I Didn't Want To Derail The Brexit Thread but

[Minimalist]

in keeping with Tiberius' observations about ill-informed voters comes this story from the NY Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/28/scienc...c=rss&_r=0

American Drivers Regain Appetite for Gas Guzzlers

Falling gas prices have made big, heavy cars fashionable again, said Michael Sivak, the director of sustainable worldwide transportation at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute. In fact, demand for trucks, S.U.V.s and vans has rebounded to historic levels after they dropped sharply in 2008, when gas was $4 a gallon.

“People have very short memories about the price of gasoline,” Dr. Sivak said.

No, Dr. Sivak, people have short memories about everything and almost no sense of pattern recognition at all.

We see the same principle where people go out and buy an SUV thinking - "gas prices are down and they'll never go up again."

We also see people living next to a river who get flooded out and say "glad that's over...guess I'll rebuild!"

We see people living on the Great Plains who watch houses get blown down by tornadoes year after year and never seem to think "maybe I should build a different kind of structure."

We see people living on the shoreline who think "why is flood insurance so expensive?"

We have people living in the woods who are sweating forest fires every spring/summer.

No, Dr. Sivak.  People are just fucking stupid.

[Tiberius]

To be fair a lot of people know the risk about living in some of those areas but the risks don't outweigh the benefits for them. It's a bit like people who live near to active/dormant volcanos. One would think they are pretty stupid, but you can make a large amount of money if you can farm that land because it's so fertile.

[Minimalist]

Some people do not have a choice either.  They live where they can afford.  If you are on a flood plain the expensive real estate is on top of the hill.  Good point about the volcano although few are like Etna or Stromboli going off all the time.

[Spirian]

To be fair a lot of people know the risk about living in some of those areas but the risks don't outweigh the benefits for them. It's a bit like people who live near to active/dormant volcanos. One would think they are pretty stupid, but you can make a large amount of money if you can farm that land because it's so fertile.

I actually have a volcano for sale if you're interested.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Since we live on a living planet disasters come with the rent.

Automakers have been making smaller cars for years. Maybe I missed the story where consumers took over the manufacturing lines and started making larger gas-guzzling cars.

[Minimalist]

It's one thing to make them.... its another thing to buy them.

[Anomalocaris]

To be fair a lot of people know the risk about living in some of those areas but the risks don't outweigh the benefits for them. It's a bit like people who live near to active/dormant volcanos. One would think they are pretty stupid, but you can make a large amount of money if you can farm that land because it's so fertile.

I actually have a volcano for sale if you're interested.

i will buy Hawaii for a dollar.

[Thumpalumpacus]

We have so many people down here driving gigantotrucks. Now that gas is creeping back up (we're at $2,20/gal, up from $1.60 since the winter), I'm stocking up on lines for gloating ... I drive a four-cylinder standard-transmission Ranger that costs less than half to fill up as one of their behemoths.

[The Grand Nudger]

Can't fit my brood in a small car, so I have to suck it up at the pump, just like my car. Prefer to drive my economy sedan when I can. Wish I had an electric, still too expensive for my blood though.