We once had a swarm of June bugs. We had a puppy that year. He would eat the bugs until he threw up and then start eating again.

He grew up to be a really stupid dog.

Dogs are the worst. Thank god we don't have plagues of pet dogs.

I think dogs are not halal.

Apparently, locusts are the only halal insects. I guess that's good for John the Baptist.

It looks like they copied from the Jews on that. Except that locusts and crickets are kosher.

Here's the relevant part of Leviticus 11. It seems to me that ants (assuming they don't fly) might be kosher.

All flying insects that walk on all fours are to be regarded as unclean by you. 21 There are, however, some flying insects that walk on all fours that you may eat: those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground. 22 Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket or grasshopper. 23 But all other flying insects that have four legs you are to regard as unclean

The four-legged ants are pretty rare.

6: Maybe I'm wrong about ants.

Every creature that moves along the ground is to be regarded as unclean; it is not to be eaten. 42 You are not to eat any creature that moves along the ground, whether it moves on its belly or walks on all fours or on many feet; it is unclean

Screens are not common in the UK. In Scotland, if you are not on the coast, or the comparatively drier south, it's tundra-like levels of thick black clouds of midges, from spring until autumn, though. I think that's a factor in why a lot of Scotland has nobody living there.

Didn't the English force people out so they could raise sheep?

You can eat the crickets, but you can't wear their skins.

Apparently, you are supposed to give the foreleg, cheeks, and maw of the cow to a Kohen if you are keeping kosher. I didn't know that. I don't even know any Kohens. I guess I do know a bunch of Cohens. I should check to see if they eat ossobuco often.

Anyway, I've not eaten a big on purpose and not enjoyed the times I've eaten one by accident.

12: Pack it up and mail it to Michael Cohen, Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville #86067-054

Thanks for looking to the address.

15: That's the kind of extra effort that makes me a topflight commenter.

For bonuses, the locusts in Pakistan apparently are bad this year in part because the war has disrupted pest control in Yemen. Thanks MBS!

It seems like there is direct reference in Islamic texts to locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers being permissible to eat (I haven't been able to pinpoint Quran or hadith, but it's in there), but rather less for all other insects being haram - all the hits on the latter point just cite a more generic section as "unlawful all that is filthy".

In Yucatan, beach hawkers sell chapulines (local grasshoppers) and hot sauce. Crunchy, tasty snack.

I think this one had the wonderful subtitle "Must We Eat Insects?" in print.

Strong Belwas will visit this Yucatan and eat all its chapulines.

Locust biriyani is now a thing I actually want to eat.

I find the attribution of the guest post to be confusing.

My corporate sellout cousin.

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Jiang was crazy about 2PM, a South Korean K-pop group. After getting tired of repeatedly regaling new fans of 2PM with background details on band members and live performances, Jiang decided to write an article on Baidu Baike

20 is making me hungry. Also,

"The problem is the ick factor--the eyes, the wings, the legs," he said. "It's not as simple as hiding it in a bug nugget. People won't accept it beyond the novelty. When you think of a chicken you think of a chicken breast, not the eyes, wings, and beak. We're trying to do the same thing with insects, create a stepping-stone, so that when you get a bug nugget you think of the bug steak, not the whole animal."

Like many cooks, Dunkel likes to make a recipe her own. Betty Crocker called for half a cup of chopped walnuts. In the margin, in a loopy hand--the penmanship of a girl who grew up on a farm in Wisconsin in the nineteen-fifties--Dunkel had suggested a substitution: "or fresh roasted crickets."

From article linked in 20.

Let me be the first to suggest that a restaurant serving food made from insects be called a buggery.

re: screens, not just California but most of the west coast doesn't seem to have them in coastal areas. Up to BC anyway, not sure about Alaska.

Maybe that New Yorker article was what prompted these Twitter arguments that I seemed to have walking into the middle of -- there were sophisticated world travelers who had eaten insects calling out the First World Privilege of people who said eating insects was disgusting. And then there was Chr / is Ar / Nade speaking for the poor simple folk he met at McDonalds in the sad forgotten regions of our great country and calling out the Privilege of the sophisticated world travelers.

30: Everyone on twitter should be killed and processed into soylent green.

It would make sense to mix in some insects, because lean protein.

31: That seems a little harsh.

33: Perhaps, but I think the time for half measures is past.

Killing and not eating them is a half measure?

It's arguably wasteful.

And then there was Chr / is Ar / Nade speaking for the poor simple folk he met at McDonalds in the sad forgotten regions of our great country and calling out the Privilege of the sophisticated world travelers.

I think he means me! I was just there on Sunday, being simple!

not sure about Alaska.

There are some, but their use doesn't seem to be widespread or consistent. Our house has them on some windows but not others, with no apparent rhyme or reason. They seem to be more common in newer buildings, at least for residential. My office doesn't have them and I think that's pretty typical for office buildings.

I don't even know any Kohens. I guess I do know a bunch of Cohens.

Kaplan and Katz are also surnames that indicate Kohen status. That rule is not widely followed these days, though.

My office doesn't have them and I think that's pretty typical for office buildings.

Do the windows open at all?

38: I grew up in various places on the coast and I don't think I was ever in a house with screens or AC during that time. Now both are a bit more common, but still uncommon. Screen doors had screens (natch) but not windows.

What does the Kohen do with the maws?

I think if we didn't have window screens, raccoons would come inside.

40. All window open[1] if you are industrious

[1] offer sometimes not valid in some submarine and military applications

I don't recall screens in the windows in Poland.

42: Apparently, they don't actually get them these days. It's no wonder Israel is headed by a guy who is under indictment.

I think I remember from a podcast on this murder victim (conservative Jewish law professor, asshole, murder probably commissioned by his wife's family because of the harm he was causing her) that he was obsessed with his putative obligations as a Kohen. Can't find it in print though.

Further to 9, screens are the answer to the question "how can I get plenty of cool fresh air flowing through my house to reduce the sweltering heat while keeping the midges etc out?" and that isn't really a question that we ask ourselves terribly often in Scotland.

NEVERMAW.

Do the windows open at all?

In my current office, yes, but there are definitely lots of office buildings where they don't. I think that's true lots of places though.

The maw etc. is the payment to the priest for performing the sacrifice of the animal in question. Not a common practice today for obvious reasons, but at the time the idea was that the priest would eat it.

Wikipedia, which I will admit is not technically a religious tome, says it was supposed to be from all cows slaughtered, not just the ones sacrificed.

Wikipedia puts its arguments on a different page from the text being argued about, as opposed to putting them in the margins round it.

I just got into a conversation with some maintenance staff here at Heebie U about the massive ant piles and ant trails, which I absolutely adore and find fascinating and they of course had a different opinion. (That's not fair - they were equally fascinated.) Anyway, they were saying that these ant piles on different parts of campus are all connected underground, and I was marveling at the tunnels involved. They said that the ants get leaves that have fungus growing on them and take them underground and eat the fungus, so you're supposed to pour fungicide on the poor dears down the hole, to starve them. One guy said that he poured 60 gallons of fungicide down the other day, and the other guy said that he poured 90 gallons. That's a lot of fungicide. I wouldn't drink out of an ant hill if I were you.

Wikipedia, which I will admit is not technically a religious tome, says it was supposed to be from all cows slaughtered, not just the ones sacrificed.

As with everything there's a lot of dispute about the details, but I believe the general thinking is that the two would in practice have been the same. In any case, the definition of the priestly portion comes in the context of the regulations governing sacrificial procedure, so that would have been the main focus even if it technically applied more broadly.

I don't really understand why people would put in a lot of effort to adjust their tastes so they like locusts etc. when shrimp have most of the benefits (the main difference is you need to set up some containers to hold water?) and are delicious.

I see screens a lot here in Colorado but unless you're right next to a river or a ranch bugs are pretty rare.

I don't really understand why people would put in a lot of effort to adjust their tastes so they like locusts etc. when shrimp have most of the benefits (the main difference is you need to set up some containers to hold water?) and are delicious.

I see screens a lot here in Colorado but unless you're right next to a river or a ranch bugs are pretty rare.

I don't really understand why people would put in a lot of effort to adjust their tastes so they like locusts etc. when shrimp have most of the benefits (the main difference is you need to set up some containers to hold water?) and are delicious.

I see screens a lot here in Colorado but unless you're right next to a river or a ranch bugs are pretty rare.

I don't really understand why people would put in a lot of effort to adjust their tastes so they like locusts etc. when shrimp have most of the benefits (the main difference is you need to set up some containers to hold water?) and are delicious.

I see screens a lot here in Colorado but unless you're right next to a river or a ranch bugs are pretty rare.

I don't really understand why people would put in a lot of effort to adjust their tastes so they like locusts etc. when shrimp have most of the benefits (the main difference is you need to set up some containers to hold water?) and are delicious.

I see screens a lot here in Colorado but unless you're right next to a river or a ranch bugs are pretty rare.

Is that a record?

A lot of shrimp farming is pretty horrible for the environment.

To say nothing of the slave labour used in farming some species.

Don't let them kid you about the conditions in the cricket mines.

They didn't have screens in Trinidad, and there was also a time in the evening when all the bugs came out, and also there are mosquito-borne illnesses, so that's a bad combination. And I'm not talking intense poverty situations where people couldn't afford to buy screens. Many nice houses that cost a lot of money didn't have screens.

Food, flying through the air for the snagging! The Big Rock Candy Mountain's got nothing on this.

AJ's sister is an entomologist who brings edible insect dishes to various events. At any given time, her freezer at home contains insect specimens for pinning and bags of insects for eating. She just posted photos of her new beau joining her at an event and sampling all the bug cuisine. She says it all tastes pretty inoffensive. Sadly, she doesn't bring insect dishes to pass at the holidays.

As with everything there's a lot of dispute about the details, but I believe the general thinking is that the two would in practice have been the same.
Mouseover!

not narnia particularly, but most of our neighbors are pretty keen on eating bugs. in thailand they sell fried crickets from motorcycles with huge glass bins on either side, with crickets being paired with corn or something. they're ok but a bit too much legs. I mean, the flavor's fine. girl y's best friend, now a HK resident, has eaten everything, from a cockroach on a dare, to a scorpion at a fancy dinner, to a tarantula at a bug...zoo? girl x ate a tarantula leg last year as well. I am very much not on board with this gross bug nonsense.

they sell fried crickets from motorcycles

The toughest part is taking off the little leather jacket first.

We have screens at home, which are obviously unnecessary today.

I've been bit plenty during this visit to GTMO.

IHMB my daughter and her friends cooked and ate some cicadas back in 2003. She's a vegan now, though, so wouldn't repeat even if they had them in San Diego.

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How are you and yours doing, Charlie?
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Thanks for asking, MC. Not a great time to be 9 days away from home. My son was proud of me for this work, and had me come talk to his classes a number of times, so I've felt that here on what I hope is my last visit. The Navy captain I worked with some years ago popped in to wish me luck before the hearing, and asked how things were going for me generally. Tell or not? It's always pretty close to the surface. There's another legal team here at the base, one of whom I've known for more than 10 years. We all went to the beach last night, to see if the sharks wanted any of the action the mosquitoes have been getting. No one asked, though, so I thought about Billy but didn't say anything. Very heartfelt condolence from the client, unsurprisingly.

The wife is having a much rougher time.

We haven't worked out what to do for Xmas. Dec 24 is Billy's birthday, so we'll be the downiest of downers anywhere we go. I've always insisted we get a tree, but, well, now I'm tearing up, and I need to finish packing . . .

I hope you can get a big cheerful crowd to distract you, or at least feed you eggnog.

Also, you said you might be scarce for a while, but you haven't been and I for one am glad of that.

As am I

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Delaware Court of Chancery Vice Chancellor Joseph Slights III

conservative Jewish law professor, asshole, murder probably commissioned by his wife's family because of the harm he was causing her

This is kind of a weird apologia for a paid hit. They were already getting divorced. The wife's family hated him (maybe for cause, I don't know) and wanted her to be able to move nearer them, so they had him killed. It doesn't actually matter that he was a conservative!

Procedural liberal.

73: I hope you and your family have the best holiday you can manage.

Some of the large construction cranes around here are emblazoned "Mobi Lift," and I can only assume they are urbanized cousins of Moby's. Work continues apace on the building that no longer bears the "WeWork coming soon" banner.

I know a [moderately internet notorious] woman who threw an insectivorous dinner party in Berlin and told me at length about the trouble she had had going round pet stores for the ingredients. I mean, they are kept as food for more charismatic fauna with fewer, if any, legs.

Has anyone informed Bedbug Stephens that he's now at risk of being on the menu?

Work continues apace on the building that no longer bears the "WeWork coming soon" banner.
Would it be too privacy intrusive to ask which building? It might be useful for some of my work colleagues.

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Walking back through this quiet cathedral city I passed the most obvious drug deal outside a Victorian bank building bank today. Two skinny white guys, late teens at a guess being shown something in a glass tube that protruded from a crushed cardboard packet of rollup filters (I walked past close enough to reach out and grab if I had been so inclined -- they were just in a little alcove off the pavement); i hadn't gone ten paces further when the group broke up -- the two white guys in one direction and the black guy quickly across the road to where a child in an anorak with the fur-lined hood pulled up was waiting on the other wide of the street. I assume this was the carrier/mule for the deal. They had their back to me so I could see nothing except that they didn't come up to the shoulder of the dealer. The two of them walked off briskly and I lost sight of them.

I hadn't really thought of county lines reaching into the fens, but of course they do. It took me some time to register what I had seen; enough time that I couldn't possibly have interfered even if I had wanted to. But I feel now that I ought to do something. I don't really want children dealing drugs on the streets here. We have our own traditions of crime.

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I am really sad I missed this when a comment would have been relevant. England may not need screens to like, prevent disease (though malaria did use to be endemic) but they really could use it to prevent moth incursions and other night flyers during summer. So annoying.

Anyway. Off to actually read the thread, a week late.