Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

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The unpleasantness of mosquito bites is not something useful for mosquitoes, but it is useful for the ones who suffer it (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago by NoSpotOfGround@lemmy.world to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world

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The way our bodies react to mosquito saliva motivates us to avoid being bitten. Which must have had evolutionary benefits, keeping us away from diseases.

I.e. all those people that didn't mind them and never got itchy from mosquito bites appear to have died out. And mosquitoes really wish that wasn't true.

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[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Maybe my mosquitos are different than yours (just looked, and there are 3600 different kinds). Usually when I take my dog out so she can “commune with nature”, I’ll end up getting bit two or three times by mosquitos. I never feel them at all, except for the itchy bumps after the fact. Could be me. I only ever get bit on my legs/ankles.

As for bite time, I don’t think it’s the length of time the mosquito feeds, but the act of breaking skin and feeding. The malaria parasite will cause the mosquito to bite over and over again, which probably increases the infection rate.

[–] sinkingship@mander.xyz 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Maybe they are different. I live in Asia. From what I heard there are many mosquito species, but the majority not blood sucking or at least not human blood sucking. Only few species carry disease, if I recall correctly.

To be fair, when I'm preoccupied, I also don't feel them always. Or I feel them but my hands are busy, so I can't slap them. I often have this at night, when I'm playing PC games and my feet get stung up. It'll be like "ouch, my foot! Gotta slap that mosquito, but first I finish this in game. And then this." Procrastinating until it's too late.

I believe ankles are prime for them due to thin skin.

One mosquito died, writing this comment.

[–] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago

You need a net. Or some kinda natural deterrent.

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I haven’t tried it myself, but I’ve heard coffee grounds are a good mosquito repellent. If you have access to essential oils, you should also look into citronella oil too.

Keep up the good fight!

[–] sinkingship@mander.xyz 2 points 2 months ago

I use mosquito coils, they are very effective.

I also have an electric bat, although it's more for the phycho fun of killing than helping reducing bites. They are just too many.

I tried lemongrass as a natural deterrent but had the impression it made no difference.

What works best for me is: slapping those you can while not caring about the rest. Because once you start to scratch it's a vicious cycle, so I don't touch stings and usually then forget about them shortly after.

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 months ago

That site is cancer lol.

It isn't wrong, but holy crap is it badly done