Caltrops - Motherfucking News





	[quote name="Ray of Light"][quote]Bees are dying at unsustainable levels and the situation is not improving, said vanEngelsdorp, also a bee expert with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. "For two years in a row, we've sustained a substantial loss," he said. "That's an astonishing number. Imagine if one out of every three cows, or one out of every three chickens, were dying. That would raise a lot of alarm."[/quote] Caltrops' own <b>Mark</b> and I discussed bees before it was cool to do so. In happier bee-times: <font color=lightgreen>Ray</font>: <a href="http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/meta/getalife/coretierra.html">www.infidels.org/library/modern/meta/getalife/coretierra.html</a> <font color=orange>mrk</font>: this is the best article on genetic algorithms that I have read in years <font color=lightgreen>Ray</font>: It took the spectre of intelligent design to get someone to write a good article <font color=lightgreen>Ray</font>: but still, the thing evolved tiny asexual drones swarmed around a shared reproducive apparatus, like ants or bees <font color=orange>mrk</font>: now I want to program such a system <font color=orange>mrk</font>: [quote]You clearly never opened up the Hl SDK with the intention to create a mod, else you would have known how MUCH work writing a mod really is. Yes, valve crippled the game, the a-team had every right to whine about that, because they spend every free hour MAKING THIS MOD FOR YOUR SORRY ASS TO ENJOY! The changes valve made demanded a rewrite of like 50% of the code. The least you could have done was support them. You have just no idea what you're talking about. [/quote]<font color=lightgreen>Ray</font>: that could be your system's first output <font color=orange>mrk</font>: a first step <font color=orange>mrk</font>: but no indication of intelligent life <hr></hr> <font color=lightgreen>Ray</font>: <a href="http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20050924/fob5.asp">www.sciencenews.org/articles/20050924/fob5.asp</a> <font color=orange>mrk</font>: "The native Asian bees, ancient adversaries of the wasps, mobilized half again as many defenders into a heat ball as the European bees did, the researchers report. Furthermore, Asian bees not mobbing the wasp were more likely to take shelter during an attack than bystander European bees were." <font color=lightgreen>Ray</font>: overwhelming numerical strength is an ancient Asian tradition <font color=orange>mrk</font>: I like the taking cover part especially <font color=orange>mrk</font>: European bees, just watching, wondering what's going on <hr></hr> Tue Apr 24 12:00:28 2007 [quote] Since about one-third of the U.S. diet depends on pollination and most of that is performed by honeybees, this [mass honeybee disappearance] constitutes a serious problem, according to Jeff Pettis of the U.S. Agricultural Research Service. Honeybees are used to pollinate some of the tastiest parts of the American diet, Pettis said, including cherries, blueberries, apples, almonds, asparagus and macadamia nuts. "It's not the staples," he said. "If you can imagine eating a bowl of oatmeal every day with no fruit on it, that's what it would be like" without honeybee pollination.[/quote] <font color=orange>mrk</font>: I used to work on a bee farm <font color=orange>mrk</font>: turns out bees are pretty mad about humans stealing their honey <font color=orange>mrk</font>: really, really, mad <font color=lightgreen>Ray</font>: one theory I read said the problem was overdiversity, because they import bees from every which continent and theorized that one of them maybe made the others go crazy <font color=orange>mrk</font>: the alpacan madness bee. Such sweet honey, such a dangerous disposition <font color=lightgreen>Ray</font>: it sounds like the kind of thing the Bush administration would do on purpose <font color=lightgreen>Ray</font>: "we estimate this will boost wheat prices by 20 cents per bushel" <font color=orange>mrk</font>: "What about the honey???" <font color=orange>mrk</font>: "We have an oil based alternative." <font color=lightgreen>Ray</font>: at least fruit can finally be a luxury item <font color=orange>mrk</font>: "As both oranges and apples cost 40 dollars, I'm not really in a position to compare them, no." <font color=lightgreen>Ray</font>: American medicine: now price-competitive with an apple a day [/quote]