Dateline Cincinnati: Cicada Watchers on the Alert

One summer, when I was about eleven, I was in a neighbor's front yard, when a cicada attacked me. Well, actually, he tried to land on my neck, thinking it was a tree stump I suppose. Now, the seventeen-year cycle wasn't due to arrive until I was fifteen, so this must have been one of those lesser-known varieties that hatch a few years early. That would explain a lot.

Only now do I learn that I was not alone. And only in Cincinnati, my old stomping ground, could a bunch of yahoos with time on their hands come up with something like this:

"Welcome to Cicadaville.com!... You have taken the first step toward saving yourself!  We are the world's premier information source about the Cicada.  Our mission  is to reveal the deadly truth about Cicadas so you can arm yourself and your family against these vicious predators. Most of the information about the cicada in the media is false. Only at Cicadaville.com can you learn the real truth..."

...and it's about time, too. I just might take an extended weekend to go back for one of those cicada parties. I hear they can be sauteed and taste just like asparagus.

That'll show 'em who's on top of the food chain!