Posts by Sacha
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Southerly: Tower Insurance Have Some Bad…, in reply to Carol Stewart,
the serious allegation that GNS knowingly withheld information because of 'social science advice'
Didn't GNS say that? Like Merc above, I'd welcome more detail.
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Up Front: Casual, Shallow and Meaningless, in reply to Rich Lock,
This was in the 90s before the word got corporately thrashed (but after any residual hippies had finished with it).
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Up Front: Casual, Shallow and Meaningless, in reply to 3410,
Worked a treat. Cut to the chase. Charming though so probably could have got away with asking anythng.
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Up Front: Casual, Shallow and Meaningless, in reply to Rich Lock,
I might try "what are you interested in?"
I knew someone who routinely went straight for the jugular with "what are you passionate about". Her all-round cuteness may have helped overcome any initial resistance.
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Southerly: Tower Insurance Have Some Bad…, in reply to Russell Brown,
Or was written by a different anonymous journo. :)
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Informed decisions about risk require both likelihood and impact to be understood, as well as what the decision-maker regards as the most important general factors (or 'values') in guiding their own decisions.
It takes much more effort to communicate those in a way that the public can engage with, rather than just the experts in relevant fields who work with them every day. You'll see much more of this in our health system as shared care approaches become widespread. Doctors, like geologists, will need help translating their expertise into a form that's independently useable by laypeople like most of us are.
That requires investment and time, so must be carefully prepared beforehand to be any use in a crisis or pressured situation. Decision aids for parents about antenatal screening for Down Syndrome are one example I've worked with myself (and it's apparently being extended beyond the Ministry of Health's typical love for pamphlets). That is touched on in a presentation about informed consent I delivered alongside colleagues to the College of GPs conference in Christchurch, the day before the first quake.
Lazy politicians are inclined to resort to "daddy knows best" paternalism to justify keeping people in the dark. For many, it's what 'leadership' means - "I'm the decider".
You could argue that the Herald has been supporting that style from this government throughout the last few years (notably the ECan takeover), which contrasts with this latest editorial's stand in favour of people making decisions for themselves. They're not correct in saying this though:
In general, the more information that is released to people in such situations, the better.
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Southerly: Tower Insurance Have Some Bad…, in reply to ChrisW,
Good interview with GNS’s Kelvin Berryman on RNZ ‘Checkpoint’ yesterday
Ta for the heads-up. Here it is (5 mins, listening options).
The story says GNS sought government funds to map unknown faultlines but did not even receive a response (WTF?).
Berryman says that the extra information would not have helped any predictions short-term, just added geological context. He acknowledges communication could have been "more explicit" about the potential impact of the aftershock risk.
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Hard News: Winning the RWC: it's complicated, in reply to Russell Brown,
You can see why people like Rawiri Taonui are hacked off with the Euro-centrism of the IRB.
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Hard News: Winning the RWC: it's complicated, in reply to Russell Brown,
the European clubs have to release their players
I thought their refusal to so so was a live issue?
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I wouldn't conflate team budgets with player incomes.