Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

axios.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 398 posts

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#141

Post by pm90 »

brink wrote: post #132
umvi wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Had we all been wearing surgical masks in public since the 90s, probably well over a million lives would have been saved by now from flu deaths alone. Basically, since the 90s we've put a much much higher value on human life. I expect mask usage to extend far beyond covid and handshaking to cease being a cultural greeting.

Who needs to take the risk of physical human contact or to see the smile of a stranger walking down the street when you can survive a few years longer depressed inside a sterile bubble.

Are smiles from strangers really that important to your well being?

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#142

Post by BigBubbleButt »

aardvarkr wrote: post #121
xwdv wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What will happen when bees go extinct? Edit: I don’t understand the vicious pointless downvotes over this question.

Not a beekeeper but it’s pretty easy to connect the dots from bee extinction to ecological collapse. No pollinators leads to decreased germination which leads to less food for the lower levels of the food chain and on and on

> Not a beekeeper but it’s pretty easy to connect the dots from bee extinction to ecological collapse.

How is that an easy connection? Your argument essentially says without bees then nature as we know it falls apart catastrophically - I am incredulous you could interpret this as obvious. Species go extinct all the time and yet Earth is still doing just fine, apart from the damage humans are doing to it.

> No pollinators

Bees are not the only pollinators

> leads to decreased germination

A decrease is not the same as elimination

> which leads to less food

A decrease is not the same as elimination

> for the lower levels of the food chain and on and on

Your argument is a about knock-on effects, which certainly exist. But you seem to think if any point in the chain breaks, it leads to ecological collapse. Why do you assume nature is so fragile? I am not a biologist and maybe bees are special or there is something I do not understand, but I certainly don't think it's an obvious conclusion.

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#143

Post by canada_dry »

TomK32 wrote: post #16
snypher wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is pretty cool tech. One thing I noticed is the battery is depleting from the time it's ordered; probably not a lot of room for a power switch. This one is 3x11mm and weighs 0.15g; https://atstrack.com/tracking-products/transmitters/product-...

Isn't a simple strip of plastics to isolate the battery a common "power switch"?

> isolate the battery

I wonder why its not just two interconnecting cylinders (using a tiny gasket) that you push together with thumb/finger when you want to activate/power the device.

Given that there would have been some serious engineering to think through the design there must have been trade-offs that I'm not considering though.

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#144

Post by aspaceman »

xwdv wrote: post #115
yawz wrote: post #101

I’m a beekeeper and every passing year it becomes harder to keep my colonies alive. I’m really glad that we’re taking this threat seriously, because we don’t need one more problem on our list of things that kill our bees. While I’m at it, please allow me to remind everyone that there are thousands of solitary bee species in the world. They are the ones that go extinct or in real danger compared to our honey bees. The…

What will happen when bees go extinct? Edit: I don’t understand the vicious pointless downvotes over this question.

We lose another beautiful creature. People quibbling over there being other pollinators are being quite dense.

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#145

Post by s0rce »

Yetanfou wrote: post #37
snypher wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is pretty cool tech. One thing I noticed is the battery is depleting from the time it's ordered; probably not a lot of room for a power switch. This one is 3x11mm and weighs 0.15g; https://atstrack.com/tracking-products/transmitters/product-...

They could be using zinc-air batteries (like those used in hearing aids) which deplete whether they're used or not.

According to the link above they say they use lithium batteries, probably better power/weight, but likely the whole device is potted in epoxy and there isn't any way to turn it on/off. It just runs from when the battery is welded/soldered until there isn't power left.

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#146

Post by saila »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #60
Exmoor wrote: post #19

It makes me a little nauseous to think about all the resources going to tracking down these insects, but this is truly an area where an ounce of prevention is worth many pounds of cure. The scope of North America's invasive species problem is enormous. For many folks in urban areas, it's possible that you might go your whole day only encountering one native bird species (American Crow), but a whole host of invasive s…

Is there any evidence of such attempts to neuter Mother Nature actually working? Unless, global trade ceases, can this effort be maintained and successful over the long haul? I'm not suggesting it's bad or wrong to try, only whether there's evidence that the odds favor doing so.

Since these hornets didn't arrive in North America "naturally," removing them isn't "unnatural."

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#147

Post by ncmncm »

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #33
samcheng wrote: post #5

I've never had to deal with a murder hornet infestation, but I can approve of their 'vacuum' method for clearing yellowjacket nests in high-traffic areas. Partially fill a shop vac with soapy water, stick the nozzle as close to the nest entrance as possible, then turn on the vacuum and hear the wasps get sucked into the machine as they try to enter or exit the nest. It takes a few hours, and potentially a couple of s…

> No fancy beekeeper suit necessary Does that perhaps depend on the species of wasp, or maybe the reach of the wand? IIRC, there was one youtube video where the little bastards went straight for the dude's face during shop-vac'ing. He could smell the venom they were trying to spray in his eyes. When one of the wasps (or hornets?) went straight for his GoPro sensor, its face filled my large monitor and I nearly had a…

Be sure to put a mask on your vacuum nozzle. And wear a mask without obvious eyes.

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#148

Post by xyzzyz »

xwdv wrote: post #115
yawz wrote: post #101

I’m a beekeeper and every passing year it becomes harder to keep my colonies alive. I’m really glad that we’re taking this threat seriously, because we don’t need one more problem on our list of things that kill our bees. While I’m at it, please allow me to remind everyone that there are thousands of solitary bee species in the world. They are the ones that go extinct or in real danger compared to our honey bees. The…

What will happen when bees go extinct? Edit: I don’t understand the vicious pointless downvotes over this question.

Honey bees haven’t existed in America before 1600, so I suppose we’ll be without one of the invasive species.

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#149

Post by dmos62 »

yawz wrote: post #101

I’m a beekeeper and every passing year it becomes harder to keep my colonies alive. I’m really glad that we’re taking this threat seriously, because we don’t need one more problem on our list of things that kill our bees. While I’m at it, please allow me to remind everyone that there are thousands of solitary bee species in the world. They are the ones that go extinct or in real danger compared to our honey bees. The…

Can you give advice or direct us to where we could learn what we can do to actively help bee populations around us?

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#150

Post by klyrs »

BigBubbleButt wrote: post #142
aardvarkr wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a beekeeper but it’s pretty easy to connect the dots from bee extinction to ecological collapse. No pollinators leads to decreased germination which leads to less food for the lower levels of the food chain and on and on

> Not a beekeeper but it’s pretty easy to connect the dots from bee extinction to ecological collapse. How is that an easy connection? Your argument essentially says without bees then nature as we know it falls apart catastrophically - I am incredulous you could interpret this as obvious. Species go extinct all the time and yet Earth is still doing just fine, apart from the damage humans are doing to it. > No pollina…

You're making a leap from "collapse" to "elimination". Searching for "GDP collapse", the first result I get is referring to a global 4.3% predicted collapse for 2020. People seem to be taking that pretty hard.
Post reply on HN