Vanishing Bees - "Colony Collapse Disorder"

[Intense]

fuck bees

[Swampthing]

fuck bees

Whether you were referencing it or not, lol at the Dane Cook joke.

"Who gets stung by bees, seriously, if a bee ever tried to sting me I'd just punch it in the face, 'boosh'"

[MisterBob]

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/2...ingbeesdn7.jpg

[Marquisate]

From the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/scien ... &8dpc&_r=1

In the late 1990s, French beekeepers reported large losses of their bees and complained about the use of imidacloprid, sold under the brand name Gaucho. The chemical, while not killing the bees outright, was causing them to be disoriented and stay away from their hives, leading them to die of exposure to the cold, French researchers later found. The beekeepers labeled the syndrome “mad bee disease.”

The French government banned the pesticide in 1999 for use on sunflowers, and later for corn, despite protests by the German chemical giant Bayer, which has said its internal research showed the pesticide was not toxic to bees. Subsequent studies by independent French researchers have disagreed with Bayer. Alison Chalmers, an eco-toxicologist for Bayer CropScience, said at the meeting today that bee colonies had not recovered in France as beekeepers had expected. “These chemicals are not being used anymore,” she said of imidacloprid, “so they certainly were not the only cause.”

Among the pesticides being tested in the American bee investigation, the neonicotinoids group “is the number-one suspect,” Dr. Mullin said. He hoped results of the toxicology screening will be ready within a month.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that it's a pesticide at work. Time to go on an aside...

Would you be surprised to hear that the FDA had evidence indicating that e-coli was present in large quantities of spinach last year? Don't be.

Part of the problem with American environmental, drug, food and health product regulation is that our orientation towards risk is different from that of Europeans (broadly speaking.) In Europe, companies have to prove to government agencies that their products are safe. In America, the EPA and FDA have to prove that the products are unsafe before they can be prevented from going on store shelves. If the results are mixed or unclear, a potentially unsafe product is banned in Europe but still makes its way onto store shelves in America.

Why is this a problem? Well, conservative Republicans don't like governmental regulation, but they can't just dissolve the EPA or the FDA - that would be a political landmine. What they can do is drastically cut their funding, which they've been doing for the last 20 years. When these agencies don't have the funding that they need to regulate their industries, they're more likely to conduct cursory examinations and approve products even when there's evidence of a health risk to consumers... so long as the company has it's own evidence stating that the products are safe. It 's easy for multi-billion dollar companies to buy that kind of scientific testimony, but the cash-strapped EPA and FDA can't afford to investigate most products in any kind of depth. Couple that with administrators appointed by a conservative presidency and told to speed up acceptance of new products... and you have unsafe pesticides and other agricultural products making their way into the bloodstreams and digestive systems of American consumers everywhere. One of the most direct results of this phenomena is an explosion in cancer rates, so much so that our government is estimating a 50% increase in cancer deaths over the next 8 years.

Or killing bees by the billions. Who knows, however... this could turn out to be something entirely different. Maybe the "Rapture" like some people are suggesting, lol.

EDIT: ROFL that Wicker Man link is awesome.

[Khamsin]

Maybe the "Rapture" like some people are suggesting, lol.

Bee Jesus is coming?

[Marquisate]

Maybe the "Rapture" like some people are suggesting, lol.

Bee Jesus is coming?

Apparently, according to the article, some evangelical Christian bloggers are saying that the Rapture is coming and the bees are being called to Heaven by the Christian God...

You know what scares me? How eager some people are for the end of the world to come.

[Khamsin]

Maybe the "Rapture" like some people are suggesting, lol.

Bee Jesus is coming?

Apparently, according to the article, some evangelical Christian bloggers are saying that the Rapture is coming and the bees are being called to Heaven by the Christian God...

You know what scares me? How eager some people are for the end of the world to come.

Unless they really do believe the end of the world is coming, rather than just wishing it were. They could be running around going "Oh my god, I don't want the world to end, save me!!" but have no choice in the matter, because (in their mind) its happening whether they like it or not.

However, what I think the scientists should do is, attach a small homing chip to one of the bees so it can be tracked, then wait for them to fly the coop. Then track down the bees as they migrate to their new location and find where all the bees are congregating, then sort out which bees belong to whom, give them back to their respective owners, and everybody is happy.

[Devek]

Maybe they are all organizing a planned strike against America.

I am prepared to handle a full on assault from bees at my house, are you?

[Misterjingles]

Haven't people been waiting for the end of the world to come for a while now? :D

I remember the show "Sightings" and how they had all these psychics and people playing the the Oiji board going "Oh yeah by the year 2005 California is going to be at the bottom of the sea" or some biblical bullshit.

And I was ready at that time, had this room where there was this secret room in the closet and I had everything to survive Doomsday. Some x-men comics, a touch lamp, some beef jerky, 6 VHSes of Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers, Ducktails, Darkwing Duck, James Bond Jr, and about half a collection of X-Men trading cards (I think version 2), my Ninja Turtles Blimp (armed with missles) and micro machines (army version, ready for war) and my ninja costume. God those were good times...

[Scar]

There's a couple theories concerning Colony Collapse Disorder.

One is that genetically modified foods are to blame-

http://www.spiegel.de/international/wor ... 66,00.html

Another is radiation given off by cell phones is playing a part due to the frequencies disrupting their natural navigation systems. The evidence points to Colony Collapse Disorder being most prevalent in areas close to communication towers-

http://news.independent.co.uk/environme ... 449968.ece

Personally, I think both of these factors might share the blame for what's happening.

[Intense]

However, what I think the scientists should do is, attach a small homing chip to one of the bees so it can be tracked, then wait for them to fly the coop. Then track down the bees as they migrate to their new location and find where all the bees are congregating, then sort out which bees belong to whom, give them back to their respective owners, and everybody is happy.

Is there a mini bee-collar with a dog tag involved in this? And if so, can I name one of the bee's after my FFXI characters name, Faispeare?? :]

[TsingTao]

Maybe they are all organizing a planned strike against America.

I am prepared to handle a full on assault from bees at my house, are you?

I'm well prepared for Zombies, but not at all for bees. Thank you for the warning!

[Brendam]

"hey mister bee the world change but you remain the same
and i wonder how you'll survive with the environment going down the drain"

Lyrics to Ziggy Marleys - Dragonfly

I thought of this songs the moment I read about this shit.

[Fusional]

The Earth has always been losing energy in its magnetic field. In fact, its an argument for creationism. The way Earth has been losing its energy, it could not be older than 6000 years old (or so Creationists say).

all arguments for creationism are laughable. the KT-boundary is a line of sediment that goes around the world which has proof of iridium (sp?) throughout it, which could only have come from a meteor strike. above the KT boundary there is evidence of ash and fern spores. ash from burning vegetation drifting through the air thousands of miles, and fern spores from when all vegetation (or most all) was lost from the face of the earth, which is where/when ferns thrive.

they also found coal in certain areas after the KT boundary which is where high concentrations of coal, from the original sites of the burned vegetation. they carbon date all of this, and it's no different from the dinosaurs being carbon dated to disappearing 65 million years ago, etc etc.

(also there are large sections of limestone and sediment found above and below the KT boundary which would take hundreds of thousands of years each to form... etc etc)

there are also rocks that scientists have been finding (forget what they're called) that show erosive patterns that tell us exactly how long the days were. the earth used to have 4 hour days before we had a moon. after we got our moon (subject to some debate, but it appears most likely that it was caused by a collision with another planet, as the moon is made up of much the same materials as another planet would be.. which differs from most any other moons in the solar system) the days got longer as the moon slowly pulled away from the earth's gravitational pull. they have rocks showing erosive patterns suggesting 12 hour days, 14, 18... and now 24, which is present-day.

the moon is still leaving the earth's gravitational pull at a rate of about half an inch per day, and the further away it gets the longer our days will get. millions of years down the road it will be far enough away that life will likely dramatically change again due to the change in tides (as the lunar tide cycle is what allows for MUCH of the life on this planet)

no argument any creationist has should ever be taken seriously, because there is so much overwhelming evidence to the contrary. moreso each and every day.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...al/science.jpg





but, on topic... i've also read several articles about how the disappearing bees may be caused by cell phones.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/12 ... &qs=1;bp=t

there are tons of articles on it, though i don't think any have any conclusive evidence just yet. just do a search for disappearing bees and cell phones.

but i'm one for agreeing that so far that theory is more than likely the accurate one.

[Rizer]

apparently they are finding that mites are the cause of the colony collapse disorder. I guess they cling to the bees and it goes downhill from there. they recently spotted mites in bee colonies in hawaii too... soo.. uh ohs :O

[Devek]

no argument any creationist has should ever be taken seriously, because there is so much overwhelming evidence to the contrary. moreso each and every day.

Maybe God accidentally created dinosaurs and was like "shit! shit! shit!" and threw a bunch of meteors at the earth to get rid of them which created our moon which protects us from evil reptiles.

[Tyr]

apparently they are finding that mites are the cause of the colony collapse disorder. I guess they cling to the bees and it goes downhill from there. they recently spotted mites in bee colonies in hawaii too... soo.. uh ohs :O

What's a mite? Too lazy to image.google/wikipedia

[Cheerios]

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/2...ingbeesdn7.jpg

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/3690/beesma7.jpg

[Jeveh]

apparently they are finding that mites are the cause of the colony collapse disorder. I guess they cling to the bees and it goes downhill from there. they recently spotted mites in bee colonies in hawaii too... soo.. uh ohs :O

What's a mite? Too lazy to image.google/wikipedia

Type in scabies.....there's your mite
or A BIGASS link.

There is a variety of species of mites though, some are less than .05mm such as Dermatitis Brevis which is a mite that 90-100% of all humans carries in their hair follicles. Thank your mom for giving these to you while you were suckling her teat lol. The ones that fuck with you while you sleep are Dermatophagoides and Euroglyphus's but who knows how diverse they are because they are so damn small and could probably live on just about any surface.

I'd probably think of it as you putting a pencil (mite) on an airplane (bee). I don’t see how this could be just "happening" though as most mites have coevolved with everything else for millions of years. Maybe its just intelligent design again.

Entomology is one of my favorite subjects :D

[Priran]

apparently they are finding that mites are the cause of the colony collapse disorder. I guess they cling to the bees and it goes downhill from there. they recently spotted mites in bee colonies in hawaii too... soo.. uh ohs :O

What's a mite? Too lazy to image.google/wikipedia

Type in scabies.....there's your jesus fucking christ what is wrong with you

or A BIGASS link.
There is a variety of species of mites though, some are less than .05mm such as Dermatitis Brevis which is a mite that 90-100% of all humans carries in their hair follicles. Thank your mom for giving these to you while you were suckling her teat lol. The ones that fuck with you while you sleep are Dermatophagoides and Euroglyphus's but who knows how diverse they are because they are so damn small and could probably live on just about any surface.

I'd probably think of it as you putting a pencil (mite) on an airplane (bee). I don’t see how this could be just "happening" though as most mites have coevolved with everything else for millions of years. Maybe its just intelligent design again.

Entomology is one of my favorite subjects :D

think you could learn to use url tags?