Spiders offer many pest control benefits, but that doesn’t mean they always welcome guests into your home. Here are some simple ways to keep your home from becoming a spider’s paradise – without calling an exterminator.

But you probably don’t want to hear this at first, but most spiders do great things in their environment, which can include parts of your home. They eat nasty pests like earwigs, flies and moths, as well as living things that can transmit diseases like mosquitoes and cockroaches. Rod Crawford, the author of Spider Myths, explains There are even spiders that eat other, not so friendly spiders: the long-legged cellar spider, or “papa long-legs”, is known to kill black widows; They sound like a great ally in your basement or garage. (“That’s just Joe; he’s on guard duty.”)

But others other spiders can be dangerousand they tend to find their way to places we don’t want them – like in the bedroom. The most dangerous spiders, commonly found in the US, are black or brown widows, brown recluses (mainly in the central and southern US), hobo spiders (mainly in the Pacific Northwest), sack spiders, and pastor spiders. (Other large, non-venomous species may not be venomous, but they can still have a painful bite.) If you have older family members, small children, or pets, it is best to keep these creepy animals outside. Find out how to do it.

How to get rid of spiders in your home

Prevent clutter from building up

If you ever needed a reason to Eliminate interference in your home at last, now you have one. Spiders are cunning creatures that love to lurk in the shadows, and large piles of trash give them plenty of places to hide. (There’s probably one watching you right now.) Other bugs – spider food – also like to hang around in the clutter. If you put it away, the food supply of the spiders and the cozy hiding places will be interrupted.

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Adrienne Breaux at Apartment Therapy suggests They relieve your home of random stacking books, clothes, shoes, papers, toys, or anything else that accumulates in piles. Put whatever you want to keep in storage containers. Sealable plastic containers are best because they are more effective at keeping spiders and other insects out. After all, it will help to dust and vacuum your home on a regular basis.

Secure the perimeter of your home

Spiders love piles of things outside too. Sarah Littleton from BobVila.com recommends You move everything unnecessary from the immediate vicinity of your home to a more distant location. With a few suggestions from Littleton, we’ve compiled a list of typical outdoor “amenities” that can help spiders find their way into your home:

• Stack of leaves
• Stack of firewood
• Compost bin
• Overgrown trees and bushes
• Uncut lawns
• Stack of boxes
• Weed stains

Move your pile of firewood farther away, trim off the vegetation around your house, and rake leaves and other dead plant matter.

There’s nothing wrong with having spiders in your yard or yard – they’re actually good for both of you. But if you don’t want them in your house, it helps to make it clear where the yard ends and your home begins.

Clear the walkways from the entrances

Spiders hate disturbing their homes. As with any other creature, the less they have to do to survive, the better. If you keep wrecking their home they’ll assume the area is unsafe and try to go elsewhere. The Guardian recommends They grab a broom or a long stick and go hunting for nets. Take out everything you can find in your home and garage, as well as anything you find outside your doors and near windows that you want to open.

However, don’t go overboard and clear out cobwebs all over your yard and yard. Remember, you want them to go somewhere. If you make every area around your home inhospitable, they will likely stay exactly where they are and keep building them up.

Reduce outdoor lighting

Bugs hang around lights at night because they provide heat. Spiders go where there are bugs to feed on. Therefore Kristi Roddey at the SF Gate suggests They keep your outdoor lighting to a minimum. Set your outdoor lights to turn off at a specific time, or just leave them on at the main entrances. The less light that is drawn into bugs, the less interest spiders have in your home.

Drive them away with home remedies or pesticides

If you’ve tried everything and still have spider hotspots around your house, you have a few options when it comes to deterrents. If you want to avoid the use of pesticides, Peppermint oil and vinegar are known to keep spiders away: Mix half a cup of vinegar with half a cup of water, then add about 20 drops of peppermint essential oil. Spray the mixture along the entrances or other hot spots that you have in your home. If you don’t have peppermint oil, eucalyptus oil can work too.

When you’re ready for the heavy artillery, most hardware stores carry pesticides that, on contact, can kill spiders and leave residue to keep them away. I personally had a lot of success with Ortho Home Defense maxHowever, when you review the ingredients of similar products, for the most part they all do the same thing. If nothing else works, then probably one of them will.

This article was originally published October 20, 2015 and was updated May 19, 2021 to reflect Lifehacker’s current style guidelines.

Twitter’s review process may change soon. The social media company announced plans to update its review process last year. Recent evidence suggests that the new process could take effect as early as next week.

Engineer and tech blogger Jane Manchun Wong tweeted about several upcoming Twitter features, including Screenshots of the alleged new verification Inquiry form. While Wong doesn’t work for Twitter, it states that the updated review process and request form screenshots are being reviewed by “multiple sources” and that “Twitter plans to launch the new self-delivered review request form next week.

If Wong’s sources and screenshots are correct, the new verification process will allow users to select the type of verified account they are applying for and submit identification materials using the new request form. Account types include activists, corporations, content creators, entertainers, government officials, journalists, social media influencers, professional athletes, and esports personalities. According to Wong, Twitter will soon be tagging verified users as journalists, entertainers, etc., as it does Government and state media accounts.

The new verification request tool should make the process easier to start, but that Guidelines for Getting and Maintaining Verified Status on Twitter do not change. Let’s examine what you might need to do to start a review application and what the process might look like when the new Twitter request form is online.

How to request Twitter verification

Before starting the verification process, your account must be public and your profile must include your real name, date of birth, and specific information in your bio. Also, you need to use a real photo of yourself as your profile picture. You will also need a valid phone number and email address added to your account. These are the absolute minimum requirements.

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From there you can start the application process by going to Settings> Request Review. Based on Wong’s screenshots, the new request form will first ask you what type of verified account you are requesting.

Next, you would choose a qualification method. Options reportedly include articles from Google Trends, Wikipedia pages, news coverage, or official executive websites when applying for a company. You would need to submit links to three valid sources that correspond to the qualification method your choice.

After that, you’ll need to prove your identity with a government-issued ID (such as a driver’s license or passport) or an official email address or website tied to your company’s domain name.

Twitter would review your application after you submitted it and notify you shortly afterwards. If your request is accepted, you will receive the coveted blue tick. Otherwise, you can wait 30 days and submit a new application.

[9to5Mac]

Photo: Keystone / Hulton Archives (Getty Images)

The thought of a strange life has long seemed like a fantasy immortalized in pop culture and tossed aside as a crazy conspiracy in the mainstream, but a certain Republican Senator from Florida wants you to know that the truth might be out there.

In a recent 60-minute appearance, Marco Rubio spoke about the existence of “unidentified aerial phenomena” that have routinely traversed unauthorized airspace over the United States for years, according to an upcoming report from the Office of Naval Intelligence and the FBI. confusing pilots and the top brass of the Pentagon.

“Men and women entrusted with the defense of our country report encounters with unidentified aircraft with superior capabilities,” said Rubio Tampa Bay Times. “We cannot let the stigma of UFOs prevent us from seriously investigating this. The upcoming report is one step in that process, but it will not be the last. “

This is not the rumble of a man hallucinating, but part of a growing concern that there are literal UFOs racing through the earthly skies, which is confirmed by Naval pilots and senior intelligence officials. In the 60-minute segment, Luis Elizondo, the former director of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, described technology with otherworldly capabilities:

Imagine a technology that can take 6 to 700g of forces, that can fly at 13,000 miles per hour, that can evade radar, and that can fly through air and water and possibly space. And oh, has no obvious signs of propulsion by the way, no wings, no control surfaces, and yet can defy the natural effects of Earth’s gravity. That is exactly what we see.

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It is easy to reach conclusions when it comes to the possibility of an alien life, a debate that is often tightly divided between two camps – one that insists that there is an unknown truth that should be studied while the other dismisses it as science fiction. But if the U.S. government is really taking these sightings seriously, what should we do with this problem, and how do you talk about the possibility of extraterrestrial life without looking like you’re taking the chance to trumpet an unsubstantiated conspiracy?

What you should know about the Pentagon UFO report

In recent years, Congress has publicly scrutinized the investigation into various suspected UFO sightings, with former Nevada Senator Harry Reid urging the Pentagon to investigate the phenomena in 2017 (the Agency published a report on this year’s topic).

The current report, slated for partial release in about six weeks, was part of a clause subtly built into last year’s $ 2.3 trillion COVID relief package. In particular, it is part of a provision that applies to the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021, specifically under the Advanced Aerial Threats section The Washington Post reported in March. The effort was spearheaded by Rubio along with a non-partisan faction on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The Office of Naval Intelligence, the Task force on unidentified aerial phenomena and the FBI put the details together. If the hype is confirmed, June’s report is poised to be a bombshell providing “detailed analysis of unidentified data and intelligence on aerial phenomena.”

The report, of course, did not come without a precedent. Last April, the Department of Defense released two videos recorded by naval pilots in 2004 and 2015. The videos were then released in 2007 and 2017, respectively, and show bizarre encounters with airplanes that stunned military officials. Despite all of the ruminants that have inspired the videos over the years, the Pentagon has not drawn any conclusions or given definitive answers. note in a statement that “the aerial phenomena observed in the videos remain characterized as” unidentified “”.

Now that the 60-minute segment is broadcast nationwide, the intrigue has only been fueled, which likely points to a major news event. In his interview with CBS, Elizondo, the former intelligence officer, assumed a threatening tone: “I’m not telling you it doesn’t sound crazy … what I’m telling you is that it’s real. The question is what is it? What are their intentions? What are his skills? “

How do we talk about UFOs now?

While all of this evidence can lead to a very compelling drama, the truth remains that you don’t really know anything. As for the civilian population, we can only really reiterate the public testimony of intelligence officials and naval pilots who witnessed these strange events, lest you run the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist.

Sure, officials from the Pentagon to the Senate and the FBI are securing and urging caution, and the fact remains – and probably the likelihood – that the government is still guarding sensitive details about these unknown sightings.

All we can do as people who don’t have access to facts or secret government documents is speculate, which is fine and probably quite a lot of fun, but we just understand that we can only speculate. Postulating their own theories based on a few short news videos just makes someone seem like a kid who lets their imagination run wild.

I mean, at the cost of losing all of the fun of humanity’s first (possibly) confirmed encounter with alien life, let’s do ourselves a favor and wait until we know more before we scream “aliens”! from our bedroom windows. After all, the report will be published next month. And then we can scream a lot more.

Photo: Claire Lower

Anyone can display a bowl of olives as part of a sausage board or snack plate, but with a dish warm olives is a pro move. You can gently heat them up in a luxurious pool of warm olive oil – or you can blow them up with the hot, lashing winds of the air fryer. Both are good options, but the latter is my current favorite.

Like heating them in oil, air frying olives makes them fragrant and luxurious, but air frying has the added benefit of giving them a deeper, nuttier flavor thanks to a little browning. The meat becomes soft, supple and – due to the evaporation during frying – a little meatier and intensely tasty. It’s still an olive, but it’s a concentrated olive. I really can’t say anything bad about her.

These savory little fruits require very little prep. All you have to do is blot any excess brine or oil off your olives before tossing them in a 400-degree air fryer for 10 minutes. They’ll stutter and hiss for a while as their delicate skins bubble and gush, but they’ll calm down after a few minutes. When you air-fry olives stuffed with cheese, some of the cheese escapes and fries and turns into small, crispy pieces of frico. If you air fry whole olives that have not been pitted, you will be surprised how clean the meat slides off this pit. I haven’t air-fried a garlic-filled olive, but I bet it’ll be fine.

Air-fryer-roasted olives don’t need garnishing, but when you top them off with a pinch of parmesan, a pinch of citrus peel, or a dash of fresh herbs, this little snack feels so special. Serve with fancy cheese, fancy meat, and / or a very cold martini.