17 ms·
I tasted Honda’s spicy rodent-repelling tape and I will do it again (2021)
- the_sleaze_ 2y ago> This is the Haterade promise: I will only ever use your money irresponsibly. 10/10
- andyjohnson0 2y agoI fear that the Spicy Rodent Tape Challenge will be the next Tiktok-propelled viral social media thing.
- 1f60c 2y ago(2021)
- vvillena 2y agoNah. This is timeless.
- ben1040 2y agoRaise your hand if you tasted a Nintendo Switch cartridge because you read the plastic was infused with a bitterant to mitigate choking hazards.
- fastball 2y agoWhich in that case is Denatonium Benzoate.
- bentcorner 2y agoTelling people not to do something is a sure fire way to get them to do it. Human curiosity is strong.
- rob74 2y agoCase in point: in Germany, there are occasionally "Durchgang verboten" ("passage forbidden") signs next to driveways leading to e.g. an inner courtyard. These are most of the time a sure sign that it's possible to take a shortcut through the courtyard to the other side of the block. Of course, this is a country where you can be reasonably sure of not getting shot for trespassing...
- happyopossum 2y ago> where you can be reasonably sure of not getting shot for trespassing How exactly does that make it OK to be disrespectful of other people's property and privacy?
- wahnfrieden 2y agoDo you hate Hawaii’s protection of beach access even if it requires passage through private property? Legalized disrespect?
- voxic11 2y agoI couldn't find anything to support the idea that Hawaii’s protection of beach access allows anyone to traverse private property except where a specific rights-of-way easement exists on that property. I don't think the gp would consider use of land via an easement to be disrespectful as the easement holder has rights to the land that must be respected as well.
- xp84 2y agoVarious legal systems have varying definitions of what is and is not a legal infringement on property rights. For instance, in (some parts of?) the UK there's the Right to Roam, I believe, which grants the public limited rights to pass through certain private property (such as an open field). Obviously this doesn't extend to harming anything. The point is, passing through someone's private property without causing any damage or inconveniencing them is not automatically considered unethical.
- shawnz 2y agoSee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wp:beans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wp:beans
- somenameforme 2y agoWell.... how did it taste?
- ben1040 2y agoI stuck just the tip of my tongue on there, and it was so bitter that it was more of a sensation than just a taste. Enough that I reflexively pulled away.
- veonik 2y agoWell, I can say that you definitely won't want to taste it twice.
- mikestew 2y agoI was disappointed that it was a bit bitter, yes, but not in the category of “won’t do it twice”. Such that I even tried multiple cartridges. I’m retirement age, though, so maybe my taste buds are shot.
- waltbosz 2y agoI thought it tasted like quinine/tonic water or maybe grapefruit rind (the ingredient in the Beverly soda from Italy). Coin batteries sometimes have a bitter taste coating which is similar to the Switch cart.
- Waterluvian 2y agoIt tasted like that time I popped a Smartie/Rocket in my mouth and began chewing casually only to realize that it was an uncoated Tylenol pill.
- ThrowawayTestr 2y agoExtremely bitter
- Cpoll 2y agoI found this out accidentally. I have a habit of holding the cartridge between my lips when I switch cartridges (my hands are occupied with the case). Then minutes later I'd notice a bitter taste when drinking water or licking my lips, and have no idea why!
- ollybee 2y ago<raises hand> .. It really was grim
- bigstrat2003 2y agoBack in the day when I worked desktop support, we would use a lot of canned air. And when they added bitterant to that stuff in order to keep kids from huffing it, it became almost unusable for its intended purpose because it turns out that nobody wants to have to breathe the bitter air after they clean out a PC. So, I went to the office supply store and sampled some different brands to see which ones didn't add a bitterant. The irony that their anti-huffing measure led to me (essentially) huffing canned air at the store was not lost on me.
- myself248 2y agoWe just bought an air compressor. And ran the hose outside, because nobody wants to breathe the dust, either.
- philjohn 2y agoAnd if you don't want to buy an air compressor, an electric computer duster saves you money in the medium and long term. I haven't bought a can of compressed air in years.
- ThatPlayer 2y agoI learned the hard way that if you're using canned air upside down as a method to cool something down rapidly, the bitterant stays behind.
- lmm 2y agoKindle charging cables were a favorite among some of my friends, for similar reasons.
- razakel 2y agoThe brand name is Bitrex. They send samples to parent groups to demonstrate why it's a good idea to put it on things kids might swallow.
- palmotea 2y ago> You see, the thing about rodents—be they rat or shrew or vole—is that they really like to gnaw. IIRC, they don't like to, they have to. If they don't wear down their teeth, they'll grow out of control and kill them.
- fkyoureadthedoc 2y agoOr, hear me out, their teeth have to grow because they like to chew so much they'd wear them down and starve
- SV_BubbleTime 2y agoReally a mouth half full kinda of guy.
- zimpenfish 2y ago> If they don't wear down their teeth, they'll grow out of control and kill them. cf the Babirusa - "If a male babirusa does not grind his tusks (achievable through regular activity), they can eventually keep growing and, rarely, penetrate the individual's skull."[0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babirusa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babirusa
- i80and 2y agoUnfun pet rat fact: if their teeth start growing at weird angles for whatever reason, this mechanism stops working and you have to get the teeth trimmed every couple weeks.
- Clamchop 2y agoTo be fair, the biological mechanism for motivating behaviors is usually by making it rewarding. They both have to and like to!
- numlocked 2y agoI have no insight but boy oh boy is this funny and well written. Like prime Dave Barry [0]. [0] https://www.davebarry.com/columns/how-to-make-board.php https://www.davebarry.com/columns/how-to-make-board.php
- donaldihunter 2y agoA genuine lol, for both the OP and for [0]
- wibbily 2y agoReminded me of Dennis Lee too [0] https://foodisstupid.substack.com/p/escargogurt https://foodisstupid.substack.com/p/escargogurt
- uean 2y agoMy God I havent struggled to contain laughter in a public place like this before. Thanks.
- ping00 2y agoI genuinely can’t remember having laughed at well written prose in a long time, thanks for sharing [0]. OP is gold too. Takes me back to my high school days when I would have to choke down my laughter as I surreptitiously read Cracked.com articles in class
- xp84 2y agoDave Barry was my favorite columnist as far back as age 8 or 9. He's so funny.
- twic 2y agoReminded me a lot of Steve, Don't Eat It! (modulo twenty years of progress in being less deliberately over the top online): https://web.archive.org/web/20180712104826/http://www.thesneeze.com/2003/steve-dont-eat-it-vol-2.php https://web.archive.org/web/20180712104826/http://www.thesne...
- 2y ago
- worthless-trash 2y agoI kinda want him to compare it against the nintendo switch cartridge taste.
- skyyler 2y agoSomething tells me that Liz Cook is not a "him"
- worthless-trash 2y agoI thought Liz like Liza, same theory applies.
- wlesieutre 2y agoFor reference on the poem at the bottom https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56159/this-is-just-to-say https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56159/this-is-just-to... Another adaptation I enjoyed https://x.com/AthertonKD/status/585661777645547520 https://x.com/AthertonKD/status/585661777645547520
- tamasnet 2y agoThank you!
- exhilaration 2y agoThank you for both links. I only read the linked article after following your links!
- TRiG_Ireland 2y agoThanks. I knew it was a reference. It was tugging on threads in the back of my brain. But I couldn't place it at all.
- rukuu001 2y agoMy version: This is just to say - quit fucking with that poem
- mdrzn 2y ago"Honda never replied to my tweet." "Still, I fired off a couple emails to Honda’s PR team just in case. To my great surprise, Chris got back to me the next business day" Why do people think that Twitter is the support page for companies? Honest question. Maybe it's an american-centric view, or maybe it's my small european mind that cannot comprehend why would someone publicly tweet something to a company instead of sending an email to ask a question.
- rkuykendall-com 2y agoIt used to be, because it was public, it was the only place companies would pretend to care about end users.
- no_wizard 2y agoTo re-iterate, this is why. I had an issue for 2 months with Verizon where they messed up my new phone deliveries by sending me the wrong ones and they didn't ship other merchandise I purchased at the same time. Their customer support was terribly unhelpful, even after repeated escalations. It was enough I nearly went to AT&T[0]. They first wanted to charge me re-stocking fees on an order they very clearly messed up (for the wrong phones delivered). Then they wanted me to pay for shipping on the correct devices, and they incorrectly billed me as well, and it took several escalations to get them to understand I didn't receive my other merchandise either, which they then told me I had to make another support request for. It was a whole mess. I sent a tweet (and mind you, I'm a nobody) and within 24 hours it was resolved correctly, and they even next day shipped everything to me, which I did not expect. It will be the last time I ever buy from Verizon instead of Apple directly, but at least it got resolved in the end. [0]: Still might. I need the coverage of the big 2, unfortunately I can't jump to say, T-Mobile, as a result.
- brk 2y agoI switched from Verizon to T-Mobile a couple of years ago. Zero regrets, coverage has been excellent, and I travel quite a bit.
- almog 2y agoI wonder if it could prevent mice from chewing into food bags in the backcountry. Not sure what it would incur in terms of weight but could be another type of product instead of the alternatives (odor proof sack, Ursack and hanging).
- Damogran6 2y agoI use gloves when chopping up peppers. Don't want that capsaicin getting under the fingernails and then anywhere else mucosal membrane. Which is to day: It'd be good for bags you don't want to handle very much.
- mordechai9000 2y agoBear spray is supposed to attract bears, and the story is they even like the taste - except when it's blasted into their eyes/nose/mouth/lungs. It is a food product. So I would be a little concerned about that.
- tomcam 2y agoEasily one of the most informative rodent tape reviews I’ve read this week
- tyho 2y agoI tasted the coin cell bitterant when I replaced my Airtag battery. Didn't taste very bitter to me.
- xnx 2y agoAn LLM would never predict the word sequence of this title
- KTibow 2y agoChecking with GLTR: - 6 of the tokens were within the top 10 predictions - 8 of the tokens were in the #10-100 range - 3 of the tokens were in the #100-1000 range - 3 of the tokens weren't in any of the top 1000 predictions
- wolfgang42 2y agoTIL about http://demo.gltr.io/client/index.html http://demo.gltr.io/client/index.html The specific top_k counts were: I(4) tasted(927) Honda(5363)'s(0) spicy(327) rodent(11589)-(0)re(202)pelling(1) tape(5202) and(6) I(1) will(67) do(29) it(3) again(0) So we can conclude that the LLM doesn’t think much of “tasted Honda” or “repelling tape”, and was very surprised by “Honda’s spicy rodent”, but it knows enough about human nature that “and I will do it again” came as almost no surprise whatsoever.
- glitchc 2y agoThis seems completely random...
- efitz 2y agoThank you Liz Cook for this brave and important research! Love the writing style.
- neilv 2y agoThat's a lot of faith in the supply chain, that someone didn't swap in an even worse material (because, who's going to notice; not the rats). Also, doesn't glamorizing this behavior, in a "lol im so random" way, encourage other people to do reckless stunts?
- nancyminusone 2y agoDoing this once is probably no more reckless than licking an envelope.
- neilv 2y agoThe people who produce envelopes know that envelopes are likely to be licked, and that they would likely be in big trouble if they or a supplier substitutes in a material that sends someone to the hospital.
- mmmlinux 2y agoAh yes, Ive seen this episode of Seinfeld.
- the_af 2y agoWell, those were a ton of envelopes... :)
- neilv 2y agoI'm just guessing that the downvoters don't have young children, or haven't heard of some of the things that go on on social media.
- the_af 2y agoMy guess is that this is a funny column about whimsical things (often food related, the author seems to have worked as a restaurant critic) and it's full of "don't do this at home" disclaimers. So I'd say: - Your children shouldn't be reading her blog. - Adults reading her blog shouldn't imitate her behavior, and instead, take it as a bit of humor. I bet in reality she did a little bit more fact-checking than she shows on her blog post.
- rozab 2y agoNileRed has videos of him eating pure capsaicin, which evidently doesn't feel that spicy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFvoCCRZWyI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFvoCCRZWyI
- michaelcampbell 2y agoI have a feeling NileRed's senses may be dulled; he also made some of the world's worst smelling stuff and didn't get much from it.
- alangibson 2y agoHe made military spec latrine odor and didn't think it was that bad. He's built different.
- girvo 2y agoWell not so much built different as "permanently damaged his senses" Its semi-common in chemists. Unrelated note: concentrated formic acid does indeed kind of smell like an ant sting, and dear god does it hurt.
- treefarmer 2y agoHe also permanently damaged his sense of smell/taste, so I feel like he might not be the most reliable source...
- tofof 2y agoLiquid capsaicin treatments for bird seed are an effective squirrel repellent. They also illustrate the evolution of this protein: birds have no receptors for capsaicin, while mammals do. Birds eat seeds mostly intactly. Their digestive systems are capable of breaking them down - but it's stochastic and some seeds make it through the bird undigested, being redistributed elsewhere. Obviously, having an agent sow your seeds widely is a fitness advantage, and so seedy plants are ultimately served well even if 90+% of their caloric investment into seeds goes into the birds. Mammals, on the other hand, have teeth - particularly molars. Mammals that eat seeds grind them apart orally before even swallowing. As a result, any seeds ingested by mammals are very likely to be completely destroyed. Plants - peppers, anyway - found a chemical irritant that repels the mammals without even being sensed by birds. I've used one such treatment (with an amusing logo illustrataion - https://i.imgur.com/JAl8vyW.png https://i.imgur.com/JAl8vyW.png) to good effect to discourage squirrels at my feeder, so that they stick to my dedicated squirrel bungee with a log of compressed corn instead.
- cdaringe 2y agoIncredible image. My squirrel neighbors may get a dose this spring
- nkrisc 2y agoInterestingly, that very irritant is now the key to the widespread success of some pepper species by the way of a specific species of mammals.
- tofof 2y agoOh? Which pepper species and carrier mammal are involved here? Edit: DERP duh you mean humans. :D Literally made the comparison without recognizing it, too. /Edit Not challenging you, just curious and not immediately finding the answer myself with a quick search. The capsaicin receptor is TRPV1, which is a critical protein for thermoregulation and detection of being burned. In other words, it's not just a quick and easy evolutionary path to have a mutation break the receptor for capsaicin and now be immune to the taste. Obviously the animals could evolve behavior or even simply learn as juveniles to tolerate or even enjoy the taste (as many humans do). There are some other interesting things that happen with avian carriers, like reductions in fungal infection and attractiveness to other predators (ants). https://www.washington.edu/news/2013/06/21/airborne-gut-action-primes-wild-chili-pepper-seeds/ https://www.washington.edu/news/2013/06/21/airborne-gut-acti...
- hollywood_court 2y agoLand Rover/Jaguar could benefit from this tape. Rodents love chewing on the electrical harnesses in these vehicles. When I ran an import repair shop, my clients owned over 100 Jaguar sedans, and every single one of them was towed in at some point due to rodent-damaged wiring. While the problem wasn’t as severe with Land Rovers, we still had more than 40 of them towed in each year for the same issue.
- tim333 2y agoIn one of my previous flats we had rats and mice which we ignored - my flatmate was jain so very live and let live - until one day I turned the cooker on and there was a huge bang - they'd gnawed off the insulation on the power cables. I didn't know about chillies but it might have helped.
- _moof 2y agoIt's a big problem in old airplanes too. I've known a few pilots who found out their nav lights (on the wingtips) weren't working anymore because a mouse got inside the wing.
- fatnoah 2y agoI had a Subaru that required over $1000 in labor replace a $13 master wiring harness that was chewed by a rodent. Of course, nothing will beat having a rodent die somewhere in the engine, and not noticing it until exiting the car after a 45 minute highway ride and making my in-laws neighborhood smell like someone barbecued rotten meat.
- mythrwy 2y agoWe had trouble with deer mice eating car wiring. I found this spray at the feed store that looked to be a sort of small outfit based on the label. It was hot pepper extract, diesel, glycerin, a few other ingredients. Worked really well. But then it disappeared so I made my own. I bought a few bags of dried cayenne peppers, crushed them and soaked them in acetone (no I didn't care if the mice got cancer at that point). Then filtered and discarded the remaining pepper chunks and let the acetone evaporate in a pan outside. I then got a few glycerin suppositories from the pharmacy and mixed with kerosene, the pepper extract and a little peppermint oil and had my own spray. A few times a year I spray down the engine blocks and wiring harnesses and we haven't had an issue since.
- beacon294 2y agoI think are joking, but have to mention that Acetone is not expected to cause cancer, at this time.
- sitkack 2y ago> It smelled like a Band-Aid-flavored Rockstar Energy drink. It tasted like…heat. The capsaicin was subtler than I expected: nothing abrasive or punishing, just a blushing, ambient warmth like a string of white Christmas lights. There was almost a numbing, mala element, in the vein of a Sichuan peppercorn.
- wiether 2y agoThe topic, the style... Love it! Just someone having fun doing something stupid and sharing it with the world.
- ielillo 2y agoI remember reading that rodents chewed car cables since the insulation was made using the same compound as soy and that attracted them, but in reality it was just they liked chewing on stuff. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a21933466/does-your-car-have-wiring-that-rodents-think-is-tasty/ https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a21933466/does-your-car-ha...
- bityard 2y agoI just read that article and it doesn't appear to agree with your conclusion. That was just a single quote from a a pest control guy who works for Orkin. The article does say that car owners and mechanics have noted a large increase in rodent damage to car wiring with the new soy-based insulation while manufacturers have denied any connection. Likely because they are fighting several class-action lawsuits over it.
- michaelmior 2y agoIn my case, I was told it was because the rubber was made using peanut oil. I had a squirrel chew through one of the O2 sensors on my car.
- nemo44x 2y agoI had a car once that a chipmunk or mouse decided to give birth in. The car wasn’t used often but as fate would have it the litter was born somewhere in the engine and when we went for a short trip they were all killed. This was not noticed until the stench of their decomposition wafted into the vehicle a week or so after the fact. Again, the car wasn’t used often. The shop removed the mangled bodies, replaced all the air filter components, etc. It took a few months for traces of the scent to finally dissipate. Or maybe we got used to it? Regardless, the car sold a couple years later. My next car was new.
- zehaeva 2y agoI love humans. You all are so weird, wild, and wonderful. I'm also inspired to use capsaicin to fight my personal fight with some squirrels that feel the _need_ to live in my garage. They ignore all my humane traps and are chill with all the light and sound disruptions I put in there.
- kylehotchkiss 2y agoAt least squirrel droppings aren't a hantavirus vector (right?)
- blackeyeblitzar 2y agoI thought rodents like engines because they’re warm. Isn’t that what attracts them to those spots in the first place?
- magneticnorth 2y agoYes? And while they're there, you don't want them to chew on the wires. You can't prevent your engine from being warm (assuming you need to use your vehicles), but you can make it less appealing to gnaw on the nice chewy parts of it.
- blackeyeblitzar 2y agoThat makes sense. I was reading some of the comments and thought people were implying that rodents seek out wiring as a food source.
- jcgrillo 2y agoThey do[1]. [1] https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a21933466/does-your-car-have-wiring-that-rodents-think-is-tasty/ https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a21933466/does-your-car-ha...
- mangamadaiyan 2y agoRodents chewing through cables is a problem even in latitudes closer to the equator, where it can get hot enough that they don't (need to) seek an engine for its warmth.
- biscuits1 2y agoIf I could upvote this article twice, I would.
- jfultz 2y agoFortunately for me, you left this comment, so I upvoted the article and your comment. Which kind of scratches the same itch.
- wsh 2y agoThe manufacturer’s product page, with a link to the MSDS: https://www.teraokatape.co.jp/english/products/class/class004/list010/data_001936.html https://www.teraokatape.co.jp/english/products/class/class00... Data sheet describing the “rat prevention effect”: https://www.teraokatape.co.jp/english/products/Rat_Prevention_tape_No.347_data_sheet.pdf https://www.teraokatape.co.jp/english/products/Rat_Preventio...
- Lanzaa 2y agoThose links are dead. Correct link to "Rodent-proof vinyl adhesive tape No. 347": https://www.teraokatape.co.jp/english/products/rodent-proof-vinyl-adhesive-tape-347/ https://www.teraokatape.co.jp/english/products/rodent-proof-...
- wsh 2y agoBoth links worked earlier, but they don’t work for me now, either. Anyway, the data sheet explains how the manufacturer tested the tape’s effectiveness with rats. The Wayback Machine has a copy: https://web.archive.org/web/20201017204509/https://www.teraokatape.co.jp/english/products/Rat_Prevention_tape_No.347_data_sheet.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20201017204509/https://www.terao...
- anoncow 2y agoFrom 2021. Fun read.
- geephroh 2y agoDunno if it would have helped this poor guy: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/09/30/squirrel-truck-fargo-bill-fischer/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/09/30/squirrel-tr...
- lenerdenator 2y agoAlso effective: petroleum-based plastics for the wiring insulation. Some squirrels chewed on my add-on wiring harness in my pickup back when it was parked outside (this the thanks I get for hard braking when they run across the road in my neighborhood) but never touched the vehicle's wiring harness. Why? Because the vehicle was built in 2009 and used old formulations instead of the new plastics with tasty bits in their formulas.
- delfinom 2y agoYou are repeating FUD. There is no soy in the final plastic. The plastic is derived from soy that serves as a cheap source of organic molecules, but it's converted into polymers no different from petroleum based plastics. Did you know that most wall paint is made from corn? It's hyper processed into latex.
- lenerdenator 2y agoThere's something. Little guys could have more easily chewed on the harness for my trailer hitch, for example, or the main harness - thankfully they didn't, it might have totaled the vehicle - but went for the new stuff. There's enough anecdotal evidence to warrant a real experiment on whether rodentia prefer new plastics over old.
- gruez 2y ago>You are repeating FUD. There is no soy in the final plastic. Did the parent edit his comment? I don't see any mention about soy, only "tasty bits".
- scythe 2y agoFrom page 12: https://www.judicialhellholes.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/honda-soy.pdf https://www.judicialhellholes.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01... >This soy-based insulated wiring was touted as being more "environmentally friendly" due to, inter alia, the biodegradable nature of the soy-based insulation as compared to traditional plastic insulation. While it is no doubt possible to process biochemicals into petrochemical-equivalent synthetic polymers, it appears that at least one law firm doesn't believe that happened here. And they go on to claim that Honda had claimed they were using biodegradable insulation, which a traditional wire generally is not.
- Tr3nton 2y ago[dead]
- ceroxylon 2y ago"That is a pervert’s question." This whole article seems to be revolving around getting engagement and being verbose, they could have just said "rodent repelling tape exists and they put spice in it" and I would have received the same message.
- InsideOutSanta 2y agoIf George Carlin had just told me what the seven words were, I could have saved myself 40 minutes watching his show.
- 0xbadcafebee 2y agoThe seven dirty programming languages: perl haskell cobol brainfuck basic java c The seven dirty programming paradigms: imperative centralized mutable static object-oriented loosely-typed globals
- InsideOutSanta 2y agoPhew, I can still say PHP on TV.
- sans_souse 2y agoAlexa; summarize my entire life into the smallest possible size, and then read it back to me. In monotone.
- booleandilemma 2y agoI remember when Python developers used to have a sense of humor.
- the_af 2y agoIt's not supposed to be informative, it's supposed to be funny. And while I'll readily accept that funniness is in the eye of the beholder, in my case it achieved its intended effect. I also read some other blog posts of the same author, and she seems consistently funny!
- 2y ago
- mcny 2y ago> Plus, my head wouldn’t fit beneath the manifold. I love the funny idea that they tried
- Shank 2y agoI'm sure the reasoning behind this is that it just has to discourage, and therefore the capsaicin amount is low enough to do that, but also cheap enough to manufacture in tape format and sell at a markup. What I'm more interested in is...does this actually work? Could you put this tape on things in your house that could actually be targets for rats? On random pantry items? On your siding?
- donaldihunter 2y agoRodents nibble (and destroy) _everything_ plastic adjacent in my garage. I guess it's time for high-scoville countermeasures.
- kylehotchkiss 2y agoOr seal the garage, trap and poison them, and keep accumulations of cozy nesting material to a minimum.
- ej1 2y ago[dead]
- HeyLaughingBoy 2y agoThe world needs more people like her!
- lolc 2y agoFunny read. There could be a huge difference between licking the tape and chewing the tape. Which I guess is why they found it to be mildly spicy and not hellishly spicy.
- gradschool 2y agoI wouldn't have expected tape infused with capsaicin to have any deterrent effect on mice given Mousetrap Monday's video evidence to the contrary [1]. Is it possible that the high price of the tape mentioned in the article isn't entirely justified? [1] https://youtu.be/LBWskgp-G00 https://youtu.be/LBWskgp-G00
- brie22 2y agoWould this be a good deterrent for cats? One of my cats has gnawed through several USB cables too in range to its mouth, destroying keyboards, webcams, ... Would be wonderful if so!
- noman-land 2y agoYou can often cut off the frayed ends and splice the wires back together. There's usually only 4-5 wires in there and they're color coded so they're simple to match back up.
- mv4 2y agoI enjoyed reading this.
- noman-land 2y agoThis is delightful, and hilarious. The bloody mary rimmed with spicy mouse tape made me lol. This is a creative mind here.
- nashashmi 2y agohttps://www.youtube.com/shorts/7d4gHBjA5NU https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7d4gHBjA5NU Someone who actually tasted it and gave a review of the tape. Jerry rig everything.
- booleandilemma 2y agoI notice the article predates this video by a few years. Clearly Liz Cook was tasting Honda's Spicy Tape before it was cool.
- mthamil 2y agoI love Liz Cook, she's one of the best food writers around.
- giarc 2y agoThat's one of the best blog posts I've read in a while. It nails the idea of "write one line that makes the reader want to read the next". It's humorous but also serious. There's no fluff. Instant subscribe.
- taurknaut 2y agoDamn I could have gotten the "no fluff" version by looking at wikipedia or just googling. Why do people expect their non-fiction reading to be entertaining? That's not the point and I inherently don't trust your judgement if that's what you're looking for. At some point you've got to provide insight.
- NoboruWataya 2y ago> At some point you've got to provide insight. Why though? Seinfeld had nine seasons of no insight and it did okay.
- taurknaut 2y agoI can't say I've ever watched much seinfeld, but Curb Your Enthusiasm regularly has stimulating social insights.
- devilbunny 2y agoI read entertaining nonfiction all the time. Not everything has to be an algebra textbook. Try Ben Macintyre if you like spy/war stories.
- sangnoir 2y agoWikipedia won't inform me about the social media and email dynamics at a car manufacturer. Just the email response alone was entertaining and informative: self-aware humor-encrusted legalese that is very human. I can appreciate it for what it is: great PR work from a professional. Wikipedia is pretty humorless, it probably wouldn't even acknowledge the subtext.
- 2y ago
- looneysquash 2y agoDid anyone determine the heat of the tape on the [scoville](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale) scale? Personally, for stuff not intended for food or food prep, what I would worry about (even if the MSDS didn't have anything concerning) is an unlisted/unknown contaminant.
- NotYourLawyer 2y agoI bet it’s not that high. They’ve got to worry about the mechanic rubbing his eyes after applying this tape.
- jcims 2y agoObviously not recommended but pepper spray works to spice up a drink in a pinch.
- y33t 2y agoBrilliant idea. Now we need to spray capsaicin all over the inside of our vehicles. I had mice chew up the firewall for nesting material. Pain. In. The. Ass. My neighbor keeps an old tuna can filled with gopher poison (strychnine laced grains) strapped to the inside of his car. Mice are destructive little bastards.
- leonixyz 2y agoThe most hilarious thing to me in this story is the PR guy who replied "most of the things sold in the US these days require warnings about causing cancer". And everybody seems fine with that. LOL
- larrik 2y agoI caught that too, though I believe the California warnings are generally of the form "if you can't prove nothing in there causes cancer, then it might cause cancer."
- xsmasher 2y agoIt's ridiculous, but maybe not the way you think; Prop 65 in California classified a lot of things as requiring notification, including things like "Wood Dust." so now every apartment building has a sign in the hallway that says "this building may contain chemicals" and everyone ignores it. The law has lead to people being less informed rather than more informed.
- classichasclass 2y agoI despise Prop 65 warnings in principle, but the damnable thing about them is they may actually have some effectiveness, if this study is to be believed ( https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11651356/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11651356/ ): "Levels of certain chemicals listed under California’s law have declined in biosamples from people across the nation. ... Although the law did not require changes to product formulations or processes, interviews with representatives of affected companies have indicated that many businesses did alter formulations to avoid having to post warnings or manufacture special products just for California." The study has a lot of limitations, and NHANES is not really designed for this kind of analysis, but it sounds like the warnings do well as a cudgel to beat manufacturers with even if regular individuals ignore them. Even more interesting is the knock-on effects Prop 65 has on people outside of California. Overall it seems like an argument to keep them around, sort of.
- abtinf 2y agoAlso coffee.
- pwillia7 2y agoSuper writing. Very entertaining
- spicy-punk-fog 2y agoAdvertisements have gone out of hand these days
- morkalork 2y agoFun blog, I liked the review of a 20 something year old book on garnishing.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- DoubleGlazing 2y agoOn a similar note one of my childrens friends absolutely loves the taste of Nintendo Switch cartridges and licks them untill the bitter coating wears off. His tastebuds must be wired different.
- wlesieutre 2y agoIs it any weirder than adults that like India pale ales?
- austinprete 2y agoWell, presumably he isn’t drunk after polishing off a few cartridges in a sitting.
- mirawelner 2y agoSometimes I think to myself 'I should ignore HackerNews and do all my posting on lobste.rs' and then I come across a post like this and I remember why I love this site.
- adamredwoods 2y agoWe had a rat in our engine. I cleared it's nest out 3 times and tried putting peppermint oil everywhere. Nothing worked it kept coming back. Then one day it snowed and we saw blood everywhere. It appears the crows killed our rat. Problem solved!
- munchler 2y agoSorry, how does the snow factor into this tale?
- irjoe 2y agoI imagine the red blood was very noticeable on the white snow. I might be wrong though.
- adamredwoods 2y agoMy guess was that rat was not seen well by the crows, until it snowed, making the ground all white.
- oigursh 2y agocontrast for the blood? Would have stuck in the memory
- rolph 2y agosomeday soon were gonna see the movie scene where someone is restrained, gagged, and blindfolded with the stuff
- SunlitCat 2y agoSpicy mouse tape: If I am ever in need of an funny username, this will be my go to one!
- dheera 2y agoI always thought bitter stuff would be a better repellent than spicy stuff.
- aschla 2y agoWhen I lived in Chicago with a car, and parked it in the small lot behind a condo building, I had to battle with the rats chewing through my car's wires. Twice they chewed through the MAP sensor wires which caused all kinds of misfires. Had to rewire that whole section of the harness. Then wrapped every wire I could see with this rat tape, and it worked for a while, until maybe the hot/cold cycle of the engine bay degraded the tape enough to not be effective. They loved the warmth of the engine in winter. They'd climb up into the engine bay and hang out throughout it, bringing along nesting material, aka trash. To try get rid of them, I tried the typical bait boxes, specialized rat traps, regular rat traps, peppermint, moth balls, a motion sensor light underneath the car, and more. The only thing that really worked was sending so many rat reports to the city that they had to keep coming out to bait the burrows in the neighbors small yard, until they likely talked to the owner directly to do something about it. I had talked with the guy briefly once and asked him about the rats (that were obviously only coming from his small backyard), and his response was pretty much "well it's the city so yeah they're around." Pretty sure one of his tenants also abruptly moved out because the rats chewed through their car too. The lack of awareness from the guy contributed to me moving out of the city for good. Couldn't stand playing the lottery of good neighbors when most were either renters or inept owners, or a combination of both.
- apeace 2y ago> The only thing that really worked was sending so many rat reports to the city that they had to keep coming out to bait the burrows in the neighbors small yard, until they likely talked to the owner directly to do something about it. I was recently deputized into the "Rat Pack" of New York City[1]. The main thing I learned is that exactly what you said is true. When there are rat problems, you have to go to the source. Traps/poison in a localized area is not going to work, as the brown rat is easily able to reproduce faster than we can kill them with those methods. In fact, certain methods have ended up helping the rats. At one point the city put out thousands of boxes with poison in them. The problem is the boxes were designed to be nice and cozy for the rats, so they'd be tempted to go in and eat the poison. Instead, they go in there and mate. (They also use the boxes to evade predators). NYC's current strategy is to improve data collection on rats, and then use that data to better enforce standards (like garbage disposal), eradicate burrows, and plant different shrubs that aren't as friendly to rats. You have to fully eliminate the environments that sustain them, you can't exterminate your way out. Always report rat sightings in your area! [1] https://www.nycservice.org/opportunity/a0TQq00000DwaIoMAJ/nyc-rat-pack https://www.nycservice.org/opportunity/a0TQq00000DwaIoMAJ/ny...
- jcgrillo 2y agoYet another reason to buy old cars. When I went for my annual inspection this year my mechanic was telling me about a 2021 pickup truck he had to do like $10k worth of rewiring on because of rodent damage. Apparently newer cars have delicious and nutritious soy based wire insulation.
- ineptech 2y ago> DEHP is a compound added to plastics (like vinyl tape) to make them more flexible. It’s used in hundreds of household products, which means lots of people who bathe in Dr. Bronner’s Useless Fluid think it will kill them. I get the joke (that people who use Dr. Bronner's soap are probably uninformed hippies) but am confused by the "Useless" part. I've used that soap and thought it seemed fine. Is it a known fact, or factoid, or meme, among smart people that Dr. Bronner's is ineffective?
- andrewmcwatters 2y agoIt's normal soap, the writer is just taking a jab at Dr. Bronner's marketing.
- sans_souse 2y agoHear me out: Duct Tape Flavored Doritos ®
- merillecuz56 2y ago[dead]
- ropable 2y agoThis. This is what I come to Hacker News for. Absurdly well-documented writeups of things about which I am intellectually curious but that no normal person in their right mind would experiment with.
- hilbert42 2y agoI used to work in a rather well-known building running the electronics operation and we had long PVC conduits that contained communication cables that ran large distances throughout the building and both the conduits and cables were attacked by rats. The main conduits were about 15cm (~6") in diameter and the total CSA of the comms cables therein occupied about 40% of the total diameter. 40% of the total CSA was the nominal/regulated maximum cable-carrying capacity for the conduits as (a) drawing cables through long conduits in excess of this limit could damage them, and (b) there was still some small margin/extra capacity should there be need to add a few extra circuits. Now rats quickly discovered that the remaining 60% of space in these conduits provided them with excellent 'highways' from one end of the building to another. As one would expect, cables would also enter and exit these conduits at various points throughout the building at 'T' junctions. The adjoing conduits at the 'T' junctions were often of much smaller diameter than the main trunk ones and rats had difficulty getting though their small orifices so they simply enlarged them by gnawing through both the conduit walls and the comms cables. Many of the cables were PVC covered and EMR shielded such as RG-59 coaxial cable and Belden Beldfoil-type balanced comms cables and there were many cases where both the copper braiding/outer shielding and inner conductor of the coaxes and the aluminum shielding of the Belden cables were completely chewed through. It seems that PVC, mylar, copper and aluminum are not objects that act as impediments to determined rats—anything in their way they'll chew right through. Trouble was these points of ingress and egress were in very awkward places and repairing the cables was a tedious and difficult job. Somewhere in my archives I've photos of the havoc and destruction they caused, if HN would also post images then I'd dig them out. Incidentally, I've seen photos of lead-sheathed (completely covered and shielded) telephone cables consisting of hundreds of phone circuits where rats have gnawed right through the lead to get at the paper insulation on the cables. Some of these photos are quite amazing, it's hard to believe how destructive these rodents can be until one actually sees the evidence.
- sethammons 2y agoChewing through lead! How do they know something is worth it on the other side? Or do they like sweet metal? For the unaware, lead tastes sweet. Kids used to eat lead paint chips. And there have been sweet springs of great tasting lead water. Hmmmm forbidden springs
- billy99k 2y agotest
- veza 2y agoThis is an article where you shouldn't go directly to the comments or you'll miss all the fun.
- pantropy 2y agoThe human mind will never cease to delight me, what an amazing read ^^
- virtualritz 2y agoThis is David Sedaris-level writing. What a joy.
- miniBill 2y ago> This is the Haterade promise: I will only ever use your money irresponsibly. Amazing :D
- roymurdock 2y agoThis is amazing. Thank you for sharing.
- amunozo 2y agoThis is the best thing I've read in weeks. Thanks.
- hermitcrab 2y agoI once trapped a mouse using a cheese under a glass bowl, where the glass bowl was propped up by a matchstick with a thread attached to the cheese. Proper Tom and Jerry style. It worked, after several attempts, but did amputate the end of the mouse's tail. Oops. But at least the mouse survived (and was released a safe distance away).
- rkp8000 2y agoThis is just to say: the poem at the end is a play on William Carlos William's poem, entitled "This is just to say".
- dhdjruf 2y ago[dead]