Tales From The Land of Tigers: 2018

Studying Law: In Retrospect

It's ok, i feel like punching me too

For those who don't know, I'm not continuing my studies on the path of Law (kaboom!). Yeah, it was an extremely tough decision, but I made my mind. So this, is a waaaaaay overdue post about my studies as a Foundation in Law student. Currently, I'm taking Applied Language Studies at UiTM Shah Alam. More specifically, it's called English for Professional Communication. Don't let the name confuse ya, degrees can be pretty misleading nowadays.

I'm not gonna talk about specific subjects and exam questions, cuz info on those can be found online. So today, we'll be looking back at what studying Law has taught me - oh what's that? Someone has a question

Mr. Syafiq? Are you basically a TESL student now?

No little Jimmy, I'm not. But i'll explain more on my course in the future

Law banyak baca?

So going into Law, what do you expect? Suits, briefcases, a judge smacking the stand with a gavel yelling "ORDER!" But that's just the stereotypical image of Law most of us have. The thing is, we don't really have a tangible relation to Law. Chances are, you've been to the doctor at least twice in your life. But how many times have you went to a law firm? or a court that's not preceded by the word 'food'?

I mean, we've watched enough Grey's Anatomy and Scrubs to get a nice idea of what the doctor life's is all about. Although we have shows like Suits nowadays, it still doesn't get the same reception as a medical drama. That's why Law is kinda distant in our lives. But turns out, it affects us more than we know. Anyhoo, going into Law, I didn't really know what to expect. Naturally I googled as much as possible about the course, and one word kept showing up again and again.

Reading.

"Law banyak baca". That's what we all hear innit? While I was fazed by that, I was more concerned with what I'd be reading. So Sem 1 passes, and wouldn't ya know it? There's a lot of reading...but not in the way you'd expect. You see, Form 4 and Form 5 semua tu was like baca, hafal, muntah, congrats! You made it!. Here, you do read and memorise too. But above all, you really gotta understand. Memorising won't get you far. Because in the first place, ko tak faham pon apa yg kau tgh hafal tu HAHAHA

For example, Law is divided into many types. You got Criminal Law, Contract Law, and so on. The laws are all written in one book, known as an Act. So we get our Contract Law from the Contract Act. It's basically the guidelines of making a contract. Still with me? Now in that Act are a buuuuunch of do's and don'ts, each known as a Section. Each section can also have subsections but we won't go too deep.

As far as the exams go, they'll usually give you a situation, and you have to answer it based on the Sections in an Act to back up your words. Otherwise, you'll have no proof. Honestly man, I went into Law thinking, "well it's just reading right?". Boy was I wrong, You won't believe how dumb i felt staring at a Section for 10 minutes, reading it in English, yet not being able to grasp what the heck it meant.

Read (d)

The real magic happens when you understand the context. When you understand the context, you understand the text. I didn't believe it at first. How am I supposed to faham something, in order to faham something? I can't find words to describe it, but it happened. And it was amazing.

Months past, and I finally started seeing what Law is all about. You're learning about who's right and who's wrong, based on the established laws of man. And the laws of man? That's where things become dodgy. Laws tell you what's right and wrong. But most of our laws are subject to what we think is good or bad. So laws don't need to make sense. If something ridiculous was made to be Law, like it's obligatory to slap yourself every Monday, then good or bad doesn't really play a role. You just...follow it.

In fact, a country can just make laws that only benefit the upper echelons of the government, while the citizens are left to suffer! Now why don't they do that? It's just not practical. Good, in and of itself, is practical. It doesn't cause chaos. Chaos is impractical. Chaos is expensive. They could pull some fishy business in a smaller scale (*cough* rasuah *cough*), but other than that, the Law is pretty good. So you learn that good and bad is subjective, and only in Islam do you find absolutes.

That means that we believe that some things are bad, and will always be bad no matter what. Same goes to the good as well. Like if there's a law saying you need to chug a mug of rum on Thursdays, and everyone and their grandma is doing it, it's still gonna be a bad thing, no matter what. So in this case, breaking the law, is a good thing.

Nampak tak?

One subject in particular, helped me understand what Law was really about. LAW012. It's a subject where we learn about the philosophy of Law. What makes Law...law? Who makes the Law? Where did it come from? In fact, what is Law? A book? Rules? One of the best fighters in Tekken 7?

Well from what I learned, Law is about understanding context. It's about understanding something for what it means, instead of what it says. "What kind of mumbo jumbo are you talking about Syafiq?" Allow me to elucidate (*fancy music plays*)

Jim and Daniel go to the museum. During the trip, Jim starts making 'yo momma' jokes about Daniel's mother. Daniel was tolerant at first, but after a while, he started to get offended. He demanded Jim to stop, but he kept going. Daniel punches Jim! and he goes stumbling into a priceless ancient vase, breaking it into pieces. The museum wants compensation. Eventually, they both go to court to decide who's fault it was.

So who's really guilty here? Is it Jim, who provoked Daniel? Or Daniel for radically punching his friend, who ends up breaking the vase?

Tough innit.

Sorry if my example sucks, but in Law macam tu lah some of the cases. Of course not all cases are convoluted. Some are pretty straightforward. Caught smuggling drugs? You're gonna get punished. But above all, It's about understanding people, the 'why's' of their actions, not just the 'what's'.

The World

"Da warld"

So here's the unexpected part of my foundation studies. Law teaches you about the world. It starts that spark of curiousity inside you. Like, you learn about the government and why it's like that, you learn about people and why they react differently to things, why did that guy get jailed instead of that guy? Why can't we just print money? Why can't we all group-up and obliterate all terrorists? (Short answer: it's not that easy)

You learn how interconnected the world really is. How events in one country affect another. How the Law reverberates inside the hearts of each country, each community, each individual. It's like this invisible pool we're all swimming in, without realising we're even in it! Law opens your mind, in a Doctor Strange flying through dimensions kind-of-way. It takes time, but once you grasp it, things will start making sense.

Before this, newspapers, berita, and all that only seemed like boring stuff that I didn't need to know about. But now, learning about what goes on in the world is like getting a peek behind the scenes of life. . You become engrossed in knowing, learning, and taking part in the Story of Life. Because whether you realise it or not, you are a chapter in someone's story. I learned about the United Nations, the world wars, what NGOs are, how countries treat each other, why countries treat each other the way they do, how one person's actions can change an entire nation.

It really makes you feel small, but at the same time significant. Like you don't exist to wait for the next Avengers movie, or the next comeback from a Kpop group. You'll feel like you can really make a difference in life. Sure you'll need to remember what this philosopher said, and what that politician said. And I admit, there is A LOT you need to memorise, tapi last2 exam keluar sikit je. But ape2 yg kita belajar tapi tak keluar time exam, feel good about it! You chose to learn it, that's an accomplishment. Just because you couldn't use it in the exam, doesn't mean it's useless knowledge.

The Not-So-Fun Stuff

Does this look like fun to you?

Law is dry. That's my only grudge with it. Ok katalah Science kan? Science is so visual, fun, and engaging! All the chemical reactions, the physics, the animals. It's all imaginative. Like you can picture almost everything you learn. Law is almost all words. Words. The ideas? You have to come up with em yourself in your head. Imagine learning Sejarah, only 3 times more reading. Even in Sejarah at least you have some pictures.

Science is more like "you know the facts? Write em down". But Law is more like "state your opnion, and back it up with proof". Granted, both subjects involve lengthy essays and reports. But imagine sitting through a 2 hour lecture looking at this:

See what I mean? But there's a sense of accomplishment doing Law assignments and exams. Because it's like "you passed because of YOUR answer, not the textbook's answer". Your self-thinking and reasoning plays a pivotal role. It's due to your very own reasoning that a wrong answer can actually become a right one. It happened to me once. I gave a different answer than what most students answered but got full marks for it because of the valid arguments.

But yeah, studying Law can get bland. So what did I do? Well I tried my best to make it fun! I talk about this more in my "How to study post" I did (link here).

For lecture notes, use different colours and sizes!

Add some random things. We memorise things that stand out more than plain words.

Campur Melayu pon takpe, dalam exam kita tak lah ckp mcm tu. At least we remember the content

That's how i do my cases. I write in my style of language

I draw a little icon next to each case. Cuz if i forget the case, i remember the icon and poof! Faham balik.

Stress tak?

After 19 years of life, I can safely say that stress can exist in any stage of life my friend. I said 'can' because not all stress is...well......stressful. Like during some assignments, my friends said "bapak ah, stress bodoh. Mcm nak buat ni!?" While I found it easygoing and nice. Other times, I'd wonder how the heck am I suppose to siap this assignment, while my friends dah siap dah hahaha.

My point is, stress can exist in any part of your studies, but you don't have to let it drag you down. Itu lah hikmahnya kita ada kawan! Never be afraid to ask, even if you feel like it's an easy question. Dalam kehidupan ni kita kena saling tolong menolong. Because ape yg kau takde, org lain ada. And apa yg kau ade, org lain pulak takde. That's how it is.

So is it stressful? It can be. Will you get stressed? Most likely. But you'll make it :) BTW, aku takde idea nak letak gambar ape, so letak je lah kucing eh.

The Verdict (get it?)

So to sum it up, when you study Law, you're gonna reveal a part of life that few have seen. The secret glue that keeps our society, the global society, from going haywire. Yes, there's reading, but there's something I wish someone would've told me. "There's a lot of reading, but hey, you might enjoy it!". Couple this with your friends, and lecturers, and Law won't feel like the grueling thousand-page reading bonanza everyone paints it as. It'll be a fun and memorable experience. So, you're probably wondering, why am I not continuing Law? Well that's a story for another say my friend. Thank you for reading ^_^

Alexa, play Law & Order outro song.

College Talk!

college 19:57

If you're like me, then you've probably browsed through several blogs, trying to get a good idea of how college is gonna be like. Well i got news for you my friend, no matter how much you prepare for college...you can't. BUT you can anticipate what's to come. My tips will be based on my experience in UiTM Dengkil during my foundation year. So here are my top 5 tips for college:

1. Do Procrastinate

Now you're probably going into college thinking "alright, this time i'm not gonna procrastinate. I'm gonna finish every assignment i get, way before the deadline".

Sadly, that isn't realistic enough. Why? Cuz i went in with that mindset, and well...it didn't go out as planned. Two reasons. One is cuz your work from other subjects will stack up, and unless you handle them systematically, 9 out of 10 times you'll end up burning the midnight oil. Second, we...kinda suck at not procrastinating. So what do you do? Here's a trick. In life, you gotta be balanced. You can't be too studious. And you can't be too lax.

So you can procrastinate, but procrastinate smart. Let's say you got an assignment on the 1st of June, and the deadline is on the 10th of June. So what you should do is set the deadline to the 5th or 6th, instead of aiming to finish it on the 1st terus. This will let you plan other assignments as well by filling in necessary gaps in your schedule.

I really really emphasize what i'm about to say next, because this was a major practice i did, and it worked wonders.When i said put the deadline on the 5th, that don't mean you start on the 5th tau. The secret is to do your work in small increments. Seriously, just do bit by bit, and by the time you reach your deadline, you've probably finished it or tinggal a paragraph to write.

Tak yah buat banyak pun takpe, asalkan consistent. You gotta prioritize your assignments based on the workload as well. Alhamdullilah, i personally managed to finish my work a day or two before the deadline. Some of my friends however, were up till 3am and were just starting on an assignment due tomorrow. So accept the fact that we procrastinate, but use it to your advantage. Show it who's boss!

2. Group Work

The bane of every college student. Y'know i find it ironic that pretty much everyone complains about group work, and yet...the people who complain, get complained about themselves by other group mates. Anyhoo, you're gonna have a lot of group work. Bad thing? Not necessarily.

Now your group will either consist of random people who you don't know, or the slither of remaining guys in your class, cuz y'know...akhir zaman hahah. Group work is the one that always gets delayed because:

"Eh!? Aku ingat kau buat part ni"

"Oh, lecturer suruh buat macam tu ke? Aku pegi buat macam ni la pulak"

"Deadline esok eh?"

Whatever the case, it is your job my friend, to make it all work. "ME?" Yes, you. Look, unless you're in a group with close friends, chances are no one's gonna speak up. So it's up to you to speak up, split the tasks evenly, and make sure everyone does their part before the deadline. "Why me tho?" Because, not only will you help yourself, but you're helping them as well. That is one big sack of barakah and pahala my friend.

I know it's scary to speak up yes. Trust me. My first time was like: "Hey guys, i think we should-". And then semua orang pandang macam O_O. The hardest part is uttering the first few words. After that, get to know them. Befriend them. I've made such good friends with my group members who other people complain about. This brings me to another important thing.

Please please pleeease be patient. Be tolerant. This is the hardest thing to do when it comes to groups. You know why one guy complains about his group, but his group also complains about him? It's cuz everyone thinks their right, and orang lain tu salah. It's my way or the highway. That is ego my friend. You gotta kill it.

What's beautiful about group work is that your product will be an amalgam of ideas from different people with different backgrounds. Sure your idea might actually be better than others, but sometimes you have to sacrifice your ideas just to let them participate y'know.

This one took a long time, but we pulled through.
From zero knowledge of Powerpoint, to successfully creating a game from scratch!.

Let everyone contribute ideas, and if you don't like what they did, tell them nicely. "Hey nice work! But i think we can make it better if you do this and this". It took me awhile to understand how group work should really be done. Memang first2 i struggled a lot. Group member malas lah, apa lah. But keep your head up, tolerate, and march forward. Together. And suddenly you'll be celebrating with your group members, holding a finished 5000 word essay in your hands.

3. Have fun!

Remember when i talked about balance? This is key to not being stressed out in college. Every other day i'd hear "Bapak ah! Stress do! Bapak ah!" That's because they either study too much, or have too much fun that they drown in overdue work. So your college life must be balanced

as everything should be

First time you're in college, with all these random people, you're gonna feel like you wanna stay in your room all day long. But i'm telling you right now my friend, you have to go out. Go out! Of course you're gonna have club activities, but besides that, you need to give yourself some time to enjoy college. I used to stay in my room and study the whole day, and well...you're gonna feel Rapunzel-ed.

Take part in events, go for a jog, exercise. I usually workout with my housemate. "But i have too much work!" Baq hang. I kept a strict rule of "Bila pukol 5 atau 6, stop buat kerja, and have fun!" Sometimes you don't have to go out pun. You can visit a friend's house, sembang2 with your housemates, or just do some small exercises in your house if you're really running low on time.

Just don't go overboard yeah? Remember the balance. Make time for studying, finishing up work, and time to relax, have fun.

Good times

4. Husnuzhon

"Excuse me?". It means "expect good from others" or "bersangka baik". It has a deeper meaning, but i'm not the right person to explain it. You see in college, you're gonna see a lot of people. Students, lecturers, staff, outsiders. And your brain will make assumptions by default. What you gotta do, is to not fall for this bias.

Try your best to be as kind, gentle, and considerate with other people no matter what, even if they don't reciprocate it. Lemme tell you something. One of the BIGGEST ways you can let go of stress is to forgive people. Seriously, don't let other people ruin your day. At the same time, don't have any ill wills for them. You don't know what they've been through. He might be extra grumpy that day because he had a quarrel with his family, or she may have shouted at you because she's dealing with something else in life.

I'll tell you a story yeah. For a good few months i was in college, there was this guy who i'd always walk pass. We would meet whenever i went out to buy some food, and he was on his way to the futsal court. He would always give this look man, this sour face, whenever he walked by. What's his deal with me? So instinctively i didn't smile too. My bad. This carried on for a few months. I didn't know the guy, and he didn't know me.

Come sem 2, and classes had to be shuffled. Out of all the 800 students, guess who became my new classmate. Yup. But man was this a lesson for me. Because that guy...is the one of the most funniest and friendly people in the campus. So yeah, husnuszhon guys. It'll help you live a stress-free college life. And yes, he's the guy in the video.

5. When things go awry

If you're going into university planning to be never feel down 24/7, then you're setting yourself up for a terrible crash my friend. Truth is, there will be moments where you will fail. You didn't get the marks, even though you studied. You had a falling-out with your roommate. No matter what you did, the lecturer just doesn't like you.

When things go awry my friend, be happy. Be happy. Why do i say this? Because if you stayed patient, then Allah just gave you something in return somewhere else. So you studied so hard, but you lost 10 marks. If you said "Oh i should've did this" or "if only i did this" or "why!? I studied so hard!", you're dumping a heap of stress onto yourself man. To add salt to the wound, your friend didn't study and got full marks too.

But if you remained patient, and accepted the outcome, then you don't know-those 10 marks, might come back to you in another exam in the future. It's true! Maybe in the future you'll be doing an exam, and you think you're gonna fail, then boom! Full marks. Think about it. Has moments like these occurred to you before?

"But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah Knows, while you know not." -Al Baqarah : Verse 2

I'm just giving an example here, but yes, when you enter college, be ready for anything. But always keep your head high. Smile! It'll do you wonders. This is not to say we shouldn't try to become the best. So long as you tried your best, and put your trust in Allah, then you can be pleased with any outcome you get. So try your best, reach high. As a 18/19 year old teen, your instincts will tell you to stay low key, not stand out, and just follow the status quo.

Sometimes the road to success forces you to stand out, even be called weird. But if weirdness means trying our best and achieving success, then be proud you're a weirdo. Alright, that's all from me. If you're feeling anxious, takpe. Lek2 je. It's like a roller coaster. The climb's scary, but when you reach the drop, it gets super awesome. Everyone's anxious actually, they just don't show it on orientation day hahaha. All the best!

On Life: Chapter One

21:27

Ever heard or been in this situation? Somebody talking to their children in the presence of a janitor, garbage man, or even a KFC employee and saying "kalau tak belajar elok2, nanti jadi macam dia tu".

Anyway, our bathrooms had large containers of water, because of the Selangor Water Crisis and all. But our house wasn't hit that badly, so they were just lying there. This morning, i had to empty one of them out by watering the plants, and washing the porch. Might sound arduous to ya, but weird enough, i kinda enjoyed it.

Just the act of me picking up the pail, scooping up the water into a baldi (baldi sounds better than bucket), and carrying it to the porch. Rinse and repeat. And sweating through Malaysia's "i'm gonna be so hot that your butterfly ice-cream will melt before you open it" weather surprisingly didn't feel burdensome.

It was all fulfilling.

And that's what i'm writing about here today. What are we gearing up our kids to do in school? Get good grades, get a good job, get loads of money. Awesome. But based on my 19 years of life experience, i can safely say money won't be fulfilling. What i mean by that is no matter how big your salary is, you won't necessarily be satisfied because being rich isn't the same as having a rich life.

So what is a rich life? Well, here's a quote by Epicurus

What did you expect from a guy with "Epic" in his name?

What'll make ya happy? Fulfillment. But many people, parents, and schools never even bring it up. A fulfilling job is what produces inner happiness (in the occupation aspect). Just because you're making loads of bucks in your job, doesn't mean you'll be happy. So you might get the best job in the world, and you can still be unhappy.

Look at it this way. You have a Lamborghini Aventador, it's fancy, it's powerful, and it's damn expensive. But without fuel, all it'll be is big hunk of metal. So no matter what the job, if it's not fulfilling, you may not be happy. So what is fulfillment?

It's making an honest living, feeling proud of what you're doing, and not doing it solely for the money. So when you get financially shaken, you're not driven to despondency. It's one of questions that's been swimming in mind for a long time. I've met so many people with living conditions that would break a normal human being, and yet they're able to foster a genuine smile.

No wonder smiling is considered charity in Islam, they're so expensive these days

Coming back to my baldi chore, while scooping up the water, i thought of how precious water is in other countries. According to the United Nations website,

2.4 billion people lack access to basic sanitation services, such as toilets or latrines

At least 1.8 billion people globally use a source of drinking water that is fecally contaminated

But not everything is gloom and doom of course. Clean water and sanitation is one of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (think of it as an international Wawasan 2020), and we're making progress. Because also according to their website:

2.6 billion people have gained access to improved drinking water sources since 1990, but 663 million people are still without

Between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of the global population using an improved drinking water source has increased from 76 per cent to 91 per cent

It was always baffling as a kid who grew up in the bourgeoisie how doctors, bankers, and other "successful" jobs (no offense to anyone) was the only ticket to being happy. It was what i was taught. And it's what they're teaching at schools. I'd always think "then, what happens to those who don't get those jobs? How are they still alive?" And most importantly "How are they happy?"

Only through epiphany, did i now see that:

What is considered enough to someone, differs for everyone.

Maybe for us having a house, being able to eat Whoppers, and praying in a fully air-conditioned masjid is the threshold for contentment. But for others, maybe the sheer joy of owning a house, be it small or big, is already enough for them. So what if you're a tailor, so what if you're a tile-maker, they're honorable jobs. And if they don't feel proud doing those jobs, then it's our job to make sure they do.

So in conclusion, don't feel sad if you're not at the supposed "top" whether you're an employee or a student. Everyone has their own Rizq (Rezeki, provision), so just keep doing your best, with the good intention of doing something good in life. I'm not saying you shouldn't strive to keep reaching new heights, and become better. I'm saying maybe you don't have it that bad. It's something not many of us would like to admit.

Sure happiness can be bought, but fulfillment? You won't find that on eBay.

Theatre of Creation #1: Honeybee

environment 18:17

Hey there!, and assalamualaikum. So this is a new series where i'll be talking about the mystifying, marvelous, magnificent world of animals. Each entry will focus on one animal. Simple? Alright, let's begin!

*plays series theme song even though i have no theme song*

Today we're talking bout a little guy, known as the honeybee. What do we know? Well they're tiny, have killer stingers, and are responsible for making honey for us fellow humans. And if you're a millennial, well then you may have gotten your bee knowledge from *shudders*.....Bee Movie.

But today, we're gonna dive into their world, see what's really going on, and just how intricate their lives are. So as the old saying goes "Ladies first"

The Lady Bees

If you've seen a bee, it's probably a lady bee. Female bees are known as worker bees. Why? Cuz they do EVERYTHING. They forage for food, buzzing from flower to flower, sucking up sugary nectar with their long tubular tongues.

They build the hive using beeswax and teamwork.

They regulate the temperature in the hive by beating their wings.

They clean the hive in this crazy amazing way which i'll explain later.

They defend the hive from foreign intruders, and guard their beloved queen.

So yeah, it's like a mini-Themyscira except they don't have armour, they can fly,

and....everyone's Wonder Woman.

Oh here's something awesome i wanna show you:

So in the Quran (Surah Nahl: 68), there's a verse about Allah giving the bees divine instruction. Arabic is a language that has grammatical gender, which means a word has two forms, male and female. Notice that the words used in the verse are Feminine.

For the word "eat": "Kuli" is for females; "Kul" is for males. The Quran used "Kuli" (females).

For the word "follow a path": "Usluki" is for females; "Usluk" is for males. The Quran used "Usluki" (females).

For the word "their bellies": "butuniha" is for females; "butunihim" is for males. The Quran used "butuniha" (females).

Butuniha بُطُونِهَا in Arabic means multiple stomachs of a single female. Today we know that a honey bee has an extra stomach dedicated for honey. All this revealed in the Quran, over 1400 years ago. Awesome sauce.

The Queen Bee

How come there's only one special bee that's called the Queen Bee? How do they decide which bee gets to become Queen? Well, there's something important ya gotta know first.

Queen Bees are made, not born

When the Queen Bee dies, or is getting too old for her job, Worker Bees will start feeding the Bee Larvae something called Royal Jelly. They make this special sumptuous goo from a gland in their heads, and it's pretty much digested pollen, honey or nectar, proteins, hormones, and more. For a long time, it was thought that Royal Jelly was what transformed normal bees into Queen Bees, but it's what's not in Royal Jelly that makes the difference.

Worker Bees get fed normal food, which has this RNA. Think of RNA as instructions for what genes are gonna be formed. Now this normal food will slow the growth of the bees, and make them infertile. Royal Jelly doesn't have this, so Queen Bees become larger, and have the ability to reproduce.

After a few days, less and less larvae are fed Royal Jelly, and the other larvae get fed normal food. Once the first queen bee emerges, the queen will search and destroy other ‘still-developing’ queen bees in their honeycombs. If more than one queen emerges, they will fight each other to the death till only one Queen remains……..we so need a Bee Movie 2.

The queen's job is simple, to lay the eggs that will spawn the hive's next generation of bees. Another cool thing about Queens is that they can actually command the hive by making different combinations of pheromones (chemicals that can stimulate other creatures to do things). For example, a Queen is always surrounded by her "court." These bees act as her body guards. They form a circle around her with all their heads pointing towards her. They walk backwards so that their heads are always pointing towards the queen.

They protec

The Male Bees

Uhhh how do i put this. Ok first of all Male Bees are known as drones, and well...they kind of err...suck. Not really, but compared to the other bees y'know. Okay okay, so they don't have stingers, but are still larger than the female bees. Drones only have one function, and that is to mate with the Queen, and then die.

Tough life.

How do they make honey?

Alright here’s how they do it. Worker bees go out and find flowers. Once they find a good site, they go back to the hive and tell the other bees the location of the site, by….wait for it. Dancing

Ok, maybe not like that.

Yes, the bees perform specific dances to tell the other workers how far the flowers are so that they can successfully go and extract all the sugary goodness without getting lost. When they have a full load, they return to the hive. There, they pass the nectar to other worker bees for them to chew it. After gradually doing this, the nectar turns into honey! But it’s still very dilute.

In fact, 70% of it is still water, while honey is supposed to have less than 19% water. So the workers puke in a special enzyme called invertase, to make it last longer. And by long, I mean “the only food on Earth that can’t expire” long. After that, they store the dilute honey in some honeycomb cells. The workers then fan the honey with their wings to make it dry, and get the evaporation going. When it’s finally ready, they seal the cell with a wax lid to keep it nice and clean.

But ya gotta have specific temperature to store honey, so on hot days, bees ventilate the hive by clinging on to a wall, and beating their wings. It's also a cool fact that bees always produce more honey than they need. Why you ask? Bees, like other animals, always produce extra for us humans, just like how chickens lay at least one egg a day, and how cows produce much more milk than it's offspring needs. So next time your cat-like instinct tells ya to swat a bee, thank em for being so thoughtful instead.

And has subjected to you all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth; it is all as a favour and kindness from Him. Verily, in it are signs for a people who think deeply.

(Surah al-Jathiyah : 13)

Why Hexagons?

Cc: Milos Milanovic

How do you divide a volume into equal size, using the least resources? Squares? Sounds like it could work. Circles? Well circles would leave gaps. Hexagons?

For thousands of years, mathematicians have been looking for the answer. It actually has a name, this problem. It's called the Honeycomb Conjecture. Only recently did we manage to prove, through stacks of complex equations that the hexagon is in fact the most efficient shape. Here's one of those pages:

Hexagons let you hold the most amount of something using the least amount of stuff. We use it in a lot of our buildings, bridges, and cars as well. Yup, what humans took thousands of years to figure out, bees already did. It's also a wonder how they can build such identical hexagons too.

Bee Hospital?

Cc: Nicholas Huber

When your house has a lot of holes in it, nasty stuff's bound to intrude. Luckily, bees have this amazing health system to make sure no one gets sick, and well...die. It's Propolis. "Excuse me?"

Yeah, it's this stuff that's made from tree sap and buds. Bees use it to fix cracks, repair the hive, etcetera.

But propolis, does WAY more than that. It was only recently discovered that bees sterilise the hive using propolis, giving them a kind of "social immunity". Propolis has wicked antimicrobial properties. It can fight parasites, prevents colds, stops herpes by stoping HSVs from reproducing, and even combats cancer by acting as an anti-tumour agent!

One cool thing bees do though, is when they manage to kill an intruder and it dies inside of their hive, they usually carry it outside to dispose the corpse. But if the poor cadaver is too big to carry, say...a mouse, the bees will use propolis to embalm it, so that when it rots, the bacteria won't spread. Talk about immaculate.

So how do bees know that a dead body causes bacteria production, and embalming it with this propolis thing will stop it? In fact, how do they even make a substance so powerful, that even chemists in decked-out laboratories find difficult to make?

Rainbow Bees

Alright, that's it for this entry. Big thanks for reading this far. I hope with this, you'll realise that bees are just one of the things we don't even pay a glance at, and yet, they're one of the most complex and beautiful creatures ever. I'm gonna end off by showing you some Bee subspecies. Yes dear reader, they don't only come in Yellow :) Until next time!