Discussion » Statements » Rosie's Corner » Cats and dogs make great pets. Cows give milk. Sheep grow wool with which we clothe ourselves. Bees make honey. Birds pollinate. Ducks?
RosieG

Cats and dogs make great pets. Cows give milk. Sheep grow wool with which we clothe ourselves. Bees make honey. Birds pollinate. Ducks?

Of what value is a duck? Who benefits from ducks? What do you duck contribute to life that makes it better for us?

Horses pull things. Or we ride them and use them for "vehiciles" of a sort.

Chickens lay eggs and they are also might tasty roasted baked braised poached

Skunks? The just stink up a place for a very long while because their stink is oily and lasts so long. They threaten us. Other than that? Zip zero zed nada. Enforcers.

Eagles soar.
Snakes slither. They can also kill because some are poisonous. Spiders too. Black Widow/Brown Recluse?

Fish are food. We eat it.

Bears hibernate and scare campers but the little ones are very cute. Teddy Bears are toys for kids. Smoky Bear reminds us to be careful with matches to prevent forest fires.

Elephant tusks are called ivory and are very precious to make stuff out of. The rest of the elephant is worthless. I mean ever hear of eating elephant steak or elephant burgers or wearing elephant skin shoes or jacket?
Donkeys/burros/jacka**es are beasts of burden like camels. They carry things too heavy for homo saps.

Maggots/roaches are there to disgust annoy. What value do they bring that is positive?

Lions roar and make a lot of noise and threaten but apart from that what good are they? How would their absence impact life?

And so  on and so and so on. Bees sting but at least they try to make up for it by making honey. Wasps sting but what do you get out of it? Zero.

Posted - December 5, 2020
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Responses


  • 10637
    Duck's also give us eggs (much bigger than chicken eggs).  They are great at pest control (they love insects).  Their poop is great for fertilizer.  They help clean chemicals out of wetlands.

    Skunks, like many animals, help keep the pest population down.

    Elephants are used as transportation (like a horse, or a camel, or a mule, or a Ford Bronco).  

    Maggots eat dead stuff (nature's cleanup crew).  They are even used  in hospitals to eat away dead skin on patients wounds. 

    Lions help keep down the animal population.  Without them, the "deer" population world explode, and they'd eat all the grasses (no grass = no soil control when it rains.  no soil control = massive soil erosion)

    Wasps are part of nature's control team.  They eat a lot of garden pests.  Some wasps are necessary to make figs (no wasp, no figs).



    All God's creatures serve a function.
      December 5, 2020 1:37 PM MST
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  • 3719
    Hens, and I think Ducks too, will also eat slugs.

    All sorts of insects are pollinators - often rather specialised. A few flowers smell like rotting flesh or similar horribleness, to attract flies as pollinators.

    Fly larvae (maggots) are part of the clean-up crew indeed. As are wood-lice and all sorts of other little animals that snuffle about among the leaf-litter or under the wood-pile. Blow-fly maggots are carnivores, dining on dead animals. Wood-lice are vegetarians, eating damp, rotting wood; mainly, though I have seen woodlice apparently tucking in to a freshly-dead bird. I rather like wood-lice - I think they are sweet little things in their unassuming way.)

    When insects and spiders sting or bite us, in almost all cases other than the vampire ones (e.g. mosquitoes, the tse-tse fly) who find us delicious, it is out of self-defence because we have threatened them - usually accidentally but the animals don't know that.  I have a bush in my garden that bears bright-blue cluster-type flowers, and I have often sat right next to it on a Summer afternoon, restfully watching at close quarters the various bees and flies feeding on their nectar.  

    Edible fish are delicious but there are many fish we can't eat, and some are even poisonous, or at least parts of them are.

    Do skunks threaten people? I imagine them trying to fight their way out if cornered, but so do many animals. I know they have a certain reputation for their "scent", but I don't know if it's defensive or for territory-marking (as dogs and cats do); or both. I suppose if defensive it is so the predator thinks, "Yuk! I am not eating that! It's suddenly gone bad!"

    Even the insects that appear to exist simply to make our lives a misery, like mosquitoes and midges, have their role as food for birds and bats.  
      December 5, 2020 4:08 PM MST
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  • 113301
    :):):)
      December 6, 2020 1:59 AM MST
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  • 113301
    Maggots eat dead skin off people in hospitals? NOW or used to decades ago? EWWWWW! I've never been stung by anything so I don't really know what it feels like. You think ALL God's creatures serve a function? Okay. What function does duck trump serve? Seriously? Could we have not done much better without the existence of duck trump?  Is it that he is so awful anything is better and we will appreciate more futurely? That seems very lame compared to the horrific damage he has done and is continuing to do. So educate me m'dear. Smarten me up. Help me to see the wisdom in that! Thank you for your reply! :) Seriously.
      December 6, 2020 1:58 AM MST
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  • 10637
    Yes, today.. although not nearly as much as in the past.
    Feel lucky.  I've stepped on bees barefoot (never walk through clover barefoot), and I've also stepped in wasps nests (and those guys stung multiple times).

    All God's creatures serve a function.  Humans are not "creatures".  Humans are God's children (created in His likeness).  God gave His children free will, and He NEVER "overrides" it.  When people do good or evil it is by their choice.  God can (and does) use people to accomplish His purposes, but THEY chose their path, not Him.  We cannot blame God for our bad choices.  Oh, we want to and try to, but we can't.  Yes trump is bad, but the republicans who gleefully let him do his evil (when they have the power to stop him) are equally as bad.  his loyal followers - those who hear his lies and hate but choose to ignore them and instead cheer him on, also share in the blame.  It appears that trumps early family life wasn't great either.  his father also made bad choices (greed) and was not a good parent.  he too shares some  responsibility. 
    God did NOT create mr trump to be evil.  he chose that path himself.  he still could change, but his heart's so hardened (by selfishness) that he won't.  God, who knows everything (past, present and future), COULD have foreseen all this and used it for His purposes.  (I'm not saying He did, just that it IS possible).  However, to say that God created trump evil is an insult to God.  God is completely holy (pure).  There is no sin in Him (it can't even exist in His presence).  He cannot do evil, nor can He create it.  If He did, He would cease being God.
      December 6, 2020 10:03 AM MST
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  • 113301
    I think duck is a wackadoodlenoodle crackpot and as such has no clue what he is doing. He is absent all emotion or empathy or any kind of "HUMANITY". Born that way or made that way doesn't much matter. HE IS INSANE. He can't help. He be the devil/satan dupe. It's the missions who adoringly support him that are to blame. They must all be somewhat insane to find his evil delightful. Just my opinion. There may be a higher more profound more true assessment of him but that's my take on it. Totally removed from reality. No concept of truth justice fair play. And this is the hero of millions of people. That m'dear is what shocks me. Thank you for your reply Shuhak! :)
      December 7, 2020 1:55 AM MST
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  • 19937
    I'm not sure maggots are used for that.  I thought it was leeches.
      December 6, 2020 6:49 AM MST
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  • 10637
    Both leeches and maggots are used in the medical field.
      December 6, 2020 9:16 AM MST
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  • 19937
    LOL ... I wonder if they get the maggots from the morgue.
      December 6, 2020 7:04 PM MST
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  • 10637
    From the "maggotician"?


    (but seriously, they actually breed them especially for medical use, so they're sterile (germ free))
      December 6, 2020 11:36 PM MST
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  • 19937
    Of course!
      December 7, 2020 2:01 PM MST
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  • 113301
    :):):)
      December 6, 2020 9:32 AM MST
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  • 16772
    Except mosquitoes,  which are God's only mistake, and platypuses (platypi?), which are God's only joke.
      December 7, 2020 12:30 AM MST
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  • 10637
    Skunks have a bad reputation - their stink.  However, a skunk won't spray unless its attacked or feels threatened.   Normally, it'll just waddle on by

    Bears, mountain lions, raccoons... they too won't go out of their way to attack a human.  However, get near their babies and you're going down. 

    Bees do not attack.  You have to make a bee pretty angry before it'll sting.  A bee will usually sting if one steps on it (but not always). When a bee stings, the stinger pulls out the bees insides, thereby killing it.  People associate bees with wasps and hornets and thus are afraid of them.  Even wasps and hornets wont attack unless you threaten their hive (or squirt them with water)

    Mosquitoes drink plant sap.  However, they are attracted to CO2.  Since both humans and animals put off a ton of CO2... presto, a mobile meal.

    Spiders now ... well, they ARE out to get us!  Kidding.  I'm not fond of spiders (arachnophobia).  Howev, I had an infestation of moths in my garage this past spring.  I didn't vacuum out the brown spiders like I usually do,  and it wasn't long before the moths were all gone.  Granted I have to clean up after spiders (very sloppy eaters), but they do keep down the pesky insects.
      December 5, 2020 5:23 PM MST
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  • 113301
    Do you mean BROWN RECLUSE spiders Shuhak? Aren't they the most deadliest spider or am I confusing that with something else? I've seen black widow spiders but I do not recall seeing a brown spider. Mostly Jim saves them and puts them out in the yard. He saves crickets too but not roaches. Of what value are roaches? Should they be saved too? Last summer wasn't bad at all mosquito wise but a few years ago boy was I miserable. Everything and his brother bit me. I don't know if I'm less tasty now or there were fewer mosquitos? I sometimes simmer cloves on the stove and that allegedly keeps them away. It did seem to help. Thank you for your reply and Happy Sunday to you. I know your electricity will be cut off tomorrow. Did they tell you for how long? SIGH! :)
      December 6, 2020 1:52 AM MST
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  • 10637
    No!!!  Them suckers - along with widders - get squished ASAP!  I keep a 2x4 alongside my patio entrance just for that very purpose.

    I mean the brown house spiders (tiny bodies with long legs).  I have no roaches here (too cold), so I don't know.  I'd squish 'em.

    To get rid of mosquitoes - Get rid of ALL standing water (especially in the spring).  They love to breed instragant water.  There were hardly any Mosquitoes here this year.  I dumped all standing water early in the spring .. just as the skeeter eggs were hatching (killed over 2 billion of 'em).   Plus, they're a LOT of little tree frogs this year.  They even ate all the black widow spiders.  They're quite docile and never bother anyone.  The one under my bird bath would venture out each evening to visit the one on the patio. (froggy went a courtin?) 

    Power is supposed to be completely restored by 10pm tuesday (depending on weather conditions).  The phone message said they'd start reenergizing lines at 6pm tuesday.  In layman's terms that means it'll come on when it comes on.

    Amendment - At 3:30 pm I received a phone call saying they were canceling the power outage.  (sigh)  Now I have to haul that heavy generator back down to the garage.   This post was edited by Shuhak at December 7, 2020 1:31 AM MST
      December 6, 2020 10:31 AM MST
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  • 113301
    Geez that's GREAT Shuhak! I say better hauling back down to the garage then having to be without electricity. I know you cope when you must but not having to is better than having to right? Thanks for the update. As you know southern California is now on I guess lockdown starting 11:59 Sunday night. So here we go again although honestly we've been living our shelter at home since March. Are there any consequences to ignoring the newest stringent orders? I wonder? Well another week begins. Fingers crossed but I don't think that's gonna help at all. How do you control a crazy person with infinite power? I'll ask. Happy Monday to you m'dear! We shall overcome. This too shall pass. SIGH.
      December 7, 2020 1:35 AM MST
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