The Wolf

Just one bite and you know the Wolf is real

2012-02-05T18:38:00.000-08:00

About 20 years ago Anthony Jay and I discussed the consequences of putting a mirror up to politicians and top public servants - letting the world see what really goes on . While it was woosy and weak even then, the wolf seemed far away. Now the wolf is at the door, and we don't quite know just why . Conflict has become cocontenation. Tension no longer keeps us taught, but teaches our kids to keep sliding instead
As Jay and Lyn have shown with their latest show, the consequences of exposure are even more scary than we thought. Both groups still want more power , but noone, it seems has the same wisdom . The quieter sources of solid advice have gone silent while the urgent loud voices drive Prime Ministers mad. Bernard would rather not be there now , and neither would I .
Neither of us, it seems , could have anticipated just how woosy and onesided it would all become .
Without leadership from below, both parties would be stuck in the a suck it and see sort of mess that they are in now. Neither of us could do much about egos out of control in politics,but we both know that we used to able to advise those in power. Influence them . Now "good advice" is falsely seen to be something you only get, if you pay people for it . "Paying people peanuts " talk was to easy when everybody turns out to be in the same family of hairy beasts. The lesson should have been that we need each other - not that we were better than each other .

The great danger for the people is not that our leaders think they know ( that's always an ongoing risk ) but that the public service thinks they know too .( copyright EA6Feb2012)

Permanent Incident Controllers -a mistake

2011-12-29T13:21:00.000-08:00

As stated many years ago on blogs like this, the ham fisted reactionary establishment of Departments to deal with emergencies can be a mistake; an expensive diversion from the much lower cost options of Departments of prevention and sound practice; groups who know the stresses BEFORE they kill, so those people can better manage them when they arrive . IC should be drawn from the ranks of planners and practitioners as required - not creating their own empires .
Relatively rare and dispersed risk like bush fire and flood and environmental " hazard" mean the big noise these bashers make (before the moment and place that something needs dealing with) is counterproductive .
Unfortunately for Victorians the rightful high place for planning has been subsumed by reactive politics . Paradoxically considering the Libs so called love of less government , The Department of CW has grown under their leadership .Just proves that not all reactionaries come from the left .
Few NOW stop to think when an algal bloom STOPS everything - well why didn't the Departmnet responsible reduce the risk in the first place .Answer is: because the government have closed down the department that prevents in favour of the department that names and shames; The Department that suggests emergencies - DSE ; Such Departments are just as likely to name some other departmental or contracted service to " fix the problem "--- all a bit late of course . The Libs have lost sight of foresight and created Wolf radio.You heard it first on blogger .

If fear itself is the the only fear

2011-12-04T16:51:00.000-08:00

Admitting we don't really know much and aren't very together can be liberating. We don't spend so much time crying wolf for others when we are humble about pits we might fall into today. Better than that ; we can feel a lot better overall and make a better day for ourselves by finding a way to accept ourselves and not worry about others.
Thanks Truthaholics
"We tell lies when we are afraid... afraid of what we don't know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger." ~ Tad Williams (1957- ) Author

One of my class of 10YO's walked past me as I tried to open my car the wrong way the other day ( using the key instead of the button) The alarm went off and I swore ( The child tells me ) I do it all the time and the world knows I haven't learned from my mistakes
I didn't want to admit even that I may have done it ( I can't remember ) I probably did , but how hard is it to admit you have been wrong ( not that swearing is that big an issue , except some people watch you like a hawk for faults and YOU feel that )
Never easy to confess, but its good for the soul - everyone's soul if it encourages us to be honest ( first line)
My relationship with that student improved no end from that moment I confessed . The problem went away somehow and it was wonderful . So good to be amongst the poor.

The only real sin is doing nothing

2011-10-28T16:27:00.000-07:00

The Queens scriptwriter ,Commonwealth leaders and our Prime Minister are agreed this week. The thing we must do is move with the times. Move indeed we must or else..... we are dead. The wolf issue is not about whether to move , but when and where. The Wolf is cunning and more cunning than us .( there is the truth)

The comfortable crap session that have marked CHOGM so far explains, not only why the wolf has arrived , but why he's likely to keep taking bodies.
Instead of talking to the critical issues of rampant capital markets and woosy weak willed views of governance issues the leader carefully about PC jargon about safe distant topics or grand schemes to solve the world 's problems with nice words and grand legislative imposts by a group that clearly has never been responsible .eg The UN in Uganda .
If we don't hear an angry word from inside the conference, The ABC ,the reporters and the conference will have failed . Nice but of nuisance value . The greatest evil is done in the name of the best intention
Take the bomb which will explode all around them by a media only interested in ratings
Population will reach 7 billion on the 31st The cynics will give in to popular predjudice ? Will any of the reporters Get a real sustainability expert to talk on sustainability country/country

The real sin is doing something when its not going to work and no attempt is made to make sure it will .
Our children deserve better than their hopes for a better world to be gobbled up by real wolves

Food for wolves is plentiful

2011-07-10T19:47:00.000-07:00

Food for wolves remains plentiful while we all act like sheep. The sheep believe they will have a tax, but not have a tax . We will have pain , but we will not have pain . Someone will get hurt by the new tax, but it won't be you . Somewhere out there is a fear monger and its not me, because I guarantee to protect everyone who produces clean fuel from food as we transfer to turbocharged tecnology which we will incentivise as investors on your behalf .
Sometimes I wish we wouldn't all act like sheep when we should really be able to tell a wolf in our own midst We are not sheep are we, and we can all pick the dirty polluters for ourselves ?

We do need to manage greed but do we have the gutsy thinking and acting?

2011-05-05T18:05:00.000-07:00

Crying carbon tax ?
With the rich in our world happily thinking they can exploit someone else's food bowl for fuel ( ethanol) remember what really works hidden inside the cooperating ecosystems inside us and around us (so much more efficient in energy use than we ever will be) But it works by cooperating, not just competing .

If you don't yet believe in evil ask yourself how many people really care and how many would just find excuses to do what they feel like? To tax others or blame them Without tough intervention policies , the woosy incentive policies of the modern West will just keep making the rich richer and more easily able to ignore those who have no choice . Cooperation can work. Competition is costly and can be a killer and a poor benefactor, but will we just conveniently acquire more goods and call the problem someone else's? Not here

The enemy within

2011-03-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

The hardest thing to do is often to recognise that there is a problem really close to home . Amongst those people and those ideas you have learnt to trust.; your own reasoning ; your own mind . The collective mind the collective myth .
Always good though to go there to your own mind and also get the safety of much advice. Proverbs 11:14 Our PM is reluctant to go there , but go there the country must .

Going around doing good- just like Robin Hood

2011-02-28T15:02:00.000-08:00

The people are aghast . Why are they paying so much for water when there is so much now around ?

Queen Julia and Prince Brumby have been justifying taxes because they are going to do so much good with them .

Edmond Burke said "The greatest evil is done in the name of the best intention" . The public has not twigged that her and his men are not poor , and neither are they experienced on the ground , but live in cocoons in castles, cultivate courts of consultancies and empire builders .

Would you trust them to stop spending the windfall taxes on empires? - they can't even tell the difference with their Robin Hood hoodwink strategy ( copyright eacademy) working so well , between a resource that's getting scarce ( fuel) and one that quite renewable ( like water ) sus em here

Has been tied down for a moment - great !

2011-02-20T16:04:00.000-08:00

Positive changes . Was great to see a doctor from the Royal Childrens Hospital in Melbourne (not a poly or pS) on TV last week talking about the practical issues of taking care in the current HOOPING COUGH EPIDEMIC

The Wolf and Cyclone Yasi

2011-02-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

Designated as a shelter , a Senior citizens centre in Cairns collapsed and only the initiative of a nurse prevented "a real disaster" by moving the people at her own initiative -
Why don't all cyclone towns have reliable shelters, and why are houses still being built in flood prone zones ?
I think its this lack of planning people and process ( diminishing in the last decade) that needs some attention sometime. The main way to reduce the impact of disasters is to plan well and avoid generalized panic.( the very things that we are spending less on in between them )
Unfortunately its difficult to be completely objective in the midst of a real threat or a perceived threat .

Reporters are clearly often desperate to put " its absolutely huge " in the mouths of the people they interview, alienating most of the people in the area who know its not." people are being told " - needs to be " who said"
authorship is always critical to effective authority and no more is its role( you in your small corner) highlighted that in thes sorts of anticipated threat situations.
What place though is there for this type of hype when cry wolf should be avoided . More http://disarster.blogspot.com/2011/02/maladaptive-alliance-between-media-and.html

The wolf and the floods Victoria

2011-02-02T14:20:00.001-08:00

The wolf and the floods

2011-02-02T14:19:00.001-08:00

If leaders don't understand the danger they generate fear instead of the antidote - understanding

2010-11-24T03:14:00.000-08:00

Colac Otway Shire are full of fear . They are worried about DSE because they fined the shire nearly a miiilion dollars for doing something in ignorance. If COT had competent advice to counter the fearmongers, they would tell those who let the precautionary principle hide their unprofessionalism where to go with their worries . If you really understand ecology, you really understand the risk,you calm people, you worry less and you certainly don't let fear become the main driver in your division. .

Fear not - the facts may not be relevant

2010-08-12T06:49:00.000-07:00

Facts are really only allowed to assume their proper value when you are without fear. When hope is present, the apparent hopelessness doesn't block the ways out . Perera on ABCTV this week provided one on qandries discussion on population by reminding us that great heart can do great things.

But there was little room for heart in that room though .Dick smith is right to a point - that we are our own worst enemies . But he like many is projecting the problem onto mere numbers. The elephant in the room was guilt and few if any knew the antidote ; that competence in ecomia ( even scarcity issues ) is the best antidote to fear .
Joining Bob on a careless jog to the latest ideas is no good unless you have both a great heart and a great mind to know how to implement those ideas . Wannabes and woorier warriors must stand aside and let people who know what they are doing , speak. At qandary its always the same old worry worriers .

When the mood is one of pessimism and determinism, you can't trust the lists of critical matters that qandary put up as important .
Nowhere is this more obvious than when nature is seen on its own in the evening of life . When our youthful exuberance over natures beauty is countered by her other side.
Life can look pretty bleak if you see only population and genetic pressures staring down relentlessly on all our deliberations .

When pessimistic mood takes over as has done around the country , we shut out the facts that competence in economics ( even scarcity issues ) ,not facts are the best antidote to fear.
The facts on population pressure and infrastructure needs are known - as they affect us and the world. .
We don't need more bureaucrats to bog everyone down with more facts . we just need to face our fears and let those who aren't blinded by them get on with the job of addressing planning and prevention like they used to .

Decade of Wecare- proudly supported by every quango in the country

2010-05-24T17:12:00.000-07:00

RE What will we celebrate this year ? Wolves in sheeps clothing ?

Did you say We care or Weak care ? Since when does the government really care? Does it really care when it creates 10 departments to do the same or similar jobs ( duplication is the normal result of that much nicer PC correct word "restructure" )
I , as a professional risk asessment person would probably vote for a party that banned government advertising, but especially those dumb and dull repeats of ads with any hint of "we really Care" in them

Many of the 170 who died in bushfires in February 2009 in Victoria died because the risk information provided to them was crap. Some of us , who used to be employed in that risk asessment system , have been telling both sides of politics that the advisory system on risk had turned soft - years and years before !

Care is best left to people .Competent people . And not lots of people trying to do the same job .

The weakcare ads may win a few votes in the short term , but in the long term there is, not only all the mute buttons ON , but a real strong smell when the party in power raises the issue of " how much they care " .

Governments don't care - people care ! Polys - maybe you haven't got enough people who really care left -- those who care enough to speak up may have already left ? Did you hear J.R. Saul talk about monkeys on qanda last night. My take on his story is not your rear end you need to worry about but those all around you who sit too comfortably on theirs.
There are wolves out there .........still . More than you think . They are wise and clever ,dressing up and saying all the right things!

Ya never listen , so what's the use !

2010-05-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

Too true . Crying wolf too is something we all do too much of .
"Its too easy " said Hanrahan when he got a bit older and wiser.

Sometimes the warning message is better put in love.Click here
Now there is a media agency that deserves to be put on your favourites list.
Why don't we hear more from that agency? you might well ask !
Because its free- free indeed.

Outta here

2010-04-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

RE : The biggest coronial enquiry in Australia's history - deaths from a bushfire 2009
12 mths after it comes out :The chief commisioner wasn't around when it mattered - A bit symbolic perhaps ?

Also : "The warnings went out ,but they were the wrong warnings"
When to warn, and what to say are issues not well understood, especially at the top . Maybe this simple tension is just too complex for some of our wannabes to understand,,, let alone act intelligently on . If you ever advise them, you need to keep it very simple - obfsucation is the name of the game - just ask sir humphrey .

If they had used their brains our leaders would have INSISTED on getting people with experience when they take risk management advice . The budget to prevent disasters from happening has been growing - but has the understanding?

Obviously "Outa there" says it all . All far too complex for the commmitte that is our leadership at the moment ?. . The warnings went out ,but they were the wrong warnings .

Lets make it simple . Make sure you say "outta here NOW" . Time to stop sitting on that word the emerging management team are so afraid of ; the word " evacuate"
Read back now how that word has been forbotten for a whole year . The symbolism of Labors failure is tragic in the extreme. The politically correct book of Labor words 2009 is full of death defining bullsh .

The silly sheep - "there are wolves in them there schools" they cried

2010-03-28T21:02:00.000-07:00

RE: Polys decide on school curriculums in Victoria
"Is your mother treating you badly my child?" Here have some lollies!

Politicians who think the wolves are easy to round up need to think again . While its also tempting to think the sheep are a dumb lot , and need someone to tell them how to look after their children - watch out -teaching is the parents primary job and only fools think they can do better or apart from them . The greatest evil is still ,in 2010, done in the name of the best intention .Fancy polys telling teachers what they should teach . Trying to prevent indoctrination and unfair discrimination is fine. To think you can do it is one stupid thing, but to think that leaving it to some court of administrative justice means you clearly missed out on the very first lesson .
"Is your mother treating you badly my child?" Here have some lollies!
First off , the people are not sheep and if agnostic intellectuals are sending their kids to church schools in bigger and bigger numbers , the evidence is that intelligent parents and children can cope with the religious talk stuff . The wannabes worry too much .
Not everyone believes they are as influential with their words, as polys and the media do . Ask a real teacher or parent.
Kids get plenty of heresy in any school , and at any school playground . At a good school they get to choose what they think ( and to some extent what they hear)---maybe even learn to "fight" for it. Passion is the seed of violence, but thats no reason to run away from it - or to not allow it to be heard ( Voltaire would be amazed at what Hull is trying to do)! No wonder many thinking parents avoid State schools because their philosophy is increasingly a woosy one and you get to hear everything - very noisy; confusingly so !( you heard it first on Blogger!)

Gillard and Hulls are worried .They think there are wolves in them there schools . Maybe there are, but weeding em them out by asking them to appear in court is not going to work. Wolves don't wear badges and allow themselves to be called in on "the job description" only . Worse, its really woosy, discriminating, unfair abusive , counterproductive and overly deterministic to label anyone with a passion "de wolf "when the no one person is a wolf really anyway .
The proper target here is really wolf like and woosy like behavior . The reason why the characterization is helpful is because the common distracted focus on improving behavior is wasteful and counterproductive - only for the reactionaries . We don't need a wolf check , we need a fair fighting policy to check "wolves" and wolf like behavior.

Gillard and Hulls are worried , but like many , they are not sure what they are really worried about . You need to know the enemy , before you can fight the enemy . All the power , money, courts and sirens won't stop one wolf if you leave the windows half open and don't allow parents to teach their own children; esp if you think you, wonderful you , know how to deal with wolves specifically in your/their own circle of acquaitances. ( Hello Grandma)
Those with raw power often forget about the real value of raw cunning, and no one is more vulnerable to forgeting that than the generation who promote and do not acknowledge pseudoinnocence.
Cummon , You know what wolves are like - more cunning than those who think the court is the place to promote justice and reasonableness ;Those who think a power driven logomachine is the place to fight and win the real battles.( Copyright EA March 2010)

Waiting for Paperwork - it's like waiting for godot

2009-09-05T00:54:00.000-07:00

A lot was made last week of the missing map- but waiting for the map makers , even on the day , can be a mistake - the detailed map/s from the situation section often take far too long, and require a lot of checking and rechecking with very busy people.
Experienced "controllers" can estimate quickly ( and if directed to so do ), with a sufficient degree of accuracy( knowing nothing is perfect, but a pedantic process commitment may kill ) the where and when , once the source of the fire is known.
Fire controllers must therefore ensure that immediate and repeated warnings are issued on the basis of basic information about source and wind predictions- words ,man words are needed first up . Not maps man maps .
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Ning Nong's --the wicked wolf's not dead

2009-08-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

The royal commission (RCIVB) have failed in one basic way - to make the wolf more real.( Their report this week)

Despite some very good recommendations and clearly identifying a major problem ( warning failure), the RCIVB have failed to properly frame the solution.
Symbolically , they have shifted the focus from THERE to WHEREVER ; from the power and directness of the word "evacuate" to the wishy washy non directive "relocate" .
A slight change in wording you may say? One which includes all the options to be more accurate; True. But is it ? It may be totally" right" in the bureacractic, overly legalistic and blame averse world of central Melbourne to be totally pedantic; terrible to risk being blunt.
Do they not realize the advantages, no the absolute neccessity , of being very direct ( the word clear )- clearly No.

Are we to believe perhaps the answer to The States Problem is better word use ?( they love that sort of thing) More accuracy in word use will change the world ???
While there may be less confusion in Spring street over this, the confusion in the country will remain ( pity the poor police !) I fear we have the impractical perfect world of Spring street advising us about the clearly imperfect risk rich world we have to live with . Get real , some people will die , whichever word we use!

Do the commission think , in using the word " clear" , that its better for the trumpeter to shout "relocate" rather than "get the ... out of here ".
They have got the message ( about ineffective warnings) but are still not aware of what an effective wolf warning is. Evacuate is very clear and quite correct as the theme and substance of the action required. . How did we get moved from very urgent warning word to a watered down wishy washy one. Is this a lawyers answer ?

Sound the trumpet clearly , or you don't sound it at all .
To beat this incredibly real, urgent and powerful wolf you have to just get away from his teeth. Its that simple, and it should remain that simple . Even if you have a refuge area, depending on where the fire started, it may not be clear where the appropriate relocation area is. Relocation talk is right BUT it raises another lower order question and therefore provides a point of confusion or clarity that is less important that the defendable and correct first call to "get the .. out of there " or not be "THERE" ( see the locations that can be easily identified Here).

The big question for some is --why did the commissioners change the word .( see posting on thestockadestate . Relocate is accurate in terms of all the options and will please the greeks amongst the crowd , but it should not please the practical ones because its not direct enough.
The reason Victoria had more resources to manage the risk in Feb 09, but failed to do it well, has to do with matters of philosophical confusion - the big picture (attitudes to worship ,authority, responsibility and risk )Part of the confusion stems stems, we are told, that the police don't feel comfortable to insist on evacuation . Are we too afraid of a bit of opposition ? Will the gods bless us if we let people do what they think is right in their own eyes ? . If they haven't got the power to recommend evacuation ,they should get it . Otherwsie , God help us .
We who have managed both fires and risk planning know that only a major shift in philosophy will move the B government from ineffectiveness to effectiveness - from being led around by bureaucrats to being led around by basics.Currently the left talk prevention(ie know the problem) , but philosphically they ( don't know how to fix it )are committed to growing more and bigger emergency management systems that don't work .

A major shift away from presummed authority to real authority is needed before such commissions will be free to recognise the paradigm shifts required to get back closer to an effective risk management service.
Congratulations to ABC radio 774 who visited the country yesterday- such a good idea and breath of fresh air! There still is plenty of confusion out here BUT Let's hope reality therapy rather than word therapy , triggers a way forward for those who can see the wolves teeth but are not close enough to know what to really say to those who have to deal with them .

An epidemic of fear generated by the wrong people making all the noise

2009-05-26T04:32:00.000-07:00

Posted May 27th
Our Wannabes do us a great disservice, at a time of real risk, by talking to us about it-.... in the way they normally do!.

Take Jon Faine and The Premier today- Bad habits coming to the fore boys Having drummed up fears and responded to them on a regular weekly basis -THEY OWE IT TO US to lay off, and put the experts on the media when the people are worried -as some are.
Whatever the risk turns out to be long term with regard to the Swine Flu SF ,our wannabes do us a disservice at such a risky time by putting themselves on the TV and radio; and then talking roughly and carelessly about it.

The Wolf - in pigs clothing? Where did the SF warning come from and how did our very own medicos respond? Why is our focus so often on what the disunited nations thinks is a problem ? What should be constantly being heard - from the horse's mouth, as it were, is what our experts think .
With all the noise from others- do we really know? . At times of genuine risk we need to hear experienced doctors talking - whether onscreen or at the clinic. Reporters are so used to giving us their impression of what the expert said -that now even our polys do it
The risk - the wannabes have in times past taken more notice of "bigger" authorities than the ones they should have ; like before the first and second world war when countries that should have had a brain , like England, were too afraid to disagree with the UN . There was a wolf in the pack then if ever there was one then and who was talking openly about it? -not a single one of the wannabes ....and why!
The above comparison is only wild if our leaders have talked this through with locals .
The above comparison is only wild if the doctors authority comes clearly forward in these situations. Most of us are still confused about whether taking tamiflu vaccine is neccesary ,wise or what? Should we all book in and get it now? What do drugs do that vaciine won't and vice versa . What level of exposure is sensible ? Is its Ok for most healthy people to be exposed to it ??????(ADQ)
How will our leaders avoid a final showdown with the wolf in this case? - share the microphone at least with the LOCALS and someone ADQ.
Make up your mind you agents of cringe - does Authority come from above or below? Do we run the best Microbiology school in Melbourne Victoria, or not?If so put your faith into action----- rather than your mouths !

The signal to noise ratio

2009-04-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

There is a heck of a lot of noise outside. And lots of it sounds bad- real bad ! Before you start to worry , think about whose making it and why!

Wannabes are in love with volume, so they are happy to push it up when its coming through. But the finer point is they don't always know which is signal and which is noise. With all that volume ( of 2 kinds)and all those open channels the wannabee hero on the panel may not know how to " listen"- whether they were tuned in or not - more not that know .
The " what did you want to talk about " feedback noise of talk back radio is a great way to limit the damage, but the leaders are still behind the times - neither 774 nor 3AW will make it easy for you to connect with other callers. This should not be so. The simple shaking of my rattle has always been, but wannabees now face a new threat - irrelevance The wannabes turn up the volume up on their old machines even louder with the gain control on fearmongering bigger than ever (takes one to know one I say!)
Recent wolf damage doesn't help reduce the fanaticism amongst them .Embarrased by the bushfire and summerhouse fire damage to their reputation on risk planning ,wannabes are hell bent to tell us they can still warn us - The fact is there are better ways than emergency stations and one way conduits through them - some old some new.
Don't believe the panic merchants ; don't wait for them and don't encourage them to think they can now do things they are simply not good at doing - force them to refer you / themselves to trained people. Big bad noise triggers depend on many things ;one is where you are in relation to the Wolf .
There is always a lot of noise coming into the wannabes mixing desk. They should not try to tell us when it's really the big bad wolf - they are very poor at discerning the signal from the noise. Most importantly, the right adjustment is for the professionals ( should they still have some ) -each channel has its own gain level, and each sound has its uniquewave form.
While most of the journos focused on the absence of any content on the travellers Flu risk website yesterday, the symbolism ( no content) is lost on most of the noisemakers .There is often no proper gain control on the noises our leaders make. There could be no output, or lots of it ; lots of sound and fury, or even silence -all signifying nothing !

Whatever they or we expect, they are not our mothers and we need be careful not to encourage them to be so -They can take it too seriously . They may sound very caring ,or very scary but its not their job - it's ours or it was ours .Thats the point.
While I personally won't worry with more wolf talk from Wong, I think most of the public have already had too much of Father Christmas Kevin and Motherboard Theresa Gillard. The gallery is so full of noise , its hard to hear whats coming up next . Copyright Emperors Academy

Everybody's angry- when the wolf is inside the house

2009-04-02T15:51:00.000-07:00

We all need help with anger - there is an epidemic out there and the really , really worrying thing is that most people in this generation of westerners have no effective way of dissipating its energy and the sins possible if no effective response is offerred .
The wolf is often at the door with anger, but when we think the wolf is still outside , we really are in trouble!.
Example : I have my own theory as to why Neil Mitchell 3AW today struggles to control his own anger over Kevin Rudd's angry outburst over a flag. Maybe Neil too is tired or grieving or guilty , so why the big deal? Have we no kindness left? Is hypocrisy and projection lurking even closer to us than we think? .
The big problem .,it seems to me is that post moderns are confused about the way they should understand anger - They didn't listen hard enough in Sunday school to realise than anger is not a sin - its what can so easily come after it that is really worth worrying about.
.
How can a genaration that believes what's natural is good worry about anger when anger is natural; even the Bible says " be angry but " as its storytellers often were. How easily confused we have become . This idea of behavioral damnation was exorcised from our cilization nearly 20 centuries ago
So why have we gone back to this confused doctrine of what sin is?. Does this confusion help explain why our leaders want again to return to the stultifying pharisaism of the regulators ( attendant real risk today ) and reinforce the woosy sentimentalism and copout that we are all "victims" of some determinism that won't allow us to ever be free indeed - ever again .

Take a step back -its good that Neil gets angry - " Be angry Neil but ...." ( advice for us all) Previous generations of journos would have followed/ or been made to recognise the 5th/ 9th Commandment that seeks to protect a persons reputation and honor. A
Previous generations of journos would also have followed/ or been made to recognise that anger is not a sin and that postmodernists and reactionaries , in their rush to try and restore some sort of morality NOW , allow all sorts of nonsense talk about sin into the discusssion - including the complete myth that anger is sin.
We all need help with anger - there is an epidemic out there and the really , really worrying thing is that most people in this generation of westerners have no effective way of dissipating its energy and the sins possible if no effective response is offerred . ( Knight the man who shot manyat his workplace said this about "the audience"- you talk kindness, but you don't listen!) Anger is not the problem its made out to be , lack of really listening can be - that the bigger problem maybe is the audience problem ??
Fortunately the effective remedies of generations only take a few lines HERE and the acceptance of the basic boundaries.

Knows the territory - when and where to strike

2009-03-02T03:57:00.000-08:00

So clearly should those who seek to warn us. Today 2 March 2009, an estimated 5 million Victorians got a SMS in the afternoon reminding them that wind speeds will be very high overnight, as will fire danger.The message was nothing new but the medium was. Seemed personal .A warning you recieve over the phone is personal and that makes it powerful - for now . A sense of Powerlessness however should not make us noise up too early or with no direct action in mind for the words .

Clearly the government can't keep doing this when summer northerly changes happen
1-because these risk factors happen often and also
2-because both the effect and the message will lose any motivating effect ( nice to get a call) because the message respects no territory and identifies no action .
Why have our leaders done this might be an interesting question .At least this time there was a warning of sorts.
SMS 's could be very useful in the future, but how do you make sure it really helps( eg stay or escape) and is correct and not treated as generalized "cry wolf".

Do not our leaders recognise that however good the governance, suck eggs advice is the norm in safe times, and therefore cry wolf could be expected to be the normal risk in dangerous places manned by the media and map savy alone .

The next biggest disaster in Australia's history was caused by a landslide in an area where governments assummed no landslide risk. How do you overcome the dilemma? You don't rely on a map or some quickfiz advice to tell you . You have people operating professionally in the area whose training and experience ( very important ) is sufficient to know what the unfamiliar and complex behaviour of the hard to see wolf is.You have to have seen a few to start with!

Adapting for the information Age

2009-02-13T16:48:00.000-08:00

Black Saturday Victoria - why the warnings didn't work?
In the information Age - timing,and content must reach above the noise
Quite a bit has been written about manageing the risk (here)and understanding it (here)in relation esp to the Bushfires of 09
The point of this note is to promote the (less well known requirements) for attention in the information age .

We are so busy and have so many distractions .
Therefore
1.-Interest (We are so busy and have so many distractions )Loudness ( its time for tea children .I said now NOW ) volume has to be well above the background
2.- Choose the time more exactly ( 5 minutes too early is too early )
3.-Use the other senses ( file food under the nose if necessary but that takes your time )touch them or kiss them ( again you don't have time you want the tea to be cooked just on time)

For more serious review post bushfire season : How use Radio better in 1 and 2 - its one of the best means of doing both and the focus from 774 has been better than in last fires where only a few community stations were dedicated . However things could be better;Community stations offer truly dedicated truly local , Radio services are not used specifically well ( Are the ABC building capacity outside ----rather too mush inside? ; whats new with "the other wolfs"???? ) .