WHEN A plague of locusts exacts its toll, any shortstop of an entomologist can at least explain, with the customary wisdom of hindsight, how that plague occurred — where the creatures came from, where and how long they were dormant, what will happen next, and so forth. While this does nothing whatsoever to compensate luckless farmers for millions and millions of dollars in crops lost, at least there’s an academic form of closure. This gives locusts a giant leg up on the phenomenon known as “tight pockets” on a pool table. Absolutely nobody knows their origin, exactly when they came about, or whose sadistic idea they were.
