Yellow jackets, which usually nest underground and are often... disturbed by a lawn mower or chainsaw, are one of the most dangerous and aggressive insects around. (Haven’t done an Entomology post lately so figured I’d throw one on) Why are they so dangerous? Because they can rapidly and repeatedly sting. This is a video I took of one who had attacked a katydid. As you can see, even as the yellow jacket begins to feed on the katydid, he continues to rapidly “pop” the prey with his stinger, pumping the paralyzing venom into the katydid. I count around 10 full stings of the prey. When a person is stung by a yellow jacket the first time, it releases an “alert pheromone”, which signals to most of the other colony members that danger is present. A major swarm of yellow jackets will then proceed out of the nest and attack the person (or animal). It takes around 1500 stings to kill a grown adult and 300-400 to kill a child. These numbers are achieved quickly with 100-200 yellow jackets swarming. If a person is allergic, they can go into anaphylactic shock with just one sting. I’m all about “saving the bees” because of their pollination factor…but Yellowjackets are one species of insect that I would gladly eliminate because of their danger. If you see them flying around the ground, or a tree stump or some rail road ties in the landscape, avoid them at all costs.show more

One way to get rid of an underground (or... wall void) Yellow Jacket or Wasp Nest: Rodent Glue Boards One of the problems in dealing with wasps, hornets and yellow jackets is treating the nest, even if you know where it is. It’s sometimes hard to get near them to treat without getting stung. One quick way to get rid of them is to set a glue board near the nest entry and get just ONE caught on it. I usually put a small raw piece of chicken. They’ll get stuck and start stinging the glue board along with releasing attack pheromones. The massive pheromone release will draw other members of the colony to the glue board. They in turn get stuck, start trying to sting the glue board and release more pheromones. Pretty quickly you’ll have drawn the entire colony out and they will all get stuck and meet their demise on the glue board. Side note: you will have to draw the first few to the glue board with a some type of food they like. Any type of grilled meat like burger, chicken or a piece of a hot dog works. A small piece of sliced lunch meat like ham also works. That’s why you always see them coming around your outdoor family reunion feast. They love that food. Keep in mind, if you disturb a nest of yellow jackets with a mower, or a child pushes on a small log with them in it, they will k*ll you. Anaphylactic shock, airway constriction, cardiovascular collapse. They are a public health threat and it’s totally okay to rid the world of these things. (Don’t mess with the bees though) If this method doesn’t work for you, the best product I’ve used to treat them from far away is Wasp Freeze by BASF. Also, the hanging yellow stinging insect traps are very effective as well.show more

Pest Control Secret How to get rid of an... underground (or in your attic or wall void) Yellow Jacket or Wasp Nest: Rodent Glue Boards One of the problems in dealing with wasps, hornets and yellow jackets is treating the nest, even if you know where it is. One quick way to get rid of them is to set a glue board near the nest entry and get just ONE caught on it. They’ll get stuck and start stinging the glue board along with releasing alert pheromones. The massive pheromone release will draw other members of its colony to the glue board. They in turn get stuck, start trying to sting the glue board and release more pheromones. Pretty quickly you’ll have drawn the entire colony out and they will all get stuck and meet their demise on the glue board. And you or your pet won’t get stung if you inadvertently stumble upon the nest.show more

Two videos: My “Blast the crap out of ‘em”... video & my more tame method of killing yellow jackets. Generally I’ll use a product called Wasp Freeze to stop the ones coming in & out from how many ever holes they’ve created. But that won’t get rid of a monster sized nest. I’ll then blast them with my Stihl SR200 blower with a product of choice. This is the first video I’ve done showing the capability of the SR200. It’s an amazing device if you are fighting ticks, mosquitos, spiders, whatever. It really helps lift up the leaf or bush and costs all sides (the underside is really where most mosquitoes 🦟 hang out waiting on you). I recommend doing any treatment at dusk or dark as Yellow Jackets are much less active in the evening hours. Second video method: Get some glue boards, throw a piece of rotisserie chicken in center, catch one and they’ll release an alert pheromone and the entire nest will come out and get stuck. Cool to watch them try to sting the glue board while stuck over and over and get more stuck. There are many other “homemade” methods to get rid of them, gas, gas fumes, etc. I DO NOT recommend those. Being in the pest control biz for 25+ yrs, I’ve seen homeowners do this, not get the entire nest and the colony recovers and comes back 10X more aggressive. Use “Uncle Jonny and Aunt Sue’s” method at your own risk. Do they work? Sure they can, but you don’t get them all, that colony comes back with a vengeance.show more

Wondering if you are “quad dominant” in your throw... and if you should change it? Maybe you shouldn’t 🤷‍♂️ A coach’s post coming from Austin Roark 🚀⠀⁠ -⠀⁠ One question I get from a lot of athletes is whether they should change their lower half because their knee is over their toe during their loading phase down the mound. ⠀⁠ -⠀⁠ The biggest thing that I look for when trying to figure out if it is an issue or not is to see how they are able to get out of that position. Some guys are able to leverage and rotate from that position extremely well, which then I would say that it’s not an issue.⠀⁠ -⠀⁠ On the other hand, there are some guys who will get out of this position by driving extension out of their back leg, killing their ability to rotate their pelvis and get it in an open position into landing.⠀⁠ -⠀⁠ This is when I would suggest trying to make a change. I think a lot of people jump into certain ideologies that you shouldn’t do certain things because it’s “inefficient” or it looks “wrong”. ⠀⁠ -⠀⁠ Take a look at these pitchers shown in the video. All 3 of these high level arms have some degree of knee flexion over their toe. Now, granted, they all have insane levers to help them, but the way they are moving is what makes them efficient in how they throw. ⠀⁠ -⠀⁠ I think if you told Dustin May that he had to hold a vertical shin down the mound, it would be a disaster and mess a lot of things up upstream that would impact him in a negative way.⠀⁠ -⠀⁠ The big takeaway here is that there are no absolutes. One thing that may look inefficient to you could be the thing that makes someone else very efficient.⠀⁠ -⠀⁠ When trying to figure out if you should change something about someone's delivery, make sure to look at the entire unit as a whole and don’t jump into any quick changes.show more

The IDF is continuing to demarcate the Yellow Line... — to which the military withdrew under the terms of the current ceasefire — in the Gaza Strip with physical markers. Footage from this morning shows concrete blocks painted yellow being moved by heavy machinery. Yellow metal signs will also be attached to them. On Friday, Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the physical markers so that the boundaries of the military’s control are clearly visible. He said the markers will serve as a warning to “Hamas terrorists and Gaza residents that any violation or attempt to cross the line will be met with fire.” The IDF has killed several Palestinians in recent days, saying that they crossed the Yellow Line and posed a threat to Israeli troops. The Yellow Line, as drawn out by mediators, encompasses over half of the Strip’s territory, or 53% — most of which is outside of urban areas.show more

"Explosion in Kharkiv" or something along those lines is... the most frequent post I make. I've probably made a thousand of them by now, if not more. Air raid alerts are so frequent here that I usually don't even post about them. They can last for days, and the citizens of Kharkiv are forced to disregard them. Or we can have twelve of them in a day, and we will also be forced to disregard them. I often see online how central or western Ukraine complains about the alerts, and oh, how much I would give to have an actual solid warning about an attack like them. But "explosions in Kharkiv" always arrive unexpectedly. How surreal it is that we are forced to live like this. How horrific it is that thousands of bombs, missiles, and drones fall on a major city in Europe daily, and all the major press and political figures just pretend it doesn't happen. Because if they admit that it happens and they just watch it year after year, then what kind of people are they? Do they care at all?show more

One of the many myths about hedgehogs which I... find particulary annoying is "hedgehogs get their name from living under hedges and grunting like a hog". This is not only utter nonsense, it's very dangerous misinformation which has caused the death of so many poor sick hedgehogs, who could otherwise have been saved. Yet I've seen this utter rubbish published on websites of organisations you'd think you could trust to get their facts right. Especially when it comes to such a precious endangered animal. Hedgehogs don't grunt. They don't snort. They don't make any sound at all. Just like us, their breathing is completely silent if they are healthy. Hedgehogs hunt for food. They certainly don't announce their presence to their prey by grunting and snorting as they approach. They are silent, and they hunt via scent and sound. They listen intently, all the time. Their hearing is so incredibly acute they can hear the scurry of insects legs under an inch of soil. Hedgehogs don't come out to hunt in the rain, not because they don't like getting wet, but because the sound of the rain drowns out the sounds of their prey, making hunting imposssible. And hedgehogs are solitary animals. Being solitary means they don't socialise with their own kind, or any other species, so they have no need for a vocabulary, or any verbal communication. The only time you are likely to hear a hedgehog making a sound is the huffing a female hedgehog makes when being courted by a male during mating season. So if you hear a hedgehog snorting or grunting, or making ANY audible breathing sounds, what you are hearing is a very sick hedgehog whose breathing is compromised and who needs urgent treatment from a rescue (never a vet). When a hedgehog is sick, particularly with lungworm, the fluid in the lungs means the air moving in and out makes a bubbling sound. And as the airways become inflamed and swollen, the flow is impeded, making the passage of air noisy. The clip below is of Arthur, recently returned from his hibernation. As you can hear, his breathing has a bubbly, creaky sound. Not too bad, as yet, but bad enough to need treatment - which is probably why he's returned, to book himself into the hospital here.🥰show more

I found another area of interest that the elites... have occupied. This time, it features a large restricted military zone, extensive tunnels and underground facilities. It is located on one of the oldest and most stable cratons, also known as the "survivor continents," and, most importantly, it has one of the strongest magnetic anomalies! Find out the location and the continent by subscribing to my X account or Patreon. This is one of a series of posts in which I reveal what I believe are their safe locations for the event.show more

Why is the national guard handing out coffee and... donuts? The ret*rds among the Amerimutt right don't understand why the National Guard of Minnesota are giving out donuts and coffee to the locals in Minneapolis. They're too inexperienced to understand basic COIN principles. You must win over the locals. You have to meet with them, create every opportunity to connect. Make them like you and do it in a genuine, and human way. Once you do that 90% of your operations are basically done. This is how the US gets to stay in extremely dangerous places around the world, and the unit responsible for it is CAPOC. It's manned by extremely charismatic and intelligent officers. Every event and encounter is accounted for, studied and eventually every loss is turned into a win. In Vietnam era terminology it's called winning hearts and minds. The majority of humans, by their core nature, are unwilling to attack a friendly face. Furthermore, when they connect with someone, genuinely, they are unlikely to betray them most of the time. Stack these events and the likelihood of immersion with the locals becomes high. Then you facilitate your strategic objectives, without any interference from the locals, because they're already on your side. What you don't do is a road-side execution, fit for a terror organisation. This doesn't just lose you the locals but creates an environment where people around the world want to actively see you harmed, or lose. Every local you kill has hundreds of friends and potentially thousands of associations. Do this enough times and the entire city will want to hunt you down. So, while the e-right laugh at the competent national guard, they're busy winning, one hot coffee, one donut, one hand shake and one conversation at a time.show more

We don’t need to label this kid as being... a Palestinian or an Israeli. It shouldn’t matter what nationality, religion, ethnicity or name this child has. It shouldn’t matter if it’s a boy or a girl, a child of a peasant or a child of a king. All that matters is that this is a child, and all children should be treated as the innocent beings that they are. If you are putting more weight on the life of a child of one ethnicity, one religion, or one ancestral line other than those of your own family or friends, then your moral compass is out of wack. All children’s lives matter!show more

A driver caught on surveillance camera flying through an... intersection in Murray Utah and the internet is going crazy trying to figure out who is at fault here - this is exactly the kind of reckless driving that turns a normal afternoon into a tragedy in a split second. Intersections are already one of the most dangerous spots on any road and when somebody decides the rules don’t apply to them everybody around them becomes a victim of that decision. Watch the video and drop your verdict in the comments.show more

Pest Control “secret” for those small annoying flies that... bug you while watching tv (feel free to repost since we’re moving into bug season in many areas): As we move into late spring/early summer months in US, many people like to leave doors open. Sometimes you’ll get an influx of small flies. There are 3 main species of flies that buzz around your head while sitting on the couch. The fruit fly, the phorid fly and the fungus gnat. If you see a small fly just “sitting” on your wall or a few small flies hanging out on the wall near your garbage can, it could be the fruit fly. I won’t go into boring details of how to tell various species apart, but will share one trick that can help reduce their population. First, keep your doors shut as much as possible. They gain entry usually that way, then find a source to breed in. To help reduce the breeding adults, 1) Grab a clear bowl or glass and place some red wine (or a few pieces of banana) in the glass. 2) Put some clear Saran Wrap or cling wrap on top fairly tight. 3) Next grab a pencil or pen and poke 4-6 holes in the wrap. This will allow the aroma of the fruit or wine to be strong as it comes out of the glass and will attract the flies 4) The flies will be immediately attracted to the bowl/cup and make their way into the holes you poked. Once in, they’ll drink the wine, or feed on the bananas and can’t get out. I prefer wine since they get drunk and drown. Bananas won’t kill them. Wine will. 5) Discard every 7 days and repeat. The best approach is to find the source of their breeding. Garbage disposal? (Bleach doesn’t work by the way) Garbage can? Debris under refrigerator? Also, re the fungus gnat species. This will not work. They feed on fungus, generally from overwatered potted plants inside or doors left open near extremely damp exterior area. One other method that is highly effective are the small plug in light traps. A combination of the above along with a plug in light trap will keep most fly issues at bay.show more

🐨: Taehyung has a really deep voice and I... think that’s one of the reasons why he is so loved by everyone around him 🐨: He really is like the lion* who can just sit in the middle of it all *NJ compares Taehyung to a lion here because Sanghoon gave his reasoning on why Lion is the king of the jungle; Lion doesn’t strut around flexing its powers, it’s because it can lie down and just sleep right in the middle of it allshow more

The political establishment in Australia is not entirely stupid,... they just think you are. As they lament the rise of One Nation, they pretend they don't understand it. Because if they showed us that they understand the resons, they then have to make a major admission. Hanson's rise is all their fault. Because the major parties and the faux independents have been on a unity ticket on all of the big problems they have jointly caused for decades. They can’t hide from the messes they have caused, so now they want to blame everyone else but themselves. Today, on ABC’s Insiders, Annabel Crab belled the cat, as Karvelas did the two step crab walk. Annabel correctly diagnoses the political situation here right now. It is not a love for Hanson, or One Nation that is causing the surge, but a total lack of faith in the other offerings. It almost does not matter what Hanson says or does, because her greatest strengths are that she is there, and she is not one of them. Those are enduring traits and the more the major parties hit her, the more the media carry on about her, and the more the establishment present her as a “deplorable”, the more people they will push in her direction. It is like they are in quicksand... the more they struggle, the deeper they sink. People are growing ready for wild political change. A worsening economy and a growing collapse in social cohesion has put the nation on edge. The big end of town want to pretend everything will be fine when the latest special envoy delivers their newest report, but nothing changes. Nothing changes because nothing is supposed to change. Because the government, the opposition and their Green Teal cheer squads want things just the way they are. They didn’t just pass all of the enabling legislation for no reason. There are real beneficiaries of these things, it is just that none of the beneficiaries are the Australian people. Australians have broadly been the target of the changes made to benefit foreign interests, the political class and major corporations. We have been targeted for so long it is impossible not to feel the cross-hairs of the scope resting on our forehead. Hanson and her team simply have to talk about that feeling... they don’t even have to have a solution. Because when the establishment continues to pretend the problems don't exist, just acknowledging the pain is enough to earn a vote. Annabel nails this sentiment in just a few words. Right as Karvelas changes the subject, because it is not that this isn’t obvious, it is because Karvelas is there to cover it up, and hit Hanson’s credibility again. Fuelling the vicious cycle of the rise of the outsider. Unless something significant changes in the establishment, and I don’t expect it will, there will be major upheaval at the next election. Most people will not be voting for their favourite party or person, they will primarily be voting against the status quo, because in their minds, it could not possibly be worse than what we have experienced for decades... but it just might be a little bit better. And that is a risk worth taking. After all most of us like a punt. I just want Australia back.show more

There is zero room for error here. 😬 The... ability for FSD v12.3 to judge if an opposing car is going to stop or go on a yellow light is exceptional. This left on yellow is one of the most risky maneuvers to execute and I’m so glad that the team has worked on getting this perfected. Tesla AI you guys rock!! Still little quirks to improve like moving forward more in the middle of the intersection and following through a left on yellow behind a lead car but this is really promising! Elon Musk Tezmeeincshow more

The Sledgehammer is an all-kit melee weapon #Battlefield6. It... can be used to smash walls and other structures with one or two direct impacts, and inflict a small amount of damage to vehicles. Pretty slow to equip and swing, but a guaranteed one-hit-kill. If you break the floor, be careful with the height of the ground :)show more

Today I was visiting the exceptionally beautiful Plantin-Moretus Museum... in Antwerp, Belgium (one of the only museums in the world that is itself listed as UNESCO World Heritage), which is one of the oldest printing shops in Europe, with the oldest surviving printing presses in the world. I stumbled upon an old 16th century atlas - written in Old French - and I was pretty amused to read their understanding of China at the time, which was surprisingly accurate, maybe even more than today's! A translation of some of the most interesting passages: - They call it "China" in French (it's now called "Chine") and they write that the locals call it "Tangis", which probably refers to the Tang dynasty but which is strange given that by the 16th century the dynasty had already ended for about 600 years - They write that to its North China is bordered by "tartares" (which I guess means Mongols) whom they describe as "very warlike people from whom it is separated by a wall made by hand" - The Chinese work ethic was already legendary: "those who live there are not at all lazy but devoted to labor and work, because it is there a shameful thing to be idle" - They share a number which must have seemed astonishing at the time: "in the city of Canton, one of the smallest in the entire country, some ten or twelve thousand ducks are eaten daily at table". And then they marvel during a good proportion of the text about the abundance of food in the country, which probably made a big impression on travelers at the time. - They write that "there are in this kingdom two hundred and forty famous cities, whose names end in this syllable FU which means a city: like Cantonfu, Panquifu: the small towns, which are in great number, end in CHEU [undoubtedly refers to "zhou"]. There are infinite villages, heavily populated, because of the continuous agriculture." - China's infrastructure and engineering capabilities were also already legendary at the time: "The city gates have entrances magnificently and marvelously well made, the streets are made level, not sloping this way or that, but following their straight line. They are so wide that ten or fifteen men on horseback can march abreast and are everywhere marked and separated by triumphal arches that marvelously ornament the cities. Portuguese say they saw in the city of Fuchco [probably Fuzhou] a tower set on forty solid marble pillars, the height of which was forty palms (masonry measure) and the width twelve: that this work is so grand, so exquisitely made, so beautiful to see, so sumptuous and so pleasing that it far surpasses all the magnificent buildings of all Europe." - Already at the time, China was very wary of safeguarding its sovereignty: ""[The Chinese] rarely or never leave their country and do not easily let foreigners enter it, especially into the interior of the province, unless they first have safe conduct from the king." - On moral and cultural habits: "They put adulterers to death. There are no brothels in the cities, all manner of prostitutes being sent to the suburbs. They celebrate their weddings at the time of the new moon and around the month of March which is their first day of the new year, and they make these celebrations, like us, very magnificently. They show themselves valiant in banquets and entertainments, in which they owe nothing to the Flemings or the Germans. They eat at tables like us in Europe, on chairs or on benches, and not on the ground as other peoples of Asia do." - On justice: "Bandits and murderers are kept in perpetual prison. Theft, which is a very odious crime, is punished by whip strokes in this manner: they put a man belly down, tie his hands behind him, striking him on the fleshy part of the legs with a whip made of reeds or canes." - On China's naval capabilities at the time: "This kingdom has an infinite number of ships, galleys and vessels of all sorts, with which they cross the seas and rivers. So much so that when they want to show through vainglory the power of their king, they are accustomed to say in a common proverb that he can make a bridge of ships joined together, which can reach and extend from China to Malacca, which is a distance of five hundred leagues and more." - On the emperor and China not being warlike (already back then): "All this region is subject to a single king, like a monarch; whom they call lord of the world and son of the sun. He holds court at Paquin [Beijing], which is a city toward Tartary. He never leaves it, except in time of war. It is said that when he makes war on the Tartars he leads an army of three hundred thousand soldiers and two hundred thousand horses, although it is also said that this nation is not very warlike. This king has under him fifteen very large provinces, which they call governments, and he alone surpasses in power all the other neighboring princes of Asia; and his annual revenues exceed all the riches of Europe. Antonio Pigafetta [the chronicler of Magellan's voyage] calls this king the most powerful of all the universal earth and says that the royal city is fortified and ramparted with seven walls, having ten thousand soldiers for the guard, and that the king commands seventy other crowns of the royal diadem [likely refering to the tributary state system]." Reading these passages, it seems that the further we've come in our ability to know China, the more obscured our vision seems to have become. These 16th century observers, working with fragments brought back by explorers, merchants and missionaries, managed to capture the essential - the industriousness, the engineering mastery, the administrative sophistication, the careful sovereignty. They approached their subject with the humility of the genuinely curious. They had no framework to force China into, no predetermined narrative to fulfill. They simply watched, counted ducks in Canton, measured city walls, and wrote it down. Their errors were errors of transmission - a dynasty name lingering centuries past its time, numbers perhaps inflated through retelling - but the spirit was one of simply describing unknown territory, not to convince anyone of anything. Today however, drowning in information, we're somehow seeing less of what's there and more of what we expect to find. Each observation must fit into existing narratives, serve predetermined conclusions, advance familiar arguments. So much so that we must ask ourselves: have we actually moved backward from those 16th chroniclers? Maybe we need to re-learn to approach China - and others in general - like those old cartographers, pen in hand, ready to be surprised? What might we discover if we stopped explaining and started counting ducks again?show more