Alan Fiala observed:

> From news reports and comments on this list, one gets the impression
> that accidents involving truckloads of bees are increasing in frequency
> in the last few years.

Or, perhaps it is just that the definition of "news" has been
degraded by the relatively recent confluence of:

a) A glut of 24-hour TV news channels (CNN, FNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Bloomberg,
   BBC, CBC, Telemundo News, Al-Jazera, ad nauseum)

b) The constant drive by these channels to present a never-ending stream
   of "breaking news" stories, preferably ones that have "good visuals"

c) A lack of enough REAL journalism on actual news to fill 24 hours a day

d) Growing media consolidation, where the same newsroom creates TV reports,
   newspaper articles, and news website fodder for what seem to be
   multiple independent media outlets, resulting in a smaller number of
   stories appearing "everywhere"

All this means that perhaps EVERY bee truck that goes wheels up (which
implies "hives down") is now going to get "national exposure".  Is it "news"?
No more than a story about a beer truck dumping 100,000 cans of beer on
the highway, but both types of story are clearly thought by reporters and
producers to have "viewer appeal", more as "entertainment" than "news".

> is the true problem that drivers hauling bees are becoming increasingly
> incompetent?

Could it be that such a basic rule as "bee side up" is not front and center
in the awareness of the person responsible for delivering the load of bees?

Or is the recent trend towards using of traffic-reporting helicopters as
live-video camera platforms for coverage of "high speed chases" and major
traffic accidents on live TV (a move that was prompted by improvements in
"SteadyCam" technology, which eliminates camera shake even under massive
vibration) giving everyone the impression that the world, or at least the
Los Angeles CA area, is suddenly a much more dangerous place?

I think that it is even more simple than that.  Nearly everyone has a video
camera these days.  The digital ones, even the tiny digital ones that sell
for about $300 are "broadcast quality".  Cameras are cheap, so they are
everywhere.  The odds of a bystander getting something on video tape are
much higher than when video cameras were bulky and expensive.  Cameras are
so cheap, that when I visit Miami, I can turn on the 24-hour local news
station, and see a "traffic report", complete with live video from dozens of
cameras permanently installed along the highways and at major intersections.



But it should be obvious that beekeepers, like everyone else, are suffering
from chronic sleep deprivation, something that reaches the breaking point
when they get up very early or stay up very late preparing hives for movement
and hauling them around.  Check it out-

a) How many hours of sleep do you get a night on average?

b) Do you sleep longer when you have no commitments on the weekends?

c) Do you drink multiple cups of coffee before you "feel normal"?
   (Why is Starbucks so popular?  Could it be that everyone really
   NEEDS lots of coffee just to get through the day these days?)

d) Do you fall asleep with ease on airplanes, in front of baseball
   games on TV, or when the lights go out for someone to show slides
   at a beekeeper meeting?

e) Are you convinced that 8 hours is the maximum amount of sleep
   anyone should need, and that sleeping longer is a sign of sloth?

f) Why is arising early so admired, and sleeping late looked upon
   with scorn?  (By the same logic, anorexia should be admired, and
   being adequately fed should be considered a lack of self-discipline.)

g) Have you recently bought a new and louder alarm clock?

If so, you are sleep-deprived, and you can and will make mistakes, forget
things, and perhaps fall asleep at the wheel, perhaps never even waking up
during the transition from "sleep" to "eternal sleep".

I employ several people who sit at computers and keep watch over networks
by night (they are the post-modern biblical shapards).  We have found that
working "night shift" is a special skill in itself, and not just anyone can
"cover" for one of them even during a week of vacation without making errors
in reacting to things like equipment failures, denial of service attacks,
script-kiddie wannabe "hackers", and so on.  Stuff that should be "easy"
becomes much more difficult at 3am to a person who has not "adjusted" to
a constant nightlife.

What is being found out by research with subjects who are given no
chance to find out the actual time is that most humans need roughly
10 hours of sleep on average.  Some people need more.  The "8 hours"
rule was developed by the armed forces without any real evidence to
support it, just as they developed the hierarchical management structure
with "managers" and "chains of command".  It seems clear that we are
STILL taking casualties as a direct result of World War II.

> Instead of setting up emergency recovery teams, perhaps we should be
> promoting driver training.

Hmmm... the "ABC School of Beekeeping and Tractor-Trailer Driving"?
Get your license to drive the big rigs AND a master beekeeping certificate
in 2 only months of night-school courses?  Maybe with a short seminar on
Swinger forklift operation in close quarters and pitch darkness?  Extra
credit work in high-speed pursuit of swarm calls using borrowed Chevrolet
Camaro Z28 9C1s from the Ohio State Police?
http://www.modernracer.com/features/chevroletcamarocopfront1.jpg

I don't think so.  :)


                        jim (who is a caffeine-based lifeform)

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