Struggling honeybees America's colonies are being severely taxed, and it could have serious implications for our future. No, I'm not trying to start a revolution; I'm talking about bees. The Agricultural Research Service just released a new survey about the health of managed honey bee colonies in the United States, and the results are disturbing: We're losing a full one-third of our roughly 2.46 million colonies each year. According to the report, losses of managed honey bee colonies nationwide totaled 33.8 percent from all causes from October 2009 to April 2010. This is an increase from overall losses of 29 percent reported from a similar survey covering the winter of 2008-2009, and similar to the 35.8 percent losses for the winter of 2007-2008. If you've been paying attention to the news over the past couple of years, I probably don't need to tell you why you should care about this. But basically, bees are important pollinators that make it possible for plants to bear many of the fruits and seeds which humans like to eat. Thus, fewer bees doesn't simply mean less honey; it means fewer (and more expensive) almonds, apples, avocados, oranges, watermelons and so on. In fact, according to the ARS, you have honey bees to thank for about one of every three mouthfuls of food in your diet. The economy needs bees, too – they represent some $15 billion in added crop value. So what's killing the bees? Beekeepers in this latest surveyStruggling honeybees which covered about a quarter of all colonies – pointed to factors like starvation, poor weather, and weak colonies going into winter. Then there's something called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a mysterious syndrome whose hallmark is absence: all or most of the adults are missing from affected hives, but no there are no dead bodies in sight. The cause is unknown, though theories abound that blame everything from pesticides and genetically modified crops to high-fructose corn syrup. The incidence of CCD seems to be holding steady – it was reported in 28 percent of beekeeping operations that lost colonies, compared to 26 percent last year and 32 percent the year before – but “apparently manageable” disorders like starvation are on the rise. The survey reports only winter losses and does not capture colony losses that occur throughout the summer when queens or entire colonies fail and need to be replaced. Those summer losses can be significant. All told, the rate of loss experienced by the industry is unsustainable. – blogs.smithsonianmag.com Scout gaming badge Forget about starting fires with sticks and setting up tents in the wilderness. Since videogames are played by the vast majority of children across the United States, the Boy Scouts of America have decided to get with the times. They will be offering a Video Games belt loop and pin to the Cub Scouts. No, I'm not kidding. I only wish I were. To earn the belt loop, the kids must explain why it is important to have a rating system for video games, and check their video games to be sure they are appropriate. With the help of an adult, they have to create a schedule to do things such as chores and homework… and still fit in game time. They have to “do their best” to follow the schedule. And last – but not least – they have to learn to play a new game that is approved by their parent, guardian or teacher. What happened to the days when the Boy Scouts learned things that added value to their life in some way? I recall having to do things like learn how to save a person's life. I'm sure I would have enjoyed getting rewards for playing games, but I just don't see how that would have really added something important to my education. – chris.pirillo.com UK debates IT would be hard for a non-partisan viewer to say anything other than David Cameron clearly won last night. He was concise, hit his button issues and set up a very clear philosophical difference between himself and the two others on tax and basically who creates wealth in a modern economy. He sounded and looked like a prime minister, and has peaked just nicely. He scored a nice hit against Nick Clegg on the Euro, but didn't bang on about it too much because he knows, I suspect, that it doesn't register with Brits as much as it does inside his party. He also had Nick Clegg on the defensive over immigration. The one surprise was that he didn't push the Vote Clegg Get Brown message very hard, or go on too much about a hung parliament, which would make you wonder what polling data he's seeing. This was, by far, Nick Clegg's worst debate, but by no means a disaster. He was weak on the Euro, although probably right to just get away from the issue altogether. The “Here they go again, those pesky old parties” schtick was getting very irritating by the end. His defense of his immigration policy, on the other hand, was one of the most noble defenses of a policy I've seen in a long time. It is what people always say they want a politician to do: Tell them the truth, and follow through with an honest policy even if it is unpopular but the right thing to do. I was against an amnesty, but Nick Clegg made simple good sense about actually dealing with an issue as opposed to just talking about it. It'll probably lose him votes, but he's still right. Clegg sounded, by far, like the most normal of the three, and will be hoping that it'll allow him to hold on to most of the Cleggmania surge, and win second place in the polls. Gordon Brown looked like he'd been mugged in the car park before the debate. Labour have lost.
