stanford-cs336/owt-sample · Datasets at Hugging Face

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If you know me at all, you know me as sarcastic, impatient, but (I hope) caring and considerate. I will bite my tongue when you say something completely stupid. But I hope you do the same for me.

• Tell us what you’re really thinking – email [email protected].<\|endoftext\|>News in Science

Pesticides put bee colonies at risk: study

Bee deaths Pesticides used in farming are also killing worker bees and damaging their ability to gather food, meaning colonies that are vital for plant pollination are more likely to fail when they are used, according to a new study.

The study by Dr Richard Gill and colleagues from the University of London is reported this week in the journal Nature.

"Here we show that chronic exposure of bumblebees to two pesticides ... impairs natural foraging behaviour and increases worker mortality leading to significant reductions in brood development and colony success," write Gill and team.

The United Nations has estimated that a third of all plant-based foods eaten by people depend on bee pollination and scientists have been baffled by plummeting numbers of bees, mainly in North America and Europe, in recent years.

Gill says previous studies have mostly examined the impact of pesticides on individual bees, but his study looked at the impact on bee colonies.

"Although field-level pesticide concentrations can have subtle or sublethal effects at the individual level, it is not known whether bee societies can buffer such effects or whether it results in a severe cumulative effect at the colony level," he and colleagues write.

Gill and colleagues exposed colonies of 40 bumblebees, which are bigger than the more common honeybee, to neonicotinoid and pyrethroid pesticides over four weeks at levels similar to those in fields.

Neonicotinoids are nicotine-like chemicals used to protect various crops from locusts, aphids and other pests.

Two-thirds of bees lost

The researchers found that the average number of bees lost in the experiment - both dead in the nesting box and failing to return - was about two-thirds of the total for bees exposed to a combination of the two pesticides against a third for a control, exposed to neither.

"Effects at the individual level can have a major knock-on effect at the colony level. That's the novelty of the study," says Gill.

The researchers also say the possible combinatorial effects of pesticide exposure have rarely been investigated.

In their study they found bumblebees exposed to a combination of neonicotinoid and pyrethroid pesticides were about half as successful at gathering pollen, used as food, compared to a control.

They also devoted more workers to collecting food, meaning fewer were raising larvae.

Colony Collapse Disorder

Australian bee expert Professor Boris Baer welcomes the new research.

"[The study] provides clear evidence for what has been widely suspected to be a major factor contributing towards bee decline: the action of pesticides commonly used intensively in modern agriculture," says Baer, from the Centre for Integrative Bee Research at the University of Western Australia.

"This research consolidates a further dimension to the acute bee and pollinator problem, and could well be an important milestone to understand the dramatic decline events we have observed over recent years, that are often referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)."

Gill and colleagues say their findings underscore the importance of wider testing of pesticides to ensure they do not also target bees.

France banned a neonicotinoid pesticide made by Swiss agrochemicals group Syngenta in June, citing evidence of a threat to the country's bees. A report last month, however, said that the original research was flawed.

"My guess is that the decline of bees is like a jigsaw -there are probably a lot of pieces to put into place. This is probably a very important piece of that jigsaw," says Gill.

Parasites

In a separate commentary in the same issue of Nature, Dr Juliet Osborne of the University of Exeter in England says the study underscored the need to understand all factors that may contribute to harm bees and to CCD.

"For example, we have as yet no convincing demonstration of the relative effects of pesticides on bee colonies compared to the effects of parasites, pathogens and foraging resources," she writes.

Other experts have hailed the study's innovation but note that bumblebees can not be directly compared with honeybees, as they are biologically different.

Still others emphasise more research is needed.

"It certainly wouldn't be fair to say that this research spells doom for wild bees," says Dr James Cresswell, also of the University of Exeter.<\|endoftext\|>RELEASE DATE: February 12, 2019

On February 12th, 2019, Blue Fox Entertainment is releasing the DVD for The Bouncer (the our review) in both its original French language and English dubbed version (why they didn’t multi-track it as one DVD is beyond us) – or you can watch the film now via VOD.

Jean-Claude Van Damme (Kill ’em All) returns in the Taken-esque The Bouncer (aka Lukas), an action thriller directed by Julien Leclercq (The Assault).

Van Damme (Black Water) is Lukas, a midde-aged bouncer who struggles to raise his 8-year-old daughter. One day, Lukas gets into an altercation and ends up in jail, while his daughter gets placed under the care of social services. But things take an unexpected turn when Interpol recruits Lukas…

The film also stars Sveva Alviti, Sami Bouajila, Kaaris, Kevin Janssens, Sam Louwyck, and Alice Verset.

Pre-order The Bouncer from Amazon.com today!<\|endoftext\|>(WJLA) - The face of Hitler on Metro buses is part of a controversial ad campaign hitting the streets this week. The ad will appear on the sides of 20 Metro buses for a month, calling for an end to U.S. foreign aid to Islamic countries.

The picture of Hitler shows him meeting with an anti-Jewish Islamic leader during World War II. Pamela Geller heads the group who bought the ads, and assures that their goal is not to be provocative.

"My intent is leapfrog over a media that is not even-handed, that is advancing the propaganda against the Jewish state," says Pamela.

In 2012, WMATA lost a court battle aimed at keeping the group’s last anti-Islamic ad out of the Metro system. A judge declared it protected speech, and allowed the ad campaign to go forward.

Two years ago, the Council on American Islamic Relations and others took out ads in response. Today, CAIR is responding to the latest aid.

This is a propaganda campaign designed to incite hatred against American Muslims, and this campaign has been based on false information, taking things out of context from the Quran," says Nihad Awad, National Executive Director of CAIR.

Geller says she provided Metro sources that validate the claims in the ad are true. But it is still drawing sharp reactions from riders.

"That's like, racist -- that should not be on buses," says Asha Crumlin.

But Pam says: "Many folks are supporting the ad, I've gotten hundreds of emails in support of the ad, let's be even-handed."

The ads will stay on 20 buses for four weeks. CAIR says it is considering the possibility of a response ad, and is offering free copies of the Quran in response.<\|endoftext\|>Get the Recipe The Best Homemade Chocolate Dip (a.k.a. Magic Shell)

More All About Chocolate Everything you want to know about chocolate

Is Magic Shell, the ice cream topping that miraculously hardens into a chocolate candy shell, the world's greatest ice cream topping? I can't say for sure, but it's definitely the most fun.

Now what if you want the Magic Shell concept but with a bolder, darker, better-tasting chocolate flavor? Or what if you want to make your own ice cream bars? You're in luck, because this stuff is easier to make at home than the ice cream you drizzle it on.

Look around the web and you'll find no shortage of recipes that promise a perfect Magic Shell substitute with just two ingredients: chocolate and coconut oil. Over the past few weeks I've tried my share—those that call for as little as a tablespoon of coconut oil or as much as a cup. To be honest, most of them don't work very well.

For one thing, and you can call it splitting hairs if you like, I'd describe these DIY ice cream toppings as chocolate dip, not Magic Shell. As those of us from New York know, chocolate dip is the shellack that hardens into a thin coating on your Mr. Softee cone. It's a little softer than Magic Shell, fudgier, and less snappy compared to Magic Shell's candy-like bite. There's more chocolate flavor and less sweetness—something that I actually prefer to Magic Shell.

The bigger issue I found with other recipes is the wrong proportion of coconut oil to chocolate, which produces either a shell that doesn't harden or one that turns brittle and oily-tasting. This recipe nails that ratio, and while it doesn't harden quite as fast or snappy as Magic Shell, it comes with chocolate dip's deeper fudge-y flavor. And once you have this one recipe down you can use it for an ice cream truck's worth of novelties: King Cones, Klondike Bars, you name it.

If you know me at all, you know me as sarcastic, impatient, but (I hope) caring and considerate. I will bite my tongue when you say something completely stupid. But I hope you do the same for me.

• Tell us what you’re really thinking – email [email protected].<|endoftext|>News in Science

Pesticides put bee colonies at risk: study

Bee deaths Pesticides used in farming are also killing worker bees and damaging their ability to gather food, meaning colonies that are vital for plant pollination are more likely to fail when they are used, according to a new study.

The study by Dr Richard Gill and colleagues from the University of London is reported this week in the journal Nature.

"Here we show that chronic exposure of bumblebees to two pesticides ... impairs natural foraging behaviour and increases worker mortality leading to significant reductions in brood development and colony success," write Gill and team.

The United Nations has estimated that a third of all plant-based foods eaten by people depend on bee pollination and scientists have been baffled by plummeting numbers of bees, mainly in North America and Europe, in recent years.

Gill says previous studies have mostly examined the impact of pesticides on individual bees, but his study looked at the impact on bee colonies.

"Although field-level pesticide concentrations can have subtle or sublethal effects at the individual level, it is not known whether bee societies can buffer such effects or whether it results in a severe cumulative effect at the colony level," he and colleagues write.

Gill and colleagues exposed colonies of 40 bumblebees, which are bigger than the more common honeybee, to neonicotinoid and pyrethroid pesticides over four weeks at levels similar to those in fields.

Neonicotinoids are nicotine-like chemicals used to protect various crops from locusts, aphids and other pests.

Two-thirds of bees lost

The researchers found that the average number of bees lost in the experiment - both dead in the nesting box and failing to return - was about two-thirds of the total for bees exposed to a combination of the two pesticides against a third for a control, exposed to neither.

"Effects at the individual level can have a major knock-on effect at the colony level. That's the novelty of the study," says Gill.

The researchers also say the possible combinatorial effects of pesticide exposure have rarely been investigated.

In their study they found bumblebees exposed to a combination of neonicotinoid and pyrethroid pesticides were about half as successful at gathering pollen, used as food, compared to a control.

They also devoted more workers to collecting food, meaning fewer were raising larvae.

Colony Collapse Disorder

Australian bee expert Professor Boris Baer welcomes the new research.

"[The study] provides clear evidence for what has been widely suspected to be a major factor contributing towards bee decline: the action of pesticides commonly used intensively in modern agriculture," says Baer, from the Centre for Integrative Bee Research at the University of Western Australia.

"This research consolidates a further dimension to the acute bee and pollinator problem, and could well be an important milestone to understand the dramatic decline events we have observed over recent years, that are often referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)."

Gill and colleagues say their findings underscore the importance of wider testing of pesticides to ensure they do not also target bees.

France banned a neonicotinoid pesticide made by Swiss agrochemicals group Syngenta in June, citing evidence of a threat to the country's bees. A report last month, however, said that the original research was flawed.

"My guess is that the decline of bees is like a jigsaw -there are probably a lot of pieces to put into place. This is probably a very important piece of that jigsaw," says Gill.

Parasites

In a separate commentary in the same issue of Nature, Dr Juliet Osborne of the University of Exeter in England says the study underscored the need to understand all factors that may contribute to harm bees and to CCD.

"For example, we have as yet no convincing demonstration of the relative effects of pesticides on bee colonies compared to the effects of parasites, pathogens and foraging resources," she writes.

Other experts have hailed the study's innovation but note that bumblebees can not be directly compared with honeybees, as they are biologically different.

Still others emphasise more research is needed.

"It certainly wouldn't be fair to say that this research spells doom for wild bees," says Dr James Cresswell, also of the University of Exeter.<|endoftext|>RELEASE DATE: February 12, 2019

On February 12th, 2019, Blue Fox Entertainment is releasing the DVD for The Bouncer (the our review) in both its original French language and English dubbed version (why they didn’t multi-track it as one DVD is beyond us) – or you can watch the film now via VOD.

Jean-Claude Van Damme (Kill ’em All) returns in the Taken-esque The Bouncer (aka Lukas), an action thriller directed by Julien Leclercq (The Assault).

Van Damme (Black Water) is Lukas, a midde-aged bouncer who struggles to raise his 8-year-old daughter. One day, Lukas gets into an altercation and ends up in jail, while his daughter gets placed under the care of social services. But things take an unexpected turn when Interpol recruits Lukas…

The film also stars Sveva Alviti, Sami Bouajila, Kaaris, Kevin Janssens, Sam Louwyck, and Alice Verset.

Pre-order The Bouncer from Amazon.com today!<|endoftext|>(WJLA) - The face of Hitler on Metro buses is part of a controversial ad campaign hitting the streets this week. The ad will appear on the sides of 20 Metro buses for a month, calling for an end to U.S. foreign aid to Islamic countries.

The picture of Hitler shows him meeting with an anti-Jewish Islamic leader during World War II. Pamela Geller heads the group who bought the ads, and assures that their goal is not to be provocative.

"My intent is leapfrog over a media that is not even-handed, that is advancing the propaganda against the Jewish state," says Pamela.

In 2012, WMATA lost a court battle aimed at keeping the group’s last anti-Islamic ad out of the Metro system. A judge declared it protected speech, and allowed the ad campaign to go forward.

Two years ago, the Council on American Islamic Relations and others took out ads in response. Today, CAIR is responding to the latest aid.

This is a propaganda campaign designed to incite hatred against American Muslims, and this campaign has been based on false information, taking things out of context from the Quran," says Nihad Awad, National Executive Director of CAIR.

Geller says she provided Metro sources that validate the claims in the ad are true. But it is still drawing sharp reactions from riders.

"That's like, racist -- that should not be on buses," says Asha Crumlin.

But Pam says: "Many folks are supporting the ad, I've gotten hundreds of emails in support of the ad, let's be even-handed."

The ads will stay on 20 buses for four weeks. CAIR says it is considering the possibility of a response ad, and is offering free copies of the Quran in response.<|endoftext|>Get the Recipe The Best Homemade Chocolate Dip (a.k.a. Magic Shell)

More All About Chocolate Everything you want to know about chocolate

Is Magic Shell, the ice cream topping that miraculously hardens into a chocolate candy shell, the world's greatest ice cream topping? I can't say for sure, but it's definitely the most fun.

Now what if you want the Magic Shell concept but with a bolder, darker, better-tasting chocolate flavor? Or what if you want to make your own ice cream bars? You're in luck, because this stuff is easier to make at home than the ice cream you drizzle it on.

Look around the web and you'll find no shortage of recipes that promise a perfect Magic Shell substitute with just two ingredients: chocolate and coconut oil. Over the past few weeks I've tried my share—those that call for as little as a tablespoon of coconut oil or as much as a cup. To be honest, most of them don't work very well.

For one thing, and you can call it splitting hairs if you like, I'd describe these DIY ice cream toppings as chocolate dip, not Magic Shell. As those of us from New York know, chocolate dip is the shellack that hardens into a thin coating on your Mr. Softee cone. It's a little softer than Magic Shell, fudgier, and less snappy compared to Magic Shell's candy-like bite. There's more chocolate flavor and less sweetness—something that I actually prefer to Magic Shell.

The bigger issue I found with other recipes is the wrong proportion of coconut oil to chocolate, which produces either a shell that doesn't harden or one that turns brittle and oily-tasting. This recipe nails that ratio, and while it doesn't harden quite as fast or snappy as Magic Shell, it comes with chocolate dip's deeper fudge-y flavor. And once you have this one recipe down you can use it for an ice cream truck's worth of novelties: King Cones, Klondike Bars, you name it.