All this talk of dinks got me wondering, as over here we don't use the term much.  I recall 'Dinky toys' in my youth (a long time ago now), but die-cast small models of motorised vehicles are nothing to do with beekeeping.

OK then, let's Google.  DINKs: Double income, no kids?! Almost the opposite of a beekeeper who generally, as far as I can tell, has more kids than most and substantially less income.

I clicked the 'Enter' box on 'Dinks Dolls' (after first looking over my shoulder) but no, they really are toys for girls of all ages.

What else?  An animated little dinosaur from US children's telly, an industrial US rock band, a person of Far-Eastern origin, being 'delinquent on training', the sound of a golf ball hitting the hole, a fully grown person who looks like they have been dressed by their mother, a military term for a recruit 'Desperately in Need of Knowledge' and ... in volleyball ... tapping the ball just over the net after faking a spike, whatever that is.

Not a peep about beekeeping Dinks.  Did Bob invent the term?  It is time that someone updated Wikipedia.

Anyway, I see in this discussion a basic dichotomy which comes from the two types of dinks and leads to confusion.  I think that it is time to clarify.

Downward Dink: a weak colony in an otherwise healthy apiary.  Something to deride, and something to be removed from an efficient commercial enterprise or at least re-queened at the earliest opportunity.

Upward Dink: a survivor in the midst of collapse.  A special colony that somehow escaped the epidemic, something to treasure and to breed from, in case it had the only genetics around to cope with the disaster that befell its neighbours.

all the best

Gavin


             ***********************************************
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