I've been sitting here reading BEE-L and watching people dispute what
others report that they saw, and what they think they saw.  Sometimes
the inference is that there is only one possible understanding, and that
therefore everyone cannot be at least partially right.  I'd like to
argue the opposite: In my experience, No one is ever completely wrong.

Here's what I've personally learned from watching BEE-L for the last
decade:

1. Even a small distance in time or space can make huge a
    difference in the climate, the genotype and/or genotype of
    animals and plants, behaviour, etc..

2. Words mean different things to different people in different
    places.  Some people appreciate a limited range when it
    comes to style of expression, sometimes without respecting
    or appreciating other perfectly valid writing styles.

3. People think differently.  Individual makeup, education,
    background, age, country, etc. are huge factors.

4. What we think we see is largely influenced by what we have
    heard and seen previously.   What we have heard and seen is
    often irrelevant to the current situation, misunderstood, or simply
    fanciful speculation.

5. When we accept that what others report must have some basis
    in fact and try to examine how it relates to what we know, rather
    than rejecting it out of hand, we learn a lot.

Some interesting advances in beekeeping knowledge have originated on
this list.

allen
http://www.honeybeeworld.com

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