Cicadas are quite similar to shrimps in texture

An interesting read in today's Japan Times for the less squeamish...

"I think a food shortage will emerge as a global problem in the near future. Insects will play a big role in solving that problem."

I think so too, but that doesn't mean I'm going to start eating bugs on my curry -- never mind the fact that apparently, crabs are not all that different from spiders in terms of their anatomical structure.

Maybe people will eat more bugs as time passes by, but if I had any kids, I wouldn't want them to eat fried insects for dinner.

"While the idea of eating insects may seem unusual or even unappetizing to some, human consumption of insects is actually very common in most parts of the world," the U.N. body said.

I've heard of snacking on fried ants or locusts, but a giant bug on a bowl of curry is a bit extreme; it looks downright disgusting, and there's no way I would even go near that.

Source: The Japan Times Online

News - Assault With An 8-Inch Sausage

(Fresno, CA) A man reportedly broke into the home of two farmworkers, stole cash, rubbed one of the men with spices and hit the other with a sausage before fleeing.

The weapon of choice for a burglar -- an 8-inch sausage which he used to attack his victims after waking them up with some Pappy's spice seasoning.

Some information from the police report:

Before fleeing the residence, Vasquez, for some reason, removed his shorts, which contained his driver's license, credit cards, school IDs, and cell phone... Cops were unable to recover Vasquez's principal weapon. "I asked Santiago where the sausage was," Deputy George Ozburn wrote, "he advised his dog ate it."

I would have liked to see him claim that he saw someone do it in a video game.

Source: The Smoking Gun

Windsor man caught with stolen meat in his pants

Source: The Windsor Star

We all know that food prices have been rising. Foregoing the fire-baked pizza and instead going to McDonald's for lunch is no longer a tactic reserved for the starving college intern, but at less than $5 for a meal, it's not a bad deal.

Other people have taken less kindly to these changes in food prices, as stuffing t-bone steaks in your pants has become a popular tactic for those addicted to bovine meat.

Of course, this man is certainly not the first to attempt such a crime, eh?

An off-duty cop and a grocery store manager chased down an alleged thief Monday after he tried to make his escape in a taxi cab, with six T-bone steaks crammed down his pants.

He put six T-bone steaks in the waist band of his pants, police said. The manager confronted him as he tried to leave the store.

The man with the meat jumped out of the cab and took off on foot, with the store manager on his heels.

An off-duty Windsor police officer saw the chase and witnessed the suspect dropping the steaks as he ran.

I'm curious what it is about t-bone steaks that makes people want to stuff them into their pants.

News - Japan’s Promised Rice Aid Fails to Emerge

Source: Financial Times

A professor of mine explained his view on the key difference between Japanese and Western business processes; Western firms will seal a deal in 1 month, procrastinate for 10 months and then get the actual work done on the twelfth month, but Japanese firms will procrastinate for 10 months, seal a deal in the eleventh month and then get the work of it done on the twelfth month.

In the end it’s all the same.

Or Japanese firms could just not get anything done. Ever.

Such is the case with the rice issue discussed in the article; the government was basically too lazy to make money from rice that it usually just gives away.

Of the 770,000 tons it imports annually, the government sells about 100,000 tons for general consumption, 300,000 tons for use in processed foods and a few hundred thousand tons as animal feed, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. About 100,000 to 200,000 tons is for foreign aid.

...Rex Estoperez, of the Philippine National Food Authority, attributed the lack of movement to bureaucratic procedures and early disagreement on price.

Not only did Japan not sell expensive rice for a premium when it had the chance; now they will probably have to give some of that away. And to top it off, they come off as a stingy country that clings on to its brown rice, unwilling to share any of it with its Asian neighbors.

Of course, the flip side to the argument is that, had commodity prices continued their steep climb during the early summer months, Japan might have been able to sell their rice for an even higher price. But I guess that’s not going to happen now, and they’ll have to sit around for another year before they decide what to do with their leftover rice.