Today’s story is brought to you by potatoes. After all, I grew up in Idaho, speak Russian and have red hair.  Potatoes are very near to my heart.  =)

So anyways, the middle of the 19th century in Ireland was a horrible time. From 1845 to 1849 (some say 1851), the potatoes rotted in the ground from a horrible oomycete called “Potato Blight”.  This time is known as “The Great Irish Famine”.

Well, one evening during the famine, three farmers were gathered in a local public house sipping Guinness.

The first farmer was crying into his stout. “I can’t believe I planted an acre of potatoes and it all rotted in the field from the blight. Now I have no food for my family.  I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

The second farmer joined in. “And I planted two acres of potatoes and it also rotted in the field from the blight. I also have no food for my family. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

The third farmer just sat back with a big smile on his face, close to laughing. The other two farmers looked at him with utter shock. “Why the big smile,” they asked, “all of our potatoes are gone.  We’ll probably have to emigrate to America, work in a factory, and never see our beloved homeland again.”

The third farmer kept his wide grin, leaned in and answered, “I might not have any food, but I sure as well didn’t plant any potatoes.”

(You guys are great, no really. Try the veal.  Tip your waitresses, they work hard for you.  I’ll be here all week.)

And yes, by this time you’re wondering what this has to do with information security^wsurvivability (see, I pay attention, Hoff).  Well, it’s a classic case of risk avoidance, but either way, starving is starving.

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