Subject: Mosquito uses

From: Jack Rowe <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 1998 12:31:25 -0500

Mosquitoes can be seen as unused resources of the highest value...

Bloodletting, for instance, has been seen by some of the US's greatest
doctors (such as George Washington's own presidential doctor) as a great
benefit to health, even having amazing curative powers. I once saw a
mosquito, down on the Navasota River here in Texas, drag a yearling calf
about 50 yards into the brush. By the time I could run to help it had been
sucked completely dry, but presumably the calf's health had reached great
heights before its mysterious death.

Mosquitoes are also known to be an effective aid in weight loss. The
incessant slapping and moving around necessary to avoid excessively-healthy
bloodletting episodes like the one recounted above can burn large amounts
of calories, and greatly increases muscle tone in legs and upper arms.
Mosquitoes also carry several diseases proven to be highly effective in
weight loss. 

Mosquitoes can greatly increase mental and aural acuity. What other aid can
so powerfully concentrate our hearing and mental attention as the sound of
a mosquito whining 'round our beds at night?

Mosquitoes are a great protectant against rampant Kudzu vinces. Many are
the times when I have become almost completely exhausted from attempting to
outrun Kudzu vines, but was kept going in my efforts by the even-greater
need to outrun hungry mosquitoes, some of them carrying clearly-illegal
automatic weapons. 

And finally, mosquito meat is highly under-rated, under-used, is nutritious
and has a very high dress-out ratio. The average 180-pound mosquito, for
instance, will dress out to just a little over 100 pounds of (red) meat!
Tastes a lot like chicken. And let's not forget the value of tough,
attractive, long-lasting mosquito leather!

It's time we began utilizing this plentiful resource instead of complaining
about its ubiquity. 

Next week: Another under-utilized resource, Land Pirhannas (also known as
Chihuahuas)...

Jack

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From: David Fuller <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 1998 14:38:31 -0800 (PST)

Wonderful... Nice piece, Jack.

Umm...Bats.  Who has figures for bat consumption of the flying suckers.  And
how su(ck)cessful are bat boxes.  I live in Arizona.  Also we have had a
recent migration of the ankle-biting aegyptoides (sic) mosquito, that has
made the evenings in our balmy land almost unbearable.  Dengue and
encephalitis carriers, too, they are.  Welts and scratching are a way of
life now.

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From: David Fuller <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 1998 14:38:31 -0800 (PST)