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Comment Hive contamination (Score 1) 23

I don't see how they'll be able to prevent hive contamination with this method.
The worker bees are as likely to track the pesticides back into the comb when they return from foraging as when they go out to the plants.
Over time any contaminants introduced into a hive will build up in the comb wax, provided that it's a hive structure in which comb is reused. (Refer to Langstroth hives with frames mounted in supers, which are the most common types in the industry).
Even if it's initially harmless at the dosed value, the presence over time will tilt the effective dosages.
This is found in the treatment of varroa mites, which are treated with fumigants that are hung inside the super between the frames. Over time those fumigants that accumulate in the wax add on to the active dosage that should only affect the mites and not the bees, and you end up at the point where a mite treatment is killing the bees too.
I also wonder if they intend for this to be strictly for "workhorse" colonies or for those used in honey for consumption. The pesticides of note might be harmless to humans, but could still be taken poorly by consumers.

Side note: It's not uncommon for various treatments to be used on hives outside of honey production season. But this one would need to be done during the time that bees are actively collecting nectar and pollen for their business to work.

Comment Re:Its laugh track is a crime against humanity (Score 1) 406

Seinfeld's humor is hinged on seeing not-quite-likeable people in uncomfortable situations.
John Cleese mentions taboo subjects in his interview about Fawlty Towers, though Seinfeld is less about the taboo and more about the release of stress you get from watching these painful social situations unfold.

And they don't stand the test of time, as noted below, because you've seen them and it doesn't cause the same reactions, or they're no longer relevant socially, or no longer relevant to you as a person.

If they never were relevant to someone, chances are that person never found them funny in the first place.

Comment Saw this in another project previously (Score 1) 85

A few years ago I found another project that was doing this. They used a camera that shot an image on each of the RGB channels. So the image at 0 seconds was on red, 2 seconds on green, 4 on blue, or whatever their timer count was.
The user end app was a java monstrosity that I didn't want on my machine. So I made a single line script in Linux to do what it did.
It used convert to split the image into it's RGB components, saved them sequentially, then reassembled them as a three frame GIF.
Then you could see the movement of the asteroid upon a background of static stars.

I called it "rockspotter".

Comment Opportunity knocks (Score 1) 184

Throw in the grant system that Epic is putting into place, and those who want to contribute to making Blender a better game dev tool have another potential source of income.
The FBX import/export system is improving all the time, but now you can show that work to Epic and if they see it as contributing to the community they'll fund you.

Something like this could really boost the productivity of the modeling and animation tools in the open source community.

Comment Beaglebone + Arcade Button (Score 1) 327

The day I got my Beaglebone Black I connected an arcade button to it to test the GPIO with the onboard LEDs. Took only a moment to set up and when the button is pressed the LED lights up. Scripting an event to contact you when the button is pressed would be trivial, and it can also host an additional on-board cam for you, among other things.

Comment And then there's the hypocrites... (Score 1) 231

I know someone who is rabidly anti-privacy and calls anyone who disagrees with him 'deluded wingnuts' and other less savory terms.
He thinks the government should have full access to you all the time to "stop crime".

Yet he posts videos on YouTube with his face blurred out and his voice altered so he doesn't get fired from jobs.
It's okay for HIM to have privacy, but he doesn't believe anyone else should have it.

Comment Re:That was a near miss (Score 3, Interesting) 66

I actually managed to get my refund back from BFL, shocking as it seems.
When I ordered the Monarch there was no "6 months before you can request a refund policy", but they still denied me the refund at first. And then immediately flagged my forum account as moderated.
When I used info from their site to contact the AGs in Kansas and Wyoming (they claim to be a Wyoming Corporation on their site, though Wyoming says they don't exist as an entity there at all) I posted it to see what the moderator would do. Instant ban.
Still, on the day the 6 months was up I requested my refund and two days after they said it was wired I got it back.
I was fortunate. There were other fellows on the BitcoinTalk forum out as much as 60K versus my 2K.

Comment Re:that's sorta the problem (Score 1) 192

Maybe if it was explained with a less technical product they'd get it.

It's like when you go into Bulk Barn and there are broken chocolate bar bits for less than the cost of a wrapped, branded chocolate bar.
They are still yummy, but not able to be sold for full price. So they sell them at a reduced price to get some return on them.

Now I'm craving chocolate.

Comment Re: The world we live in. (Score 1, Redundant) 595

There's no doubt that they are used but the prevalence is likely as exaggerated as "stranger danger".
In the UK 75 cases of suspected dosing were investigated and only one person turned out to have a date-rape drug in their tox screen. The other cases appeared to be people drinking to excess.
This doesn't put the blame on the victim instead of a rapist. We should also be aware that the regular old issue of people getting shitfaced is still a real contributor to creating vulnerable targets for predators.

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