patrick.net

I thought you were a quant geek too, Randy, initially. You have to admit, you are kind of quanty and you are pretty geeky!

Anybody catch the jihad docu on PBS last night?

http://www.pbs.org/weta/crossroads/about/show_jihad.html

Maybe Al Quaeda and friends make good on their threats, and inflicts large scale casualties on the US. (nuke device or otherwise)

The industrial war machine kicks into high gear, the economy roars, and house prices rise, and all JBR's are rounded up for being political dissidents.

Net net is educated fiscally conservative folk get screwed once again.

Only recourse is to throw away years of critical thinking, and invest in a few hours of training to become a Used House Salesperson.
(Because, after all, when you receive a "big fat juicy check (with many zeros at the end) at the closing table after selling a house", it is very easy to ignore the world wide socio-economic issues that are eventually going to "skin yer @$$ raw")

theotherside

TR. I imagine now we'll see a whole debate about what delineates a TR from a SR (strategic renter) to a LSR (life style renter) to a JBR.

I'll readily admit that I'm an AR (annoyed renter), though not in the least bitter or jealous. Unless one becomes a LSR (usually after a divorce), I think most anyone who's owned for 10 or more years will automatically fall in the AR category.

And just to be clear, I didn't ATM my home because I didn't intend to nor did I spend any of the $. I CD'd my home.

NRA members and gun lovers, please argue this http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Virginia-Tech-Shooting.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Can we be reasonable and try to keep guns out of the hands of maniacs? I don't think everybody carrying guns would have helped this situation.

Scenario 7: Mobile phone towers prevent bees from returning to their nest, causing mass die off. Humanity have to contend with a future without fresh fruits, nuts and honey.

We'd still have butterflies and hummingbirds to pollinate fruits and nuts. We'd be SOL on honey though.

RE: Virginia Tech shooting

SAD. But banning guns would not have prevented this. Outlaws obey no bans.

Can we be reasonable and try to keep guns out of the hands of maniacs?

We can try but we will fail. We should seek to remove maniacs from the society instead.

Did they say that the gunman had two 9mm handguns?

I think it is time for me to wear body armor.

"Scenario 7"

Pretty shocking isn't it? Before we start shorting the cell phone mfrs. we may need more studies, but it sure seems plausible? Every time I see a cell tower out in the middle of a farmer's field I can't help but wonder just how many calls that thing must be relaying and what kind of electromagnetic trail it might be broadcasting.

Since the most commonly asked question on a cell phone is either "white or wheat" or "action or comedy" I'd say we could live without them. :)

"We'd be SOL on honey though"

This may prove to be important b/c I think I once read that honey is the only food with an indefinite shelf life. (For when the stuff really hits the fan).

My wife always prefers a home with little or no cellular coverage. All the EM waves must not be good for you. The alter the energy field around you.

Peter P,

It's still early to say we've found the "smoking gun" but the decimation in the bee populations (thus far) seems to be confined to heavily industrialized nations. U.S, U.K and parts of Europe being the most affected.

The article also mentioned Scandanavian research that showed a 40% increase in brain tumors on the listening ear side of frequent cell users. They also suggested early senility for teens today by age 40 or 50.

The article also mentioned Scandanavian research that showed a 40% increase in brain tumors on the listening ear side of frequent cell users. They also suggested early senility for teens today by age 40 or 50.

I watched a dowsing video and the instructor showed that cellphone has influences up to 10 meters away.

In that case, I'm pretty much f_cked at this point.

There are so many people in Portland that no longer have a land line of any kind and strictly operate on a Wi-Fi/cellular basis. People of all ages, so it's not necessarily a generational thing. Also many do it to circumvent the Multnomah Cty. phone taxes.

That could prove to be an ugly trade off. What I guess I don't get, is how can the unattended bee-hive emit any kind of frequency? Even if the queen (or whatever) gives off a signal how could it be heard/sensed for more than a few hundred feet anyway?

I require a land line. I do not trust wireless technologies that much.

I'm of the opinion all EMR related maladies are correlations, not causal. when I see any study that adequately controls for obvious Occam's Razor questions then I'll become concerned.

Why are there less bees? Perhaps because there's less habitat, more contaminants, less pollination sources, too many monocrops? It could even be the case there are too many predators eating them or other insects displacing them.

But looming mysterious electro magnetic radiation (scary word) towers make for better media.

It is easy. We can use a dowsing rod to find out the presence of EM radiation.

It is quite likely that bees do internal dowsing.

Randy H,

There have been major population die-offs in the past. Some recently, but what experts and handlers are now finding is that they're not making it back to the hive. In the past I guess the bees would return to die in or near the hive?

I'm afraid I don't believe in dowsing. I need objective, repeatable, falsifiable evidence.

I thought the earth (as viewed from space) with an infra-red camera would have a magenta hue b/c of all of the microwave/radio transmissions. It would basically blanket the globe (and probably has since they launched Sputnik) so why now?

Biological life on this planet has been bombarded by all kinds of very nasty EMR from the cosmos since the beginning. Not to say there isn't a sensitivity to it, because there is. But we're not so fragile as to be ravaged by minor changes caused by relatively low power sources.

I'm not a biological expert by any means, but unless there's been some discoveries I've missed in the past couple decades, bees communicate through chemistry, not radios or mysticism.

I've read theories about the collapse in bee populations being related to increase in use of neonicotinoides (nicotine-based poisons) for weed control:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder. Other leading theories involve the weakening of the earth's magentic fields, GMOs and HFCS. Can't really comment on cell phone towers, but that one seems a bit far fetched, especially considering how long the things have been around.

Can we be reasonable and try to keep guns out of the hands of maniacs? I don’t think everybody carrying guns would have helped this situation.

I don't recall ever advocating that homicidal maniacs be given guns, and I am not against requiring criminal background checks at gun shows --or other reasonable forms of regulation. The Virginia Tech shooting is horrible, but if I were ever faced with that situation, I would certainly prefer to have some personal protection at my disposal. In these situations, by the time the police arrive and kill/corner the asshole(s), it's already too late for the victims. The police cannot be everywhere all the time.

Think of a personal firearm and a tool of last resort, learn how to use it responsibly and respect it --and try to keep it secured from children (and psychopaths).

My first Wiki link on bee colony collapse disorder (CCD) didn't work for some reason:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder.

Do you think Virginia will adopt some kid of hi-cap magazine regulations then?

I'm so far out of my depth here it isn't funny but my understanding of sun spot events and massive doses of radiation is that they are short term events. Anyone that's ever had a satellite dish (especially the old 10 footers) knows that August can mean disrupted programming.

Expanded (can you hear me know) cell coverage may provide a constant background chatter that disrupts their ability to navigate? Couldn't we just SAY that it does and require a "cell permit" issued only to emergency medical personnel and have all other "un-authorized" transmissions triangulated and terminated?

One thing to note: Science is especially ignorant of things that we do not already know.

The problem lies not in keeping firearms away from psychopaths. It is about keeping psychopaths away from us. People is the problem. Always.

HARM,

Thanks for the link. It was more balanced than my being introduced to CCD (colony collapse disorder) AS A DIRECT RESULT of cellphone transmissions? They list so many possibilities (including retiring beekeepers) it's hard to say. Me personally I get a bad reaction when I get stung so I hope all the little f@ckers bite the big one.

Perhaps bees are not adapting fast enough and they will become extinct.

Scenario 8: Randy and Peter starts artificial honey factory. World peace becomes a fact. End to hunger is declared.

SFBB,

Well said. I'm sure you meant NRA not the NAR (which we're so used to bashing).

Scenario 9:

Artificial honey is plentiful (and cheap!) but near extinction of Blue Agave plant causes Surfer X to go ballistic creating Renter's Rebellion decimating the formerly peaceful enclave of Santa Barbara!

Topanga Canyon is reduced to ruin as roving gangs of tequila deprived maniacs roam the streets!

I will be sad if the bees go away. Honey on hot cornbread and other assorted biscuit type things is extremely nice.

Bees being affected by radiation isn't completely ludicrous, however we certainly don't know enough to start burning the cell towers and as has been noted, there are many other possible reasons for it.

However, it's important to study things like this. The bees having issues may point out something interesting about the magnetic field of the earth, cell phones, bee keeper retirement, etc. And if there is a human created issue, studying the early affected species contains the damage. If it's a natural macro event triggering it, the study may give us insight into many things wholly unanticipated. Many scientific discoveries involve people saying "Hmm... that's weird!"

DinOR,

Whoops... fruedian slip. Man, the NAR's gun control legislation would be hilarious to see. "They're not making any more guns! Buy the biggest gun you can or you'll be priced out forever!"

To bring the topic off gun control for just a moment, DQ just published it's most recent data for foreclosure/default activity for CA:

http://dqnews.com/RRFor0407.shtm

Some tidbits:

The number of default notices sent to California homeowners last quarter increased to its highest level in almost ten years, the result of flat appreciation, slow sales, and post teaser-rate mortgage resets, a real estate information service reported...

Loan originations peaked in August 2005. Adjustable-rate mortgage use for primary purchase home loans peaked at 77.8% in May 2005 and has come down since.

I didn't realize the portion of California primary home purchase loans that were ARMs was that high! Wow.

it's -> its

"we certainly don't know enough to start burning cell towers"

No. No we don't. One of the things I've always kind of struggled with is getting an accurate head count on..... insects? To me it seems hypothetical at best.

Hold still ya' little bastards! Oh great now I gotta start over!

skibum, thanks for the link

The gun equivalent would be “driving in car containing a weapon that is not locked down (in the trunk and/or in a safe cointainer).

I believe California has laws governing that.

Weapons that are small/concealable (HANDguns) should be very tightly regulated, both owning them and carrying/transporting them.

Absolutely not. This is the beginning of a dangerous slippery slope. Guns don't kill. People do. We should have an informant network for neighbors to report dangerous psychopaths and those who evade taxes.