Mine worked great for about 25 uses then got clogged internally. I can’t unclog it with destroying it. Expensive novelty
I wonder if washing with water would work, given that salt dissolves quickly
Bug-a-Salt (2013)
71–80 of 90 posts
Re: Bug-a-Salt (2013)
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm curious if you grew up and/or ever lived in an environment with a serious insect problem. Even the common housefly is just a "mere annoyance" one at a time... but dozens or hundreds can have significant effects on physical and mental health. I'm a huge softie about mammals, birds, reptiles... but I am OK with the complete and total extermination of all insect life inside my domicile.
Everyone that is fully against killing insects has likely never lived anywhere that has insects.
OP isn't "fully against killing insects", just said that "it should not be fun or recreational."
Re: Bug-a-Salt (2013)
#73Ive one of these- they were selling them at the Sams Club and I have a lot of fun with it. Definitely recommend using Morton kosher salt with it. Seems to strike the right balance between mass and aerodynamics...
Does it leave a bunch of salt on your floor? Stuff like grainy sand on my hardwood floors is one of my pet peeves... does this not create that feeling?
I prefer to use the idea that I am seasoning my home.
Re: Bug-a-Salt (2013)
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
Flying or on treads?
Maybe somthing like skycam[0]? That could have some gripper to just move snails into some container. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skycam
Having to rig that up sounds too labor intensive for widespread adoption.
Flying sounds like a battery hog / needs to report home.
But if you out it on treads, it can leisurely roll around your garden / any sized plot and blast slugs as it sees them. Put some solar panels on it and it could possibly stay out all day.
Re: Bug-a-Salt (2013)
#75Does anyone know if this works on carpenter ants? Their exoskeletons are thick enough that sometimes they survive being swatted.
Re: Bug-a-Salt (2013)
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because it doesn't require multiple Kubernetes clusters spun up on 5 different geographical regions for fault tolerance with 3 different vendors to run. It works too well so people would rather downvote the advice for which kind of salt to use.
That's actually a great idea ... I'm going to create clusters of Bug-a-Salts on PTZ platforms, write a custom Kubernetes operator and then use Kubernetes to orchestrate their target acquisition and elimination.
you might run into latency issues while using existing cloud platforms to run the AI stack for image recognition via the 50 webcams you need to set up to provide coverage around the house.
It's better to build a hybrid cloud whereby the image recognition code runs on tensorflow locally on 10 x RTX 2080 super's (for low latency inference) and then go on to issue commands via the kubernetes cluster for elimination.
Re: Bug-a-Salt (2013)
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is the post about the morality of killing for fun getting up-voted? This community, at this instance in time seems to be against it. A funny story from when I was younger ... there was a candidate running for County Commissioner who lived in my neighborhood and had a local auto-parts store. County Commissioners are paper pusher yet for some reason, as if his position mattered, someone asked whether he was for or…
This is about killing flies. No qualms here.
Yes ... I have no qualms about killing flies either. All I was getting at is that a) even back then there was a line you could cross as shown by this candidate and b) that my personal views on killing have changed.
Re: Bug-a-Salt (2013)
#78I think I’ll pass on sowing my own backyard with salt.
Coarse sand might work in place of salt, though there's the risk of the increased abrasiveness wearing out the device faster.
Re: Bug-a-Salt (2013)
#79Hate to be a spoilsport but I wonder what their safety record is like. The shots where the camera was pointed up the barrel made me cringe. "Treat like a loaded weapon at all times" indeed! Of all things to get in your eye high-velocity salt seems like it would be pretty bad.
I've had one for a while. Cocking it automatically engages a safety that you have to disengage in order to fire. I've invited guests to try it, and even fumbling with it, no one has fired it accidentally.
If, however, one is beset by insects and doesn't have many child visitors, the safety can be disabled by moving the switch to the unsafe position and putting a screw into the plastic next to it so it can't re-engage.
Re: Bug-a-Salt (2013)
#80A small thread from last year: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20001334