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National Banana Day 2024
It would be somewhat punny of me to say National Banana Day has a natural appeal, so I wonāt say that. 
Letās slip into the topic of my beloved firstbornās least favorite fruitā¦
The Funniest Fruit
Time flies like an arrow ā but fruit flies like a banana. ~Terry Wogan
Itās strange to think that bananas are somehow an inherently humorous piece of fruit.
Iām not sure how they got this reputation, but the very name is a synonym for craziness and havoc.
Slapstick comedy and cartoons extol the comical slipperiness of a stray banana peel or the excellence of a banana cream pie as a food fight projectile.
Despite their inherent hilarity, I find them tasty. A bunch of bananas doesnāt last long in our household.
Except, of course, in the case of Emmeline. She absolutely hates them. No idea why, but she detests the taste of bananas except for the artificial banana flavor in banana Runts.
Entertaining Bananas
Bananas in Pyjamas Intro 1997
A long, long, long time ago, Emmeline used to find bananas amusing. The Bananas in Pyjamas were a big hit for a little girl, but her tastes have matured in the intervening centuries, I mean, decadesā¦
Sheās now primarily entertained by her silly dogs and who can blame her. Max and Spencer are very silly pooches and they get up to some mischief.
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Still, thereās nothing more basically comical than a banana peel pratfall or a rousing banana cream pie fight to brighten your day. You simply canāt beat the classics.
Speaking of classics, even though my kids think the stuff Kelly and I found engrossing back in the 70s is nightmarish, you have to admit that they have a catchy theme song.
The Banana Splits Opening and Closing Theme 1968 ā 1970
Blink And Itās Stale
Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana. ~Bill Gates
I know thatās right. Ideas are fleeting and easily imitated. Itās been the bane of my entire writing life.
I had an idea back in the 90s for a sci fi story in which conspirators would use interstellar travelers as data mules.
The basic notion was that when you travel to certain foreign countries, itās advisable or even straight out required to get a variety of inoculations.
Naturally, if youāre traveling from planet to planet, you wouldnāt want to carry or catch alien pathogens. So, a service that provided these vaccines might use the inert viruses to carry information at a nano-scale. Interesting idea that had some potential.
And thenā¦ Star Trek: Enterprise got the same idea.
Returning the Klingon | Star Trek: Enterprise ā Broken Bow
Okay, it happens. Iāve mentioned the Peter Brady thing before. Thereās nothing new under the sun.
The annoying thing is that if I ever use that idea, people are going to think I got it from ST:ENT Ep1, which is really maddening because I had it before that show hit the air.
Will I use it? Who knows? Itās going to be a while before I get to my Far-Flung Reaches series.
In the meantime, Iām working on The Sentinels and itās getting harder because NYC is really going to 
. Empire City is a parallel universe fictionalization of the Big Apple, but even with a fertile imagination itās hard to envision my version of the city over the madhouse itās quickly becoming.
Instead of the high end tourist destination that itās been for as long as Iāve been old enough to travel on my own, itās becoming more like the bedlam that Snake Plissken had to rescue POTUS from in Escape From New York.
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Thatās the thing to do these days. Escape.
That sincerely blows. I wanted to go there to see some of my story locales in person and really get the feel for the place.
Not anymore. Until they fix things, Iām staying well the hell away from it.
So, what to do? Shelf the superhero stories until somebody crams the Democrats back into their dark holes?
Maybe, but Iād rather not. I really wanted to get this series going.
Itās a purely academic matter anyway. I spend all my time working on reports for my day job. I havenāt got a brain cell to spare for creative activities.
Iām not sure how to get out of this cycle and get things more balanced again, but I seriously need to.
Thatās all for this delicious Hump Day. I hope your week is sweet and free of flying pies.