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Alabama Wages War Against the Perfect Weed
pickens writes "Dan Berry writes in the NY Times that the State of Alabama is spending millions of dollars in federal stimulus money to combat Cogongrass, a.k.a. the perfect weed, the killer weed, and the weed from another continent. A weed that 'evokes those old science-fiction movies in which clueless citizens ignore reports of an alien invasion.' Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica) is considered one of the 10 worst weeds in the world. 'It can take over fields and forests, ruining crops, destroying native plants, upsetting the ecosystem,' writes Berry. 'It is very difficult to kill. It burns extremely hot. And its serrated leaves and grainy composition mean that animals with even the most indiscriminate palates — goats, for example — say no thanks.' Alabama's overall strategy is to draw a line across the state at Highway 80 and eradicate everything north of it; then, in phases, to try to control it to the south. But the weed is so resilient that you can't kill it with one application of herbicide, you have to return several months later and do it again. 'People think this is just a grass,' says forester Stephen Pecot. 'They don't understand that cogongrass can replace an entire ecosystem.' Left unchecked, Pecot says 'it could spread all the way to Michigan.'"
Here in British Columbia we don't wage war on it, it's our #1 export.
Nice.
I'll have to plant some of that inbetween the patches of kudzu.
Now I only need a face-eater and I'll finally have a respectable death-world themed garden.
I had an entirely different thing in mind when I read "the perfect weed".
Genetically engineer a variante of that grass that is resistant to herbicides and infest your "favorite" competitor's/enemy's fields.
Criminials and terrorists these days are all about the quick short term damages. Nobody thinks about long term, sustainable damage these days. *sigh* Amateurs!
If it can be processed as fuel and ever spread to Michigan.. "Hey GM, fuel comes to you!"
Alternatively, an army of junk weed smoker could eradicate it better than goats.
Léa Gris
Having seen goats chewing happily on pieces of clothing and other garbage, mutating goats to have no sense of taste sounds to me like mutating rabbits to have long ears. (I was planning to write something slightly different but less suited for small children and Americans here.)
Musicians don't die. They just decompose.
I totally read this as
"Congress, a.k.a. the perfect weed"
It's like mutating your usual Ford and GM SUV to have more low-fuel indicator lights.
Thank god something living is willing to move back into Michigan. There is hope to save this state!
I understand that there is a species of lizard that feasts on this grass. Maybe that is an option.
The amazing stuff about this is, that you can play 36 holes on it in the afternoon, take it home and just get stoned to the bejeezus-belt, that night, on this stuff.
And the introduce Chinese Needle Snakes when you're overrun with lizards, yes?
And when you're overrun with Chinese Needle Snakes, introduce more Chinese fast food restaurants.
Ezekiel 23:20
No, you introduce gorillas. They thrive on snake meat.
There must be some reason why the South of Japan is not one mass of Kudzu and cogongrass.
The reason is called "evolution". If you have it around long enough, animals will adapt to eat it. If nothing else works, they will during the first starvation period.
If you introduce it to a new ecosystem, you have to wait for a few ten-thousand years or so before that happens. Clearly, the governor is not a patient man.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
It's OK. It is obvious that you are a product of the public school system.
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There must be some reason why the South of Japan is not one mass of Kudzu and cogongrass.
There's a reason but I don't think you're gonna like it.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Who the fuck are you calling "foul mouthed", you cock-sucking sonofabitch?!
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
No, no, you see, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.
Bugs are also bugs of the land. Does your algorithm ends with gorillas dying off in the winter?
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
I think what we need here is a good car analogy.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
'it could spread all the way to Michigan.'
But frankly it will probably stop at the Michigan border. Even this weed has its limits...
of course all the energy is there, but how much do we obtain and how much do we waste? that's the question.
No, it wasn't.
You brought up carbon emissions, which is by definition 1:1 since it is neither created or destroyed in a purely chemical process.
Stop being wrong on the Internet.
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"... the State of Alabama is spending millions of dollars in federal stimulus money to combat Congress, a.k.a. the perfect weed, the killer weed, and the weed from another continent. A weed that 'evokes those old science-fiction movies in which clueless citizens ignore reports of an alien invasion.'
Congress (Imperialista corruptivus) is considered one of the 10 worst weeds in the world. 'It can take over farms and factories, ruining cops, destroying Native Americans, upsetting the economic system,' writes Berry. 'It is very difficult to kill.' But the weed is so resilient that you can't kill it with one election, you have to return two years later and do it again. Left unchecked, Pecot says 'it could spread all the way to Europe.'"
In times of universal deceit, telling the truth gets you modded -1 Troll
It never rains but it pours :-(
Not only do we have the oil fields drying up so alternative fuels are needed to run power stations but now we have this useless, oily, hot-burning plant that grows like crazy anywhere and nobody knows how to get rid of it.
They whose government reduces their essential liberties for temporary security, receive neither liberty nor security.
Isn't this just typical of the American South and Bible Belt?
Here we have a very visible proof of evolution in action (one species moving into a new area and out competing everything else), and what does the Alabama state government do? They try to eradicate that proof in a foolish attempt to show that an intelligently designed ecosystem is better, especially when it's helped by God's chosen: man.
I say to the silent majority of Americans who aren't buying into intelligent design, that you should rise up and fight this atrocity. Go out there and plant Cogongrass in your nears gardens, parks, forests and wildlife areas! Viva la Evolutión!
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