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Ha, I thought the article was about durian fruit. When I worked recently in the Mid-West, I was in my favorite Asian grocery store and I randomly put some duria

Ha, I thought the article was about durian fruit. When I worked recently in the Mid-West, I was in my favorite Asian grocery store and I randomly put some durian ice cream in the cart. The guy at the checkout register told me that I wouldn’t like it and called for someone to put it back in the freezer. I insisted, and he warned me it would smell bad. It did, but I ended up buying it frequently: I really liked it and I knew my wife would never eat it.

oddity 5y ago
It is. From the article: > Vincent Gomes, a chemical engineer at the University of Sydney, and his team, including Labna Shabnam, are turning waste from the world’s smelliest fruit, durian, and the world’s largest fruit, jackfruit, into a supercapacitor that can charge mobile phones, tablets and laptops within minutes. > Supercapacitors are an alternative way of storing energy. They act like reservoirs, able to quickly charge and then discharge energy in bursts. They tend to be made out of expensive materials like graphene, but Gomes’ team has turned inedible parts of durian and jackfruit into carbon aerogels – porous super-light solids – with “exceptional” natural energy storage properties. They heated, freeze-dried and then baked the inedible spongey core of each fruit in an oven at temperatures of more than 1,500C (2732F). The black, highly porous, ultralight structures they were left with could then be fashioned into electrodes of a low-cost supercapacitor.
Ansil849 5y ago
> The guy at the checkout register told me that I wouldn’t like it and called for someone to put it back in the freezer. This would warrant a conversation with the manager. Service employees who claim to know what's best for me are a huge annoyance. Another example: one time I was ordering tea at a restaurant and asked for sugar. The waitress had the nerve to tell me sugar is bad for me and I shouldn't have any.
- missedthecue 5y ago
  Often times at small Asian grocers, the service employee is the manager
- account42 5y ago
  Oh come on, that clerk is probably just tired of people returning the durian thinking that it was spoiled. It really is something that a lot of people won't like but might pick based on looks.

oddity 5y ago

It is. From the article: > Vincent Gomes, a chemical engineer at the University of Sydney, and his team, including Labna Shabnam, are turning waste from the world’s smelliest fruit, durian, and the world’s largest fruit, jackfruit, into a supercapacitor that can charge mobile phones, tablets and laptops within minutes. > Supercapacitors are an alternative way of storing energy. They act like reservoirs, able to quickly charge and then discharge energy in bursts. They tend to be made out of expensive materials like graphene, but Gomes’ team has turned inedible parts of durian and jackfruit into carbon aerogels – porous super-light solids – with “exceptional” natural energy storage properties. They heated, freeze-dried and then baked the inedible spongey core of each fruit in an oven at temperatures of more than 1,500C (2732F). The black, highly porous, ultralight structures they were left with could then be fashioned into electrodes of a low-cost supercapacitor.

Ansil849 5y ago

> The guy at the checkout register told me that I wouldn’t like it and called for someone to put it back in the freezer. This would warrant a conversation with the manager. Service employees who claim to know what's best for me are a huge annoyance. Another example: one time I was ordering tea at a restaurant and asked for sugar. The waitress had the nerve to tell me sugar is bad for me and I shouldn't have any.

missedthecue 5y ago
Often times at small Asian grocers, the service employee is the manager
account42 5y ago
Oh come on, that clerk is probably just tired of people returning the durian thinking that it was spoiled. It really is something that a lot of people won't like but might pick based on looks.