*promote so people might think twice before spreading rat poison around where other animals (or kids) can get at it...hopefully this will convince some people to stop using rat poison at all, because even if pets can't get the poison, they might eat poisoned rats and still be poisoned themselves. Also, it's a disgustingly painful way to dispatch pests, there are many, more 'humane' alternatives in most situations.

I think every kid needs to go through something like that.

I used to shoot pest rabbits around our house (in the country, far from any neighbors) with a BB rifle. Went through safety training, was always very careful, etc. etc.

One day I saw a rabbit hiding under a row of trees between myself and the back side of my house. I never shot towards the house / people / whatever, always away from. But, the rabbit was there. I could have walked around the trees, but the rabbit probably wouldn't have been visible from the other side. Plus, the land sloped up so there was a bit of a hill/grade between me and the house, not to mention the thick tree branches and underbrush. BBs almost never went clean through a rabbit, they'd get lodged in the body.

So, I rationalized all that. Five pumps instead of ten, make sure I hit the rabbit so the BB doesn't go through, plus I'm aiming down into the ground so even if I miss the BB will probably lodge in the ground or hit a tree or brush. Should be fine. Do it.

I pull the trigger, rabbit runs away, and I hear a really loud "thump". The BB had ricocheted off the ground and hit right in the dead center of a huge sliding glass door on the back of the house. Safety glass, so I saw it spread out in little spiderweb patterns from the impact point in the center over the course of about 30 seconds or so, and then all fall into a pile of glass bits.


So of course I run to my dad and said "no, I was totally aiming *away* from the house -- must have had a really unlucky ricochet off of the flagpole or something!" He just smiled and said "really?" and then explained that I'd be doing chores and mowing the lawn to help pay to replace the glass door -- which ended up being about $800.

But you can bet your ass that I never aimed even remotely in the direction of a house, car, or anything else that I didn't want to shoot after that...

True for many simple domestic species, but exotic gardening of foreign trees until they reach the point where they are bearing fruit takes a lot of knowledge on top of sourcing the seeds. How much water? What's the pollination process? Soil chemistry? Fertilization and nutrients? Diseases and pests to manage?

There are a lot of failed gardens out there.

My family owns and operates a farm, wheat and corn, in Kansas. We use Roundup herbicides sometimes.

Specifically, there is a GMO variant of field corn called "Roundup Ready" where the corn is genetically resistant to the herbicide. Plant a field of that corn, then after it emerges but well before harvesting (obviously) spray it with Roundup, diluted to an appropriate level. All of the pest plants in the field die. The corn looks a little wilted / harried for a few days after spraying, but bounces back and grows out just fine.

We use that specific kind (Roundup Ready) about 1 year out of every 4 or 5, only when pest plants are starting to become an issue. They'd love to sell it to farmers every year, but most only rotate it in when necessary, just like us, and use a small amount of normal seed (not GMO, just some of the normal corn we harvest) held in reserve from previous year(s) in the other years.

Before Roundup (and other major herbicides and pesticides), pest plants could be a major problem. From what my family says, corn can cross-pollinate or do some kind of hybridization with other crops like milo or sorghum or something, which results in a sterile cane-stalk plant like corn that produces no actual grain. Back 20+ years ago, that was a fairly major problem ... but it is very easily controlled nowadays with herbicides, and Roundup in particular.

Pure, concentrated Roundup is pretty nasty stuff. Then again, farmers still use or have used a lot of much nastier stuff during normal farm operations, like Malathion being sprinkled into grain bins to kill off insects and other small pests. I wouldn't want to chug down a glass full of any of that crap, BUT on the other hand I think we're way better as the human race off WITH all these things being used to control what can be or have been significantly damaging pests than how things would be WITHOUT them. Not to mention that all of these things are used in very very trace amounts compared to the actual amount of food produced itself, and usually a *really* long time before it becomes food. I think you'd be pretty hard pressed to detect any of them in the parts-per-multi-multi-billion scale by them time we eat them.


...That being said, the dude walked right in to this one. If his message was "this stuff is 100% safe and beneficial if used properly", I'd actually 100% agree with him. But when he's trying to oversell it by saying that it is perfectly safe to drink a glass of it ... of course somebody is going to call his bluff. Duh.

@newtboy, I wonder about foulbrood in this sort of hive. Are you then out the full thing or can it be disenfected since it's plastic? Hive maintenance would still be a thing , people still need to pull the frames on occasion. It won't stop mites. Nosema and other fungai will probably be a bigger issue with this design. Foulbrood and other problems will still be around, as will colony collapse disorder.

Also where are the brood kept since splitting the frame like this seems like it'd kill the brood (okay that one is answered in the KS page and you still have a brood box that you have to supply on your own).

How well does it actually work? Is this all just clever editing and done at peak honey flow season? How well does it work in the fall? Why is Bush shown talking about it, but he himself doesn't mention it on his site? Sure he's selling his own hives and the like, but I'd think if he gave them an actual try I'd think he'd say something, competition or not. It looks

I worry that too many inexperienced people who don't research or care, will try this and perhaps make many bee pests and diseases worse as they won't research things out properly. They'll just buy this and think that's nearly all there is too beekeeping and infect other hives due to their sloppy methods.

Found the video more enjoyable once i read this:

Both green olives (Olea europaea) and Pimentos (Capsicum annuum) contain isoprenoids that are structurally similar to the methylcyclopentane monoterpene nepetalactone, which is responsible for binding to receptors in you cat's vomeronasal organ and consequently the mind-altering effect your cat experiences.
These compounds are not unusual, although thie configuration varies widely between plant species.
These compounds resemble pheromones, and as such some of them function as a natural mock-pheromone pest repellents for the plant, which is likely how such high levels of these constituents within a plants' essential oils evolved.
The vomeronasal organ is what your cat (and most other animals with the exception of humans, although there is a small indented area and partial nerve channel where it would be, left over from our evolution) uses to sense pheromones, and is where the nepetalactone in catnip stimulates pheromone receptors resulting in space-kitty.

TL;DR - it is likely that either the green olives or pimentos have a chemical in their essential oil that is similar enough to the active chemical in catnip to have a similar effect on the same receptors in the part of kitty's nose that are responsible for catnip getting her high.
(from Yahoo Answers via reddit)

This sounds like another great reason to grow your own produce. Then, with the exception of airborne chemicals you can't avoid, you can know what's gone into your own food, and decide for your self which chemicals are acceptable and which aren't. Strawberries are fairly easy to grow. I have 4 large beds of them, all started from one $3 6pack 5 years ago and grown on cheap, plentiful poo, not man made chemicals. Egg shells and horticulture oil work as good as most pesticides, and do no harm. I still lose 20% to pests, but I just grow 300% more than we can eat, so no problem.
I get not everyone can subsistence farm at home, but almost everyone has a window they can put a potted strawberry in....or a pineberry (a new variety, pineapple flavored strawberries).

They ignored the fact that other crops are grown next to the berries that may absorb the toxic chemicals, and that other chemicals are put on those other crops that also drift to the berries, contaminating them with other poisons. I'm glad they did at least mention direct neighborhood contamination.

This guy got all creative with the extermination of his particular pest. http://youtu.be/zQ6k_px1Hu0

...according to Monsanto. I've never seen the CEO drink it or spray it on his kids though.


...except those grown 'organically' or with an effort towards minimal chemical use, and only until the round-up resistant 'weeds' and 'pests' outpace it's toxicity... again. It already takes more, higher concentrated round-up (if not a second formula already) to do the job, and that will only get worse every year. There must be a better solution than 'our poison is less dangerous than the old poisons' coupled with 'our proprietary freak crops are immune to our poisons'. (the best solution for me is simply fewer people, but that sentiment is in the minority it seems)

So according to this video, pest-resistant corn is a Bad Thing(tm)?

Oh teh noes, we will get a higher crop yield. Food supply will be more stable, and probably cheaper.

Who will save us from this dystopian nightmare?

Look, I provided a link to a peer-reviewed journal publication showing that Golden Rice is an extremely good source of vitamin A, with one cup providing 50% of the recommended daily amount. I can also provide other citations supporting this claim if you'd like. So, if you have references to actual peer-reviewed scientific research (rather than unfounded claims by anti-GM activists) refuting the efficacy of Golden Rice, let's see them.

As for your claim that the initially free distribution will be rescinded, that seems unlikely. The licenses under which Golden Rice is being distributed explicitly allow farmers to freely save, replant and sell the seeds from their crop for as long as their annual income remains under $10,000. Also, most of the patents relevant to the production of Golden Rice are not internationally valid, so they cannot be used to sue people in third world countries. And all the patents that are internationally valid have been explicitly waived by the patent holders. Is there still some remote possibility that poor farmers will end up getting screwed? I guess. But it seems bizarre to me to just hold up potentially life-saving technology because its possible (though highly unlikely) that it will be used to exploit farmers. Also, I should note that Monstanto does not own Golden Rice. They merely own one of the patents for a process involved in the creation of Golden Rice.

On your third point, Rachel explicitly says "You know that GMO’s actually don’t have higher yields either." It's in the video, at 5:45. Watch it again. So she is claiming quite clearly that they do not produce higher yield, which is false. And it is simply not true that all the research showing higher yield comes from corporations. For instance, see this paper published in Science. The authors do not claim affiliation with any major GM corporation. That's just the tip of the iceberg. There has been volumes of independent research on GMOs.

On your last claim, about monocultures, you are again mistaken. Golden Rice is not a single variety. The International Rice Research Institute (a non-profit, not owned by any major corporation) has created "Golden" versions of hundreds of different rice varieties, so potentially Golden Rice can be as diverse as regular rice. Also, if rice plants are separated by a few feet, then cross-pollination becomes extremely unlikely. Rice is typically self-pollinating. So as long as a small separation is maintained, GM and non-GM crops can be grown in the same location without any significant gene flow between them.

Anyway, gene flow is only a danger if the GM plant has a clear adaptive advantage in its environment (if its pest resistant, e.g.), but that is not the case with Golden Rice, so even with gene flow Golden Rice won't end up dominating non-GM rice evolutionarily.

You're right. I stand corrected. At first I thought this might be an example of an improper usage that is so common it becomes accepted but according to the EPA at

http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/about/

"Though often misunderstood to refer only to insecticides, the term pesticide also applies to herbicides, fungicides, and various other substances used to control pests."

The types of mass produced production shown in this movie are the only reason that we can sustain an opulent lifestyle where it is rare that people starve and exercise is needed to fight over-nutrition.

Producing food "organically" takes much more time and money to create the same amount of final product. It also creates more waste.

Monoculture crops and warehoused livestock are ways to more efficiently create the resources that people crave thereby optimizing profit for those who create and sell the final product. The downside of these production techniques is that they are very sensitive to disruption by disease or pests.

If we didn't have mass produced farming, food would be more expensive and more people would be starving.

Are you getting at the distinction between herbicide and pesticide? I was going to agree but apparently herbicide is considered a specific type of pesticide, and weeds are a specific type of pest. You learn a lot through nitpicking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pest_%28organism%29