The Plague of Frogs

jpbostic writes "According to this article on MSNBC, ag folks in Hawaii were considering using powdered caffeine to help rid themselves of an infestation of frogs from Puerto Rico. The EPA's application regulations apparently proved too burdensome and the stuff sits in a warehouse. If the EPA is really concerned with the danger, they should investigate the coffee in some restaurants *quoth the caffeine addict*. :-)"

Comments

Holy shit..

[I.T.R.A.R.K.]

..when I first read that headline, I thought the French were invading!

Won't work.

[Kyeo]

The frogs would just annoy you and take no breaks.

Slow hunters?

[ElJefe]

On a smaller scale, of course, there is always hand-hunting, which is how Nilton Matayoshi has spent the last year capturing 40 frogs.

40 frogs in a year? That's less than one a week! If you're going to have a hobby, at least be good at it...

Re:Frogs on caffeine

[dagoalieman]

No, you're not the only one, but IIRC it won't happen.

I **vaguely** recall hearing that the caffiene has an adverse effect on their nervous system, in essense blocking the signals from the brain and to the brain. As in once they get it in them (dunno if it's absorption or consumption) they just don't move.. and shut down.

Someone please correct me. That's so vague on details that I'm SURE I've at least got part, if not all of it, wrong. Hopefully the real solution is better than freezing to death, though...

.

I thought amphibians were disappearing?

[geoffsmith]

Amphibians, particularly frogs, are supposed to be an indicator species for pollution. From all accounts I've read they are dying off in great numbers around the world. Maybe because the live near the surface of the water, they are more sensitive to things like acid rain?

So why all the frogs? Hawaii... also Australia has also had a heck of a time with frogs, and in BC we've had a problem with huge frogs (the tadpoles are the size of your fist, and mature frogs so big they have been eating the ducks!) Just seems like contradictory evidence to me, maybe some species are heartier than others?

Websurfing done right! StumbleUpon

And in related news...

[bc90021]

...a plague of coders descended on Hawaii, eager to get at the caffeine and turn it into code!

Now the Hawaii ag folks have to figure out how to get rid of all the coders. An anonymous source in the state government was quoted as saying "Actually, we're thinking of holding them, and not releasing them. We are going to corner the geek market, and then make a fortune charging other states by the hour."

There is no word from the Whitehouse at this time regarding the swarm of geeks descending on Hawaii, but the President is expected to make a short statement later this evening.

Oh my god, I can't resist

[abe ferlman]

We've come to one of the finest lilypads in the world and replaced this frog's caffeine powder with Folger's Crystals.

Let's see if she notices.

"Croak!"

There you have it folks!

It's not giving caffeine to them....

[DarkHelmet]

It's taking it away from them that'll do the trick.

Just think about it... All those mornings that you rely on coffee to go to work. All those mornings that you need something to keep you awake, and not sleep in until noon. It's what prevents you from making your head explode.

Get them hooked on coffee. Not just something in the water, but the frigging powdered kind. Kind of like a drug addict, where they inject it. Frogs are different though. It would diffuse right through their skin.

Then, when you have an army of frogs addicted to the funny powder, stop giving it to them, and see what they do.

Photos

[loconet]

This page has some photos and more information about the frogs. They're very small!!

Re:Cats might eat "poisonous" frogs

[kesuki]

First off the frogs in Hawaii aren't poisonous, and secondly while cats could 'eat' the frogs, they're far better at being trained to 'hunt' the frogs for rewards. If the cat had to actually eat the frogs is would soon grow sick of hunting them and move on to other prey. But if the cat is rewarded for each frog it brings in, it will bring in many frogs every single day to recieve rewards. A dozen or so trained cats could easily be used to clear a resort of the frogs. Animal trainers in hawaii could make a nice business selling trained cats to homeowners who were sick of the frogs mating calls. Cats have been used for centuries to control pests, and the cost of keeping them is sure to be less (at least for resorts) than using humans. Also cats have great night vision, so they're more effective at hunting the frogs than humans.

Caffeine toxicity - material safety data

[Seth Finkelstein]

The Material Safety Data Sheet for Caffeine has a lot of good information

Caffeine is toxic to the blood, lungs, nervous system, and mucous membranes. It is a human poison by ingestion and is a slight irritant of the skin and eye. The oral LD50 for caffeine is 127 mg/kg (mouse); the oral TD Lo for man is reported as 13 mg/kg.

Signs/Symptoms of Overexposure:
Exposure to ingested caffeine can cause convulsions, muscle spasms, tremors, poor muscle coordination, vomiting, and blood pressure increase. Continued excessive use in tea or coffee may lead to digestive disturbances, constipation, palpitations, shortness of breath, cardiac disorders, and depressed mental states.

Apparently, you'd have to drink a lot of coffee to get a lethal dose. But it does seem to possible to kill yourself (or approach it) with caffeine pills.

Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org)

Re:Caffeine toxicity - material safety data

[IceFox]

When I was working on the LSDVD project someone sent us 80lbs of Jolt. It came in two crates of 20oz bottles. I put one of the crates in my cube and over the course of the day would chain drink the soda. About 2pm I found I couldn't control the mouse anymore. As not amused as I was I repeated it for a few more days untill the Jolt was all gone. (The other three memebers of the team did get some, but I am fairly sure that I accidently got most of it.)

-Benjamin

Coqui, the only frogs with no tadpoles

[XBL]

These frogs are being studied for their evolutionary traits. Right from the egss hatch the frogs, as there is no intermediate state of a tadpole.

Maybe the lack of an intermediate stage has made this species even more hardy, and therefore more prevalent in Hawaii.

No matter what, the Coqui are there to stay in Hawaii. They will just have to get used to it.

smiley noses

[tps12]

From the article description:

:-)

Excess noses cost Internet providers billions annually. Consider that the noseless ":)" conveys as much information as ":-)" at two-thirds the cost in bandwidth.

Slashdot, as a pillar of the Internet community, stands to make a real difference in the fight against smiley noses. It would be great if it could act as a role model in this important struggle.

Everyone: please run your messages through the following perl script to remove excess noses:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
$_ = @ARGV ? shift @ARGV : ;
chomp;
s/([:;8B?|\%])[-o^]([\)\(|PB9oO\@0{Xx\*D&])/$1$2/g ; BR> print;
print "\n";

Note this is a beta version. It only handles one-line messages, and only "right-handed" smileys. Improvements are forthcoming, and patches are welcome.

Spiders and Caffeine

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a spider's web. This is a spider's web on caffeine.

(pic)

(Trust me, the link is relevant.)

Any questions?

Caffeine is a drug that seems to have a stronger impact on small animals.

Re:The real solution is easy...

[GungaDan]

Setting yourself up for the Darwin. Frog baseball requires a "chaser" to make the frog jump to within the strike box. The position of "chaser" is incredibly dangerous given the bat swinging just inches away (hopefully). Frog golf is a much better option, IMO.