Which Deity Created the No-see-um?

[MineralMan]

I have a bone to pick with that one. Somehow, I've become sensitized to their bites. Now, I have to wear long-sleeved shirts outdoors, even in hot weather. The little bastards bite me, and I spend the next three days slathering cortisone cream on the bite and the area around it. The last bite, on my left forearm is finally going down. Nasty swelling and an almost intolerable itch that kept me up most of the night the first day.

But, I know the answer to my question. No deity created the damned invisible predators? They evolved to bite me on the arm and cause me misery, the little anticoagulant-spitting blood-suckers! Worse, they're prolific breeders here in Minnesota, and it's over 90 degrees outside this week. So, there I am, mowing the back lawn in a long-sleeved shirt.

Natural selection. You don't even notice the little buggers until after they've sucked your blood and are gone, leaving their blood-thinning spit under your skin. Then, you sure as Hell notice, as the itching begins.

[Cartoonist]

1. A suggestion

Bicycle shops and sports stores have sleeves you can wear. They are white and dissipate heat. Very comfortable with short sleeve shirts.

[Act_of_Reparation]

2. Free will.

I'm told it explains everything.

[MineralMan]

4. I understand that's your opinion.

[Act_of_Reparation]

10. I understand why you'd feel the need to laugh.

Something about tolerance.

[Bretton Garcia]

16. God created all the evil and pain and death in the universe.

So we could thank him for the option to choose it of our own free will. Allegedly.

Though in that case, Free Will seems like a bad thing. Why not create us to automatically do good?

[Act_of_Reparation]

18. I've never understood the love affair with free will, either.

What's so great about free will that it's worth watching kids die of cancer?

[Bretton Garcia]

19. And Christian "free" will is coerced

Bob Dylan got it right: God tells us that we can ignore his word. But if we do, we'd " better run"; he'll kill us. ( Highway 61?)..

That's called coercion,.not freedom.

[Mariana]

3. The same one that created Poison Ivy

which exists only to torment those human beings who are susceptible to it. Part of my yard is wooded, and it took me three years to eradicate the mature stands of poison ivy that were here when I moved in. Now, I only have to deal with the baby seedlings each spring.

[MineralMan]

5. Yes, along with bald headed hornets and black widow spiders

What sort of deity would plague us with those things. More evidence of non-existence of deities.

[NeoGreen]

8. Let's just cut to the chase...

...Smallpox!?

Only a rat-f'ing basterd would create something so vile.

[SeattleVet]

6. Have you read Mark Twain's treatise on this subject?

Pretty much nailed it!

http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles/comment/twain02.htm

[NeoGreen]

7. Ha...I just posted this somehwere else in the intertubes this morning...

...great minds or something like that:

[Permanut]

9. The only answer is to move to Oregon.,

We ain't got 'em here. We also don't have the Mall of America, Jesse Ventura, Caribou coffee or Izzy's ice cream. Or alligators or hurricanes.

We do have mountains and seashore, Multnomah Falls and Powell's Book Store.

Oh, and the Lloyd Center, complete with indoor ice rink, where I was the Vice President of the high school ice skating club "The Flying Blades" in 1962,

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Hera

The gadfly, a type of fly plaguing cattle, typically ones belonging to either the family Tabanidae (horse-flies) or the family Oestridae (bot flies), appears in Greek mythology as a tormenter to Io, the heifer maiden. Zeus lusts after Io and eventually turns her into a white heifer to hide her from his jealous wife, Hera. Hera is not fooled, and demands Io as a gift from Zeus. She then assigns Argus, the 100-eyed monster, the job of guarding Io. Hermes (ordered by Zeus) kills Argus and frees Io. When Hera finds out, she sends a gadfly to torment and sting Io, forcing her to wander farther and farther away from home.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadfly_%28mythology%29

aka 'oestrus':

The estrous cycle or oestrus cycle (derived from Latin oestrus 'frenzy', originally from Greek οἶστρος oîstros 'gadfly') ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estrous_cycle

[MineralMan]

12. You can definitely see botflies.

I saw plenty of them when I worked at a dairy.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Close enough for mythology ... (nt)

[Voltaire2]

14. Oddly enough we skipped gnat season this year.

Praise the Lawd!

[The Genealogist]

15. Same one that created oak leaf mites

There are variations on the name, but when one of those bites you, you're going to know itching and burning. Wonder at the doorstep of which vengeful deity we can lay the blame for those?

[NeoGreen]

17. All things dull and ugly...

...

All Things Dull And Ugly
Artist: Monty Python (Buy Monty Python CDs)
Album: Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album

All things dull and ugly,
All creatures short and squat,
All things rude and nasty,
The Lord God made the lot.
Each little snake that poisons,
Each little wasp that stings,
He made their brutish venom.
He made their horrid wings.

All things sick and cancerous,
All evil great and small,
All things foul and dangerous,
The Lord God made them all.

Each nasty little hornet,
Each beastly little squid--
Who made the spikey urchin?
Who made the sharks? He did!

All things scabbed and ulcerous,
All pox both great and small,
Putrid, foul and gangrenous,
The Lord God made them all.

Amen.

[MineralMan]

20. Wonderful!

[guillaumeb]

21. Did you think hard about this post?

Is it the result of years of study and deep thinking?

[MineralMan]

22. Nope. It's a joke.

[guillaumeb]

23. Indeed. eom

[Bretton Garcia]

24. There is a literal lord of flies in Hindu gods?

Last edited Fri Jul 20, 2018, 06:05 AM - Edit history (1)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhramari

Such gods were probably mentioned even in the Judeo Christian tradition. Though they pose a serious challenge to their notion of an all-good God.

Roughly the famous problem is known as "theodicy": The problem us this: how could God be all good, if he allows and even created, all the evil in the universe.

This argument is thought to be one of the major objections to Christianity.

The concept if free will was proposed to be a solution. But that doesn't fully work.

A famous novel was written with the title the "Lord of the Flies."

In the west, flies seem associated with devils. And pose this question: why did God create the Devil.



You two guys by the way, and atheists and Christains,.might find a tiny patch of common ground. In Mineral Man's brilliant piece in the joy of consciously not knowing the final nature of the universe.

This interfaces neatly with liberalism; allowing many answers. And agnosticism. And since it allows for atheism, it interfaces there too, somewhat.

Though even allowing the uncertainty of it all, even liberal Christians prefer God; atheists prefer no gods.

[BluesRunTheGame]

25. The No-see-um is god's reminder that he loves you.

Like the no-see-um, god is an invisible predator. His love-bite imparts an itch to remind you that you are alive and he made you. You can't possibly understand this because he's god and you're not. The collection plate will be around in a couple minutes. Got it?

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

26. I got two of those this year.

One on my lower back...no way to apply ointment, and one just the other day on my ribcage under my left arm. Just seemed to appear, but, clearly a bug bite. Enjoy the summer!