Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest • Hacker News Board

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

#251

Post by giantg2 » Sun, Oct 25, 2020, 9:54 PM UTC

cableshaft wrote: post #210

yawz wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Varroa is and has been my #1 problem for a while. I hate it. But I can't agree with this statement: "If these hornets become a serious problem for honeybees, we will find a solution to keep bees safe." It can easy be too late. Look at what's happening in Europe. They simply can't stop the hornets. Of course it's more dramatic to show these huge insects. They are impressive and scary. Mites are small and look insignif…

Just like the US could have treated Coronavirus seriously early on and helped keep numbers down, but chose to do nothing and now it's everywhere and doing far more damage to the economy. Don't let murder hornets become the bee's new Coronavirus equivalent. It sounds like they're already dealing with plenty of pandemic-like issues as it is. To quote George W Bush, who actually took pandemics seriously, "A pandemic is…

Also snakeheads, spotted lantern flies, [insert name of other costly free-trade pest here]

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

#252

Post by giantg2 » Sun, Oct 25, 2020, 9:58 PM UTC

yawz wrote: post #160

dmos62 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

If you have access to gardens, you can plant bee-friendly flowering plants according to your region's climate. You can learn about the wild bees in your region and understand what natural resources they thrive on. Some of them are so specialized that they can easily be threatened by the loss of habitat. Some of the bee "houses" can become great activities for children. For example kids can build Mason Bee houses and…

You can still have mosquito free areas while being bee-friendly. BTI is a biological control that only targets mosquitoes.

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

#253

Post by teawrecks » Sun, Oct 25, 2020, 10:04 PM UTC

honkycat wrote: post #156

I always find the anti-environmentalist position that pops up on HN interesting. For a technical audience, they are amazingly unaware of "Systems Thinking". Saying "MEH, there are other pollinators" is lazy thinking. Our ecosystem is a vast web of interconnections. You cannot predict how one HUGELY important species being destroyed will affect the rest of our ecosystem. Furthermore: People use honey bees for honey (…

The problem is that people think environmentalism is about preserving the environment. The planet's gonna be fine, it's humans who are gonna have a bad time.

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

#254

Post by nurettin » Sun, Oct 25, 2020, 10:04 PM UTC

coliveira wrote: post #249

nurettin wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because communist apologetics usually come from people who are communits, not people who think there is a healthy balance. Which is already in law. The US, just like every other healthy functioning country in the world, is socialist. They just suck at it horrendously in certain fields. The capitalist ideal is talked about, but mostly because of the innovation aspect, not the worker exploitation aspect. In fact, and e…

Not really, these days this position is more frequent in people who want a healthy balance and see policies purely motivated by free-market ideology. For example, it is very clear that the Trump administration is shock full of free-market ideologues, in issues ranging from health care to education and the environment.

Propaganda and wishful thinking doesn't replace facts. Governments will build transportation and hospitals until the last day of our extinction.

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

#255

Post by marmaduke » Sun, Oct 25, 2020, 10:08 PM UTC

yawz wrote: post #247

marmaduke wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> plant bee-friendly flowering plants according to your region's climate. I have a bit of garden but in the middle of a residential district of a city. Do I have any chance to attract bees or is > starting your own hive the only way?

As the others pointed out, they'll come. Urban beekeeping has become popular in recent years. > the only way? Not sure if I understand. I've also heard of schemes where you can sponsor a hive, but I've never tried it.

> Not sure if I understand

sorry I meant a continuation of your quote as part of of the question there: ie. "is starting your own hive the own only way?"

I've started to plant bee friendly flowers, but they haven't grown much. I'll continue again in spring.

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

#256

Post by wyre » Sun, Oct 25, 2020, 10:09 PM UTC

teawrecks wrote: post #253

honkycat wrote: post #156

I always find the anti-environmentalist position that pops up on HN interesting. For a technical audience, they are amazingly unaware of "Systems Thinking". Saying "MEH, there are other pollinators" is lazy thinking. Our ecosystem is a vast web of interconnections. You cannot predict how one HUGELY important species being destroyed will affect the rest of our ecosystem. Furthermore: People use honey bees for honey (…

The problem is that people think environmentalism is about preserving the environment. The planet's gonna be fine, it's humans who are gonna have a bad time.

>The planets gonna be fine

I see this line a lot but everyday humans are doing irreparable damage to ecosystems. Taking millions of years to heal from events is not ‘fine’.

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

#257

Post by haberman » Sun, Oct 25, 2020, 10:12 PM UTC

honkycat wrote: post #156

I always find the anti-environmentalist position that pops up on HN interesting. For a technical audience, they are amazingly unaware of "Systems Thinking". Saying "MEH, there are other pollinators" is lazy thinking. Our ecosystem is a vast web of interconnections. You cannot predict how one HUGELY important species being destroyed will affect the rest of our ecosystem. Furthermore: People use honey bees for honey (…

> How could you honestly take this position?

What position do you mean? Your comment is not replying to anybody.

I don't see anybody in this thread who is arguing that we should do nothing.

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

#258

Post by bsder » Sun, Oct 25, 2020, 10:14 PM UTC

honkycat wrote: post #156

I always find the anti-environmentalist position that pops up on HN interesting. For a technical audience, they are amazingly unaware of "Systems Thinking". Saying "MEH, there are other pollinators" is lazy thinking. Our ecosystem is a vast web of interconnections. You cannot predict how one HUGELY important species being destroyed will affect the rest of our ecosystem. Furthermore: People use honey bees for honey (…

> There is no mystical "other pollinator" that is going to fill the niche of the honey bee. Honey bees are uniquely industrialized and failure to eliminate the Murder Hornet threat to honey bees will have HUGE implications.

This is solely due to the industrialization of agriculture.

Leaving fallow portions of the field and growing native crops winds up with an assortment of pollinators--including a lot of native bees.

The problem is that they are less efficient. So, a farmer who does this will lose to a farmer who uses industrialized honeybees.

This is a standard case of privatize the profit and socialize the risk.

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

#259

Post by MertsA » Sun, Oct 25, 2020, 10:16 PM UTC

derefr wrote: post #25

Johnny555 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt they use a socket that would allow the battery to be isolated, it's probably directly soldered in for weight and reliability. Otherwise they could just ship the battery uninstalled and let the user plug it in when he gets it. A weight of 0.15g doesn't give a lot of room for extra components like a battery socket.

Perhaps they could put a tiny antifuse in circuit with the battery inside the IC package. Supply external "programming" current to the IC, and it would melt the antifuse and get the battery going.

Or just bring one of the battery leads out of the encapsulation and cut it. Just a tiny bit of solder and you hook it back up. With the rest of the device waterproofed just one tiny exposed contact should still remain waterproof with thin gauge solid conductor wire. There's no voltage differential so it shouldn't rust moreso than just a regular blob of solder exposed to the elements.

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

#260

Post by hinkley » Sun, Oct 25, 2020, 10:22 PM UTC

honkycat wrote: post #156

I always find the anti-environmentalist position that pops up on HN interesting. For a technical audience, they are amazingly unaware of "Systems Thinking". Saying "MEH, there are other pollinators" is lazy thinking. Our ecosystem is a vast web of interconnections. You cannot predict how one HUGELY important species being destroyed will affect the rest of our ecosystem. Furthermore: People use honey bees for honey (…

> we still need nature to sustain ourselves.

There is no safe harbor. We will always need nature to sustain ourselves.

We are nature, full stop. But if you include our digestive tracts, that fact is inescapable. We are a sentient bioreactors. I’m thinking we can destroy nature and keep going is suicide.