I carry in my wallet a copy of Marc Hoffman's brilliant answer to the
cell phone theories,  and read it to all the folks who
ask for my opinion on  the bee crisis.   We then can move on to a serious
discussion of CCD.

*Beekeepers! Beware of Cell Phones! (by Marc Hoffman, Silver Spring,
Maryland)

Are cell phones killing our bees? I never let my bees use cell phones. They
are social insects, and I have found once I let them have cell phones it is
impossible to control their use. The charges from time overruns can bankrupt
even the most efficient apiary operation. Once they learn to use them, they
become dependent: They stop returning to the hive to dance and just phone in
the location of their forage discoveries.
Furthermore, the increased peer-to-peer communication plays havoc with
traditional bee values. “To heck with
pheromones!” they say. “Chemical communication is passe compared with
digital.” As in many societies, the young are the early adopters, spending
their time text messaging instead of doing their jobs. In the end we observe
a breakdown in hierarchy and, fatally, anti-royalist sentiment.
This, then, is the cause of CCD -- foolish notions of independence among the
immature, loss of authority of the elders, breakdown of group cohesion, and
collapse of the aristocracy.
*


-- 
Bill Mares
Burlington, VT 05401



Bee Happy in Your Work!

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