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[Reelya]

When will the cult of free market die

When someone else offers the same or better fanaticism for lower prices

There's actually something in that idea. What's the cost involved of believing something? It's probably the "cognitive load", i.e. how much brainpower you have to expend to believe something.

Whether it's right or wrong is probably only evident in that it ends up costing more effort to believe wrong things. Most people probably don't believe the world is round because they're smarter that Flat Earthers, but because they're intellectually lazy, and it's easier to just go along with what other people think. Hence, the number of articles surprised when they meet Flat Earthers and they  actually tend to be intelligent people. It takes effort to be that wrong.

So, most people perhaps gravitate towards ideologies with the minimum cognitive load requirements, which is why hitting people with evidence and studies proving it wrong isn't effective. So in the free market of ideas you want to market simple ideas that justify what people already want do.

[Iduno]

The logging industry is now saying that the government should open up more areas for logging and that this will reduce the bushfire risk.

However, reading up about the issue turned up the fact that logged forests increase bushfire risk according to academics. The East Gippland area and the South Coast of NSW where the fires have been fiercest have been hotspots of the timber industry for decades.

https://www.bluemountainsgazette.com.au/story/6582795/logging-makes-forest-fires-worse-experts/

Researchers found logged forests burned at a "significantly" higher severity during the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria.

"It's not something we should be entertaining anymore," he said.

"It's not a profitable industry. It's adding dramatically to the fire risk. This is crazy."

Recent calls by the forestry industry to selectively log national parks in a bid to reduce the bushfire risk are "lacking science", Prof Lindenmayer argues.

Yeah, so they haven't caused enough damage by turning the existing commercial logging areas into fire deathtraps, now they want to use the fear of bushfires to open up national parks to the same thing. Bloody nature: what's it ever done for us?

https://theconversation.com/victorias-logged-landscapes-are-at-increased-risk-of-bushfire-30611

Victoria’s forest management policies need to be urgently reviewed in response to the discovery that logging can contribute to the severity of bushfires in wet forests, like the devastating fires on Black Saturday in February 2009.

Our recent study, based on data from areas that burned on Black Saturday, clearly shows how extensive logging can increase the severity of bushfires in mountain ash forests. We found that the risk of “crown” fires, which burn severely and spread rapidly through the forest canopy, is greatest in mountain ash forests that have been regrowing for about 15 years. Before the 2009 fires, these young trees were established following clearfell logging.

https://districtbulletin.com.au/day-shame-south-coast-forestry-destructive-logging/

“They have systematically strip mined the South Coast forests for logs from Eden to Nowra for nearly 50 years and caused immense damage to nature. It is industrial logging at its worst – smash and grab as much as you can, as quickly as you can and then move on before the community really understand what they have lost. Shame on Forestry Corp.”

This seems to be a pretty major factor in the whole thing that hasn't got enough attention. Intensive logging creates a lot of debris and causes extensive moisture loss / lack of moisture holding while also contributing to regrow of lots of thin spindly trees which burn faster than mature trees.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/964020-the-earth-is-not-dying-it-is-being-killed-and

[Yoink]

So apparently the tools in power have actually placed a ban on large events due to Coronavirus.   
Now, don't get me wrong, I generally don't have too much of a problem with 'em - but this is just mind-blowingly stupid. I hope Scott, his "Chief Medical Officer" (dude sounds about as competent as the SS13 version) and all of their families catch the damn virus as penance. Heck, might as well give it to the opposition parties as well while we're at it. Especially the greens.   

What we need now is one of those silly mass Facebook events by way of protest. "Show Up On the Lawn of Parliament House and Share Coronavirus With Each Other" or something to that effect. Cunts shoulda known better than to let this daft hysteria impact everyone's social life.   

[Jimmy]

I work in healthcare. I have the training and education to properly understand the current science behind the Wuhan virus (yes, I know the WHO named it something else, but I refuse to pander to China's whims).

Frankly, I'm not planning to change anything about my current habits. I already follow hand hygiene protocols religiously as an ingrained habit ever since my Anatomy 101 days dissecting human cadavers.

If you're an elderly Asian with existing pulmonary disease, I feel sorry for you. I recommend you avoid social contact as much as possible. However, for more than 90% of the population, the virus is at worst no riskier than seasonal influenza.

Everyone just needs to chill out.

[scriver]

The risk lies in spreading it to your elderly Chinese relative or your Chinese brother with pre-existing conditions. Sure, panicking is dumb. But so is not taking precautions for the safety of people in the at-risk groups. It's the same old concept of herd immunity, except now instead of vaccines it's how we act that will protect the vulnerable members of the herd.

[DG]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-16/video-shows-afghan-man-shot-at-close-range-by-australian-sas/12028512

There will be less uproar about this from Australians than there was for the sandpapered cricket ball.

[Yoink]

The risk lies in spreading it to your elderly Chinese relative or your Chinese brother with pre-existing conditions. Sure, panicking is dumb. But so is not taking precautions for the safety of people in the at-risk groups. It's the same old concept of herd immunity, except now instead of vaccines it's how we act that will protect the vulnerable members of the herd.

Are Chinese folks actually more susceptible to the virus? Or is that what you mean by pre-existing conditions?   

[scriver]

Nah it was only because of the example of "elderly Asian" in Jimmy's post.

[Jimmy]

Yeah, the reasoning for my mentioning Asian persons is the comparative genetic analysis of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV/SARS-CoV-2) receptor ACE2 in different populations showing affinity for angiotensin-converting enzyme-2, of which Asians tend to have a higher expression of this receptor. While the evidence for viral selectivity in Asians is still uncertain, it's certainly prudent to consider this a risk factor when judging overall risk of infection.

As for the video of the Australian soldier shooting an unarmed man, I'm betting there's a lot more context in this situation we haven't seen. Was this man seen planting an IED? Did he just lob a grenade at someone? Was he fleeing after being caught raping a child? I don't know, and probably I don't really need to know. I trust the persons responsible for investigating this incident to thoroughly examine the circumstances instead of holding a trial by media. Soldiers aren't policemen. They're not meant to maintain law and order. They're meant to bend the will of hostile parties through application of force.

[Kagus]

Soldiers aren't policemen. They're not meant to maintain law and order. They're meant to move sandbags about five meters thataway and not shoot their own damn feet while doing it.

Slightly more specific interpretation.

[feelotraveller]

I trust the persons responsible for investigating this incident to thoroughly examine the circumstances instead of holding a trial by media cover it up.

FTFY.

I would say that they are slightly more trustworthy and competent than ScoMo but I don't want to demean their integrity. 

[Reelya]

Just wondering if there are any Melbournites who'd like a stack of DVDs and/or spare PS3 games, before I take then down to the Op Shop?

[Iduno]

Yep. That's why you don't science drunk.

[feelotraveller]

Clearly part of his master scheme to become the next Prime Minister. 

[thompson]

Yeah, the reasoning for my mentioning Asian persons is the comparative genetic analysis of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV/SARS-CoV-2) receptor ACE2 in different populations showing affinity for angiotensin-converting enzyme-2, of which Asians tend to have a higher expression of this receptor. While the evidence for viral selectivity in Asians is still uncertain, it's certainly prudent to consider this a risk factor when judging overall risk of infection.

As for the video of the Australian soldier shooting an unarmed man, I'm betting there's a lot more context in this situation we haven't seen. Was this man seen planting an IED? Did he just lob a grenade at someone? Was he fleeing after being caught raping a child? I don't know, and probably I don't really need to know. I trust the persons responsible for investigating this incident to thoroughly examine the circumstances instead of holding a trial by media. Soldiers aren't policemen. They're not meant to maintain law and order. They're meant to bend the will of hostile parties through application of force.

Given the death toll in Europe, I doubt this makes much difference. As for war crimes, well, the guy could easily be guilty. Even if only 1% of your armed forces are sadistic assholes this sort of thing will happen in war. A lot.