On a warm summer day, an ant was busy at work, gathering seeds for storage.
Passing by, a grasshopper was gaily singing a tune and enjoying the grass.
“What are you doing,” asked the ant, “during the abundance of the summer?”
“Oh,” replied the grasshopper, “I’m busy producing music. I have a bachelor’s in fine arts, you know. I’m gonna be the next Gaga.”
The ant rolled his eyes and chuckled as he continued the toil of gathering seeds.
A few months later, on a cold frosty day, the ant was drying out some of the seeds he had gathered during the summer when the grasshopper, now morbidly obese, approached.
“thlhhshsshh. . . give me food,” the grasshopper demanded, slurring through his overripe mandibles, “you wouldn’t be so cruel as to let me die of hunger!”
“What were you doing,” said the ant, “this last summer?”
“Oh,” said the grasshopper, “I was not idle. I kept singing all the summer long.”
The ant, laughing and shutting up his granary, said, “Since you could sing all summer, you may dance all winter.”
The grasshopper, in a rage, shrieked a sound the ant had never heard before, “REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!”
As if summoned by the grasshopper, a dark cloud arose on the horizon. A low hum emanated from all around, closing in with a uniform ferocity that the ant had only heard of in legends. It was a swarm of locusts!
As the locusts closed in around the anthill, the sun was blotted out, and millions of voices could be heard piecemeal.
“unfair”
“living wage”
“compassion”
“nobody needs 32 different kernels of corn”
“polluter”
“social contract”
“greedy”
“wrecker”
“what’s a leppo?”
“triggered”
“bigot”
“grasshopperphobe”
The ant, wary of being mobbed, darted for the entrance of the anthill, only to bump into three particularly large locusts with golden stars on their wings.
“Resisting arrest!” one said, taking a defensive position.
“Back the blue!” chanted the whirling mass of death surging and flowing just feet above the ground.
The ant, panicked and trapped, took a step back and attempted to lay down.
“Furtive movement!” another of the large locusts yelled.
“Taze him, he’s a grasshopperphobe!” screamed the grasshopper, mandibles frothing.
The third large locust proceeded to pin the ant to the ground and taze him in the nuts.
———————————
Those who unjustly seek power have no problem using violence to get their way.
Comments
212 responses to “The Ant, The Grasshopper, and The Locusts”
That ant needs to booby-trap the hell out of his granary.
You see, this is why they build underground fortifications with narrow chokepoints for entry. Obese insects such as the locusts can’t get in.
The locusts with the yellow stars have explosive breaching devices.
Enough with the fart jokes.
You know who else wore yellow stars?
Brown nosing kindergartners?
Popular answer.
Pinochet?
Every tin horn county sheriff?
Claymores are always the answer.
Not always. Sometimes you need to go thermobaric.
I think the ants win this one, nasty insects
That’s what took me out of this parable. About a million ants would have boiled out of the ground. When it ends, ants will be feasting on locust.
Maybe that’s the real story. We’re patient and slow to anger, but eventually, inevitably, we come boiling out of the woodwork to take back what’s rightfully
aw, who am I kidding. We’re waiting on our tax refund checks.
“Parable”, not “documentary”.
Sorry to OT so early. And sorry I’ve been gone lately.
It’s official. I have a job at Texas state in San Marcos.
I move in 6 days. I just flew down to get a place and drive around the town.
Currently at the airport waiting on my fight home.
I’ve been busy packing and figuring out things for the move. God it’s more expensive than I remember.
Hi everyone!
Yay!
*applause*
I got some more time to read your stuff on the airplane!
You’d be the only one reading it.
*snicker*
(UCS’ Petard) ******* UCS
You don’t have to read it. I still have your money.
Congrats!
Thanks. I’m excited and nervous and everything else all at once.
It’s a bigger city than I’m used to.
Trying to figure out how to get down here without selling my WRX. It’d be really tight without. But we’ll see on my current apt deposit.
Congratulations! Same line of work?
Yep. More locksmithing for me. I’ve really enjoyed the school setting. It’s consistent and doesn’t have the low quality locks come through.
And the discount football games.
Thanks!
I hope you enjoy BBQ and coeds!
+Mexican food
+BBQ
+In n out, chick fil a, and Whataburger
+Income and no state income tax
-constitution carry
-maple syrup
Maple syrup is no big loss, and while Vermont is moving away from the correct stance, Texas is moving towards constitutional carry.
I’m hoping the cwp or whatever it’s called isn’t too bad to get.
It seems like it’s just some time and money.
I can ship syrup.and I don’t even is that much per year.
Maple syrup is all that saves us from the Horvath.
Congratulatons!
My recollection is that San Marcos is a nice college town, at the ideal distance from San Antonio and Austin to allow easy access without getting big city splashed on you. The Hill Country is really nice, also.
That feels about right. It’s a lot bigger than I’m used to though.
Unfortunately, I lived on the East side of Austin, so most of my recommendations will be a bit out of your way.
Except for El Meson in Burleson. Go there.
Go to any Mexican joint in a strip mall. Avoid Chuy’s, Guererros and (shudders) Baby Acapulco’s
The best burgers are at Central Market, Hoovers, and Burger Tex.
For delicious foodie/hipster fare hit Odd Duck (pricey but amazing) Torchy’s, or Taco Deli
When you go to Counter Cafe, get a side of their sausage gravy. It doesn’t matter what else you ordered.
Pho and banh mi are delicious and cheap.
Thanks. took screenshot to save this for layer.
Pizza: Home Slice, Salvation, and East Side pies, in that order.
Sammiches: Foodheads
And Manor road (pronounced May-ner) has got a lot of good places. The breakfasts at Mi Madres are worth checking out.
As long as they have Hawaiian, I’ll go.
Congrats and good luck, bro!
Happy for you, kid? Bridger coming with you??
Not yet. It’s parked at my dad’s in the garage. I’ll probably fly home at some point and drive it down.
Might be cheaper to ship it.
Enjoy the new adventure!
I’m willing to bet the road trip would be more fun (assuming ample time to stop and not doing it as quickly as possible).
Road trips #ftw.
One advantage of owning a Mini Cooper is they do a nationwide road trip every other year. The girlfriend and I have jumped on for a couple of legs twice now (last year, the closest it came to Ohio was Louisiana). Five years ago we went to Chicago a couple days early, rallied back to Cleveland, then did the half day trip to Pittsburgh. Three years ago, we jumped onto the rally in Detroit, went up to St. Ignace, then over to Green Bay, then over to Minneapolis before dropping off. Then we stopped in Indiana on the way back. Each morning breakfast was provided at a rally location, and they’d do little giveaways. All but one of the nights, there was a big party/event you could go to (included in the rally tickets) where there would usually be food and drink provided.
Since we couldn’t do the rally last year, we hit up Louisville, Nashville, and Indianapolis (just a stop on the way home).
Who needs an excuse to do a road trip?
That reminds me, I haven’t reserved the overnight for northern ohio on my return leg.
Oh, I love road trips. But the kid is starting a new job and racking up a lot of expenses in the move. He needs his truck, but the fastest and most economical solution may be to ship it.
/dad mode off
Neph, you need to recruit LH and the lovely Elspeth to join you. They are Mini aficionados, too.
My mom is a road tripper extraordinaire. She can’t do the long haul drives anymore; she doesn’t have the stamina.
She is very sad about this, and I want to get in as many road trips as I can before I can’t drive those long hauls anymore, either.
She and I went to Florida last May. I did most of the driving.
I did most of the driving.
I prefer to drive. I’m usually good for 14 hours or so – we can cover a lot of ground.
I want to keep my driving hours at six/day, so I can see things along the way. But my trips are rarely about the destination.
As do I. I just felt sorry for my mom, who can’t do more than a couple of hours at a time. It made her sad.
14 hours leaves me enough energy to go swimming in the hotel pool that night.
I could still pull a 1200-mile straight-through if I had to, provided I had plenty of Mountain Dew. Not that I would WANT to, but I could do it.
I wish I were more like that.
I want to get where I’m going and set a land-speed record in the process.
I’m looking at selling the WRX and getting an 05-06 Cooper s down here. Love em.
I wish I were more like that.
Same, but most of my road trips now are vacations that have a very limited window. I will hit the road again some time on a slower, more meandering trip, but I need a couple weeks for sure.
I had once looked to see if I could get to vegas, and concluded that it would take me a month (round trip) the way I went about these things.
UCS: No excuse needed, but it gives a decent framework (and they usually pick out some unusual place to stop for a mid-day place). Plus, few things are as entertaining as watching dozens of Minis overtaking a semi on the freeway. Plus at one tollbooth we got asked what was going on and why there were so many Minis coming through. The person in the tollbooth then asked if we were like a gang.
Tundra: Next Mini Takes the States is going to be next summer, the route is usually published in January/February. It’ll depend on the route this year if the girlfriend and I will join for any legs.
Mojeaux: We aim for destinations, but will also pull over and check out any random roadside attraction that interests us, as well as any historic landmarks (for her) or breweries (for me). While I can do 12 or so hours in a day, I prefer my day trips to be about 6-8 so I’ll still be up for doing something in the destination city that night.
If there’s any interest, I should have some pictures from the Rallies we’ve done.
Excellent! Good news, indeed. Hopefully you’ll have more time to hang out here and talk about how horrible pineapple is on pizza!
It’s the best thing ever.
I almost got some last night.
Congrats!
Congrats!
No one wants power but those who wish to abuse it
It’s okay though, it’s democratic socialism!
“that just sounds like slavery with extra steps”
But it’s democratic slavery!
We, the community, have a natural right to vote you, the individual, into slavery. So long as the vote is free and fair.
That means everyone gets a turn whipping you.
Uffda. Omar is not getting the treatment she has become accustomed to in Minnesoda. Mean people in Congress pass a resolution condemning anti-semitism (that pretty clearly was aimed at her)
If the GOP had serious troll creds they would also have passed a resolution against marrying your siblings.
* sorry for the OT nature of the post. Busy today and can’t wait for a respectable amount of time. Props to Trashy for contributing.
I’m sure she can get her old seat back in the Minnesoda legislature when she gets bounced after two more years of embarrassment.
What makes you think she’ll get bounced? This was all known to the people who voted her in, and they likely considered it a plus.
Ptolemy for the win!
“If the GOP had serious troll creds they would also have passed a resolution against marrying your siblings.”
If marriage has nothing to do with procreation, then what is wrong with close relative marriage? I’m not even trolling here
Because she did it to commit fraud.
She’s a politician. That’s part of the job
And fortunately for her she has a “D” after her name.
Well, yeah. Having a D after your name means never having to face consequences from our brave journalists who just share so much in common with propagandists.
Hell, Katie Perry is going to face more consequences over releasing shoes that are in “blackface” (as if that even makes sense) than the Governor or AG in VA are going to face for wearing blackface in their mid-twenties.
But, I reiterate, if “love is love” and marriage has nothing to do with procreation now, then how can we still justify bans against heterosexual unions between close relatives?
Post-Obergefell, I think consistency requires we license any kind of marriage now, other than marriages to minors.
And yet we won’t….
In fact the US Supreme Court has refused to take up challenges to such laws and challenges to polygamy laws.
I don’t blame them for wanting to avoid that shitstorm.
I can understand why the Supreme Court does not want to make sense or seem logically consistent
Consistancy would lead to following the rules, would lead back to the real consitution and undermine the work they’ve done.
I’m waiting for those with plural, line, and poly-X marriages to start suing for recognition. I’ll make sure to have some popcorn ready.
Yeah, I’m guessing each flavor would require a separate SCOTUS decision. They always rule narrowly; I don’t see any difference here.
“I’m waiting for those with plural, line, and poly-X marriages to start suing for recognition.”
They already did, literally a month after Obergefell, and the Court allowed a lower court ruling in Utah against the polygamous couples to stand.
Did the overlords get my latest submission?
It has been hectic around here lately to be sure.
I put in a lead contact yesterday and was wondering if I should do something else/different about submitting the piece to make life easier on whomever is filling in for SP.
Things have been received…it is the editing and scheduling we need to catch up on.
Cool, thanks Swiss
I have thought of writing something that uses the ants and the grasshopper as a baseline. That option is gone now. Don’t want to be derivative.
That’s what happens when you put work off until later.
Somebody else does it first is usually a feature, not a bug.
I ant gonna lie, I see what you did there.
D’oh! I missed it the first time, but after your comment I insected it closer and saw the pun.
You were a mite faster than I.
Wait a tick here. Between this and the SlateStarCodex link, Swiss is going to fly off the handle.
Nah, he’s busy buzzing the trolls away.
Took you long enough. Geez. I put a hanging curve right over the plate . . . .
And yet, only Tundra . . . . .
Very meta.
Apropos:
https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/02/13/the-proverbial-murder-mystery/
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS SWISS TO CLICK ON THAT LINK, NOR READ THE WORDS IT LEADS TO!
I don’t know if his blood pressure would explode his remaining kidney, or if his eyelid muscles would crack his skull by squinting so hard, but I won’t be responsible for the tragedy that would result.
Idol hands
THAT’S IT, I’M DONE.
*flips desk*
Damn. That would kill Swiss dead right on the spot.
*FIERCELY NARROWS GAZE*
DARN YOU, DARN YOU TO HECK!
WHOA! Language, mister!
Calm down switzy. I know the big blue link is temping, but they did warn you. Here, have some chocolate and wind this watch for a while.
Quick, someone give him some (((gold))) to count!
So cops are proggy enforcers against conservatives? I confused.
And yeah, a respectable ant hill would have owned those bitches.
Thanks for the read, trashy!
Cops are government enforcers. Government has been trending ever more proggy as the years go by. They seem to have no problem enforcing unconstitutional laws, like gun/magazine bans, etc.
…and asset forfeiture, and DUI checkpoints, and…
The War on Drugs…
“This is your cop.”
*picks up pistol*
“This is your cop on WoD”
*empties pistol randomly into room.*
“Any questions?”
Don’t forget some incredibly powerful public sector unions!
See, also, the Charlottesville riot.
Or Portland or Oakland or…
The literal PC police in the UK is a pretty good indicator of where we’re headed.
I’m wondering if there may be some pushback coming from the UK. As a reference point, Hot Fuzz clearly mocks the concept of “the Greater Good”. Then The World’s End exclaims that individuality is better then peace and security.
*Bobbies gear up for a raid on Simon Pegg’s house*
I have sick feeling that everything we see in the UK is where we’re headed.
Bad teeth and awful food?
Haggis is delicious.
Otherwise, yeah.
Agreed. I actually really dig English/Irish/Scottish breakfast
More like prosecution for wrongthink and police-approved child-sex rings.
I knew what you meant ?
/Guy who ended relationship over GF’s terrifying statist take on the Tommy Robinson thing
+ 1 cheese pizza
Damn, now I feel sorry for ants.
https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1096088121802932224
“Amazon announces it will no longer build headquarters in NYC due to mounting opposition”
This is the point where we all act shocked and pretend as if Amazon’s sole intention wasn’t to build a headquarters near Washington DC to ensure that its preferred policy was enacted. Oh yeah, they totes were going to build a headquarters in both VA and NY. I believe it.
Nicely played. They have now shown they will cancel if the locals get out of line. Good negotiating leverage.
The hipster douchebags rejoice. But yeah, it never made any sense to try to build a headquarters in fucking Queens.
It was always just an addendum. Amazon could care less about a HQ in NYC. VA was always the only place they were interested in building a new HQ. And that had everything to do with rent-seeking and gaining favor with a large entrenched bureaucracy. How better to get government on your side then to employ their neighbors?
New York is also a hub for finance and data science, which was a large part of what they planned to do there. They had already started the hiring process for those positions at this location.
There is nothing that requires those two ‘industries’ be located in any given place. Especially these days.
No, it is not required, but it has a larger pre-existing talent pool. Industries tend to centrally locate places that have a competitive advantage in specialized labor, as long as laws and taxes don’t push them out.
The hipster douchebags rejoice.
For now. Until they manage to find out all the swag Amazon was going to bring in on its end of the deal. Then it’ll be the exact same assholes screaming “How DARE Amazon go back on their development plans for Queens!”
Amazon was already signaling that it was willing to give the howling mobs everything they wanted – jobs for kids in the projects! millions for more subway service! probably “affordable housing” too! But it was never going to be good enough as long as there were well-paid smarty-pants in their vicinity that “didn’t look like them” – I believe that was real issue, not the subsidies.
Oh they knew. These people believe that bringing jobs into a neighborhood is bad for the locals.
Long Island City is already gentrified AF – except for the gargantuan public housing slum on its northern edge. Since the city has received a lot of attention recently for having run all their projects into the ground, there are noises being made to privatize them. Or at least the operation of them. So the opposition to Amazon was likely all about the poverty pimps fighting that possibility.
Not a good week for Cuomo.
???
^are those SALTy tears?
I figured they wanted a piece of the Wall Street high-speed trading business. I guess not.
Good, they don’t pay federal taxes!!!
-Somone who cannot read a 10k
You rock, trashy! That was a perfectly infuriating fable.
Agreed, nice one trsh,
We are the Ants!!!!!
Posted by SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr
“Supreme Overlord”, hmmm. I didn’t vote for ya. But if you were ordained by a watery tart, I will accept it.
You can’t expect to wield supreme power just ’cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!
I don’t know about tart. But since beer is mostly water, I’d say “watery” applies.
Remember, when hung over, avoid drinking liquor as it is mainly alcohol. Instead, you should drink beer, as it is mostly beer.
Hmm…I already subscribe to your newsletter…can I name your foundation in my will?
Related: The Scramble for America
In which Steve Sailer writes much badthought
“In recent months, a few brave VIPs such as Bill Gates and John Kerry have begun to warn that a more moderate African fertility rate would be good for Africa ”
On this Valentines Day, always remember: Find Yourself Someone Who Loves You As Much As America’s Wealthy Love Eugenics
This also reminds me why I don’t care for Sailer
Find Yourself Someone Who Loves You As Much As America’s Wealthy Love Eugenics
Fun fact: almost half of the world’s population lives in countries with below replacement fertility rates. In a few decades the eugenicists will probably be promoting having more kids.
People forget that there were two sides of the coin to eugenics. It wasn’t just about preventing the “wrong” type of births, but encouraging the “right” type as well. I think someone lost half the script at some point.
Anti-Natalists have always been popular on the cocktail party circuit.
They’re depressing, who would want them around?
Childless harridans looking for a philosophical underpinning for a pivot to a claim that their state is somehow superior than what their biology is telling them?
And people who don’t want mama drama. They may be nuts but at least you won’t catch them poking holes in your condoms.
Where Are My Children? (1916)
We that was fun
So after a $4k plumbing job to fix our flooding basement (on Mr. Mojeaux’s birthday), we still have the problem. Happy Valentine’s Day to us. Nothing says love like dealing with issues together.
The lady from the previous thread who basically said romance is overrated, and that it is the imperfect who hang together was not wrong.
What did they do for 4k?
Not enough, sorry to hear….
Pulled up some concrete and replaced broken pipe. Needed to be done, but no, not enough.
Ouch. Any idea what the next steps are, or how much they’ll cost?
Other than to call the plumber and say, “Still have the problem,” no.
I have repeatedly told the plumber, “This is where the problem is.” He has never believed me that that drain is a problem.
He DID find A problem. Legitimate problem and fixed it.
But several of our big issues have had 2 or 3 discrete problems that each had to be run down and fixed before the issue was resolved, so I really won’t be surprised if this issue has 2 or 3 discrete problems. Honestly? I did expect this to happen. I was just crossing my fingers it wouldn’t.
This reminds me that it’s almost time to call the city to snake out the drains to the house. It needs done about every year due to the three trees on the tree lawn alone (corner lot). Thankfully it’s covered by the city taxes, and the guys have been nice and polite every time they’ve come out.
The city does it all the way to your house? WTF?
That is correct. City will snake from the yard to the house in my neighborhood. They come out with the truck, block a lane of the road, pull up the access port in the yard, and snake it out. I believe it’s to keep the residents from cutting down the trees on the tree lawn. Considering the higher local tax and property tax (compared to neighboring cities), it’s not really *free*.
The city barely bothers to fix the rusted out mains when they burst. And even then, it doesn’t bother to put the road back for a year.
Find someone who does drain inspections with video cameras. The drain-cleaning specialists where I live (Roto Rooter and its competitors) offer this service.
Trshy, that was very good. I do think the ants would have been able to hold their ground.
I’m more concerned about all the frog citizens that drowned, along with that loud “It’s in my nature” that was repeated by the politicians that were ferrying them across the river.
Scorpion Maduro found honesty as the waters swallowed him?
I love that parable. I believe the first time I heard it was in The Crying Game. I have such conflicting memories of that movie.
The song is pretty good,
Megadeth
No one will judge you if it moved.
Nice parable, Trashy. Do more!
I don’t think Aesop’s fables are acceptable reading anymore. They’re probably shitlord material or something like that.
I told my girls about the “Girl who Cried Wolf” yesterday. They got wide eyed at the end when i told them the girl died.
“…and the lesson is, don’t snitch.”
This seems like the perfect spot to link this again
Every single one of them is white supremacist in some way. They are all about othering rabbits, witches, stepmother’s, etc (insert whatever oppressed group.those things represent)
Plus princesses all end up happily married in the end which is totes problematic
/Remembers Aesop’s fables weren’t collections of fairy tales, shrugs, gets distracted
This I did not know.
Going to have to find me a copy.
Well, you have to remember, Aesop was Greek, and the greeks were idiots who got a lot of things backwards, like letting the mob make decisions about their neighbors, diluting wine, or thinking that olives were food.
The Turtle who Raped a Zebra Without a Ladder and The Boy who Cried and was Killed for Crying Because Boys Don’t Cry sound problematic.
The latter sounds like something the Spartans actually did.
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Fables-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140446494
Just bought a copy.
I was looking at that, after scruffy’s info I found all the reviewers saying they bought it for their grandkids quite amusing.
lynniegurrl said it was a “sweet” retelling. somebody punch her in the gunt, say “Aesop sent me”.
Thanks, #metoo.
“what’s a leppo?” excellent.
You know who else wore golden stars?
Brown-nosing kindergarteners?
Damn I needed to refresh sooner
The suck-ups in kindergarten?
Dammit.
OT: Airbus Will Stop Making the World’s Largest Passenger Jet
Awww, too bad. Next time, build what customers want. Dumbfucks.
Reality, like gravity, always wins.
Is that the one that looks like the fudelage got stung by a bee and is all swollen and anaphylactic?
I always wanted to fly on one of those.
But anyone could see from a mile away that it wouldn’t work. Only certain runways could handle it and airports needed special jetways to accommodate it. No way enough airports would make the necessary adjustments to make it cost effective.
Boeing!
/Beavus laugh.
I saw some YouTube footage of the first class + accommodations on one of Singapore Airlines’ A380s. What a sweet set up if you can afford it.
I’d rather charter.
Ah, here it is:
https://youtu.be/_O2_nTt1N6w
Next time, build what customers want.
TOP MEN don’t do that boring shit.
Next time, build what customers want.
At the time is was being designed, that’s what everyone in the industry was thinking was what the airlines wanted.
Then Boeing came up with the 787 that allowed smaller numbers of passengers to fly very, very long distances cutting out the transfer hubs. This has basically killed the 747 (even though Boeing still makes a few every year) and now it has killed the A380.
RAW – Reality Always Wins, is a quote I’ve used in my e-mail signature block from time to time.
How Boeing Lured Airbus Into Now-Busted A380
“Those who unjustly seek power have no problem using violence to get their way.”
I sense a new iron law.
I don’t think Aesop’s fables are acceptable reading anymore. They’re probably shitlord material or something like that.
I don’t know about that. It seems as if The Dog in the Manger is required reading for the progressives.
Spoiler Alert: The dog is their hero.
*thinks back to “nationalize all carbon energy so it can be kept in the ground” NYT article*
Good one, Trashy.
Parables, fables and fairy tales all teach truths. Truths that seem to be forgotten by most adults and bear repeating.
the A380 was brought back down to earth by the hard truths of commercial board-room economics that gained the upper hand over popular aviation enthusiasm.
Kkkorporate bean counters ruin everything.
It’s the only possible explanation.
They just want passengers to die.
It is known.
Yeah, who wants repeat business and predictable income streams?