Buzz off

Like most articles in the New Yorker magazine, the book reviews are long and well-written. In fact, they're almost too good, because after you've read those 3 or 4 dense pages you feel like you've read the entire book. Or certainly got the gist of it.  The August 5 review of "The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator" by Timothy Winegard explains world history through the impact of mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes were in the news again last night for a potentially deadly disease in Michigan called the EEE virus. Winegard's book claims that mosquitoes have killed more people than any other single cause.  Something like 52 billion, or half of the humans who have ever lived. He calls them the "ultimate agent of historical change."

I call them the "ultimate agent of extreme annoyance" when one buzzes in your ear at night.  Fortunately, we don't have many in Seattle (yet) which is why we can sleep with open, unscreened windows, unheard of in most parts of the country. Even so, one occasionally turns up in the house.

20 degrees cooler today. Now the pleasant 70's right through Labor Day weekend with just the slightest chance of a shower.  Perfect weather as summer winds down.