I am working on a lesson, probably the one after this one, where I will address varroa mites and some natural ways to keep mites under control. But prior to that lesson, I want to put out one more clarion cry for people to help save the bees!
The decline of the honey bee population is alarming. CCD hysteria aside, the decline of honey bees in the US is disturbing. Not only because of the recent concern of Colony Collapse Disorder, but because less and less people are keeping bees. Even before the concern of CCD I was already frightened at the reduction in bee colonies simply due to urbanization and the decline in beekeepers. An absence of honey bees has sent farmers running to the phones begging beekeepers to bring some honey bees to pollinate their crops. I received two such calls last week.
Without the honey bee we face a severe food crises. One third of every bite of food we enjoy is the result of a honey bee. You see, honey bees pollinate. And without adequate pollination, our food supply is in serious trouble unless you want to live on a diet of beans, corn and rice.
Without the honey bee America would have to pay 93 billion dollars A YEAR to do what the honey bee does, if that was even possible. And in reality, no efforts can replace the honey bee. We receive many calls from orchards and melon farmers begging us to bring bees to help them produce a crop. The need for honey bees is tremendous. At times, and in some places, the beekeeper can name any price to rent their hives and the grower will pay it. One grower in Maine pays over $900,000.00 for bees for his blueberries!
In my opinion, the only way we can protect the honey bee from becoming extinct or declining even further is to encourage more and more people to start keeping bees.
One October 28th, 2007, PBS aired a NATURE broadcast entitled, Silence Of The Bee. Several things are worth noting about that broadcast. May Berenbaum, PhD, Entomologist, Univ. of Illinois at U.C. said, "Estimates are that about 600,000 of America's 2.6 million honey bee colonies may have just disappeared". Another interesting observation was that during the broadcast a line came across the screen that encouraged people to go to the PBS website to find out what they could do to help save the honey bee. After the broadcast I followed that link and it basically said that to help save the honey bee more people should become beekeepers. We totally agree! This is our passion.
I am often asked exactly, "What is needed to start my first hive?" My wife might answer you differently than I would. I would encourage you to buy everything at once, all the things you'll need throughout the full year of beekeeping. My wife certainly agrees with me on this, but if she were starting out she would probably buy just enough to get started, and then add to it as the hobby expands. That's because my wife is very frugal with money, spending as little as necessary. I'm a guy. I like to buy big things and everything at once. Why not, I'm going to need it anyway!
To help more people keep bees, our family owned business has developed into 4 areas:
1) Manufacturing of the woodenware, the actual hives.
2) Educating the general public, FREE, on how to keep bees. Of course we educate by offering free mentoring to everyone who purchases a hive from us too.
3) Selling package bees, nucs and queens.
4) And selling honey and other products our hives produce.
People often call and ask what they need to get started. So, we have put together the perfect kit, containing just what you need to start your efforts in helping to save the honey bee.
This complete startup kit is on our website http://www.honeybeesonline.com/ under startup kits, and it's called the "Starter Kit" and it costs $249 plus shipping. If you add in the cost of a 3 lb package of bees with an Italian queen which includes shipping of the bees, the price is $345 plus the cost of shipping the hives. Even this is still a small price to pay to start keeping a hive. Don't forget that I strongly suggest, however, that you start with two hives! This is very important, though not essential if finances are tight. For more information on why you should start with two hives, click on this link to lesson Eighteen, "How Many Hives Should I Start With"?

This will probably be my last opportunity to hit the subject of declining bees so hard within these bee lessons. From here on out, the beekeeping season jumps into full speed and gains speed all the way through November so the lessons will be more hands on, dealing with day to day beekeeping preparation and operations of your hives. So may I challenge you to consider beekeeping! And if you already are keeping bees, then please do your part to encourage others to get on board and start keeping more hives. Bees die, and when they do, don't despair. Replace your dieouts and keep going!
We are here to help you enjoy the wonderful honey bee and the natural products we gather from the hive.

Also, we'd like to post some of the positive comments that you might be willing to share about these beekeeping lessons. So, if you have a positive comment to share about how these lessons have helped you, please send them to: david@honeybeesonline.com and we'll sprinkle them throughout our upcoming lessons. Please include your state and first name.
I can't wait to share my thoughts in our next lesson about varroa mites. I've got a few radical ideas to share, and I think after hearing some of my ideas, you'll agree!
We are still selling 3 lb packaged bees! And we sell at $96, for pick up at our facility only.

Remember, BEE-Have Yourself!

David & Sheri Burns

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If you're anything like me, technology and all that it affords is just one big black hole: you're not sure what goes into it and you have know idea what can come out of it.

Well, I am here to tell you that if you are at all interested in tinkering around in blog land, it's seriously simple. Google (big surprise) makes it very easy to set up and maintain a blog. Just visit www.blogger.com and follow the ultra-intuitive prompts.

You can keep it private or you can share it with the world. I had planned to keep mine private...

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Weekend Splurging

Lots of splurges to report:

1. A GREAT movie on Friday night. I mean TERRIFIC. If you don't know what it's about, don't find out (I had no idea). Just go.

2. Mexican food afterwards.

3. A new 8-inch skillet with my 20 percent off coupon to Bed, Bath, and Beyond

4. A carrot raisin muffin for breakfast from our new coffee shop

5. A swim at the pool later today with the little one and the big guy

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This would be absurdly funny if a human life was not at stake. Saudi Arabia is planning to execute a woman for practicing witchcraft. She appears to have run out of legal options and now the only hope is an intervention by King Abdullah. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has directly appealed to the King for stopping this execution:

The court in Quraiyat, on April 2, 2006 (3/3/1427), sentenced her to death by beheading for the alleged crimes of ““witchcraft, recourse to jinn [supernatural beings], and slaughter” of animals.

Your Highness, the conviction of Fawza Falih for “witchcraft” is a travesty of justice and reveals severe shortcomings in Saudi Arabia’s justice system. The crime of “witchcraft” is not defined by law; judges breached safeguards for a fair trial in existing Saudi law; and there were significant procedural flaws throughout the trial which effectively eradicated her ability to defend herself against the ill-defined charges against her.

So how did the court decide that this is indeed a solid case of "witchcraft"? And you would assume, that since its practice results in capital punishment (!!!), the court would have an ironclad case for proving witchcraft (and in doing so, they may also win James Randi's million dollar award for proving paranormal activity beyond a reasonable doubt). According to the HRW letter:

First, it is not clear what the actual elements if any of the crime of “witchcraft” are, and the offence is not defined in Saudi law. As you know, Saudi Arabia does not have a written penal code that spells out the elements of a given crime. The accusation of witchcraft appears to have been based upon a broad, vague concept, which cannot be said to constitute “law”. Under international human rights law, persons suspected of crimes may only be charged with offenses as established by law, and which are sufficiently clear so that everyone has the possibility to understand clearly what behavior it is that will cause them to violate that law.

Furthermore, in addition to the lack of a clear definition of “witchcraft” in Saudi law and the absence of a written penal code in which to search for such a definition, the judges in the court of Quraiyat did not define the meaning of “witchcraft”, but instead cited a variety of alleged actions, stated intentions, and “tools” for “witchcraft” in a weak attempt to suggest that “witchcraft” had indeed taken place. The court cited one instance in which a man allegedly became impotent after being “bewitched.” In another, a divorced woman reportedly returned to her ex-husband during the month predicted by the witch said to have cast the spell. The court failed to probe alternative explanations for these developments which appear to be ordinary phenomena. Indeed drawing on the illustrations cited by the courts, it is evident that the practice of “witchcraft”, if it exists, is by its nature impossible to prove, since it involves the alleged use of supernatural powers.

Even medieval witch trials required more evidence than what is being used in 21st century Saudi Arabia (for more, here is a wikipedia entry on witch trials).

Fawza Falih is illiterate and the religious police first beat her and then forced to have her fingerprint on a false confession (without even reading it to her). An appeals court halted her execution, but later Saudi court decided that she should be put to death to “protect the creed, souls and property of this country”. (WTF ??!)

Read her full story here. I'm glad that Saudi Arabia's creed will be protected by this execution. But what creed are they exactly talking about? Lets seriously hope that some sanity prevails and King Abdullah halts this absurd execution. But it should be clear that this would not count as any favor or kindness on his part. Decency and any shred of humanity would demand at least this minimum action. in case you are wondering when was the last time the King intervened with the country's courts - just this past December (from Times online):

The last time he issued such a pardon was in December, for an 18-year-old girl from Qatif who was sentenced to lashes after she was gang-raped.

Her sentence was reversed in response to a chorus of international protest, which included rare criticism from Washington, Saudi Arabia’s long-time ally.

Dear King Abdullah:
As you can clearly see, several components of your judicial system are simply repulsive. After this pardon, please revamp the system so it is no longer a stain on human decency and a blatant assault on logic & human reasoning.

sincerely,
The rest of the world.

Update: And here is a CNN report on the case:

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Alright. Get your barf-bags ready again. There is a new inductee in the Sherri Shepherd hall of ignorance (in case you don't remember, Sherri Shepherd is unclear about the shape of the Earth, and believes that history started with Christianity and was surprised to hear about the Romans). This is a clip from Are you smarter than a 5th grader?:


Yikes!!! (and sexist jokes are just part of the gravy)

This clip was the starting point of New York Times article, Are Americans hostile to knowledge? It talks about a number of new books on the topic but focuses on The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby:

But now, Ms. Jacoby said, something different is happening: anti-intellectualism (the attitude that “too much learning can be a dangerous thing”) and anti-rationalism (“the idea that there is no such things as evidence or fact, just opinion”) have fused in a particularly insidious way.

Not only are citizens ignorant about essential scientific, civic and cultural knowledge, she said, but they also don’t think it matters.

She pointed to a 2006 National Geographic poll that found nearly half of 18- to 24-year-olds don’t think it is necessary or important to know where countries in the news are located. So more than three years into the Iraq war, only 23 percent of those with some college could locate Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel on a map.

Ok...then. We are all set for the future. Read the full article here.

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Today Ava and I celebrated her friend Jacob's 2nd birthday at Port Discovery in Baltimore. She didn't even want a story at nap time, just her bed and her blanket.

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I'm not sure where she picked this up, but lately she's been adding "ey's" on to her words, "foodey," "housey," "milkey."

Strangey.

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Does February feel like the longest shortest month to anyone else? Time sure doesn't need any help moving along (and trust me, I'd slow it down if I could) but February seems to be dawdling this year. To spice it up a bit, I jumped at the invite to meet up with some girlfriends for a movie tonight. At the movies. Normally, I look forward to Friday nights with Pete and Ava (doing pretty much the same thing we do Monday through Thursday night, but with that, "It's Friday night" feeling). But I think this little night out will be good for all of us.

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Splurge-not:

I am strictly adhering to my no spending policy. I have only been to the grocery store once this week (I LOVE the grocery store) and I haven't tempted myself with one "oooh this book looks so good!" this week. Pete and I have had a weekly cash allowance since we've been married ($60/week) and so instead of the special coffees and little shirts for Ava, I've been using it to pay for things that I would normally justify as "chargeable" expenses: parking, extra groceries, coffee beans, etc...plus adding more to the poor box at church. So far, so good! And who would've guessed how great it would feel to have a LOW credit card bill at the end of the month and being giving more to people who probably need it, well, more!

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Oh my gosh.

If you want to laugh (hard) you must read my incredibly talented brother's column in tonight's paper.
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Here is a Reasonable Doubts podcast interview that deals with science and (Islamic) pseudoscience in the Islamic world. There is also a good discussion of the differences between Islam and Christianity when tackling issues of modern science. Taner Edis is the author of An Illusion of Harmony: Science and religion in Islam, which is an excellent introduction to the topic (he also has a blog, The Secular Outpost). Here is the link to the podcast and his interview starts a few minutes into the podcast. The second part of the interview is not available yet, but it will discuss some of the blistering criticisms of Islam (for example, by Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, etc) and the apologist end of the spectrum. I will provide a link when its available.
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Happy Valentine's Day to you!

And Happy Belated birthday to my friends Leah (2/6), Kristin (2/12)

We're playing toss and catch with some illness in our house, hope it's not the case where you are!

I'll be back in action soon. Keep checking back!
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There have been a series of good recent plays that have tackled the complex issues of faith and reason on stage. Darwin's struggle with religion were depicted in Trumpery and more recently, Spinoza's atheism was the center piece in New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 27, 1656. Now here is another play, Grace, that depicts an atheist mother in dialogue with her son who wants to become an Episcopal priest:

Grace, commandingly played by Lynn Redgrave, is a professor of natural science who appears to spend most of her classroom hours ridiculing the notion of intelligent design and giving rousing speeches denouncing religious fanaticism. Her atheism — oops, sorry Grace — her “naturalism” is sorely tested when her son, Tom (Oscar Isaac), reveals that he has decided to give up the practice of law to become an Episcopal priest. Grace’s fire-breathing response suggests that she would rather hear that he had opted for the white slave trade.

While the review is a bit lukeworm, the play still seems interesting (and it has a superb cast of actors). It is written by a combination of a playwright (Mike Gordon) and a philosopher (AC Grayling) and appears to tackle some of the science & religion issues seriously:

The important moment in which Tom announces his decision to his parents is, frustratingly, elided in the play’s overly fussy structure. But soon he and Grace are squaring off in heated debates about the possibility (or lack thereof) of blending faith and reason, and the best way to combat the perilous rise of fanaticism.

Grace, who initially dismisses Tom’s calling as a form of “teenage revenge,” later accuses him of complicity in the rising tide of faith-fueled conflict. “Your language and your beliefs provide the context in which Scriptural literalism and religious violence can never be adequately opposed,” she lectures.

Tom retorts: “You’re never going to turn the world’s religious into atheists. If that’s what you’re trying to do, you’re going to lose. The best we can hope for is to turn bad, violent religion into better religion, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

and as for the relationship between the mother and her son:

Ms. Redgrave, her captivating blue eyes glittering with righteousness, delivers Grace’s orations with a fine ferocity. She has a bravura scene in the play’s last moments, as Grace’s carapace cracks to reveal the wounded, desperate mother beneath the carefully maintained armature of the intellectual. But all the humanity in the performance seems to be cordoned off into this scene; earlier intimations that Grace is not just appalled but also anguished at her son’s decision would give the play more nuance.

There is also a mention of The Matrix in the play in reference to religion (huh??). But I guess, I'll have to see the play to make any comments on that. Its playing at the Lucille Lortel Theater (NYC) until March 8th.

Read the full review here.
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The doctor told me I had contracted the "flu's cousin" last week. So I was feeling down and a bit uninspired (my excuse for limited blog posts). Fortunately, Pete was spared and Ava seems to have walked away with congestion only. I say "only" but I'm sure she'd have a whole lot more to say about it seeing how a stuffy nose significantly complicates the thumb sucking process.

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Our local television station is airing a series on bed and breakfasts. I've never stayed at one, but I can't stop daydreaming about the one they profiled this morning, Pleasant Springs Farm Bed & Breakfast. Maybe Peg (the innkeeper) will let us move in.

I am just as attracted by the homemade breakfast made from Peg's chicken's eggs and the peach cobbler from her orchard's peaches (and yarn spun from her sheeps' wool!) as I am by her. In her short 2-minute interview on tv, she exhibited the kindness and peace of a cozy April morning.

I would sound cavalier and shallow to say, "I want to open a bed and breakfast"--understanding that it requires more skill, work, and talent than I have to muster. But I think what it is that I want, after thinking about this bed and breakfast all morning, is the simplicity it inspires.

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Splurge

Pete and Ava tackled the laundry and played some basketball while I slipped out to the bookstore. Not to read or to buy or to browse, but to write.

Oh, and I did splurge on some new watercolors for Ava. We should be busy at that today.

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Here is a round-up of Scientology related disaster news and views. Of course, the latest round of PR disaster started when the Church of Scientology tried to remove Tom Cruise's (creepy?) celebration of Scientology video from the internet website gawker.com. Now a group of cyber-hackers, called Anonymous, have decided to retaliate against the Church. (Its not all gloomy for the Church - Will Smith recently became a Scientologist - nooo!!). So here is a collection of different Scientology related items in one post.

First a summary from a Newsweek article about Anomymous:

These are unfriendly times to be a Scientologist. In December, Germany's Interior Ministry moved to ban the organization, which has tax-exempt religious status in the United States. In January, St. Martin's Press published Andrew Morton's salacious unauthorized biography of Tom Cruise, which describes the star as its de facto second in command. The church responded with a 15-page statement, calling the book "a bigoted, defamatory assault replete with lies" and saying Cruise "is a Scientology parishioner and holds no official or unofficial position in the Church hierarchy." Jenna Hill Miscavige, a niece of church leader David Miscavige who left the fold in 2005, this week came out in support of Morton and slammed the organization for, among other things, its practice of "disconnection--essentially severing contact with family members seen as hostile to the group.

Anonymous was planning its attack for today (Sunday) and here is a bit more about them:

Now, a loose-knit consortium of hackers and activists calling itself "Anonymous" has declared "war" on the organization. In a creepy YouTube clip addressed to the "leaders of Scientology," a robotic voice announces "with the leakage of your latest propaganda video into mainstream circulation, the extent of your malign influence over those who trust you as leaders has been made clear to us. Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed." (The clip has been viewed more than 2 million times since it was posted Jan. 21.)

The attack, says Anonymous, was spurred at least in part by what they consider to be the latest example of the church's secretive and litigious nature. Earlier this year, an internal 2004 church interview with Tom Cruise was leaked online. The actor, who called being a Scientologist a "blast," was seen railing against the practice of psychiatry and boasting, among other things, "we are the authorities of the mind ... we can bring peace and unite communities." The church attempted to have the videos taken down from the gossip site Gawker, claiming the material was copyrighted, selectively edited and that Cruise's performance was meant for private consumption. It's an argument that does have legal merit.

Read the full article here.

It has been tricky to deal with Scientology. I have been of the opinion that Scientology has perhaps been singled out unfairly (I have a soft spot for most UFO religions - c'mon...how can you not like Unarians and their Interplanetary Concave of Light celebration??). The German ban on Scientology, especially, seemed a bit extreme and raised the question of how do you really differentiate between cults and religions and who gets to decide that? Perhaps the focus should be on certain practices of a cult or a religion (why should mainstream religions escape that criticism?). I don't know if this was made pubic, but Germany should have provided a list of explicit complaints about Scientology. This can lead to explicit debate about specific practices - such as Disconnection or whether they prevent access to certain essential medicine, etc. Even then, one can ban certain practices and not necessarily the entire religion (for example, polygamy in the US for Mormons). If they don't comply, then impose a ban - but let them have freedom of practice of their religion.

That said, some of the concerns I had were answered in this excellent Point of Inquiry podcast interview with a former Scientology member, Tory Christman. I really liked the questions that the host of the show, D.J. Grothe, raised, especially about the reasons for singling out Scientology. I don't think all of the questions were answered, but still, the interview provided a good snapshot of the organization and reasons to be worried about it. Here is the interview: Anti-Science Scientology?

And now back to Tom Cruise video. Of course, within days it also generated spoofs. Here is one by Jerry O'Connell (but to appreciate it, please first see the original Tom Cruise video).


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I want to take a break today from our beekeeping lessons and share some thought with you today.

Ask any beekeeper and he or she will quickly tell you that  beekeeping is a wonderful hobby, but it can be hard work. A hive or two in the backyard is certainly different that having several hundred hives. I currently operate around 40 hives and I do consider it hard work, but not the kind of hard work that is unenjoyable.

Bees are our business. On our way to buy groceries, we talk about bees. At supper, we often talk about beekeeping techniques, or the health of our hives or the orders that we need to get out. We do this not because we are overwhelmed, but because we love beekeeping that much! 

Long Lane Honey Bee Farms has four legs to our family operated business: Hive Woodenware Production 2) Honey Production 3) Package Bee & Queen Production and 4) Beekeeping Education. All of these together indeed make for hard but very enjoyable and rewarding work. I enjoy hard work.

Solomon in all his wisdom wrote, "Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work--this is a gift of God" (Ecclesiastes 5:19).

We can work hard and be happy in our hard work as long as we are enjoying it. I've had many jobs! I walked crops as a teenager, worked in a factory, worked hard to obtain my college degree, worked as a salesman and worked for a radio station. Some of those jobs I liked others I didn't enjoy much. But working the bee business is a blast. It has become a passion, a wonderful blessing to my family and me.

Hey, let me be up front. Plenty of large companies sell hives. They have beautiful catalogs, a bank of 800 number sales people ready to take your calls and certainly they can meet your beekeeping needs. If that's what you are looking for, then you should probably deal with the big boys. I would never run them down to promote ourselves. That's not good business.

We are building our business on the idea and belief that there are still some folks who appreciate the small family operated business, where loyalties are established and respected. I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee back in the 60s, and down the street from me was a family owned grocery store called "Jay's Lucky Foods". That's where I traded in my empty coke bottles for candy money and rotted my teeth out on bubble gum and a ten cent coke.  My parents were loyal to Jay and his store, always buying everything from his store. They didn't have to, but something about loyalty and trust...

We appreciate our loyal customers and friends of our business. The communities that we live near have been so generous and kind toward our business. Everyone is so supportive and encouraging. For example, in the picture to the left, you can see our first sign. It was handed painted and made by my wife's parents and friends from their church. They did that just for us! Sheri's mom, Virginia Henness, is at the far left standing next to me.  I believe most people see our hard work and tremendous effort we place in our honey, our hives and our woodenware products we make and want to support our efforts. We appreciate it so much.

But we are much more than just a business trying to make a buck. Don't get me wrong...we have to make a profit. But it's not only about the bottom line with us. To us, it's about seeing people grasp our love and appreciation for one of God's creation, the honey bee. It's about us doing what we can to help people catch our vision and passion of enjoying keeping bees. It's about bridging the gap between a wonderful hobby and the skeptical beginner. It's about meeting wonderful people who need to ask some questions about bees.

Last year, we spent hundreds of hours on the phone answering questions, giving advice and encouragement to new beekeepers. One man needed a bee-vac but couldn't pay for it all at once. I sent it to him and just asked him to pay me as he could. We're just kinda that way, I guess.

We believe that if we work hard and share our trials and successes with you, that you'll understand that we are everyday folks you can feel comfortable dealing with. We're kind of like your corner grocery market. Huge mega stores have gobbled up mom and pop operations. To me, that is sad. I had an offer to buy wood for our hives $200 cheaper than my local lumber yard. I turned down the offer because my lumber yard is a family owned business that treats us like gold. Sure, $200 bucks a month is a huge savings, but loyalty and trust is priceless.

Call me weird, but I still believe in America, and people pursing their dreams.  That's what you have helped my family do. I was raised by hard working parents who trusted in Jesus and survived the great depression and World War II. My dad taught me how to treat people right, how to be honest and to work hard. I'm not perfect, but I am doing my best to make our bee business something we can do to feed our family and a place where you can rely on for all your beekeeping needs.  I just want to say that I appreciate your business and interest in our beekeeping hobby gone wild! We'll keep working hard to earn and keep your business. So, when you call us, either my wife or I will take your call. When you place your order with us, you are helping us accomplish our dreams!

We are able to meet all of your product needs, including package bees, queens, hives, nucs, honey, wax, beekeeping tools, frames, foundation, protective clothing, extractors, bee medicines, and everything else!

Feel free to give us a call Mon. - Fri. 9am - 5pm at 217-427-2678 or email us at: david@honeybeesonline.com

When you visit our website www.honeybeesonline.com you may not see what you need listed on our site. We are slow in getting all products listed. So just call us up and tell us what you'll need. We can take a credit card order over the phone and ship out your order.

See you next time, and remember...BEE-Have Yourself!
David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms 

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Last week's New Yorker has a nice long review of David Levering Lewis's God’s Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570 to 1215 (if you have time, please read the full review). Apart from analyzing the book (she has some quibbles, but likes it overall), the review does a great job of summarizing some key aspects of Islamic Al-Andalus years in southern Spain:

In any case, however much Muhammad’s immediate successors may have struggled with their souls, they also, in the eighty-some years following his death, conquered Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Anatolia, Iraq, and Persia. By the beginning of the eighth century, Muslim forces stood at the northwest corner of Africa. There, only the Strait of Gibraltar, nine miles wide, separated them from the Iberian Peninsula. Iberia at that time was ruled by the Visigoths, a Christian people who did their best to wipe out other religions within their territory—Judaism, for example. There is some evidence that the Iberian Jews invited the Muslims to invade. In 711, they did so. The state that they established in Iberia, and maintained for almost four centuries, is the subject of David Levering Lewis’s “God’s Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570 to 1215”

Lewis actually claims that Muslim armies did a favor to Europe by invading the continent:

The Muslims came to Europe, he writes, as “the forward wave of civilization that was, by comparison with that of its enemies, an organic marvel of coordinated kingdoms, cultures, and technologies in service of a politico-cultural agenda incomparably superior” to that of the primitive people they encountered there. They did Europe a favor by invading. This is not a new idea, but Lewis takes it further: he clearly regrets that the Arabs did not go on to conquer the rest of Europe. The halting of their advance was instrumental, he writes, in creating “an economically retarded, balkanized, and fratricidal Europe that . . . made virtues out of hereditary aristocracy, persecutory religious intolerance, cultural particularism, and perpetual war.” It was “one of the most significant losses in world history and certainly the most consequential since the fall of the Roman Empire.” This is a bold hypothesis.

She sets the book in the context of post colonial writing and a reaction to anti-Islam sentiment after 9/11. Thus, she says, Lewis focuses on the multi-culti component of Spain under Islamic rule, especially under the reign of Abd al Rehman I who took over in 756:

Rahman was the founder of Muslim Spain’s famous convivencia. Translated literally, the word means “living together,” in spite of differences, and this idea is the burning center of “God’s Crucible.” I think it is the reason that Lewis chose to write about Muslim Spain. He is not an Arabist. He is best known for a two-volume biography of W. E. B. Du Bois (1993 and 2000), which won two Pulitzer Prizes, one for each volume. But that book, if it is not about Arabs, is about racial justice, and it is for the furtherance of such justice that Lewis so admires Rahman. Nevertheless, as he points out, the convivencia had its limits. It was not just a humane policy—an act of obedience to the Koran (“There shall be no compulsion in religion”) and a way of being civilized—but also a matter of Realpolitik. Iberia was a ragbag of religious and ethnic groups. Tolerance, what we would now call multiculturalism, was more likely to hold them together than forced conversion. Furthermore, the convivencia never involved complete equality. In the early years, a number of restrictions were placed on Jews and Christians. They had to wear identification badges. They could not proselytize, and they were required to pray quietly. Their houses could not be taller than Muslims’ houses. Most important, they had to pay a heavy tax, called the jizya. In time, many of these rules (not including the tax) fell away. Jews, especially, were allowed to enter public service, as scribes, clerks, advisers. They taught the Muslims how to run a government, Lewis writes. The golden age of Al Andalus, he says, was also the golden age of Sefarad, the Sephardic Jews. But even those who did not have brilliant careers no doubt found badges and taxes preferable to forced conversion or death. Eventually, many Jews and Christians did convert—probably, in many cases, to avoid the tax. At the end of the eighth century, the vast majority of people in Iberia were Christians. Two hundred years later, the majority were Muslims.

After talking about Charlemagne and the later fall of the Franks, the review returns to the intellectual and artistic contributions of Al-Andalus. I like the connection of Averroes and Maimonides to Thomas Aquinas and to the development of Greek thought in western Europe:

Instead, he turns to Muslim Spain’s contributions to learning, which peaked as its political situation was declining. Architecture continued to flourish (the Alhambra, in Granada, was begun in the thirteenth century), as did music, poetry, science, and mathematics. It is thanks to Muslim Spain that we no longer have to cope with Roman numerals. Paper-making technology was imported from China. The central library of Córdoba housed four hundred thousand volumes. But Al Andalus’s most lasting cultural achievement was its translation and elaboration of ancient Greek texts. In the tenth century, the physician Hasdai ibn Shaprut supervised an Arabic translation of the Greek De Materia Medica, by Dioscorides, a surgeon to the Roman army in the first century. Retranslated into Latin, this treatise was a standard medical reference until the Enlightenment. In the twelfth century, Averroës (Ibn Rushd) wrote his commentaries on Aristotle, and Moses Maimonides (Musa ibn Mayum) produced his Aristotle-inflected “Guide to the Perplexed.” Both these Córdoban philosophers took on the task of reconciling reason with faith, of proving that there was a God. For the Christian world, that job would be done by the Scholastics, above all by St. Thomas Aquinas, whose writings were the basis of European philosophy from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. But Aquinas relied heavily on Averroës’s reading of Aristotle. Insofar as Western culture grew out of Greek culture, and became “classical,” it did so because the scholars of Al Andalus transmitted Greek thought to western Europe.

By the twelfth century, though, such thought was dangerous in Spain. (Averroës’s books were burned; some were lost permanently.) It was more dangerous on the part of Jews, like Maimonides. He died in exile, bitterly reproaching his homeland for its abandonment of liberal ideas. (Here one thinks of the European Jews of the nineteen-thirties.) With the deaths of those two men, the lights go out in “God’s Crucible.”

This is an excellent review. I have only extracted out aspects that are relevant to the blog. But if you have time, read the full article and you will get a nice historical perspective of the time period and (obviously) a fuller critique of the book.
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Well, this is not exactly a shocker, but there is a new World Bank report out bemoaning the declining standards of education in the Arab world.

In its report, the World Bank issued a stark warning about the need for better education in the Arab world.

It said that although education was becoming more accessible and the gender gap was being reduced, the region had not witnessed the positive changes seen in Asia and Latin America, particularly in literacy rates and enrolments in secondary schools and universities.

And this is where the unemployment timebomb kicks in:

Mr Muasher said educational reform went hand in hand with economic development, especially given the region's extremely high youth population.

"It's a very youthful region - 60% of the region's population is under 30 years of age, close to 100m new jobs will need to be created over the next 10 to 15 years in the Arab world," he explained.

And for an idea of the level of illiteracy rate in Middle East:

Another study carried out in January by the Tunis-based Arab League Educational Cultural and Scientific Organisation found that 30% of the approximately 300 million people in the Arab World were illiterate.

Actually, this is better than what I had expected. For example, Pakistan's literacy rate is around 50% in a population of 170 million. Yikes!!! And this is a very generous estimate - literacy is counted as the ability to write one's own name.

Read the full story here. You can also download pdf of the World Bank report (with a lively title): The road not traveled - Education reform in the Middle East and North Africa.

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Ok...you really don't want to upset him by rejecting evolution (tip from pharyngula):

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This article claims that "little splurges" (like the ones I indulge in and then write about every day) are the killers of our savings and debt-free efforts.

They follow it up with this "talk back" segment, asking people post their guilty splurges. And they do...18 pages worth!

Splurge of the Day

Are you kidding? After reading about how my splurges are compromising my ability to save for Ava's education, I am breaking up with splurging (for today). Besides, there are 18 pages of other people's splurges to read about...I'm sure they're much more interesting than what I'm buying at the grocery store, for crying out loud.

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There is an interesting story in today's New York Times about archaeological evidence pointing to the worship of deities before Zeus took over for the Greeks.

Before Zeus hurled his first thunderbolt from Olympus, the pre-Greek people occupying the land presumably paid homage and offered sacrifices to their own gods and goddesses, whose nature and identities are unknown to scholars today.

But archaeologists say they have now found the ashes, bones and other evidence of animal sacrifices to some pre-Zeus deity on the summit of Mount Lykaion, in the region of Greece known as Arcadia. The remains were uncovered last summer at an altar later devoted to Zeus.

Fragments of a coarse, undecorated pottery in the debris indicated that the sacrifices might have been made as early as 3000 B.C., the archaeologists concluded. That was about 900 years before Greek-speaking people arrived, probably from the north in the Balkans, and brought their religion with them.

The excavators were astonished. They were digging in a sanctuary to Zeus, in Greek mythology the father of gods and goddesses. From texts in Linear B, an ancient form of Greek writing, Zeus is attested as a pre-eminent god as early as 1400 B.C. By some accounts, the birthplace of Zeus was on the heights of Lykaion.

After reviewing the findings of pottery experts, geologists and other archaeologists, David Gilman Romano of the University of Pennsylvania concluded that material at the Lykaion altar “suggests that the tradition of devotion to some divinity on that spot is very ancient” and “very likely predates the introduction of Zeus in the Greek world.”

Of course, it gets a bit more complicated as victorious groups would appropriate gods (and their places of worships) of the defeated group and rename them. This would be symbolic of dominance and, at the same time, allow for an easier transition to the new god.

“You have some god being worshiped on a mountaintop, and the arriving Greeks have translated the god as ‘Zeus,’ their god of the sky, lightning, weather and so on,” Dr. Dowden said. “It’s going to be pretty close to what they found there, and given the site, it makes very good sense.”The affinities of Roman gods and goddesses to earlier Greek ones are well known. Jupiter, for example, is a virtual stand-in for Zeus. In antiquity it was perhaps no heresy to have different names for the same deity.

And monotheistic religions later did the same. Hence the appropriation of many pagan traditions by Christians (for example, Christmas may have been appropriated from the Roman festival of Sol Invictus) and of Arab polytheistic traditions by Islam (for example, Allah was the name of the supreme deity worshiped by pagans in pre-Islamic Arabia). Back to the Mount Lykaion discovery:

Dr. Nordquist said that she preferred the explanation that the Lykaion site was indeed used as a cult sanctuary in the time before Zeus. Little is known of the pre-Greek inhabitants, but some scholars think they originated in what is now western Turkey.

“We do not yet know exactly how the altar was first used in this early period, 3000-2000 B.C., or whether it was used in connection with natural phenomena such as wind, rain, lightning or earthquakes, possibly to worship some kind of divinity, male or female, or a personification representing forces of nature,” Dr. Romano said. “But this is what we are thinking at this moment.”

Read the full story here.

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My parents called today to see how we were doing. They live in New York and were getting ready to go vote in the primary election. They asked Ava who she was going to vote for and without hesitation she replied, "Santa Claus."

He'd be my pick, too.

::

Super Splurge Tuesday

I picked up some Mint Hot Chocolate at Trader Joe's. I'm not feeling real well still, so I don't know that I'll splurge on it tonight, but I am comforted to know that I could if I wanted to.

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"Usability and the utility, not the visual design, determine the success or failure of a web-site."10 Principles Of Effective Web DesignInteresting article.
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Here's my family throwing me a 48th birthday party at a local steak house. We had a great time. My wife and I are the ones next to our newest baby in the seat, little Christian. At one time or another, I've talked everyone in the picture into helping me out with the bee business :)

Now for today's lesson...

We all like to save a buck and many people want to get started keeping bees by luring a hive out of a wall of their home, barn, garage or from a tree. It is a frequently asked question, "Can I lure the bees out of the wall by placing an empty hive next to the wall?" It is a good question.

Last November I received a call from a couple who noticed bees flying around the bushes in front of their home. They thought they had a swarm. This was November 13, when there are NO SWARMS. I expected to find a handful of yellow jackets that must have survived the killer frosts. Upon inspection, sure enough, I noticed honey bees flying in and out of the north wall of their home, going in just below the siding. The owners really wanted me to place an empty hive next to the house to see if the bees would leave the wall and take up residence in the hive I placed next to the wall. I tried to convince them, that it would never happen, but I obliged them. That was in November and so you'll have to stay tuned to these lessons because in the spring, I'll go back and give you an update. However, I can pretty much guess now that the bees did not leave their nice warm hive inside the wall. Here is a video of the empty hive I placed next to their wall.




Does this work? Well, I've learned to never say never, but I am really tempted here to say never, but as soon as I do, someone will do it! So let me explain why it is nearly impossible and why it would rarely happen.
An established hive in a wall of a structure has a combination of brood in various stages, stored pollen, nectar and stored honey. They have worked very hard to build drawn comb. The queen's pheromone is prominent in the hive. Why would they leave? There is too much to take care of. They are busy feeding young baby bees and storing honey. They would never abandon their hive short of some disease such as CCD, and then you would not want the bees anyway. Remember, that a colony of bees is actually scientifically considered a single organism. 60,000 bees acting as one single organism. They are dependent upon each other, working together to make their hive function. This is why it is nearly impossible to lure it out of a safe home.

Don't be fooled. If you place an empty hive next to the wall where the bees live, you might see lots of bees going into your empty hive. But more than likely they are merely searching it for resources such as any beeswax on frames, or honey.
The only way, as far as I am concerned, to remove a hive from a structure is to remove every last bit of comb and remove the queen as well. If you leave the queen, but take a considerable number of bees, the hive has not bee removed and will rebuild.

Some try to place a funnel made of screen over the entrance hole on the house with the large end of the screen funnel against the house and the smaller end toward the open sky. The theory is that the bees can get out, but they will not try to enter back into the small opening on the screen funnel. This is not effect as the queen WILL NEVER come out and the hive could die within the wall because the foragers cannot bring back food. You, or people who call you to remove a hive, do not want a bee hive to die in a wall. I'll tell you why in just a moment.

Also, for those who choose to spray poison in the hole in the house, let me warn you that this is not effective. First, it is very difficult to saturate the hive enough to kill it entirely due to the way the comb is large and layered. Secondly, if you were to kill it, then you will have a larger problem. Now you have unprotected honey which, without bees to tend to it, will run, ooze, and drip attracting such other pests as roaches, mice and even black mold. This can happen too, if you lure out the bees through a screen funnel but the queen is left inside with the young bees. It is critical to have a beekeeper remove the hive entirely from the home. Take a look at this hive I removed. It was huge and took a full day to remove. You can click on the image to download the full size image.



You'll receive calls from friend and neighbors asking you to remove hives from various kinds of structures and if you notice in the image above, you see very few bees. That's because we manufacture a specially made bee-vac that vacuums the bees safely into a cage. Otherwise, there would be thousands upon thousands of bees flying around protecting and defending the brood and honey in the picture. The brood is toward the center of the pictures, toward the lower left. It is a bit lighter in color, a leather brown color. Sealed honey can be noticed at the top of the picture. If you'd like to inquire about one of our bee-vacs click here
Why would you leave your house and move into an empty garage? Bees will not either!
WHAT ABOUT SWARM LURES
Swarm lures are different in that when using a swarm lure, you are not trying to lure a hive out of a dwelling, but you are trying to invite a swarm into you hive or trap. In other words, a swarm is a natural split from a larger hive. They leave with a queen and send scouts out to find a nice new home. This is how bee colonies multiply, kind of like having children. The scouts can be attracted to your hive or swarm lure because of the scent. For that matter the whole hive can be drawn to your swarm lure. The scouts can go back then, and inform the swarm that they have found a home and lead them to your box. Now a couple of things have to happen for this to be successful.

1) An existing hive has to produce a swarm very close to where you live and this usually only occurs in May-June.
2) Scouts bees have to happen on to your lure scent or hive. It's a big world out there and such a small bee to find your box.

Last summer I had hundreds of bee boxes with drawn comb stored in a friend's barn. One day, I received a call that thousands of bees were in his barn. Great! I concluded that a swarm was moving into some of those boxes. But, he was right and I was wrong. There were thousands of bees, but it was not a swarm. They were just smelling out some dried honey smells and looking around. But imagine thousands of bees knowing how great of a home those boxes with drawn comb would have made. You would have thought that if any hives in the area were to swarm, this is where they would go. They never did.

HOW TO REMOVE A HIVE FROM A STRUCTURE

How do you remove a hive from a structure? Saws, hammers, pry bars, ladders, lights, extension cords, drills and all the other tools you need to build a house :) It is pretty intensive. I actually have a long check list of tools and supplies I need to do the job, and I load the truck the day before.

You have to decide where the hive is located by using a stethoscope. Then you have to decide, along with the home owner if you should enter the wall from the outside by removing siding or the inside by removing drywall. To me, it is much easier to remove dry wall, and less work to repair. But it just depends on the siding and backer board.

You should also sign a contract with the home owner specifying that you are NOT a bonded contractor and that you will not be responsible for damages. In a perfect world it is best for the home owner to have their favorite handy man there to open up the wall and close up too. But do have it in writing. By the way, most home owners pay between $200 - $1000 to have bees removed.

I only open enough of the structure to begin using my bee vac to vacuum the exposed bees. Then, I remove more of the structure and vacuum more bees. I continue this until I have all the bees removed. On a large hive this takes several hours. Once all the bees are removed, I begin to tear out the comb.

I then take the bee vac full of bees and dump them into an empty hive, queen and all, then I process all the honey from the hive and process the good wax. It can be a profitable venture in that the home owner may pay you $500, you can then sell the honey and bees wax for another $300 if the hive is large, and you obtained a free full size hive, worth at least $150. Do the math, not bad for a day's work. But it is work! I wear a full suit, duct tape every hole and wear boots and heavy gloves. You must, because unlike working your hives at home, you are tearing up and attacking a hive.

We've spent a long time perfecting our version of the bee-vac, adjusting the air suction so it does not injure the bees and adding padding in the right places so the bees are not knocked against walls when drawn into the cage. These bee vacs are great to use on swarms too, especially swarms that are too high to shake out of a tree or hanging on the side of a building. Here's what our bee vac looks like.



Every beekeeper who is interested in retrieving swarms or hives would benefit greatly in owning a bee-vac, and beekeeping associations could have one on hand to lend to its members!

Finally today, let me remind you of the check list for what you need now that spring is almost here.
[] Hives wooden ware
[] Plenty of honey supers, at least 3 per hive
[] Protective clothing such as hat/veil, suit
[] Smoker and hive tool
[] Place your 3 lb package bee order
[] Sugar water spray bottle
[] Pallets or blocks to place your hives on
[] Review all lessons so that you can hit the ground running!
We provide one year of free mentoring when you purchase your hives and bees from us. That means that you can call us and get advise on your problems or general beekeeping questions.
We are still providing packaged bees, 3 lb packages with Italian queen for pick up. Give us a call at the number below if you need bees for your hives.
If you still need to purchase items for your beekeeping needs, go to: http://www.honeybeesonline.com/
Until next time, remember to Bee-have yourself!
David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
217-427-2678 (Mon. - Fri. 9am - 5pm)
Email us at: david@honeybeesonline.com


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I'm back from the conference and have barely survived a grueling teaching day. So things will soon get to normal here on the blog.

Here is a video showing evolution in 5 minutes and 48 seconds (tip from openculture)



I'm not sure how useful this video is. Perhaps with an audio track it becomes amazing, but it seems to show without much motivation (especially towards the latter part). The timing clock, though, is good. In contrast check out this simple animation from Sagan's Cosmos and see how effective this is:


and of course, somebody had a brilliant idea of combining Sagan's words and animation with the more recent one (top) for an interesting result:


Enjoy!
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The stories that some of you have sent me (okay, my dad and my sister) regarding the history of your name, the application of it, the meaning of it...all demonstrate that there is so much more to a name than what it brings up on spell check... KEEP SENDING THEM! Or at least write down what you do know for your children, your someday children, grandchildren, friends, loves, whomever.

Just write it down.

(and send it along if you want to share it...and indicate if you'd rather I not publish it.)

::

Here's the story of Ava France's name. We thought she was going to be a boy. Were convinced. So after I delivered her and the doctor announced she was a girl we had a little scrambling to do. We had discussed the names Julia and Ava at different points...but she felt immediately like an Ava and that's what we called her--without any discussion.

A couple of days after I was home from the hospital, I was reading an email from an old professor of mine (my favorite). Pete was in the kitchen doing something, dishes maybe, and listening to the Beatles. In his email, my professor was remarking on the name we had chosen and wrote, "Ava's a beautiful name--makes me think of birds, flight, spirit..." I read that line (I'm not kidding) at exactly the minute the "Free as a Bird" came through the speakers. It was a very distinct moment that I will not forget.

Ava definitely suits Ava if you think of her name the way my professor did. But if you want to know the truth, it's exactly what she provides for us, everyday.

Oh, and Frances is a family name on both sides: my grandmother's and mother's middle name; my grandfather's first name (though with an "i"); Pete's grandmother's sister's name.

So, in addition to Ava, we also call her, "Franny, Fanny, and Francey pants."

::

I'm experiencing my first ever sinus cold and it isn't pleasant. I have newfound empathy for those who experience them regularly, which is a miserable thought. Nothing this uncomfortable should be regular.

I took Sudafed "nighttime", and while it helped to clear my head from sinus stuff, it made it race with other stuff.

::

Super-Splurge-Sunday:

What a game! Yippeee. When I think of a Giants fan, I think of my husband Pete as a little boy, all decked out in his blue "56" Lawrence Taylor shirt and matching white football pants. I couldn't find the picture to enhance the visual of that image, but I'll keep looking.

Our friends hosted a kid-friendly superbowl party that included everything from macaroni and cheese, chili and cornbread, nachos and sour cream, and peanut butter chocolate bars. Splurges splurges everywhere!

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Hello everyone, from Long Lane Honey Bee Farm in Central Illinois! Today, I want to share some thoughts on QUEEN EXCLUDERS, but before I do, take a look at these pictures.
A few summers ago, I took this beautiful picture after a brief rain. We became known on Ebay with this picture! Someone even suggested we should make this picture into a poster and sell it. During the winter, this picture gives us all hope of spring rains, flowers, bees, nectar and rainbows! I can't wait.
But back to reality, it's February and here's what my hives looked like on the first day of February. I believe in removing the snow off the top of the hives ASAP, because on a warm day, the melting snow can drip and run into the hive in places that rain would not. In the picture above you can see the difference between the two hives with snow on the left, and the hives on the right that have been cleared of snow.
I also clear out the bottom board occasionally. It's so much work for the bees to do, that I feel like I can help them out some. Plus, to me, it seems the less dead bees in the hive, the healthier it is. The picture above, taken Feb. 1, 2008, shows dead bees that I have raked off the bottom board with a stick. This is a normal amount of dead bees during the winter.
LESSON 24: QUEEN EXCLUDERS: Pros & Cons
What is a queen excluder. A queen excluder is a metal or plastic material that looks somewhat like a grill which is sized so that worker bees can pass through, but the queen and most drones are too big and therefore are excluded from passing through. Thus the name Queen Excluder.
When & Why To Use A Queen Excluder
The most common use of a queen excluder is to place it directly above your top brood box. Then, all honey supers are placed above the excluder. The excluder then is able to keep the queen in the brood chambers and excludes her from getting into the honey super and laying eggs. Excluders are also used in hives where the beekeeper is operating a two queen hive.
I generally do not use queen excluders on my hives for several reasons. 1) To me, they are high maintenance. The bees often attach comb to the excluder thus reducing the passageway, 2) Drones can become stuck and reduce the passageway, 3) I want my bees to be able to easily go in and out of the honey super, so I fear that the excluder discourages the bees from filling a super if they have to work their way through an excluder.
I am often asked whether a new beekeeper should use a queen excluder. For the most part, I would say yes. However, when that same new beekeeper calls me up and tells me his bees are not going up into the top super, I would recommend removing the excluder. This is why I am reluctant to recommend queen excluders. Some beekeepers call them honey excluders.
You're probably wanting to know what I do to keep the queen out of my supers if I do not use queen excluders, right?
I monitor the location of my queens. This is why, in early spring, I rotate my two deep hive bodies. I want to work the queen down to the bottom of the hive as she typically will work her way up. Coming out of winter the bottom deep brood hive body is usually empty, and so by placing the queen below 10 frames of empty drawn comb, she can begin laying with plenty of room and this will slow her movement to the upper honey super. So, an experience beekeeper can keep an eye on the queen and move her back down as he see fit. Here's an illustration I drew up to help you see how to rotate your hive bodies in the spring.


On the other hand, a new beekeeper may not want to monitor and reposition the queen, or rotate the hive bodies so in this case, a queen excluder is a good practice.
If you'd like to purchase a queen excluder, you can do so by clicking here to go to our website: honeybeesonline.com or give us a call at 217-427-2678


We are still selling 3 lb packages of bees with an Italian queens (pick up only or we will ship upon the purchase of a hive) and we are also offering nucs but on a first come first serve basis. And if you have not purchased your beekeeping hives or equipment, we are here to take your order Mon. - Fri. 9am - 5pm at 217-427-2678
If you'd like to email us our address is david@honeybeesonline.com
And check out our website for great deals: www.honeybeesonline.com
Our next lesson will address trying to lure hives from structures or trees. Do swarm lures work?
See you next time, and remember,
Bee-Have Yourself!
David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
217-427-2678
www.honeybeesonline.com

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The blog postings have been a bit slow as I'm at an astronomy conference (The evolution of galaxies through the neutral hydrogen window) in Puerto Rico and the internet access has not been very reliable (but oh...I'm indeed missing the frigid temperatures of Massachusetts at this time of the year). In the mean time it seems that Pope is really getting on the offensive against science. First, the text from his undelivered La Sapienza speech basically claimed that science (and philosophy) cannot really succeed without faith/religion. Now he is going after (embryonic) stem cells research and he wants the Church to stand up for human dignity. Ok...this will require some clarification:

Pope Benedict said on Thursday that embryonic stem cell research, artificial insemination and the prospect of human cloning had "shattered" human dignity.

and how exactly this delicate dignity got shattered?

He said this included total respect for the human being as a person "from conception until natural death," and respect for the natural transmission of life through sexual intercourse.

Practices like freezing embryos, suppression of embryos in multiple pregnancies, embryonic stem cell research, the prospect of human cloning and artificial insemination outside the body had "shattered the barriers meant to protect human dignity", he said.

Yes, only natural life and natural death. None of this intervention by some medicine crap that screws up the natural possibilities of early death and other nasty diseases. Actually he does support adult stem cells research, but I don't know if even that our dignity will be able to handle it.

Lets embrace for more Papal attacks on science. Read the full story here (tip from faithworld).
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An encounter at the gym this morning as I was leaving had me thinking about my name (Maureen) all the way home. A name, by the way, I happen to like (and prefer to the names my parents WERE considering).

Over the years I have been surprised by the number of people who know my name when they see me. People who I swear I have never seen before. This morning, however, it occurred to me (finally) that they didn't know me either because they weren't saying, "Hi Maureen" they were saying, "Good morning." But when you're unsuspecting, not lip reading, and routinely going about your business, the two sound an awful lot alike.

Another thing about my name that I can't believe I am about to admit here...spell check always identifies it as incorrectly spelled. Do you know what the correction is?

Manure.

Have a good day. And make sure to see the new poll. Do you like your name?

Splurge:

Ava and I are going to stop over to the mall so that I can get some facial toner. (When I stopped in to pick up some lotion last week, the girl at the counter had a fit when I told her I didn't use toner. Apparently, it's like one of the most important things you can do for your skin. Funny though, the reason why I'm going back this week is because I had to save up enough money after my trip there last week when I nearly spent my life's savings on five other things that she said were the most important things you can do for your skin.) Any way, we're going to pick up facial toner and then ride the carousel. Does that sound like the perfect start to a weekend or what?

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