Category Archives: Strange, Odd Stuff
Dozens of Bees
You know that a hive of bees may contain 50,000 insects. You probably also know that you can often open a hive and work its frames with just short-sleeves, sandals, and a bit of smoke. We tend to forget that … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Outreach, Save the Bees, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged bees, Toronto, Yukon
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Bees on Leashes
Back in November, the City of Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada, accidentally made it illegal to keep bees. Or wasps, hornets, yellow jackets and fire ants. (What? No more pet fire ants?) Now they are trying to amend the prohibition … Continue reading
Posted in Outreach, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Halifax, illegal beekeeping, Nova Scotia
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A Kardashian and her Honey
This caught my eye today. I know it’s junk news, and with honey bees everywhere going extinct and dying or maybe just disappearing and hiding and not dying, or whatever, it’s refreshing to know that Kourtney Kardashian uses honey. To … Continue reading
Posted in Apitherapy, Culture, or lack thereof, Hive Products, Honey, Humour, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged honey, Kourtney Kardashian, manuka
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Bee Rustlers on the Rise
In the old days, cowboys occasionally stole cows. Horse thieves were sometimes hanged. Not always, though. Back in Val Marie, Saskatchewan, a cattle town that I lived in for ten years, there was a fellow named Joseph Ernest Nephtali Dufault … Continue reading
Posted in Commercial Beekeeping, Movies, People, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged bee theft, Drurer, Quebec, Val Marie, Will James
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The Queen, or Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second
Queen Elizabeth commands tens of thousands and lays up to 2,000 eggs a day? That might be an editing error. Dan Graur, a biologist in Houston, discovered that Reuters News Service once required that all stories about “the queen” should … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Humour, People, Queens, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Queen Elizabeth
3 Comments
Buzz the Bee is on Vacation
General Mills is sending Buzz the Bee, their cheerful Honey Nut Cheerios spokesbug, on vacation. Or into hiding. In a campaign bound to raise awareness for the world’s suffering bees, and maybe to inadvertently sell more Cheerios, packages of the … Continue reading
Posted in Humour, Save the Bees, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged bee extinction, Benny the Bee, Buzz the Bee, Cheerios
4 Comments
Dr Seuss’ B-Day
Today is Dr Seuss Day, according to my 9-year old, who was once a big fan of fables like Oh The Places You’ll Go. She has (temporarily) outgrown the good doctor, but like many of us may rediscover him in … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Culture, or lack thereof, Humour, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged bee-watcher, Dr Seuss, parable
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Groundhog Day Again
When I was a kid growing up in western Pennsylvania, Groundhog Day was a big deal. It didn’t hurt that it was also our elementary school principal’s birthday. We didn’t get the whole day off (unless Feb 2 was on … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology, Humour, Strange, Odd Stuff, Swarms
Tagged bee legends, Calgary, groundhog day, winter
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Resistance is Futile
The Hive Mind, the idea that an entire colony operates like a single organism with one mind, is a notion that’s been picked up by people who don’t usually wear bee veils. Some of these folks are screenplay writers while … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Science, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Borg, collective wisdom, hive mind, Tom Seeley, Wadey
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Putin Likes Organic Food
Russia’s Vladimir Putin has suggested that anyone who sells or grows genetically modified foods on his turf should face a few years farming in Siberia. He has proclaimed Russia will be GMO-free and he’d like to see his farmers raise … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology, Genetics, History, Pesticides, Save the Bees, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Charles Darwin, epigenetics, GMOs, Putin, Russia
2 Comments
Bad Beekeeping Blog 