I think these are the forerunners to the pod people, Mr. Decker:

Sunday August 22, 9:09 PM

Britain may face invasion of giant grasshoppers

LONDON, Aug 22 - Swarms of giant grasshoppers could invade Britain from continental Europe and devour crops and gardens across the country, a scientist said on Sunday.

The "superhoppers", up to 12 cm (nearly five inches) long and eight times as hungry as most British grasshoppers, are usually found in Spain and France but could spread thanks to global warming, entomologist Peter McEwen said in a statement.

"The recent hot weather in the UK will only serve to encourage the invasion," said McEwen, research director of Insect Investigations, owned by Cardiff University's School of Biosciences.

The spread of the insecticide-resistant bug could be aided by increased cross-border travel between Britain and the continent by car, rail and air, he said.

The grasshoppers have not caused widespread damage elsewhere in Europe, but McEwen told Reuters that the impact of insects outside their natural habitat was unpredictable.

http://www.yahoo.co.uk/headlines/19990822/news/0935356347-0000058199.html

-- a (a@a.a), August 22, 1999

Answers

And what if the little buggers get into our Coco Puffs, which already contain mind controlling substances, as per the rumor double Decker is spreading a few threads downward?

Could be worse, though -- could be COCKROACHES!! Right, Ken? (The horror, the horror.)

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), August 22, 1999.

Cute. Here's a bug not present in GB, and not causing problems where it's found. But it *might* migrate, and *might* cause trouble if it does. You never know. Gotta hand it to 'a' for finding yet another reason why y2k will be bad and life is getting worse, even if it won't be and isn't.

A 5-inch grasshopper? Kewl.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), August 22, 1999.

Bloody foreigners...

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 22, 1999.

Yes Flint, an insect that's a full three inches larger than your manhood.

And FLint, I thought the story was interesting because it *might* be another reason to store some extra food. Did I hear you say on another thread you are up to 5 years supply now? Why store so much if y2k is to be, as you say, "insignificant?"

-- a (a@a.a), August 22, 1999.

Clueless Flint: Doesn't even take global warming, and they don't need to be 5".

Remember, I post a phrase often, here -- "Evolution in Action" -- usually I apply it to humans, like the clueless will definitely be toast, and those prepared will have a better chance of making it.

Applies to other critters, big and small. Insecticides are the chemical industry's way of helping to create hardier and hardier bugs. Some always get away, whether luck or resistance, and they breed more, better resistant to the spray of the day.

Same with germs -- I saw an article the other day that a virulent strain of staph, somewhere in upper midwest USA, previously found only in hospitals, is now in "the wild."

Also, you ever have the clap? That penicillin shot that would have cured it 20 years ago is now just a snack for the new varieties.

Do you get paid to be an optimist, like Kosky, or are you clueless?

-- A (A@AisA.com), August 22, 1999.

'a':

Jealousy doesn't become you at all. But no, I haven't increased my storage of food to 5 years (space is limited, and full). But I did mention that I just finished hauling, splitting and stacking 5 cords of firewood. A bad winter here requires up to 4 cords, so I should be safe with what I have. And I might add a couple more cords, if I can find it for free.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), August 22, 1999.

Flint -- sounds like you ARE in pretty good shape (not clueless). So what's with so many of your posts?

-- A (A@AisA.com), August 22, 1999.

Ever had Grasshopper Pie? Want the recipe?

-- Grass Hopper Pie (grasshopper@grasshopperr.com), August 23, 1999.

I'll tell you something weird. My parents live about 15 miles southwest of Cleveland, Ohio. A few months ago the whole area had an invasion of locusts. Not all of Cleveland. Just the area mid-way between Cleveland and Akron.

The locusts were everywhere and eating everything. Each day dad went out and tried to knock them off the trees, and smashed them. Mom & dad were constantly killing and scooping up these things. Herbicides wouldn't work. This went on for 3-4 weeks. It was a part of our weekly phone calls. They described to me how they could tell when new locusts would be "born". I can't remember. So don't ask me.

But, it was really weird. Eventually all of the locusts died, after creating a lot of havoc.

I guess it never got publicized (except in Cleveland and Akron) because it was in such a limited geographical area. My sister lives on the west side of Cleveland and they didn't have a problem with locusts. But, my parents sure did. As I recall, the locusts came out of the ground. Real creepy.

-- Cheryl (Transplant@Oregon.com), August 23, 1999.

I forgot --- the windows and screens were covered with these things. And they were getting in the homes. These locusts just weren't on trees! YECH

-- Cheryl (Transplant@Oregon.com), August 23, 1999.

Cheryl, we had locusts here in the lower Midwest last year by the millions. They chewed on the underside of tree limbs and weakened some of the trees so badly that this year, with the heat and lack of rain, many of the trees have died. It's very scary. We've have three large trees die and several smaller ones.

My neighbors have lost seven trees and with this heat, the shade is really missed.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), August 23, 1999.

Time to outlaw all those nasty, carbon spewing volcano's.

-- CygnusXI (noburnt@toast.net), August 23, 1999.

Question on this global warming thing.

A few weeks back when it was HOT all over the country, we were breaking records down here that were set in 1878. We hit 105 a couple days in a row and broke 121 year old records by one degree.

Doesn't that mean that it was HOT back then too?? Not so sure I buy this global warming thing.

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), August 23, 1999.

Doesn't that mean that it was HOT back then too?? Not so sure I buy this global warming thing.

No, of course you don't. Because you're a died in the wool ("y2k will be a 0") pollyanna who thinks bad things can't happen and technology will right all wrongs.

The difference Deano, is that in the 1800's we didn't have billions of carbon dioxide producing machines and factories, we weren't deforesting the planet at the rate of 214,000 acres per day, and the population of humans was 900 million not 6+ billion.

The capacity of the world's atmosphere, oceans and land mass is not infinite, as once believed. If you don't believe global warming is real, you are not looking at the evidence.

-- a (a@a.a), August 23, 1999.

Professor a

I like the name-calling dipshit.

So you're saying that 105 degrees today is hotter than 105 degrees back then?? Actually, coming from you professor a, that makes sense.....

I should have prefaced my reply with "CAUTION - COMMON SENSE REQUIRED TO UNDERSTAND".

Do we know what the temp was back on 8/1/1505? or 6/5/1600?? or 7/7/1000?? I don't think we do. How do you know it's warming if you have nothing to compare it to but the last 125 years of the planet's life??? Not a good comparison for something that is MILLIONS OF YEARS OLD.

Enlighten me a........this I gotta hear!!

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), August 23, 1999.

Deano: To use the record temperature a city in Florida as an indication of whether global warming is real is asinine. I don't have time to teach you climatology 101, but I will say that global warming is measured in tenths of a degree. It's the warming of the whole planet, oceans included, not something you can read off your backyard thermometer.

You have taken the same fallacious approach with y2k. Locally, you feel y2k is not a problem, because you happen to work for a company that has done a good job of remediating. You then mistaken assume that y2k will not be a problem globally, when all of the available evidence (not happy face corporate & government PR) indicates otherwise.

-- a (a@a.a), August 23, 1999.

a

I tried like hell to get you to use common sense.......oh well.....

I was trying to say 'if it was 104 back in 1878 it musta been hot back then too'.

I understand what you're saying a, all I'm saying is that we haven't even begun to start compiling the data necessary to determine if there is global warming. To this date - it's all theory. We're extremely young in this field.

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), August 23, 1999.

Deano: I agree there's not much data...but what data there is is alarming. And the thing about global warming is that because the effects are cumulative over time, if it's real, it may already be too late to reverse.

My "common sense" tells me we are screwing up the ecosystem and the responsible thing thing to do is curb emissions, deforestation, and all those farting cows waiting to be turned into McMeals.

-- a (a@a.a), August 23, 1999.

a

For once, we're in agreement. Ain't no doubt we're slowly but surely screwing up Mother Earth. I spend some time with Freinds of the Ocean and it's not a pretty sight. Some things are getting better while others are getting worse.

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), August 23, 1999.

Hi, I have to agree with Flint.This is just a story to scare up business for a commercially run company,Insect Investigations.No giant insects here in the UK...unless of course one obscured the sun & caused the ecclipse last week.

Past temperatures.???Palaeoclimatology & palaeoecology are both scientific disciplines that provide this kind of evidence.Neither are new sciences.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), August 23, 1999.

What to look at is the NUMBER of new highs set in the last 10/15 years.

Maybe we can handle a little global warming, if you don't care about seaports getting flooded.

A more immediate, big problem -- due to people breeding with no more thought of consequence than cats, dogs, rats -- is the "emptying" of the oceans of fish. Fleets from different countries are now having to go a third of the way around the world to catch stuff. Some countries are getting a little testy about others in their waters, poaching "their" fish.

-- A (A@AisA.com), August 23, 1999.