ASLOK Thoughts in the Age of Covid

Plans for attending ASLOK XXXV?

  • Wasn't planning on attending anyway...

    Votes: 46 40.0%
  • Will be there, masks or not...

    Votes: 17 14.8%
  • Will be there, but only if masks are required...

    Votes: 1 0.9%
  • Will be there, but only if masks aren't required...

    Votes: 4 3.5%
  • Won't be attending due to Covid, but had been planning on it pre-pandemic...

    Votes: 20 17.4%
  • Might be there - depends on how the pandemic develops by the Fall...

    Votes: 20 17.4%
  • Might be there - depends on non-pandemic things like $, vacation, spousal approval, etc...

    Votes: 7 6.1%

  • Total voters
    115
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Fort

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Huh - apparently fishers are common here in Alberta, but I don't recall ever hearing the name before. Very interesting. Google tells me they are reclusive so perhaps that's why they are not on my radar.
They're generally not seen by humans unless they want to be seen.
 

rdw5150

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For online stuff, Brett doesn't really need to do anything. If he has the graphic already, and the designer is cool with it, make it available to interested individuals, and let them make their own arrangements for getting it printed on whatever shirt/hoodie/thong they so desire. If the designer needs to get paid for their work (which is a reasonable expectation), then set a price for receiving the graphic file (and it's the honour system that it doesn't get shared freely, robbing the designer of their fee).

My two cents.

PS If a graphic hasn't yet been chosen, then let the competition begin!

totally agree, as I said.

But if people expect Brett to handle the tee shirt sales for an event that won't happen, it total BS. ?:p

Just my two pennies.....:giggle:

Pennies

Roger
 

Fort

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Fishers will attack a small dog or cat (if clawed and defenseless), but only if very hungry as the chance of damage is too great. Fishers are not of the cat family, as mentioned earlier they are relatives of weasel and weight about 8 pounds.

Squirrels are the normal prey as fishers are actually faster than squirrels on a tree and present an ample food source with little risk.

They will eat carrion, so many animal remains have been found in its den. Coyotes and wolves prey upon fishers, which are primarily nocturnal hunters.

There have been recorded attacks by fishers on humans, usually bites in feet.
A house cat stands no chance vs a fisher...clawed or not. Small dogs are easy prey as well. Hell, they eat foxes and lynx.

They get considerably larger than 8 lbs.

13970
P.S. This one is not dead. It was tranquilized to attach a tracking collar.
 
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Jacometti

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this conversation has turned political about those fishers, but none of the moderators has bothered to step in.
 

Fort

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this conversation has turned political about those fishers, but none of the moderators has bothered to step in.
Fishers are apolitical, equal opportunity killers of all they meet.

I've heard them described as furry fury.
 

Fort

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it was a red hurring
"
The World Health Organization estimates that worldwide, annual influenza epidemics result in about 3-5 million cases of severe illness and about 250,000 to 500,000 deaths.

The average number of deaths per day globally is around 160,000."

Someone is really bad at math...

160 k x 365 = 56.4 million deaths per year...seems a bit on the high side.
 
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Michael Dorosh

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"
The World Health Organization estimates that worldwide, annual influenza epidemics result in about 3-5 million cases of severe illness and about 250,000 to 500,000 deaths.

The average number of deaths per day globally is around 160,000."

Someone is really bad at math...

160 k x 365 = 5.64 million deaths per year...seems a bit on the high side.
Bit on the low side, actually, by a factor of 10.


56 million people died in 2017
Going back to check your math, Fort, I think you misplaced the decimal. 160,000 x 365 = 58,400,000 - which seems to jive with online stats.
 

Fort

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"
The World Health Organization estimates that worldwide, annual influenza epidemics result in about 3-5 million cases of severe illness and about 250,000 to 500,000 deaths.

The average number of deaths per day globally is around 160,000."

Someone is really bad at math...

160 k x 365 = 5.64 million deaths per year...seems a bit on the high side.
A math professor friend of mine sent me this labelled, "Biologist doing math":

13971

I sent back, 'at least they got the right answer' and followed up with this:

P(t) = K/(1+((K-P(o))/P(o)) x e^-rt)

where K = carrying capacity (1000 elephants), P(o) is initial population, P(t) is population at time = t years, and r is the intrinsic rate of increase -- a static, unit-less constant of 0.025 in this case.

A mathematician doing this equation would tell me, that in 4 years a starting population of elephants would see 109.367 elephants roaming the Savannah.
 

Fort

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Bit on the low side, actually, by a factor of 10.




Going back to check your math, Fort, I think you misplaced the decimal. 160,000 x 365 = 58,400,000 - which seems to jive with online stats.
I guess I'm really bad at reading comprehension...I assumed that was being offered as the number of influenza deaths.
And, I did misplace a decimal when typing the reply, thanks for catching it.
 

Michael Dorosh

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I guess I'm really bad at reading comprehension...I assumed that was being offered as the number of influenza deaths.
And, I did misplace a decimal when typing the reply, thanks for catching it.
I was a finance clerk in the Army. Naturally. Because I'm a dunce at math and hate numbers. Luckily the calculator on my PC never fails me. :)
 

MajorDomo

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A house cat stands no chance vs a fisher...clawed or not. Small dogs are easy prey as well. Hell, they eat foxes and lynx.

They get considerably larger than 8 lbs.

View attachment 13970
P.S. This one is not dead. It was tranquilized to attach a tracking collar.
You should view the YouTube video "fisher bullied by cat"

A cat out back stalks a fisher, who bolts from a tree and runs for his life with the cat in hot pursuit. Cat fights must be filmed and watched in slow motion to see the speed at which they strike each other. Even a large fisher would sustain much facial damage, probable eye damage. Just not worth it unless the fisher is fighting for its life.


Above is a youtube where a fisher is in a brawl with a fox. Fisher survives, breaks away and runs.
 
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Fort

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You should view the YouTube video "fisher bullied by cat"

A cat out back stalks a fisher, who bolts from a tree and runs for his life with the cat in hot pursuit. Cat fights must be filmed and watched in slow motion to see the speed at which they strike each other. Even a large fisher would sustain much facial damage, probable eye damage. Just not worth it unless the fisher is fighting for its life.


Above is a youtube where a fisher is in a brawl with a fox. Fisher survives, breaks away and runs.
Rich, they routinely take down lynx and porcupine. I'm pretty sure a house cat is not as dangerous as a lynx. There are many situational encounters where a fisher might avoid a fight, but if the fisher wanted to take out a house cat, Tom is a goner. That video of the fox is one where the fox got lucky that the human filming the event got close enough that the Fisher let go and climbed a tree.

Watched the cat video. If that's a fisher it is a juvenile. And, the cat's lucky it didn't catch up to it.

"Fishers are generalist predators. Although their primary prey is snowshoe hares and porcupines, they are also known to supplement their diet with insects, nuts, berries, and mushrooms. Since they are solitary hunters, their choice of prey is limited by their size. Analyses of stomach contents and scat have found evidence of birds, small mammals, and even deer—the latter two indicating that they are not averse to eating carrion. Fishers have been seen to feed on deer carcasses. While the behavior is not common, fishers have been known to kill larger animals, such as wild turkey, bobcat (although, in most cases, confrontations tend to be dominated by the cat, that frequently prey on them and in fact is one of their main predators) and Canada lynx.[1][2][3] Researchers in Maine have found "about a dozen" cases of confirmed fisher predation on Canada lynx, and several more suspected cases, in a four township area of Maine.[4] According to Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife wildlife biologist Scott McClellan, the fishers involved in these kills attacked lynx bedded down in snowstorms with a quick "powerful grip" bite to the lynx's neck.[4] Signs of struggle indicated that some lynx attempted to defend themselves but McClellan states that "the fishers would finish the cats off pretty quickly. 'There was some struggle certainly, but it didn’t appear to last very long. There were some broken branches, tufts of fur, and claw marks where the lynx was trying to get away.'[4] The McClellan study in The Journal of Wildlife Management documents 14 fisher-caused mortalities of Canada lynx from 1999 to 2011 in northern Maine, and found that predation was the leading source of mortality of lynx in the study area (18 deaths, 14 by fisher).[5]
Fishers are one of the few predators that seek out and kill porcupines. [6]"
-wikipedia
  1. "Ecological Characteristics of Fishers in the Southern Oregon Cascade Range" (PDF). USDA Forest Service – Pacific Northwest Research Station 2006.
  2. ^ Vashon, Jennifer; Vashon, Adam; Crowley, Shannon. "Partnership for Lynx Conservation in Main December 2001 – December 2002 Field Report" (PDF). Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. p. 9.
  3. ^ Richardson, John (March 17, 2010). "Researchers collect data to track health of, threats to Canada lynx". The Portland Press Herald. Pressherald.com. Archived from the original on November 14, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2012
  4. Joshua Rapp Learn (September 28, 2018). "Small Weasel-Like Animals Are Taking Down Big Cats". National Geographic. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
  5. ^ McLellan, Scott R.; Vashon, Jennifer H.; Johnson, Erica L.; Crowley, Shannon M.; Vashon, Adam D. (2018). "Fisher predation on Canada lynx in the Northeastern United States". Journal of Wildlife Management. 82 (8): 1775–8. doi:10.1002/jwmg.21538.
  6. Doyle, Brian (March 6, 2006). "Fishering". High Country News. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
 
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