flop to the floor. The locking part of our vacuum handle release pedal had broken off. That’s the tongue-like part in the middle. It would seem to be a simple matter to replace this release pedal. You just get a new part and install it. Voila! Sustainable! Empowering! Because this is an old Kenmore, the best source for this part was Sears. I went to searspartsdirect.com and with some help from chat support, found the part. I decided just to get it from Sears because it was hard to find elsewhere and wasn’t significantly cheaper. The photo of the new part up at the top is from the Sears site, and you can find this same photo all over, complete with the dent in the paper to the left. I was told that this part came with instructions. It did not. Evidently this release pedal fits many different Kenmore vacuums, but replacing it is easier on some than on others. In my case, it was difficult. The broken part could not be removed easily. It was necessary to take apart the Power Mate to have enough space to lift the broken part off and put the new part on. Kyle Wiens, the repair advocate, says, “Once you remove the first screw and you start, you’re gonna succeed.” I love optimists, don’t you? So cheery! I have dismantled the Power Mate in the past, fortunately—but I soon found I had to boldly go beyond my experience. Let the photos begin! The photos immediately below show the steps just to get inside the red housing of the Power Mate. The cover unscrews and unclips from the base. (Click each photo to see a caption.) Once inside, I had to unscrew and unclip the wand connector and small motor to allow the wand connector to be raised enough to remove the broken part. Finally! I could pry that broken pedal out and clip the new part in place. Not done quite yet. Reassembly needed. Fortunately I had kept things organized and taken photos. This turned out well in the end, but it wasn’t any ten-minute repair. I spent a lot of time, and I had gotten to the point where I began to feel the minutes of my only life slipping away . . . just to have a working vacuum . . .
My repair was cheaper than having a technician attempt it, and also cheaper than purchasing a new vacuum. Is that the point? I wonder. I don’t know that I changed the world, but who knows. I suppose it was a tiny victory in modern life. All experience is preceded by mind, All that time that the Buddha taught, forty-five years, and no one was taking notes. That’s because no written language was present in the area. It wasn’t until about 450 years after the Buddha’s death that his teachings were written down. Prior to that, the discourses were memorized and passed on orally. The Pali Canon, written in the Pali language, is the most complete Early Buddhist canon still available today. The Dhammapada is part of this canon. (Other collections are available in other languages, and some are earlier, but none is thought to be as complete.) The meanings of ancient foreign languages are subject to the interpretation of the translator. I put together the version of the stanzas at the beginning based on a number of translations into English, including that of Gil Fronsdal, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Glenn Wallis, and Jay N. Forrest. I also checked the English meanings of some terms in the Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary. The problem with translations is that often they reflect the preferences, cultural beliefs, or level of understanding of the translator. My version naturally reflects my choice of “best words” based on my own understanding. Even well-known interpreters can put an odd slant on translations. Thomas Byrom, a scholarly translator of Buddhist works who died in 1991, comes under criticism for translating the first line as “We are what we think.” The Pali version says no such thing. (See author Bodhipaksa’s critique in the fall 2014 issue of Tricycle.) Looking deeper into meanings, “mind” could also be “heart” or “heart-mind,” because the seat of consciousness in Buddhism is in the chest (i.e., the heart) and not in the head. The word for “mind” might also be translated as “thought” or “intention.” If the mind/thought/intention is obscured, polluted, or wishing harm, then the result is suffering. If the mind/thought/intention is clear, pure, or bright, then the result is joyousness or happiness.
This idea doesn’t mean you change your outlook in order to change the world. The world is how it is, regardless. It also doesn’t mean that you pretend you aren’t angry when you are, or that you adopt a false generosity to make yourself feel better. The important thing from a Buddhist point of view is to shift your own perception, understanding, and intentions.
The PartSelect site told me that 93% of the time, the problem is the switch. In the remaining 6% (rounding error) it’s the light socket and terminal. This website also has videos that demonstrate exactly how to install many of their parts—a helpful feature because I could get an idea of which tools and how much force would be needed. And, the site provided the correct part number for me to use in searches. I decided to try the switch replacement, but I didn’t buy it from PartSelect. I looked around for different pricing options. I considered not only the part price, but also the shipping price and the delivery time. I ended up ordering the part through Amazon because that gave me the best price including shipping, and as it turned out, the fastest delivery. (Click photos to enlarge and see captions.)
The replacement is pretty simple; however, I had to remove the temperature selector dial on the right because it was in the way. I made sure to take note of where it had been set before removing it. (Click photos to enlarge. Sorry for the fuzzy focus.) The old switch took some force to remove, especially on the right side. I didn’t want to force the left side, where the prongs are, because I didn’t want to damage them. I used a putty knife and screwdriver to work the part out. The right side finally gave way with a snap. Once out, the connectors pulled off easily with needle-nose pliers. Both connectors are in a single plastic unit so they come off as a block. They slip onto the new prongs easily. Before putting the switch into the housing, I put the new bulb in and then flipped the breaker. Sure enough, the bulb lit up. So, I put back the new switch and the temperature selector In an earlier post, I talked about using expense tracking to see where you’re at financially. But income and expenses are only part of the picture. Another aspect is what you own (assets) versus what you owe (liabilities). Please note that I’m using loose definitions here, and I’m only talking about personal assets. Accountants use more complex definitions, and business assets, such as income-producing rental property, are not included. Assets More specifically, assets are things you own that you could sell—for example, furnishings in your home, a car, artwork, musical instruments, your late grandma’s chess set, and so on. Your home itself is an asset if you’re buying rather than renting. Shares of mutual funds or other personal investments count as assets. Cash you have on hand or the cash value of bank accounts are also assets. Your dwelling is not an asset if you rent it. Neither is a vehicle you lease. Rental and lease payments go under expenses, although car leasing is a special case. Liabilities The mortgage you’re paying on your residence is a liability, and so is car loan debt. In these cases, the debt you owe is “secured” by the asset; if you fail to make the payments as you agreed, the assets could be subject to foreclosure or repossession. You might also have other liabilities, such as credit card debt. Credit card debt is primarily “unsecured” debt—for example, you used credit cards to purchase meals out, buy gasoline, pay for a vacation, and so on. Expenditures like these are basically personal expenses, and you’re paying them by taking out a loan from the credit card company at a huge interest rate (average is 16.15%). You promise to pay the company the original amount plus interest. There’s no asset that can be “taken back.” Student loan debt is also unsecured debt. It’s not like the Fed can take back your degree! Plus there’s no guarantee that you’ll even earn a degree. Either way, you have promised to pay. Net Worth The difference between your assets and your liabilities is termed your “net worth.” When people talk about “wealth,” they’re referring to a high net worth. How much income someone makes doesn’t figure in. Here are two hypothetical households with different net worth:
Because household A has no liabilities, A’s net worth is equal to A’s assets. Household B has sizeable liabilities, and so B’s net worth is lower, even though B has more in assets. Put another way, household A is “wealthier.” It’s possible to have liabilities that exceed your assets. Being “upside down” on a mortgage is one example. If you owe more than you own overall, you have a negative net worth. According to the financial-advice company Motley Fool, 16.6 million American households, or 14%, had a negative net worth in the spring of 2017. (I don’t imagine it’s any better now.) What do you think is the biggest contributor to this negative net worth? It’s not mortgage debt, credit card debt, or payday loans, although these do contribute. The largest liability burden in households with negative net worth is student loan debt. This isn’t a problem only for younger generations; an article from Business Insider in 2019 reported that more than 3 million Americans over age 60 collectively owed more than $86 billion in unpaid student loans. That kind of liability can kick the stuffing out of net worth. For more details:
Maurie Backman, “16.6 Million U.S. Households Have a Negative Net Worth—Here’s the Surprising Reason Why.” Motley Fool, May 14, 2017. (Click here.) Kelly McLaughlin, “3 million senior citizens in the US are still paying off their student loans.” Business Insider, May 3, 2019. (Click here.) |
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