blog: bloody mosquitos!

[nikos]

here's the comment area for today's blog post found at
http://zabkat.com/blog/dirty-little-mosquitos.htm

[Robert2]

Umbrella Mosquito Net Canopy Patio Set Screen House Black

screen house

Outdoor curtains

outdoor floating bed with netting

Cheers,
Robert

[snemarch]

You're welcome

[sanferno]

I also got this nightmare till I've found something really simple that apparently worked for me during the last two summers.

Before I go to bed at night, I stop any heat source in my bedroom (with computer been the most important) and open the window and the door for having a good air flow that gets colder the room. In my city we usually have about 18ºC at 23:00 pm. The time for applying this method isn't estrict, I would say till the subject finds his room fresh. Then, when I finally go to bed, I close the window and the door (this one is also valid as almost closed), and I sleep like a hippo.

That's it, for me works perfectly. It is not registered, but it doesn't deserve the money and, most important, the bureaucracy...

[Tuxman]

Umbrella Mosquito Net Canopy Patio Set Screen House Black

screen house

Outdoor curtains

outdoor floating bed with netting

Last time I saw a list of lengthy links, it was related to v!@gr4 selling. Not sure why.

[Kilmatead]

Their scientific name tells all: mosquito Anopheles — which is greek for "bloody useless".

Since there aren't really any mosquitoes in Ireland (we do have midges though, which are just as annoying), my interests are piqued more by the linguistic - and in reading the above, initially I thought Nikos was just deprecating his enemies in a traditional oration of Greek contempt. However, it seems he's literally correct in this instance.

The AMCA article he references somewhat incorrectly ascribes Anopheles to be Greek meaning hurtful or prejudicial. Wikipedia, on the other hand, contributes this: The name comes from the Greek αν, an, meaning "not", and όφελος, óphelos, meaning "profit", and translates to "useless". Mr. Webster, not to be outdone, accentuates the Latination of language, describing: New Latin, genus name, from Greek anōphelēs useless, from a- + ophelos advantage, help; akin to Greek ophellein to increase.

All of a very anthro-centric prejudice, to be sure - which is disappointing, for I think Aristotle, first himself amongst intellectual Greeks, would be more one to appreciate the humble frog, fish, and horticultural benefits our little buzzing friends provide for, rather than blithely dismissing them. Rather amusingly, if one Googles "God and Mosquitoes" (curiously taking note of Nikos' aside that attending church might somehow help) it appears that a great many humans (having nothing better to do than to prove the intellectual decline of their civilisation) have asked "Why did God create mosquitoes?"

Incidentally, the pertinent part of the video that snemarch links to starts about 10 minutes in, where there are some quite lovely 300-frame-per-second homages on the fiery deaths of Nikos' nemesis, replete with an attention to detail regarding the flapping of shattered wings which harkens on the pathological.

[Robert2]

You might need the v!@gr4 for the long summer nights in the outdoor floating bed…

[earlpiggot]

This really worked for me this summer, Nick!
Αλήθεια!

[pschroeter]

Weird, last night I slept outside and the mosquitoes were absolutely relentless. Even though it was hot and muggy, I had to sleep with a blanket over my head, and I could still hear them buzzing around my head on the other side of the blanket. I was actually glad when it started to rain.

[Robert2]

A friend just told me that directing a strong electrical fan at you keeps the mosquitoes away…

[nikos]

thanks for the suggestions guys, but who can vouch that these things actually have any effect? For example, earlpiggot talks about citronella wristbands. I have tried citronella candles of all sorts for the outdoors and had no effect for our mosquitos. If anything perhaps they liked it more and got together in greater numbers. I believe I have tried everything on the book except for the wacko gadgets. All that's left is a divine miracle

[RightPaddock]

Dragonfly's love to eat mosquitos, mosquito fish eat the larvae.

Main thing is get rid of all standing water in the vicinity, most species of mozzies don't travel far. That includes water that accumulates in some ornamental plants - if you have any of them, probably best to bin them. Keep chlorine/salt levels up in swimming pools, clean filters often. Don't let leaves accumulate and block gutters etc,

Install screens on doors and windows, put nets over beds, especially babies and young children.

Get some gecko's maybe, some say they help, but I'm not convinced.

Or live for a while in the tropics and learn to love 'em

RP

[dunno]

Dragonfly's love to eat

MY Dragons must be lazy one's, as they ignore mozzies.

Main thing is get rid of all standing water in the vicinity, most species of mozzies don't travel far.

Good advise, old car tyres, blocked gutters.

Install screens on doors and windows.

That's exactly what I did, screened all open windows and doors, keeps those big blue and green flies at bay as well, the sky goes dark with them when I grill lamb or fish. They buzz away like mad against the kitchen screens and I enjoy giving them the middle finger, I know that they understand universal sign.

Get some gecko's maybe, some say they help, but I'm not convinced.

NO NO NO, geckos are useless for mozzies, and the shit streaks are everywhere down the walls, no No NO....

[Kilmatead]

Install screens on doors and windows...

As Europeans have long reserved the right to defenestrate our enemies (and our friends, from time to time), this suggestion can't really apply globally (it's economically and culturally uncouth). I haven't seen a "screen" for 25 years, which, unsurprisingly, was the last time I was in Americae.

...streaks are everywhere down the walls

...à propos de rien... ever been invaded by peacocks? They come in to us from the park next door, with an innate ability to sit on roofs and stalk humans, just waiting for us to pass below them. Worse than pouring boiling oil on attacking Romans. Really. A bit slow to catch mosquitoes, to be sure, but I don't have any other bird-shite anecdotes, other than to say that it is demonstrably not "lucky" to be struck on the shoulder by dive-bombers on the way to the bookmakers. This I know from experience.



They seem to like nibbling the herbs - which lends a uniquely distinctive scent to the proceedings when you try and wash it out of your shirts.

I don't like peacocks. (Yes, this is off-topic, but I don't care: I'm starting an anti-peacock organisation, and this is the only way to spread the warning to other unsuspecting humans who seem to think that being "exotic" excuses anything. It doesn't. It really doesn't.)

[dunno]

...à propos de rien... ever been invaded by peacocks?

Geckos trump peacocks, I'll take a shit outdoor menace over a shit indoor menace any day.

Do peacocks have the ability to slip through the tiniest cracks , then walk across ceilings and crap on your head whilst you're reading a book, or, ....the best one... wait for you to go to sleep and then crap you ?.

I hope though that nobody tries to cross breed a gecko with a peacock for one would then have a GeCock that craps on one indoors and outdoors and would shriek "Ge'KAAAA GeKAAAAA" every time it parks a load on the witless human, would do wonders for REM sleep.

"exotic" excuses anything. It doesn't. It really doesn't

My neighbour has 6 dogs, two are Large french poodles, pom poms and all, (thats exotic enough for me), all are treated like privileged aristocratic offspring and the owner, a wonderfully Colonial, deaf, lucid, old bat, will not instruct any of her 6 "SERVANTS" to shut the furry things up. The noise was deafening, day and night. I wondered how I would pay back the complement in kind ?, turns out that the warm furry "darlings" don't like 17~19kHz at max volume . The silence is deafening.

Don't know if it would work on mozzies. (back on topic).