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<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Olga
Bourlin<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, August 28, 2008 8:02 PM<BR><B>To:</B> ExI
chat list<BR><B>Subject:</B> [ExI] Tiny Aircraft ...<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>... and Spike's beloved bees are in the
news:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1541106/Bumble-bee-paradox-solved.html">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1541106/Bumble-bee-paradox-solved.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Olga</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=624471904-29082008>Thanks Olga, very cool. I am happy to report that
my own bees appear to be making a comeback. I joined in the great
sunflower project in which one grows a specific strain of sunflower as a
benchmark, then observes the bees that come to it.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=624471904-29082008></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=624471904-29082008><A
href="http://www.greatsunflower.org/">http://www.greatsunflower.org/</A></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=624471904-29082008><FONT color=#000000></FONT></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=624471904-29082008><FONT color=#000000>They sent a packet containing
hundreds of sunflower seeds, which was itself quite the surprise. I
learned that the native American sunflower seed is a tiny thing, just
a spec, so that 100 of them can easily fit on a postage stamp without
touching. It looks like the one in the lower right in this photo, actually
smaller than that one:</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=624471904-29082008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2><A
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower_seed">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower_seed</A></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=624471904-29082008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=624471904-29082008><FONT face=Arial
size=2>In any case, apparently there was some problem with that batch for
only two of the hundreds eventually germinated, and one of those
perished, but now I have one good calibrated sunflower. Perhaps the
sunflowers were insufficiently pollinated in 2007 for lack of
bees.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=624471904-29082008><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=624471904-29082008><FONT face=Arial
size=2>While I was on vacation, a neighbor left a message that a swarm of bees
had taken up residence in their back yard, and invited me to come take them
away. I have a reputation in my neighborhood as one who loves animals, as
long as it has at least six legs. By the time I returned,
unfortunately, the neighbor had taken remedial action in the form of a can of
Raid.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=624471904-29082008></SPAN><SPAN
class=624471904-29082008><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=624471904-29082008><FONT face=Arial
size=2>So life is good: the bees are recovering, the possibility of an
eminent new Mersenne prime is titillating my senses, Venus is back in
the evening sky along with Mercury, the scientists have discovered that the
bumblebee really can fly, and this has actually been a very good bug year
in spite of the still low bee population, and you and I lived to
see the twenty first century. How can we be so
lucky?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=624471904-29082008><FONT face=Arial
size=2>spike</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=624471904-29082008><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=624471904-29082008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>{8-]</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
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