We've had one sign of the apocalypse, yes...

[NeuroTypical]

...but what about second sign of the apocalypse?

The next periodical emergence of the 13-year and 17-year cicada broods is happening in 2024. The last time these insects co-emerged was in 1803, while Thomas Jefferson was president.

Periodical cicadas - Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

"Hello, I'd like to talk to you about your car's home warranty?"

[Carborendum]

2 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

"Hello, I'd like to talk to you about your car's home warranty?"

Oh! My gosh!  It really is the apocalypse!

[mirkwood]

I've seen horror movies about giant insects.

[LDSGator]

58 minutes ago, mirkwood said:

I've seen horror movies about giant insects.

I vaguely remember a B-movie about a bunch of kids getting threatened by a swarm of bees on a school bus.  

[mikbone]

Have you ever heard a swarm of these?  So freaking loud.

[NeuroTypical]

Somewhere near Vernal is a mountain that sees some sort of massive bug activity just about every year.  For whatever reason, my in-laws like visiting there to "see the bugs".  So we drive up the mountain for 30 minutes with the radio turned up loud so we can't hear the crackle-squish as we drive over them.   Then we get out of the car and watch the entire landscape move for 5 minutes.  Then I nope out early and drive back down, with the radio even louder, because everything we squished is now surrounded by 10 bugs eating the squished one, so we're running over 10X what we were before. 

I guess they weren't cicadas or crickets, because other than the squish and the sound of the wind, it was totally silent.  That made it even more freaky - couldn't even hear any scuttling noises.  

[shudder]

[mikbone]

[Carborendum]

30 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

Somewhere near Vernal is a mountain that sees some sort of massive bug activity just about every year.  For whatever reason, my in-laws like visiting there to "see the bugs".  So we drive up the mountain for 30 minutes with the radio turned up loud so we can't hear the crackle-squish as we drive over them.   Then we get out of the car and watch the entire landscape move for 5 minutes.  Then I nope out early and drive back down, with the radio even louder, because everything we squished is now surrounded by 10 bugs eating the squished one, so we're running over 10X what we were before. 

I guess they weren't cicadas or crickets, because other than the squish and the sound of the wind, it was totally silent.  That made it even more freaky - couldn't even hear any scuttling noises.  

[shudder]

Box elder bugs are a common pest in that area.  They can be cannibalistic with their dead.  And they don't make a lot of noise.

Could that have been your bugs?

[zil2]

23 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

Box elder bugs are a common pest in that area.  They can be cannibalistic with their dead.  And they don't make a lot of noise.

Could that have been your bugs?

If they were, @NeuroTypical was doing the universe a favor by driving over them by the thousands.

[NeuroTypical]

27 minutes ago, zil2 said:

If they were, @NeuroTypical was doing the universe a favor by driving over them by the thousands.

Sort of like a bizarro version of the starfish parable?

Them: "You can't hope to make a difference here - there are too many of them!"
Me (dripping with bug guts and looking wild-eyed): "It matters to this one! [squish]  And this one and this one and this one! [squishsquishsquish]"

[Carborendum]

16 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

Sort of like a bizarro version of the starfish parable?

Them: "You can't hope to make a difference here - there are too many of them!"
Me (dripping with bug guts and looking wild-eyed): "It matters to this one! [squish]  And this one and this one and this one! [squishsquishsquish]"

I can't stop laughing!!!

[askandanswer]

23 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

...but what about second sign of the apocalypse?

The next periodical emergence of the 13-year and 17-year cicada broods is happening in 2024. The last time these insects co-emerged was in 1803, while Thomas Jefferson was president.

Periodical cicadas - Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

"Hello, I'd like to talk to you about your car's home warranty?"

To modify a saying in the legal profession = there is no such thing as a natural disaster, there are only new investment opportunities. This looks like the ideal time to invest in crop companies that operate outside the infected areas. 

[mikbone]

25 minutes ago, askandanswer said:

To modify a saying in the legal profession = there is no such thing as a natural disaster, there are only new investment opportunities. This looks like the ideal time to invest in crop companies that operate outside the infected areas. 

The cicadas actually don’t eat hardly anything.

The birds go nuts and gorge on them though.  For a day or so then they get satiated. 

[mirkwood]

H.P. Lovecraft in his stories talked about how the "mad sawing" of crickets was actually the voices of demons speaking.  If that is accurate, the cicada is the master races of demons.