a compound called
amygdalin that’s part
of the fruit’s defense
system. If you crush or
chew apple seeds, the
amygdalin can degrade
into hydrogen cyanide,
which can be lethal
in high doses. But it
would take at least
160 apple seeds to put
an adult’s life at risk.10
Displaying
your apples in a
bowl on a table
might look as pretty as
a painting, but if you
want them to last, store
them in the fridge, as
lower temperatures
slow the ripening pro-
cess. Farmers can keep
their fruit in plain old
cold storage for a
month or two; most ap-
ple varieties won’t keep
much longer than that.11
The enzyme that
causes apples to
brown isn’t allbad. It also counteracts
the pungent compounds
in garlic. That’s right:
Eating an apple will kill
a case of garlic breath.12
How did this
earthy fruit
become the
symbol of one of the
world’s wealthiest cor-
porations? One day in
the mid-1970s, Steve
Wozniak picked up
Steve Jobs at the air-
port. The paperwork
for their nascent com-
puter company was due
the next day, according
to Walter Isaacson’s bi-
ography of Jobs. As it
happened, Jobs had
just been pruning apple
trees in Oregon, and
when the men started
throwing around po-
tential names (Matrix,
Executek, and Personal
Computers Inc. were
among their ideas),
he suggested Apple
Computer. “It soundedfun, spirited, and not
intimidating. Apple
took the edge off the
word computer,” Jobs
said. “Plus, it would get
us ahead of Atari in the
phone book.”13
Unfortunately,
this wasn’t the
first supergroup
to use Apple as its
corporate moniker. In
1968, the Beatles
formed Apple Corps to
represent their creative
interests. After Apple
Computer rose to
prominence, the two
companies worked
out an agreement that
Apple Computer would
keep its logo and name
out of the music busi-
ness. That changed in
2003, when Apple be-
gan selling music
through iTunes. It took
seven more years be-
fore the Beatles finally
let it be, and let iTunes
carry their music.Personal Bond
My twin brother called me from prison.
He said, “So you know how we finish each other’s sentences?”
thejenkinscomic on reddit.comReader’s Digest 13 Things
48 september 2019 | rd.com