NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2127853,00.html

The business management philosophy that one person's crisis is another's opportunity may perhaps never have been taken to such bizarre extremes.

A plague of 2 billion mice in central China was described just days ago as being so bad that it resembled a scene from a horror movie with roads and hillsides turned black with rodents.

But in a remarkable display of entrepreneurship, businessmen are catching, shipping and selling the eastern field mice, also known locally as rats, to the southern city of Guangzhou, where restaurants are reportedly offering rodent banquets to diners notorious for their unusual tastes.
2 billion rats, eh?

Easy xp for everyone!

When I was in Guangzhou, the guide said "we eat everything with wings except planes and everything with legs except furniture". He was right, you know.

Level 30 here I come.

You mean, I don't have to stay in the forest anymore?

I bet the bot farmers are all over that. They will be gone in a week.

This is actually an ecology story.

In enterpreneurial style, the Chinese have been eating all the snakes and owls, which being further up the food chain are of course more prized as food. If you can afford snake, you don't eat rat. It's a status thing.

Now there's a plague of rats.

Hell, I don't really know this. It's just what my local rag told me:

Sydney Morning Herald. (http://www.smh.com.au/news/news/chinese-trucking-live-rats-to-southern-restaurants/2007/07/16/1184559682434.html)

But I can tell you that I've eaten rat. I killed them, I thought it was only right that I should eat them. I can also tell you that only the back legs are worth eating.

Well, barn owls are supposedly quite effective, as someone mentioned yesterday. :p

I smell the next Disney film idea...

I smell the next Disney film idea...

And it smells like rat feces? :p

Or perhaps what they need to do is call:

The Infinite Cat Project! (http://www.infinitecat.com/index.html)

Cool. I'll totally be able to grind up my Skinning Profession if I can get some of that action! Then after that I can craft some of the Rat Skin into Rat Cloth Cloaks to sell to all the n00bs at the Auction House. Sell 'em at 10 GP each, I'll be able to get those Bracers of Fortitude +5 in no time!

oh, I know. China's new export: rat flails.

Or perhaps what they need to do is call:

The Infinite Cat Project! (http://www.infinitecat.com/index.html)

I suppose when the plague of cats has eliminated the plague of rats ...

We could eat cats!

Er, what does cat taste like anyway ?

I suppose when the plague of cats has eliminated the plague of rats ...

We could eat cats!

Er, what does cat taste like anyway ?

Dog, but not as chewy. *nod*

Cool. I'll totally be able to grind up my Skinning Profession if I can get some of that action! Then after that I can craft some of the Rat Skin into Rat Cloth Cloaks to sell to all the n00bs at the Auction House. Sell 'em at 10 GP each, I'll be able to get those Bracers of Fortitude +5 in no time!

You are thinking virtual rats. These be real rats.

Even one of them can sever your internet connection, ruining your business.

But if rats go extinct, McDonalds won't have any meat to sell!

Dog, but not as chewy. *nod*

Is cat scratchy, though? I thought dogs were itchy, and cats were scratchy?
Have I been watching too much TV ?

Is cat scratchy, though? I thought dogs were itchy, and cats were scratchy?
Have I been watching too much TV ?

No, but I suspect you have been watching it too close to an unshielded tube. *nod*

No, but I suspect you have been watching it too close to an unshielded tube. *nod*

So if I wrap my head in aluminium foil, it's OK?

So if I wrap my head in aluminium foil, it's OK?

Just ask a baked potato. :)

Well, barn owls are supposedly quite effective, as someone mentioned yesterday. :p

Paging Hogwarts...

I guess a Rat's Arse does count for something ... if there are enough of them.

I smell the next Disney film idea...
A Billion and One Rats-in-Nation?

Ben 2 (the aftermath)?