'Another thing to worry about..'
C
On 10/22/2010 7:40 AM, ____ wrote:
Hi Gang!
Well, here on the eastern coast (right coast) of the United States,
we have a new thing to worry about. Several years ago, a shipping
container, one of those truck sized boxes, arrived in Allentown, Pennsylvania,
from China. When the importer opened the container, he found it was swarming
with Chinese stink bugs. Chinese stink bugs are stone grey, have wings, and
are about the size of your thumb nail. When you scare them, or crush them, they
stink badly!
Last summer, we in Maryland, saw Chinese stink bugs for the first time, and they
were a curious sight. But we thought nothing of it.
This summer, the state of Maryland was swarming with Chinese stink bugs. Our
farmers, of which I am one, have been devastated by the critters. Maryland lost
its entire peach and nectarine crop to them. We lost our entire tomato, squash,
and pepper crop. What happens is they swarm in, pierce the green fruit with their
sharp pointed mouth thing, and suck out juices. While doing this, they insert
bacteria. Before the fruit has a chance to ripen, it rots. Insecticides don't
work because the bugs don't nest in the crop area, they swarm in from elsewhere,
do their deed, and swarm out.
Why am I telling you this?
Well, when the weather gets cooler, Chinese stink bugs go looking for nooks and
crannies in which to weather over the winter. They come into our houses, trucks,
office buildings, etc. in droves. And they crawl into the little openings in
anything, including electronic test equipment.
A week ago, I needed to do some milling, and I pressed the ON button on my
mill, and its contactor went "BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA". Although it turned the
mill on, it was humming super loudly. When I opened the controller box, it stunk
of smashed Chinese stink bugs. I'll leave it to your imagination what had
happened.
They are in everything. When they get squished, the liquid they release is
corrosive. If it gets on soft skin, like around your eyes, it burns, and will
raise a welt that turns into a weepy scab... typical chemical burn.
For you folks living outside of the USA, don't be so smug! We will certainly be
shipping some of these bugs to you in any international packages we send. You
are next. And like the USA, you don't have anything that will kill and eat these
foul insects.
Thanks China! You have taken our jobs, and in return given us cheap poorly
made trash. Now you have invaded our country with stink bugs, black mussels,
snake head fish, bed bugs, ... what's next?
-Ch___ ____
h___
Different problem out here in the Midwest. The Emerald Beetle is killing
trees everywhere.
At the farm (SE Iowa) we are losing a windbreak of about 50 75 foot tall
long needle pine and about 10 of the drooping Chinese short needle pines
due to the Emerald beetle. Trees were planted in rows in 1970 and the
damage started two years ago.
Needle clusters start turning brown and within a summer or two they are
dead and drop all the needles.
Some other types of trees are presently lessor affected for now.
Then we also have a Mississippi River full of Asian Flying Carp. Makes a
fast boat ride interesting.
H___
Personally ... I'm grateful to be uninformed (along with that Murican Std, misinformed) ... re. maybe the next 1000? 'little things' that are eating at the carcass of the Land of, WhatMeWorry.
Somehow though, Chinese Stink Bugs just seems to capture the absurdity of | and the other Side to | the abject dismantling, surrendering, rebuilding-Elsewhere: of ALL the Stuff-making-shit which fed that MuricanDream
(that which kept all the proles punching those time clocks, getting paid flat-line/no-raises for decades) -- you know, a kind of rote 'order'?
And now there's Nothing cohesive to replace that carefully-manicured illusion, except more and more visceral ad-hominems and other hate-speech, currently one of our remaining Products for home-consumption.
But I'm sure we can export that, too - it needs no machine tools nor machinists. Perfect 'product'.
You couldn't sell our dismantling saga as a horror flick -- no one would believe the premise.
There's humor in it all, of course, but why spoil a Gothic tale?
