Jim McVeagh

Safety First - MacDoctor

Jan 12, 2011 •

• Safety,
• satire,
• Sciblogs

Coroner Demands Jet Ski changes A Wellington coroner has demanded mandatory helmets, lap belts and roll bars for all Jet Skis in New Zealand, blasting the authorities for a lack of action. In his reserved findings into the death of 21-year-old Elephant Farmer, Hamish MacTavish, coroner Ian Smith said at least 3 people had died [...] Related posts:

1. Safety
2. Safety or Enforcement?
3. Picking on Nick

No Storm on the Horizon - MacDoctor

Jan 02, 2011 •

• Baby Boomers,
• Economics,
• Employment,
• media,
• Population bomb,
• Population Statistics,
• Sciblogs,
• Society,
• statistics

Every now and again we see stories of doomsayers talking about population “bombs” and “storms”. The Sunday Star Times runs one today which suggests that there is “a gaping hole in New Zealand’s workforce where all the 20 – 35-year-olds should be”. There is only one problem with this analysis from Professor Natalie Jackson, who [...] Related posts:

1. Magic Bullet
2. No Hole on the Horizon
3. The Right Thing

Hard to Get - MacDoctor

Dec 28, 2010 •

• Dean Scanlen,
• Driving licenses,
• Elderly Health,
• Law Enforcement,
• Road Safety,
• Safety,
• Sciblogs,
• Training

Dean Scanlen makes an impassioned plea for stricter driving license laws in the Herald today. I have much sympathy with his call to make the driving test more comprehensive. I have long been an advocate of making the defensive driving and the advanced driving courses compulsory for learner drivers. This would certainly provide new drivers [...] Related posts:

1. Licensed to Kill
2. Mostly Nothing
3. Driving Impaired

Spam Journalism #83 - MacDoctor

Dec 26, 2010 •

• death,
• Hazards,
• New Zealand,
• Sciblogs,
• statistics,
• Travel,
• vaccination

Spam Journalism: The spurious use of sensational headlines to add spice to an otherwise pointless article. Just for a change of pace, here’s a bit of travel spam that’s been hijacked as a piece of vaccine propaganda. More Kiwis die on foreign soil Kiwi’s lax attitude to getting our travel jabs may be killing us. [...] Related posts:

1. Cough or Cry
2. Too Little, Too Late
3. Spam Journalism #84

Kidz Go Free… - MacDoctor

Dec 13, 2010 •

• child abuse,
• Child Health,
• Child Poverty,
• Children's Commission,
• Children's Social Health Monitor,
• Cindy Kiro,
• Elizabeth Craig,
• Emergency Departments,
• Employment,
• Families,
• John Angus,
• Medical Practice,
• Sciblogs

The Herald has a fascinating example of how statistics can be filtered through an agenda to say, more or less, what you want. The latest set of statistics from the Children’s Social Health Monitor have been interpreted by Prof Cindy Kiro and the current Children’s Commissioner, John Angus, to mean that the recession is having [...] Related posts:

1. A Puff Too Far
2. Spam Journalism #57
3. Politicians Kill Children?

Meanwhile, in the Real World… - MacDoctor

Dec 05, 2010 •

• computers,
• internet,
• ISPs,
• Quango,
• Sciblogs,
• TUANZ,
• web

Tucked in a corner of the Herald on Sunday in this little gem. Rights salvo fired at Slingshot It could be dubbed the Slingshot law. Consumer organisations have singled out the company while asking the Government to force phone and internet companies to a scheme designed to protect customer rights. And the Government has signalled [...] Related posts:

1. Disconnected
2. Biting the Hand that Feeds
3. Customer Service?

The Social Lens of Social Medicine - MacDoctor

Nov 16, 2010 •

• Dr. Tim Parke,
• Hospitals,
• Medical Practice,
• politics,
• Private Healthcare,
• Public Health,
• Sciblogs,
• Social Medicine,
• State Health,
• Stupidity,
• USA,
• world

Tim Parke, the Clinical Director of Auckland Hospital Emergency Department, has written an opinion piece in today’s Herald, extolling the virtues of state health care. “Universal” health care, as he calls it. That word immediately alerts me to the socialist thinking that will be behind the article. The most obvious aspect of state health is [...] Related posts:

1. Over My Dead Body
2. Obamacare Wins (Maybe)
3. Two Tiers

Victory for Reason - MacDoctor

Nov 12, 2010 •

• DHBs,
• Dunedin,
• Hospitals,
• Labour,
• National,
• Neurosurgery,
• politics,
• Populism,
• Ruth Dyson,
• Sciblogs,
• Tony Ryall

Though you wouldn’t believe it from the tripe spouted forth in the media, the outcome of the South Island Neurosurgery saga is a triumph of level-headed reason in the face of massive public pressure. It is clear from reading the actual report from the panel entrusted with gathering the facts and making a decision, that [...] Related posts:

1. Another Promise Kept
2. National Health (Board)
3. Your Ass is Grass

Cooking with Alcohol - MacDoctor

Oct 24, 2010 •

• Alcohol,
• BAC,
• Drink Driving,
• Herald,
• media,
• Sciblogs,
• Society,
• statistics,
• Stupidity,
• Two Drinks Max

The Herald has kicked off it’s “Two Drinks Max” campaign today. Just what we need – more emotional heat and less rationality. I don’t have any problem with the somewhat simplistic “Two Drinks Max”. If people want to pledge themselves to this; more power to them. However, I do object to the dishonest way the [...] Related posts:

1. Mostly Nothing
2. Spam Journalism #58
3. Driving Impaired

The Worm in the Apple - MacDoctor

Oct 22, 2010 •

• Cell Phones,
• IPhone,
• John Lawler,
• Law Enforcement,
• Sciblogs,
• security,
• Stupidity,
• Viruses

Readers of MacDoctor will know that I always find virus scares on Macs vastly amusing. While there have been the odd trojan and plenty of those nasty phishing scams, there has never been a virus reported in the wild on Mac OSX. It is not surprising that I viewed the following headline with great skepticism: [...] Related posts:

1. Give Me a Phone Where the Data Doth Roam…
2. Cellular Stupidity (Updated)
3. Spam Journalism #61