7 ms·
I think that in general we need to see ourselves as part of an ecosystem rather absence of one -- eg rather than try to kill all the "bugs" in our homes, figure
by Tloewald 11y ago
I think that in general we need to see ourselves as part of an ecosystem rather absence of one -- eg rather than try to kill all the "bugs" in our homes, figure out which ones might be beneficial.
It's taken a long time for us to take this approach to intestinal flora and skin bacteria -- we need to think this way about everything.
- WalterBright 11y agoI once had an infestation of spiders. I called the exterminator, who said I didn't have a spider problem. I had an ant problem - the spiders were there eating the ants. Dealing with the ants took care of the spider problem. There's a great book on this kind of thing: "Common Sense Pest Control".
- jader201 11y agoSo... did he exterminate the ants, or eliminate whatever it was they were after?
- WalterBright 11y agoThey were after wood (carpenter ants). They ate the deck and some of the support structure. They like damp wood. The solution was: 1. get rid of all rotting wood near the house 2. make the deck out of concrete and iron 3. make sure no vegetation touches the house 4. roof overhangs that keep the exterior wood dry and lastly, just to be sure, the bug guy comes and sprays a Line of Death around the perimeter once a month :-) The idea is to not create an environment that is attractive to pests. For example, I also had a yellowjacket problem. I eventually was told that they loved cedar shingles. Replaced the shingles with asphalt ones, and no more yellowjackets.
- ChuckMcM 11y agoOne of my current side projects is to connect a pair of galvos, a 3 watt IR laser diode, and openCV to run when I'm not there calling it "High Tech Pest Control with Photons" :-) We tend to get Argentine ants in the Bay Area and they do attract spiders, but they also keep down the cockroach population. So there are arguments for and against keeping them.
- CamperBob2 11y agoGeez, why don't you rig up a shotgun to the doorknob, while you're at it?
- adrianN 11y agoI hope you have a good fire insurance.
- DennisP 11y agoDon't listen to the naysayers. Bill Gates is actually funding technology that kills mosquitos with lasers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser
- saiya-jin 11y agocool! been thinking about some very weak laser & attached detector every time I was lying under one of mosquito nets while travelling (or cursing myself for forgetting to bring one with me). Didn't know it's actually semi-real thing :O The issue I thought about was cheap and reliable detection - to avoid firing laser in direction of a person's yes behind mosquito for example. "Photonic Fence can kill up to 50 to 100 mosquitoes a second, at a maximum range of 100 ft" - now that's pretty awesome!
- unprepare 11y agoIsn't this technology owned by Intellectual Ventures - the patent troll run by Nathan Myhrvold? Doesn't it seem more likely they developed and patented this and are waiting for someone else to infringe on their patent, rather than them ever actually creating a product? This is a perfect example of how broken our patent system is. We have a technology that absolutely has demand, but it will never be produced because it's more profitable to abuse our patent system in the courts than it is to actually manufacture and sell a product.
- hellbanner 11y agoWhat's your status?
- martin-adams 11y agoEssentially the 5 Whys used practically. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys