Grumpy Editor

Philadelphia tops the list of bedbug-infested U.S. cities

Grumpy Editor today lists 15 U.S. cities that are the most bedbug infested because newspapers in the affected communities most likely tossed the story because editors aren’t “buggy” about running negative tallies involving their marketing areas. 

The annual compilation by Terminix, the pest control company that deals with the tiny, crawly critters, puts Philadelphia at the top of the list. 

Philly takes the title held for two years by New York City, which slips to third place. 

Ranking second this year is Cincinnati. 

Here’s how the rest of the major cities stack up, based on data from 300 Terminix branches.

4 --- Chicago

5 --- Detroit

6 --- Washington, D.C.

7 --- Columbus, Ohio

8 --- San Francisco

9 --- Denver

10 -- New Haven

11 -- Dallas

12 -- Houston

13 -- Indianapolis

14 -- Miami

15 -- Cleveland 

Terminix, a division of ServiceMaster Co., says the 2012 rankings prove bedbugs continue to be a problem across the country, with New Haven, Houston, Indianapolis, Miami and Cleveland joining the top 15 this year.

The pest control firm points out Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Columbus, San Francisco and Dallas are seeing growing bedbug populations this year, while noting three major cities in Ohio are on the list.

 

Sexy, pesky fruit flies get 'buzz' with alcohol-laced chow

One of the year’s strangest stories --- and space chewers --- to make some front pages over the weekend dealt with (ready for this?) sex life of fruit flies, observed Grumpy Editor. 

It also indicated how University of California, San Francisco, researchers are spending valuable tax dollars in a financially-smacked state. 

Fruit flies normally are attracted to ripened or fermenting fruits and vegetables.  And spotting them shake up produce inspectors, especially in California. 

Associated Press writer Malcolm Ritter gobbled up information based on material in Science magazine that involved a study of fruit flies that could shed light “on the biology of alcohol abuse.” 

The story detailed how fruit flies were studied after being put into containers with a just-mated female.  Then the rejected insects were placed in vials and given a choice of regular food or alcohol-laced chow.  “They consistently went for the alcohol more than did the male flies that had just mated,” Ritter reported. 

The story also cited researchers paired thousands of other male flies with dead virgin females, “so they didn’t experience rejection but didn’t have sex either.” 

Wow! 

With newspapers' editorial space getting tighter and considering readers’ increasing interest in the shaky economy, job creation, the conflict in Afghanistan, taxes being pushed, growing use of Air Force One for fund raising, the upcoming election and weird weather appearing around the country, how fruit flies made front pages --- or even the funny pages --- was simply weird.

 

Most print, TV editors overlook (sold out) bed bug summit

Coverage of the recently concluded (and sold out) two-day North American Bed Bug Summit in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, strangely didn’t grab the attention of many print and television news editors around the nation despite the public's growing interest in the blood suckers, notes Grumpy Editor.

Most editors feel putting the spotlight on the bugs isn’t as “sexy” as the unveiling of another Apple Inc. product --- or covering other summits, especially in foreign lands.

Bed bugs are popping up everywhere around the nation and increasingly are putting the bite on Americans.

Hotels, hospitals, movie theaters, military housing, college dormitories, shelters, retail stores, among others, are popular gathering spots for the mushrooming tiny bugs that also are invading homes.

Bed bug capital right now is New York City.  Recently, the Nike flagship store in Manhattan and a Victoria’s Secret closed temporarily due to infestations.

Credit the shelving of DDT for the bed bug upswing.   The pesticide, banned 38 years ago, kept the apple seed-size insects under control.

Thus, the North American Bed Bug Summit last week attracted entomologists, vendors, exterminators and scientists all focusing on how to combat the upsurge with techniques and products now available.

The event attracted 400 --- paying $399 each --- to the Hyatt Rosemont.  About 200 others were turned away.

Among suggested actions to kill the pesky insects:  bug-sniffing canines, assorted detection devices, treatment routines (including both heating and freezing assaults) and fumigation.

The National Pest Management Association estimates bed bug complaints have soared 500 percent in five years.

Another worry in the U.S.: fireflies appear to be fading

Helping to plug holes in newspaper columns during the usually quiet Labor Day weekend, notes Grumpy Editor, was an Associated Press revelation of another disappearing item from the U.S. scene, joining vanishing jobs and dwindling savings accounts:  fireflies.

A lengthy story by AP’s Rick Callahan, indicating the luminous insects’ population may be flickering out, actually made front pages in some dailies yesterday.

The disclosure was based on observations of about 700 volunteers in 42 states who tallied firefly numbers, the color of their lights and flash patterns of the little bugs that thrive mostly east of the Rockies.

Scientists know them as photinus pyralis.

Most common in the U.S. are the eastern firefly and big dipper firefly.

Debuting in May, 2008, Firefly Watch, sponsored by the Boston Museum of Science, feeds sightings information into a database to determine if fireflies are indeed being grounded.

Not to worry, though, since about 2,000 species of fireflies --- sometimes called glow worms or lightning bugs --- are found in temperate and tropical environments around the world. 

The glow appears via bioluminescence.

Many of the tiny critters find homes in marshes or in wet, wooded areas where their larvae feast on abundant food sources --- and later “light up” their surroundings.