[ExI] FW: bee free, honey! it's fake

[Keith Henson]

On Sat, Sep 20, 2025 at 4:52 PM <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com>

snip

> >...  Japanese honeybees have evolved a way of killing hornets by forming a ball around them and overheating the hornet...
>
> That comment brightened my day.  How cool is it to see evolution of a behavior in a human lifetime?

It might be more like millions of years.  I don't know how long
Japanese honeybees have been exposed to hornets.

 > We could get embedded cameras, make real time video of the battles,
cheer em on, make bets, that kinda thing.

There are youtube videos showing hornets being killed in a ball of bees.

> >...Ten years ago (or more) I proposed that the French modify a laser insect killer Jordan Kare was involved with to protect hives...
>
> Oh think of the possibilities.  If we could somehow rig those things to be user controlled, double gimble on the laser, have real-time feedback.  Users on another continent pay to battle actual murder hornets with steerable lasers, such fun.  It's the next dimension in video gaming, this time with real-world consequences.

> Consider the famous quote by the badass airman who was on the radio when he was jumped by a squadron of krauts: Can't talk, gotta shoot.

The original was to kill mosquitoes.  It used sound to identify the targets.

> Kieth just think of all the unpleasant discussions that line could get you outta, when battling actual predators real time.  People would pay to play.
>
> >...Nothing came of it.  Keith
>
> Ja, damn.  The laser hornet blaster game might not pencil out either, and it would be expensive to set up.
>
> But a pulsed voltage strip doesn't actually complete a circuit until the predator steps on it, so it wouldn't take much power.  A battery with a small solar array 10 cm on a side might be enough to keep it charged.

Hornets catch bees in the air.

Keith
> spike
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