flashflood
Enlightened
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2011
- Messages
- 608
One of the marks of a true flashaholic is that you find yourself looking for new and interesting ways to use your toys. Any excuse will do. You just sort of... try stuff.
If you are squeamish, stop reading now.
This weekend, I noticed a fly on the glass shower door. I happened to have my Neutron 1C in hand. So naturally, I thought: what will the fly do if I shine this light on it? I did, and to my surprise, the fly didn't move. I moved closer. Still it remained put. I got in very close, moving the flashlight to within an inch of the fly. It didn't budge. It seemed to be somehow paralyzed, hypnotized, transfixed by the light. So I grabbed a tissue, and while shining the light through the glass, reached around the other side of the glass and . The fly never saw it coming.
Of course, this advanced fly-swatting technique only worked because the fly was on a glass surface that I could reach both sides of. Interesting, but not terribly practical.
This got me to thinking: if flies really are immobilized by light, why not take a more direct approach? If the fly is sitting on a flat surface, you should be able to take the light all the way up, trap it within the bezel, and let the LED bake it.
So this morning, there was a fly buzzing around the kitchen. I grabbed my brightest light, an Elektrolumens EDC-XML. I returned to the kitchen and watched the fly zip around, waiting for it to land on something. It eventually chose to park on top of my aquarium light. I shined the flashlight on it from about six feet away, and steadily approached. It did not move. Even at a distance of just a couple of inches, when the light would surely be blinding, the fly was somehow unwilling or unable to move. So I gently set the light down over the fly, imprisoning it within the bezel. At this point it finally decided to move, but it was too late. After a few seconds of buzzing, it was all over: the heat of the LED, confined to such a small space, baked the little sucker.
To avoid inflaming the insect community, I will not be releasing photos of the body. But it is a remarkably effective technique. I have no idea why it works, but I am now 3 for 3 with my quantum fly swatter.
If you are squeamish, stop reading now.
This weekend, I noticed a fly on the glass shower door. I happened to have my Neutron 1C in hand. So naturally, I thought: what will the fly do if I shine this light on it? I did, and to my surprise, the fly didn't move. I moved closer. Still it remained put. I got in very close, moving the flashlight to within an inch of the fly. It didn't budge. It seemed to be somehow paralyzed, hypnotized, transfixed by the light. So I grabbed a tissue, and while shining the light through the glass, reached around the other side of the glass and . The fly never saw it coming.
Of course, this advanced fly-swatting technique only worked because the fly was on a glass surface that I could reach both sides of. Interesting, but not terribly practical.
This got me to thinking: if flies really are immobilized by light, why not take a more direct approach? If the fly is sitting on a flat surface, you should be able to take the light all the way up, trap it within the bezel, and let the LED bake it.
So this morning, there was a fly buzzing around the kitchen. I grabbed my brightest light, an Elektrolumens EDC-XML. I returned to the kitchen and watched the fly zip around, waiting for it to land on something. It eventually chose to park on top of my aquarium light. I shined the flashlight on it from about six feet away, and steadily approached. It did not move. Even at a distance of just a couple of inches, when the light would surely be blinding, the fly was somehow unwilling or unable to move. So I gently set the light down over the fly, imprisoning it within the bezel. At this point it finally decided to move, but it was too late. After a few seconds of buzzing, it was all over: the heat of the LED, confined to such a small space, baked the little sucker.
To avoid inflaming the insect community, I will not be releasing photos of the body. But it is a remarkably effective technique. I have no idea why it works, but I am now 3 for 3 with my quantum fly swatter.
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