Cicadas

[wombat]

In some thread that I can't remember because it wasn't about cicadas Paul asked for a recording of them.  I was about to try and figure out how to make one when they had this story on NPR.  There's an audio clip there.

http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_1905553.html

I don't think a recording can really give the effect, though.  It's not the noise itself that's so special - it's the fact that you're outside, hearing it so loud from all around you.

[CortJstr]

There's a tree next to my building that is completely covered in shells. You actually can't see the mulch because of all the shells.

[Nabubrush]

I just heard that NPR story on the way in from work this evening - they were surprisingly loud.

[AugustWest]

I am astounded because we have not seen a single one in our neck of the woods.

[wombat]

If you live somewhere that's been all dug up and redeveloped in the past 17 years you won't see any.  But I had the idea you lived out in the middle of the woods somewhere?

Some more important cicada info, from the web page of my former employer, a university whose name shall not be spoken:

You Can Eat Cicadas, But Are They Kosher?
Not according to the Orthodox Union (OU), an international kosher certification agency - "The Mishnah lists the requirements needed for an insect to be considered kosher. It must have four legs plus two which are the length of the insect which are used for jumping. It must be known as a 'chagov,' translated as grasshopper, and have a tradition handed down from generation to generation that it is a kosher insect. The cicada is not a kosher insect."

[Nabubrush]

Also on the radio they talked about a fellow who fried up a batch of cicadas with the butter and garlic. He apparently had a massive allergic reaction, but mmmm crunchy.
This message is part of my continuing campaign to defeat the arbitrary and facile divisions in this forum.

[AugustWest]

If you live somewhere that's been all dug up and redeveloped in the past 17 years you won't see any.  But I had the idea you lived out in the middle of the woods somewhere?

My house was built in 1904 and to the best of my knowledge, the only places that have been dug up are where my pool sits and under the patio I built.  Is there a range that they cover?  I remember cicada invasions as a child, but I grew up about 200 miles SW of here.

[wombat]

http://insects.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/fauna/michigan_cicadas/Periodical/BroodX.html

That's a map I found of the range of Brood X - which appears, unhelpfully, to imply that maybe you'll see them and maybe you won't.

[arkabee]

My house was built in 1904 and to the best of my knowledge, the only places that have been dug up are where my pool sits and under the patio I built.  Is there a range that they cover?  I remember cicada invasions as a child, but I grew up about 200 miles SW of here.

i haven't seen nary a one, nor heard them, herebouts either.

[Carlos del Vaca]

The area around my office is freakin' West Cicada Town.

The noise they collectively make is a lot like the sound made by Aku when he is released in the premier episode of Samurai Jack.  It's freaky.