(no subject)

[rm]

You know, the New Orleans predictions are very surreal. Last night I kept shouting at the news, "and then frogs will fall from the sky," because they did sort of keep adding things to the list of the bad.

Now CNN tells us the fire ants are going to win?

Comments

[warhol.livejournal.com]

The fireant thing made me laugh -- if caught outside, your advice is to cling desperately to a telephone pole and wait for a slow and painful death by fireants? In all the history of hurricanes, has something like this actually happened, or are you just pulling that out of your ass? Where does CNN find these wackos?

Then I realized that the answer was obvious: New Orleans.

you're not from the south, are you?

[quaskye.livejournal.com]

Here's an article about the mystical fire ant balls:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/storm2001/943267

So yes, in past hurricanes and other floods, fire ants have survived and swarmed things. But can they kill you?
yes (http://www.dayontorts.com/medical-negligence--108-death-by-fire-ants.html)
yes (http://cahe.nmsu.edu/pubs/_g/g-322.html)
yes (http://www.thebestcontrol.com/pests/fireants/fireants4.htm)
yes (http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-01/30/content_413501.htm)

The fire ants always win. the bastards (http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/storm2001/943267) ()

Re: you're not from the south, are you?

[rm.livejournal.com]

So not from the South.

Did you _see_ the CNN thing? It didn't make clear to us unfamiliar folk that fire ants bite and can kill people, so it just sounded like there would be so many of them that they'd _push_ people off the light posts, which was definitely an image.

Re: you're not from the south, are you?

[quaskye.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize CNN hadn't elaborated on why exactly floating balls of fire ants should strike terror into your heart. I was mostly responding to the post that implied only crazy people would be worried about such a thing. Anyone who's lived near them knows how nasty they are.

One of those articles I linked to said they were adapting to northern winters, too. So watch out.

Re: you're not from the south, are you?

[rm.livejournal.com]

No elaboration! Totally alarming. I mean, alarming anyway, but I was _creative_ about it.