Battling Black Mold
my high school foods studies teacher taught us a little about mold and bacteria. she said that the three conditions that they thrive in are moisture, warmth, and darkness.
my old produce department manager ryan told me that some drunk guys won a bunch of subs (sandwiches) on their way to a party at his house once, and hid them in the bottom of his china cabinet when they got there. anyway, ryan didn't know they had brought the subs in, and the drunk guys ended up forgetting about most of the subs by the time they woke up from their smashed stupor. the subs sat there for weeks.
later ryan opened the cabinet while looking for something, and had the shock of his life. a bunch of subs. what on earth!
as he told the story i said to him indignantly, "but didn't you smell them rotting in there over all that time?!!?!!"
he said he hadn't smelled anything, and that they actually weren't sitting there in a rotten heap. he went on to say that when he picked them up, they were hard as a rock.
dried out. interesting. anyway, pretty much end of the story.
but no mold. and dried out. this simple thought set my whole life on a new trajectory.
during my research and experimentation in the years that followed, i discovered yet another gem in the olde journals of early french microphysicist geordi la forge:
[click below to read on]
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