"Margaret Thatcher’s government spent £100,000 on a top-secret plan to 'bomb' Peru with voraciously hungry moths in a radical attempt to destroy cocaine crops."

The London Times reports.

The method is relatively cheap and simple. From what is known of Eloria [noyesi] it might be thought of as a ‘smart bomb’ with a very short range."...

 
"The moth is indigenous to Peru and is highly host-specific to the coca bush. There is no evidence of it feeding on other plants … Its use as a control agent could, therefore, be concealed."

I wonder what else has been going on in the use of tiny animals in warfare. I found this, at the History website: "Bugs of War: How Insects Have Been Weaponized Throughout History/For millennia, six-legged soldiers have been conscripted to torment enemies."

At the end of the 2nd century, the Roman emperor Septimius Severus was on his way to wresting control of Mesopotamia from the local monarchs.... As the Roman legions advanced on the desert stronghold of Hatra.... The defenders crafted earthenware bombshells loaded with scorpions.... As Severus’s men reached the walls of Hatra, scorpion bombs rained down....

More recently: 

During the Vietnam War, the Viet Cong dug a network of underground tunnels allowing them to decide when and where to fight.... Feeling his way through a dank passage, [an American] “tunnel rat” might overlook a trip wire and have a load of scorpions rain down from a hidden cavity in the roof. The Viet Cong also conscripted the Asian giant honeybee.... Soldiers gingerly relocated colonies to trails used by the Americans and then attached a small, explosive charge.... For their part, the U.S. military funded a research program to devise an apparatus to spray the Vietnamese enemy with the alarm pheromone of bees, thereby converting the local insects into fierce allies.... But the “weapon” was never deployed....

AND: Wikipedia has an article, "Entomological warfare."

Entomological warfare (EW) is a type of biological warfare that uses insects to interrupt supply lines by damaging crops, or to directly harm enemy combatants and civilian populations. There have been several programs which have attempted to institute this methodology; however, there has been limited application of entomological warfare against military or civilian targets, Japan being the only state known to have verifiably implemented the method against another state, namely the Chinese during World War II. However, EW was used more widely in antiquity, in order to repel sieges or cause economic harm to states. Research into EW was conducted during both World War II and the Cold War by numerous states such as the Soviet Union, United States, Germany and Canada. There have also been suggestions that it could be implemented by non-state actors in a form of bioterrorism. Under the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention of 1972, use of insects to administer agents or toxins for hostile purposes is deemed to be against international law.

A poster from 1942:

Tiny Althouse in the rain/frantic bee in the rose.

Videos by Meade:

Sunrise — 6:12 — and early afternoon — 1:00.

Talk about whatever you like in the comments. And please support the Althouse blog by doing your Amazon shopping going in through the Althouse Amazon link.

The sleeping bee.

At 5:33, this morning.

Man versus beast stories of the day.

1. "Man 'jumped' by coyote saves himself by strangling it for 10 minutes: 'Either him or me'" ("He jumped on me and I caught him in the air, he was biting me, and so when I threw him down and I’m trying to slide out of the way, he just kept coming.... I had to rip my left hand out of his mouth, and when I got my left hand out, I just choked him all the way till the police got there....")

2. "Man dies in bee attack despite frantic escape attempt that had him drive through neighbor’s yard" ("Stephen Daniel... frantically jumped into his vehicle to get away, but the bees followed him inside and continued to sting him until he crashed into Chrishae Cooper’s property...").

What does "Heavy on Buzz" even mean?

I'm trying to read Reid J. Epstein, in "Harris’s Early Campaign: Heavy on Buzz, Light on Policy/On policy, the vice president is drafting off President Biden, essentially cherry-picking the most popular parts of his agenda and betting that a younger messenger can sell them to Americans" (NYT).

When Hillary Clinton ran for president in 2016, she had more than 200 distinct policy proposals. Four years ago, Joseph R. Biden Jr. had a task force write a 110-page policy document for his White House bid.

Now, Vice President Kamala Harris does not have a policy page on her campaign website.

A last-minute campaign born of Mr. Biden’s depreciated political standing has so far been running mainly on Democratic good feelings and warmth toward Ms. Harris, drafting off legislation and proposed policies from the man she is hoping to succeed....

I made the link a free-access "gift" link so you can help me read this thing. I am irritated by the claims of "buzz" and "good feelings and warmth." We're being instructed on how to feel, but it seems to be about how other people feel, or so we are told. 

ADDED: Is there a shift going on? A week or so ago, it was all about how Kamala Harris feels. I made a tag "how does Kamala feel" because I thought that was the wrong focus. We were told she was "joyous." Obvious bullshit, of course, but that was the nature of the campaign — the purportedly heavy-on-buzz campaign. But now the NYT seems to be nudging us into thinking about how we the people feel, and we're supposed to feel good... good and warm... about Kamala.

AND: "Buzz" is a cool looking word.

There's no bees in baseball!

🐝🐝MUST SEE🐝🐝

- Bees delay Dodgers - Diamondbacks game 🐝

- Bee keeper comes in & removes the bees🐝

- then the bee keeper throws out the ceremonial first pitch!!!🐝

BEE MAN FOR MVP!!!🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 pic.twitter.com/RjVpIwX7CZ

— Darren M. Haynes (@DarrenMHaynes) May 1, 2024

Bees are back.

"After almost two decades of relentless colony collapse coverage and years of grieving suspiciously clean windshields, we were stunned to run the numbers on the new Census of Agriculture (otherwise known as that wonderful time every five years where the government counts all the llamas): America’s honeybee population has rocketed to an all-time high...."

Writes Andrew Van Dam in "Wait, does America suddenly have a record number of bees?" (WaPo)(free access link).

"'It is absolutely not a good thing for native pollinators,' said Eliza Grames, an entomologist at Binghamton University, who noted that domesticated honeybees are a threat to North America’s 4,000 native bees, about 40 percent of which are vulnerable to extinction.... 'You wouldn’t be like, "Hey, birds are doing great. We’ve got a huge biomass of chickens!" It’s kind of the same thing with honeybees,” she said. 'They’re domesticated. They’re essentially livestock.'..."

An intensely loved rose.

Video by Meade. It's a rugosa rose.

The friend who agrees with everything, Mick Jagger plays, regicide in the bee colony, what did Tolstoy have to say that is this much, raptor in the screen door.

An array of TikToks:

I've got 8 TikToks for you tonight. I hope something here is fun for you.

1. The bumblebee's tongue. 

2. The innocent dachshund. 

3. Jordan Peterson says: Marry young. 

4. Much more advice for guys. 

5. Cursing. Seriously, don't watch that unless you want to hear some hilarious, intense cursing.

6. The corn kid reflects on his retirement. 

7. The immigrant's point of view.

8. Vicious panda attack. 

The lake in the early evening — 5:55 and 5:47.

Talk about anything you want in the comments.

And here's a bee on that coneflower (video by Meade, unintended audio by me):

The NYT checks in on Wisconsin: "An unmown lawn in Appleton, Wis. By letting the grass grow long, plants typically identified as weeds were able to flower, providing important spring food for bees."

I'm quoting a caption for a photograph that shows a lot of dandelions blooming and going to seed.

The article's headline is "In Wisconsin: Stowing Mowers, Pleasing Bees/Can the No Mow May movement help transform the traditional American lawn — a manicured carpet of grass — into something more ecologically beneficial?" 

Appleton’s No Mow May initiative had a clear purpose: to save the bees — and not just honeybees (which are European imports), but also native bees, such as bumble bees, mining bees and sweat bees. Lawns typically provide poor habitat for bees. But if allowed to flower, lawn weeds — perhaps better characterized as plants other than grass — can provide rare spring food for bees emerging from hibernation.....

I think dandelions are a special problem. Why not sow clover?

"Office workers who were sent home during pandemic lockdowns often sought refuge in nature, tending to houseplants, setting up bird feeders..."

"... and sitting outdoors with their laptops. Now, as companies try to coax skittish employees back to the office and building owners compete for tenants when vacancy rates are soaring, many have hit on the idea of making the office world feel more like the natural world. The effort seeks to give office workers access to fresh air, sunlight and plants, in tune with the concept of biophilia, which says humans have an innate connection with nature. Designs that include nature are shown to promote health and wellness. Some of the more unusual nature-themed offering include 'treehouse' lounges and vegetable plots that let desk workers dig in the dirt. Beekeeping programs — complete with honey tastings and name-your-queen contests — are, ahem, all the buzz. One upcoming project in Texas will include a bird blind, allowing workers to peek out at other winged creatures."

From "Offices Dangle Beehives and Garden Plots to Coax Workers Back/The latest perks include harvesting honey and digging in the dirt, part of a growing effort to give employees access to fresh air, sunlight and plants" (NYT).

It seems like kindergarten — honey tastings and name-your-queen contests. Would you respond to an office that tried to manage your mood like this? I would be coaxed into an office space that was beautifully designed overall, as a matter of architecture, but vegetable gardens and beehives seem like a distraction catering to other people.

If you are or were an office worker, would you be lured into the office building by beehives, vegetable gardens, and bird blinds?

Yes!

No, but I'd think it would be nice if other workers felt better with such things on site.

No, and it would annoy me to have such things around the workplace.

I don't care, yet I do care enough to check this box.

 

pollcode.com free polls

The moment when she noticed.

My favorite picture of Liz & Phil. One day without telling her he put on a palace guard uniform and took up a regular guard position along a walkway as she was leaving. This was the moment when she noticed.❤️ pic.twitter.com/beRwHIZ3hk

— R W Nutjob (@RWNutjob1) April 10, 2021

*** 

There is no comments section anymore, but you can email me here. Unless you say otherwise, I will presume you'd enjoy an update to this post with a quote from your email.

CORRECTION: Apparently, what she noticed was bees.

"The combination of half-listening and overdramatization of the facts by the media creates an anxiety-driven stew."

Said Gale Ridge, an entomologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven, quoted in "Rumors of a ‘murder hornet’ apocalypse may have been exaggerated" (ScienceNews).

"Suddenly, overlooked local wasp and hornet species… hanging around in corners of people’s backyards for millennia become the subjects of panic-driven calls," she said. The solution, she says, is: "One creates a fresh storybook of information on which callers can relax, feel comfortable and thrive." 

I was just wondering, whatever happened to the murder hornets. I was pleased to get an answer and even more pleased to encounter Gale Ridge, who has a way with words: 

half-listening and overdramatization... anxiety-driven stew... a fresh storybook of information... 

Such helpful phrases! I must remember to use them. Have you been half asleep? Have you been half-listening? Someday you'll create a fresh storybook! But for God's sake stop slurping the anxiety stew!

"Department scientists then tried to glue a tracking device to the [murder] hornet, in hopes of following it back to its nest. But the glue didn’t dry fast enough..."

"... and the tracking device slipped off just as they were about to release the hornet. The glue also stuck to the hornet’s wings, rendering it unable to fly....'You do have to be very patient and wait till it dries,' [said Washington State Department of Agriculture entomologist Sven Spichiger. 'But when you’re handling an Asian giant hornet, obviously, it doesn’t want you handling it.' He said the department had peppered the area with 30 traps baited with orange juice and rice wine in an effort catch and tag another live hornet."

From "Washington State Officials Hunt for Colony of 'Murder Hornets'/The search has taken on particular urgency as the Asian giant hornets are about to enter their 'slaughter phase,' during which they kill bees by decapitating them" (NYT).

Rice wine, presumably, because they're from Asia. From last May in the NYT: "In Japan, the ‘Murder Hornet’ Is Both a Lethal Threat and a Tasty Treat/Long before the insects found their way to American shores, some Japanese prized them for their numbing crunch and the venomous buzz they add to liquor."

The giant hornet, along with other varieties of wasps, has traditionally been considered a delicacy in this rugged part of the country. The grubs are often preserved in jars, pan-fried or steamed with rice to make a savory dish called hebo-gohan. The adults, which can be two inches long, are fried on skewers, stinger and all, until the carapace becomes light and crunchy. They leave a warming, tingling sensation when eaten.

The Japanese know how to do stuff. We're out here trying to glue electronic devices to the little devils, and they are finding sophisticated, elegant ways to savor the carapace. I'd like "Savor the carapace!" to replace "Save the liver!" in a remake of this classic comedy routine....

Bees at the beach.

Althouse selects the best of TikTok.

1. A French bulldog skateboards:



2. A bee eats honey:



3. A dog looks through a fence:

Summer's end.