Don't eat cicadas if you are allergic to seafood

@Kyeh I’m kind of fond of all three (though the constant audio competition with the cicadas makes outdoor conversation impossible most days). Biggest operational difference - if a cicada lands on me, it’s no big deal. If I saw a flying lobster heading toward me, I might need a change of underwear.

@Kyeh Lobsters are the roaches of the sea.

@moseman I assume you don’t eat lobster??

@Kyeh @moseman So that infers that roaches are the lobsters of the cupboard?

@phendrick Feel free to catch some of the cupboard critters, and cook up a batch of Blattodea Thermidor and let everybody know how it compares. (I don’t eat shellfish, so I wouldn’t be able to…)

@Kyeh @moseman @phendrick can I sell roach infused pasta for $50 a plate?

Incidentally, there was a time when lobster was considered a poor man’s food. What you would eat if you couldn’t afford real meat. How times have changed.

@ELJAY No, thank you. The ones I catch have usually been infused with about half a can of roach spray. I’d rather pick up a drowned roach than a smooshed one. (Something else a “grabber” is good for.)

And, I think I’m starting to lose my taste for lobster now. Thank you everybody.

@ELJAY @phendrick what is this roach thing? I’ve seen a cicada while traveling. I’ve seen a lobster in a tank. Pretty sure I’ve never seen a roach in real life.

@ELJAY @phendrick @unksol Lucky you! My grandmother lived in an assisted living apartment, and the roaches had lost their fear of humans. You would go in the kitchen and turn on the lights and there would be 3 or 4 roaches hanging out on the wall or countertop. In an apartment building, it’s basically impossible to get rid of them, because when you spray and get them out of one unit, they just move next door. You just can’t keep ahead of them.

@PooltoyWolf IHeartRadio has podcasts, news & sports stations too.
I get a daily email of headlines too.

@PooltoyWolf They’re click-whores like everybody these days.

@MrHappypants Incidentally, I maintain a Twitter thread of terrible clickbait.

@mehcuda67 No. Exactly none of those things are okay.

@mehcuda67 Moderation is always wise - (as Paracelsus said, “The dose makes the poison”).

Along those lines, here in NY, the State’s Dept. of Health publishes various recommended “eating limits” for meals of fish & shellfish caught in State waters, depending upon your age & gender, and where you were fishing. (We’ve got PCBs, dioxin, and other nasties in addition to mercury in some places…)

It’s a 48 page detailed guide entitled “Health Advice on Eating Sportfish and Game”.

(https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/2800.pdf)

Here’s an excerpt:

To summarize the 48 pages, women under 50, and children under 15 shouldn’t eat fish caught in NY.

@ELJAY Food for thoughts.

@ELJAY @mehcuda67 you do realize that fish build up mercury from eating other smaller fish right? In water. And cicadas are underground sucking on tree sap. Is your vegetable garden contaminated with mercury?

@unksol I am familiar with bioaccumulation. I don’t believe my property is “contaminated” with mercury, but I actually never tested the soil. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if some trace amounts were found to be present if the soil were analyzed with sensitive enough equipment (Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry).

You see, mercury is quite common in the environment. A few years ago, an international team of scientists led by the U.S.G.S. documented widespread mercury contamination in the air, soil, sediment, plants, fish, and wildlife at various levels across western North America. (It can come naturally from volcanic eruptions, forest fires, or from weathering of rock formations containing the mineral cinnabar. Some manmade sources include releases from improper handling & disposal of elemental mercury used in production of fluorescent light bulbs, some electrical switches, and gauging equipment (e.g., thermometers, manometers, barometers, psychrometers). But the primary source of environmental emission of inorganic mercury is from coal-fired power plants, which account for about 44 percent of all manmade mercury emissions.

But getting back to our gardens, another thing to consider is if your home was built before the 1970’s, you never know what might have been used as “fill” or “clean soil” by the developer at the time, if any grading was needed at your property. Back then, there was no such thing as “certified clean fill”. So you never know…

Did you test your soil?

@sweetjoey I just saw this: During the mating season, cicadas can mistake power tools and lawn mowers for the sound made by cicadas. They will sometimes land on people using this equipment, according to the EPA.

So - uh, they think he’s a potential mate…?

@sweetjoey I do not dance. Do you think they give lessons? Swatting at flies just doesn’t seem to do it.

@Kyeh @sweetjoey something about rythmic vibrations huh? Lol