Bee Suppliers Busy As - Well, You Know Charlotte Observer

Among today's odd news stories: Reports seem to indicate the plight of the honeybee in North America has many people doing their part to ensure the bees survive, ordering amateur beekeeping equipment in unprecedented numbers. Meanwhile, in Kota Bahru, a city in Malaysia's northeast, there are bird nest farmers coaxing birds into cavelike homes where the farmers can steal the nests to sell for inclusion in soup that has "a wide range of health-giving qualities (such as) acting as an aphrodisiac, ...clearing up skin problems, reinforcing the immune system, strengthening the lungs...(and balancing) the mysterious force known as qi, or life force", as reported in Farming Bird's Nests in the City.