Queen of the Sun

[Beeforest]

Queen of the Sun
Is it any good? Hoping to see it next month. Q and A after the showing as well.
http://www.queenofthesun.com/

 

[warts]

Hadn't heard of it until I saw this. Looks interesting to say the least!

 

[Beeforest]

Hadn't heard of it until I saw this. Looks interesting to say the least!

Yes!
Have you watched the trailer where a French gentleman uses his moustache as a bee brush!!!

 

[warts]

Yes, it made me laugh. I almost thought it was a spoof until I watched a little more. It has certainly grabbed my attention

 

[Beeforest]

Yes, it made me laugh. I almost thought it was a spoof until I watched a little more. It has certainly grabbed my attention

Yes me too. Was he naked?

 

[warts]

Oh god...I am going to have to go back and check now. I really think I may regret it

 

[warts]

OK, panic over. Lower half covered as far as I can tell.

 

[Beeforest]

OK, panic over. Lower half covered as far as I can tell.

Yes, we're safe. I can now take Mrs Beeforest to the film. Tell you what though, I'd love to have him as a neighbour, what a character!!

 

[biglongdarren]

i watched the whole thing last month,i found it very interesting.
Darren

 

[Beeforest]

Thanks, so in your opinion worth seeing!

 

[DanBee]

This first came to light about 4-5 years ago when the following were common and fashionable:

1. CCD was thought to be real
2. Einstein's quote was true and novel
3. World + Dog had the answer

I'm afraid the mention of Rudolph Steiner and Biodynamic beekeeping means that it's based on bollocks. Well intentioned eco ethical feel-good bollocks, but still bollocks.

The sad thing is that if Steiner had been around after pheromones and their effects had been identified thirty years later, and if he'd paid a little more attention to anatomy, he would (hopefully!) have re-thought some of his more convoluted explanations; he's almost there with some of the theories based upon behavioural observations but then veers off onto ludicrous sun-related tangents.

Example: the queen is only fertile because she develops in fewer days than a solar rotation, hence she forever encapsulates the life-giving energies of the sun. The worker is, however, sterile, because she develops in exactly one solar rotation, hence is a completely balanced and neutral individual.

There's pages and pages of the stuff and it's good for a chuckle, but I wouldn't dare call it a manual of beekeeping. IIRC he gave a series of lectures to the German Beekeeping Assocation at their equivalent of Stoneleigh or the National Honey Show, and how he wasn't chased from the building after the first ten minutes totally amazes me.

 

[Beeforest]

This first came to light about 4-5 years ago when the following were common and fashionable:

1. CCD was thought to be real
2. Einstein's quote was true and novel
3. World + Dog had the answer

I'm afraid the mention of Rudolph Steiner and Biodynamic beekeeping means that it's based on bollocks. Well intentioned eco ethical feel-good bollocks, but still bollocks.

The sad thing is that if Steiner had been around after pheromones and their effects had been identified thirty years later, and if he'd paid a little more attention to anatomy, he would (hopefully!) have re-thought some of his more convoluted explanations; he's almost there with some of the theories based upon behavioural observations but then veers off onto ludicrous sun-related tangents.

Example: the queen is only fertile because she develops in fewer days than a solar rotation, hence she forever encapsulates the life-giving energies of the sun. The worker is, however, sterile, because she develops in exactly one solar rotation, hence is a completely balanced and neutral individual.

There's pages and pages of the stuff and it's good for a chuckle, but I wouldn't dare call it a manual of beekeeping. IIRC he gave a series of lectures to the German Beekeeping Assocation at their equivalent of Stoneleigh or the National Honey Show, and how he wasn't chased from the building after the first ten minutes totally amazes me.

So you've seen the film then?

 

[RoofTops]

So you've seen the film then?

As DB says, this is not new. Like the Sun itself she has been around before but in her case some of us had hoped she had ridden off into the sunset not to return.

It will go down well with the sandals and shorts school of beekeeping.

 

[Beeforest]

Queen of the Sun
Is it any good? Hoping to see it next month. Q and A after the showing as well.
http://www.queenofthesun.com/

My original question really was to those who had seen the film.
It amazes me that people can make all sorts of judgements without even seeing the film.
Infact, it makes me even more want to watch the movie so I can impartially decide for myself whether the content is 'sandal and shorts bollocks'!!

By the way, I do have some sandals and shorts and I do own a pair of bollocks!

 

[Brosville]

Well said! - I haven't seen the film either, but will happily do so with an open mind - a few points have been raised which I feel should be addressed.
Firstly, Rudolf Steiner, - I've been aware of the man and his work for over 40 tears - when working with handicapped kids I soon became aware of the local Steiner schools, which were rightly held in very high esteem (and still are) - there are also many "biodynamic" farms that produce superb "clean" food without the appalling environmental damage caused by the "bludgeon nature into submission" high input farming so prevalent nowadays. Latterly I've met several biodynamic beekeepers, and have been impressed with their results and much of their methodology.
Having said that, I've also read a fair bit of Steiner's output, which can indeed strain one's credibility (to say the least) and at times veers over to "the far side of the meadow", but if viewed as "of it's time", and taken in the context of the excellent things which have come about as a result of his influence, I am reluctant to dismiss it out of hand - if we are to "accept as normal" the planet-wrecking horrors wrought upon us by Big Ag, then I'll happily overlook the odd cowhorn and planting by the phases of the moon (which may itself well have lots of truth in it) - at the very worst, they are "harmless eccentrics" (unlike Big Ag who are hurtling us towards hell in a handcart)

As far as I know "CCD" occurs in the US (thankfully not here yet) - Einstein's quote may be inaccurate, but does point to the truth that we would be in a dire mess without bees (witness parts of China where pollination now has to be done by hand, thanks to all the local bees having been wiped out with chemicals)....... as for "the world and his dog" having the answer, sadly there has been much foot-dragging by the likes of the BBKA, who have been doing their best to muddy the waters as to the causes of problems with bees by helping to perpetuate the myth that "icides" are indispensable and entirely innocent...

 

[Chris B]

(witness parts of China where pollination now has to be done by hand, thanks to all the local bees having been wiped out with chemicals

Apologies but I can't resist going off on this tangent...

I don't know how widespread this hand pollination is, but isn't China far and away the biggest honey producer in the world? Why aren't they shipping bees around for pollination? Sounds easier than hand pollination to me.

 

[Brosville]

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/efans/ygnews/2011/02/hand-pollination-of-apples-tre.html

from which
"One rather alarming topic presented at the conference involved Maoxian County in the Chinese province of Sichuan (see map). In this region farmers have been forced to pollinate their apples and pears by hand because there are insufficient natural insect pollinators to ensure proper fruit set and thus a crop. These are high value crops that must be free of cosmetic defects to be marketable. To achieve this, the growers have resorting to spraying when there is the least hint of a problem. This has resulted in marketable material, but at the cost of having destroyed all the native pollinators in the region. There are beekeeping services but these individuals hesitate to locate their bees in the area because of the danger presented to their hives by the pesticide use strategies of the fruit producers. The result hand pollination by humans. This report comes from one county in a province that produces a little more than 1% of Chinese apples. Nonetheless, the province still produces some 409,000 metric tons of apples (in 2009). And this pollination problem is not an isolated case, but rather extends to other countries in the region such as Pakistan, India, and Nepal"

as Joni Mitchell put it some 40 years ago -
"Hey farmer, farmer
Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees"

 

[Chris B]

So it's a self-imposed hardship? They are no more forced to hand pollinate than they are forced to spray indiscriminately.

 

[Brosville]

They have the obvious choice to moderate their use of "icides", but choose not to, so quite reasonably, the beekeepers are keeping their bees well out of it....
(I think there's a message for us all in there somewhere!)

you could reasonably say that their idiocy is forcing them to have to do it by hand..........

 

[Beeforest]

Apologies but I can't resist going off on this tangent...

Oi! Give me back my thread!

Well, it seems after this thread has been live for a couple of days - one person on this forum has seen this film. Surprising really. Or perhaps no-one wants to admit to being a sandal wearing subversive!

Will let you know what it's like Brosville and Warts.