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Originally Posted by Jet Set
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cool....^^^^^Quote:
Originally Posted by Jet Set
Honeybees Vanish, Leaving Keepers in Peril
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Ann Johansson for The New York Times
Isaias Corona of Bradshaw Honey Farm, near Visalia, Calif., putting corn syrup — bee food — into hives. The farm has lost about half its bees.
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Published: February 27, 2007
VISALIA, Calif., Feb. 23 — David Bradshaw has endured countless stings during his life as a beekeeper, but he got the shock of his career when he opened his boxes last month and found half of his 100 million bees missing.
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A honeybee collects nectar from an almond tree in bloom
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Relying on Bees
In 24 states throughout the country, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation’s most profitable.
“I have never seen anything like it,” Mr. Bradshaw, 50, said from an almond orchard here beginning to bloom. “Box after box after box are just empty. There’s nobody home.”
The sudden mysterious losses are highlighting the critical link that honeybees play in the long chain that gets fruit and vegetables to supermarkets and dinner tables across the country.
Beekeepers have fought regional bee crises before, but this is the first national affliction.
Now, in a mystery worthy of Agatha Christie, bees are flying off in search of pollen and nectar and simply never returning to their colonies. And nobody knows why. Researchers say the bees are presumably dying in the fields, perhaps becoming exhausted or simply disoriented and eventually falling victim to the cold.
As researchers scramble to find answers to the syndrome they have decided to call “colony collapse disorder,” growers are becoming openly nervous about the capability of the commercial bee industry to meet the growing demand for bees to pollinate dozens of crops, from almonds to avocados to kiwis.
Along with recent stresses on the bees themselves, as well as on an industry increasingly under consolidation, some fear this disorder may force a breaking point for even large beekeepers.
A Cornell University study has estimated that honeybees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the United States, mostly fruits, vegetables and nuts. “Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee to pollinate that food,” said Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation.
The bee losses are ranging from 30 to 60 percent on the West Coast, with some beekeepers on the East Coast and in Texas reporting losses of more than 70 percent; beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20 percent in the offseason to be normal.
Beekeepers are the nomads of the agriculture world, working in obscurity in their white protective suits and frequently trekking around the country with their insects packed into 18-wheelers, looking for pollination work.
Once the domain of hobbyists with a handful of backyard hives, beekeeping has become increasingly commercial and consolidated. Over the last two decades, the number of beehives, now estimated by the Agriculture Department to be 2.4 million, has dropped by a quarter and the number of beekeepers by half.
Pressure has been building on the bee industry. The costs to maintain hives, also known as colonies, are rising along with the strain on bees of being bred to pollinate rather than just make honey. And beekeepers are losing out to suburban sprawl in their quest for spots where bees can forage for nectar to stay healthy and strong during the pollination season.
“There are less beekeepers, less bees, yet more crops to pollinate,” Mr. Browning said. “While this sounds sweet for the bee business, with so much added loss and expense due to disease, pests and higher equipment costs, profitability is actually falling.”
Some 15 worried beekeepers convened in Florida this month to brainstorm with researchers how to cope with the extensive bee losses. Investigators are exploring a range of theories, including viruses, a fungus and poor bee nutrition.
They are also studying a group of pesticides that were banned in some European countries to see if they are somehow affecting bees’ innate ability to find their way back home.
It could just be that the bees are stressed out. Bees are being raised to survive a shorter offseason, to be ready to pollinate once the almond bloom begins in February. That has most likely lowered their immunity to viruses.
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Ann Johansson for The New York Times
Rosa Patiño scraping dried honey from hives that once housed bees in Terra Bella, Calif.
Mites have also damaged bee colonies, and the insecticides used to try to kill mites are harming the ability of queen bees to spawn as many worker bees. The queens are living half as long as they did just a few years ago.
Researchers are also concerned that the willingness of beekeepers to truck their colonies from coast to coast could be adding to bees’ stress, helping to spread viruses and mites and otherwise accelerating whatever is afflicting them.
Dennis van Engelsdorp, a bee specialist with the state of Pennsylvania who is part of the team studying the bee colony collapses, said the “strong immune suppression” investigators have observed “could be the AIDS of the bee industry,” making bees more susceptible to other diseases that eventually kill them off.
Growers have tried before to do without bees. In past decades, they have used everything from giant blowers to helicopters to mortar shells to try to spread pollen across the plants. More recently researchers have been trying to develop “self-compatible” almond trees that will require fewer bees. One company is even trying to commercialize the blue orchard bee, which is virtually stingless and works at colder temperatures than the honeybee.
Beekeepers have endured two major mite infestations since the 1980s, which felled many hobbyist beekeepers, and three cases of unexplained disappearing disorders as far back as 1894. But those episodes were confined to small areas, Mr. van Engelsdorp said.
Today the industry is in a weaker position to deal with new stresses. A flood of imported honey from China and Argentina has depressed honey prices and put more pressure on beekeepers to take to the road in search of pollination contracts. Beekeepers are trucking tens of billions of bees around the country every year.
California’s almond crop, by far the biggest in the world, now draws more than half of the country’s bee colonies in February. The crop has been both a boon to commercial beekeeping and a burden, as pressure mounts for the industry to fill growing demand. Now spread over 580,000 acres stretched across 300 miles of California’s Central Valley, the crop is expected to grow to 680,000 acres by 2010.
Beekeepers now earn many times more renting their bees out to pollinate crops than in producing honey. Two years ago a lack of bees for the California almond crop caused bee rental prices to jump, drawing beekeepers from the East Coast.
This year the price for a bee colony is about $135, up from $55 in 2004, said Joe Traynor, a bee broker in Bakersfield, Calif.
A typical bee colony ranges from 15,000 to 30,000 bees. But beekeepers’ costs are also on the rise. In the past decade, fuel, equipment and even bee boxes have doubled and tripled in price.
The cost to control mites has also risen, along with the price of queen bees, which cost about $15 each, up from $10 three years ago.
To give bees energy while they are pollinating, beekeepers now feed them protein supplements and a liquid mix of sucrose and corn syrup carried in tanker-sized trucks costing $12,000 per load. Over all, Mr. Bradshaw figures, in recent years he has spent $145 a hive annually to keep his bees alive, for a profit of about $11 a hive, not including labor expenses. The last three years his net income has averaged $30,000 a year from his 4,200 bee colonies, he said.
“A couple of farmers have asked me, ‘Why are you doing this?’ ” Mr. Bradshaw said. “I ask myself the same thing. But it is a job I like. It is a lifestyle. I work with my dad every day. And now my son is starting to work with us.”
Almonds fetch the highest prices for bees, but if there aren’t enough bees to go around, some growers may be forced to seek alternatives to bees or change their variety of trees.
“It would be nice to know that we have a dependable source of honey bees,” said Martin Hein, an almond grower based in Visalia. “But at this point I don’t know that we have that for the amount of acres we have got.”
To cope with the losses, beekeepers have been scouring elsewhere for bees to fulfill their contracts with growers. Lance Sundberg, a beekeeper from Columbus, Mont., said he spent $150,000 in the last two weeks buying 1,000 packages of bees — amounting to 14 million bees — from Australia.
He is hoping the Aussie bees will help offset the loss of one-third of the 7,600 hives he manages in six states. “The fear is that when we mix the bees the die-offs will continue to occur,” Mr. Sundberg said.
Migratory beekeeping is a lonely life that many compare to truck driving. Mr. Sundberg spends more than half the year driving 20 truckloads of bees around the country. In Terra Bella, an hour south of Visalia, Jack Brumley grimaced from inside his equipment shed as he watched Rosa Patiño use a flat tool to scrape dried honey from dozens of beehive frames that once held bees. Some 2,000 empty boxes — which once held one-third of his total hives — were stacked to the roof.
Beekeepers must often plead with landowners to allow bees to be placed on their land to forage for nectar. One large citrus grower has pushed for California to institute a “no-fly zone” for bees of at least two miles to prevent them from pollinating a seedless form of Mandarin orange.
But the quality of forage might make a difference. Last week Mr. Bradshaw used a forklift to remove some of his bee colonies from a spot across a riverbed from orange groves. Only three of the 64 colonies there have died or disappeared.
“It will probably take me two to three more years to get back up,” he said. “Unless I spend gobs of money I don’t have.”
China's 1st lunar probe ready for launch
Updated: 2007-03-06 22:25
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2...3354818281.jpg
A sketch map of the Chang'e I
BEIJING -- China has finished assembling its first lunar satellite probe after three years of research and development, Luan Enjie, chief commander of the country's lunar exploration program, told Xinhua Tuesday.
"The carrier rocket, a Long March 3-A, which will be used to push the orbiter, Chang'e I, into the outer space, is currently under testing," Luan said on the sidelines of the annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top advisory body.
Luan said that almost 10,000 scientists, experts and technicians have joined the program. "Starting from scratch, we developed the Chang'e I lunar orbiter and the whole subsidiary project by ourselves within three years," he said.
Another leading scientist, former commander-in-cheif of the launch vehicle system of the country's manned space mission Huang Chunping, told Xinhua early Tuesday that the Chang'e I will be launched later this year. But no date was given for the flight.
The orbiter will provide 3D images of the moon's surface, probe the distribution of 14 usable elements on the moon, study lunar microwaves and estimate the thickness of the moon's soil.
Huang also said the country's new generation carrier rocket, designed to launch a space station, will be ready in seven to eight years.
The new generation large-scale carrier rocket is likely to be named Long March 5 and its payload capacity can be increased from nine tons to 25 tons, he said.
Design of the new generation carrier rocket's engines has been completed. Researchers succeeded in the engine's first testing in mid-2006, said Huang, also a member of the CPPCC National Committee.
Huang also told Xinhua that China's goal to land spacemen on the moon can surely be achieved in 15 years.
China's moon exploration program will be carried out in three stages. The orbiter will be followed by a remote-controlled lunar rover. In the third phase, a module will drill out a chunk of the moon and bring it back to earth.
Luan said China started a program of developing large-scale carrier rocket last year. "China is expected to have 1,060 carrier rockets after eight years. By then, the country's ability to launch satellites will be greatly improved." However, he said that the most difficult problem for China to put astronauts on the moon is the low thrust of its rockets. "Moon landing needs a rocket with 3,000 to 4,000 tons of thrust. But currently the most powerful thrust carrier rocket is at around 600 tons."
Family Outraged by Racial Slur Found on Sofa Label
A lovely coffee-brown sofa set was delivered to the home of Doris Moore and her family. But shortly after the furniture was delivered, one of her young children made a disturbing discovery: the presence of a racial slur on the label describing the product.
THE DISCOVERY
The Mississauga, Canada couple was shocked when their seven year-old daughter curiously examined the furniture and began reading the labels underneath.
"Mommy, what is n*gger brown?" she asked.
Doris Moore, a 30 year-old black woman originally from New York was shocked.
"I went over and just couldn't believe my eyes," Moore proclaimed. The label, which was detected by her daughter shortly after the delivery men left, read as follows:
Item: Abby
Description: Sofa
Color: N*gger-brown
PO No: HSO601-07
Net Weight: 67 kg
Gross Weight: 75.4 kg
Doris Moore also claims that an examination of the furniture set's other pieces (loveseat and chair) revealed the same vulgar description as the sofa.
NO ONE TAKES THE BLAME...
Moore, who has another daughter and son, has admitted that the offensive word has never been directed to her. But she attempted to explain the nature of the word to her children, who were unfamiliar with its meaning. She explained to them that it's a "very, very bad word that makes [one] feel degraded."
The day after the discovery was made, Moore says that she called Vanaik Furniture and Mattress store, where the purchase was made, to address the issue. But her phone call was unreturned. At least three other calls were made to the store. Those were unreturned as well.
The Star, a news publication in Canada was able to reach Vanaik Furniture store's assistant manager, Romesh Kumar for his response. However, he deferred responsibility to the sofa supplier, Cosmos Furniture---and advised Moore that she would need to take the matter up with that company.
The owner of Cosmos Furniture, Paul Kumar (no relation to Romesh) was contacted. But he denied any knowledge of the racial slur, and advised Moore that his products were obtained from overseas in China.
Both companies, Cosmos and Vanaik Furniture have vowed to examine other pieces of furniture in their stores to make sure than any other vulgar labels are removed. In the meanwhile, Doris Moore and her family are reluctant to enjoy the furniture.
"Every time I sit on it, I'll think of that." Moore declares about the distasteful discovery.
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http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...lur_found.html
omg!!! Wtf Llmfaoooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
This was probably purchased in the store were Jasper works.
that would be a good ad to southern rap
i got a black bentley with black dubs
nigger-brown interior
matching the skin color
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAAAAA!!!
HahaQuote:
Originally Posted by Inspectah_Dirk
I had the exact same thing happen to me. Chinese people are weird, I found the very same label on a sofa we sell... "nigger brown"... strangely enough, the sofa was beige and not very niggerish at all.
Ah come on, who merged this. Scumbag.
Robot Feat: Android Picks Up Human Dummy
http://www.livescience.com/scienceof..._robot_up.html
Quote:
A human-sized weightlifting android successfully picked up a 145 pound humanoid doll from a bed in Tokyo recently. This remarkable feat was accomplished by an android robot that itself weighs just 154 pounds, created by University of Tokyo professor Yasuo Kuniyoshi and his team of engineers. Of course, the first prerequisite for a body-slamming, wrestling robot is the ability to lift an opponent as big as yourself. The android robot (see photo) was able to perform this feat without large motors due to an interesting advance in sensor technology (it has more than 1800 embedded sensors) and software that can interpret the data.
"Large motors are not safe for use in household robots," explains Kuniyoshi. "Only a small amount of power is applied at each of this robot's joints, but it can successfully move heavy objects by using the tactile sensors to regulate how it lifts and carries things."The weightlifting robot is also able to execute different maneuvers depending upon the situation. In picking up a thirty kilo package from a table, it slid the package to the edge of the table and then picked it up with the other arm.
To pick up a person-sized doll from a bed (a task you might assign a robot nurse), it slid its arms under the doll, lifted and backed away.
Professor Kuniyoshi states that the new android robot has potential uses in the nursing care industry or the moving profession.
To get a better idea of the advance involved, compare this android robot to RI-MAN, a robot nurse developed in the RIKEN Bio-Mimetic Control Research Center. RI-MAN (see photo) can only pick up about a third as much weight.
Because it is clearly intended to be man-sized, this is a good time to remember the origin of the term robot - from Karel Capek's 1920 play R.U.R. (Rossem's Universal Robots.)
Read more about RI-MAN at RI-MAN And Roujin-Z Robots: Elder Care Fact And Fiction and RI-MAN Face Tracking, Electronic Nose Robot ; also, for more information about advances in nursing robotics see Robot Nurses Seem Unavoidable and Penelope the Robo-Nurse. Via Android shows off people-lifting skills.
(This Science Fiction in the News story used with permission from Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction.)
WOW^
Man gave daughter to net buddy pedophile
April 12, 2007 07:18pm
Article from: AAP
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A FATHER who let a pedophile he met on the internet sexually exploit his five-year-old daughter has been sentenced to seven years jail.
The 40-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was recently found guilty by a Brisbane District Court jury of indecently dealing with a child with a circumstance of aggravation and possessing child computer pornography.
He was aged in his early to mid-30s when the offences occurred.
Judge Hugh Botting today sentenced the man to a total of seven years jail but ordered he be eligible for parole after serving half the sentence.
"You provided your daughter for his use – someone who was your own lineal descendent," Judge Botting said during his sentencing remarks.
"The enormity of betrayal of trust as a father is ... a very significant factor."
He said the other man, whom the father met in an online chatroom, was connected with a network of pedophiles through the internet.
"He was a proactive person seeking contacts and people to engage in child abuse," Judge Botting said.
He said the man and the young girl had been photographed in various indecent positions.
Indecent photos were also taken of the daughter alone.
The trial heard allegations that the father had taken the pictures but the jury didn't accept that.
The court also heard the father set down some conditions when he handed over his daughter, one being no penetration.
The other man pleaded guilty in 2004 to similar child sex charges and testified against the father at his trial.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599...6-1702,00.html
Let Slow Death be the Penalty...
Censoring when will it stop?? Will it ever stop?? Will it get worse??
Citing his concern for "the morals of our society," Burlingame schools Superintendent Sonny Da Marto has stopped four eighth-grade classes from reading "Kaffir Boy," an award-winning memoir of growing up in a South African ghetto during apartheid.
Da Marto had banned the book from the Burlingame Intermediate School late last month when the 13- and 14-year-old students were nearly halfway through it, said their English teacher, Amelia Ramos, who was required to take the books back from 116 students.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...NGKFP7A9K1.DTL
MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. - Police looking for a purse snatcher were able to flush the suspect out from the portable toilet where he was hiding.
http://tr.adinterax.com/re/ogilvy,SM...ec_bubbles.swf
"A Port-A-Potty is not a good place to hide," police Chief James Kudlak said Wednesday. "There's only one way out."
Johnny Snodgrass, 21, apparently matched the description of a man caught on videotape at a store where an 89-year-old woman's purse was stolen in March and from a nearby video poker establishment where her wallet was found, police said.
The thief got away with about $45.
Acting on a tip, police went to a construction site where Snodgrass was working on Monday to question him, but he ran into the portable restroom. Officers yelled for him to come out and he soon complied, police said.
Snodgrass was being in jail on $5,000 bond on Wednesday. He's scheduled to appear before a magistrate on April 25.
Kudlak said Snodgrass claims he is innocent.
Court officials said Snodgrass did not yet have an attorney.
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