This is a weekly post by Nidhal Guessoum (see his earlier posts here). Nidhal is an astrophysicist and Professor of Physics at American University of Sharjah 

The question of whether IQ (Intelligence Quotient) scores vary (significantly) from country to country may sound terribly racist and unapproachable. But first, no question, if honestly asked and investigated, should be taboo; and second, the question sounds racist only if one believes that any such differences (if found) will be attributed to racial characteristics, rather than developmental factors.

Now, one of the main scientific problems that pose themselves whenever this issue is studied (seriously, objectively) is the fact that IQ tests are quite invariably fraught with cultural effects. In a previous post, I had reported on how easily we can mistake some common traits that we are used to around us for “human universals”. So one can imagine that measuring intelligence “universally” is a very complicated matter. (I remember once I took a French IQ test – for fun – and many of the verbal questions had some “well-known” cultural assumptions that were alien to me, and I’m totally fluent in French…)

Many countries, however, do have huge databases of IQ test results for their people, by age, education level, economic status, year, etc. Now, again, comparing results from different countries is a very risky exercise, but looking at scores within each country, and studying their variations through time can be recommended. And that’s what James Robert Flynn (born 1934), Emeritus Professor of Political Studies at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, did some years ago, at which point he noticed what has become known as the Flynn Effect: IQ scores have been steadily increasing every decade now for over sixty years, in all countries that keep such data. Why is that? There are various hypotheses for this, ranging from cognitive abilities improving with more stimuli coming to our minds from more sophisticated educational, social, and economic environments to improved nutrition allowing the brain to perform its tasks better and faster…

Controversially, some researchers have postulated a reverse correlation between IQ and development level; that is, countries with higher average IQ’s will reach greater economic levels, not the other way around. Indeed, in two very controversial books (“IQ and the Wealth of Nations”, 2002, and “IQ and Global Inequality”, 2006), Richard Lynn, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, and Tatu Vanhanen, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland, argue that current differences in economic development are due at least in part to differences in average national IQ scores…

But a recent study found an interesting correlation between average IQ scores and rates of infectious diseases in various countries. More clearly, the more widespread is malaria, for instance, the lower the average IQ will be in that country… That’s what Christopher Eppig (a Ph.D. candidate in biology at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque) and his colleagues reported in a paper they published in July in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B (see the diagram below, from New Scientist).

How could those two factors (IQ and infectious diseases) be correlated? The interpretation that has been offered holds that parasitic infections rob the body – and thus the brain – of infants of much energy and divert body resources to fighting the disease and pumping up the immune system, hence reducing the capacity of the brain to perform at higher rates and levels.

The researchers insist that they did control for other factors that could affect IQ scores, including education opportunities, income levels, and even climate (as colder lands have been theorized to help improve IQ scores… from an evolutionary perspective…).

If such an effect and its proposed explanation are confirmed (by other studies), this could constitute an important phenomenon for national and international institutions (e.g. the World Bank) to address, in an attempt to hit several birds with one stone…

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Selama hampir 6 bulan ini saya jadi tertanya-tanya,

"Mengapa hati aku betul-betul tak keruan?"

Ada sahaja yang tidak selesai.

Ada sahaja yang tidak kena.

Setelah diselesaikan, muncul masalah baru.

Itu tandanya punca masalah tidak diselesaikan

Lalu semalam saya yakin saya telah jumpa punca permasalahannya.

Ketiadaan cinta.

Api cinta yang telah padam.

Cinta tentu bukan sebarang cinta.

Cinta yang tertinggi.

Cinta Ilahi.

Saya kembali meniti detik kehidupan selama ini.

Saat-saat saya kuat.

Saat-saat saya melemah.

Saat-saat saya menjadi bersungguh-sungguh.

Saat-saat saya menjadi sungguh ikhlas.

Jawapannya semuanya adalah kedekatan dengan Allah.

Mengikhlaskan niat

Ramai orang kata, betulkan niat. Kalau niat betul, insya-Allah semuanya baik. Saya tidak menafikan. Ia memang benar. Niat perlu sentiasa diperbetulkan. Tetapi niat itu terletak dalam hati. Dan hati itu sumbernya adalah cinta. Ia bukan sekadar teori dan logik akal semata-mata. Tidak semudah, "Woi hati, ikhlaslah. Buat kerana Allah!" Lalu hati tiba-tiba ikhlas.

Ikhlas itu akan lahir dengan dekatnya kita kepada Allah. Kerana Allahlah yang menciptakan kita. Jika kita tidak mencintai Allah, maka pasti sukar sekali untuk melakukan sesuatu kerana-Nya.

Bukti yang cukup mudah. Berapa ramai orang sanggup mengorbankan apa sahaja demi apa yang dicintainya? Berapa ramai yang sanggup membunuh diri apabila ditinggalkan kekasihnya? Berapa ramai yang sanggup menghabiskan ratusan bahkan ribuan ringgit demi membahagiakan sesuatu yang dicintainya? Dan dia lakukan segalanya itu tanpa mengharapkan balasan. Yang diharapkannya hanyalah : Orang yang dicintainya itu bahagia, senang dan tenang. Walaupun orang itu tidak pernah memandangnya sama sekali.

Sehingga muncullah ungkapan bahawa cinta itu buta. Tidak memerlukan sebab untuk jatuh cinta. Namun hakikatnya cinta kepada semua itu tidak akan kekal, bahkan tidak akan membuahkan kebahagiaan yang abadi.

Cinta Abadi itu Cinta kepada Allah, Cinta Ilahi

Kerana Allah itu kekal. Allah tidak akan hilang. Allah ada selama-lamanya. Jika kita mencintai Allah, maka tiada yang akan merampas Allah daripada kita. Kita tidak akan berebut cinta Allah dengan sesiapapun. Cinta Allah cukup untuk semua. Bahkan kita mengharapkan semua orang dapat mencintai Allah bersama-sama dengan kita.

Tidak pernah kita menjumpai kes yang ada seseorang itu bergaduh,

"Aku lagi Allah cintai daripada kau!"

"Aku lagi layak mendapat cinta Allah, aku selalu bangun qiamullail!"

"Aku lagi layak, aku selalu baca Al-Quran!"

Pelik kalau ada. Yang akan terjadi adalah, apabila melihat ada orang yang semakin dekat dengan Allah, kita jadi cemburu. Lantas kita semakin mendekat kepada Allah. Kita jadi lebih banyak beribadah. Kita jadi lebih banyak menangis.

Hasilnya setiap ibadah yang dilakukan sangat-sangat membahagiakan. Hati terasa hidup dengan merasakan kebersamaan Allah. Sungguh, Allah itu dekat. Dia sentiasa ada tika kita memerlukan-Nya. Bahkan Allah sentiasa mengingati kita. Mudah. Firman Allah:

Karena itu, ingatlah kamu kepada-Ku niscaya Aku ingat (pula) kepadamu.

[Q.S. Al-Baqarah, 2:152]

Allah sentiasa ada apabila kita mengingatinya. Bukan macam kekasih dunia yang fana, kita sibuk-sibuk ingat dia, entah-entah dia tengah sibuk buat kerja lain atau lebih teruk, dia main kayu tiga!

Bagaimana mahu cinta Allah?

Soalan yang sebenarnya tidak perlu dipertanyakan. Sebenarnya secara fitrah kita sangat-sangat menginginkan Allah. Sangat-sangat mengharapkan bantuan Allah.

Bayangkan saat-saat kita menghadapi ujian yang sangat sukar. Terasa bagaikan tiada jalan keluar. Terasa kita amat lemah dan tidak bermaya. Rumah dirompak misalnya. Habis segala harta yang diusahakan. Segala apa yang ada semuanya hilang. Bisnes bankrup. Study sungguh-sungguh, tiba-tiba masa nak exam kemalangan. Terasa bagai segala kekuatan kita ranap sama sekali. Siapa yang mampu membantu kita?

Siapa lagi kalau bukan Allah?

Tidak cukupkah alasan itu? Mari jawab soalan-soalan ini.

Pernah merasakan kasih-sayang daripada orang yang dicintai? Kasih-sayang ibu dan ayah?

Siapa yang memberikan ibu dan ayah kepada kita?

Pernah merasakan bahagia apabila mendapat kejayaan?

Siapa yang meberikan kejayaan kepada kita?

Pernah merasa bahagia ketika disayangi dan diperlakukan dengan baik oleh teman-teman?

Siapa yang menggerakkan hati teman-teman kita untuk memperlakukan kita sedemikian rupa?

Lihatlah kepada dirimu sendiri.

Siapa yang menciptakannya?

Jantungmu, siapa yang mendegupkannya?

Ketika tidur, siapa yang senantiasa menggerakkan diafragma kita sehingga tekanan dalam ruangan toraks kita sentiasa berubah-ubah sehingga kita mampu bernafas dengan sempurna?

Lihatlah pada dirimu sendiri.

Apakah yang ada pada dirimu yang sebenarnya milikmu?

Mata, tangan, kaki, mulutmu, milik siapa?

Hartamu, milik siapa?

Keluargamu, milik siapa?

Perasaan yang kau rasa, milik siapa?

Segala yang kaumiliki, milik siapa?

Milik siapa wahai diri?

Milik siapa wahai jiwa yang kerdil?

Katakanlah milik Allah!

Aku milik Allah!

Segala yang ada dalam hidupku adalah milik Allah!

Dialah Ar-Rahman dan Ar-Rahim

Yang Maha Pengasih dan Maha Penyayang kepada kita. Dia yang telah memberikan segalanya kepada kita. Lantas, mengapa kita masih tidak mencintai-Nya? Mengapa kita masih berkira-kira untuk meninggalkan sesuatu yang dimurkai-Nya? Mengapa kita masih ragu-ragu untuk mengorbankan segala yang ada dalam diri kita untuk mengabdi kepada-Nya?

Jawapannya adalah kerana kita adalah hamba yang tidak bersyukur. Kita terlupa bahawa kita ini adalah milik-Nya. Kita akan kembali kepada-Nya.

Kesimpulan

Semalam saya tergerak membuka blog seorang teman. Sarah Al-Haura'. Tiada apa yang istimewa dengan pemilik blognya buat diri ini. Cuma lagu opick yang didengangkan di blognya cukup-cukup mengetuk pintu jiwa saya. Nurul Qolbi, Cahaya Hati. Semalaman saya mendengarnya. Cukup mengesan di hati. Mungkin doa  Mama dan Abah di tanah suci mula diperkenankan. Subhanallah. Sehingga kini saya masih membuka blog itu, sambil menaip sambil mendengar lagu Cahaya Hati. Boleh download lagu itu di sini.

Solusinya adalah kembali kepada Allah.

Dambailah cinta Allah.

Teringat kata-kata manis Puan Khairi di saat-saat sebelum dia menikah, : Dapat Allah Dapat Segalanya. Entah adakah kata-kata itu masih relevan dalam hidup mereka, menjadi sumber kekuatan mereka sehari-hari dalam kehidupan. Semoga.

Tetapi buat jiwa ini, ketiadaan cinta Allah itulah permasalahannya. Membuatkan saya lama sekali tidak terubat. Sehingga terlupa punca dari mana datangnya kata-kata dahsyat saya suatu ketika dahulu, yang telah diabadikan dalam cerpen sulung saya, Untukmu:

"Tiada yang lebih indah daripada mendapat keredahaan ilahi..seindah manapun gubahan pertama tu, selagi tak mendapat keredahaanNya, tetap tiada gunanya.. 

Sungguh kata-kata itu datang terus daripada hati. Saya rindu saat itu. Sungguh, saya rindu saat itu. Saya mencintai Allah lebih daripada segalanya. Namun yang namanya manusia, terkadang tersilap dalam bersikap. Semoga selepas ini saya kembali menjadi umairzulkefli yang benar. Ya-Allah, perkenankanlah!

Cintailah Allah.

Dapat Allah Dapat Segalanya.

-umairzulkefli-

-1654Hrs-

-221110-

-Engineering Room, Nihon Canpack-

~End Of Post~

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On my way to Cairo, I stopped in London for a short overnight stay. However, I managed to go the Natural History Museum (NHM). So let me say - wow! It is very cool and I ended up staying for 5 hours there - without actually getting bored.

So first of all, if you are in London - just go and visit this place. It is a spectacular building (yes, I have to admit I was in a bit of a colonial awe...) and the admission is free! Yes, free. Take that American museums. And on top of that, like all sane people in the world, NHM considers Pluto a planet! Take that Hayden Planetarium!

In all seriousness, here are couple of reasons why I really liked the museum. Instead of simple razzle-dazzle (which there was aplenty in the dinosaur exhibit), there was a lot of emphasis of the process of science. This was partly done by emphasizing on history of science - which when seen in a stunning late 19th century building, it seems a bit more authentic. Second, somehow, they were able to convey the joy of figuring things out. This was done by numerous hands-on activities for kids and adults alike.

Here are couple of pictures from the museum. I will have another post on the fantastic way the museum (and especially their new Darwin Centre) has handled the process of science.

Museum main building with dino (Diplodocus) head and neck

Museum main building with dino (Diplodocus) tail and butt

Entry to the geology section of the museum where Science is depicted somewhere between gods and monsters. Actually this was an interesting way of explaining geology as well as ancient mythologies. The first statue is that of Blake's God holding a measuring instrument, then there is a Cyclops, and then an astronaut. Briefly, it represented our penchant for understanding the world, the search for extinct species, and some of the achievements of science. There are gods Atlas - with Earth in its back (for our efforts to map the planet) and Medusa (for fossils in stones) on the other side. You can also see an escalator going through a giant Earth and to geology galleries. Pretty cool stuff. Oh - and lot of kids in school uniforms - and they were certainly in awe of these statues.

 A very cool section devoted to the early 19th century, fossil collector and paleontologist, Mary Anning.

And I like the fact that the museum was quite straight-forward about our (humans) place in evolution. Here we are with some of our cousins.

And a British sense of humor. In the section talking about the demise of dinosaurs, there is a list of some unusual theories as well. In case you can't read this, the dino's extinction is blamed on boredom - due to the invention of cricket. Ha ha. Okay - so it seemed funny to me...

and finally, there is an interesting installation called TREE by artist Tania Kovats. This was commissioned to commemorate the 200th birth anniversary of Charles Darwin last year. So the tree in the ceiling, in this almost empty room, is actual a thin slice of an actual 200 year old oak tree. It has been growing since the birth of Darwin.

The above picture is from the installation website. It is a very cool concept. Of course, this is inspired by the tree of life diagram that Darwin sketched in his notebook. Also, it represents how we study plants: "This slice through the 200-year-old oak tree is presented like a vast living organism placed on a microscope slide. The branches stretch across the gallery ceiling with the ceiling's grid-like panels forming an architectural frame for the piece. At over 17 metres long, TREE will is the Museum's largest botany specimen on display."

A sequel to this post in a few days.

Also see:
Up with Darwin's Down House
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Tatkala hati itu sepi

Terasa ia tidak keruan

Merasakan ia melemah

Tidak tahu ke mana harus dituju

Maka ingatlah, Allah itu ada

Dia adalah penyelesaian

Cintanya yang hilang

kerana itu hatimu tidak tenang

Kembalilah wahai jiwa

kembalilah kepada-Nya

Nescaya kau kan kembali bertenaga

Piala hatimu kan kembali bercahaya

Cahaya Hati

Album : Cahaya Hati

Munsyid : Opick

http://liriknasyid.com

Alloh Engkau Dekat

Penuh Kasih Sayang

Takkan Pernah Engkau Biarkan

HambaMU Menangis

Karna KemurahanMU

Karena Kasih SayangMu

Hanya Bila DiriMu

Ingin Nyatakan Cinta

Pada Jiwa-jiwa

Yang Rela Dia Kekasihmu

Kau yang Slalu Terjaga

yang Memberi segala

Alloh Rohman, Alloh Rohim

Allohu Ya Ghofar Ya Nurul Qolbi

Alloh Rohman, Alloh Rohim

Allohu Ya Ghofar Ya Nurul Qolbi

Disetiap Nafas Disegala Waktu

Semua Bersujud Memuji Memuja AsmaMu

Kau yang slalu Terjaga

Yang Memberi Segala...

Alloh Rohman, Alloh Rohim

Allohu Ya Ghofar Ya Nurul Qolbi

Alloh Rohman, Alloh Rohim

Allohu Ya Ghofar Ya Nurul Qolbi

Setiap Makhluk Bergantung PadaMu

dan Bersujud Semesta UntukMu

Setiap Wajah Mendamba CintaMu Cahyamu

Alloh Rohman, Alloh Rohim

Allohu Ya Ghofar Ya Nurul Qolbi

Alloh Rohman, Alloh Rohim

Allohu Ya Ghofar Ya Nurul Qolbi

Ya Alloh Ya Romah Ya Alloh 3x

~End Of Post~

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A river of lights

Yup - the image above is indeed the Nile at night. It was taken from the International Space Station(ISS) last month (tip from badastonomer). This is an absolutely stunning image and provides a nice overview of the narrow habitation along the Nile, and the importance of the river.

I will mostly be in Cairo (in the brightest hub towards the top of the image), but then will also go out on a 3-day excursion to Luxor - and I'm really looking forward to it! My first impression of Cairo is that it is a big chaotic city. I have recently been to Kuala Lumpur and Istanbul, and it seems that order and calm has been slowly decreasing :) (Oh - c'mon, this is just the first reaction). This is certainly true for the traffic. On the Pakistan traffic index, Kuala Lumpur was not even close. I started to recognize some similarities in Istanbul. But Cairo may give Karachi a good chase for its money - and I may even bring in Lahore in the discussion (now that's saying something).

More from Cairo coming up. In the mean time, to get excited about Luxor, here is Josh Ritter's absolutely gorgeous "The Curse" about a love affair between an archaeologist and a mummy (I had posted it earlier here). If you haven't seen it, do check it out. The video is produced and puppeteered by Ritter's drummer, Liam Hurley.


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"Akhi, apa pendapat antum kalau ada ikhwah tu kata dia tidak layak untuk mendampingi bakal pasangannya?"

"Ni nak curhat ke apa?"

"Jawab je la."

"Merasa diri tidak layak, kerana dia punya kelemahan?"

Dia cuma mengangguk.

"Kerana dia merasakan bakal pasangannya itu jauh lebih baik daripadanya?"

Dia masih mengangguk.

"Akhi, siapalah kita untuk menghakimi diri kita. Siapalah kita untuk menghakimi orang lain? Hakikatnya jika Allah mentakdirkan kita dengan seseorang, pastinya Allah punya rencananya."

Dia cuma terdiam.

"Terkadang Allah memberikan kita sesuatu yang kita rasakan tidak layak kita memperolehinya, kerana Dia mahu mengangkat kita ke darjat yang lebih tinggi."

Allah...

Lalu dia hanya berjalan. Sepi tiada bicara. Lubuk hatinya bermain pedang perasaan. Mengharapkan sekelumit kekuatan.

'Allah, bagaimanakah percaturanmu buat diri ini?'

Lalu sekeping kertas dikeluarkan. Pena menari dengan rancaknya. Dia tidak berfikir apa-apa. Tangannya digerakkan terus dari hati. Sebuah puisi dinukilkan. Mengharap secebis kekuatan, daripada yang Maha Kuat.

Hakikat Kelemahan

Kerana namaku manusia

Maka wajar diriku untuk melemah

Namun ia bukanlah alasan

Bagi menutupi segala kesalahan

Terkadang terjelopok kita jatuh

Terasa bangkit itu tiada gunanya

'Berpura mati' itu hakikatnya lebih mudah

Berbanding bangkit menghapus duka lara

Namun ingatlah wahai diri

Hidup bukan di dunia cuma

Alam akhirat masih banyak soalnya

Sudahkah kita bersedia wahai diri

Kerana kita cumalah hamba

Maka pastilah kekurangan kita punya

Namun ia bukanlah alasan

Yang boleh diberi kepada tuhan

Aku lemah, kerana itu aku bermaksiat

Aku terlupa, kerana itu aku tidak beribadah

Aku manusia, kerana itu aku lupa

Aku hamba, kerana itu aku kekurangan

Cukup, cukup, cukup wahai diri

Cukuplah kepada dirimu alasan diberi

Jangan kepada tuhan alasan itu kauberi

Kerana tuhan tidak mahu mendengar itu semua

Memang Allah itu Maha Mendengar

Namun sekadar alasan tidak akan mengubah apa-apa

Yang sepatutnya kita tampilkan

Adalah keteguhan kita untuk memperbaikinya

Usah takut pada kegagalan

Usah risau akan ketewasan

Kerana kau telahpun temui kejayaan

Tika kau bangkit dari kejatuhan

Tetaplah bangkit wahai diri

Allah berserta orang-orang beriman itu senantiasa memerhatikanmu

[9:105]

Panggilan dari Tanah Suci melenyapkan lamunan. Suara ibu kedengaran daripada pembesar suara telefon bimbitnya. Sesaat lamanya dia mengadu rindu dan meluahkan rasa.

"Ma, rasa penatlah. Tak larat nak terus perbaiki diri."

"Memanglah penat, kita hidup di dunia. Sebab tu kita kena kembali kepada Allah."

'Allah.....'

"Tu yang sedihnya, rasa jauh daripada Allah. Apabila maksiat tidak lagi terasa di hati, maka nantikanlah saatnya iman tercabut dari diri. Along rasa takut Ma."

"Bersyukurlah kita masih rasa. Jangan sampai hilang rasa. Along kena bersyukur. Ramai yang kena uji, tapi Along masih dapat rasa nak kembali kepada Allah."

Dan tangisan itupun meledak.

"Malu tengok angah dah mula baik. Dia jauh lagi bersemangat nak baiki diri."

"Jangan sekadar malu, jadikan dia inspirasi. Along kena kuat juga, terus baiki diri."

Dia terdiam dalam tangisan.

"Along, bersabarlah ya. Ingat, Allah masih beri kita nyawa, pasti Dia punya rencana. Dia belum ambil nyawa kita lagi, pasti Dia bagi peluang untuk kita bertaubat. Kuatkan diri ya long."

"Insya-Allah."

Seketika kemudian, panggilan diputuskan.
Air mata diseka.
Dia ingin bangkit.
Dan berharap bangkitnya kali ini tiada jatuhnya lagi.
Dan jika masih terjatuh, dia akan tetap bangkit.
Kerana dia masih hidup!

~End Of Post~

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Alhamdulillah..selepas melalui beberapa penambahbaikan dalam proses pengeluaran khususnya dalam bab percetakan..akhirnya Majalah Sinergi Edisi Ke-3 kini sedia untuk berkongsi ilmu dengan tema "Ajarkan Aku Cinta"..Banyak lagi penambahbaikan dalam edisi ke-3 kali ini..penambahan rubrik-rubrik dan slot-slot menarik..hasil komen dan cadangan pembaca sekalian juga diselitkan..semua dengan harga RM3.00 juga..mari bersama mencetak generasi Rabbani dengan usaha kita bersama..insya-Allah..

Mari dapatkannya sekarang..dapatkan dengan pengedar-pengedar dan premis-premis yang  berdaftar...juga boleh didapatkan dengan mengisi Borang Belian Individu atau terus melanggan dengan mengisi Borang Langganan Majalah Sinergi kemudian hantar ke emel synergymedia2010@gmail.com...terima kasih atas sokongan yang berterusan dari anda..

Sumber : http://synergymedia.com.my/?cat=23

~End Of Post~

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Hello from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms in central Illinois. We’re David and Sheri Burns and now the 2011 bee season preparation has started. Package bee orders are pouring in. Orders for woodenware and bee supplies all point to the bee season is underway. in 5 days we sold 1/4 of our available packages. Unbelievable! I so much enjoy answering the phone and meeting other beekeepers or beekeepers-to-be.
Here’s a picture of our family. Sheri and I have six children ranging in age from 28 years old to 3 years old. Three girls and three boys. Almost everyone in the picture has helped us in our bee business, even Grandma and Grandpa in the back row. We’ve worked hard to establish Long Lane Honey Bee Farms and we want to thank all of you who have blessed us with your business.
Throughout most of the US beekeepers have put their bees to bed for winter. That is merely a figure of speech because bees do not hibernate during the winter. Instead, they cluster, remain calm and eat small amounts of honey and pollen to make it through the cold winter months.
We have heard back from so many customers who love our queens, nucs, packages and woodenware, and we appreciate that. So many people are requesting our 4-frame nucs for spring.
These are little colonies that we make up in the spring with our queens on 4 frames of honey, pollen, brood and bees. A day does not go by without someone wanting to order nucs in advance.


LESSON 87: PESTS & DISEASES PART 3 VARROA MITES
Today I want to educate you on the varroa mite, but I do not want you to become discouraged or defeated by this honey bee parasite. We can keep bees even with varroa mites. Mites are everywhere in our world. You’ve probably got a few in your house and probably on you at one time or another, such as chiggers or dust mites. So do not become a hypochondriac about your bees having mites. Do not freak out or overreact. There are many approaches to dealing with mites. But, for  you to be a successful beekeeper, you need to be well informed about Varroa destructor.
HISTORY OF VARROA DESTRUCTOR
The varroa mite was first introduced into our country in 1987, although the literature identifies the spotting of one varroa mite in Maryland in 1979. Since 1987 mites have spread rapidly throughout the US.
The mite was first identified as Varroa Jacobsoni but later correctly identified as Varroa destructor (Anderson and Trueman 2000). It is the number one killer of honey bees in the US. As an ectoparasite  (lives outside of the honey bee) it is one of the largest parasite on the planet compare to its host.
It is not a natural parasite to our honey bee, Apis mellifera. It’s original host was Apis cerana. But, like many pests, it jumped species and Apis mellifera was not able to cope well and most feral colonies, wild hives, were destroyed by the mites in the early 1990s.
LIFE CYCLE
Varroa mites are tiny but visible with the naked eye. In this photo, I pulled out a drone pupa and you can see the tiny mite on the lower abdomen of the drone. The mites that we see on our bees are the adult, female mites also called the foundress mite. These adult females are dark, reddish brown in color. Male mites are never seen outside the cells and they never turn dark but remain white or a light color. Mites only reproduce in the sealed cells of a bee hive, never outside the hive.
The varroa mite enters a hive through the front entrance, riding on other bees. Drones are allowed to enter any hive and drones are common carriers of mites, transferring them from hive to hive. Once in the hive, the adult, foundress mite will look for a young nurse bee and climb on her back and will latch on to the thorax where the wings attach or just behind the head. Mites feed on bee blood, known as hemolymph.
Because the bee is exoskeleton, the mite cannot penetrate the outer plates of the bee so it moves to the overlapping segments of the abdomen to the soft tissues and pierces through with its mouth parts. These areas on the honey bee are known as the innersegmental membranes.
When the bee larva is 8 days old it gives off distinct pheromone signal to adult bees who begin to seal the cells. However, that same pheromone signal is picked up by the varroa mite as an indication that it is time to enter the cell.
The mite makes her way into the bottom of the cell and buries herself beneath the royal jelly in the base of a cell.  Mites have a snorkel like apparatus that they use to breathe while hiding under the royal jelly. These specialized tubes are called peritremes and are thin, pale-colored tubes located just between the last two pairs of legs.
Once the cell is capped and the bee larva has spun its cocoon the mite will feed on the larva and will begin laying eggs about 3 days after the cell is capped. Most female mites lay between 4-6 eggs, the first being a male mite, and the remaining 4 being females that mate with their one brother in the cell.
Unlike bees, mites do not go through larva and pupa stages, instead they go through 4 developmental stages: egg, protonymph and deutonymph stages and finally adult. From egg to adult takes 6-7 days for females and 5-6 for males.
Mites will pierce an opening in the prepupa honey bee larva and the whole family of mites will feed from that one wound. As the family grows and the bee emerges, the foundress mite will leave the cell with one or more new female daughters. The males die and never leave the cell and the bees clean them out. The adult females will then attach to adult bees for an average of 7 days before finding a new cell to enter and reproduce again. During her lifetime the foundress mite will go through 3 reproductive cycles.
IMPACT ON THE COLONY
The impact of varroa mites on a colony varies depending on the level of infestation and the level of diseases the mites may carry. Several mites in one cell can seriously cripple the developing bee, through the loss of blood, injury or spread of disease. Mites can also negatively impact adult bee. An adult bee can have trouble flying and carrying out normal work when they have more than 2 mites on them at one time. Mites vector several diseases as they feed on bee hemolymph. A common disease that is spread is Deformed Wing Virus (DWV).  Bees with deformed wing virus are easy to identify and gives evidence to the high level of mite infestation in the hive. The wings appear burnt or deformed.
NATURAL TREAMENT
We prefer not to use chemicals in treating for mites. Instead our first line of defense is raising queens that are VSH, Varroa Sensitive Hygienic. These bees detect mites below the sealed brood and remove the pupae and mites, taking them outside the hive. In the photo,  Liquid Nitrogen is used to kill a circle of brood and then it is measured in 24 hours to see how much of the dead brood was removed. This identifies a VSH trait in a colony.
The next natural line of defense is trapping. Green drone comb can be placed in the hive. Since drones are the longest to develop, 24 days before they emerge, mites prefer drone cells so they have longer to try and reproduce more female mites. Once the drone comb frame is sealed, it can be removed and frozen for 24 hours killing all the mites, and drones too of course. Then, the comb can be placed back in the hive to be cleaned out by the bees and the process repeated.
The third level of natural defense against mites is the use of a screen bottom board. Since mites are parasites, they do lose their grip. Sometimes they are groomed off of bees by other bees and when they fall, they fall through the screen bottom board. It is effective, just observe the number of mites that fall through the screen. Once out of the hive, they do not move and therefore cannot feed and die below the hive. Not all mites will fall out of the hive, but those that do will decrease the colony’s mite load.
A fourth plan of attack is to treat the hive with powdered sugar or confectionery sugar. Shake one cup of powdered sugar per deep hive body. Let it fall between the frames. The powdered sugar causes the bees to groom mites off and some mites just lose their grip and fall. This should be repeated once a week for at least 3 weeks.
A final natural defense against mites is to break their own brood cycle. By pulling out the queen for 2 weeks, the mites cannot reproduce and are greatly reduced. The lack of bee brood removes the mite’s hosts.
CHEMICALS
More and more chemicals are available. Some chemicals in the past have show to have negative effects on the drones and queens reproductive organs. However, newer chemicals have shown to be more effective with less side effects. We recommend that you carefully research each chemical that is available and make your own decisions about using chemicals in your hives.
Now you probably know more about mites than you ever wanted to know, but keep this teaching handy because it can give you greater knowledge to help your bees not succumb to the mites.
These Words Might Be New To You…
Hemolymph  -  Bee blood
Exoskeleton – Bees have a hard outer covering rather than an internal
                     skeleton.
Ectoparasite – A parasite that lives on the outer surface.
Phoretic stage  -  Adult Varroa mite
Protonymph – A newly hatched mite
Deutonymph – The last stage prior to the adult stage.
Foundress – Female egg laying mite
TESTING FOR MITES
Some suggest placing a mite collection sheet, sticky board, beneath the screen bottom board for 1 day and then counting to see if more that 25 mites can be counted, exceeding the economic threshold requiring additional action or treatment.
However, I have found visually inspecting phoretic mites on adult bees and inspecting mites on drone purpae gives a better picture as to the extent of mite infestation. Obviously, we must also inspect the bees for mite damage or vectored diseases from mites that show up in the colony.

Thanks for joining us today and please check out our contact information and contact us soon! We’d love to hear from you:
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N 1020 E Rd
Fairmount, IL 61841
217-427-2678
www.honeybeesonline.com
Until next time, Bee-Have Yourself!
David & Sheri Burns






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I never attended a special event for women before. And I was surprised to attend Women in the World Breakfast. It was a cool event!Together with my fellow CCI students and our Project Coordinator, I went to Four Seasons, Seattle. We started our journey early in the morning: 5:45 a..m. because we didn't want to be late. When we arrived, it was still so early but we were excited. We volunteered to
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I'm off to Cairo - but in the mean time, here is a segment from Anderson Cooper about Kanzi, and bonobos in general (tip from Science & Religion Today). Right at the end, Kanzi's 4-month son shows up - and he has access to iPad! Now this will be a very interesting experiment - and we'll see how do language and other cognitive skills develop with time. I have seen kids (of the human kind) play with iPad, and apparently it works very well for them. I'm telling you - soon we will have new masters. For the umpteeth time, also check out this relevant short story, Pope of the Chimps. Also see this Radiolab segment on Kanzi.


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French Enlightenment: Forget Voltaire and Rousseau. It is about time that Diderot gets some attention - beyond his encylopedia (Encyclopédie) - not that there is any thing wrong with encylopedias. There is a new book out, A Wicked Company: The Forgotten Radicalism of the European Enlightenment by Philipp Blom, that looks at the French Enlightenment through the lens of a Parisian salon and also looks at some of the regulars there, including Diderot. From the review of the book in the Economist:

It is the story of the scandalous Paris salon run by Baron Paul Thierry d’Holbach, a philosophical playground for many of the greatest thinkers of the age. Its members included Denis Diderot (most famous as the editor of the original encyclopedia, but, Mr Blom argues, an important thinker in his own right), Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the father of romanticism, and the baron himself; even David Hume, a famous Scottish empiricist, paid the occasional visit.

A philosophy grew up around the baron’s generously stocked table that denied religious revelation and shunned Christian morality, embracing instead the primal passions (the fundamental motives, said the philosophes, for human behaviour) and cool reason (which could direct the passions, but never stand against them). They dreamt of a Utopia built on pleasure-seeking, rationality and empathy. Their ideal nation would leave no room for what they saw as the twisted ethical code of Christianity, which they argued prized suffering and destructive self-repression.

Not only was their thinking radical, but expressing it was dangerous. Diderot was imprisoned for his writings, an experience, Mr Blom argues, that left him too scared to lay out his philosophy plainly, instead disguising it within numerous plays, novels and letters. Baron d’Holbach published most of his works under pseudonyms, which helped to keep him safe but also condemned him to centuries of philosophical obscurity (except in the officially godless Soviet Union). Even when the French revolution finally came, its self-appointed guardians had no place for the philosophy of the true radicals. For Maximilien Robespierre, chief architect of the reign of terror that followed the revolution, God and religion were far too useful in keeping the population in line.

Mr Blom’s book is part biography and part polemic. He sketches the early lives of Diderot, Holbach, Rousseau and other players in the drama, and describes the philosophy they hammered out. It is also an iconoclastic rebuttal of what he describes as the “official” history of the Enlightenment, the sort of history that he finds “cut in stone” on a visit to the Paris Panthéon. There the bodies of Voltaire and Rousseau were laid to rest with the blessing of the French state. Neither deserved it, suggests Mr Blom.

And here is the bit about Voltaire and Rousseau:

Voltaire, he insists, was a milquetoast careerist, too concerned with his own reputation and his comfortable life to say anything truly unsettling. Rousseau he finds even worse. By denigrating reason, celebrating impulse and advocating repression and tyranny in the name of a loosely defined “general will”, Rousseau’s thinking, argues Mr Blom, was actively maleficent (and, unsurprisingly, venerated by Robespierre). It is a tragedy of history, the author concludes, that Voltaire and Rousseau won the battle of ideas, whereas Diderot was reduced to the rank of editor of the encyclopedia, and Holbach was forgotten utterly.

Read the full review here.
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It looks like 16th century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe's body is going be exhumed (again) in Prague. We are still trying to figure out what killed him. Now, it is generally believed that he died of a bladder infection. Now Tycho's death always features in intro astronomy classes. How can we not bring it up? It is thought that his bladder exploded at a royal banquet - as he was too polite to excuse himself and go to the loo. Apart from a great (kinda) sad story, it is a great reminder: When you have to go - then you have to go.

Any hoo, so now it seems that he may have been poisoned. The problem is that he could have accidentally poisoned himself - as he was also an alchemist and he may have played with mercury. But more intriguingly, some also think that his assistant - none other than Johannes Kepler - may have killed him, perhaps to gain access to his data (there indeed was a feud between Kepler and Tycho's family about the ownership of the Tycho's fantastic data - data that ended up playing a central role in Kepler's laws!). Now here is an astro-thriller that we had been waiting for. One legendary astronomer kills another legendary astronomer for the sake of...DATA (cue in your own dramatic music here). But not just any data - but data that will help change our view of the universe forever!! (some more dramatic music please...). Oh - and Kepler wrote perhaps the first science-fiction ever, Somnium, as a trip to the Moon, and his mother was accused and tried for witchcraft, partly because of some of the things written in Somnium. I'm not making these things up. This can be a phenomenal film - set in the backdrop of fantastically changing times and the scientific revolution.

Terry Giliam: this movie has your name written all over it. 

Just in case you thought that we had run out of plot twists regarding Tycho's death:

More recently a theory has surfaced that the astronomer was killed on the orders of the Danish king, Christian IV, because Brahe had allegedly had an affair with the king's mother.

Now this is gold. Oh and talking about gold, Tycho also lost his nose in a duel, when he was 20 years old, and wore a prosthetic nose, possibly gold or silver, for the rest of his life. And in his free time he catalogued over a 1000 new stars and helped laid the foundations for the scientific revolution.

Good stuff!

Read the full story about Tycho's exhumation here. The results are expected next year. Stay tuned.
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Sebentar lagi saya akan pulang ke kampung.

Kajang tanah Satay yang popular.

Menjalankan tanggungjawab terhadap adik-adik.

Mereka tidak punya ayah dan ibu untuk beraya bersama kali ini.

Semoga Mama dan Abah menemui apa yang dicari Nabi Ibrahim A.S.

Cinta tertinggi, Cinta Allah SWT.

Dalam pada mengemas, tiba-tiba terjumpa surat daripada mutarobbi.

Surat yang membuatkan air mata ini mengalir.

Surat yang ditulis kerana saya terus-menerus 'membelasahnya'

Kerana dia tidak melakukan perubahan terhadap mutaba'ahnya.

Surat yang sungguh tulus dan ikhlas.

Inilah suratnya :

Kepada Murabbiku Sayang

Bawah Tangga Tepi Masjid

Ke hadapan Murabbiku, surat ini bukanlah untuk memberi alasan kenapa mutabaah tidak up-up, tapi kerana ingin memberi tahu sebab mutabaah down-down. Seorang da'i bukanlah seorang yang mencari alasan untuk kegagalan tetapi mencari solusi kepada masalah tersebut, dan ana pun masalah gak, sebab tak selesai lagi masalah tersebut..

(Lepas tu dia tulis masalah-masalah kenapa dia tdak dapat penuhi mutabaah dan solusi-solusinya. Daripada ma'thurat, subuh dan tahajjud, dhuha dan istigfar. Sedikit tentang kenapa dia selalu tertidur ketika menedengar pengisian-pengisian saya. Saya skip yang itu.)

Tentang down study, mungkin ana taklid buta-buta daripada kata-kata antum, bukan salah antum pun, tapi salah ana kerana tidak ikut sunnatullah. Waktu foundation dulu ana thiqoh pada ayat [47:7] hingga tak study dan kamikaze, dan waktu nak test hanya perlu ingat time lecture je tanpa perlu revise dan study. Tapi sekarang insya-Allah dakwah pertama dan study bukan kedua. Result pun semakin improve...insya-Allah.

(bagus anak halaqoh aku ni, sedar sendiri yang dia salah memahami corak pemikiran simplistiknya. Lalu melakukan perubahan. Sedar silapnya tidak ikut sunnatullah. Bukan kemudiannya menyalahkan murobbi yang menceritakan ayat [47:7]!)

Tentang tak ada mad'u lagi, mungkin ana kehilangan keyakinan diri untuk mengisi, sebab macam tak dapat membina mad'u-mad'u sebelum ini. Mungkin ayat-ayat ni seperti alasan untuk tak mencari mad'u, tapi sedikit sebanyak mengeffect juga gerak kerja ana.T_T. Mungkin ana takut tak dapat membina mad'u. (Progress ada insya-Allah, tapi perlahan).

Kesimpulan, jazakallhu khoiron kasiro sebab menunjukkan ana jalan dakwah dan matlamat hidup. Syukur kepada Allah sebab menemukan ana dengan antum. Mungkin kalau tak bertemu, mungkin ana masih lagi terhuyung-hayang dengan couple dan juga games dan movie. Surat ini bukannya ditulis untuk meminta maaf daripada antum, tapi adalah sebagai masukan untuk ana ini mengakui diri yang dhaif, hina dan kerdil. Kerana sepatutnya ana memohon ampun kepada Allah, sebab tak menjalankan hak sebagai hamba. Di keberadaan ana menulis surat ini mungkin ana akan menyiapkan diri untuk menjadi qiyadah dan juga kader dakwah, dan yang paling penting adalah bersedia untuk menjadi jundi. Mungkin selama ini ana takut untuk dengan beban dakwah, takut mengorbankan harta, mengorbankan jiwa dan perasaan. Di dalam hati ana ini masih lagi ada karat jahiliyah yang menjadi virus-virus untu maju ke saf hadapan. Kerana hati ini tidak lagi sepenuh hati meninggalkan couple (takde kena-mengena dengan status G-Talk dan dah tak contact lama gila dah), games dan movie..walaupun dah lama tinggalkan semua ini, tetapi hati ini masih lagi ingi terasa ingin ke sana, ingin kembali ke zaman jahiliyah. Ana sedar semua ini adalah kerana hati di dalam jiwa ini tak cukup ikhlas lagi berdakwah, ingin mencari alasan untuk berada di jalan ini. Tapi masalah akarnya adalah diri ana tidak cukup mencintai Allah, tak merindui syurga-Nya, tak takut akan neraka-Nya, tak tahu akan keredhaan-Nya...Ampunilah aku ya-Allah....Bukakanlah pintu hati ini...

Jadi murabbiku yang kucintai, ana juga mencintai jalan dakwah, tak boleh hidup tanpa dakwah yakni tarbiyah, tunjuk ajarlah kepada ana, berilah pedoman dan juga nasihat untuk mendidik jiwa ini supaya sepenuh hati berada di jalan dakwah, kerana ana tak kisah pun kena marah oleh murabbi, sebab itu memang tugas murabbi kepada mutarabbinya. Jazakallah...

Tolong doakan ana ek...ana pun akan selalu mendoakan orang-orang yang ditarbiyah ini.

Yang selalu ingin lulus mutabaah,

.............................

(XXXXXXXXXXXX)

Kemudian, ketika berlakunya Tragedi Hitam Oktober, saya menemui satu-satu anak halaqoh tercinta, menerangkan kepada mereka dengan sebaik-baiknya. Ikhwah-ikhwah lain tidak lagi bersama, dan lain-lain. Ikhwah UTP yang bersama tinggal ana murobbinya. Berpuluh-puluh yang lain. Menasihati mereka agar terus bersabar dan mengikhlaskan niat. Mutarobbi saya yang satu ini senyap sahaja. Saya memikirnya yang dia terkejut dan tidak mampu menerima hakikat. Namun setelah beberapa langkah meninggalkan kamarnya, dia menghantar SMS:

Assalamu'alaikum WBT

Akhi, walau apapun yang terjadi, ana akan tetap bersama antum. Harap antum akan terus bimbing ana untuk berdakwah dan berjuang di jalan ini.

Mesej ringkas. Sekali lagi air mata ini mengalir.

Kini kau telah dewasa mutarobbiku. Dan kini kau dibebani pelbagai tugas. Biar, dakwah ini memang berat kita tanggungi. Kerana kita adalah para pendahulu. Kelak mereka yang begenerasi setelah kita akan merasakan kemanisannya, insya-Allah.

Dan untuk ikhwah-ikhwahku yang sebahagian besarnya adalah bekas-bekas anak halaqohku, maafkan diri ana yang lemah dalam membimbing antum. Ana bukanlah yang terbaik. Ana tidak tahu menyusun dan membimbing antum dalam jalan dakwah ini. Ana cuma mencuba yang terbaik. Dan ana seringkali melemah. Biar diriku terkorban, namun semoga kalian terus menapaki jalan ini.

p/s : Di kala merasa diri berseorangan, ingatlah antum semua masih ada ikhwah-ikhwah. Ana cuma bersendirian dalam batch ana. Selalu mengenang apakah nasib diri ini. Tetapi ana sentiasa kembali bahagia, kerana ana ada antum semua. Saksikanlah ikhwah-ikhwahku, aku cinta pada kalian!

~Salam Aidil Adha~

~umairzulkefli~

~16112011~

~1637Hrs~

~v2A-002~

~End Of Post~

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