The other day, I saw an excerpt from some self-book or other telling me it’s never too late to change — attitudes, convictions, hairstyles, even careers. So, since I Love true-crime books, documentaries, and TV programs so much, I’m going to change careers and become a private detective. Plus, I have an idea for the perfect sleuthing tool. More on that shortly. But first, this:
A Botanical Interlude
Most people think yams and sweet potatoes are the same. But at least according to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, they’re not. They are, in fact, botanically distinct root vegetables from different plant families. Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are roots from the morning glory family. Yams, on the other hand (Dioscorea species), are tubers from the yam Family, which has no cousins or other relatives, however distant, in the morning glory family (with the possible exception of Uncle Bert, whose nose looked like a rather unsightly spud). Yams are typically larger (up to several feet long, like the prize-winning Franklin Delano Roosevelt lookalike yam that took first prize at the New York World’s Fair 1939-1940), starchier, and less sweet, with rough, scaly brown skin and white or yellowish flesh.
In the United States and Canada, sweet potato and yam are often used interchangeably because, in the 1030s, the National Sweet Potato Association (now the United States Sweet Potato Council) sought to differentiate orange-fleshed sweet potatoes from the paler varieties by labeling them yams. As a result, what we see labeled as yams in most grocery stores in the United States, Canada, and the Lesser Antilles are actually a firm variety of sweet potato with orange flesh and smoother, reddish-brown skin. Hence, my perfect sleuthing tool.
The Art of Misdirection
Whenever I interview a suspect, a material witness, or anyone with any information, however tangential or peripheral to a case I’m working, I’m going to put a miniature video recorder in a yam. Then, to misdirect the subject, I’m going to put the yam right on the table.
When the subject sees the yam, he’s likely to ask, “Is that a sweet potato?”
“No,” I’ll answer calmly as I pick up the yam and wave it around to get a panoramic view of the room. “In fact, we’ve been conned.”
Then I’ll go into the history of the United States, Canada, the Lesser Antilles, and The Great Yam Scam. That’ll lull the subject into false senses of Security and curiosity, distract his attention from the fact that’s he’s being interviewed, and incline him to spill his guts.
I’ll be candid enough to tell you I haven’t patented the Yam Cam yet. And I’ll be charitable enough to suggest, if you’re inclined to try my technique or to try to beat me to the patent, don’t try it with a Russet, a Yukon Gold, a Red Bliss, or an Adirondack Blue. I conducted focus groups before I developed my MVP (minimum viable product) for the Yam Cam. Nobody fell for potatoes, regardless of the variety.
Remember: When it comes to interviewing tools, if it’s not yam, it’s just a sham.
P.S. The quote at the end of the video is from my short story, “True Grime: A Drake Manning Mystery”.
Originally Published on https://www.bizcatalyst360.com/category/lifecolumns/notes-to-self/
