Hi Moose,
You said,
"Another thing I've noticed is that some folks seem to be tastier or in some
other way more desirable than others. I good strategy is to find such people
and make sure they are around when you are in mosquito country. I think I'm
about a 4 or 5 on the tastiness index, higher than Carol, but not really
preferred if anything better is available."
Maybe you have explained why I am bothered by mosquitos when they don't seem
to get to my wife. I'm on Warfarin, because of mechanical heart valves, so
my blood flows very easily. They don't have to work as hard when they tank
up on my blood.
Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Moose" <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "Olympus Camera Discussion" <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, July 04, 2011 12:14 AM
Subject: [OM] Mosquito Science and Metaphysics [was Totally OT -
TickRemoval]
> On 7/2/2011 4:17 AM, Andrew Fildes wrote:
>> I've heard of a priest claiming that his faith was most severely tested
>> by the sound of a mosquito in a dark bedroom, in the early hours.
>
> Then there's D.T. Suzuki, the one who brought Zen to the West. He told of
> his time as a novice monk in Japan. He was
> having trouble maintaining his concentration when meditating. On one
> occasion, sitting out on a mountainside, mosquitoes
> kept interrupting his meditation. As he was thinking something like "I'm
> hopeless at this, if I can let something as
> small as a mosquito break my practice, I . . ." and at that moment, he
> achieved his first experience of enlightenment.
>
> Many of his teachings throughout his life featured mosquitoes.
>
>> The torment...
>> I have offered that the simplest disproof of God involves the mosquito -
>> if all things have a purpose, as they should if created by a God then
>> what is the purpose of the itch and bump reaction to a mosquito bite?
>
> Now that's an easy one. Requires no spiritual explanation at all. Simple
> evolution. Mosquitoes have carried deadly
> diseases for all of recorded history, and almost certainly long before
> that. West Nile Virus is the latest in our area.
>
> Those for whom mosquito bites weren't noticeable would simply live
> shorter, less healthy lives. Those who found them
> really annoying would naturally try to avoid them, be on average
> healthier, longer lived and have more, healthier
> children. Thus the evolutionary advantage from which we suffer.
>
> Another may be the ability to sense when the mosquito starts to drill for
> the red stuff. I've noticed that I, and some
> others I've known, often can feel, if that's the right word, when drilling
> starts, while others with whom I've been in
> serious mosquito situations are completely unaware.
>
> That could be an evolutionary adaptation too, I suppose. Another thing
> I've noticed is that some folks seem to be
> tastier or in some other way more desirable than others. I good strategy
> is to find such people and make sure they are
> around when you are in mosquito country. I think I'm about a 4 or 5 on the
> tastiness index, higher than Carol, but not
> really preferred if anything better is available.
>
>> I will allow the critter her bloody due. I will even accept the right of
>> malarial parasites to exist as a divine creation. But the itch has no
>> good purpose that I can divine. It is torment without purpose or reason
>> and a serious flaw in a creative purpose that must be, by definition,
>> perfect.
>> :-)
>
> Oh, it is. It is. ;-)
>
> (R)evolutionary Moose
>
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