Latest news with #PestControl
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
People are just realizing why Southerners paint their porch ceilings blue
Sitting under the shaded porch of a Southern home, your eye may wander and catch a blue colored ceiling above your head - a staple across the South - and people are just finding out why. The hues of the Southern porch ceiling originated in the 1800s in an attempt to ward off and confuse spirits. 'Haint Blue' was first used in Charleston and is associated with the Gullah Geechee people, descendants of enslaved Africans in parts of Georgia and South Carolina. The color was believed to repel haints, or ghosts and spirits, by tricking them into believing the ceiling was water or sky. Porches in the South continue on with the tradition - but now to keep a different kind of pest at bay. Many southerners claim the light blue colors also repel insects. One viral TikTok had a creator contemplating painting her porch blue to keep bees and spiders away. Another creator, Raguel, responded and said: 'Sometimes us Southerners know a thing or two.' He showed off his porch with the ceiling painted a light blue, and said that both his front and back porch had the color painted on with no issues with spider webs, wasps or 'anything like that'. Users who commented on the video chimed in with their own experiences, with one who said: 'As a pest control technician I tell my customers about this all the time. It isn't full proof but it does help a lot.' 'Painting it blue really does help. It's not an end all solution but it's a drastic improvement,' another wrote. 'We have done the same front and back porch learned it from Louisiana and I'm in Florida. Works well,' one said. Just as the belief that spirits would become confused by the color emulating that of water or the sky, a similar belief is held when it comes to bugs. Ellen O'Neill, the director of strategic design intelligence at Benjamin Moore, told Today: 'If an insect perceives that a ceiling is really the sky, it instinctively wouldn't nest there. 'It depends how deep you want to go into the brain of an insect... but it's not unlike how ladybugs will land on a white house. It's a visual trick.' Dr Michael Reiskind, entomology professor at North Carolina State University, told Good Housekeeping, however, that it is probably more likely that it serves as a less attractive color than a repellent. Sue Wadden of Sherwin-Williams said: 'People paint the porch ceiling blue because the color seems to emulate the natural sky and makes daylight hours feels as though they last just a little longer' 'I doubt any colors are very repellant to insects, except in very specific situations. What is more common is that there are colors that are attractive to particular insects, including some shades of blue for flies, but color repellency is not well-supported,' Reiskind said. 'Most studies that people interpret as showing color repellence are actually only relative, such that colors are not necessarily 'repellant' just not as attractive as other alternatives.' Reiskind went on to say that visual repellence to a specific color is 'likely quite rare', but that an insect may prefer certain colors for resource needs. While the paint colors repellent effects on insects is not proven, many adopt the tradition simply due to its cultural significance, aesthetic or sense of nostalgia. Sue Wadden of Sherwin-Williams told Real Simple: 'People paint the porch ceiling blue because the color seems to emulate the natural sky and makes daylight hours feels as though they last just a little longer.' But the superstitious tradition has been passed down through generations, making it a comfort to many today. 'No one would think twice about painting their porch blue, because their grandmother's and their parents' [porches] were blue,' O'Neill said. 'It's permeated into porch design.'
Forbes
30-05-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Banksy, AKA Robin Gunningham, Puts A Fine New Lighthouse In Marseilles
TOPSHOT - This photograph shows a newly released artwork by street artist Banksy on the facade of a building in Marseille, southeastern France, on May 30, 2025. (Photo by Viken KANTARCI / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION (Photo by VIKEN KANTARCI/AFP via Getty Images) When Britain's ebullient graffitist/prankster/political gadfly Banksy drops a move, the best art sleuths throughout the kingdom drop whatever they are doing and rush to verify the what-where-when-who-how. As happened on Thursday, May 29, rather late in the news cycle, the hunt is ordinarily triggered by the reclusive artist himself and/or his assigns in the form of 'Pest Control,' his personal verification/art agency. In the case of the witty, tiny, 'extended shadow' of the lighthouse mural in Marseilles, pictured above, the post of a shot of the stark black, rather foreshortened lighthouse, fully in the Banksy style, went up on Banksy's own Instagram account (of all places). That threw the kennel gates opened for the predictable flood of the finest coursing hounds in the British press last night. By lunchtime Friday in London, some four hours ago at this writing, no less a pack of art sleuths than the BBC had confirmed the chosen — now quite elite — streetscape as the Rue Félix Fregier, just south of the city's legendary port. As with everything Banksy, siting and context are chief among the avenues of investigation into the man's intent and into his his hilariously ruthless nocturnal execution of his art. And so we have now, per Banksy's choice, the port of Marseilles: Forever a magnet for European organized crime, it the 20th century it grew to become the infamous sluice for much of Europe's heroin trafficking (cf. The French Connection). That revenue stream is still in spirited play in Marseilles and in other, smaller, less-well-policed ports of call on the Continent, but over the last decade a new, politically fraught focus of all coast guard and/or national police forces in the northern Mediterannean — be that the forces of Spain, Italy, Malta, France, or Greece — has shifted to the combat of trafficking in people. Significantly, both for this ongoing paradigm shift as well as for Banksy's choice of Marseilles as a site for the 2025 placing of the lighthouse grafitto, the charity/humanitarian group SOS Mediterannee operates its massive and very capable rescue ship, Ocean Viking, out of Marseilles. Further toward decoding that Banksy has slipped into Marseilles to start production in Summer 2025, this week the Ocean Viking has been particularly busy with the rescue of 116 refugees whose wooden boat had departed Libya but which had given up the ghost and began to capsize in the central Mediterranean between May 24-26. The situation was dire. The rescue had to be executed in stages, mostly at night, hampered by bad weather and lack of coordination among the responsible coast guard forces, Italian and Libyan, according to the documentation of SOS Mediterannee in Marseilles. The first two attempts by civilian vessels managed to get some of the refugees off. Called in late, the Ocean Viking got the remaining majority, some 52 people, including women and children. Three refugees drowned. Occasionally, the point of a Banksy stencil is the siting, sometimes amplified by a title. But in the case of this most recent Marseilles graffitto, as pictured top and below, there's an actual stencilled legend, Jenny Holzer-style, across the lighthouse, reading: 'I WANT TO BE WHAT YOU SAW IN ME.' In fairness, and since the man is so innately, thoroughly political, it's difficult to say precisely what Banksy has buzzing in the behive of his mind, but nothing — repeat, nothing — the man writes can be taken at face value. More safely, with this artist, we can attempt to nail down what the man is saying by assuming that a few thousand metric tons of irony is being poured over us within whatever it is that he actually, physically states. Thus, this week in Europe, on the cusp of the summer solstice and with it, the 'migrant season' kickoff for the police forces on the Med, neither those forces nor the lighthouses of Europe have exactly been welcoming beacons, as SOS Mediterannee has richly documented. The rest of the tumultous, deadly migrant season lies before us. Unclear, also, is whether this lone grafitto, ominous as it is, portends what we might call a Banksy 'residency,' as he has performed repeatedly in Palestine, for instance, stencilling various fraught locations as well as the vast Israeli wall. There, in Palestine, portentously, irony was in rich supply.
The Sun
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Love Island's Liberty Poole issues stark warning after uncomfortable moment with tradesman while alone in her house
LIBERTY Poole has sent out a stark warning to fans after a tradesman called out to her house was inappropriate towards her. The 25-year-old posted a video on TikTok, explaining that she had been forced to call pest control after dealing with ants in her home. 6 6 However, she noted that women need to 'be careful and trust their gut' as she went on to detail the man's comments towards her, leaving her uncomfortable in her own home. She told her followers: 'So on the way out – I was on my own because my boyfriend got a doctor's appointment today, so he's not in the house – he [the tradesman] was saying things to me like, 'do you live on this house on your own? How much is this house worth? What do you do?' 'Like, really inappropriate questions off the bat, which I thought was a bit awkward.' However, Liberty added she 'drew the line' when he got more personal. 'It was me and this guy in the house, and I was like, paying him at the time so he could just get out my house and leave, please go, just trying to be amicable. 'And then he asked this really inappropriate question. Was basically like, 'what do you use for your boobs so I can get it to my wife?' 'After that, I drew the line. I was like, this isn't an appropriate question. Please leave the house. Please leave.' Liberty added that she contacted the company, who suspended the man in question, but was left shaken as it reminded her of another time when a man followed her when she went to collect a parcel. 'I should have trusted my gut and asked the security guard to walk me to the car, but I didn't,' she said. 'I just like, left it. I'm walking to the car, which is quite far down this road, this dark road. 'It's like 10pm at night, the car comes around the corner, follows me all the way, knowing that I didn't want the attention, knowing that I got help because of the way he was being, still followed me, and I just had this adrenaline kick in. Love Island star breaks down in tears and admits she's lonely and can't make friends 'I just was like, leave me alone. Like, I actually think I swore as well, it's not likely, but like, my adrenaline just kicked in at this point because I didn't know what to do. 'After that, I sat in my car, and there was this bunch of guys that come after he left, and like, just kind of stared at me from in there, in the car, and I was so shook up, but all I could do was go home to an empty flat and an empty house on my own, because, again, it's like my family live abroad. I can tell them, but they can't do anything about it.' As she spoke, the message about her read: 'Please be careful. Vet companies properly and trust your gut. This is a post to bring awareness to support groups you can call if you're a young girl living on your own.' Fans were quick to flood Liberty with support, with women sharing their own uncomfortable interactions with tradesmen when living by themselves. 6 6 'Sick of this happening to women all over and in every and any environment. It's so sad and shouldn't be happening,' wrote one. 'Had super similar in a taxi when I was drunk on the way home, he refused to drop me off before my SOBER friend then when alone asked me super inappropriate questions, I was so scared,' said another. 'I had a scare with a tradesman recently,' noted a third. 'It's really scary realising how vulnerable you actually are, in your own home alone with a bigger and stronger man who might not have good intentions.' 'I'm so sorry you went through that. No one should have to take preventative measures to be safe especially in their own home,' wrote a fourth. 'You truly cannot trust anyone. Sounds like he was trying to figure out if you'd be alone for long. Hope you're okay babe.' 'I'm so sorry this happened to you, this shouldn't happen to ANYONE. Hopefully this gets resolved but it shouldn't be a thing in the first place,' wrote a fifth. 'Everyone should be able to have a service done without being persecuted or being made to feel unsafe especially in your own home.' 6 6
Associated Press
16-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Pestend Pest Control Wins 2025 Consumer Choice Award for Pest Control in Toronto Central
TORONTO, ON / ACCESS Newswire / May 16, 2025 / Consumer Choice Award (CCA) is proud to announce that Pestend Pest Control has been named the 2025 Consumer Choice Award Winner in the Pest Control category for Toronto Central. This award highlights the company's outstanding reputation, professional expertise, and unwavering commitment to safe, effective pest and wildlife removal services throughout the region. Serving the Greater Toronto Area, London, and Ottawa, Pestend Pest Control is a fully licensed pest and wildlife control company offering residential, commercial, and industrial services. Specializing in the treatment and removal of mice, rats, cockroaches, bed bugs, ants, wasps, crawling insects, and nuisance wildlife, the company has earned its place among Ontario's most trusted names in pest control. 'We're incredibly proud to be recognized with the Consumer Choice Award,' said the team at Pestend. 'This recognition reflects the effort we put into every job, the pride we take in our service, and the trust we've earned from customers who rely on us every day.' With over 2,000 5-star Google reviews, Pestend Pest Control is one of the top-rated pest control companies in Ontario. From state-of-the-art extermination methods to eco-conscious solutions and long-term prevention strategies, the company remains focused on delivering quality with integrity. Pestend Pest Control provides: The company attributes its continued success to a simple formula: putting customers and employees first. This people-centred approach has allowed Pestend to grow through word-of-mouth, strong online reviews, and a loyal customer base. The Consumer Choice Award is based on independent research and community feedback, ensuring that only the most outstanding service providers earn this prestigious recognition. Pestend's selection reflects its consistent delivery of trusted, high-quality services across one of Canada's most competitive markets. To learn more about Pestend Pest Control or to request a quote, CLICK HERE or visit About Consumer Choice Award: Consumer Choice Award has been recognizing and promoting business excellence in North America since 1987. Its rigorous selection process ensures that only the most outstanding service providers in each category earn this prestigious recognition. Visit to learn more. Contact Information: Sumi Saleh Communications Manager [email protected] SOURCE: Consumer Choice Award press release
