Which is larger? Yours, or mine? Australia or the United States of America, that is. With the bushfires in Australia out of control incinerating large swathes of the country a map was produced to visually depict how widespread the fires are. For emphasis the map was overlaid on top of America to give people an idea of the scope of the problem Australia is dealing with. Americans responded with disbelief that Australia was just as large as the USA. People were also in shock over how large an area, measured by size of US states, are currently burning. Responses on social media show how shocked and dumbfounded people were learning this.
Here is the image under discussion.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 08 2020, @07:27AM (12 children)
Seriously. It does look like the entire country is in flames.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 08 2020, @07:33AM (6 children)
Population is much smaller and population density much more constrained. Just simple division tells us there is one aussie per 100 footy fields, whereas people in the ‘states only get 5 football fields of space. Not accounting livable land mass.
(Score: 3, Informative) by MostCynical on Wednesday January 08 2020, @08:40AM (4 children)
Except you can't live in most of Australia [outback-australia-travel-secrets.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 08 2020, @11:45AM
But you can play footy over most of it. I mean, except the great dividing range, is pretty flat.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday January 08 2020, @01:35PM (2 children)
I think you can, but only the aborigines figured out how.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Informative) by MostCynical on Wednesday January 08 2020, @08:08PM (1 child)
Lower population densities, minimal fixed-site camps, lots of walking to the next source of food and water..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday January 10 2020, @01:17AM
Maybe, but lots of kangaroo cuddling too
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 08 2020, @01:58PM
Sure, but your comparing football fields to football fields and those aren't the same thing!
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Booga1 on Wednesday January 08 2020, @08:15AM (2 children)
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/alarming-us-map-of-australian-bushfires-explained-20131025-2w6vi.html [smh.com.au]
So, the map makes it look like that, but that isn't the "whole picture." :P
(Score: 4, Interesting) by janrinok on Wednesday January 08 2020, @09:29AM (1 child)
Another reason that the fires appear joined up is that much of the gaps between them are already burnt out. Those are still homes destroyed, unique fauna and flora lost. It isn't less important just because it happened yesterday. So NBC's picture might show the total damage, but not accurately display current fires. I read last night (but currently cannot find the source) that the current fireline would stretch from LA to New York and almost back again. That is still a lot of bushfire!
CNN [cnn.com] quotes
Unfortunately this is only the start of the summer season and there is not much good news for the next few months on the meteorological front.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Booga1 on Wednesday January 08 2020, @09:37AM
Thank you for this informative retort. I wish more of my comments received such responses.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday January 08 2020, @07:18PM (1 child)
No, pretty much only the edges are on fire. Of course, that does make me wonder where the vegetation is too sparse to support fire.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday January 09 2020, @02:11AM
PJW showed a rather alarming satellite view (too lazy to go find a static image but I had this link to hand)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_tn8f0uaB4 [youtube.com]
Note the correspondence:
https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/forestsaustralia/profiles/eucalypt-forest [agriculture.gov.au]
Ever seen this stuff burn? it's nature's accelerant.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.