Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Signs of the End Times

—

by

James A. Bacon
in

Virginia forestry officials are warning the public to stay away from a hairy caterpillar spotted in a some eastern Virginia Counties. Although the so-called “puss caterpillar” looks almost cute enough to pet, do not. It is one of the most venomous caterpillars in the U.S. The “hairs” are venomous spines that can cause intense pain, rash, nausea, fever, muscle cramps, swollen glands and shock. If you encounter the caterpillar, reports WAVY TV, give it a wide berth and let its natural enemies control the population.

When caterpillars start emerging in the guise of Rod Blagojevich’s hair piece, you know we are reaching the end times.

— JAB

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33 responses to “Signs of the End Times”

  1. Nancy_Naive Avatar
    Nancy_Naive

    Ain’t seen nuthin’ like that, but just last night I saw one of these little buggers for the first time in my 68 years…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw_NTpj7n6s

    It’s a lacewing larvae, and is venomous. But worry not, its deadly potion is delivered by fangs to small to see with the naked eye and of no consequene to beasties of our size.

    BTW, for pest control, I have been using EcoLogic. It’s an essential oil pesticide (peppermint or lemongrass) and works like a champ. Don’t know if it kills them, but they ain’t around and the yard smells great.

  2. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead V

    617,000 firearm background checks so far in 2020 in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Last year the total was 512,000 for the entire year. The caterpillars don’t stand a chance.

    https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/nics_firearm_checks_-_month_year_by_state.pdf/view

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      yep – that’s what it says in the FBI report – but then other sites
      say this:

      Virgina gunownership 29.30%
      registered guns 307,822

      https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/gun-ownership-by-state

      How to explain this? Does this mean people are buying them in
      Virginia and taking them out of state?

      1. idiocracy Avatar
        idiocracy

        The source of the 307,822 figure for registered guns in Virginia is questionable. What registry? ATF records?

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          several different sites show numbers along those lines :

          https://www.atf.gov/file/130436/download

          Virginia 328,010

          1. idiocracy Avatar
            idiocracy

            Well, if roughly 30% of the population of Virginia owns a firearm, and assuming that they only own one firearm each, and the population of Virginia is 8,536,000:

            8,536,000 * .3 = 2,560,800 firearms in Virginia

            The 307,822 number may only reflect certain types of firearms that are required to be registered:

            “the National Firearms Act which was enacted in 1934 does require that certain types of firearms be registered. This includes firearms not commonly owned or acquired by average gun owners including fully automatic firearms and short barrel rifles and shotguns.”

            src: https://www.concealedcarry.com/law/are-guns-registered/

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            well… they show the different kinds:

            https://www.atf.gov/file/130436/download

            Exhibit 8. National Firearms Act Registered Weapons by State (Feb 2018) Short Short State
            Any Other Weapon1
            Destructive Device2
            Machinegun3 Silencer4
            Barreled Rifle5 Barreled
            Shotgun6
            Total

            I agree the number looks way too small … look at the other states also.

            is this individuals , some may own a lot of weapons?

            Virginia sells a llot of guns to out-of-state folks apparently.

          3. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            here’s the source of the data:

            Source: ATF National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFRTR).

            National Firearms Act (NFA)
            The National Firearms Act Division is responsible for the administration of the National Firearms Act (NFA) as amended, and regulations issued pursuant to the Act. It maintains the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFRTR), the central registry of all NFA firearms in the United States. The division acts on all applications to make, export, transfer and register NFA firearms; and processes notices of NFA firearms manufactured or imported.

            The Industry Processing Branch processes all non-government applications to make, export, transfer and register NFA firearms. The IPB also maintains the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFRTR), the central registry for all items regulated under the NFA. More than 3 million items are currently registered in the NFRTR, which dates back to the enactment of the NFA in 1934.

          4. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            looks like SOME types of weapons DO have to be registered in Virginia and so that number right out of the ATF report was correct – for weapons that do have to be registered.

            But other weapons like conventional handguns do not have to be “registered” in Virginia but they usually are tracked with background checks and not clear how many of the weapons are staying in Virginia.

            Other sources say that about half of virginia households have at least one weapon and there are about 2,699,173 households in Virginia.

            But this is not a total count of all guns obviously because some households have more than one weapon and some may actually have many, dozens or even hundreds of weapons.

          5. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            “But this is not a total count of all guns obviously because some households have more than one weapon and some may actually have many, dozens or even hundreds of weapons.”

            Then why did you make your original post? You were CLEARLY implying, if not directly arguing, that the number you provided represented the total number of firearms in Virginia.

            Since then, you’ve obviously done a little research and are now trying to claim that you did not mean what you obviously meant in your first comment. It is very easy to see through you, Larry.

            RE: “But other weapons like conventional handguns do not have to be “registered” in Virginia but they usually are tracked with background checks…”.

            You should probably not say such things unless you have documented evidence that the Virginia State Police and the BATFE are violating federal law. And if you do have such evidence, I’d certainly like to see it and so would the VCDL and every other group and person who support the 2nd Amendment.

      2. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        Virginia does not have gun registration except for those required by federal government (fully automatic machine guns, etc.

        If there really are 328,000 fully automatic weapons registered in Virginia then imagine how many everyday semi-auto, pump action, bolt action, etc., firearms there are. It must number in the millions.

      3. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        “National Firearms Act Registered Weapons” (see above)

        There you go, Larry. If you had bothered to research what that means you could have avoided making ignorant and ridiculous claims about firearms ownership in Virginia.

        PS – No, there are not 328,000 registered machine guns in Virginia (I was being facetious). The Act requires that harmless safety items like suppressors be registered, so those are included in the 328,000 number.

  3. Peter Galuszka Avatar
    Peter Galuszka

    New BAcon’s Rebellion mascot!

  4. idiocracy Avatar
    idiocracy

    I’ve been seeing these things crawling across the road on numerous occasions. If possible I try to squash ’em.

    1. Nancy_Naive Avatar
      Nancy_Naive

      Do they hop and carry acorns too?

      1. idiocracy Avatar
        idiocracy

        No, they just crawl across the road. They move faster than you’d think.

        1. Nancy_Naive Avatar
          Nancy_Naive

          Where in Virginia are you? I have never even seen one of these things and you have ’em in numbers.

          1. idiocracy Avatar
            idiocracy

            Prince William County

  5. Baconator with extra cheese Avatar
    Baconator with extra cheese

    The big question is are the caterpillars equally distributed acoss all communities? I would find it extremely problematic if communities of color do not have the opportunity to marvel at the wonders of these cteatures. I would urge the state to put aside enough funds to hire entomologists of color to check all communities for caterpillar equity. And do the caterpillars practice systemic racism in who they hit with their venom?

    1. novalad Avatar
      novalad

      We stand for equity; equity in larvae. With our recent advances in bringing greenery and tree cover to urban heat islands, the fall webworm is sure to follow. Abolish the caterpillar deserts!

    2. idiocracy Avatar
      idiocracy

      I would say that they are not. Urban and suburban areas do not have nearly as many bugs as rural areas do. I used to live near Manassas and since moving to a rural part of the county about 11 miles away, I have seen bugs and critters I NEVER saw anywhere near Manassas. Oddest thing I’ve seen here so far is a pink and yellow moth, Dryocampa rubicunda.

  6. Baconator with extra cheese Avatar
    Baconator with extra cheese

    Rural privilege is truly an issue in entomological rights. These systems must be abolished…

    1. djrippert Avatar
      djrippert

      Until there are as many snakes at my home in Fairfax County as there are at my farm in rural Maryland there will be neither justice nor peace.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        oh this deserves more. what kind of snakes? and where , in the basement or attic? You know of course that snakes are attracted by food – rodents…right?

        1. djrippert Avatar
          djrippert

          I’ve only had one snake in the house and that was in Virginia. A broom and a plastic garbage can soon had the slitherer outside and chasing rodents and frogs. The hundreds of other snakes I have seen over the years have all been outside.

      2. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        Give me an address and I’ll ship some to you directly. Do you prefer poisonous or nonpoisonous?

        1. djrippert Avatar
          djrippert

          How about some pythons in the Spring? Big enough to eat the Nutria but fragile enough to die in the winter.

          1. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            I’ve heard that alligators eat nutrias – and their hides make better boots than pythons’ do.

  7. Nancy_Naive Avatar
    Nancy_Naive

    Another Sign of the Times…

    “Anyone else who recklessly squandered lives and money in this way would be suffering legal consequences. Our leaders have largely claimed immunity for their actions. But this election gives us the power to render judgment. Reasonable people will certainly disagree about the many political positions taken by candidates. But truth is neither liberal nor conservative. When it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis of our time, our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent. We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs.”

    And with that, 208 years of non-partisan publicatio came to an end as the editorial board of the New England Journal of Medicine unanimously waded into this election results.

    https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2029812

    1. djrippert Avatar
      djrippert

      Meanwhile, cases are surging in Germany. The health Minister prefers “regional measures” to address the surge. Presumably the New England Journal of Medicine would object to the German minister’s plan since it wrote, “The federal government has largely abandoned disease control to the states. Governors have varied in their responses, not so much by party as by competence. But whatever their competence, governors do not have the tools that Washington controls.”

      I won’t hold my breath for the fops and dandies of the New England Journal of Medicine’s Editorial Board to castigate the German Health Minister for recommending “regional measures” instead of centralized control.

      https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-pandemics-berlin-germany-europe-b74084c06508d7296f8558d7f4691e38

      1. Nancy_Naive Avatar
        Nancy_Naive

        As a percentage of population, the WH surge is waaaay bigger. Hell, at current rates the WH, having achieved herd mentality long ago, is rapidly approaching herd immunity, too.

      2. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        It’s pretty clear that people around the world are tired of the pandemic and there is a loss of self-discipline. It’s also true that it takes the Federal govt AND state and local government working together to deal with the virus – as opposed to the Federal Govt sending out doubt about masks and social distancing – the leader of the country flouts both and convinces many to defy Federal, State and local government efforts.

        1. djrippert Avatar
          djrippert

          Really? Northam couldn’t get testing launched effectively, he pranced around Virginia Beach without social distancing or wearing a mask, he and his wife got infected and he had no statewide approach to the public schools even though there was little difference from jurisdiction to jurisdiction in Virginia by the start of the school year.

          But Lord Blackface is a Democrat so he shan’t stand accused.

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