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Town Fights Cricket Plague With Led Zeppelin
The residents of Tuscarora, Nevada are getting ready to fight the annual invasion of mormon crickets with the power of Rock-N-Roll. Trial and error has shown that the crickets don't think much of Led Zeppelin or the Rolling Stones. The residents circle the town with boomboxes at regular intervals to drive off the millions of crickets. "It is part of our arsenal. You'll wake up and there'll be one sitting on your forehead, looking at you." says Laura Moore, an unemployed college professor and one of the town's 13 residents. The crickets devastate crops, cause slicks on the highway and evidently love rap.
I suppose that ends all speculation that rap isn't cricket, eh, old man?
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
More proof that Jimmy Page was a satanist!
The crickets devastate crops, cause slicks on the highway and evidently love rap.
That's racist.
At first, I thought they were trying to get rid of haughty Englishmen with funny bats!
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
I wonder how they feel about Buddy Holly?
I'll go ahead and hit myself for that one.
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
Finally another species that hates Led Zeppelin as much as I do.
You'll never have one show up on your head when you fall asleep if you sleep to the sounds of Stairway to Heaven.
FTA: Rock music blaring from boomboxes has proved one of the best defenses against an annual invasion of Mormon crickets.
Yeah, but you get one alone and he'll drink all your beer.
I guess they really must hate "Trampled Underfoot".
120 characters isn't enough to explain it.
I wonder whether pouring coffee on them would be just as effective.
In addition to Rock n Roll, the mormon crickets are repelled by alchohol, caffine, premarital sex, and gay marriage.
Don't they know that Yeni is the weaspon of mass destruction?
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
TFA: "...best defenses against an annual invasion of Mormon crickets"
Mormons and Zeppelin don't mix?
Tuscarorans are preparing once again to get out their extension cords, array their stereos in a quarter-circle and tune them to rock station KHIX
Sounds like another Burning Man festival.
I imagine that it might drive the crickets off in such a way that it actually *kills* them...
The residents of Tuscarora, Nevada...circle the town with boomboxes at regular intervals to drive off the millions of crickets.
If the crickets have got any sense, they'll be Going to California.
Smivs on the intertubes!
Playing copyrighted music out in the open like that?! Better hope the RIAA doesn't get wind of this.
mmmm...forbidden donut
The TFA doesn't say they love rap. What it says is that the 2007 and 2008 crickets had "hipper tastes" (i.e. weren't as deterred by heavy-metal music as the 2006 crickets were). Apparently samzenpus mis-read "hipper" as "hip-hop" and assumed they love rap.
Le Sigh.
I actually read the article for once. I hate to be negative but it was a bit confusing (almost like a meander along a winding road) and had at least one typo (Morman instead of Mormon). Anyway, that's my negativity for the day. :)
...since Buddy Holly died.
Best Slashdot Co
Town Fights Crickets Plagued with Led Zeppelin
Gravity!... It's not just a good idea... It's the Law!
Just put each cricket in a little box with a caterpillar. That will teach them not to screw with your town.
The Mormon's aren't the right choice after all...
Defy God, he sends plagues of locusts.
One would think that after this many years of Old-Testament vengeance wrought upon them that they'd change their tune.
... says Laura Moore, an unemployed college professor and one of the town's 13 residents
If you're unemployed, you're not a college professor. You're a former college professor, or a wannabe college professor. Also, maybe a town of 13 doesn't have a lot of college professor openings?
If the geiger counter does not click, the coffee, she is not thick.
Hints from Helen: diatomaceous earth (from a pool store) and borax scratch open the shell of these bugs and they dry up. Little is needed unless it blows away. D.E. can irritate the nose, but otherwise earth friendly. D.E. is tiny fossils. I guess it can take out other insects, too, but in that town, it doesn't seem that there are any other insects.
Am I the only one that imagined a zeppelin covered in light emitting diodes when they first read the article?
If the crickets are eating your crops, eat the crickets.
If a Led Zeppelin song is broadcasted but there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound^H^H^H^H^Hvalid claim of copyright violation?
Probably not, because US copyright law defines "publicly" as "at a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered", and a cricket isn't a "person" except perhaps in works of fiction written by Carlo Collodi or George Selden.
Seriously, though, this is why they should play from a radio station broadcast -- then the royalties were already paid.
The royalties to ASCAP and BMI were already paid, but not for performance in an establishment "open to the public". Such royalties are the responsibility of the owner of the establishment "open to the public" unless the performance qualifies under 17 USC 110(5), which was enacted as a rider to the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.
I would go a s far as saying that if you hate Led Zeppelin, then you don't like Rock. Any strain of Modern Rock can be traced back to them and / or the Who.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
Used to be Americans could cause the extinction of the American Locust.
Now they can't take out crickets?
... Discuss." ;)
They're not called Mormon Crickets because they're considered adherents to the faith, they're called Mormon Crickets because they're one of the fine local features the Mormons found waiting for them when they settled in Utah the mid 1800s. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_the_Gulls .
Mormon Crickets are also not only not Mormons, they're not crickets either. They're shieldbacked katydids.
They're also cannibals.
And polygamists.
Tweet, tweet.
I'll agree with you on the Stones, but not on Led Zep. Maybe (scratch that -- most likely) there's a personal taste issue in your case, but I don't think Led Zep can be matched for what they brought to the table for rock.
Compare Led Zep to what came before, and it's quite clear that they were pioneers. They took blues, folk, progressive elements, and driving bass lines to a new level. Though they have a very distinct sound that colored everything they performed, I can't think of a single band with a consistent repertoire as wide as theirs.
FWIW, I think the Beatles are very overrated in terms of musicianship, though not in terms of pop sensibility and as drivers of certain style of music.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Just don't use ZZ Top's Velcro Fly or the town could turn out like Lud.
HOWZAT!!!
I bet you're one of those guys who listens to crappy indie bands just because they have indie cred. The reason Led Zeppelin and the Beatles have so much clout is that they've contributed so much to the history of American influence, including those crappy indie bands you love so much. Don't confuse "overplayed" with "overhyped."
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Do the crickets like the Beatles?
this is the same way I used to fight my neighbors when I was 18!!!! that should be called INGCUERVO'S strategy
Not that shocking -- they normally listen to the beetles.
If you open yourself to the foo, You and foo become one.
Exactly. Natural selection will create a slippery slope. The Stones give way to Journey, who gives way to Poison, who gives way to Creed, who gives way to Fred Durst a capella. With that kind of sonic radiation, only the cockroaches are cheering.
Jokes about Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp and Trampled Under Foot aside, I'd be interested to know which music actually seemed to deter the onslaught.
I like listening to Led Zeppelin songs, but they actually took a lot of their material from other artists (without giving proper credit) -
http://therecord.blogs.com/blogovich/2007/09/led-zeppelin-as.html
Mormon Crickets are also not only not Mormons, they're not crickets either. They're shieldbacked katydids.
"... shieldbacked katydids?" Please do not use these abstruse metric or imperial system units. What are they in Texan talk: Varmints or Critters?
They're also cannibals.
Great house pets. No need to buy pet food, they just "feed themselves."
And polygamists.
Well, that sounds interestings. Send some over. I hope they will be more entertaining than the Presbyterian Toads.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
They're also ... polygamists.
So they at least used to be Mormon?
Wait till the RIAA gets wind of this!
I remember I was deployed to Panama for Operation Just Cause as an forward air observer and Manuel Noregia fled to the Vatican's Embassy (Apostolic Nunciature) and the US set some boom boxes around the embassy and they played rock music all day and night. We were camped about mile from the embassy and we can still hear the music clearly from that distance so I know much louder it was at the embassy. Nevertheless, Manual Noregia gave up afterwards.
I lived through a cricket plague as a kid on a farm in rurral CA (different species). One morning I looked out the window and the lawn was black... and moving. They came into the house through every crack and crevice. The road was carpeted with them to the point that the school threatened to stop sending the bus. They showed up en mass a couple of other years but never again that bad.
A side note: I guess that LZ and the Stones now qualify as Weapons Grade Music.
Did anybody else first picture a flashing colorful dirigible?
Cheers.
Any strain of Modern Rock can be traced back to them and / or the Who.
Or at least it can be traced back to the Blues artists that Led Zep and the Who stole most of their early licks from. But then, they were American and Black, and everybody knows white British boyz deserve the credit for inventing everything. Although it may have some Scottish/Irish folk influences, Rock primarily derives from African rhythms.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
And I fucking hate the Beatles.
Then your opinion on music is empirically worthless.
Hate to break it to you, but that's just science.
The enemies of Democracy are
Actually, Led Zeppelin do sound rather dated today. It's all been done before... by them.
I recently decided to get those old Sailor Moon episodes out and watch the entire show (I freely admit I like corny stuff like that). The show immediately struck me with how it consistently managed to fulfill every cliché it could get its hands on - until I realized that many of those elements are clichés because Sailor Moon has been extensively copied (even though it didn't start the genre it did boost its popularity). Back in the 90s Sailor Moon was more original than it looks like today.
The same thing can happen to bands: If you define the sound of a gernre then after a while your music will sound less original as you sound like everyone does - because everyone is trying to sound like you. Of course the band can still try to take their sound in another direction than the rest of the genre.
The same applies to video games (where "look at this unique party-game thingie" quickly turned into "yet another WarioWare clone, yawn"), books (yes, LoTR is chock full of todays' clichés) and everything related to art. Of course it's not entirely fair to punish the groundbreakers for being copied a lot but that's life for you.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
In the modern revision/interpretation of Mor[m]on prescription to KVJAV1611 Holy Bible, it says that the darky-skinned boogies are neutral because they bear *that* mark of Cain by being (1)Black and (2) lower intelligence and thus (3)incapable of producing the intellectually-spirited children of the the more pleasing races.
They'll put you and all your demons inside with it, and burn it all to the sweet savour the LORD can appreciate.
That's not a town, that's a house.
Can't they use Iron Butterfly?
NEITHER crystalline (the pool store kind) nor amorphous (raw) silica in DE causes cancer. They CAN cause silicosis if inhaled though.
Silicosis is NOT a cancer - but it is quite nasty and there is no cure as the damage to the lungs is permanent.
It can't metastasize like a cancer though - but you can't fight it with chemo either.
BOTH kinds of DE will do just fine against the bugs as they work by absorbing moisture and causing dehydration.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Yes, yes. Obviously. But the differences between the African American proto Rock and Led Zeppelin/Who is much bigger than that of say the White Stripes and the Who. They didn't invent it out of nothing in a vacuum, but its very distinct from its origins. I do not mean to trivialize the works they built upon. Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson,Bessie Smith, LedBelly! They are awesome artists that do not get enough respect. But what they did is not the same as Zeppelin. I can understand why one could like Early Blues and dislike Modern Rock. And I could understand how someone could love Modern Rock and not Blues. I cannot understand someone who loves Modern Rock and not Zeppelin, they're virtually the same.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
"Someone asked me the difference between the Sex Pistols and the Beatles. It's chalk and cheese. I was only a nipper when then Beatles were going, but I was fucking glad when they broke up"
Steve Jones
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
I mostly listen to music from around 1300 - 1700. Every melody you hear today and ever will hear in future has already been done.
9 months ago I wrote a storymash chapter based around the concept of a sound machine which encouraged swarming behavior if crickets... and other living things. Run with it! (or run away!)
We come from the land of the ice and snow, From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow. The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands, To fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming! Yeah, fight them hordes Jimmy
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
That's right. No self-respecting rock-n-roller would ever play cricket. I can only imagine that extends to current cricket players, too. Once they hear the sweet sounds of Black Dog or Misty Mountain Hop, the sport is sure to suffer.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
No, I listen to a wide variety of music. I just don't find Zep or the Stones to be anywhere near as "revolutionary" as people have made them out to be. To me they sound just like any number of other contemporary bands, not even slightly ahead of their time (much less revolutionary). Of course, every band draws on the work of their predecessors, but to hear some Zep fans talk, you would think that no one ever thought of playing an electric guitar before Jimmy Page picked one up (ditto for Stones fans and Mick Jagger--as if he invented the rock stage show).
It particularly irks me when people credit Zep as pioneers of heavy metal. There are a LOT of pioneers of heavy metal, and no one group deserves exclusive credit. And if one group *DID* deserve more credit than any number of others in that field, it would definitely be "Black Sabbath" and not Zep. Sabbath songs like "Children of the Grave" *were* actually ahead of their time, foreshadowing the trash sound that would become popular ten years later in the 80's. And even Sabbath drew on their predecessors and don't deserve the kind of hype given regularly to Zep and the Stones (hype that is echoed by the arrogant, self-centered egos of Page, Plant, Jagger, and Richards themselves).
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Oops, meant to type "thrash," not "trash." My apologies to 80's Metallica (90's Metallica deserves no apology, only my contempt).
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
... an episode of South Park (Night of the living homeless). Maybe they should try playing "California Love" and see where the darn critters go?
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/104429/
Nonsense. The Beatles turned rock and roll into rock. Without the Beatles there'd be no chords in rock music except the I, the IV, and the V. I scoff at your opinion.
ResidntGeek
Mind you, I do appreciate both Led Zeppelin and The Who. I have more than a dozen Led Zeppelin CDs, although only a couple of the Who. Both bands have recorded songs that I regard as true "classics" that continue to survive the test of time, e.g. Stairway to Heaven, Going to California, Baba O'Riley, and Behind Blue Eyes to name a few. I even had a devout Muslim Kenyan friend who was a Zeppelin fan, so the appear to have universal appeal. My point was just that all music is to some degree derivative; even the best classical composers borrowed heavily from traditional folk tunes. I agree, I would question the judgment of someone who claims to be a fan of "rock", but doesn't like any of Led Zeppelin or The Who's songs.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
What does that have to do with the quality of their musicianship? That's where I feel they were most overrated.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Musicianship is exactly what's required to blend the stylistic elements of '50s rock music with a wide variety of chord changes and song structures, not to mention the various short-lived experimentations that characterized their later years.
If by "musicianship" you mean their instrumental skill, you're right. Ringo in particular was a pretty bad drummer. The fact that he was the best in Liverpool is tragic. But whatever some ignoramuses might say, the Beatles were not good because of George's shredding skills.
ResidntGeek