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the unpredictable can happen, will happen and has to be anticipated.

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Don't you live in the country that recently had devastating wildfires? Why weren't they anticipated and prevented? Truth is, stuff happens, but this reliance on wind turbines just makes no sense.

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

Don't you live in the country that recently had devastating wildfires? Why weren't they anticipated and prevented? Truth is, stuff happens, but this reliance on wind turbines just makes no sense.

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for the same reason they arn't in your country, too much listening to environmentalists who fought against burn off of fuel loads and created the environment where these things could happen. For centuries the aboriginal burnt the country but these johnnie come latelies knew better and what did we get? massive fires that could not be contained. I'm sure you have those who think clean air paramount to public safety. I agree that wind turbines might be part of the mix but absolute foolishness to rely on them for base load. We learned that the hard way in South Australia when a leftist government shut down coal fired base load

First you said, "...the unpredictable can happen, will happen and has to be anticipated." Now you say, "for the same reason they arn't in your country." And that was my objection. It would be great if every unpredictable act of nature could be anticipated and prevented, but that sometimes simply doesn't happen. True here, and true in your country. The question now is whether or not we will learn anything from it. One can only hope.

Bush fires are anticipated in my country, they are an inevitable part of living here, however exactly when and where they will happen is unknown. Much of the fires we incur are either stupidity or lightning but unfortunately the former is all too prevalent, from kids, to trail bikes to unattended camp fires, to local burn offs that got away, this even happens to the experts. They are anticipated with every small town having a bush fire brigade manned by volunteers equiped by government.

What I see here is that you cannot take criticism of obvious bloody minded policies by your local government authorities who have failed your public miserably

Actually it’s the hyper critical, know it all attitude that gets old. Hopefully it will occur to you some day that you might miss a few things from 12,000 miles away.

You fail to understand that everything that happens in your country is under a microscope of international media. If we miss anything it is because of the bias of the media who selectively report the news. We may as well live on the same continent so intent is the media on reporting everything that happens and, of course, we have the internet, much maligned, but still effective

Brush fires in Australia are given a long winded explanation telling us about how many unexpected events influence those events. When it comes to the U.S., it is " bloody minded policies by your local government authorities who have failed your public miserably." That's what I mean about the hyper-critical attitude. Texas struggled during the ice storm, but the rest of the country rode it out quite well. I'll take this winter storm as opposed to tens of thousands of square miles going up in smoke.

Our Bush fires don't cause 100 vehicle pile ups on freeways becuase roads are shut when the threat appears, please explain why your roads remained open

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Our Bush fires don't cause 100 vehicle pile ups on freeways becuase roads are shut when the threat appears, please explain why your roads remained open

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What difference does it make? You have problems, and we have problems. Some are handled well, and some are not. It is a common experience.

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Originally Posted by paraclete

Our Bush fires don't cause 100 vehicle pile ups on freeways becuase roads are shut when the threat appears, please explain why your roads remained open

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You pick one localized issue to compare to a national crisis? Are you numb to the fact you live in a glass house?

we all live in glass houses Tal, you are sensitive because it happened in your state, perhaps even to you but it was far from a localised issue. Bad weather appears to be the achillies heal of the US, you may not realise it but you suffer far more of it if news reports are to be believed.

I'm sure you can forgive me being an old grouch having suffered through this covid thing the weather and 4 years of the dufus and his lunatic cult. The effects seem to linger.

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it was far from a localised issue.

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Actually it was localized, being primarily in various parts of Texas and Louisiana.

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Bad weather appears to be the achillies heal of the US, you may not realise it but you suffer far more of it if news reports are to be believed.

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That's quite a statement coming from a citizen of a country where more than 50% of the land is basically desert. Bad weather events in our country get a lot of press, but when you consider how large the U.S. is, it is a very small part of the whole.

This belongs on the thread about big tech, but it seems to not be working for some reason. I don't think this is the "most powerful piece of political art I've ever seen", but it is powerful.


https://www.bing.com/images/blob?bcid=SOW3YymowmwC9w

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

Actually it was localized, being primarily in various parts of Texas and Louisiana.

That's quite a statement coming from a citizen of a country where more than 50% of the land is basically desert. Bad weather events in our country get a lot of press, but when you consider how large the U.S. is, it is a very small part of the whole.

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And the desert is over reported about Australia you forget this land is as large as the US and you have deserts too. The big difference is the abundance of water. All it takes to make our arid lands bloom is water. We make good use of the land we have thus our place in the economic scheme of things

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And the desert is over reported about Australia you forget this land is as large as the US and you have deserts too. The big difference is the abundance of water. All it takes to make our arid lands bloom is water. We make good use of the land we have thus our place in the economic scheme of things

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Aussie land is large but smaller than the U.S. by nearly a million square miles. You have about 8% of our population and less than 8% of our economy, so that says a lot. But I was not making an anti-Australia comment. I like and respect your country. I was simply pointing out that weather is a major problem in your country. It's why most of the country cannot be meaningfully farmed or inhabited.

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

Aussie land is large but smaller than the U.S. by nearly a million square miles. You have about 8% of our population and less than 8% of our economy, so that says a lot. But I was not making an anti-Australia comment. I like and respect your country. I was simply pointing out that weather is a major problem in your country. It's why most of the country cannot be meaningfully farmed or inhabited.

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The weather problems here are not of the same magnitude, now that may be because of lower population. We have learned to live with drought and floods, with bush fires and while these things devastate the regions they affect the effects are mitigated. The reason much of the inland is arid or marginal lands is lack of water. You are blessed with the great lakes, we have no such system to sustain the inland otherwise it would be populated as yours is. Such arable land as there is, is well used and we export agricultural products to the world so your comments show lack of knowledge. you cannot tell what a place is like by looking at a map. This is the sixth largest nation on Earth by area and that million square miles you use to claim your ascendancy we possess in Antartica.We are the 15th largest nation economically, not bad for a nation with only 8% of your population. The weather here is beautiful one day and sublime the next, only on a few days of the year do we experience storms. Perhaps you have never heard this is "the great south land of the Holy Spirit" a different place

I'm not arguing with any of that. I am simply pointing out that your weather problems are at least as serious as ours if you count, as you should, lack of rainfall to be a weather problem.

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we possess in Anarctica

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We both know very well that Antarctica is not a part of Australia.

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You are blessed with the great lakes, we have no such system to sustain the inland otherwise it would be populated as yours is. Such arable land as there is, is well used and we export agricultural products to the world so your comments show lack of knowledge.

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The GL do not sustain the inland. It is sustained by adequate rainfall as is most of the country. I'm sure your arable land is well used. I've never said otherwise. Your comment shows a lack of comprehension.

don't you have deserts that lack rainfall, your south west is arid lands how much of your land is unusable or tied up in federal lands?

Yes, we have a desert area and it is large. It is located in the SW. Most of the fed lands are either woodlands, national parks, or large areas which are leased to cattle ranchers. If it was up to me, we'd sell off most of it. I have no idea how much of our land is unusable. Some of the dry areas are farmed with irrigation. Don't really know but looking on a map, I'd guess 15% or so.

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