Payday 12 June 2007

Pic of the day: Insect-eating lantern!

Electrocuting insects

The heat wave seems to be at its breaking point. Day after day of relentless heat: Oslo had its warmest day in June for more than a century, and was only a decimal from having a tropical night in June, something that has not been observed there before. It is not much better here on the south coast. People all over southern Norway have sought refuge from the heat in the sea and in the lakes, causing a spate of drownings.

In exceedingly less tragic news, leaving both of the doors open to "my" house has caused it to fill with insects. I don't think I have seen that many before. Then again I only moved in a year and a half ago. Most of them don't live all that long. I close the doors for the night and don't open them again until I return from work the next day, and by then many of the insects are stiff and dry in the window frame. But shortly after their arrival they are very lively indeed, and some of them mistake me for food.

It was therefore with some interest I remembered this lantern, which I had seen at the Expert electro shop. It runs on mains, car or rechargeable batteries. It shines with a crisp blue (and ultraviolet) light that attracts insects. When they do the insect thing of passing really close, they get electrocuted by the metal around the light bars. Around these again is a number of plastic rings that protect you from accidentally getting your fingers zapped. You should probably still hang it somewhere out of reach for small kids, though I doubt they would suffer the same fate as the flies.

The invention as such is hardly new. I know at least one of my farmer brothers has had an industrial-strenght insect zapper for many years. But this one is small, handy and rechargeable. Ideal for the small family in the suburb. And you don't get families much smaller than me. Well, a bit shorter perhaps.

Ironically clouds began sailing up toward the end of the day. It seems the heat wave has indeed broken for this time. I should have thought of this purchase before. It is not like I could not afford buying it before payday, no matter how it may seem. It has been a while since I had that problem, and it probably won't happen again for a while. Like, around New Years, when I move to Skien. Hopefully my job will pay some of the moving expenses. I am pretty sure they are required to if they order me to move there. Which they probably should, since they are highly unlikely to find enough qualified personnel in Skien. (This is not an attempt to offend Skien, which is probably a nice enough town. It is an objective description of the relative pay level in public sector compared with the real economy.)

Well, time and fate meet us all. The insects just meet theirs faster. (Also, they make an entertaining sound effect when they do. Like, FZZPP!)