I fear even we at Doc 40 suffer from the same deplorable short attention span as our brethren in TV and print. One day a story is red hot, but the next it is lining the proverbial canary cage, as was pointed out on the credits of Lou Grant. (Who among you remember Lou Grant?) A few months ago we were beside ourselves about the bees, citing Einstein, expecting Gotterdammerung, pretty much every panic response short of quoting Latin. Now all is silence. The bee story is on hiatus. But has anyone any new information, observation or rumor? If so, let’s hear it.
The secret word is Buzz
In the meantime, here is some Latin, call it a CRYPTIQUE SPECIAL…
Dies irae, dies illa solvet saeclum in favilla (The day of wrath, that day which will reduce the world to ashes.)
(Pic and motivation from Valerie)
Yeah, what did happen to the bees? Or didn't happen? Still seems to be food in the stores. Remember a few years back, many amphibian populations were going away or getting smaller? I think part of the story was mutations due to less ozone layer. Did see a picture of an eight-legged frog recently.
ReplyDeleteI do remember Lou Grant. Used to live up the street from The Food House (now a 99¢ Only store) where someone told me Lou shopped, though I don't remember that from the show. Good enough show, for the time.
I assume nothing has changed. The bees continue to die, but it's not new so it's not news.
ReplyDeletefrom the east bay express this month.
ReplyDeletenew york times last month.
a report from british columbia from last week.
Here's the most likely explanation yet -- link via PDB a couple of weeks ago:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-23/118002026916110.xml&coll=7
A pesticide that targets insect nervous systems may be disorienting bees and affecting their ability to find their way home. That would also explain why the bees of organic honey producers are not dying off.
France has decided to temporaily ban the pesticide to investigate this possibility. Fat chance anything so reasonable would occur here.
What it takes here is suing someone, and of course it's AFTER the damage is done. In northern Utah, bee keepers are suing a local mosquito abatement board for using a pesticide that has killed their bees. I suppose that's progress, of a sort.
Oh, Mister Graaaaant! I'm 40 and an only child, so I watched waaay too much TV. Still do. That's why I know whereof I speak when I say that people don't read like they used to. That's fine--even Matthew Arnold said that if somebody can attain culture without books then that is OK. A tribal chief, for example. But in politics and economics, certain arguments cannot be understood without words. Remember how they shrunk the dictionary in _1984_ to keep people controlled. You have to learn their system to fight it!! Words are like guns or bombs--it's too late to go back . . . unless you don't mind being unarmed.
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