Simply a fascinating thread about taking the internet at face value and this ‘heart-shaped honeycomb’
18.
I look into Brian some more. He is listed on his FB profile as a beekeeper. He’s quoted in these 2011 articles: https://t.co/IUMH60dGqHhttps://t.co/ZlGjNcG2Mr
as “a smallholder in the Hopefield district of the Renosterveld”. In 2011, he ran “Hummingtree Honey”. /18
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
19.
Brian posts further amongst the hundreds of FB comments on the NT story saying that they are Western Cape bees and that he created the image with a simple manipulation in the hive lid. He says bees would not create a heart shape, as they are not that inefficient. /19
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
20.
Again I’ve floated some of this on the original Twitter thread, but, understandably, people can’t believe that @nationaltrust would have made such an error.
So I tagged the NT and Brian on the FB post and asked. /20 pic.twitter.com/ViYUWjS1jW
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
21.
The @nationaltrust hasn’t replied, as yet. However, tonight, my FB messenger pinged. It was Brian Fanner. /21
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
22.
He sent me this.
/22 pic.twitter.com/dtnPGFHLgT
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
23.
Brian wrote: The things that come up are really funny from how bees have “artistic sensibilities” to bees creating that shape “to increase airflow”. I’ve seen companies using it in their websites and so many claiming it came out of their hive somewhere in the world. /23
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
24.
Brian continues: “I used this board, routed in the slots… a rush job I’ll admit… waxed in some foundation strips into the slots and screwed inside a deep langstroth hive lid and stuck it on the hive. The bees made do best they could…”
/24— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
25.
“The lines are slots into which a foundation wax with the comb pattern on it can be placed…secured with melted beeswax. Normally…a sheet…to guide the bees as to where to build. So they just come across this weird pattern of foundation strip and start building onto it.” /25
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
26.
“After that they just fill it out best they can. It’s a simple manipulation. The bees are Capensis. The honey was most likely early season succulent type plant called a ‘vygie’. [mesembryanthemums]. Even @Pinterest use this as the cover image for ‘bee art'” /26
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
27.
“I called the image ‘a sweet heart’ dedicated to my wife…per the very first post of it on my Facebook page in 2013. We scraped all the comb off the board, strained out the wax and consumed…not a very practical artwork to keep.” /27
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
28.
Brian sent me a Google Maps pin of the location in South Africa, but I’ll maintain his privacy. Seems pretty convincing to me. But for good measure, I took both photos & overlaid them in Photoshop (as best as is possible, given the slight persective changes). Seems legit, no? /28 pic.twitter.com/4tVNL6yDjr
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
29.
So perhaps @nationaltrust‘s social media person got the wrong end of the stick in 2015. Unless I have been mightily hoodwinked- on an elaborately detailed scale! – the honeycomb heart image appears to have been around since 2013. /29
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
30.
It seems to have travelled to many countries & the story has been told and retold. As a folklorist, the giveaway was in the “beekeeper forgot the frame” wording. It kept coming up again & again. That is classic folklore, where a memorable snippet repeats and is passed on. /30
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
31.
Through the folk process, albeit on the internet, a tale was woven over nearly 7 years and wound up with the parents of a very talented artist @sarahgalerie who probably thought she’d be interested in seeing such a lovely thing. /31
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
32.
Because frankly, it is lovely. It’s something that we all want to believe in, that bees & Mother Nature would come up with this by chance – or indeed, by design. It turns out it was a lovely bit of synergy between humans & nature by a South African beekeeper called Brian. /32
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
33.
And that, folks, is what we call Internet Folklore, where stories spread and change quicker than ever, and involve communities of people experiencing a simple yet heartwarming tale. /33
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
34.
The thing to take away? On the internet, search behind what you see. Don’t take things at face value. Don’t let your “aww” gene get in the way of thinking, hmm, is this for real? Because there are people out there who seek to use such kindly human instincts in unkind ways. /34
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
35.
What about Brian & the bees? They’re planning their next moves.
“I do want to do another but each season comes around and I don’t get to it. I’ll do one this year. Still trying to decide what to do.”
Let’s see what the internet makes of that. 🧐
35/35 THE END.
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
36.
PS. 36/35. From the earliest days of the modern internet, (I was a university student in the mid 90s), I would use @snopes as a go-to. Still do. They definitely helped calibrate my antennae over the years. They are your friend! 🐝
— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020
And just a few of the things people were saying about it.
This is both a fascinating little thread, and also a dire warning about taking something you've seen online at face value.
(Which, admittedly, I have just done here, but in this case there's at least information included that I could choose to verify myself) https://t.co/4MudPBxF0d
— Professor Bison Sexhorn (@Brainmage) June 17, 2020
https://twitter.com/bethanyrutter/status/1273198121842094080?s=20
When I'm next asking my students to verify the reliability of visual primary sources, I'll show them this thread as an example. https://t.co/c8Dw9vPt5i
— Benjamin Thomas White (@rain_later) June 17, 2020
This thread is awesome for so many reasons: it shows how information is passed along without question and how it shifts over time, like an Internet game of “telephone.”
Also I love that Internet folklorist is a thing. https://t.co/MsI10CEvaf
— Maggie Downs (@downsanddirty) June 17, 2020
Finally. A disinformation thread that takes you on a ride involving the National Trust and doesn’t end up with a kid in a basement with photoshop. https://t.co/9Ha5bLUHtO
— Megha Mohan (@meghamohan) June 17, 2020
You can find @byrnesong on Twitter here.
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This comparison of what people see with (and without) astigmatism is a real eye-opener
Source @byrnesong