Is it space based radar? Global mapping being done by imaging radars.

Doesn't seem to be a single pathegen. What I've read seems to indicate something is mucking up their immune system. Half the colonies alive four years ago are gone!

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"The beauty of that discussion of averages is that you don't have to be an expert in Apollo or in photography in order to see where this time study "analysis" breaks down. You just have to be, well...not an idiot." -JayUtah

Could be parasitic too.

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I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

Bees seem to suffer as many diseases as humans, see: http://www.bbka.org.uk/articles/bee_diseases.php

Inc. "American Foul Brood disease".

And "European Foul Brood disease" too!

What makes you ask?

John

This is an article from Science News that is mostly about using solitary bees as an alternative pollinator for agriculture, because of the declines in bee populations, but it does talk a little about the decline.
This is a 2004 National Geographic article about it. They mention the varroa mite, which I believe has been a problem around here.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

Don't these things occasionally happen naturally? Like with the Irish potato famine?

From Wiki:

"The Famine was due to the appearance of "the Blight" (also known as phytophthora)– the oomycete that almost instantly destroyed the primary food source for the majority of the island's population."

When I lived in California I heard from grape growers that a big blight hit the French grapes in the 19th Century and the French had to import grape vines from California.

I know what's killing the bees, guys.






It's aspartame.

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SeanF

"Ask to understand, but don't challenge unless you have the knowledge."--NEOWatcher

The contents of this post are ©2008 by SeanF and may not be copied or retransmitted in any form without the express written consent of SeanF

I knew it!

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"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right." -- Thomas Paine

Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor. -- Heinlein

Creationists make it sound as though a "theory" is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night. -- Isaac Asimov

Actually it's Ursus arctos.

More intelligent than the median Ursus.

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I recall hearing/reading/seeing that the really aggressive species of bees (maybe African?...not sure of the breed) are prevalent in USA. Maybe a 'governmental' plan to wipe out this species has been implemented?

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Round...everything is always round!

Whether bears, killer bees, microwaves, or aspartame, it's obviously a honey of a conspiracy!

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Taming africanized bees is pretty easy, really. Especially for commercial apiaries. The africanized queen is removed from the nest, and a new one is introduced from the tamer domestic species. She's introduced in a container with a sugar seal with a small opening. This allows her phermones time to take over the colony before they get to her. If she were simply introduced to the colony without time to woo them, she'd be torn apart as an invader by bees still under the influence of the africanized queen.

So that's not likely to be much of a cause, considering the solution only necessarily kills one bee.

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I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

Tracking down every queen, in order to bring the species under control, would be difficult.

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Round...everything is always round!

I remember a bee die-off a few years ago,my then neighbor had a small hive of wild bees in an old wooden shipping box (our apple & cherry trees really produced that year),then it was gone the next year,when I read about the die-off.

Could this be a cyclical thing?

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"An armed man is a citizen
An unarmed man is a subject"

Robert A. Heinlein

Commercial apiaries tend to be a little easier to contend with. If they do have multiple queens, at the first signs of aggression, they change them all.

Though, you're right about the wild ones.

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I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

Perhaps they're being abducted?
Maybe they've made their own arrangements and are fleeing the planet in advance of impending catastrophe?
Chemtrails, of course?

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I offer a complete and utter retraction. The imputation was totally without basis in fact, was in no way fair comment and was motivated purely by malice. I deeply regret any distress that my comments may have caused you or your family, and I hereby undertake not to repeat any such slander at any time in the future.

Explains the nice gift and the message they left me, "So Long, and Thanks for all the Pollen".

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)