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Insects As Weapons
An anonymous reader writes "Timothy Paine, an entomologist at the University of California-Riverside, recently 'committed to the scientific record the idea that California's eucalyptus trees may have been biologically sabotaged, publishing an article [in the Journal of Economic Entomology] raising the possibility of bioterrorism.' Specifically, Paine argues that foreign insect pests have been deliberately introduced in the Golden State, in hopes of decimating the state's population of eucalyptus (especially the two species regarded as invasive, which 'are particularly susceptible to the pests.') In California's Bioterror Mystery, Paine (and scientists who are skeptical) make their arguments. What isn't in dispute is that the insect pests have already inflicted hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, making the story a cautionary tale about what might happen if a food or crop were intentionally targeted."
I won't miss eucalyptus trees. The condo complex over my back fence had one. It was constantly dropping branches in my back yard, some of them quite large. They're also a nightmare if they catch on fire. They also tend to kill vegetation that grows under them due to the oil which drips from the leaves. They're considered an invasive species in California.
This post is encrypted twice with ROT-13. Documenting or attempting to crack this encryption is illegal.
If the eucalyptus trees go, then California's koala bear population will also be decimated. This is dreadful news.
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
does this mean cough drops will get more expensive?
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
..what might happen if a food or crop were intentionally targeted.
The Israelites go free?
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
I'll just leave this here...
TFA appears to be trolling for search engine hits with the use of "terror" or "terrorism" in the article and the title itself (California's Bioterror Mystery). Really, terrorism should be something that at the very least causes you to have qualms, if not outright fear, about your safety.
For example, you might have second thoughts about riding an airplane because of some extremist hijacking it and blowing it up. Ditto for visiting the mall or drinking tap water because somebody might have laced the water supply. But this one? The only terror I see is of the trees falling over and crushing the poor pedestrian standing right next to it. I'm not a koala, so I'm not going to be losing sleep over the loss of my favorite supply of mint.
To be sure, the title of the scientific paper on which the article is based sounds less sensationalistic (unfortunately, a subscription is necessary to read the paper itself):
Brazil's production of cocoa was greatly reduced after an epidemic of witch's broom in the early 1990s. Rumors spoke of sabotage by foreign producers, until a left-wing militant confessed bringing fungus-infected branches from Rondônia to Bahia to destroy the political power of the "cocoa barons".
Circumcision is child abuse.
Man, tell me about it. Here in Chicago we've got the Japanese Longhorn beetle, Asian carp and zebra mussels wreaking havoc on our ecosystem.
People think you can do any goddamn thing you want to nature and the world's always going to be hospitable to humans.
The hundreds of thousands of people dealing with unprecedented wildfires in Colorado and the hundreds of thousands without power in 110 degree heat on the East Coast thanks to some unprecedented storms might have something to say about that. I've been alive since the Eisenhower administration and I've never seen >95 degree heat in March before this year. 100 mph winds yesterday right here and 100,000 people without power here in Chicago in 100 degree heat. I'm not saying that these anecdotes are evidence of global warming, but something definitely seems a little haywire.
I'm not even saying that Al Gore is right about anything, but the people who have been having such a great time ridiculing him for the last 10 years maybe owe him a little humble apology, just for being assholes. Right or wrong, if somebody says, "You're house might be on fire," you really at least ought to see if there are any flames and smoke before saying, "Oh, that's bullshit."
You are welcome on my lawn.
You've got japanese beetles?
We've got this natural predator of the japanese beetle here in Australia, called the Cane Toad. Let us know if you want a few million or so.
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
I think he may have been arguing that global warming and climate change might be a possible source of the record breaking heat wave and drought, and that global warming may be due to people burning fossil fuels. It is certainly a possibility though its obviously hard to prove definitively (and certain to ignite a troll fest on /. if the leftist and rightists smell the global warming blood in the water).
It is pretty well established that people did get over zealous in preventing forest fires for most of the last century and it was a really bad idea, since forests need to be burned off at regular intervals with low intensity fires. If you dont and let brush build up and trees get too dense then when they happen now they explode and are much more dangerous and destructive. Its also true that when people building houses in brush filled canyons and in dense forest they are pretty much asking for their homes to eventually burn. Putting wooden shingles on a house, also pretty much begging to lose your home to a forest fire. Not clearing trees and brush from the immediate area around your house, strike three.
The environmentalist backlash against logging has also helped contribute to forests that are too dense, especially when coupled with aggressive forest fire prevention.
I seem to recall a few months ago one researcher had a theory that the debris field in the Pacific from the tsunami from Japan was causing a significant hot spot in the Pacific and could be altering the climate this year, though that would also be hard to prove. If it were true then it would be because people built houses on a tsunami plagued coast though needless to say people don't cause tsunamis.
@de_machina
Talk about an impossible standard, and another moved goalpost. Once you get to "growing wheat in Greenland", it's far too late to even try to prevent it. We do know that the rate of glacial ice thaw has been increasing rapidly, more quickly than predicted.
Sure, there is a natural global climate cycle, but this acceleration of change is outside the usual range of typical climate cycles. Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 are twice that of any period in the last 400,000 years.
You should be thanking them. I would have thought that even cane toads would have turned their noses up at American beer.
The new right fascists are bilingual. They speak English and Bullshit.
Right across the channel is the town of Lyme where the first people developed a strange disorder later called "Lyme Disease." Incidentally, ticks were Trabe's favorite pet project.
That does not appear to be true.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Um, it's not true. Look a little closer:
Obama became president in 2008. Most of the planes were eliminated between 2002 and 2008.
The further reductions came in 2010 when congressional Republicans cut 25% of the Forest Service's budget.
You've got to remember, Michelle Malkin is a serial liar. She's been caught so many times it's not funny. You would think at some point that she'd stop out of shame, but no.
I've got a link to a list of Malkin's greatest hits of lies. Let me know if you'd like to see it. And she NEVER updates her posts when they are proven false. Never retracts, never apologizes.
You are welcome on my lawn.
I don't know about you, but I can't survive eating conifers, cycads and ginkgos. Therefore, the "but it worked for the dinosaurs!" argument is somewhat less than persuasive to me.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz