Cicada Mania

This goes to show how oblivious I am in general: Cicada Mania was featured on The 9 on Yahoo! last week. I watch The 9 on my lunch break, so I don’t know how I missed it. Thanks Yahoo!

Back in 2004 there was a cicada humor site called Cicadaville. It was a funny site, for sure, but they drove me crazy because people would believe their “Cicadas kill Save yourself” slogan and then ask me how they could protect themselves.

Here’s an example of their humor:

FACT: Cicadas are vicious killers.

FACT: Cicadas prey on innocent children and pets.

FACT: Cicadas are seething with deadly venom and flesh-eating bacteria.

FACT: This year Cicadas will kill more people than snakes, spiders, scorpions, and sharks combined!

You can still see some of the site via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. The funny people behind the Cicadaville site have another humor site called Derf Magazine. Check it out.

Moahou are little sculptures made from cicada skins. Wuhan: A folk artist adjusts a display of mini ‘Maohou’, a type of Chinese folk art made from cicada slough and other Chinese medicine.

Thanks to Metafilter, Mirth, Musings, & More and Site of the Day for an unexpected burst of visitors. Normally the site is sleeping at this time of year.