A Treatise on Transit Maps, Tall Tales, and Trust But Verify

There's an image of a heart-shaped honeycomb that's been floating around the internet recently, with a vague story attached about a French beekeeper who "forgot" to put a frame in his hive, so this is how the bees designed their hive.

This story tugs at the heartstrings. But it's not true.

A folklorist named Steve Byrne debunked the "beekeeper forgot to put the frame in" tall tale earlier this week. It's a fascinating read of how he traced the origins of the tall tale! Spoiler alert: turns out a South African beekeeper named Brian Fanner designed it as experimental art for his wife.

( Transit maps of the world, unite! AKA why removing something's context changes its interpreted meaning )

Morals of the story: I *am* a transit nerd. Buy books from your local indie (and you can use Indiebound or Bookshop to find a local indie; ask the store whether they prefer you order directly or through Bookshop first, though, because survival business models differ in the pandemic times). And as Steve Byrne, the internet folklorist cited above concluded, "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?"