Category: Uncategorized

kedreeva:

officialabortionist:

itscolossal:

WATCH: Honey on Tap: A New Beehive that Automatically Extracts Honey without Disturbing Bees 

WITHOU T DISTURBING THE BEES THAT IS FANTASTIC BEES ARE GREAT

You don’t understand how fabulous this is!!

  • This hive structure, if it works like the descriptions imply, would make beehives something super affordable, that just about anyone could install near their home and maintain. AND it would reduce the cost of harvesting honey by more than just the money-
  • A typical honey harvesting device costs $200-300, plus the time it takes to use to harvest. For a Langstroth hive, you have to suit up (gear which can be pricey), remove the comb (which is highly disturbing to the bees), install said comb in the extractor (scraping all the caps off the comb first), spin out the honey, RE-open the hive (after suiting up and again disturbing the bees), and put the comb back.
  • If you use a method that doesn’t require an extractor, you usually end up destroying the comb, which is damaging to the hive and intensively laborious for your bees because they have to completely remake the combs from scratch.

What this looks like is that you probably wouldn’t even need to suit up any time you wanted to harvest honey (though you would still need the equipment for installation of the colony and for inspections, etc, or if you’re still getting used to the colony). Removing the viewing window on a hive doesn’t disturb the bees at all (ours hardly even notice us), and the shift in the comb to start extraction is unlikely to cause enough disturbance to merit a response.

The bees get to keep/recycle all the materials they created (aside from the honey), and you get fresh, almost-effortless honey.

Perhaps the most important and AWESOME thing about this?? The “Flow Frames” that allow for this type of extraction can be used with pre-existing hive boxes. This means that folks who already own bees that are being kept in most kinds of hives, especailly the standard Langstroth hive boxes, can replace their old frames with Flow frames without having to start from scratch.

The Indiegogo campaign to start production on these launches in just a few hours (11AM AU EST, Feb. 23rd, 2015), so if you want to help these folks revolutionize bee-keeping, I would suggest signing up for their mailing list!

October when it’s 45 degrees: what have we done to deserve such a fate *puts on 3 layers of clothing, a winter coat, 2 pairs of gloves, and boots before setting foot outside*
March when it’s 45 degrees: god has blessed us with a beautiful day honestly i feel inspired *opens windows, goes outside with no jacket, smiles at strangers as they pass by*

random-nexus:

petermorwood:

twin-city-ankh-and-morpork:

Sir Terry Pratchett, 28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015

“DON’T THINK OF IT AS DYING, said Death. JUST THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH.”  

Art by Paul Kidby

I don’t feel like laughing, not even smiling – but I’m doing both.

(Paul, thank you for helping me do it…)

(Such f’ing awesome art! ^5 to you Paul Kidby)

RIP, Sir Terry, I don’t know what your concept of heaven was, but I hope you’re enjoying it. My money’s on a world-tour starting in Ankh-Moorpork, with Luggage. 

We’ve lost another huge chunk of awesome, although maybe it’s a wash, because Sir Terry Pratchett created so very much awesome while he was here. 

Terry Pratchett dies at 66 after long battle with Alzheimer’s disease

madeofpersonal:

He sold over 85million books worldwide in 37 languages, and in 2011 announced his diagnosis with posterior cortical atrophy, a rare variant of Alzheimer’s disease primarily affecting vision.

I can’t stop crying. Sir Terry, you were my hero. You’re my inspiration to be a writer, and the Discworld series were the first books I ever fell in love with. This is devastating.

Terry Pratchett dies at 66 after long battle with Alzheimer’s disease