Bees, Trig, Dinosaurs
Bees are pouring out of the hives- enough that it sort of shocked me- looking out at them- seeing them pouring in and going around the sides and crowding. Not every hive- but it shocked me- and made me think- what is it that I should do here?
My concern is that I didn't extract in time- and the thought there is that the Knotweed is happening now- and for hives that are already packed up- Im missing it. Or they are, whatever. Had I extracted by now, Id be putting on empty supers. But I missed - dang it.
BECAUSE I can't perfect a better bee escape. I've been drawing them for days, then trying to build them. but only slowly is the concept occurring to me- how it might work. There are a few types on the net- the triangle thing- the double triangle- and the one from England where its supposed to cause a vortex and they spin out. Which, in square form, I made. And it worked.
But dang it, it doesn't look elegant. The Triangle looks great. But I want some vortex power- some spinning, circling bees. It makes sense to me.
Some website says that these escapes are all based on bees wanting to turn to the right. Really?
It looks to me that what is working is that bees might not want to make a sharp turn. So the double triangle is awesome- in regards to that concept. Bees leave gracefully (thought not as a vortex), and bees who try to return- well, they get cycled back, and exit.
I just figured having years and years of architecting, and this natural problem solving brain, and a love of a simple solution that evolves through drawing... well, I figured I'd improve something. But no. I have drawn it bunches of ways and it still doesn't meet the Elegant Solution criteria. So tomorrow, I build the triangles.
If you like triangles- and I really do, as they are central to lots that I do (can I make a list? Architecture? Absolutely fundamental to thinking about all structure. Carpentry? Ditto. Make a triangle, it makes it durable. Bridges? Love bridges. Triangles. There's way more of a story here. My father was a Trigonometry teacher- which is, well, Triangles. And somehow that got into me. And for the past two weeks, once a day, I think: how is it that a calculator can figure out the Sine (or Cosine, or Tangent), of anything? What algorithm could it possibly use? And really- did the Greeks have table for this?)
Well- there's even more- back- way back- to be a young 20 year old painter in the beat up, industrial part of Olympia, WA- and sitting there, on a canvas chair, painting a creosoted 30 foot log pile (still have painting I think)- and suddenly- a tiny kid-walks up ( NOT a neighborhood- from where?) and says he likes triangles. I am not kidding. And likes to draw.
So I give him a sketchbook. He says he likes to draw dinosaurs (which I do too). And he scribbles this out (still have the sketchbook- or did I burn it?) and he draws a T. Rex. This is 1980. Was that long ago? I write this, and recall his fat pencil (actually mine), the hot sun and smell of creosote, the way that chair felt- and there's this kid.
And he finishes up the head (can I find it? Scan it?) and squints up at me. He points to the teeth, and says- lookit. Triangles.
Sure enough.
My concern is that I didn't extract in time- and the thought there is that the Knotweed is happening now- and for hives that are already packed up- Im missing it. Or they are, whatever. Had I extracted by now, Id be putting on empty supers. But I missed - dang it.
BECAUSE I can't perfect a better bee escape. I've been drawing them for days, then trying to build them. but only slowly is the concept occurring to me- how it might work. There are a few types on the net- the triangle thing- the double triangle- and the one from England where its supposed to cause a vortex and they spin out. Which, in square form, I made. And it worked.
But dang it, it doesn't look elegant. The Triangle looks great. But I want some vortex power- some spinning, circling bees. It makes sense to me.
Some website says that these escapes are all based on bees wanting to turn to the right. Really?
It looks to me that what is working is that bees might not want to make a sharp turn. So the double triangle is awesome- in regards to that concept. Bees leave gracefully (thought not as a vortex), and bees who try to return- well, they get cycled back, and exit.
I just figured having years and years of architecting, and this natural problem solving brain, and a love of a simple solution that evolves through drawing... well, I figured I'd improve something. But no. I have drawn it bunches of ways and it still doesn't meet the Elegant Solution criteria. So tomorrow, I build the triangles.
If you like triangles- and I really do, as they are central to lots that I do (can I make a list? Architecture? Absolutely fundamental to thinking about all structure. Carpentry? Ditto. Make a triangle, it makes it durable. Bridges? Love bridges. Triangles. There's way more of a story here. My father was a Trigonometry teacher- which is, well, Triangles. And somehow that got into me. And for the past two weeks, once a day, I think: how is it that a calculator can figure out the Sine (or Cosine, or Tangent), of anything? What algorithm could it possibly use? And really- did the Greeks have table for this?)
Well- there's even more- back- way back- to be a young 20 year old painter in the beat up, industrial part of Olympia, WA- and sitting there, on a canvas chair, painting a creosoted 30 foot log pile (still have painting I think)- and suddenly- a tiny kid-walks up ( NOT a neighborhood- from where?) and says he likes triangles. I am not kidding. And likes to draw.
So I give him a sketchbook. He says he likes to draw dinosaurs (which I do too). And he scribbles this out (still have the sketchbook- or did I burn it?) and he draws a T. Rex. This is 1980. Was that long ago? I write this, and recall his fat pencil (actually mine), the hot sun and smell of creosote, the way that chair felt- and there's this kid.
And he finishes up the head (can I find it? Scan it?) and squints up at me. He points to the teeth, and says- lookit. Triangles.
Sure enough.
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