Neighbours (Not The Ones That You Want)

These neighbours are rather camera shy. I can only show the area where I saw them last.



A relative of my neighbours.



Guess what's in the section of pipe?


The area outlined in red shows where I observed my neighbour's activities. The two gutter sections are connected by a 2" round pipe, which drains the left end of the upper gutter into the right end of the lower gutter.



This shows my front door, and the area where I have observed my neighbours activities, to the right. Picture my head, which just clears the top of the door, coming near the area outlined in red.


I foamed the right 1/2 of the front gutter last night, and activity was reduced by 75%. But even 25% activity is too much. I have been warned to avoid letting these neighbours get into my house.

So, it's back to Home Depot this evening, for a couple more cans of Spectracide Foam Wasp Killer.


Another view of the front door, and gutter.



The underside of the roof, with the gutter hanging from the 2 x 6 on the right. If the nest is in the lower gutter, or in the pipe, there's no danger of it expanding into an exterior wall. Now the upper gutter, that's another possibility.



The interior of the house. To the right is the wall space that the upper gutter adjoins on the outside. If there's ever any intrusion, it will probably be at the upper end of the wall to the right, at the far end.


(Edit 6/29): So last night, I sprayed another can of foam. 1/3 at the lower gutter, another 1/3 at the upper gutter, and the remaining amount around the top edge of the flat roof on the right. Hopefully, that will make them sick enough.


(Edit 7/4): Activity during the past week was pretty low, but several were noted yesterday. So last night I went to Wal*Mart,and there I found an amazing "SoapJet"

As seen on TV

It's a hose adapter for washing your car - you fill a reservoir with car wash detergent, and squirt soapy water as you wash. Acting upon a tip from another forum, I filled the reservoir with dishwashing detergent. Spraying good soapy water all over the roof, which drains through the nest area, destroys the waterproofing on the yellowjackets, and they drown. LOL.

So that's my 4th of July. Watering the roof with soap suds. I actually had one crawling around on the roof - unable to fly because the wings were full of water. And eventually drowned, when I blasted him.

Way more fun then squirting foam spray at $3 for a 2 minute blast. This is hours of fun. B-)

As scary as yellowjackets are, they don't hold a candle to the Japanese Hornet, or to 4 other insects that inhabit this planet. Warning - don't watch the videos in that article, unless you like being scared to death. Read the text first.

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Is Chocolate A Drug?

Lady walks into an ice cream parlor on a hot day.

"I'd like a gallon of chocolate ice cream", she says, "I just broke up with my boyfriend and need help quick!".

"I'm sorry ma'am, but we've had a run on chocolate in this weather and we just ran out. We've got 30 other flavours, so please pick one of them." replied the clerk.

"Oh well, I guess I'll just have a quart of chocolate then. Please hurry."

"Ma'am, perhaps you didn't hear me. We are completely out of chocolate ice cream, but I'll be happy to sell you another flavour."

"Oh. Better make it just a pint of chocolate then. I gotta go, for heavens sake hurry!"

The clerk thinks a bit, how to reason with her - and asks, "Listen, lady, please spell the 'VAN' in 'vanilla'."

The lady is puzzled, but replies "V-A-N".

"OK, now spell the 'STRAW' in 'strawberry'." he says.

She slowly replies, "S-T-R-A-W", still not sure what he's up to.

"OK, now spell the 'FREAK' in 'chocolate'."

She starts yelling, "Why are you wasting my time? There's no 'freak' in chocolate!'

He replies, "That's what I just told you, twice."

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Robert Heinlein

One of my favourite authors (in general) and my favourite science fiction author (period) wrote

Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig.

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What Gender Are Computers?

A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.

"House" for instance, is feminine: "la casa."

"Pencil," however, is masculine: "el lapiz."

A student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?"

Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether "computer" should be a masculine or a feminine noun.

Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the feminine gender ("la computadora"), because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic.
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else.
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval.
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine ("el computador"), because:

1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on.
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves.
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem.
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

The women won.

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Pet Fish

A redneck was stopped by a game warden in Mississippi recently with two ice chests full of fish. He was leaving a cove well-known for its fishing. The game warden asked the man ...

"Do you have a license to catch those fish?"

"No, sir," replied the redneck. "I ain't got none of them there licenses, these here are my pet fish."

"Pet fish?"

"Yeah, every night, I take these here fish down to the lake and let 'em swim 'round for awhile. Then, when I whistle, they jump right back into these here ice chests and I take 'em home."

"That's a bunch of crap, fish can't do that."

The redneck looked at the warden for a moment and then said, "It's the truth Mr. Government Man. I'll show ya. It really works."

"OK," said the warden. "I've got to see this!"

The redneck poured the fish into the lake and stood and waited.

After several minutes, the warden says, "Well?"

"Well, what?," says the redneck.

The warden says, "When are you going to call them back?"

"Call who back?"

"The fish!" replied the warden!

"What fish?" replied the redneck.

Moral of this story: We may not be as smart as some city slickers, but we ain't as dumb as some government employee.

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Bridges And Trolls

Long ago, way before the Internet, even before the automobile, the kingdoms of Europe were just recognising that a healthy economy depended upon the ability of the populace to travel. They built roads (dirt paths generally), and where the dirt paths crossed the mighty rivers, that were too broad and deep to wade through, they built bridges.

They didn't start out with any great budgets for maintaining anything, the roads and bridges were pretty much use at your own risk.

Some bridges were built, and financed by, the users. There might be a sign at the bridge.

Pay Toll

which meant that you the traveller, before or after crossing, were expected to contribute out of your pocket, to help pay for the bridge.

These Pay Toll bridges weren't always manned 7 x 24, sometimes payment would be on the honour system. Most people in those days were honourable, so toll collectors weren't always required. Some "collection stations" would be just a bucket besides the sign, and the travelers would drop coins into the bucket.

Occasionally, there would be dishonest individuals who found a way of collecting some easy cash. They would station themselves at a bridge, and when an unwary traveler approached, would show them the "Pay Toll" sign, and demand payment - which they, of course, would keep for themselves. To avoid legal complications, the "Pay Toll" sign was altered, to read "Pay Troll". A bridge with a "Pay Troll" sign became known as a Troll Bridge, and a "Troll Collector" was known, simply, as a troll.

The local and national governments soon realised that the "Troll Bridges" were money pits. They weren't getting any money, because the trolls were keeping it all for themselves. Eventually, they started financing bridges and roads out of the taxes collected from the citizens, and the roads and bridges became "free".

But still the trolls tried to extort money from the unwary travelers. The knowledgeable travelers would look at the troll and say "No, I paid for this bridge with my taxes.". So the trolls had to depend upon extorting money from the unwary and weak travelers, who were too naive, or physically unable, to resist the demands of the troll.

One day, some of the Knights of the Realm heard about the trolls, and made it a practice to assist the unwary and weak travelers. They would stare the trolls down, and send them scurrying under the bridge, to hide there until the Knight left the area.

Eventually, the trolls started staying under the bridges, and avoiding the confident and strong travelers, and the Knights. When an unsure or weak individual walked onto the bridge, and there was no Knight around, the troll would reach out and grab the victim by the ankles, dragging him / her under the bridge and robbing her / him.

And that's all that trolls are - people of low intelligence who prey upon the weak. In online discussions, they lurk in the discussion areas, and watch for anybody to make a mistake. When a person, trying to help or participate in a discussion, says something procedurally or technically wrong, the troll will jump on his / her victim and correct her / him. Generally, the correction process will be done rudely or sarcastically, in an attempt to rob the victim of dignity.

And that's an Internet troll. A rude creep who lurks under the bridge, and preys upon the weak. The same as a Bridge Troll, except it trolls from its own home.

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This fable is dedicated to "Wasted" of long ago Blogger Help Group fame. For more about trolls, see Chucks Tech World: My First Troll Calling, and, Beer And Puke Rank.

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Captchas and Online Games

This is a pretty long video (50 some minutes), but it's worth the time to watch. It discusses these issues, and more.

• What is a Captcha, and why is it not the ultimate protection against automated attacks?
• Why do I see a Captcha sometimes, when I'm looking at pictures?
• Why are there so many free online games?
• How does Google Images get their pictures labeled so accurately?
• How do hackers and spammers setup multiple online accounts, using scripts, even with Captchas required by the online accounts?

Captchas and Online Games: Human Computation (Luis Von Ahn: July 26, 2006)

And here's a later story. The New Scientist: CAPTCHAs conquered?, or my mirror if the New Scientist web site is still slow responding. And an additional opinion: brains-N-brawn.

Having seen the video, and read the additional stories, answer the poll.

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Is Windows Vista Ready For Prime Time?

Not according to super nerd Chris Pirillo, of Lockergnome.
»http://www.youtube.com/v/HELrxLdP85c

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