October 6, 2013

Disturbing black and yellow things.

1. Hornets on an apple (in Horicon Marsh today):

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2. On the federal side of Horicon Marsh, a makeshift sign:

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22 comments:

David said...

Horicon is closed?

Where will the geese go now?

TosaGuy said...

Mr Obama, tear down your Barrycades!

Ann Althouse said...

The state side of Horicon was open.

D. said...

Do we really need the National Parks Service?

Tyrone Slothrop said...

They're still open for deliveries of Ranger Smith hats or a couple of million rounds of ammo.

Lewis Wetzel said...

I live close to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (HVNP) on the Big Island of Hawaii.
This is not a 'no service' park. It has various attractions and public areas with trashcans that need to be emptied, bathrooms that need to be cleaned, and safety rules that need to be enforced.
But they've simply closed down everything. They have made no effort, as a business would do, to prioritize services. Many visitors, bus loads of them, want to drive the two miles from the park entrance to the Kilauea overlook so they can see the eruption point. This would have been possible with a minimum of personal, perhaps two or three people (There are about 70 full time employees at HVNP). Because this single, high priority, low impact route is closed along with the rest of the park, many people, perhaps a dozen, have been laid off from tourism related jobs driving buses and providing eco-tours. The hotel on the property, Volcano House, is run by a vendor who love to still be open. All of his employees have been laid off.
This is ridiculous. If Obama treats working people like this, why in the world should he be entrusted with health care? Maybe, two years from now, if the same funding issue happens, he'll tell hospitals to shut down their ER's and try to blame the resulting fatalities on the GOP or the Tea Party. There is something seriously wrong with this guy.

madAsHell said...

Yeah....it's been a bad year for yellow jackets. We like to eat outdoors, and it is a race to consume the salmon before the yellow jackets carry it away.

Carnivorous insects! The end is nigh!!

Ann Althouse said...

I like the way they left the skin.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Ann Althouse said...

I like the way they left the skin.


When I was a kid my dad killed a rattlesnake. Naturally I wanted the skin, but halfway through the skinning operation we had to go to church. When we got back, the snake was a mass of yellowjackets. Darned if they hadn't eaten every speck of meat off the bones, leaving a perfectly clean skin.

gadfly said...

I didn't know that Canadian Geese could read English.

Dreaderick said...

I thought the "disturbing black and yellow things" were going to be the Steelers' offense. Fortunately, they had the week off.

Dreaderick said...

I thought the "disturbing black and yellow things" were going to be the Steelers' offense. Fortunately, they had the week off.

Paddy O said...

Speaking of hornets and the Chinese. They're having an epidemic of killer giant hornets in China.

Each hornet is the size of a small ox!

Clyde said...

The difference between the two:

Hornets will generally leave you alone if you leave them alone.

The government will not leave you alone.

George M. Spencer said...

Re: The handwritten NPS sign saying "For Deliveries.....call.....

If there's a government shutdown, how can it take deliveries?

It can't let YOU, the tourist, in, but it can pick up the phone, let in the delivery man, accept the packages, and presumably use them.

That makes sense.

George M. Spencer said...

Ten years ago, the US received roughly 150,000 Chinese visitors per year. Now, nearly that many arrive each month, according to the US Department of Commerce.

2011 was the first year the number of Chinese tourists to the US hit 1 million. The Department of Commerce predicts that number will grow to 4 million by 2017, a whopping 300 percent increase. No other nationality comes close to matching those growth expectations.

Even more important, the average Chinese visitor spends a lot more than travelers from almost any other country.

California's Division of Tourism reported Chinese visitors spend on average $179 per day and as much as $1,897 per trip. That's way above the average for all overseas visitors to California of only $117 and $1,299 respectively.

The Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau's research found similar high-spending patterns. Consider this: in 2011, British visitors to Boston numbered 280,000, spent an average of 5 nights, and collectively spent $230 million. The number of Chinese visitors was less than half the number of Brits: 130,000. They spent on average less than 3 nights in the city. And yet, they collectively outspent the British: $300 million.

That short length of stay frustrates tourism promoters in the Boston area. They've discovered that one of the only reasons the Chinese visit Boston is to make the pilgrimage to Havard and MIT. After that they leave.

David said...

The 2013 Pittsburgh Steelers. Very disturbing.

Henry said...

The Fish and Wildlife moniker causes me to reflect that one job of the Fish and Wildlife people is to make sure that fisherman have their permit. (I have both a Federal saltwater permit for fishing the Cape Code National Sea Shore and two state permits for everywhere else.)

Closing something requires enforcement. Because if you don't enforce the closing, you will allow things to happen that you used to enforce.

TosaGuy said...

Caller: Is this the federal part of the Horicon Marsh?

NPS person: Yes, it is.

Caller: I have a delivery at the Barrycade out front, can you please let us is.

NPS Person: Certainly, we are still taking deliveries. What is it?

Caller: It's a busload of tourists, each with the proper postage for their delivery to this location.

NPS Person: ugggghhhhhhh.

Limited Blogger said...

This is even better than the Onion.

"Obama Orders Interstate Highway System Shut Down."

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2013/10/07/president_obama_orders_interstate_highway_system_shut_down_100650.html

Crunchy Frog said...

I didn't know that Canadian Geese could read English.

Only the ones that aren't from Quebec.

Mom said...

If those are yellow jackets -- and it looks as if they are -- they are not hornets. Look it up: two different critters. Hornets are much meaner and more aggressive and have a more painful sting.