Trans Oceanic Knowledge Exchange

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

29 minutes ago, Delightful said:

That is kind of terrifying

What's the difference between a hurricane and a tornado?

Here's a hurricane: 

Spoiler

And here's a tornado: 

Spoiler

Like AliasSheep said, a hurricane is water based and a tornado is land based. Both bring rain and wind, but while a hurricane will cause massive flooding wherever it hits, tornadoes will mostly tear homes and other things apart with wind. 

Here's a picture of hurricane damage: 

Spoiler

And here's a picture of tornado damage: 

Spoiler

They're both devastating, but in different ways. 

[Sunbird she/her]

On hurricanes vs tornadoes: as you can probably tell from Twi's photos, there is also a HUGE difference in scale. A tornado can comfortably sit on your house, but a hurricane can eclipse the entirety of some of the smaller states.

[Orlion Blight he/him]

I think a lot of you have an inflated idea of how frequent and present a danger tornados are.

To give you an idea, something like "tornado insurance" is far less common than flood or hurricane insurance. In fact, a lot if not all damages caused by a tornado are covered under standard home insurance.

To give you another idea: a wind storm called a derecho caused a lot more damage in an area I lived in than a tornado that also touched down in that area.

So, we watch out for tornados, but they don't rule our lives.

[Mistrunner]

I missed the wine conversation! I know nothing about wine except where they grow it in California. In some places you can drive literally miles and miles along the freeway with grapevines running the whole length. It's kinda cool.

(Also, people actually eat spray cheese? I've never even seen any. I thought it was kind of a joke.)

13 hours ago, Mestiv said:

Anyway, I was curious, why do Americans, living somewhere where tornadoes are quite common, don't build hoses that are more wind-proof? I know that it's quite hard to build something that would withstand a tornado, but still, what I've seen in movies or TV reports after tornadoes, the houses build there have super thin walls. They look like if they were build so light, that a big car would be able to drive through them without slowing down. Wouldn't it be better to make a house using solid bricks and concrete, that would at least have a chance to survive the tornado?

Tornadoes are really not that common, and when they do happen, they're usually really lame. This spring there were a couple, and each time nothing was really damaged except a trailer home each time. I don't know why it's always a trailer home that gets destroyed, and I don't know why anyone would live in a trailer home in Tornado Alley during tornado season.

Basically, it's not worth the effort.

3 hours ago, Delightful said:

The real question is, why choose to live somewhere where tornadoes are common at all?

Again, there's not a very big risk of actually being taken out by a tornado. There's a lot of oil in the Tornado Alley area as well as agriculture (grain, corn, etc). It's a lot of flat, open land, which is great for growing crops. It's also why there's tornadoes. Ah, pros and cons, you know?

[ThirdGen]

Something people in European countries usually don't fully wrap their head around is in America, travel takes you a long way away and, unless you've saved up significantly, moving somewhere else is really expensive.  Also, traveling to another country is an exotic Big Deal and you're likely to be super jet-lagged both ways.  I so envy the European different-cultures-in-close-proximity situation.  It'd be so much more stimulating!  Here in Kansas City, the nearest cities with a distinctly different culture are a full day's drive away.

[Oversleep]

@ThirdGen, I guess that's probably because we think in another scale. If some place is in the same country, it's not really far away. Damnation, one can drive through multiple countries in one day!

So we tend to think "you're in the same country as the place you want to go to, so it's not really far away". But in reality, a single European country covers the area of few states in USA.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

9 minutes ago, ThirdGen said:

Something people in European countries usually don't fully wrap their head around is in America, travel takes you a long way away and, unless you've saved up significantly, moving somewhere else is really expensive.  Also, traveling to another country is an exotic Big Deal and you're likely to be super jet-lagged both ways.  I so envy the European different-cultures-in-close-proximity situation.  It'd be so much more stimulating!  Here in Kansas City, the nearest cities with a distinctly different culture are a full day's drive away.

Yeah, I lucked out, getting the job in New Orleans. I couldn't afford to be picky while on the job hunt, but I was secretly hoping for a job in an interesting city with a culture different from anything I'd seen before. That's why I was hoping so much for Anchorage, and why I was so happy when I got my current job. It let me travel, see a new culture, and make money instead of spending copious amounts of it. 

[Mestiv he/him]

@ThirdGen you can still visit South America without jet lag

[Orlion Blight he/him]

32 minutes ago, Mestiv said:

@ThirdGen you can still visit South America without jet lag

I had jet lag going to Central America, let alone South America! 

You could easily get jet lag traveling within North America!

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Not to mention the expense involved, what with passports and plane tickets and hotels and all the rest. South America isn't much more feasible than Europe, for many Americans. 

[Claincy he/him]

Australia's a bit like America in that regard, it takes a long time to travel from one end to the other. With that said, Melbourne by itself is notably multi-cultural  So that helps.

Edited August 18, 2016 by Claincy

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

7 hours ago, Claincy said:

Australia's a bit like America in that regard, it takes a long time to travel from one end to the other. With that said, Melbourne by itself is notably multi-cultural  So that helps.

If you mean by driving, why would you want to do that?, unless you have a death wish seeing as the whole of the middle of Australia is all inhospitable desert. Most of what are major tourist spots are on the eastern side. I like Melbourne, love the free transport and the sights. 

[Delightful]

2 hours ago, Darkness Ascendant said:

If you mean by driving, why would you want to do that?, unless you have a death wish seeing as the whole of the middle of Australia is all inhospitable desert. Most of what are major tourist spots are on the eastern side. I like Melbourne, love the free transport and the sights. 

Free? Transport isn't free. Not last time I checked anyway. 

[Mestiv he/him]

26 minutes ago, Delightful said:

Free? Transport isn't free. Not last time I checked anyway. 

See, that's why you shouldn't have checked! Look what have you done! No free transport

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Could it be free student transport? I know that in Spokane, Eastern Washington University students could ride any city buss for free if they used their student ID card as a pass. It was included as part of their tuition since so many lived in Spokane and needed to commute to the school every day, but the pass worked on any bus, at any time of the year. 

[Young Bard he/him]

47 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

Could it be free student transport? I know that in Spokane, Eastern Washington University students could ride any city buss for free if they used their student ID card as a pass. It was included as part of their tuition since so many lived in Spokane and needed to commute to the school every day, but the pass worked on any bus, at any time of the year. 

Students get a free train/bus pass between school and home in Sydney, but they still have to pay a child fare (half price, from memory) the rest of the time.

[Claincy he/him]

There is a free tram route that goes around central Melbourne. Aside from that (and very occasional free days) students have to pay like everyone else. The transport network is rather extensive though which is very convenient

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

17 hours ago, Claincy said:

There is a free tram route that goes around central Melbourne. Aside from that (and very occasional free days) students have to pay like everyone else. The transport network is rather extensive though which is very convenient

That's what I was talking about, last time I was in Melbourne was just around that area

[Claincy he/him]

1 minute ago, Darkness Ascendant said:

That's what I was talking about, last time I was in Melbourne was just around that area

Yeah, I figured that's what you meant

I don't go into the city centre very often, too crowded for me.

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

Just now, Claincy said:

Yeah, I figured that's what you meant

I don't go into the city centre very often, too crowded for me.

It is pretty crowded, some people nearly got run over by the trams last time I was there. They weren't paying attention

[Kaymyth she/her]

<-- is a pagan

<-- can't taste tea

<-- needs coffee to be sugared to death to palate, so doesn't drink it because calories

<-- thinks sweet booze is good, beer is disgusting

 

On 8/16/2016 at 9:32 AM, Mestiv said:

<- is an atheist

<- still doesn't know anything about coffee or alcohol

I simply don't like the taste of anything containing alcohol or coffee.

 

Anyway, I was curious, why do Americans, living somewhere where tornadoes are quite common, don't build hoses that are more wind-proof? I know that it's quite hard to build something that would withstand a tornado, but still, what I've seen in movies or TV reports after tornadoes, the houses build there have super thin walls. They look like if they were build so light, that a big car would be able to drive through them without slowing down. Wouldn't it be better to make a house using solid bricks and concrete, that would at least have a chance to survive the tornado?

There's a huge cost difference involved there; most of our houses are wood-framed, with a layer of insulation in between the interior drywall and exterior walls.  Building out of solid brick or concrete is expensive, and most people just can't afford to pay double or triple for their houses.  Plus the odds of getting hit by a tornado are extremely small, and basic homeowners insurance covers it.  I live in Tornado Alley.  I have a basement.  I love thunderstorms, and get annoyed when I have to trundle downstairs instead of staying upstairs and enjoying all the thundery rumbly goodness. 

On 8/16/2016 at 5:22 PM, Sunbird said:

@Mestiv I have no answer to your tornado question. A few years back my dad had a job offer that would've required us to move to Oklahoma, which is part of Tornado Alley, so my mom spent some time online looking at homes for sale in the area, and like NONE of them had basements. This trend totally baffled us both, since underground is the best place to weather a tornado. 

As previously pointed out, not everywhere in Tornado Alley has the geology to make basements a reasonable option.  One of the reasons that the big Joplin, MO tornado a couple years ago was so devastating was because the town is in a swampy area.  You can't build basements in a swamp.  At least in Oklahoma you can build a separate storm cellar if you need to have a shelter nearby.

On 8/16/2016 at 8:20 PM, Delightful said:

The real question is, why choose to live somewhere where tornadoes are common at all?

Heh.  OK.  So, again as previously stated, the United States is BIG.  Tornado Alley is also BIG.  We're talking between 1/4 and 1/3 of the entire continental US (including the ENTIRE Midwest region), and almost the entirety of our arable farmland.  It's not possible to actually have any sort of agriculture in this country without people living where tornadoes are common.  And you can't just expect the entire middle third of a country to be completely devoid of people.  Nobody would ever be a

It's also worth pointing out that there is really NOWHERE in the continental US where tornadoes are unheard of. 

On 8/16/2016 at 9:20 PM, Delightful said:

That is kind of terrifying

What's the difference between a hurricane and a tornado?

 

On 8/16/2016 at 9:36 PM, AliasSheep said:

Former is water based and the latter is land based.

Eh...sort of.  Hurricanes are HUGE.  You can see them coming days away.  Tornadoes are the result of strong thunderstorms and can pop up out of nowhere (though meteorologists are getting better at spotting them in radar echoes).  Also, tornadoes CAN form over water; they're usually called waterspouts then.

Also, fun fact:  hurricanes can spawn tornadoes.

[Yata he/him]

I remember the first time I went to Spain (2 years ago) and I was amazed to see a web of transport who actually works. While my girlfriend returned at home with a lot of stories about churches, parks,ecc... I take with me amazing memories of clean and punctual underground where it's not a fight to move across the city.

PS: I am with @Mestiv in his confusion about how the American builds their house.

Edited August 25, 2016 by Yata

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

17 minutes ago, Yata said:

I remember the first time I went to Spain (2 years ago) and I was amazed to see a web of transport who actually works. While my girlfriend returned at home with a lot of stories about churches, parks,ecc... I take with me amazing memories of clean and punctual underground where it's not a fight to move across the city.

PS: I am with @Mestiv in his confusion about how the American builds their house.

@Kaymyth said it pretty perfectly: 

19 hours ago, Kaymyth said:

There's a huge cost difference involved there; most of our houses are wood-framed, with a layer of insulation in between the interior drywall and exterior walls.  Building out of solid brick or concrete is expensive, and most people just can't afford to pay double or triple for their houses.  Plus the odds of getting hit by a tornado are extremely small, and basic homeowners insurance covers it.  I live in Tornado Alley.  I have a basement.  I love thunderstorms, and get annoyed when I have to trundle downstairs instead of staying upstairs and enjoying all the thundery rumbly goodness. 

As previously pointed out, not everywhere in Tornado Alley has the geology to make basements a reasonable option.  One of the reasons that the big Joplin, MO tornado a couple years ago was so devastating was because the town is in a swampy area.  You can't build basements in a swamp.  At least in Oklahoma you can build a separate storm cellar if you need to have a shelter nearby.

Heh.  OK.  So, again as previously stated, the United States is BIG.  Tornado Alley is also BIG.  We're talking between 1/4 and 1/3 of the entire continental US (including the ENTIRE Midwest region), and almost the entirety of our arable farmland.  It's not possible to actually have any sort of agriculture in this country without people living where tornadoes are common.  And you can't just expect the entire middle third of a country to be completely devoid of people.  Nobody would ever be a

It's also worth pointing out that there is really NOWHERE in the continental US where tornadoes are unheard of. 

Expensive materials + long stretches of nothing = prohibitively high shipping costs for materials like brick or concrete on top of the already high cost of building with them, which means that if homes in Tornado Alley were made from brick or concrete, they'd have to raise prices to cover building costs, which means that a huge stretch of the US would be filled with homes no one could afford to buy. Homeowners insurance is pretty much a must over here, so if you do find yourself in the path of a tornado, you can grab your valuables and trust that the insurance company will cover you. We might not be able to build our homes out of the sturdiest materials, but we prepare in other ways. 

[Claincy he/him]

It's interesting the different natural disasters that different places have to deal with. Australia's very safe when it comes to volcanoes, earthquakes happen but only rarely and they extremely rarely do any significant damage. Cyclones do sometimes occur in the Northern states and we do get the occasional severe(ish) storm down here. That aside there's sometimes flooding, again more up in QLD, it happens far more rarely in VIC and is usually significantly less dangerous and damaging. Probably the biggest, most common, natural disasters we get are bush fires. There's major bush fires every year, they don't effect the suburbs much but they can be quite serious further out. To the point where certain days are remembered as things like "Black Saturday", "Ash Wednesday" and "Black Friday".

So yeah, to us Black Friday doesn't mean shopping sales, it means the third most deadly bushfires to happen in Australia in the past century.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

3 minutes ago, Claincy said:

It's interesting the different natural disasters that different places have to deal with. Australia's very safe when it comes to volcanoes, earthquakes happen but only rarely and they extremely rarely do any significant damage. Cyclones do sometimes occur in the Northern states and we do get the occasional severe(ish) storm down here. That aside there's sometimes flooding, again more up in QLD, it happens far more rarely in VIC and is usually significantly less dangerous and damaging. Probably the biggest, most common, natural disasters we get are bush fires. There's major bush fires every year, they don't effect the suburbs much but they can be quite serious further out. To the point where certain days are remembered as things like "Black Saturday", "Ash Wednesday" and "Black Friday".

So yeah, to us Black Friday doesn't mean shopping sales, it means the third most deadly bushfires to happen in Australia in the past century.

To be fair, to retail workers, Black Friday doesn't mean shopping sales so much as it means "WE HEAR THEM AT THE DOORS. WE SEE THEM AWAITING OUR SALES. THEY ARE COMING. THEY ARE COMING."

But—yikes, that sounds kind of scary, to this American. Fires are less frequent here, though we've had some bad ones in the Northwest recently.  

So I have a question for Sharders in Europe. On TV Tropes, I encountered an entry for a show that was supposed to be set in small-town America, but the town apparently lacked the American small-town look and made viewers ask where in Europe said town was. It made me wonder—what are small towns over there like? What's distinct about them?