Mosquito Problems

This Zika virus problem reminds me of an event in the past.  In 1999, I was suddenly getting bitten by mosquitoes in the daytime.  I managed to hit one of the little blood-suckers against my arm with a cupped hand.  It was completely dead and completely intact.  The air pressure killed it.

It didn't look familiar when I looked at it under a magnifying glass, so I did an internet search.  It was an Asian Tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), only known as far north as North Carolina at the time (I'm in Maryland, 2 states north of there).  I put it in a small plastic container and set it in the refrigerator.  Then I called around looking for anyone who might be interested.

The University of Maryland Entomology offices weren't interested.  The Washington Post newspaper was not interested.  I should have called the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, but I didn't think of them at the time.  After a few months, I tossed it away.  After all, there were plenty of others around.

Then 2 years later, I read an article in The Washington Post about how Asian Tiger mosquitoes had arrived in our area.  Gee, I tried to tell them that 2 years before!  I keep wondering if it would have helped if they had listened to me then.

I have a mosquito-unfriendly yard.  I have some standing water (a 5' pond and a tub used for cleaning garden tools).  But I put Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) dunks in them that kill mosquito larvae.  I even have trap pots of Bt water around the yard.  But they are still here.  They don't travel more than a 100 yards, but I suppose my neighbors are less careful than I am.

My point is that that another mosquito (Aedes aegypti) is the most common carrier of Zika virus, but  is climate-restricted to the very far southern US.  Asian Tiger mosquitoes, however, have also been found now to carry it.  Asian Tiger mosquitoes survive as far north as New England.

And the June 2016 issue of Smithsonian magazine has a cover article about how we can kill off mosquitoes using genetics.  The method seems convincing, effective, and relatively straight-forward.

Yet there are people in the article who question the morality of deliberately causing the extinction of mosquitoes.  REALLY?  We are killing off much more advanced animal species almost daily and they are worried about MOSQUITOES?

Sharks kill about 6 people per year, scorpions 3,250, snakes 100,000, and mosquitoes 725,000.  725,000!  Most mosquitoes don't transmit diseases.  KILL ALL THE DISEASE-CARRYING MOSQUITOES!!!

Sign me up to "push the button", "throw the switch", "give the order", whatever!  I'll accept the ethical blame...  With peace in my heart...

My Deception Detector

Everyone seems to have some special talent.  Some people know instinctively who to trust.  Others can tell compass directions even down in the subways.  Some can choose the perfect gift every time.  Others can field a hard-hit ball, or dodge a speedy object (I saw a guy who could catch arrows aimed at him once), have great balance, etc.

I have a false-statement flag in my brain.  Most people don't (or else there wouldn't be deceptive advertisements).  I call it my "bull-shit meter".  I don't mean that I'm a skeptic who simply suspects every statement.  That's just a negative way of viewing the world. 

But I can hear statements that immediately don't ring true to reality.  Its not even concious, as if I heard the statement, thought about it carefully, and disagreed with it.  It's an immediate "WHAT?"  I don't even have to be paying attention for the "flag" to register.  I just "hear" false statements better than most.

Sometimes I'm doing housework with the TV on and the *DING* happens.  I even have to work to figure out what caused it.  Its usually a commercial and I see the ending of it enough to watch for it the next time, to find out what the *DING* was about. 

The latest one is some drug that specifies that (paraphrased) isnt for weight loss but can help in weight loss.  After paying attention a couple times, I realized that a side effect was diarrhea.  Well of COURSE that causes weight loss, DUH!  But it took several intent listenings to catch the deception.

Well, I heard one a week ago that really bothered me and I couldn't figure out what was getting my BS detector activated.  It was for some astronomy online or DVD class.  I should mention that (so far as I can tell) I am (mostly) immune to advertising.  Well my BS Detector helps, but I also buy products after research, and that helps too.

I finally caught the part of the ad that got my subconcious detector buzzing...

One part said "find out why Venus disappears at Midnight".  That didn't make sense and it really bothered me.  I'm a science-type guy.  And that "at midnight" part bothered me.  Why "at midnight?"  That's a pretty specific time...

I did some back-of-the-envelope" sketches and couldn't find anything special about "midnight.  Well, actually, one part was obvious.  At midnight, we are looking at the outer solar system, and Venus is in the inner solar system. 

Now I know the basic general distances of planets from the Sun.  Each one is "sort of" 50% further from the sun that the previous one.  Its nowhere near exact, but its a general estimation.  So with Venus having a smaller orbit nearer the sun, as the Earth turns, your spot on it turns away from the Sun.  And since Venus is closer to the Sun than Earth, your spot on Earth turns away from Venus, too.  It just takes longer because Venus is further from the Sun.

In fact, Venus is "about" 45 degrees from the Sun from our maximum POV.  Sometimes zero, but never more more than about 45 degrees.



So that ad for the astronomy "class" just burned me up and NOW I know why.  "At Midnight" is a deceptive come-on, it sounds "special" to midnight.  We only see Venus a few HOURS after sunset or a few HOURS before sunrise, not just "can't see it at midnight". And THAT is what set my subconcious BS-Detector off, even though I had to spend some time figuring out exactly why.