Gone Soft

Note: I don't have a pic for this post, though it would be trivial, so just use your imagination.

It is with great amazement that I live in a time in which technology is advancing at a visible rate. One example we can all agree on is the size of fruit and vegetables, which continue to balloon to unprecedented volumes of juicy goodness. However, as with all positive changes, there come compromises, like the annoyances of Firefox 2—explicitly the washed-out theme, the "History" as opposed to "Go" menu, and the default X's on every tab. We live with such "progress" because we know it is impossible to be all things to all people, and hopefully these changes are aiding someone.

Let us consider the satsuma mandarin. It is hailed as the ultimate solution to the imperfections of an orange: the peel, the seeds, and the comparatively lackluster flavor. But with satsumas comes a terrible, terrible price, its miniature proportions, which is where genetic engineering comes into play. Now your average satsuma is in radius rivaling that of a typical smallish orange. But there is always a catch, and that becomes apparent when one tries to consume one of these beauties. You will notice a little extra give in the fruit as you start to unravel the peel, and if you are not careful you are at high risk of rupturing a few segments. The advent of the gigamandarin has compromised its structural integrity, for it has always been a mushy variety with the famous soft peel.

I am by no means saying that our god-like tinkering should stop. On the contrary, I will not be placated until every grape is the size of an infant bovine and every spare ovum is on queue for cloning (I kid, I kid). We should be mindful of our thoughts and minimize negative changes, whether it be to our produce or our web browsers.