> The second apology is to anyone who may feel slighted or frightened off by
> Bill's comments and any that follow.
>
> I am happy to see some members posting to the list who may have been
> reluctant to do so in the past.  We do not want to discourage new faces.
>  Keep posting and understand that polite disagreement and occaasional
> critical comments are just part of life on BEE-L.
>
> If everyone agrees, no one is thinking.
>
> FWIW, I reviewed the entire conversation and did not see anything which
> appeared to me to be particularly uninformed,
>

There was some good info on the propolis thread (Peter and Murray in their
discussion about the original topic) but I did not want to single out some
just for the reasons you cited. I tried to keep it in good humor- the grouch
comments and "book' comments- just because I know the sensitivity that some
new posters have exhibited recently when confronted.

That is also reflected in your comments.

However, there is little excuse for being lazy and not getting grounded in
the basics before making suppositions and guesses about propolis and pollen
when the information is available. I was tempted to answer a couple of the
posts with answers, but did not, since all I did was look it up myself.

I teach at a local Bee School for beginning beekeepers. One of the first
things I do is give some suggested books to have in their library. The first
is Diane's book, then First Lessons in Beekeeping, and then The Hive and the
Honey Bee. THHB does get slightly out of date with new research, but that is
why I am on this list, to keep myself as up to date as possible with what is
new in (informed) beekeeping.

This is an excellent list for beekeepers, and I thank Aaron for his labor of
love. But it is excellent because it is founded in science (go look up the
original name for the list) even though it drove away many scientists
because of the anti-science Luddites who started posting. We still have
wonderful wars in that arena. It is interesting that most of those willing
to do battle are still around- the person I am answering being one.

Steel does sharpen steel. I have learned much here and have had to stand up
and defend my positions and been proven both right and wrong. It is called
learning. But you better believe I hit the books to make sure what I was
saying was backed up by evidence rather than guesses, and when I did make a
hypothesis (guess), I said so.

Enough. If I have offended anyone.... then I can sleep well tonight... just
joking.

I joke a lot and it does get me in trouble with more sensitive souls. If you
are one, I am sorry.

But then again, was that also a joke?

Sleep well.

Bill Truesdell - Hibernation is good since it keeps you out of trouble.
Bath, Maine

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Access BEE-L directly at:
http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L