Well…

It was kind of light on the blog roll this week, but I liked the contrast; on the one hand we have some rather gloomy news out of China from Tony’s Thoughts, but on the other hand – BEES! IN NEW YORK!

Let’s start with the sad.  Anthony Picciano pulled out this article from the Times about American ingenuity making the move to China’s ever seductive cheap labor.  Turns out you can hire a young engineer for about 700 dollars a month there, which must make the adjunct readers among us feel like kings, if only for a brief moment.  Jokes aside, the article does force one to consider what our future has in store for us if we’ve priced ourselves right out of the brains that make the technology we need for the future.  According to the Times two thirds of all the world’s solar panels will be produced in China and, with their ever-growing demand for energy, it’s interesting to see them take advantage of their undervalued and abundant intellectual labor force in progressive ways while we in the States continue to drag our feet.

But it can’t be all bad…BEES!  Linda Wadas‘ wonderfully titled blog ‘For the benefit of all sentient beings‘  broke the news to me that the NYC Department of Health has legalized beekeeping!  I don’t know why I’m using so many exclamation points, I actually hate bees and other winged insects equipped with pain inflecting instruments.  I like my wasps sipping Old Fashions.  Think of the possibilities though;  “Brooklyn Honeys”  “Wu Tang Killer Bee Farm” “Queen’s Royal Jelly”.

China can have their solar panels, I’ll take our rooftop hives.

Now I look forward to the Commons getting over the beautiful weather and getting back in front of their computers to write blogs. C’mon people!