<\/a><\/p>\n

At least the honeybee can fly<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lately I\u2019ve been thinking about
\nbees. In the paper a few weeks ago, a headline read:
\n\u2018Parasite blamed for death of 90% of honeybee colonies on Vancouver Island.\u2019
\nThey blamed
\nclimate change or
\na harmful parasite or
\nmaybe both. I didn\u2019t read the whole thing.
\nThere was a picture
\nbut the picture was
\nof a bumblebee
\nsome astute reader
\npointed out
\na day later.<\/p>\n

A bumblebee
\nstores nectar in
\nthe same form
\nit was collected in rather than
\nmaking it into honey
\nlike the honeybees.
\nAnd
\nbumblebees can
\nsting but their stinger
\nlacks barbs
\nor meaning
\nso they can sting you more than once.
\nThey can reach speeds of
\nup to 52 km\/h
\nso
\nyou probably couldn\u2019t
\noutrun a bumblebee.
\nBut
\ntragically,
\naccording to 19^{th<\/sup> century
\nlaws of
\naerodynamics,
\nthe bumblebee is
\nincapable of flight.
\nSomething about
\nbeats per second or
\nthe degree of wing loading.
\nChrist. Don\u2019t tell
\nthe bumblebees.
\nThey would be so upset.
\nMaybe it\u2019s for the best that
\nthey cannot hear these things
\n(for the bumblebee does not have ears),
\nthey probably don\u2019t even know that
\nthere\u2019s an orchestral interlude about their
\nimpossible flight.
\nThey sure must be
\nfast runners and
\ngood jumpers.
\nBecause
\nit definitely
\nseems<\/em> like they are
\nflying. . . .<\/p>\n}

But even though the bumblebee
\nis so athletic and it
\ncan sting you twice
\nwithout dying\u2014
\nthe parasites
\nand the weather are
\nkilling them too.
\nOr if not that
\nthen something related to
\nmistaken identities and
\nthe tragic realization that their
\nflight is
\nimpossible
\nPerhaps.<\/p>\n

As for honeybees,
\nwell.
\nThey make honey and
\nthey make wax.
\nThey find food and
\nthen they use
\na pattern of
\ndance
\nto communicate.
\nImagine!
\nSpeaking\u00a0dance!
\n<\/em>They can\u2019t hear
\neither but
\nno one has written
\nan orchestral interlude about them
\nso that\u2019s ok.
\nMaybe it is better to
\nbe a honeybee
\nyou might think:
\nMaking honey
\nand wax
\nand dancing
\nall day long
\nbut!<\/em>
\nthe worker honeybees:
\nthey sting with
\nmeaning
\nand die afterwards.
\nAnd the drone honeybees:
\nthey mate with
\nmeaning
\nand die afterwards.
\nTalk about
\ndamned if you do and
\ndamned if you don\u2019t.
\nOh well,
\nI suppose that
\nat least
\nthe honeybee can fly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least the honeybee can fly Lately I\u2019ve been thinking about bees. In the paper a few weeks ago, a headline read: \u2018Parasite blamed for death of 90% of honeybee colonies on Vancouver Island.\u2019 They blamed climate change or a harmful parasite or maybe both. I didn\u2019t read the whole thing. There was a picture […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=320"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":321,"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions\/321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}