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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Open Thread

by John Cole|  July 5, 20195:11 pm| 51 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Fuck japanese beetles.

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Previous Post: « Allow Me a Moment to Bitch About My Garden
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Reader Interactions

51Comments

  1. 1.

    namekarB

    July 5, 2019 at 5:15 pm

    Teeny condoms optional

  2. 2.

    germy

    July 5, 2019 at 5:16 pm

    A parable, to begin: in 2016, the 136 military bands maintained by the Department of Defense, employing more than 6,500 full-time professional musicians at an annual cost of about $500 million, caught the attention of budget-cutters worried about surging federal deficits. Immediately memos flew and lobbyists descended. The Government Accountability Office, laying the groundwork for another study or three, opined, “The military services have not developed objectives and measures to assess how their bands are addressing the bands’ missions, such as inspiring patriotism.” Supporters of the 369th Infantry Regiment band noted that it had introduced jazz to Europe during World War I. How could such a history be left behind? A blues band connected effectively with Russian soldiers in Bosnia in 1996, another proponent argued, proving that bands are, “if anything, an incredibly cost-effective supplement” to the Pentagon’s then $4.5 billion public affairs budget.

    When the dust cleared, funding for the bands was not cut, because the political cost entailed in reducing the number of them by, say, half would have been enormous. The resulting $250 million in annual savings, on the other hand, while a significant sum for most government agencies, would have produced the almost unnoticeable difference of three one-hundredths of one percent in the Pentagon budget.

    The sheer size of the military establishment and the habit of equating spending on it with patriotism make both sound management and serious oversight of defense expenditures rare. As a democracy, we are on an unusual and risky path. For several decades, we have maintained an extraordinarily high level of defense spending with the support of both political parties and virtually all of the public. The annual debate about the next year’s military spending, underway now on Capitol Hill, no longer probes where real cuts might be made (as opposed to cuts in previously planned growth) but only asks how big the increase should be.

    https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/07/18/americas-indefensible-defense-budget/

  3. 3.

    Larry B

    July 5, 2019 at 5:17 pm

    Try milky spores and nematodes. These things live underground as grubs. ID where in the lawn they’re coming from and treat. Milky spore basically infects them and kills the grubs. One treatment lasts up to 20 years, but takes a while to get established. That’s where the nematodes come in. Immediate predators. Good luck.

  4. 4.

    Betty Cracker

    July 5, 2019 at 5:26 pm

    Marianne Williamson will be in the next debate. Whatever we’re doing that resulted in that outcome was the wrong thing to do.

  5. 5.

    Brachiator

    July 5, 2019 at 5:30 pm

    @Larry B:

    Try milky spores and nematodes

    I always liked the word “nematodes.”

  6. 6.

    Danielx

    July 5, 2019 at 5:31 pm

    @Larry B:
    Amen to spores. Take a while to work but then problem is gone.

  7. 7.

    Duane

    July 5, 2019 at 5:34 pm

    It is futile to resist. Welcome your new Japanese Beetle overlords.

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    July 5, 2019 at 5:36 pm

    @Brachiator: Me too, and I’m not sure exactly why. ?

  9. 9.

    Ken

    July 5, 2019 at 5:44 pm

    And if the nematodes somehow become a problem, you can introduce a different fungal spore to control them.

    (It must be thirty years since I first heard of those fungi, but a microscopic fungus that lassos and strangles worms is memorable.)

  10. 10.

    Aleta

    July 5, 2019 at 5:46 pm

    how to feed J beetles to ducks
    https://www.tyrantfarms.com/when-life-gives-you-japanese-beetles-make-duck-eggs/

    Look out for them on your paw paws too.

  11. 11.

    dsc

    July 5, 2019 at 5:49 pm

    in the other thread I posted this:

    we use the nematodes from this place to control fleas (we have SIX dogs and 4 cats)–I cannot recommend them enough–get some of these:

    https://www.arbico-organics.com/category/japanese-beetles-control

  12. 12.

    Jay

    July 5, 2019 at 5:55 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    4chan/8chan/Nazis/Deplorables and Russians all amplified her to ratfuck.

    Paypalling $5 to aid in ratfucking of Democratic Primaries in a crowdsourced campaign isn’t that hard now.

    They were less sucessful with Andrew Yang.

  13. 13.

    Steeplejack

    July 5, 2019 at 6:03 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    I have been laughing, but in a “Wait, what?” kind of way, about the “Four Stages of Marianne Williamson” since last week. Paraphrasing, since I can’t find the Twitter link:

    1. “LOL, did you see Marianne Williamson on the debate last night? What a nut!”

    2. “Did you see Marianne Williamson on Kimmel last night? She made some good points.”

    3. “I didn’t really think she would got this far.”

    4. “I have some issues with President Williamson’s crystal tariffs.”

  14. 14.

    Ohio Mom

    July 5, 2019 at 6:09 pm

    @Jay: I believe you (and the idea that things are so easily manipulated is frightening and maddening) but the logic of promoting Marianne Williamson escapes me.

    I mean, if your goal is to screw things up, why not stay with Bernie? Keep his numbers inflated, he’s a proven wrench in the works.

    Not that it means anything, but the people I know who went with (winces) Bernie and Jill Stein would definitely never go for Williamson. They are not into woo.

  15. 15.

    Timurid

    July 5, 2019 at 6:15 pm

    TORA! TORA! TORA!

  16. 16.

    debbie

    July 5, 2019 at 6:16 pm

    @Jay:

    Republicans did the same (at Rush’s urging) for Hillary Clinton in 2008 to hurt Barack Obama in the primaries.

  17. 17.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 5, 2019 at 6:17 pm

    @germy: At one point my daughter (not military in any way) thought of trying out for one of those bands. She has a Master’s in performance from a university you’ve heard of, and she ended up abandoning the plan because she came to realize she wasn’t good enough. Those are very serious, very high-level musicians.

  18. 18.

    Steve in the ATL

    July 5, 2019 at 6:17 pm

    @Ohio Mom: my Wilmer-then-Stein-because-OMG-Hillary is the devil relative grew up in Winetka and now lives off the grid in Vermont.

  19. 19.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 5, 2019 at 6:21 pm

    @Ohio Mom: Define “Woo”.

  20. 20.

    Jay

    July 5, 2019 at 6:22 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    It’s 4chan/8chan/Nazis/Deplorables with Russians piling on.

    Not really genius grade, a culture deeply juvenile, edgelordy and invested in the LUTZ.

    On the other hand, Maryanne’s “Woo” can be weaponized to tar a percentage of “Democratic Party Voters” as West Coast Granola Brained Gwennithy Paltrow Eggist Elitists completely out of touch with Real America.

    And of course, this was a trial run that can be more effectively targeted, later in the Primaries.

  21. 21.

    Betsy

    July 5, 2019 at 6:23 pm

    Keep on doing things organically and biologically and the pest issues will sort themselves out. It will take a few years, but each year it will get better until your yard and garden are quite balanced and you will not have big problems, only a bit of damage here and there, but Nothing to worry much about. The thing is if you go organic eventually the predatory insects on your pests will be able to reproduce and control them for you.

  22. 22.

    Betsy

    July 5, 2019 at 6:24 pm

    I’ve worked that program on two yards now and it does really work. Seeing the dozens of dragonflies zooming back-and-forth, and the swallowtails and monarchs, and the happy birds eating your grubs for you, and the gorgeous moths and little lizards and tree frogs will make it all worthwhile.

  23. 23.

    Betsy

    July 5, 2019 at 6:26 pm

    Stuck in moderation

    (Unlike the Republican Party)

  24. 24.

    Jay

    July 5, 2019 at 6:28 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Gwenneth Paltrow Jade Eggs for a vaginal rejuvination.

    The majikal properties of visualization of masturbation and positive visualization.

    Woo is what New Age “spirituality” mostly concists of.

  25. 25.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 5, 2019 at 6:30 pm

    @Jay: Hmmm, sounds suspiciously like what Wilmer was trying to sell in 2016.

  26. 26.

    westyny

    July 5, 2019 at 6:32 pm

    What about Japanese stink beetles? Up here in the northeast they are a problem.

  27. 27.

    Aleta

    July 5, 2019 at 6:38 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: the opposite of ow! ?

  28. 28.

    Yutsano

    July 5, 2019 at 6:39 pm

    Alexandra Petri remains a national treasure. That’s all.

  29. 29.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    July 5, 2019 at 6:39 pm

    @germy: You start trying to get rid of Military Bands and my husband (former Marine Bandsman) would cause him to go full anti MAGA and suddenly VERY political.

  30. 30.

    Feathers

    July 5, 2019 at 6:41 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: The bands are amazing. What should be done is to stop or seriously slow down recruiting of musicians, and reduce the size of the program by consolidating bands as membership drops.

    Other countries are appalled by the level of interservice rivalry we put up with. It severely undercuts readiness and future planning.

    Also, we really need that money at home to deal with the transition to a non-fossil fuel economy and infrastructure.

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 5, 2019 at 6:42 pm

    @Aleta: I am very familiar with “Ow!”, and I got morphine for an “Ow!” once which was… well… really pretty special. I thought maybe that was like “Woo.”

  32. 32.

    Jay

    July 5, 2019 at 6:44 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Similar but different.

    Universal Basic Income unbacked by any plan to fund it or strategy and tactics to pass it,

    vs

    Shiny chrystals hung in the window that will bathe you in ancient earth rays that will bring true love, restorative healing and prosperity.

  33. 33.

    Sherparick

    July 5, 2019 at 6:46 pm

    @Brachiator: I did not know about nematodes, but milky spores really help.

  34. 34.

    donnah

    July 5, 2019 at 6:47 pm

    When I was a little girl, I got to spend two weeks every summer at my grandparent’s place outside of Whitesville, West Virginia. Grandma still had a wringer washer and we kids were the helpers who hung the skinny, thin bath towels on the clothesline. The towels came in boxes of Breeze back then, and they were nearly transparent, but we had to hang them up to dry.

    Japanese beetles loved them. Our second job was to pluck the beetles from the towels. I hated it because they were bitey and prickly and I didn’t want to spend my precious time picking beetles.

    Most of our time was wonderful, but Japanese beetles were a sore spot.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 5, 2019 at 6:48 pm

    @Jay: I’s cornfoosed, still seems the same to me. ;-) Off to feed chickens and make dinner.

  36. 36.

    Jay

    July 5, 2019 at 6:49 pm

    @Feathers:

    There’s a massively huge chunk of the Pentagon/MIC welfare that can be cut with out affecting National Defence and Lost Wars, that should be way up on the list above Military Band Programs.

    And it’s one of the few ways that the US Government actually supports “Arts”.

  37. 37.

    Luciamia

    July 5, 2019 at 6:51 pm

    Sometimes hand picking is t best you can do. I dropped them in a mason jar of water.

  38. 38.

    Jay

    July 5, 2019 at 6:54 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    For when you come back,

    One is a “good” idea in our changing economy with no plan to achieve it,

    The other is just wishes blowing on the breeze.

    Bernie has an idea,

    Warren has a plan,

    Willamson has pixie dust.

  39. 39.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 5, 2019 at 7:01 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    my Wilmer-then-Stein-because-OMG-Hillary is the devil relative grew up in Winetka and now lives off the grid in Vermont.

    Winnetka, Illinois?

  40. 40.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 5, 2019 at 7:03 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    if your goal is to screw things up, why not stay with Bernie?

    He’s so 2016. Need a younger, crackier crackpot for 2020.

  41. 41.

    wasabi gasp

    July 5, 2019 at 7:06 pm

    Take this brother, may it serve you well.

  42. 42.

    Brachiator

    July 5, 2019 at 7:10 pm

    @Jay:

    Woo is what New Age “spirituality” mostly concists of.

    Same as it ever was. For example, Franz Mesmer and “animal magnetism” in the 18th century.

  43. 43.

    Another Scott

    July 5, 2019 at 7:14 pm

    @Steeplejack: James Poniewozik‘s tweet in question.

    Genius.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  44. 44.

    Ohio Mom

    July 5, 2019 at 7:18 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: Woo (to me at least) is shorthand for New Age belief systems. Stuff like picture prosperity and you will attract the wealth you imagine.

    The people I know who couldn’t be convinced to vote for Hillary are more into heightening contradictions, not self-involved self-improvement. Not that my acquaintances are a scientific sampling.

  45. 45.

    Jay

    July 5, 2019 at 7:22 pm

    @debbie:

    It’s different post 2016.

    There’s a bunch of data/node wonks, ( often Antifia connected) monitering social media in almost real time, and mapping it, then publishing it.

    Razz for example mapped out the “Kamela Harris isn’t Black” meme and in two days isolated 87% of the traffic to 28 accounts with 370 “bots” mirroring their posts, of which 21 accounts were engaged in digital blackface.

    Being able to see the ratfucking in almost real time allows both the Campaign and “those concerned with Democracy” to counter, deflate, call out and deplatform in almost real time.

    An example. When the MiniAOC account mocking AOC and the Children in Concentration Camps went semi viral, it was quickly called out, ( for belittling the Concentration Camps and the “father” pimping out his 8 year old daughter, with no social media safety filters. The moron listed phone numbers and personal email).

    The account was quickly taken down. BS claims were made about death threats, more than likely, pimping his daughter out for money to “entertain” at “events”, ( gatherings of drunken AOC obsessed MAGAt perverts), drew a Child Protective Services phone call.

    Within 4 hours the account was back up, mirrored under a different nym, ( still no social media protection filters) and “found” in less than 2 hours, and exposed, by algorythmic image filters and searches.

    The ratfuckers are too lazy to build a new site, with origional images, and instead, reuse visual elements that are quickly found out.

  46. 46.

    Ken

    July 5, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    @Feathers:

    Other countries are appalled by the level of interservice rivalry we put up with.

    Charles Stross alluded to this in one of his Laundry novels. Say you’re the US and you want to invade some little island in the Caribbean. Do you use the Army, the Navy, or the Navy’s Army (that is, the Marines?) And for air support, do you use the Air Force, the Naval Aviators, or the Navy’s Army’s Air force (that is, the Marine Air Corps)?

    The one thing he missed is that, interservice rivalry being what it is, you have to use all of them.

  47. 47.

    Steve in the ATL

    July 5, 2019 at 7:36 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: yes, indeed

  48. 48.

    BruceJ

    July 5, 2019 at 7:48 pm

    @Ken: @Ken:
    If you’re China you use the Peoples Liberation Army Navy Marine Air Force to do it…

  49. 49.

    Steeplejack

    July 5, 2019 at 8:59 pm

    @Another Scott:

    “Crystal tariffs” was killer.

    And yet that’s all too similar to the process that gave us Trump. Ugh.

  50. 50.

    Olivia

    July 5, 2019 at 10:42 pm

    Last year we used plastic bag traps with pheromone to attract the beetles. We put them on the far end of the property and we needed to empty the bags about twice a week at first and the population gradually dropped off. Emptying them regularly is very important or they start smelling like a dead racoon in 95 degree heat.

  51. 51.

    Dan B

    July 6, 2019 at 7:53 pm

    @Jay: It’s interesting that a few antifa folks can stamp out bots but Facebook, Twitter, and Google can’t.

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