The very many questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread XXIV

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The wildfire craziness here in the US is getting exponentially worse and worse over the years, and has me wondering, is the burn rate faster than the growth/re-growth rate, with an overall decline in the land areas of the forests as a whole (excluding human-induced deforestation)?
 
PlutonianEmpire said:
The wildfire craziness here in the US is getting exponentially worse and worse over the years, and has me wondering, is the burn rate faster than the growth/re-growth rate, with an overall decline in the land areas of the forests as a whole (excluding human-induced deforestation)?
Click to expand...

Not with a very significant exponent. [pissed]
 
PlutonianEmpire said:
The wildfire craziness here in the US is getting exponentially worse and worse over the years, and has me wondering, is the burn rate faster than the growth/re-growth rate, with an overall decline in the land areas of the forests as a whole (excluding human-induced deforestation)?
Click to expand...

Everything I've read indicates we still plant at or over the rate of deforestation. I suppose it's possible that has changed in the last 5 years, but I would be surprised. There's a lot of ground to make up from the 1800s/early 1900s. That's actually some of the problem. Most of the places that have these fires are "supposed" to burn regularly. The species are adapted for it. Once you have houses sprinkled everywhere though we try to cut down on the frequency of fires, which then makes them burn hotter and worse than they would if left on their own. If we were supersmart we should be seeing fires more and more frequently out West. It'd be more natural and healthier for the land.
 
Is it possible to create a Wikia-style Wiki for private use, either on my hard drive or online? It occurred to me that the ability to easily link related information and view edit history could be super useful for world-building.
 
_random_ said:
Is it possible to create a Wikia-style Wiki for private use, either on my hard drive or online? It occurred to me that the ability to easily link related information and view edit history could be super useful for world-building.
Click to expand...
It sure is. That's a Wikia that the players of a certain very good and very popular NES have been using for awhile.
 
Farm Boy said:
Everything I've read indicates we still plant at or over the rate of deforestation. I suppose it's possible that has changed in the last 5 years, but I would be surprised. There's a lot of ground to make up from the 1800s/early 1900s. That's actually some of the problem. Most of the places that have these fires are "supposed" to burn regularly. The species are adapted for it. Once you have houses sprinkled everywhere though we try to cut down on the frequency of fires, which then makes them burn hotter and worse than they would if left on their own. If we were supersmart we should be seeing fires more and more frequently out West. It'd be more natural and healthier for the land.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the focus on stopping *all* forest fires is fundamentally flawed I think. I know at this place where I used to hike, the area used to be predominantly glade with its own special environment and flora/fauna. What allowed it to stay glade was the semi-regular fires that would come through and wipe out the tree sprouts. Then at some point it was decided all forest fires are bad, so they started fighting the fires at all cost, which allowed woodland habitat to creep in and take over, which was a net loss from a diversity prospective.

So now they cut down a bunch of trees periodically and then torch the area with a controlled burn - a much bigger expenditure of resources than if they had just let some fires burn naturally. I actually went hiking out there right before and then right after a burn and I got to tell you, walking out into a torched glade/mixed woodland was like walking on the moon. Ash was everywhere, which is obvious, but I just can't describe accurately what it was actually like to be there except to say it was like being on the moon.

But yeah, without letting things burn naturally (and then allowing people to encroach on natural burn zones) you wind up with much, much bigger problems down the road.

By the way, they keep saying the giant sequoias are at risk from these fires, but I thought giant sequoias were actually adapted to survive forest fires and in fact needed them for their seeds to germinate. :confused:
 
amazon.ca sucks. Far smaller selection than it's American counterpart (and it's UK counterpart, by the look of it).
 
When Aardman began to work seriously, he wrote to Plasticine and they sent him a van load of the stuff. Free.
 
Did the TV show Lost live up to the hype in the end?

I watched the first 3 or 4 seasons and eventually just got turned off by all the crazy stuff that never got explained. I started watching it again yesterday but I'm afraid I'll just get burned out around the same point. So, if possible, can some one kind of tell me what direction the show went in during the last few seasons (did they tie up loose ends, explain the crazy stuff, etc) without spoilers?


Thanks
 
Will I potentially offend someone if I wear light colours to a funeral? Am I expected to wear black?
 
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