World Honeybee Day
August 17
Honeybees’ tiny wings must flap 12,000 to 15,000 times per minute just to keep their bodies aloft for a flight home to the hive. It takes a lot of bees to get all the work done—from 20,000 to 60,000 in a hive. Here are some of their chores: nurse bees care for the young, the queen’s attendant workers bathe and feed her, guard bees stand watch at the entrance of the hive, construction workers build the beeswax foundation in which the queen lays eggs and the workers store honey, undertakers remove the dead, and foragers bring back enough pollen and nectar to feed the entire community. From spring to fall, worker bees must produce about 60 pounds of honey to sustain the entire colony over the winter. At a rate of .083 (or 1/12th) of a teaspoon per bee, it takes tens of thousands of workers to get the job done. Just 48 hours after mating, the queen begins her lifelong task of laying eggs and is such a prolific egg layer, she can produce her own body weight in eggs in a single day. An average day’s output is about 1,500 eggs and over the course of her lifetime, a queen might lay up to 1 million eggs.
Jade Day
August 17
Jade is thought to be formed anywhere between 141 to 570 million years old. Hence, the value of jade keeps increasing. Jade was the most revered gemstones by Chinese. They worshipped Jade and considered it is the symbol representing five virtues namely compassion, wisdom, justice, courage and modesty. To confirm if a jade is genuine, it is generally struck with hammer. Original jade will rebound the equipment that hits it.
Today’s Birthdays of Note….
Davy Crockett – Folk Hero – born in Frederick County, Tennessee
Robert DeNiro – Actor – born in New York City, New York
