(no subject)

I've been rather quiet lately, at least for me. My brain is just full of things, trying to process them all and come out the other end with all my hair. Still no solid offer from Texas, but Corey and I are having many second thoughts. You all know mine, but Corey went up into the woods yesterday to get me an assortment of leaves for the luna moth larvae (they are still not eating, I think they really want walnut and I can't get them any).

When he came back he said he was getting cold feet--if you dont' know, Corey loves his woods out back. I think he's probably rubbed his balls on every tree back there (I'm kidding, don't be silly). I know he loves to just sit and be surrounded by rocks and big trees. Also, part of the move might mean selling the horses, which looks good on paper, but when we pull up and they come running across the pasture to see us, well, the idea seems just impossible. But he loves the idea of less overtime and a better work schedule. Unfortunately that isn't going to happen here. I think it's going to come down to the wire on this one. I've told him how I feel, he's done the same, we are just curious what the offer will be.

Random act of icon:

This one is for abysmalstomach  and anarawd :

 

and speaking of bees...

Posted yesterday by earthwomyn06 (I think?)

Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?

Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony collapse' of bees

By Geoffrey Lean and Harriet Shawcross

Published: 15 April 2007

It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.

They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.

The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers, like so many apian Mary Celestes. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.

The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast.

CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. And last week John Chapple, one of London's biggest bee-keepers, announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly abandoned.

Other apiarists have recorded losses in Scotland, Wales and north-west England, but the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted: "There is absolutely no evidence of CCD in the UK."

The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left".

No one knows why it is happening. Theories involving mites, pesticides, global warming and GM crops have been proposed, but all have drawbacks.

German research has long shown that bees' behaviour changes near power lines.

Now a limited study at Landau University has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Dr Jochen Kuhn, who carried it out, said this could provide a "hint" to a possible cause.

Dr George Carlo, who headed a massive study by the US government and mobile phone industry of hazards from mobiles in the Nineties, said: "I am convinced the possibility is real."

This is for the Thick Chicks.

Via popfiend:

www.myspace.com/tamblu

(no subject)

I just ordered this book through paperbackswap.com :

Shantaram is a semi-autobiographical story about an Australian heroin addict who escapes from prison and arrives in Bombay (Mumbai) with a fake passport. He assumes a new name, Lindsay. There he meets Prabaker, a happy-go-lucky taxi driver. After he is robbed of all his money he moves from a hotel to the slums where Prabaker lives. In the slums he finds peace by opening a free-clinic. In search of more medicine he comes across a Mumbia Don (mafia boss) who helps Lindsay with his clinic and recruits him as a money launderer and passport foregoer. Lindsay falls in love with India while finding love, redemption, a purpose and heartbreak. He spends time in slums, company of mafia bosses, drug dens and in a tiny Indian village where he gains the name Shantaram.

The author apparently was a heroin addict and lived in the slums of Bombay for several years. The book has gotten all kinds of praise.




Next year it is supposed to be released as a film starring Johnny Depp. I found this out after ordering the book, but I'm even more interested to read it now!

(no subject)

A Dancer's Prayer

Giver of life, Creator of all
that is lovely,
Teach me to sing the words
of your song;
I want to feel the music of living
And not fear the sad songs,
But from them make new songs
Composed of both laughter and tears.
Teach me to dance to the sounds of
your world and your people,
I want to move in rhythm with
your plan;
Help me to try to follow your leading,
To risk even falling,
To rise and keep trying
Because you are leading the dance.