In tracking plant data, keep your head up

摘要

In the 1990s, I invested in Pokemon cards. By "invested" I mean I bought a lot of them for my kids, and they played with them before discarding them on the floor of their bedroom and ultimately gave them away or sold them or threw them out. It was no different than my parents "investing" in baseball cards for me in the 1960s only to have me put them in the spokes of my bicycle wheels. Pokemon, for those without kids in their 20s, was a bit of Japanese marketing genius that included cartoons, game cards, video games, and stuffed animals and a whole mythology that allowed you to "train" your character to engage in these virtual battles. The cards themselves became valuable for a while, like Beanie Babies and Cabbage Patch Kids, and then they weren't valuable any more.