Added some potential resources to my on-going bibliography, such as this fascinating article on “Long-term trends in the honeybee ‘whooping signal’ revealed by automated detection“, pointing to the idea that bees have a sense of mistakes and accidents and feel the need to communicate an acknowledgement of it happening.
Images (2) are from the article linked above. They are not my images, nor my data, but I must say that data can be beautiful. I can hear each tiny “whoop” in quick succession like a film montage.
After a respite and bout of hibernation during a cold snap, the demons are back at the door.
Warmed up a bit. The colonies had their entrances opened, unblocked by frost. I gave a listen using a stethoscope. I got a shock when I heard nothing from Calliope. I went to Thalia. Thankfully, I heard a tiny, soft rhythmic buzz.
Back to Calliope, I listened with all my heart… there may be a faint buzz there yet…
Played a video game, Red Dead Redemption 2 online, with a friend and captured some of the more zany moments. It has some non-zero-sum game elements, as you can work cooperatively towards bettering your gear and surviving against nature and bad dudes.
Quick and easy dinner that can make itself after a bit of chopping. Wild rice (2 cups H2o : 1 rice). Olive oil, salt, and pepper on chopped up vegetables in the stove. ezpz lemon squeezy. Munchin’ on it for days.
The first section visitors will experience when they start my installation will be the helping a bee hatch. I sketched up a tiny, delicate bee egg in the darkness. I will use something like this in the video/animation for the section of the installation. It may wiggle a bit when you warm it up. And maybe I can even get an animated, painted queen bee to come out of the egg!
Worked in the Maker Space at the University of Regina. They have a bunch of Little Bits that may provide some ideas for the types of interactivity available in the installation.
George Bassler’s Perpetual Motion Machine
