Announcement
- I am quite addicted to martial arts movies, which is odd when you consider that I hate violence. But when I declaim my love for these films my offline friends start back in horror and make warding motions with their hands. I am quite, quite alone in my obsession. My goal in joining Alive not Dead is to skulk around the forums and read other people’s pages and pick up some information on my favourite genre of films.
My blog More entries >
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Vital lessons from the day words fell short
Tuesday, Oct 6, 2009 10:37AM / Members only
Vital lessons from the day words fell short
DON WATSON
The Age, September 19, 2009
''THEY leapt from mountain peak to mountain peak or far out into the lower country, lighting forests six or seven miles in advance of the main fires. Blown by wind of great force they roared as they travelled. Balls of crackling fire sped at a great pace and in advance of the fires consuming with a roaring explosive noise all that they touched. Houses of brick were seen and heard to leap into a roar of flame before the fires had reached them … Great pieces of burning bark were carried by the wind to set in raging flame regions not yet reached by the fires.''
The fires described here are not the Black Saturday fires, but the Black Friday fires of 1939. The writer is Justice Leonard Stretton, who conducted the inquiry into Black Friday. Stretton also described the environmental conditions that fuelled them: '' … the forest from the foothills to the alpine heights were tinder … dry heat and hot dry winds worked upon a land already dry to suck from it the least drop of moisture.''
When Jack Rush, QC, quoted these passages to the current royal commission, he intended to suggest to the chief of Country Fire Authority that last summer's fires were not without precedent, and to ask why the authority's warnings on February 6 ''did not prepare people for the sort of fire that could be anticipated on February 7''. ''All I can say, Mr Rush,'' said the CFA chief ''is that we did our very, very best.''
The matter, of course, has nothing to do with the efforts of CFA firefighters. It concerns CFA management and, more particularly, what managers call ''communication''. It's unlikely that Mr Rush and his colleagues are wondering if they had anything but good intentions. The task on February 7 was complex and immense. They were like Horatius holding the bridge or the little Dutch boy when he saw the hole in the dyke. But with this difference: Horatius and the boy had no management strategy. Unschooled in value-adding as he was, when he saw the Etruscans massed on the other side, Horatius resolved to hold the bridge. Upon recognising a potentially serious dyke event, the boy put his finger in the hole. To go by the royal commission transcrīpts, the limits of their language being the limits of their world, CFA managers did not approach the task of warning us with the same spontaneous dispatch.
One CFA manager described the business of telling the public as ''messaging''; ''communicating the likely impact''; ''to communicate the degree of the circumstance''; providing ''precise complex fire behaviour information''; ''to communicate more effectively in a timely manner not just that it is a bad day, but other factors as well.''
He spoke of his task as ''value-adding'' and ''populating the document''. He and other managers talked a good deal about ''learnings'', ''big learnings'' and even ''huge learnings''. ''Of course, the learnings from these fires'', one said, ''the scientists will come out and give us an outcome of what sort of messaging and where we can go to better inform communities …''
Commissioner Ron McLeod asked the CFA chief if it might not have been more useful to have told people what firefighters in the Yarra region had been told, ''that they were liable to face a fire that could not be stopped, that had a flame height of 35 metres''. He wondered if more ''explicit terms'' might have ''added a bit more substance'' with ''implications … for people who might in other circumstances have chosen to stay as their preferred option''.
In reply, the chief could not escape the limits of his professional idiom: ''My view … is that for those people in that environment the weather conditions were very plain to understand. We had very clearly communicated the fuel conditions. I think the bit - if you think about it in terms of the fire triangle - was we had not communicated the likely outcome …''
We presume he meant to say that the only thing they messed up was the bit about the fire. They neglected to tell people in concrete language that any fire on February 7 was likely to be one they could not fight, and might not survive. If instead of ''fire activity with potential to impact'' we had dangerous, unpredictable, deadly fires, fires like the one Stretton described, the CFA's ''messagings'' might have persuaded more people to get out of the way. If instead of ''wind events'' the experts and the authorities had said the wind will blow a tremendous gale of searing air through forests so dry they will explode into fires that no one can stop; and that the wind will very likely suddenly blow just as hard from another direction and send these firestorms into the midst of people who just minutes before had thought they were safe - or something like this - perhaps more people would have recognised the danger.
It was not that they did not do their very, very best. More likely, when it came to telling people what they had to know, their management training made their best inadequate. Telling people requires language whose meaning is plain and unmistakable. Managerial language is never this.
Here is a possible ''learning'' for managers. Take Stretton's descrīption of Black Friday and add the word ''event'' after any mention of wind or fire, and see if it adds value. Add ''impact'', ''outcome'' and ''activity''. Is the ''messaging'' clearer? What ''learnings in terms of outcomes'' do you take from this? The same test may be usefully taken by managers in other fields.
Don Watson's new book, Bendable Learnings, will be published on October 3.
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TV Programmes: Tarzan / Lone Ranger / Zorro / Black Adder etc.
Monday, Oct 5, 2009 1:36PM / Members only
TV programmes I have recently watched:
My TV antenna is broken so I don’t get the TV. Instead I can borrow out old TV programmes on DVD from my local library. Thanks to the library the programmes I have recently been watching (in lieu of the dreadful Big Brother) are:
The New Adventures of Tarzan (Volume 1) Where’s Johnny Weismuller when you need him? The dude who plays the character role in these 4 episodes is a lousy actor and sports a hair do that would not have been out of place on a band member of Duran Duran or The Human League. The plots are hilariously bad. Here is a plot summary from the DVD cover for just one of the episodes:
Madly in love with Tarzan, Queen Maya stays her hand. Suddenly, the natives notice Raglan lowering a noose through the temple’s chimney hole from above, snagging the Green Goddess and hauling it away. D’Arnot frees Tarzan from the altar, and the apeman rescues the Martling party, who were about to be thrown into a pit of alligators.
The Queen Maya in question is supposed to be Guatemalan (this is a very geographically confused production) but the actress who plays her is a tough peroxide blonde costumed like a 1940s exotic dancer. She staggers through her scene giving the impression that shagging the producers of The New Adventures of Tarzan has left her sore in places she doesn’t wan to think about.
The Lone Ranger (Volume 2) These 3 episodes lived up to expectation. The mask, the rearing white horse, the William Tell overture, the loyal Indian offsider – they were all there. A booming voice announces over the opening credits that the Lone Ranger was a “fabulous individual”. Excellent. The melodrama of the classical music soundtrack contrasts curiously but effectively with the action of the stolid western characters. I could absolutely go Tonto too.
Zorro’s Fighting Legion (Volume 1) 3 episodes from the black and white TV series. Much rushing about on horse back and nearly getting shot, nearly getting dynamited, nearly getting ambushed… but Zorro always escapes and saves the day. He has to. He is wearing the best costume.
The Black Adder – Series 4. Black Adder, Baldrick et al fetch up in the trenches of World War 1 in this series. This is brilliant comedy – hyperbolic writing, British stereotypes and perfect performances. The very last episode is very dark and unexpectedly moving, and it reminded me how great comedy can be a hair’s breadth away from tragedy at times.
Julius Caesar starring Chris Noth, Richard Walken, Richard Harris among others. Formulaic but competent telling of the life and times of the Roman emperor.
Palin on Art This is a pleasant series that features Michael Palin discussing, researching, journeying as a response to some of his favourite art. He visits the places where artists lived and the places they painted and talks to the people who knew them. Recommended for art enthusiasts.
All Aussie Adventures – Series 1 & 2. This is a popular comedy series made in recent years. It spoofs Australian travel programmes and, in particular, Australian travel programme hosts. There is a specific breed of Aussie bloke that reckons he is an alpha male who is expert in everything to do with the great outdoors. These men are to be avoided at all costs. These mock travelogues focus on the misadventures of a character called Russell Coight as he travels through the Australian outback. That Coight is an idiot is obvious to everyone except himself. In every programme he trips over tree roots, falls off gates and pinches his fingers in lids. In each episode he manages to accidentally kill a rare Australian animal, wreck someone else’s car, and alienate whoever happens to be around him at the time. The comedy is broad and, perhaps, predictable, but is well crafted and presented nevertheless. Glenn Robbins is very good as Coight – he times his pratfalls beautifully and he has the mannerisms and vocal delivery (instantly recognizable to any Aussie who has had these deadly programmes inflicted on them) down perfectly. In fact, he reminds me unerringly of a former landlord of mine. This smug bastard was an armchair expert in everything but particularly fancied himself as the adventurous outdoors type. He also was an idiot. Maybe that is why this show appeals to me.
Leunig Animated. This DVD is a collection of short animated versions of Michael Leunig’s cartoons. Leunig is an Australian cartoonist and essayist. He is extremely highly regarded and much loved. His cartoons and essays are regularly published in The Age newspaper here in Melbourne. His humour can be whimsical or caustic, and his cartoons are also often very moving. He is quite capable of commentating on topical affairs or the absurdity of human existence.
Scared Weird Little Guys – The First 15 Years. The Scared Weird Little Guys are an Australian musical comedy duo who are quite well known (at least here in Melbourne where I live). I saw them live for the first (and only) time at the Edinburgh Festival in 2001 or 2002. Until then I had only seen them occasionally and briefly on television, and hadn’t thought that much of them. I went to see their show at Edinburgh because I scored a free ticket. The show was great – it was one of the funniest and cleverest things I ended up seeing at the Festival. SWLG get their laughs from composing and performing funny songs (with the odd cover thrown in). The humour is quirky and impish. Many laughs are to be had from the lyrics, but they also generate laughs from exploiting their superb musicianship and performance technique. At the show in Edinburgh they were making people laugh through the use of key changes and instrumental arrangements in their music. They also have superb diction and use this to great comic effect.
Walking with Cavemen 4 part BBC science programme that uses special effects and heavily costumed actors to trace the evolution from upright apes to Neanderthal man. Very interesting and well crafted.
Life / Survival actually a kids’ nature programme. Beautiful photography.
Robot Chicken cult comedy series from the US. What a pity it wasn’t actually funny.
Also:
The First Eden
Kath and Kim – Series 4
Mythbusters – Ninja Special
Canada – Pilot Guides
Young Ones
Inspector Rex
We Know Where You Live
Feast Greece
1421 – The Year China Discovered the World
7 Periods with Mr Gormsby
Black Books
Billy Connolly in Dublin
Dr Who (Series 3 Volume 5).
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Satff in carbon footprint trial face fines for high emissions
Friday, Oct 2, 2009 2:16PM / Members only
Thanks to my cousin Cam for spotting this and emailing it around:
From The Times
September 14, 2009
Staff in carbon footprint trial face £100 fines for high emissions
Ben Webster, Environment Editor
People who emit more than their fair share of carbon emissions are having their pay docked in a trial that could lead to rationing being reintroduced via the workplace after an absence of half a century.
Britain’s first employee carbon rationing scheme is about to be extended, after the trial demonstrated the effectiveness of fining people for exceeding their personal emissions target. Unlike the energy-saving schemes adopted by thousands of companies, the rationing scheme monitors employees’ personal emissions, including home energy bills, petrol purchases and holiday flights.
Workers who take a long-haul flight are likely to be fined for exceeding their annual ration unless they take drastic action in other areas, such as switching off the central heating or cutting out almost all car journeys. Employees are required to submit quarterly reports detailing their consumption. They are also set a target, which reduces each year, for the amount of carbon they can emit.
Those who exceed their ration pay a fine for every kilogram they emit over the limit. The money is deducted from their pay and the level of the fine is printed on payslips. Those who consume less than their ration are rewarded at the same rate per kilogram.
The maximum that an employee can earn or be fined has been capped at £100, but is likely to rise once staff have grown accustomed to the idea.
WSP, the global engineering consultancy, has been conducting the rationing scheme among 80 of its British employees for almost two years. In the first year the overall carbon footprint of participants fell by 10 per cent. The company is discussing its scheme with several FTSE 100 companies.
Three quarters of the employees were rewarded and a quarter, including Stuart McLachlan, the managing director, were fined. Mr McLachlan tried to cut his carbon footprint by buying a bike and cycling 12 miles to work from Richmond, Surrey, to Chancery Lane, in Central London. He also installed energy-saving lightbulbs, but he still exceeded his ration — and was fined £100 — because he flew to his holiday home in South Africa.
The idea of personal quotas for carbon emissions is being advocated by the thinktank the Institute for Public Policy Research. Everyone would be given a number of free “credits”, to buy gas and electricity for their homes, fuel for cars and plane tickets for holidays. Those who did not use all their credits could sell the excess to people who used more fossil fuels.
WSP is planning to expand its rationing scheme next year to cover 3,000 employees in offices around the world. However, it will set different targets for each country to reflect national average emissions. In Britain the target this year is 5.5 tonnes, which is one tonne above the national average for home energy and personal transport. The US target is likely to be double the British target, to reflect much greater emissions per person.
David Symons, co-ordinator of the scheme, said that US employees would be unlikely to join a scheme with the same ration as British staff. “The teams in the States would think they would be in debit straightaway.”
Mr Symons stayed within his ration last year by giving up his Mazda RX8 sports car and buying a diesel Peugeot 207. He met this year’s target largely because his partner had a baby and he rarely left home except to go to work.
One employee, Dan Dowling, 29, switched the mode of transport for his honeymoon in Rome from plane to train. His colleague, Emma Bollan, stopped blow-drying her hair and cut down on roast dinners. She said: “The big incentive is not the prospect of earning £100 but in trying to ensure that you don’t have to pay out.”
Several WSP staff added that peer pressure played a part in persuading them to stay within their ration.
Mr McLachlan said: “There have been some interesting competitive dynamics in the company as a result of having this transparency.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6832964.ece
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words: sternutation / pink
Thursday, Oct 1, 2009 8:40AM / Members only
2 random words from Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day email bulletin:
sternutation
\ster-nyuh-TAY-shun\
noun
Meaning
: the act, fact, or noise of sneezing
Example Sentence
Julie knew that she had put on too much perfume when she entered the car and immediately heard a chorus of sternutation from the passengers.
Did you know?
"Sternutation" comes from Latin and is a descendant of the verb "sternuere," meaning "to sneeze." One of the earliest known English uses occurred in a 16th-century edition of a book on midwifery, in a passage about infants suffering from frequent "sternutation and sneesynge." The term has long been used in serious medical contexts, but also on occasion for humorous effect. In 1850, for example, author Grace Greenwood observed that U.S. senators from opposing political parties would often come together to share snuff: "And all three forget their sectional differences in a delightful concert of sternutation. No business is too grave, no speaker too eloquent, to be 'sneezed at.'"
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
pink
\PINK\
verb
Meaning
1 a : to perforate in an ornamental pattern *b : to cut a saw-toothed edge on
2 a : pierce, stab b : to wound by irony, criticism, or ridicule
Example Sentence
"The sleek curtain requires no sewing; we pinked the edges to add a bit of detail." (Jennie Voorhees, Martha Stewart Living, April 2002)
Did you know?
Our unabridged dictionary, Webster's Third New International, includes 13 distinct entries for "pink," whereas our abridged volume, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate, satisfies itself with the five most common. (Words get distinct entries in our dictionaries when they have different etymologies or different parts of speech.) Today's "pink," the only verb of the five, is from a Middle English word meaning "to thrust." Of the remaining four, the only "pink" older than the verb (which dates to 1503) is a 15th century noun referring to a kind of ship. The next-oldest noun has since 1573 referred to a genus of herbs. The noun referring to the color pink and its related adjective date to 1678 and 1720, respectively. Evidence suggests that a new verb "pink" — a synonym of the verb "pink-slip" — is also emerging.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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In Flanders Field
Wednesday, Sep 30, 2009 9:34AM / Members only
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
John McCrae
I found this poem on the PoemHunter.com website. I had heard of it but never read it. The first 2 verses I found to be poignant and chilling, but I was disengaged by the final verse’s call to arms. How disappointing.
Check out Jacqui BB’s Creative Journey blog where she hosts the Poetry Wednesday tour. There you will find a list of poems other people have blogged today. Feel free to blog one yourself.
