Killer Bee Clone Wars

   Today I found out the boss is going to pay to send me to the California Beekeepers Association Annual Convention at Lake Tahoe Nov 11-13th. Dave himself likely can't make it due to litigation he will have going through Court at the time. I am excited. I like trips (as you may have noticed), and the schedule looks really interesting.

   Also I've been meaning to write an entry for awhile now about Apis mellifera capensis. Here it is:

   Killer bees. You have no doubt heard of them. After being accidently introduced to Brazil (from Tanzania) by a mad scientist (Warwick Kerr; my boss actually has met him and reports he's a very nice man) in 1957, the Africanized Honeybees slowly spread through the Americas. By the early nineties they had reached the southern United States and there was panic. Now they are pervasive across the southern reaches of the United States, since they easily outcompete European Honeybees (there are no native American Honeybees).
   However this entry is not about Killer Bees. This entry is about the bees that are actually driving killer bees out of their own homeland.

   Bees that can clone themselves.

( The Killer Bee Clone Wars )

Palin's Home Paper Endorses Obama

   I assumed everyone would be talking about this by this evening, but it seems people by and large haven't heard about it -- Palin's hometown paper has endorsed Barack Obama. Such sauce!


This MUN paragraph probably doesn't interest you unless you're involved in PAXMUN or at least MUN:
   In other news, this weekend was a one day Model UN conference. If one for some reason had a photographic memory the names of most of staff would be familiar to them: Governor and Secretary Generals were PAXMUN lifers Shy Brickler & Liz Graham, Undersecretary-General was Matt "Papa Smurf" Wilkerson (I remember when he was just a delegate in my committee of this same conference several years ago!), chairpersons mentioned here before included Aleksandra "Equinox" Vinagretteski, Paulo "Augustus" Rodriguez, Connor "Oberst" Lewis, Mark "Justin Sowers" Carlin, and Tiarre "Mr Asst Librarian" Gaddis. On my dais with me I had Mara "one of my very favourite people" Stringfield (third time we've chaired together), and this guy Sina from Saddleback.
   The practice debate during training Friday stretched on forever as usual, but I found it amusing that Connor chose to represent the Kingdom of Jerusalem, this other guy was The Knights Hospitaller, and Mara & I were Byzantium & the Ottoman Empire, respectively (note that they are the same location at different points in time) ... and Tiarrie apparently thought it was hysterical that he was the Empire of Japan?


   Then on Sunday I went to see the amazing band Tiger Army and they were indeed awesome. Went with my friend Irene. She got injured in the mosh pit. /=