As some of you may know, there seems to be a national infestation of
bedbugs, as has been noted recently in the NY Times and elsewhere.
Apparently it has nothing to do with cleanliness or the lack thereof,
and hits middle- and upper-class folk as well as the proletariat.

My friend and his wife discovered they were bedbug-ridden, and called
and got a couple estimates on eliminating them. The bedbugs seemed to be
confined to one room, their bedroom. One business, a so-called "green"
outfit, came up with an estimate of $3,600! For one lousy room!

Turns out (and apparently they got this info from one of the
exterminators), the way one kills these critters is not with nasty
chemicals but simply with--heat. Heat the room to 120° for about an hour
and they're gone. Surprisingly simple, that. (Well, the "green"
exterminators also sprinkle around a little diatomaceous earth, which
anyone can buy, and do a couple more little things.)

So his boarder took on this project for himself. Went to the local
Harbor Freight and picked up a couple of "Chicago" blowers with heaters.
After figuring out how to supply them current without popping the
breakers, they ran them for several hours: only got up a little over
100°. Whereupon he said "**** it!", went out and bought a propane
heater. The room got up to a toasty 140° in no time.

So it's been suggested maybe I should go into this line of work. Could
undercut the "green" guys and still make out like a bandit.

By the way, I must point out, to borrow from that famous Nazi guy, that
when I hear the word "green" these days, I reach for my revolver. Now
mind you, I'm one of the biggest environmentalists I know. Against
offshore oil drilling, fossil fuel, in favor of cutting carbon
emissions, etc., etc. But this "green" stuff nowadays seems to me to be
about 90% scams; people doing things pretty much the way they've always
done them, with maybe a little environmentally-friendly window dressing
thrown in, and charging double for essentially the same service. Feh!


--
The fashion in killing has an insouciant, flirty style this spring,
with the flaunting of well-defined muscle, wrapped in flags.

- Comment from an article on Antiwar.com (http://antiwar.com)