Good Question: Reply All: June Bugs, Social Security And Weather
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It's June and for many Minnesotans it can only mean one thing: June bugs. You know them. There are those creepy, yard light-bombing beetles that are making their assaults on screens and front steps.
Celeste Johnson of St. Paul Park wants to know, "I've noticed a ton of June bugs this year. Why is that?"
The June bug, or "phyllophaga rugosa," is on a three-year life cycle. What's flying around your front porch on June nights actually hatched from eggs back in the summer of 2008. They spend the first two summers as "grub worms" munching on your lawn's root system.
Entomologists say that if you think this year is bad, wait 'till next June. That's because 2009 was a bumper year for grub worms.
Here's a question a lot of us have wondered about over the years. Jessica Chung of Minnetonka wants to know, "why are Social Security cards, the most important thing we own, made of flimsy cardstock that we can't laminate?"
Actually, those "flimsy" paper cards have been around since the inception of the Social Security Administration back in 1936. They never were intended to be an identification card, rather, an official verification of the Social Security number assigned to every American.
At first, the administration considered making the card out of metal. It would have required 250 tons of steel to do that. Sure, it would have been more durable, but also a lot more expensive.
Today, printing and processing the paper cards alone will cost the administration about $31 each.
And the reason that laminating your card is not recommended? It will actually nullify its usefulness. That's because security features built into the paper and ink will only work if left exposed to the air. Besides, you should not carry the card with you but leave it stored in a safe place and pulled out only when needed to verify your number.
Finally, Grant Johnson of Maplewood wants us to uncover the mystery of TV meteorologists.
"I know that meteorologists use a green screen. But why do they look at the screen and how do they know where to point?" Johnson said.
That's actually a closely guarded secret in the weather world. But we think it's high time we take of the wraps.
When you're watching from home it appears the weather folks are looking and pointing directly at the maps. In fact, they are actually looking at small TV monitors placed to the sides of a flat, green wall.
Through the magic of TV, the maps are added electronically through the magic of computers.
