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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 23 to 47 of 70. Go back in thread:
Posted by alexandra_k on January 2, 2020, at 15:00:33
In reply to Re: Culture War, posted by alexandra_k on January 2, 2020, at 14:55:11
Insurance pay-outs can be a mechanism whereby the rich get richer and those who are already struggling become worse-off.
I would imagine land is typically cheaper where there is a known fire risk.
I remember being horrified learning of fires in Melbourne and hearing how many people had to evict their homes.
But I remember then learning that they routinely need to evict their homes for a portion of the year every year.
They knew when they purchased their house that was was likely so, that things would likely become worse through time (global warming), and they chose to buy / build there, anyway.
I would imagine that that is playing with fire (literally).
I can only suppose it must be, on some level, about insurance pay-outs.
I Christchurch after the earthquakes / bombings some people got to early retire into newly built mansions in pretty locations about the South Island. It was a boost to the architecturally designed building industry.
I guess these people got pay-outs and they got their pay-outs first.
Some other people struggled for years to get theirs. If they got them ever at all.
It's a mechanism for redistributing wealth. Insurance.
Rather like healthcare.
And Universities.
Posted by alexandra_k on January 2, 2020, at 15:01:39
In reply to Re: Culture War, posted by alexandra_k on January 2, 2020, at 15:00:33
I should say I know this isn't always the case. Sometimes it is familial homes and the fires are encroaching as they never used to do because of global warming.
I just remember the new builds in Melbourne and wondering why anyone would choose to build there given what they knew about the situation going in.
Posted by sigismund on January 2, 2020, at 18:45:03
In reply to Re: Culture War, posted by alexandra_k on January 2, 2020, at 14:55:11
At Tathra half the town was burned down less than a year ago, and i very much looked as if the fire was coming back.
I saw a video of what looked like snow. It was explained that for it to look like that 1000C were needed. I suppose there is always more to burn. The mycelia under the ground?
Posted by sigismund on January 2, 2020, at 18:52:09
In reply to Re: Culture War, posted by alexandra_k on January 2, 2020, at 15:01:39
Marysville seemed unsurprising in photos. Rows of hill covered trees, the town down a bit, no trees around the town. How far from the top of one ridge to the next? I'd like to know. 10km?
In the fire 10 years ago the heat was such that soon after one ridge lit up the next one did too. I wonder if the eucalyptus oil in the air ignites? And then there are the gas canisters. The entire town burned down
Posted by beckett2 on January 2, 2020, at 19:57:04
In reply to Re: Culture War, posted by sigismund on January 2, 2020, at 18:52:09
> Marysville seemed unsurprising in photos. Rows of hill covered trees, the town down a bit, no trees around the town. How far from the top of one ridge to the next? I'd like to know. 10km?
>
> In the fire 10 years ago the heat was such that soon after one ridge lit up the next one did too. I wonder if the eucalyptus oil in the air ignites? And then there are the gas canisters. The entire town burned downYes, something like this. The oil fumes can burn similar to petrol. At least that's my understanding. The trees can explode as well. We have them here, and they are like kindling.
Are people staying for days on the south beaches because they are cut off? Good god.
Posted by alexandra_k on January 2, 2020, at 20:57:52
In reply to Re: Culture War » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on January 2, 2020, at 19:57:04
I just saw the Herald today (library was closed yesterday so I hadn't read that one). I didn't realise how extensive these fires were. More extensive than usual. From Bateman's Bay along to Melbourne...
I remember there was a fire in Canberra the year before I went there as a summer scholar. The astronomy observatory was lost. That one was a bit more extensive than usual, too. People were told to clear out only because of the smoke and nobody expected the whole building to go up.
Wow.
I heard it is unclear how much Aborigine used to intentionally manage fires vs how much they occured naturally from storms and lightening strikes and the like. I imagine the Aborigine got pretty used to avoiding them / knowing where to clear out or they wouldn't have lasted as long as they did.
Yeah, koalas can't move fast because it is so metabolically costly to metabolise eucalyptus leaves that are so very dry.
Poor koalas.
Posted by sigismund on January 2, 2020, at 21:55:09
In reply to Re: Culture War » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on January 2, 2020, at 19:57:04
A big navy boat which can lift off a thousand has been sent.
Posted by sigismund on January 3, 2020, at 1:09:55
In reply to Re: Where's your shame, » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on January 1, 2020, at 23:39:07
>What are you referencing?
The fires in Victoria and New South Wales, and associated weather events. Currently the burned area is said to be the size of Denmark plus the Netherlands. I'm just ad libbing. I did have this good book in mind.
"The Biggest Estate on Earth" Bill Gammadge. (Not linked at Amazon. The most important book about Australia I have read.) Everything really.
Posted by beckett2 on January 3, 2020, at 15:43:30
In reply to Re: Where's your shame,, posted by sigismund on January 3, 2020, at 1:09:55
The fire tornado that flipped the truck there. I understand what you mean now. There was a massive fire tornado over Redding (I believe) during the Carr Fire in California, the one that killed 90. Like your Black Saturday. Throwing embers miles away.
I read that the US and Canada are sending firefighters. The article also commented the reversal of fire seasons between the hemisphere is convenient. Which I took as dark humor, although it wasn't meant as such.
We're sending thousands of troops to Iran. Throw the military at the problem. Maybe this will not happen. Mr. T has reversed course multiple times. Not what he campaigned on but his followers are pretty adaptable. Thank you W.
Posted by sigismund on January 3, 2020, at 20:29:35
In reply to Re: Where's your shame, » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on January 3, 2020, at 15:43:30
Nice to see Bette Midler about.
Pity the poor #Australians, their country ablaze, and their rotten @ScottMorrisonMP saying, This is not the time to talk about Climate Change. We have to grow our economy. What an idiot. What good is an economy in an uninhabitable country? Lead, you fuckwit!!
Posted by beckett2 on January 3, 2020, at 20:34:00
In reply to Re: Where's your shame,, posted by sigismund on January 3, 2020, at 20:29:35
I saw that :) gave me a laugh. Need one.
Posted by sigismund on January 3, 2020, at 20:34:52
In reply to Re: Where's your shame, » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on January 3, 2020, at 20:34:00
Posted by sigismund on January 3, 2020, at 20:37:46
In reply to Even Bernie!, posted by sigismund on January 3, 2020, at 20:34:52
If there were any shame there would be resignation of party and PM for not keeping the nation safe and wasting 10 (or 20) years of invaluable time.
Posted by beckett2 on January 3, 2020, at 20:45:32
In reply to Even Bernie!, posted by sigismund on January 3, 2020, at 20:34:52
This page isn't loading well.
Posted by sigismund on January 3, 2020, at 21:54:22
In reply to Re: Even Bernie! » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on January 3, 2020, at 20:45:32
The page ends with a Bernie tweet saying that climate is the concern of everyone and that we particularly now need a green new deal.
Everyone's favourite grumpy grandpa.
Posted by sigismund on January 4, 2020, at 21:09:04
In reply to Re: Even Bernie!, posted by sigismund on January 3, 2020, at 21:54:22
Posted by sigismund on January 4, 2020, at 22:30:23
In reply to mene mene tekel upharsin (nm), posted by sigismund on January 4, 2020, at 21:09:04
This might be the biggest shift in opinion since 1972.
Posted by beckett2 on January 4, 2020, at 23:00:25
In reply to Re: mene mene tekel upharsin, posted by sigismund on January 4, 2020, at 22:30:23
> This might be the biggest shift in opinion since 1972.
>
> https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/04/the-pain-and-terror-of-these-bushfires-cannot-be-held-in-a-single-human-heart
>Your country is the bellwether. Best of luck to you and all of us.
Posted by beckett2 on January 4, 2020, at 23:03:09
In reply to Re: mene mene tekel upharsin, posted by sigismund on January 4, 2020, at 22:30:23
And thank ABC. I watch that channel on youtube. Guardian said Murdoch maligns it and the funding is cut, but bless them for keeping the emergency airwaves broadcasting information and updates.
Posted by sigismund on January 5, 2020, at 12:40:20
In reply to Re: mene mene tekel upharsin » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on January 4, 2020, at 23:00:25
The Spectacle is losing its touch. The litany of self praise continues but in the wrong key. Why are they getting it so wrong? Listen to the ad in this. It is really something.
Posted by sigismund on January 5, 2020, at 13:00:24
In reply to Re: mene mene tekel upharsin » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on January 4, 2020, at 23:03:09
They continually attack the ABC, then demand that it be privatised, since it is elitist. Like museums and orchestras and roads, what else is left these days?
Posted by beckett2 on January 5, 2020, at 20:04:23
In reply to Re: mene mene tekel upharsin, posted by sigismund on January 5, 2020, at 13:00:24
While your country burns, trump lives up to all our fears. Let us truly pray.
Posted by sigismund on January 6, 2020, at 16:11:38
In reply to the hour is upon us, posted by beckett2 on January 5, 2020, at 20:04:23
There will be rain, but this may happen just about everywhere eventually. And there is so much to burn here. Canberra burned some time back. We have been fortunate so far not to have had a mass casualty event.
Once conservatives were not nihilists, were careful. If they made mistakes they made amends. Malcolm Fraser was Army minister during the Vietnam war. When the refugees, thousands of them came by boat, they were all welcomed with bipartisan support.
Recently Tony Abbott. has been in Israel giving lectures on the climate cult, the threat from Islam and immigration. 'Cutting emissions is like sacrificing goats to appease the volcano gods.' Makes me think of the Aryan death cult.
The common thread seems to be that we should be able to do exactly as we like with no restraint. I can imagine Chris Hedges calling this heresy. Everything is culture war. When Rudd's daughter moved with the family to The Lodge in 2007 they found one thing left behind in the DVD player.....something like The Great Global Warming conspiracy. And Howard was more reality based than this lot.
Posted by beckett2 on January 6, 2020, at 18:53:33
In reply to Re: the hour is upon us, posted by sigismund on January 6, 2020, at 16:11:38
> Recently Tony Abbott. has been in Israel giving lectures on the climate cult, the threat from Islam and immigration. 'Cutting emissions is like sacrificing goats to appease the volcano gods.' Makes me think of the Aryan death cult.
________________
There is something perverse about the lot, isn't there? Nilhism alone doesn't describe it.
>
> The common thread seems to be that we should be able to do exactly as we like with no restraint.
_______________________
This is an affliction in which amercians excel. In sum, 'no one can tell me what to do'.Many Californians are watching your bushfires with horror. The Carr fire was a pyrocumulonimbus event. Four hours start to finish, and the town was gone, shooting embers miles away, like your recent bushfires and Black Saturday (in Victoria?). California is so densely populated, and our winter is shaping up to be dry.
Interestingly, Russia has said they will adapt to climate change. So they acknowledge the existence but not the cause. To say outright it is Anthropocene would give up hydrocarbon sales.
Morrison is toast, I'm almost certain. Who might be in the running? Now, if we could only dump trump...
Posted by sigismund on January 6, 2020, at 21:46:07
In reply to Re: the hour is upon us » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on January 6, 2020, at 18:53:33
>Morrison is toast, I'm almost certain. Who might be in the running?
We have seen through him.
The ALP was spooked by Queensland and Adani, so not them really.
There's Dutton.
There is an opening for someone to seize the moment. It will happen eventually.
The coal thing shouldn't be so difficult. No new thermal coal mines ever. Phase out the existing ones. Real support and jobs for those who have to change. Coking coal is different, I think.
The area burned here is huge, but the fires may not be worse than the Californian ones. They moved pretty fast.
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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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