From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V11 #281 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Wednesday, September 11 2002 Volume 11 : Number 281 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Can of Bees tour dates ["Jonathan Fetter" ] Re: Can of Bees tour dates [Ken Weingold ] Re: Can of Bees tour dates [Stewart Russell ] Re: Nextdoortown(ish) [gSs ] Here we all are, sitting in a rainbow ["Eugene Hopstetter, Jr." ] they both sting [Jill Brand ] Spades, bees, wasps and beagles, er, I mean bagels [shmac@ix.netcom.com (] Re: fegmaniax-digest V11 #280 ["Sean Palmerston" ] Re: Sharks [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] Re: they both sting [rosso@videotron.ca] Re: Sharks ["glen uber" ] just a short note to say [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] Re: they both sting ["Jonathan Fetter" ] Re: they both sting ["matt sewell" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 09:27:58 -0400 (EDT) From: "Jonathan Fetter" Subject: Re: Can of Bees tour dates A general rule for identication of the Hymenopteran hordes: if it's hirisute, it's a bee. If it's glabrous, it's a wasp. Very general, as there are flies that mimic bees very well, and moths and true bugs that do a good job impersonating (ininsectating?) wasps. And I'm sure there are some hairy wasps and some naked bees. By this rule the insects on the cover of "A Can of Bees" would be wasps with stocky bee bodies. And then there are the ants... Jon On Tue, 10 Sep 2002 08:27:28 -0400, Stewart Russell wrote : > Tom Clark wrote: > > > > Maybe that's the way it is in Canada. Here in the usa we have bees (honey, > > wood, etc.), wasps, yellow jackets, hornets... > > aha! In the UK, bees are honey, bumble, or several types of solitary > (red tails, mostly). Wasps are mostly yellow-and-black stripey things > that get very fiesty in August. Wasps are also, but more rarely, wood > wasps and ichneumons. > > Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 09:41:16 -0400 From: Ken Weingold Subject: Re: Can of Bees tour dates On Mon, Sep 9, 2002, Tom Clark wrote: > on 9/9/02 9:28 AM, Stewart Russell at stewart@gandalfgraphics.com wrote: > > > what is it with the weird way n.americans classify bees and wasps? > > They call bees bees. But they also call wasps bees. How strange is that? > > > > Maybe that's the way it is in Canada. Here in the usa we have bees (honey, > wood, etc.), wasps, yellow jackets, hornets... No, I always hear Americans referring to Yellow Jackets as bees. - -Ken ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 10:01:18 -0400 From: Stewart Russell Subject: Re: Can of Bees tour dates Ken Weingold wrote: > > No, I always hear Americans referring to Yellow Jackets as bees. I think there needs to be an ANSI-standard yellow jacket, as I've seen folks from CO and CT disagree as to what they are. Stewart (should be np: Happy Yellow Bumble Bee, Of Montreal) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 09:15:24 -0500 (CDT) From: gSs Subject: Re: Nextdoortown(ish) On Mon, 9 Sep 2002, matt sewell wrote: > or going on about how globalisation is destroying anything good > about our species (it is, you know). no it isn't and it will be what saves the species. borders suck, just ask a mexican. > But no. I'm not going to go on about regime change... I mean, I believe > in it wholeheartedly, but could the Democrats really do any better? Maybe > the UN could go in and ensure fair elections... but every now and then you get it right. the problems are the democrats, as well as the republicans. they are all equally fucked and unless we all admit it and quit fucking voting for them, nothing will change. on another note. in a court room filled almost entirely will democrats and republicans, idiots equal, i had a surprisingly good time. i was nervous but the hearing went well. I gave them the right to come on my land and do a topographical survey only and had the order noted that any damage they did to any of the vegatation would be charged to them through the court at the next hearing. the sorry ass twits wanted me removed from my property at anytime with no notice over a 45 day period during which they could come at anytime and do quite instrusive sampling and pay me 10 dollars to cover any damage they might do. I got that all scratched and now they have 30 days, I don't have to vacate the property and they can do nothing but a topographical survey. an attorney named Abernathy, representing the citing of Melissa said in court that I had threatened to shoot them the next time I saw them on my property. I immediately said that was lie and that he was a liar. I then claimed defammation of character and asked the attorney if he was claiming I said this to him or was the claim that I said this to someone else and if so to please call them as witness. He didn't say anything else. The court room crowd loved it. I thing they will soon come to realize that sewage trunk lines don't run well up a hill and maybe they will just go away. Otherwise I am going to have hire a tree appraiser. Sixty foot oak and pecan trees are expensive. so, representing myself was a great deal of fun and I now fully understand the attraction. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 07:46:14 -0700 (PDT) From: "Eugene Hopstetter, Jr." Subject: Here we all are, sitting in a rainbow I swear, I cannot stop listening to the Small Faces's "Ogden's Nut Gone Flake." Every day, I just have to hear it. Especially "Lazy Sunday." And it always leads to my listening The Kinks's "Something Else." Usually the song "Lazy Old Sun." I sure hope the new Soft Boys record makes me feel the way those albums do. NP: The Kinks, "David Watts" . __________________________________________________ Yahoo! - We Remember 9-11: A tribute to the more than 3,000 lives lost http://dir.remember.yahoo.com/tribute ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 13:39:26 -0400 From: rtaylor@dlalaw.com Subject: talking about bees because I don't have a copy of the album Stewart-- >They call bees bees. But they also call wasps bees. That's just American sloppiness. A bit like Mary Poppins dissmissively calling all birds "sparrows." >ferris "they sting you and don't die" thomas That's the crucial distinction. I'm somewhat allergic to beestings, so it's an issue. Honeybees & yellowjackets sting & leave some of their abdomen behind in the process. Hornets, wasps, bumble bees just keep going. But yellowjackets are the worst -- stronger venom, more aggressive, & unlike hornets they build nests in the ground directly in front of your lawnmower. I've also been stung by a "velvet ant," a bad wingless wasp. Only eaten a couple of chocolate ants. Ross Taylor ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 11:31:18 -0700 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: Can of Wasps/Madonna of the Bees Bees and wasps are very distinct things. Yellowjackets are sometimes just plain Yellowjackets in daily parlance, but it doesn't take much to figure out which camp they fall into. Maybe urban-raised Americans have more trouble with the distinction than those of us who were raised in the sticks. We woodhicks tend to have seen where the critters live and somehow that fails to include wasp-hives. The distinction was key to our family health, actually, as my dad was deadly allergic to wasp stings but not beestings. Thankfully I didn't inherit the allergy, since wasps often stung the hell out of me as a kid; bees not so much. _____________ Nextdoorland advance comments: Well, I don't foresee being able to lay hands on it before the release. But, being a major Tom Verlaine booster, I'm thinking of it much like the Television reunion album from '92. There's another band with only two proper albums to their credit, one an absolute classic, whose idiosyncratic leader went on to a solo career and then reconvened the band decades later. I'm hard pressed to think of a better parallel... The TV reunion album was judged to be a little tame by many (especially those who knew the band more from its "punk" rep than its actual records), and more like a Verlaine solo album than a Television album. Well, go figure on that-- Verlaine's writing had changed in the intervening years and there was no reason to go back. Me, I really like that record. I like the fact that instead of some lame "it's been a long time since we rock(ed) and rolled" statement, they just took the songs at hand and got down to the business of arranging them and playing them as a band. It holds up really well-- in fact it sounds *a lot* like what Luna ended up sounding like. Too bad it's out of print. So having a little experience with this kind of thing, I don't anticipate any problems with hearing the band take on "solo-Robyn-like" songs. In fact it's a very exciting prospect-- something old, something new, and something else even older all at once. As to the production, who knows what I'll make of that. It's recently started to weird me out that my career as a rock slave has lasted long enough that stuff I listened to when it was new now sounds "dated" production-wise... and I mean the straight-up rock band stuff, not just the wanky synth-drenched material. In fact I have no idea what the ideal recording of a guitar band "should" sound like now. Most of 'em are produced to sound like the period they're ripping off, and, sadly, being retro in one way or another is the mark of a listenable band these days... the real "modern-sounding" rock that gets played on the radio is so awful I can't separate the production quality from the intrinsic badness, but my impression is that the production is nauseatingly slick and completely divorced from the sound of amps in a room. Aye, what hath Pro-Tools wrought? - -Rex "I can't believe I once thought the drums on Document sounded good" Broome ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 14:53:12 -0400 From: Stewart Russell Subject: Re: Can of Wasps/Madonna of the Bees Rex.Broome wrote: > > Bees and wasps are very distinct things. what I'm getting from the list here is, "I can't tell you what a bee or a wasp is, but I know it when I see it." (paraphrased, as far as I can remember, from the founder of Fanuc Robotics's definition of a robot.) > not just the wanky synth-drenched material. it can sound pretty terrible, not from the (over)production, but from the limitations of the old digital samplers. I bought Art Of Noise ``daft'' the other week, and by 'eck, don't those old Fairlight samples sound ropey nearly 20 years on. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 13:03:00 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: CvB, Luna News http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/02-09/10.shtml SpinART to Release Camper Van Beethoven Box Set And oh man, do they do a mean "Rumours" Will Bryant reports: SpinART Records is set to release Cigarettes and Carrot Juice: The Santa Cruz Years, a five-CD retrospective of 80's art-punk weirdos Camper Van Beethoven, on November 5th. The set will include Camper's first three records-- Telephone Free Landslide Victory (1985), II & III (1986), and Camper Van Beethoven (also 1986)-- as well as the 1993 odds-and-sods collection Camper Vantiquities and a live disc. SpinART promises the set will be beefed up with "hits, rarities, and previously unreleased songs," as well as a super-low price (about the same as three CD's at full retail). The set will make Camper's mid-80's, pre-Virgin output much easier to find (the original issues on IRS have gone in and out of print over the years as distribution deals have come and gone). As previously reported, Camper Van Beethoven recently released Tusk, a song-for-song reimagining of the Fleetwood Mac opus recorded for jollies one drunken weekend back in 1987. A briefly reunited Camper lineup played a few select dates in New York and on the West Coast this summer to support the release. .: Pitchfork Review: Camper Van Beethoven: ...Is Dead, Long Live... .: Pitchfork News: Camper Van Beethoven Reform for Three Shows .: Camper Van Beethoven: http://www.campervanbeethoven.com .: SpinART: http://www.spinartrecords.com - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna to Drop New EP in October To recoup costs on ill-fated Galaxie 900 numbers Ray Suzuki reports: Jetset Records has announced the release of Luna's Close Cover Before Striking, an EP of all-new material which will be in stores on October 22nd. In all likelihood, the EP takes off pretty much where this year's Romantica left off, which was startling Pitchfork staffer Rob Mitchum with its surprisingly sunny outlook and snappy summer-driving tuneage. In fact, most of Close Cover Before Striking is culled from outtakes from those sessions, including covers of the Rolling Stones ("Waiting on a Friend") and Kraftwerk ("Neon Lights"). The disc will also be enchanted with videos for "Lovedust" and "1995." Tracklist: 01 Astronaut 02 Waiting on a Friend 03 Teenage Lightning 04 Drunken Whistler 05 The Alibi 06 New Haven Comet 07 Neon Lights Luna will indulge your longings for their live presence at a handful of shows around the prarie and desert states of our fine land later this month. Tour dates: 09-17 Pittsburgh, PA - Rosebud 09-18 Columbus, OH - Little Brothers 09-19 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle 09-20 Columbia, MO - Mojos 09-21 Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck 09-22 Omaha, NE - Music Box 09-24 Boulder, CO - Fox Theater 09-25 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater 09-26 Albuquerque, NM - Launch Pad 09-28 Fort Worth, TX - Ridglea Theater 09-29 Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival (w/Wilco, Ryan Adams, String Cheese Incident) .: Pitchfork Review: Luna: Romantica .: Luna: http://www.fuzzywuzzy.com .: Jetset Records: http://www.jetsetrecords.com - -------------- 23 of 24, 27 of 31! ===== "If we don't allow journalists, politicians, and every two-bit Joe Schmo with a cause to grandstand by using 9-11 as a lame rhetorical device, then the terrorists have already won." -- "Shredder" "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." -- Theodore Roosevelt . __________________________________________________ Yahoo! - We Remember 9-11: A tribute to the more than 3,000 lives lost http://dir.remember.yahoo.com/tribute ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 17:18:14 -0400 (EDT) From: Jill Brand Subject: they both sting Stewart wrote: "aha! In the UK, bees are honey, bumble, or several types of solitary (red tails, mostly). Wasps are mostly yellow-and-black stripey things that get very fiesty in August." On the wasp/bee debate, I learned this week that both can sting unprovoked. I was picking raspberries in my yard when what Stewart would call a wasp and what I would call a yellow jacket stung my hand. Two days later whilst out with the raspberries, a very big furry bumblebee crawled onto my foot and stung me. I used my favorite antidote to lessen the pain - - a slice of raw onion. I learned this trick in Hamburg, Germany from my sister-in-law during an awful summer of yellow jackets (which the Germans call wasps). Jill ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 20:33:10 -0400 From: shmac@ix.netcom.com (Scott Hunter McCleary) Subject: Spades, bees, wasps and beagles, er, I mean bagels Ross said: >I've never heard anybody call a wasp a bee. Did you hear that in >Toronto? Torontonians call a kaiser roll with a hole in it a bagel, >so that figures. Some folks calls it a kaiser roll. I calls it a sling roll. ========= SH McCleary Prodigal Dog Communications PO Box 6163 Arlington, VA 22206 shmac@prodigaldog.com www.prodigaldog.com www.1480kHz.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 22:49:47 -0400 From: "Sean Palmerston" Subject: Re: fegmaniax-digest V11 #280 > Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 00:59:20 -0400 > From: "R. Edward Poole" > Subject: nextdoorland > > On Monday, September 9, 2002, at 06:31 AM, crowbar.joe@btopenworld.com > wrote: > the album of the year -- hands down -- is > Cornelius' "Point." (also on matador, as it happens). Hmmm. Well, I could think of at least three other records on Matador alone than are better than 'Pont' was (which may be my most disappointing album of the year so far), and I don't even think they are having a great year. The Interpol record is quite nice though, and the GbV is a step down from last year's Isolation Drills IMHO. Here's a link to a timeline story I did on GbV in Exclaim! last year. I asked to do one on Mr. Hitchcock and the Soft Boys, but a smaller story had already been assigned to someone else: Guided By Voices : Flamboyant Careers In Alcoholism http://www.exclaim.ca/common/display.php3?articleid=619 Sean Palmerston http://home.cogeco.ca/~spalmerston ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 14:18:47 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: Re: Sharks >Surprising lack of shark-related tunes to go with all the footage! I've >got: >Shark, Throwing Muses >Shark Attack, Split Enz >Sharks, Morphine >...and of course the Jaws theme... Hammerheads, Shriekback (also Shark Walk, by the same group) And surely someone, somewhere should have mentioned that strange Californian band Mark Gloster and Big Rubber Shark! James James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand. =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= .-=-.-=-.-=-.- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-. -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= You talk to me as if from a distance =-.-=-. And I reply with impressions chosen from another time -=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 23:38:04 -0400 From: rosso@videotron.ca Subject: Re: they both sting On 10 Sep 2002 at 17:18, Jill Brand wrote: > On the wasp/bee debate, I learned this week that both can sting > unprovoked. I was picking raspberries in my yard when what Stewart would > call a wasp and what I would call a yellow jacket stung my hand. Two days > later whilst out with the raspberries, a very big furry bumblebee crawled > onto my foot and stung me. I used my favorite antidote to lessen the pain > - a slice of raw onion. I learned this trick in Hamburg, Germany from my > sister-in-law during an awful summer of yellow jackets (which the Germans > call wasps). That's the third time since Labour Day I've heard of the onion remedy, and I never had before. The yellowjacket didn't leave a sting in you, did it? I read here: http://www.logicsouth.com/~lcoble/dir9/yellow-j.txt a quote supposedly from the Oregon State U. entymology dept. that "Yellowjackets are MORE likely then bees to sting without provocation, their sting is more painful (at least to me), normally no stinger remains in the skin, and a single yellowjacket may sting more than once." I just call 'em wasps, because they're the most plentiful kind around here. At our Labour Day party in upstate NY a wasp (which nobody called a "bee") stung one guy twice under his T-shirt. The wasps were attracted to our Labour Day beach buffet. Somebody there suggested onion, which was used on the victim. It's hard to tell if it worked, because who knows how much it *might* have hurt if the guy hadn't used onion? It might have been the suggestion of this old German woman who tells me there's "merkels" in the woods come springtime. Then within a week I hear from a family with Polish roots that they use onion for stings. Now this. That URL I quoted says meat tenderiser works. I've been stung once, and I was asking for it -- stepped on a feeding bee with bare feet in a meadow. That toe got really BIG. It was more weird than painful. Then there was the "can of bees" I remember from my youth. There was this can of "baby bees" in the local supermarket for years (go figure!), right next to the "seasoned snake meat". Oddly enough, I've been stung more times by onions than by bees ... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 22:22:41 -0700 From: "glen uber" Subject: Re: Sharks James Dignan earnestly scribbled: >And surely someone, somewhere should have mentioned that strange >Californian band Mark Gloster and Big Rubber Shark! Strange Californian band indeed. So strange, they're now based in Oregon. BRS has been on hiatus, although their fearless leader did sit in at a gig with the Fabulous Uber Bros. a month or so back. By the way, a collective name for group of Ubers is a Damnation, as in "Those Damn Uber Boys!" - -- Cheers! - -g- "Most people don't know what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it." - -- George Carlin glen uber =+= blint (at) mac dot com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 00:44:20 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: just a short note to say just a short note to say that my thoughts are with all fegs in NY, DC and the rest of the US on this tough day. As we say in NZ, kia kaha* James *translates roughly as "be strong, don't let things get you down" James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand. =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= .-=-.-=-.-=-.- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-. -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= You talk to me as if from a distance =-.-=-. And I reply with impressions chosen from another time -=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 08:58:35 -0400 (EDT) From: "Jonathan Fetter" Subject: Re: they both sting Ammonia works well. Some stores sell little tubes of "after-bite" with a wick on the end--I seem to remember the main ingredient is ammonia. I've never heard of onions for bee/wasp stings--I'll give it a try next sting event. A velvet ant sting--ouchies. Was it similar to a yellowjacket sting? Anyone ever get stung by a brown hornet? (http://www.greensmiths.com/giant.htm) People in Taiwan put hornets similar to these (http://www.muenster.org/hornissenschutz/manda.htm) into wine--one can buy either larvae, pupae, or adults in wine. I was going to try some but at around $20 a bottle I suddenly lost the experimental spirit. Keep an eye on your soda can for swimming vespids, Jon > > On the wasp/bee debate, I learned this week that both can sting > > unprovoked. I was picking raspberries in my yard when what Stewart would > > call a wasp and what I would call a yellow jacket stung my hand. Two days > > later whilst out with the raspberries, a very big furry bumblebee crawled > > onto my foot and stung me. I used my favorite antidote to lessen the pain > > - a slice of raw onion. I learned this trick in Hamburg, Germany from my > > sister-in-law during an awful summer of yellow jackets (which the Germans > > call wasps). > > That's the third time since Labour Day I've heard of the onion remedy, and I > never had before. The yellowjacket didn't leave a > sting in you, did it? I read here: > > http://www.logicsouth.com/~lcoble/dir9/yellow-j.txt > > a quote supposedly from the Oregon State U. entymology dept. that > "Yellowjackets are MORE likely then bees to sting > without provocation, their sting is more painful (at least to > me), normally no stinger remains in the skin, and a single > yellowjacket may sting more than once." > > I just call 'em wasps, because they're the most plentiful kind around > here. > > At our Labour Day party in upstate NY a wasp (which nobody > called a "bee") stung one guy twice under his T-shirt. The wasps > were attracted to our Labour Day beach buffet. Somebody there > suggested onion, which was used on the victim. It's hard to tell > if it worked, because who knows how much it *might* have hurt > if the guy hadn't used onion? It might have been the suggestion of this old > German woman who tells me there's "merkels" in the woods > come springtime. Then within a week I hear from a family with Polish roots > that they use onion for stings. Now this. > > That URL I quoted says meat tenderiser works. > > I've been stung once, and I was asking for it -- stepped on a feeding > bee with bare feet in a meadow. That toe got really BIG. It was more weird > than painful. > > Then there was the "can of bees" I remember from my youth. There was > this can of "baby bees" in the local supermarket for years (go figure!), right > next to the "seasoned snake meat". > > Oddly enough, I've been stung more times by onions than by bees ... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 14:46:01 +0100 From: "matt sewell" Subject: Re: they both sting There's a saying over here - bicarbonate for bees, vinegar for wasps... although I find if you talk to bees or wasps (and in fact many other insects), they'll get the message - thus I've never been stung by wasp, bee or hornet. Bloddy mosquitos, though, are a different matter (I live right next to the canal)! Cheers Matt >From: "Jonathan Fetter" >Reply-To: "Jonathan Fetter" >To: rosso@videotron.ca, fegmaniax@smoe.org >Subject: Re: they both sting >Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 08:58:35 -0400 (EDT) > >Ammonia works well. Some stores sell little tubes of "after-bite" with >a wick on the end--I seem to remember the main ingredient is >ammonia. >I've never heard of onions for bee/wasp stings--I'll give it a try next >sting event. >A velvet ant sting--ouchies. Was it similar to a yellowjacket sting? > >Anyone ever get stung by a brown hornet? >(http://www.greensmiths.com/giant.htm) > >People in Taiwan put hornets similar to these >(http://www.muenster.org/hornissenschutz/manda.htm) into wine--one >can buy either larvae, pupae, or adults in wine. I was going to try >some but at around $20 a bottle I suddenly lost the experimental >spirit. > >Keep an eye on your soda can for swimming vespids, >Jon > > > > > On the wasp/bee debate, I learned this week that both can sting > > > unprovoked. I was picking raspberries in my yard when what >Stewart would > > > call a wasp and what I would call a yellow jacket stung my hand. >Two days > > > later whilst out with the raspberries, a very big furry bumblebee >crawled > > > onto my foot and stung me. I used my favorite antidote to >lessen the pain > > > - a slice of raw onion. I learned this trick in Hamburg, Germany >from my > > > sister-in-law during an awful summer of yellow jackets (which the >Germans > > > call wasps). > > > > That's the third time since Labour Day I've heard of the onion >remedy, and I > > never had before. The yellowjacket didn't leave a > > sting in you, did it? I read here: > > > > http://www.logicsouth.com/~lcoble/dir9/yellow-j.txt > > > > a quote supposedly from the Oregon State U. entymology dept. that > > "Yellowjackets are MORE likely then bees to sting > > without provocation, their sting is more painful (at least to > > me), normally no stinger remains in the skin, and a single > > yellowjacket may sting more than once." > > > > I just call 'em wasps, because they're the most plentiful kind around > > here. > > > > At our Labour Day party in upstate NY a wasp (which nobody > > called a "bee") stung one guy twice under his T-shirt. The wasps > > were attracted to our Labour Day beach buffet. Somebody there > > suggested onion, which was used on the victim. It's hard to tell > > if it worked, because who knows how much it *might* have hurt > > if the guy hadn't used onion? It might have been the suggestion of >this old > > German woman who tells me there's "merkels" in the woods > > come springtime. Then within a week I hear from a family with >Polish roots > > that they use onion for stings. Now this. > > > > That URL I quoted says meat tenderiser works. > > > > I've been stung once, and I was asking for it -- stepped on a >feeding > > bee with bare feet in a meadow. That toe got really BIG. It was >more weird > > than painful. > > > > Then there was the "can of bees" I remember from my youth. >There was > > this can of "baby bees" in the local supermarket for years (go >figure!), right > > next to the "seasoned snake meat". > > > > Oddly enough, I've been stung more times by onions than by >bees ... - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: Click Here ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V11 #281 ********************************