A "sacrificial anode" is a piece of metal attached to something metallic you want to protect from corrosion - basically, because it corrodes (or oxidises) more easily, whatever corrosive electrochemical process is present will attack it first.

In exactly the same way, clothes moths will attack the softest, wooliest, most expensive thing in your wardrobe, so this idea is to have a sort of sacrificial anode for moths in your wardrobe. This doesn't need to be a whole item of clothing - for example a thin strip of super-soft angora wool will act as a sacrificial anode for your cashmere jumpers.
-- hippo, Jul 28 2006

What you want is a moth motel - a poisoned trap with bait that smells woollier than the clothes in your closet.
-- DrCurry, Jul 28 2006


lambs wool seems obvious.
-- po, Jul 28 2006


//a poisoned trap . . . that smells woollier // I miss my Grandmum.
-- baconbrain, Jul 28 2006


"Sergeant Baker, if you'll examine these marks here and here, you'll see that this sweater didn't jump - it was pushed!"
-- DrCurry, Jul 28 2006


I was thinking along the lines of a sacrificial para jumper on military craft, sort of like how penguins send one of themselves in the water to see if he gets eaten. I have nothing against the military, it's just my interpretation of the title.
-- EvilPickels, Jul 28 2006


I was thinking along the lines of dummies for suicidals to throw out the skyscraper window...
-- RayfordSteele, Jul 29 2006


To which deity are we sacrificing this pashmina, guv'nor?
-- methinksnot, Jul 29 2006


The knife was raised high, high above the trembling piece of cloth! The drums ceased and the knife plunged downwards.

There was a scream, and then silence.
-- DesertFox, Jul 29 2006


oh, never mind him. I'm worried about skippy...
-- po, Jul 29 2006


I can comiserate with Ian... My sacrificial jumpers were Naval issued, and fell prey to the aluminum sheet metal handles on all our storage bins... Occasionally, they didn't work too well, and I found that I had sacrificial arms.

Sadly, I thought this was something entirely different. I started with jumper cables which would suck the corrosion off of battery terminals, but then I realized that by jumper you meant clothing... and I thought maybe you intended an overgarment that kept you clean (much too well baked.)

So for a moment I was lost, and thought to myself this would be a very entertaining idea about a pair of overalls that break away when you are attacked, and I was ready to bone it, simply because in such a situation, the attacker might be a rapist, and having easily removable clothing would be a bad idea.

I'll bun it for absurdity, but I believe the traps are a better way to go, since otherwise you're just giving the critters somewhere to reproduce and spread.

Maybe an idea about sacrifical cheese for keeping mold out of your prize food would work... Oh, my roommate already baked that idea.
-- ye_river_xiv, Jul 30 2006


I like the sentiment behind this idea - sort of like setting out a bowl for the house spirits, or throwing a little something in the well for the kelpie. A acknowledgement of the powers of nature.
-- bungston, Jul 30 2006


Actually, you'll be breeding swteater moths in your closet - not very smart.
-- DrCurry, Jul 30 2006


//a kelpie is a dog//

Only in Australia. In the Gaelic-speaking world, it's a malevolent water-spirit.
-- angel, Jul 31 2006


in the same vein of the last two sentences that ye_river_xiv said:

There's a lady in my neighbourhood who discovered she had a minor termite infestation in her house. She then proceeded to dump loads of 'tasty' wood under her house so that the termites would feed on that rather than her house. Suffice to say it exacerbated the problem.
-- xaviergisz, Jul 31 2006


I was thinking of those plugs and "jumpers" on computer motherboards of oh so long ago, used to configure the motherboard.

The scrificial jumper will destroy itself when it senses that the cpu is about to fry.
-- neelandan, Jul 31 2006



//Suffice to say it exacerbated the problem.//

Next, a fake leg (nice and bloody) to divert shark attacks.
-- ldischler, Jul 31 2006



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