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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   3079 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for November 4, 2022

Be advised; this thread is not for serious in depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I've been counting every mosquito I see in the UK, which would have been a Sisyphean effort back in India.

So far, it's up to 4 confirmed sightings in 9 days, of which 3 were KIA. I genuinely thought that there weren't any at all, but I did spot the first one 3 or 4 days into my stay, a bloody big blighter, which certainly provoked some nostalgia haha.

Turns out that they're no match for my keenly honed reflexes, the mosquitoes here are slow and sluggish, probably better adapted to feasting on the local cattle and drunks at the pub than the feisty fuckers I'm used to. Perhaps it's the cold temperatures, but they just can't juke and jump to my heart's content.

Back home, we have 3 or 4 noticeably different subtypes, the most annoying are the absolutely minuscule, nigh invisible ones, which have a very annoying bite. Then there are the fuck huge ones, which hurt like crazy, but are thankfully slow and sluggish. I believe they're better adapted to livestock or wild animals, and not urban environs with prey that fights back.

I'll continue cataloging the ones I encounter, with an aim for a 80% kill rate.

You should visit Siberia if you ever miss mosquitoes.

Mosquitos are (objectively) bad and all, but bedbugs would be my pick for extinction. I'd take a few bites here and there and just install screen on windows over months of sleepness nights.

And yes I know how bad mosquitos are in India

Apparently there are some that live solely in the Tube tunnels, as it stays nice and warm there, year round....

Also, I commend you in your killing of mosquitoes. They and ticks deserve nothing but a swift death!

I think it is mostly a seasonal thing. Living on the continent in similarish climatological conditions to London, I can't count the mosquitoes here in summer and I think Europe has mostly had an extremely mild autumn so far, otherwise you might not have seen any at all this time of year. Also, even before they freeze to death, insects don't thrive too well in colder temperatures, so they will be more sluggish in autumn if they're still around. It might not ever get as bad as India, but in summer there will be way more mosquitoes and they will be way more active.

Also, in my experience folks coming from closer to the equator mostly start getting miserable this time of year as the days grow shorter and the weather gets mostly cold, wet and windy all the time. So it's nice to hear you've found something positive about the colder seasons!

I feel like I have seen far less insects recently than in the past. Not even fruit flies, mosquitos, spiders. I live in a urban area but insects used to be an every day thing. I wonder if it has something to do with the global decline in insect biomass.

Come to think of it, I don't think I've been bitten by a mosquito in years, and I live in Houston.

Living up North in the United States, we have massive seasonality to our mosquitos. I never give a thought to them from about October through April, but they're big, active, and absolutely vicious on hot summer nights.

Never had a problem with mosquitos in California, but moving more to the North... Until the summer, I didn't even think about them. But then I went out in shorts on a hot summer night... and these bastard are evil! For a couple of weeks, my legs looked horrible and itched terribly. I learned my lesson to not go out at night with exposed skin. The worst thing if these vampires make any sound, it's now out of my audial range, and by the time you feel them it's too late... But, half of the year no sign of them at all.

They're omnipresent back in India, probably one of the things I dislike the most in fact.

Can't wait till they're made extinct, the sheer loss of human life they inflict alone makes it worth it

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