Fair trade coffee explained..

[Svartalf]

Synthetic caffeine in pills will do the trick...

only if you want the effects without the coffee drinking.

[mistermack]

You'd shit yerself if you ever met blackflies.

I've met blackflies and I didn't shit myself. They are little bastards, but you can keep them at bay by waving a small leafy branch. Or smoking a cigarette helps. A logger I met on Vancouver Island used to have a cigarette constantly on the go, just to deter the blackfly.

The worst for me are the Irish and Scottish midges.
When the wind drops, and especially after dusk, they will literally drive you insane.
Not because their bite is painful, but because they are in clouds, rather than individuals, and they are so fucking persistent. They are itchy, rather than painful. But it's an unbearable sort of itchy.

There are midge deterrents that do actually work though. But miss the tiniest patch of skin, and they are there. I found a deterrent that they really couldn't stand. But they still try to get up your nose, or in your eyes, anywhere that you can't put the deterrent.
People use nets like a very fine beekeeper net, or just go indoors when they are bad. Like rationalia member John-fi-skye :

[pErvinalia]

Australian flies eat humans.

[JimC]

You'd shit yerself if you ever met blackflies.

I've met blackflies and I didn't shit myself. They are little bastards, but you can keep them at bay by waving a small leafy branch. Or smoking a cigarette helps. A logger I met on Vancouver Island used to have a cigarette constantly on the go, just to deter the blackfly.

The worst for me are the Irish and Scottish midges.
When the wind drops, and especially after dusk, they will literally drive you insane.
Not because their bite is painful, but because they are in clouds, rather than individuals, and they are so fucking persistent. They are itchy, rather than painful. But it's an unbearable sort of itchy.

There are midge deterrents that do actually work though. But miss the tiniest patch of skin, and they are there. I found a deterrent that they really couldn't stand. But they still try to get up your nose, or in your eyes, anywhere that you can't put the deterrent.
People use nets like a very fine beekeeper net, or just go indoors when they are bad. Like rationalia member John-fi-skye :

The sandflies on our northern beaches are insidious. They're usually not in huge clouds, you often don't notice them biting, but for some people (including myself), the bite becomes unbearably itchy, and persists for many days. I think that the reaction is highly variable...

Typically, when I go up north, the first time I go for a walk I forget to use the repellant. After the first wave of bites, I use it all the time...

[laklak]

We get these fucking things.



The locals call them "drill flies" because when they bite you it feels like a drill bit. I really, really hate these bastards.

[pErvinalia]

Yeah, we get them too. We call them horse flies as it feels like being bitten by a horse! That one looks pretty small compared to ours.

[mistermack]

We get these fucking things.



The locals call them "drill flies" because when they bite you it feels like a drill bit. I really, really hate these bastards.

The pony run, he tossed he kicked,
he threw ole massa in the ditch,
he died, and the jury wondered why,
the verdict was, the blue tail fly.

Jim crack corn, and I don't care .....
Ole Massa's gone away.

[Tero]

Back to caffeine. The synthesis is a lot of work:
http://intranet.tdmu.edu.te.ua/data/kaf ... tives..htm

I suspect caffeine in colas etc comes from decaffeinated coffee production.

[JimC]

Yeah, we get them too. We call them horse flies as it feels like being bitten by a horse! That one looks pretty small compared to ours.

Down south, we call them March Flies, if it's the same, large biting fly you are talking about. I suspect that they normally feed on kangaroos, so they need very robust mouth parts, which hurt when going through human skin.

[pErvinalia]

Yeah, same as March flies.

[pErvinalia]

I wonder if ther are called Horse Flies because they can bust through a horse hide.

[Tyrannical]

Since small family farms are much less efficient, doesn't that make them less environmentally friendly?

[Svartalf]

I wonder if ther are called Horse Flies because they can bust through a horse hide.

Yep, their main food source is kine and horses, not hoomins.

[Hermit]

I wonder if ther are called Horse Flies because they can bust through a horse hide.

Yep, their main food source is kine and horses, not hoomins.

I wish the Queensland march flies would restrict themselves to a diet of horse blood. The pain generated by sting their reminds me of a decent jolt of electrocution - and just as sudden.

We have the fuckers in South Australia as well, but our allocation is not nearly as big, painful or ubiquitous as those in banana land.

[piscator]

Hossflies are bad but they're usually solitary.

Goddamn deer flies hurt just as bad, but come by the dozen. And they're territorial -you can't swat them away. They'll keep coming until one of you is dead.





They're bad in the Roseau cane in S. Louisiana...Only critter that ever made me button up in rubber Grunden's raingear in 95degree heat.