[Milsurplus] [Fwd: [GenRad] A new thing to worry about...]

[J. Forster]

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: [GenRad] A new thing to worry about...
From:    "Chuck Harris" <cfharris at erols.com>
Date:    Fri, October 22, 2010 5:40 am
To:      hp_agilent_equipment at yahoogroups.com
         "TekScopes2" <tekscopes2 at yahoogroups.com>
         GenRad at yahoogroups.com
         HP_8505A_Network_Analyzer at yahoogroups.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Gang!

Well, here on the eastern coast (right coast) of the United States,
we have a new thing to worry about.  Several years ago, a shipping
container, one of those truck sized boxes, arrived in Allentown,
Pennsylvania,
from China.  When the importer opened the container, he found it was swarming
with Chinese stink bugs.  Chinese stink bugs are stone grey, have wings, and
are about the size of your thumb nail.  When you scare them, or crush
them, they
stink badly!

Last summer, we in Maryland, saw Chinese stink bugs for the first time,
and they
were a curious sight.  But we thought nothing of it.

This summer, the state of Maryland was swarming with Chinese stink bugs.  Our
farmers, of which I am one, have been devastated by the critters. 
Maryland lost
its entire peach and nectarine crop to them.  We lost our entire tomato,
squash,
and pepper crop.  What happens is they swarm in, pierce the green fruit
with their
sharp pointed mouth thing, and suck out juices.  While doing this, they
insert
bacteria.  Before the fruit has a chance to ripen, it rots.  Insecticides
don't
work because the bugs don't nest in the crop area, they swarm in from
elsewhere,
do their deed, and swarm out.

Why am I telling you this?

Well, when the weather gets cooler, Chinese stink bugs go looking for
nooks and
crannies in which to weather over the winter.  They come into our houses,
trucks,
office buildings, etc. in droves.  And they crawl into the little openings in
anything, including electronic test equipment.

A week ago, I needed to do some milling, and I pressed the ON button on my
mill, and its contactor went "BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA".  Although it turned the
mill on, it was humming super loudly.  When I opened the controller box,
it stunk
of smashed Chinese stink bugs.  I'll leave it to your imagination what had
happened.

They are in everything.  When they get squished, the liquid they release is
corrosive.  If it gets on soft skin, like around your eyes, it burns, and
will
raise a welt that turns into a weepy scab... typical chemical burn.

For you folks living outside of the USA, don't be so smug!  We will
certainly be
shipping some of these bugs to you in any international packages we send. 
You
are next.  And like the USA, you don't have anything that will kill and
eat these
foul insects.

Thanks China!  You have taken our jobs, and in return given us cheap poorly
made trash.  Now you have invaded our country with stink bugs, black mussels,
snake head fish, bed bugs, ... what's next?

-Chuck Harris


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