Quickies
Quickies: Bat extinction, Jian Ghomeshi, and FMLA
- The secret bataclysm: White Nose Syndrome and extinction – Bug Girl on bats.
- The Jian Ghomeshi allegations are not about BDSM, they are about consent – “Jian Ghomeshi, host of the popular Canadian radio show Q, is suing the CBC after the network fired him in the wake of allegations that he is a serial abuser of women.”
- 72 hours of #Gamergate – An analysis of 316,669 tweets that use the hashtag. And the original data, for all you stats nerds to play with. From Amy.
- How my employer put the “FML” in FMLA – “It’s unpaid leave for up to twelve workweeks in a twelve-month for qualified* employees at qualified** companies for qualified*** family medical circumstances. As per the law, employees can use accrued annual or sick leave “in accordance with the employer’s policy.””
So, if the native brown bats are rendered extinct due to an imported fungus to which European bats are immune, could the native bats be replaced by European bats? (Note, for example, that the red squirrel, native to Great Britain, has been all but wiped out by the North America grey squirrel.)
The bat article was great, and hopefully those visitors who love caves (like me) will be keen to adopt the necessary hygiene measures.
I guess the only long term hope for the bats is to find some resistant individuals and nurture them into a viable population.
This approach has had some success in the facial tumour epidemic that is wiping out Tasmanian Devils. OTOH some humans would line up and pay money for the chance to kill endangered species:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-20/tasmanian-devil-killed-in-albuquerque-biopark-zoo/5826788
Re: Gamergate.
The one question that I would like answered by the Gamergaters is this…
“This all started with a piece put online by Zoe Quinn’s ex-boyfriend, or at least that is my understanding. If this really is all about ethics in gaming journalism why has all the vitriol been aimed at Quinn and nothing, from what I have seen, aimed at the journalist?”
An excellent interview with actress Lucy DeCoutere (Trailer Park boys) about her interactions with Jian Gomeshi and the fallout from that. If anyone still has lingering thoughts that Gomeshi’s kink is on trial, this will dispel them (or ought to).
http://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=478445