[Hidden-tech] Home exterminators

[Spike McLarty]

According to Wikipedia, Global Instruments (and Charles Patterson
individually) have been ordered by the FTC to cease and desist from
claiming or implying (!) that their products will...
"alter the electromagnetic field, send a pulsating signal, or otherwise
work inside the walls or through the wiring of homes, offices, schools,
restaurants, hospitals, or other buildings in a manner that effectively
repels, controls, or eliminates mice, rats, cockroaches or any other
insects or animal pests, unless, at the time of making such representation,
respondents possess and rely upon competent and reliable scientific
evidence that substantiates the representation"

There is no sign on their website that they have any such scientific
evidence, even though they are still claiming and implying pretty much all
of the above.
The only study seems to have been *paid for by Global Instruments*, and
basically concludes that the mice are aware of the device in operation, and
female mice might, sorta, have some kind of slight aversion to it, when it
is close enough to them. Maybe.
Maybe it works! But the people who make it have no independent
verification, so it's pretty easy to guess that it works best as a
money-collection device.

On Fri, Nov 7, 2014 at 3:36 PM, ussailis at shaysnet.com <ussailis at shaysnet.com
> wrote:

>
>
>
> My, my, another tin hat gadget.
>
> There is NO magnetic field in house wiring WHEN current is NOT flowing.
> That means that a load (light bulb, toaster, etc.) must be on that very
> circuit and running for a slight mag field to be generated. (Sorry about
> the caps)
>
> The strength of the mag field is directly proportional to the c urrent
> (Amps) the load draws, so a CFL creates a lot weaker field than, say, a
> toaster.
>
> Perhaps this gadget generates ultrasonic noise. I would expect mice to hear
> pitches we can not hear even when were twenty.
>
> Or perhaps it emits a smell for a while. I have found the mice hate
> peppermint oil. I have a problem with them getting into the cabin air
> filters of two cars. A few drops of peppermint oil deters them. A couple
> sticks of peppermint gum in the folds of the filter also works, but for
> less time.
>
>
> Jim Ussailis
>
>
>
> Original email:
> -----------------
> From: Annamarie Pluhar annamarie at pluharconsulting.com
> Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2014 14:01:41 -0500
> To: niftiness at gmail.com, Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
> Subject: Re: [Hidden-tech] Home exterminators
>
>
>
>
>
> while I'm in agreement about too-good-to-be-true about this thingy it is
> true that I bought something at the hardware store that plugs into an
> outlet and it has reduced my mouse population immensely.  I found out
> how much when it got unplugged for two weeks inadvertently. I was
> puzzled about why I was suddenly have pesky mice in my drawers and such.
> Found it unplugged put it back in and voila! Problem solved.
>
> Good luck!
>
> Plugging up holes helps too! Steel wool doused with carpenters glue.
>
>
> Annamarie Pluhar
>
> Pluhar Consulting
> http://www.pluharconsulting.com
> 802.451.1941
> 802.579.5975 (cell)
>
> On 7 Nov 2014, at 13:29, Tim Boudreau wrote:
>
> > Reading the FAQ for this pest a cator thing, which sounds too good to
> > be
> > true shows that it is:
> >
> > "It works with the electrical wiring in your home. The electrical
> > wiring
> > inside your home already has an existing field surrounding it. When
> > PEST A
> > CATOR is plugged in, it pulses this field."
> >
> > Sorry, but it's not remotely realistic that a little box you plug into
> > your
> > wall could do that in such a way that would affect rodents or anything
> > else.  It is true in that current flowing through a wire produces a
> > magnetic field, and that that can induce current in something nearby.
> > But
> > the idea that a box you plug into your wall could "pulse" that in a
> > way
> > that would be noticable to rodents or anything else is nonsense.  In
> > an MRI
> > machine you are exposed to magnetic fields many thousands of times
> > stronger
> > than anything the wiring in your house could produce without melting -
> > and
> > neither you nor a rodent feels that.  There is no way this product is
> > anything but a fraud.
> >
> > The testimonials sound like astroturfing.
> >
> > -Tim
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Nov 7, 2014 at 12:51 PM, Deborah Chandler
> > <debchandler411 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Hi Marc,
> >>
> >> Someone on another listserv recently posted this great personal
> >> review
> >> of the Pest A Cator product. I have no personal info to share about
> >> this product (I have a good mouser cat…) so I am just the
> >> messenger.
> >> If you would like the contact info for this person, I can ask her
> >> permission to make that connection. Another person on the same
> >> listserv also said it worked great.
> >>
> >> Best,
> >> Deb
> >>
> >>
> >> She says:
> >> I am writing to follow up on the "pest-a-cator" device, which I
> >> plugged into my apartment over a year ago, when I became catless and
> >> was overrun by mice. There were A LOT of mice! I don't even mean one
> >> a
> >> day or two a day. I mean a constant stream of mice in every room
> >> chewing everything and pooping everywhere. It was really
> >> overwhelming.
> >>
> >> Anyway, someone told me she had tried many different approaches, and
> >> the mice either outwitted and evaded the traps she set, or seemed
> >> completely immune to whatever other methods she employed. But this
> >> "Pest-a-cator" product worked.
> >>
> >> What it is, is a device you plug into a wall outlet. It does NOT use
> >> ultrasonic technology, which would have driven me out of my mind. It
> >> causes a pulse or vibration in the wiring, or something like that,
> >> which I personally do not hear, feel, or otherwise sense, at all.
> >>
> >> Result: there have been NO mice whatsoever in my apartment since
> >> plugging in the pest-a-cator. Not even in the winter. Not even any
> >> that I could hear inside the walls. I see no mouse poop anywhere,
> >> hear
> >> no scratching, see absolutely no evidence of them being anywhere,
> >> even
> >> in the walls. Even when I had a cat who hunted, the mice would live
> >> inside the walls! But not with the pest-a-cator.
> >>
> >> You have to buy the correct size unit for your square footage, and
> >> you
> >> need to buy one for every floor of your house (my apartment has an
> >> upstairs and a downstairs, so I have two).
> >>
> >> It does have a blinking red light that is meant to indicate to you
> >> whether the unit is working. I find the blinking light bothersome if
> >> I
> >> look at it, but you can easily cover it up if you want to. If you
> >> don't mind it, it does show you whether the unit has malfunctioned. I
> >> had one that got spiked during a storm, but it was replaced for free
> >> by the manufacturer, so the blinking light stopping blinking was
> >> useful to me. It's not so bright that it fills the room or anything,
> >> but if you are very sensitive to blinking, you could cover it with a
> >> piece of electrical tape. It's about the same brightness as the
> >> indicator light on my apartment's carbon monoxide detector.
> >>
> >> The person who recommended it to me says she tried other brands of
> >> things that plugged into the wall, and none of them worked.
> >>
> >> Anyway, I just wanted to let folks know this really worked for me. I
> >> think of it as filling my walls with music. It's non-toxic and
> >> non-violent, and since one unit apparently lasts for a long time
> >> (years), it's not really all that expensive, either. It does use some
> >> electricity, but not much.
> >>
> >> The product manual says it repels all rodents, not just mice, so you
> >> should not use it if you have pets in the rodent family (like
> >> gerbils). They say some people claim that it also repels spiders, but
> >> the company admits the spider effect is not proven. In my experience,
> >> spiders do not seem to mind it. But I don't mind spiders, either, so
> >> that's fine with me.
> >>
> >> They offer a money back guarantee, so if you still have mice after
> >> proper use, they will refund the purchase price. (They warn that you
> >> may get an initial increase in mouse sightings at first, as they
> >> leave
> >> the walls, but that new mice will not move in. In my case, the
> >> previously residentmice apparently exited to the exterior, not the
> >> interior of the house, and I saw absolutely ZERO mice starting the
> >> moment I plugged the units in.)
> >>
> >> My Tri-field Meter does register increased EMF in the immediate area
> >> around where the unit is plugged in, but it drops off to nothing
> >> within about 2 feet of the outlet.
> >>
> >> The manufacturer's website, for more information about how it works
> >> and what size unit is right for your living space, is:
> >> http://www.global-instruments.com/
> >>
> >>
> >> On Fri, Nov 7, 2014 at 8:10 AM, Marc Solomon <attspin at gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Hi All,
> >>>
> >>> Patty and I are unwitting participants to rodent floorboard
> >>> marathons
> >> over past week.
> >>>
> >>> Does someone have a recommendation for a careful, sensible,
> >> cost-effective mice-be-gone solution?
> >>>
> >>> Many thanks,
> >>>
> >>> Marc
> >>> North Hadley
> >>>
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> >
> >
> > --
> > http://timboudreau.com
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