ESA says you don't have to mow the lawn today

Queen_of_the_Bun said :

Sorry that including information about the type of car I drive perplexed you. I was attempting to convey that I drive neither a 4WD, therefore going off road and into grassy areas, or a low-to-the-ground sports car with the body closer to the grass, nor a white Commodore in which case everyone could assume that I am doing burnouts in grassy areas while chain smoking so I can keep those butts coming.

Pulling off the side of the road is usually where this stuff happens. Any road, anywhere, that has a grassy verge and that’s most roads outside of the really densely populated cities. Modern cars have catalytic converters which get very hot. Not sure it’s so much of an issue with older cars. 4wd (proper off-roading ones, but even pretend ones) tend to be higher off the ground, so less chance of contact between exhaust and hot grass. They also tend to be diesel, so different risks. (Someone else will have to tell me if diesels have a Cat. – I don’t know, I just say off grass).

Point taken about the list of risks, but if the list gets too long and includes thing people should already know, then it won’t be effective. It should only include the surprising stuff. Eskimos shouldn’t have to be reminded not to eat yellow snow.

Christopher Pyne won’t include anything in the curriculum that might give an opportunity for a teacher to mention anthropogenic climate change. More God less Science.

It probably applies to my own education too, like playing with magnesium and water and other fun stuff perhaps could have been taught to us in a practical context. I remember being shown lots of periodic tables and molecular diagrams, but I can recall not one instance of how this knowledge could be applied in day to day life. Not even resuscitation skills in biology class. Go figure. But they found lots of room for God and gruesome anti-abortion videos (this to a school of students they had not given sex education to).

IP

Queen_of_the_Bun said :

shauno said :

I really dont know what would happen if we didnt have the government to tell us how to do things. Could we survive? who knows ill contemplate that this arvo over a couple of beers and feeding the magpies.

I did not know that pulling over in long grass could potentially start a fire. So I appreciate the information.

I had not heard that before either.

IP will be appalled by my lack of bush knowledge.

BimboGeek said :

IP, I agree with your argument but I think on the prevention side, more is more. I would happily compile a list of things that are hot and things that were flammable and even read it live on News24 and Sky if it made the tiniest impact on anyone’s self-taught ignorance or learned helplessness.

Yes.

I see lots of warnings that I think are ridiculous. But I am the first to admit that I do not know it all.

What is the problem with reinforcing messages until they sink in with as many people as possible?

IrishPete said :

Queen_of_the_Bun said :

My turn to be an unsympathetic critic. I find this lack of knowledge really concerning. Are there other people out there who “don’t know that a cigarette butt can start a fire?”

Hot things cause fires when they come into contact with flammable things.

We shouldn’t have to issue a list of hot things and flammable things every summer.

People don’t necessarily know that mowers hit stones which causes sparks which ignite grass. Mowers have to be on grass, but they are designed so their hot engine parts aren’t in contact with it. Nor do you need a licence to drive a lawnmower.

So while I support these regular reminders, especially for tourists and new arrivals in Australia, they are no replacement for common sense.

Parking in long grass is probably asking to encounter a snake too.

IP

So sorry that my life experiences don’t match yours IP. I have always lived in cities. I drive a small hatchback. I don’t often have to pull over in long grass. So a warning from the government that this may start a fire is relevant for me.

PS I don’t smoke so I don’t know what your first point is about. Other than I’m starting to agree with the general consensus that you’re a bit of a knob.

Whether I’m a knob or not, I am the knob who for no pay puts out the fires that are mainly caused by deliberate or negligent human activity. If my knowledge is the result of life experience, it’s though making the effort to learn about the important stuff.

My point about cigarette butts is that if, for example, the person who started the grassfire at the Sydney aquatic centre where dozens of cars were destroyed, says in their defence “but I didn’t know cigarettes could start fires”, you probably wouldn’t give them much sympathy. So does “I didn’t know a car exhaust/engine too hot to touch could cause a fire when I stick it in the middle of grass” deserve much sympathy?

The size/nature of the car is so irrelevant I actually have no idea why you said it. Living in cities is not relevant in Oz, as there are plenty of grass and bush fires in Oz cities.

I repeat – hot things + flammable things = fire. This probably should be taught in school (it certainly was in my school; what are people taught in Australian schools?), and perhaps some questions asked in the citizenship test about bushfire (which is after all, an Australian icon like Surf Life Savers) and rips and whatever, instead of useless questions about Phar Lap and Don Bradman.

IP

Sheesh, IP. I think Christopher Pyne has the revision of the school curriculum in hand.

Whether you like it or not, we all retain information that we see as critical to our daily lives and forget other data. I cannot remember the last time I pulled over onto a grassed area. It’s not something that I need to do, which is fortunate as apparently I could have been starting bushfires all over the place.

Surely a more appropriate and less knobby reaction to someone saying that they didn’t know something that was in government advice would be to welcome the government’s move to issue the advice, not denigrate the person admitting their ignorance.

It’s not as if I’m driving out to Captains Flat on dry days, pulling over into long grass to throw my cigarette out the window.

Sorry that including information about the type of car I drive perplexed you. I was attempting to convey that I drive neither a 4WD, therefore going off road and into grassy areas, or a low-to-the-ground sports car with the body closer to the grass, nor a white Commodore in which case everyone could assume that I am doing burnouts in grassy areas while chain smoking so I can keep those butts coming.

IP, I agree with your argument but I think on the prevention side, more is more. I would happily compile a list of things that are hot and things that were flammable and even read it live on News24 and Sky if it made the tiniest impact on anyone’s self-taught ignorance or learned helplessness.

Queen_of_the_Bun said :

My turn to be an unsympathetic critic. I find this lack of knowledge really concerning. Are there other people out there who “don’t know that a cigarette butt can start a fire?”

Hot things cause fires when they come into contact with flammable things.

We shouldn’t have to issue a list of hot things and flammable things every summer.

People don’t necessarily know that mowers hit stones which causes sparks which ignite grass. Mowers have to be on grass, but they are designed so their hot engine parts aren’t in contact with it. Nor do you need a licence to drive a lawnmower.

So while I support these regular reminders, especially for tourists and new arrivals in Australia, they are no replacement for common sense.

Parking in long grass is probably asking to encounter a snake too.

IP

So sorry that my life experiences don’t match yours IP. I have always lived in cities. I drive a small hatchback. I don’t often have to pull over in long grass. So a warning from the government that this may start a fire is relevant for me.

PS I don’t smoke so I don’t know what your first point is about. Other than I’m starting to agree with the general consensus that you’re a bit of a knob.

Whether I’m a knob or not, I am the knob who for no pay puts out the fires that are mainly caused by deliberate or negligent human activity. If my knowledge is the result of life experience, it’s though making the effort to learn about the important stuff.

My point about cigarette butts is that if, for example, the person who started the grassfire at the Sydney aquatic centre where dozens of cars were destroyed, says in their defence “but I didn’t know cigarettes could start fires”, you probably wouldn’t give them much sympathy. So does “I didn’t know a car exhaust/engine too hot to touch could cause a fire when I stick it in the middle of grass” deserve much sympathy?

The size/nature of the car is so irrelevant I actually have no idea why you said it. Living in cities is not relevant in Oz, as there are plenty of grass and bush fires in Oz cities.

I repeat – hot things + flammable things = fire. This probably should be taught in school (it certainly was in my school; what are people taught in Australian schools?), and perhaps some questions asked in the citizenship test about bushfire (which is after all, an Australian icon like Surf Life Savers) and rips and whatever, instead of useless questions about Phar Lap and Don Bradman.

IP

IrishPete said :

Queen_of_the_Bun said :

shauno said :

I really dont know what would happen if we didnt have the government to tell us how to do things. Could we survive? who knows ill contemplate that this arvo over a couple of beers and feeding the magpies.

I did not know that pulling over in long grass could potentially start a fire. So I appreciate the information.

My turn to be an unsympathetic critic. I find this lack of knowledge really concerning. Are there other people out there who “don’t know that a cigarette butt can start a fire?”

Hot things cause fires when they come into contact with flammable things.

We shouldn’t have to issue a list of hot things and flammable things every summer.

People don’t necessarily know that mowers hit stones which causes sparks which ignite grass. Mowers have to be on grass, but they are designed so their hot engine parts aren’t in contact with it. Nor do you need a licence to drive a lawnmower.

So while I support these regular reminders, especially for tourists and new arrivals in Australia, they are no replacement for common sense.

Parking in long grass is probably asking to encounter a snake too.

IP

So sorry that my life experiences don’t match yours IP. I have always lived in cities. I drive a small hatchback. I don’t often have to pull over in long grass. So a warning from the government that this may start a fire is relevant for me.

PS I don’t smoke so I don’t know what your first point is about. Other than I’m starting to agree with the general consensus that you’re a bit of a knob.

Queen_of_the_Bun said :

shauno said :

I really dont know what would happen if we didnt have the government to tell us how to do things. Could we survive? who knows ill contemplate that this arvo over a couple of beers and feeding the magpies.

I did not know that pulling over in long grass could potentially start a fire. So I appreciate the information.

My turn to be an unsympathetic critic. I find this lack of knowledge really concerning. Are there other people out there who “don’t know that a cigarette butt can start a fire?”

Hot things cause fires when they come into contact with flammable things.

We shouldn’t have to issue a list of hot things and flammable things every summer.

People don’t necessarily know that mowers hit stones which causes sparks which ignite grass. Mowers have to be on grass, but they are designed so their hot engine parts aren’t in contact with it. Nor do you need a licence to drive a lawnmower.

So while I support these regular reminders, especially for tourists and new arrivals in Australia, they are no replacement for common sense.

Parking in long grass is probably asking to encounter a snake too.

IP

Growling Ferret said :

And Gungahlin misses out on any rain again.

Don’t worry you’ll get some light rail on that lawn soon.

Seriously though, the valley is like the rain centre of Canberra. If you expect as much rain elsewhere your dreaming.

Queen_of_the_Bun said :

shauno said :

I really dont know what would happen if we didnt have the government to tell us how to do things. Could we survive? who knows ill contemplate that this arvo over a couple of beers and feeding the magpies.

I did not know that pulling over in long grass could potentially start a fire. So I appreciate the information.

Point taken