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Thread ID: 89093	2008-04-20 18:16:00	The Bees Are Dying!	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
660672	2008-04-20 18:16:00	I am seeing it personally here in SoCal . The bees are dying and the hives are all getting rather empty . There is some sortta virus/fungi that is wiping them all out . That and the fact that we are getting the Africanized bees here taking over the hives and making them not produce honey as much . There are crops that aren't getting pollinated and they are withering on the vine or tree or bush, etc . Now with the advent of E-85 alcohol fuels taking most of if not all of the corn and sugar crops, there is a growing and somewhat severe shortage of edible comestibles for people and their farm animals . Most all of our animal feeds are corn-based and the prices are getting really high now that the competition is for either food or fuel . There are whole districts in Mexico that have not seen corn on the shelves in months . . . and likely will NOT in the foreseeable future either . Corn is their national foodstuff . Here's an excerpt from the US SnackFoodAssociation: "SFA Chairman Daryl Thomas and President & CEO Jim McCarthy went to Capitol Hill Wednesday, March 12 to urge Congressional action that could help to alleviate the skyrocketing commodity prices that are affecting snack food companies across the nation . McCarthy and Thomas, senior vice president, sales and marketing at Herr’s Foods Inc . , Nottingham, PA, met with Pennsylvania’s U . S . Senator's key staff and members of the Bush Administration to express SFA’s concerns about increasing prices of corn, wheat and soybeans among other commodities . They joined members of the American Bakers Association who also lobbied for commodity price relief and urged that 7 million acres of federal Conservation Research Program (CRP) acreage, now idle, be returnedto production of grains . Noting that part of the upward pressure on grain prices is due to the use of corn for ethanol and soybeans for biodiesel, McCarthy and Thomas said there should be a mechanism to periodically evaluate the nation’s grain situation in cases of projected food shortages or drastic consumer price increases, adverse weather conditions, environmental challenges, infrastructure bottlenecks or other adverse consequences . They also urged Congress to carefully consider the needs of the domestic food industry when supplies of wheat and other commodities drop to dangerously low levels . “Low commodity stocks in the U . S . leave too much to chance, as even a slight weather or transportation problem could lead to possible serious global food shortages,” the two SFA leaders said . " This nation (US) has never had a food shortage of any measurable amount . . EVER . . and if the attitudes of people now are any indicator of what they will be like when food gets short . . . . . it's gonna get real messy! Our milk/gallon prices have more than doubled in just 6 months . . fuel is at an all-time high and homes are being abandoned as the prices are now out of the payment range of people who have to decide on "fuel-or-food-or-housing" type scenarios . I would guess that there are about 20-25% walk-aways in my neighborhood alone . . and this is not The OC or 90210 . "For Sale" signs are everywhere; vehicles for sale on every corner and sometimes impromptu parking lots full of cars/trucks/RVs are all gathered together with owners sitting in lawn chairs in front of them, looking for buyers to get them out of a credit crunch . The advertisements in the newspapers are full of homes, cars, boats, airplanes, RVs, sporting equipment and recreational time-shares . Now . . even the store shelves are getting a little sparse . . . not the typical scene in US supermarkets where there are sometimes 10 or 20 fersions of the same foodstuff by different manufacturers . Chinese foods and products are more evident . . . and not so evident . Two other people and myself had a recent situation where we all contracted a mild case of "shellfish poisoning" from a Campbell's soup . At night our arms and legs all "go-to-sleep" like maybe we had been sleeping on them cutting off the circualtion and then they are coming back to life . You know the feeling? It's all pins and needles for a while until they recover . Imagine that every time you just nod off in sleep and get wakened in 10 minutes with the feeling . . . . . over and over all night long! The Campbell's clams in the New England Style Clam Chowder were all from China . Anyway . . . . . . bad clams or not . . we will all be very happy to have our larders full again . . . . maybe someday .	SurferJoe46 (51)
660673	2008-04-20 20:25:00	No worry SJ 46. We can send a few sons of bees around to make up the shortfall in numbers. They may be drones, but they are guaranteed genuine.	R2x1 (4628)
660674	2008-04-20 21:50:00	There is a program screening on the National Geographic Channel in NZ/Aus at the moment called Silence of the bees. Up to 80% of honey bees in the US have disappeared. Now the nightmare is spreading into Europe. Scientists predict this may be the first warning sign of a massive global ecological collapse. :(	Trev (427)
660675	2008-04-20 21:54:00	It didn't start in the US. One area in China has already no bees at all. Spain, France, all sorts of places. They think its a combination of factors: Single crop fields causing nutrition deficiencies, pesticides, viruses. One major virus was found in the bees they imported from Australia. NZ needn't be so smug. We have the mite, wait for our bees to start vanishing. Also its not just bees, its all pollinators. They said expect to lose 70% of all plants. Expect to eat gruel (grain, corn being some of the very few wind pollinated.)	pctek (84)
660676	2008-04-21 06:29:00	TREV- any chance you can record a copy of that doco for me ?? anyone?? CCD has been reported around the world. there are claims its caused by disease,fungi, cell phones.....blah blah. AFAIK no single cause has been found. they have found that a lot of the CCD hives have Israeli acute paralysis virus which is a minor virus that doesn't normally effect the hive. however when you get weak hives, ie weak from varora or other disease the minor diseases can raise their ugly head and help kill off the hive. the Israeli virus is thought to be spread through Aussie honey.........and they want to import it here ! ! ! ! fingers crossed our fantastic bee scientists will find the cause. mind you weather can play a big role to. with the weather being so weird it can really effect bees habits. I've lost a lot of queens this year. worse i've had so far :(	tweak'e (69)
660677	2008-04-21 06:41:00	It is on at 11-30 tonight. I well record it and put it on DVD for you. Email or PM me your address. :)	Trev (427)
660678	2008-04-21 07:05:00	Here in the US, SoCal, I have had a few sightings and personal actions with bees that are swarming at night . They are lost it seems and the hang around until they are all dead and on the ground under whatever they have landed upon . One person told me this happened when the hive is in distress and the food supply is questionable or low . The queen somehow gets many in the hive to leave and go out and die . :eek: So far I have seen this about three times and I heard of a few more in areas around here .	SurferJoe46 (51)
660679	2008-04-21 07:47:00	cheers trev. joe- swarming at night ?? you mean they are actually flying at night ?? there are numerous reasons why hives swarm, over populated, disease, food, stuffed queen. swarming is bees natural instinct to populate the species so its not all bad. complete swarm out usually has a major trigger. for a commercial beekeeper its much nicer for them to swarm and go into an empty hive :)	tweak'e (69)
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