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Tech

This Guy Created an Ant Killing Death Ray With an Old TV

Setting fire ants ablaze from above.

This guy. THIS guy knows an opportunity when he sees one. In this case, it's the chance to exact revenge on the fire ants that are overtaking his garden.

Mark, a "self-sufficient living" vlogger and jorts-wearer, happened upon an old rear-projection television that someone else threw out. He ripped it apart and turned the lens inside into a giant death ray.

To record in the extreme brightness, our dude Mark used a green welding lens over the camera, giving the apocalyptic scene an eerie, otherworldly hue. As he passes over sections of ants dozens at a time, they go from a teeming mass to total stillness. Fried alive.

Mark may seem like a jerk for destroying ants wholesale, but fire ants are an invasive species, harming native wildlife and other insects that could pollinate native flora. Casualties include baby turtles, baby quails, and baby deer. Pretty much any small, adorable creature is potential fire ant food. They crawl into mouths and eyes, swarm water supplies, and cause general mayhem for an ecosystem. They are brutal.

Turning a TV into a massive fresnel lense isn't entirely novel: There's an Instructable on it to DIY a "Solar Death Ray" and YouTuber RimstarOrg used his to fry up some pork. Melting pennies seems to be a popular backyard party for fresnel lense enthusiasts. For Mark, burning hordes of ants to death under the power of the sun is an all-natural, energy-efficent way to control pests like a kid with a really big magnifying glass.