OT Things to ponder

[geofflambert]

I don't know how a Val could have a classic dogfight with a Corsair, but never mind...

[geofflambert]

Read a story today. Some knucklehead in South Carolina just did a holocaust on honeybees. It was inspired by the fright about the Zika virus. Anyways, the commercial beekeepers and the hobbyists (expensive hobby by the way)were not warned ahead of time about the anti-mosquito fogging as is customary, plus the fogging was done during the day when bees are most active as opposed to at night when mosquitoes are most active. This knucklehead apologized. Thanks, you are forgiven for wiping out the livelihoods of all those apiarists. I understand the threat of the Zika virus, but somewhere between one quarter to one third of the vegetable matter that we Americans call food requires honeybees for pollination. We already have a big problem with colony collapse disorder and with nicotinoid pesticides being applied in the wrong places or at the wrong times. I don't know what they were using, I'm sure it wasn't Zyklon-B, they used to make an aerosol of kerosene (which sounds really dangerous) but it was in the late evening or at night. Not just honeybees were affected, it killed all sorts of other beneficial insects that respirate heavily during the day.

I give this a big Huh? [&:]

[Orm]

So are the beekeepers going to get some sort of compensation for their loss of bees?

[wdolson]

Additionally mosquitoes are nocturnal, spraying for them during the day is not going to be effective.

On a tangential note, I was watering in the greenhouse the other day and thinking about the citrus trees that were in full bloom and covered with bees. I suspect there is a wild honeybee colony or two in the neighborhood, but if someone is raising bees I wonder what they are going to think when they get citrus honey. Washington State is not known for its citrus for a reason.

No shortage of bees around here. I cultivate mason bees in the spring to pollinate my fruit trees, the honey bees come out in legions when the temps reach the 50s, and they love the rosemary bushes which bloom in February and March. This year we discovered a bumble bee nest under the deck. We were cleaning out under there, but decided to leave them alone when the nest was uncovered.

I like to encourage bees, though the citrus trees have also turned into a praying mantis feeder. I've seen a big female in there off and on when watering the last couple of weeks. She's usually hunkered down which is what they do when they aren't hungry, and this time of year a female needs to be very well fed to not be hungry. I buy praying mantis egg cases every year and put them out as they hatch. They spread out across the neighborhood and I notice none of the neighbors use pesticides.

The Chinese praying mantises don't breed well here though. The warm season is too short. I hatch them in ziplocks in the house and put them out. There is no shortage of prey in the spring, it's just they aren't adapted to this climate and they don't get the "hatch" trigger until they are exposed to several days of above 70F temps which usually doesn't happen here until late June, but I can get them to hatch in late March/April indoors.

Bill

[Orm]

Additionally mosquitoes are nocturnal

This depends on the species of mosquito. Some are active during the day. Most mosquito species are the most active during dusk or dawn.

I actually read that this can change. In a part of Africa where they 'installed' mosquito nets over all the sleeping places the mosquitoes became more day active. I suspect that this needs to be examined further before considered a fact.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

.........It was inspired by the fright about the Zika virus......

warspite1

When I arrived in Florida last month they said there were a few cases in the south of the state - and these were travel related.

But as each day passed so there seemed to be more reports - the first reports of non-travel related cases were followed by reports of the outbreak heading further north.

I guess the only consolation is that now the US are directly affected, they will do what they have to to get this under control. I can imagine there are those on the board of Disney (to name one) who are more than a little alarmed by the spread north of this disease.....

[witpqs]

The Chinese praying mantises don't breed well here though. The warm season is too short. I hatch them in ziplocks in the house and put them out. There is no shortage of prey in the spring, it's just they aren't adapted to this climate and they don't get the "hatch" trigger until they are exposed to several days of above 70F temps which usually doesn't happen here until late June, but I can get them to hatch in late March/April indoors.

Air (lack of) isn't a problem that way (inside the zip locks)?

[geofflambert]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

Additionally mosquitoes are nocturnal, spraying for them during the day is not going to be effective.

On a tangential note, I was watering in the greenhouse the other day and thinking about the citrus trees that were in full bloom and covered with bees. I suspect there is a wild honeybee colony or two in the neighborhood, but if someone is raising bees I wonder what they are going to think when they get citrus honey. Washington State is not known for its citrus for a reason.

No shortage of bees around here. I cultivate mason bees in the spring to pollinate my fruit trees, the honey bees come out in legions when the temps reach the 50s, and they love the rosemary bushes which bloom in February and March. This year we discovered a bumble bee nest under the deck. We were cleaning out under there, but decided to leave them alone when the nest was uncovered.

I like to encourage bees, though the citrus trees have also turned into a praying mantis feeder. I've seen a big female in there off and on when watering the last couple of weeks. She's usually hunkered down which is what they do when they aren't hungry, and this time of year a female needs to be very well fed to not be hungry. I buy praying mantis egg cases every year and put them out as they hatch. They spread out across the neighborhood and I notice none of the neighbors use pesticides.

The Chinese praying mantises don't breed well here though. The warm season is too short. I hatch them in ziplocks in the house and put them out. There is no shortage of prey in the spring, it's just they aren't adapted to this climate and they don't get the "hatch" trigger until they are exposed to several days of above 70F temps which usually doesn't happen here until late June, but I can get them to hatch in late March/April indoors.

Bill

I'm going to go tangentially to your tangent. [:'(] Many years ago Francis Ford Coppola got his hands on some pasta making machinery that was brass. Everything at the time and now, I believe, is stainless steel. The brass machinery would cause the pasta to fracture in such a way that the end product would carry more sauce.
I got some of his pasta and it was amazing. But I got something else too. He also sold some olive oil made from olives that grew near citrus groves. The bees somehow transferred something to the olives, when you opened a can of his olive oil you could smell the oranges. That was the best olive oil I ever had, by far. Unfortunately he is in his dotage now and these unique products are no longer available.
He also produced some wine but I'm entering my dotage [:D] and don't remember what it was like.

[wdolson]

Interesting thing on the olive oil. Francis Ford Coppola is an interesting guy.

In California they grow oranges in the foothills of the Sierras. My sister lives in Bakersfield and you can smell the orange blossoms in the spring even though the groves are about 20 miles away.

It smells a lot better than garlic. I work for a company in Morgan Hill, CA which is the next town up the road from Gilroy, which is advertised as the garlic capital of the world. One time when I was down there I came out of my hotel and it smelled like someone was burning a whole lot of tires. It turned out they were harvesting garlic down the road.

Bill

[geofflambert]

Well, don't get all snooty on us Bill. The garlic capital of the world! I live not far from Collinsville, Illinois, the horseradish capital of the world. About two thirds of all the horseradish in the world is harvested in the area. If that isn't enough for you, Collinsville also has the world's largest catsup bottle. It's also bigger than anyone else's ketchup bottle.

[geofflambert]

Heinz (I used to have a little stock of theirs, but stupidly sold it before they merged with Kraft (who I also used to have a little stock in)) says their ketchup is fancy. Well fancy schmancy, you can see from the bottle that Brook's Catsup is the tangyest!

edit: I had to correct the stupid spellcheck here that changed tangyest to tangiest. It just tried to do that again but I was wise to it.

[geofflambert]

CATSUP!

[geofflambert]

Hunt's used to make catsup. As I recall they were the main sponsor of one of the stupidest TV shows of all time, "My Three Sons" with Fred McMurray. Due to their undying embarrassment about that, they stopped making catsup and now make ketchup.

[geofflambert]

Fred's main job on the show was to (once in a while) pull the stupid pipe out of his mouth and say something incredibly wise.

[geofflambert]

Just in case you didn't believe me that Hunt's used to make catsup, here is the proof:

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

Heinz (I used to have a little stock of theirs, but stupidly sold it before they merged with Kraft (who I also used to have a little stock in)) says their ketchup is fancy. Well fancy schmancy, you can see from the bottle that Brook's Catsup is the tangyest!

edit: I had to correct the stupid spellcheck here that changed tangyest to tangiest. It just tried to do that again but I was wise to it.

Well, we know now where the horseradish went ...

[Orm]

Has it come down to this? Different names for tomato sauce? [;)]

[geofflambert]

Yes and no. There are two kinds of tomato sauce, one being meat sauce which you can make in your own kitchen and I adore it. The other is marinara sauce (which means of the sea, don't ask me why) which has no meat but does have basil and can, if you like have Italian parsley. I can make this promise to you, if elected president I will have anyone who thinks cilantro is a good substitute for Italian parsley deported to Venezuela. If any of you have a yen for toasted ravioli, you can order it from Mama Toscano's here on "the hill". She can ship it frozen to your doorstep along with meat sauce and/or marinara sauce and either vegetarian (spinach and cheese filling) or regular (a lamb and veal mix I believe). You might want to have some grated parmesan handy. Do not, on pain of death, warm up ravioli, whether toasted or not, in a microwave.

[geofflambert]

Please help. Only 25 cents a day can save a poor old lizard like me.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0 ... or-lizards

[BillBrown]

But you are not a lizard, you are a Gorn. There is a lot of difference. Besides, you have a starship and can move to a cooler planet if you need to.