![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 23 of 23. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 18:58:24
So, I moved into a State House back in January. After a period of homelessness and so on...
It's a pretty nice State House. It's free-standing on a 800 square meter section in a quiet neighbourhood. I can always put myself in a room in the house where I can't hear people yelling out at each other, or whatever.
It only had a enclosed fire in the living area for built in heating, though. So I brought 2 electric heaters. One for my bedroom to keep the bedroom / hallway area warm. One for the kitchen / dining. I sit them on thermostats. Mostly don't heat the other bedroom, the living area (unless I want to light the fire), the laundry, the toilet, the bathroom.
There isn't air extraction in the toilet, so I need to keep the window open a bit in there, for external ventilation. So, I can't really heat the toilet.
The bathroom has air extraction, and there is air extraction over the stove, in the kitchen.
There are curtains / drapes in the rooms - but no window furnishings over the kitchen sink, in the bathroom, the laundry, the toilet. The windows are single pane glass and there is no insulation in the brick walls.
I pay quite a lot for power, running two free-standing electic heaters. But I try and keep things within World Health Organisation standards on a healthy home. But the toilet is a bit of an out-house in the winter, yeah.
Anyway...
I move in and the electrical outlets don't work. I phone the hotline number and electritions come out and bang about... And go away... And come back... And bang about... And eventually wire them up properly.
I notice lots of cracks in the windows so I phone the hotline number to announce their presence. I send them photographs. Because it wasn't noted on the housing inspection and I don't want to have to replace windows when I leave or be regarded a bad tenant.
They say they are too small (less than 5cm long, or similar) to be replaced. But note there presence - which was what I asked of them.
A guy turned up at the door telling me he was here to do a housing inspection. I said I hadn't received notification so no, he was not. He said he would take a note that I was non-compliant.
Months later I got a letter that there would be a housing inspection. That was done. No problems.
Around a month later I got a letter that there would be a housing inspection by an externally contracted firm to check security latches and check smoke alarms. That was done. He replaced one of the smoke alarms was replaced. That was good. I didn't know what to do about that. I told him that the knobs on the oven were cracked (cheap plastic) so the turning mechanisms didn't work well. I'd also noticed the power switch to the oven at the wall had been installed upside down. So flicking the switch down cut power to the oven, and flicking the switch up provided power to the oven. I said it didn't matter to me because I'm good at double-checking it by trying the light inside - but it was clearly a hazard to someone with a kid etc who might be distracted.
A few days later I got a letter that there would be a housing inspection in 2 weeks. I phoned to say there didn't need to be another one. If someone could put the 2 oven knobs for x brand of oven in my mailbox, that would be great. If the oven switch could be fixed for the NEXT tenant, that would be great.
I was told: Tough. It's happening. We have legal authority. Lady came and tested all the smoke alarms (which only needed to be tested every month). I told her that if tenants were given information on how to look after the smoke alarms (we are meant to vaccum around the detector weekly and beep test them monthly, change batteries ourselves, and landlord is meant to provide us with functioning alarms) then she wouldn't need to come and test them when they didn't need testing (and of course not be there to test them when they did). She didn't seem to care. I asked her again about the oven knobs (put them in my post-box) and explained and showed her how the oven switch had been wired upside down and my concern for the NEXT tenant.
Since then I've got an endless succession of phone calls from trade people about them coming to look at the oven.
I'm f*ck*ng sick of it.
I don't want to talk to them on the phone. I have talked to people in person and on the phone. I couldn't have been any clearer about fixing the switch for NEXT TENANT not for myself. About putting the oven knobs IN MY F*CK*NG MAILBOX.
_____________
I told my housing manager I have right to quiet enjoyment, or whatever. Any more housing inspections this year... Impinging on quiet enjoyment - yeah?
But if she decides she's got nothing better to do...
And I... What... Lose this house because I don't grant her access to it, whenever she desires that. ? Or just do whatever she says out of fear that that is what could happen. I think she would quite like the thought that I think she has that power - whether or not she actually does.
__
__We have to complete a census once ever 4 years. Paper forms. Last time, we could fill out forms online, or paper forms. Every time people won't do it / refuse. Every time at least some of those people are hauled before the courts. There is some fine... Can't remember the amount. There is stuff accessible on Google about how the public defender tells people 'here's the paper form do it now' which preventes it from going before the judge at the last minute...
We also have to complete Stats NZ (government department) surveys if we are selected for them. I got selected for an economic survey. Something about how much money I have and how I spend my money so the government can plan for infrastructure. I was told that a Stats NZ surveyer would interview me, in my home, for 40 minutes. I needed to phone them to set up a time that was convenient for me, otherwise, they would come back door-knocking at a time that was convenient for them.
I emailed them. Leave paper forms in mail box or by side door. I'll post them to return.
Then I got a succession of calling cards shoved under my door. One of them hand scribbled 'can't do that, survey needs to be done in person'.
I taped notes to my door 'for the second time leave paper...'
calling card..
'for the third and final time leave paper...'
calling card..
I taped a tresspass note to the door with the name of the particular Stats NZ person.
calling card..
I took a copy of the tresspass note to the police station to log (as you are supposed to) and the police wouldn't accept it. I had to pay, like 12 bucks to have it track and trace and sign for delivery.
Why?
So when I get fined 600 dollars for not doign the survey the judge can see that I've done my best to do the survey in an official language of this country (written English). Whether or not the trespass note is binding (the issue is you might need to hand it to the person personally rather than leaving it someplace for them to collect -- even though my front door was already established as a medium of communication between us and they had responsed to notice from there before and they certainly can't claim they didn't know that I wanted them to leave paper forms and otherwise leave me alone later).
Anyway...
Now I'm finding that I get 'missed call' from tradespeople several times a day.
And calling cards from stats NZ fairly often when I come back from having gone out (talking about 4 or 5 calling cards, here).
SOmetimes BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG on the door.
____________
YOu might think: Why not just answer the phone or answer the door and talk to them.
Why not??
Could I have been any clearer about what it is that I want?
If people aren't responsive to what I've said already...
Why would I open my door / answer my phone to them
?
I f*ck*ng hate this country.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 19:04:23
In reply to Feeling harrassed, posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 18:58:24
And this is why you want a big fence you can padlock around the front perimeter of your section.
And this is why Housing New Zealand doesn't provide that for tenants.
And this is why you want a guard dog.
And this is why Housing New Zealand doesn't allow there tenants to have dogs (usually - there are ways around that).
And this is why you want to get yourself a shot-gun.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 19:10:47
In reply to Re: Feeling harrassed, posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 19:04:23
But an interesting thing is that surveys like that provide the government and outside agencies such as the UN and the WHO with information about people in the country.
In this case, information about a random sampling of peoples income and how they spend it.
It has often been noted that we don't have good information about the income of the highest earners. We don't have information about where / how they get their money, or how they spend it.
I guess they don't fill out the survey forms. If they are wealthy, they could simply decide to pay the $600 fine for not completing the survey.
But will it even get to that point? Who decides which people will actually be prosecuted / fined for not filling out their surveys?
Are they really going to pursue this with me, in court, for example, since doing so would likely result in the judiciary curbing the power of Stats NZ by saying that while people are legally required to complete surveys they are most certainly NOT required to let stats nz surveyers into their home or personally tell a stats nz surveyer all their answers to survey questions.
I mean... Do you really see doctors, lawyers, engineers, politians, and chief executives all making a cup of tea to have a yak to their stats nz surveyer?
Even less the gangsters, and so on. I mean c'mon. ffs.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 19:15:55
In reply to Re: Feeling harrassed, posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 19:10:47
I mean... This isn't about 'we don't have information about the wealthiest' this is 'we don't have information about anyone who cares at all about their privacy and, ultimately, human rights'.
I mean... I suppose it is possible that some people actually like having a good old chat to others about how much money they earn and how they spend it.
But really, is there anyone at all (rich or poor) who thinks that information is likely to be used in ways that do anything other than harm one?
I've been reading some stats on how 'there is no evidence that people who are poor spend their money less well than people who are wealthy, just that they are poorer'.
i am thinking about who has an interest in overturning that.
I've been reading some stats on how 'there is no evidence that poor people spend more on alcohol than people who are wealthy' and so on...
It's like how people are good at hijacking the debate and so on with words... people try and do the same old same old with meaningless stats.
you just gotta keep away from it / them as much as you can.
but these bullies at the door...
their job description...
the people who hire them...
Posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 19:37:29
In reply to Re: Feeling harrassed, posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 19:15:55
There is just no point talking to people in this country.
The 'front line' Policemen and Work and Income workers and AskAuckland or AskOtago univesity question services. Citizens advice or free community law centre. Student Union. Housing New Zealand front line (to apply for a house) Housing New Zealand phone line (to report things that need to be done -- unless you want to be harrassed by tradespeople / housing managers).
There's no point talking to these people.
There's some kind of foetal alcohol thing going on... Something...
Some inability to parse the meaning.
Of course it's impolite to say so (I should be murdered in my sleep).
And they will say that I have communication problems. Must be the Autism.
That's why I just go... Let's do it in writing, or not at all.
Then I've got the written record for the judge.
And I don't have to be accused of having 'communication problems' when the issue is that I'm not stepping aside to let the bullies do whatever it is that the bullies want to do. I'm not interacting with them on demand. I'm not sufficiently entertaining for them.
But now, of course, it will be some kind of a disability that makes written communication my preferred medium. My ability to go 'I've told you once, I've told you twice, I've told you three times' (when it comes to my human rights) and then cease to engage. That ability... Constitutes a disability. Constitutes grounds for targeting... Persecution?
?
At what point does one say that really... That's what it's about. Yeah.
____________
An issue is that I keep odd hours. In writing thesis... I work best with things reversed. Even though this is a quiet house during the day there is still something within myself that makes the late evening / smallest hours of the day my most productive time to flow / edit into flow my thesis work.
So I sleep odd hours.
I don't want to answer the door in my pjs with bedhead just because someone else has dictated it to be a 'reasonable hour'. Not in my own home.
I shouldn't have to explain myself. Not in my own home.Which is why, of course, I don't get my own home.
They couldn't be any clearer about that.
THey do seem to love to persecute me, so. They certainly can't say that they don't know that I want them to leave me alone / cease communication with me.
Leave stuff in my mailbox. That's what the mailbox is for.
And that's precisely why the government sold off it's postal service, or whatever. It will be the mailboxes, next.
And email written records will be edited by some (but not others) like phone conversations are only accessible by them (and not by me) so, for example, when Work and Income warns me about assault and I request that a competent person review that security camera footage... Well, the footage isn't there, for me.
I need to buy a security camera and tape it to my head in order to appear in public, here.
Even then I don't suppose there would be justice for me...
I don't suppose there would be...
Unless it went high up enough in the courts...
But people are employed specifically to make sure the people who have actual competency and so on never get to assess that fact in me...
Posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 19:44:53
In reply to Re: Feeling harrassed, posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 19:15:55
And it mostly is about some kind of frontal lobe deficiency.
A reactivity.
People react rather than respond.
Their knee-jerk reaction is not something they are actually committed to, or whatever. It is just their knee-jerk reaction.
And you have these reactive people and they dialogue... Snap, snap, snap, snap at each other.
And they don't mean what they say, and they don't say what they mean.
And you have people hired to... Entertain them. Interact with them.
I don't cope very well with those people. Because they don't listen to what you say, they assume you are reacting rubbish. You are bored / lonely / and are stopping by to have a reactive dialogue. Or something.
This quite simply is why you want a house with gates that prevent passers-by from bothering you.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 19:47:09
In reply to Re: Feeling harrassed, posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 19:44:53
And I do understand that you are supposed to show you are different by not 'rising to the bait'. By remaining calm.
Only... I'd need to be pretty f*ck*ng drunk or high, indeed, for that to be much of a viable option.
Much of New Zealand feels that way.
Foetal alcohol effects breeds foetal alcohol effects breeds foetal alcohol effects... Take a chill pill dude, it's all good. What? Huh? You talking to me, Bro? Tee hee.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 20:45:25
In reply to Re: Feeling harrassed, posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 19:47:09
There needs to be a central heating system installed.
And water filtration. All my clothes are getting wrecked because of (I think) metal deposits in the water. Everything comes out of the washer crunchy and crispy. I've tried regular washer powder (disolving it beforehand) and I've tried a blend of washer powder and fabric softener (which makes scud, oopsie). I do warm washes to help the soap because of sweaty gym gear... I've tries washing with only fabric softener...
Everything is still getting crispy and weird. And I'm getting freaking crap loads of lint every wash. And I think my washer is gentle... But my clothes and towels and sheets and everything... Everything is starting to fall apart.
I really think it is because of the water.
And they put in a freaking low pressure water system. I think the idea is that you use less water because people base their washing habits on how much time they spend in the shower (the idea that time spent in the shower is not affected by water pressure). The thing is that I spend the time it takes to wash the soap off my body and out of my hair. With a low pressure system all that takes longer... Because it takes the amount of water that it takes. Pretty sure...
Wasting time...
Sigh.
Other people. Gotta love it when they get to be in charge of me.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 22:21:22
In reply to Re: Feeling harrassed, posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 20:45:25
people have started speaking up about the inequalities in nz.
the money that goes to chief executives and the like.
less complaining about members of parliament, but maybe that will start soon.
the money that goes to 11x20 people sitting on district health boards in a country of 4 million people.
i see now the issue with nursing and medicine and even university academic isn't the pay scales on paper. on paper these occupations look pretty great, if money is your driver.
the issue is that people are required to take on the responsibilities of higher levels - without any of the benefits, however. without the title (for your cv). without the perks around conference attendance or around extra training. without the holidays. without the financial incentive to require a little less overtime of them.
and so people do it... have done it... that's how come things have been working as well as they have. in our universities and in our hospitals.
graduate students have been doing the work of lecturers have been doing the work of associate professors have been doing the work of professors...
all the way up to the executives and the like. who do all the work of... accumulating wealth towards themselves and crying about how we don't have the money to improve the student / teacher ratio or we don't have the money to employ senior doctors or nurses.
apparently the situation is one where people say they refuse to acknowledge their qualifications and / or they refuse to formally acknowledge their competency. people are competent enough to take on the responsibilities -- but nobody will sign them off as competent for what they have done such that they have the qualifications to be remunerated accordingly.
so we have people stuck indefinately as junior doctors. and we have people stuck indefinately as sessional teaching assistants. and so on.
and the chief executives think oh, what a wonderful world.. and, uh, pat themselves on the back as yet another one on the waitlist bites the dust because, uh, we didn't have the senior clinicians to clear the wait lists.
because they refused to hire them.
because they refused to maintain teh buildings and to keep up to date with the infrastructure such that accreditation boards would allow accreditation in their hospitals.
these are the choices they made.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 22:22:06
In reply to Re: tyrrany, posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 22:21:22
which is why i'm doing another master's degree.
because the university won't acknowledge a qualification more than 5 years old.
and who is going to make them?
Posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 22:25:33
In reply to Re: tyrrany, posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 22:21:22
and there's no shortage of incompetent and so on foreigners to hire.
hire those ones over and above the obviously competent ones, where possible.
the ones, ideally, who will get in there! and have a go! and f*ck things up so they can do 'see! see! we were right to not acknowledge their previous qualifications'.
yes.
well done.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 23:13:36
In reply to Re: tyrrany, posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 22:25:33
though, again, the aim isn't to 'join them'...
it's meant to be about the hours. people want to be able to work less hours.
response: you need to work long hours when you are training to build competence.
reponse to response: if i was training then people would be ticking off that i could do this and that and i've be gaining formal qualifications that would enable me to apply for postions that acknowledged the work i do in the job description.
this is different from expecting junior doctors to work long long long long hours without any of it contributing towards any of that.
i think that is the complaint.
we have to leave nz to train. or... we have to become gps. gps ain't so bad. only in nz i think it is. because we don't understand informed consent and we have to work for the government.
i have lost all respect for our government.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 24, 2018, at 19:29:26
In reply to Re: personal diary correction, posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 23:13:36
when the highly paid government people say (in defence of their salaries) 'we would earn more in the private sector' they aren't being DESCRIPTIVE. They are being PRESCRIPTIVE. they are telling us where their money goes. into the private sector so they can retire from government work, on even higher salaries.
for the good of, uh...
i wonder how long it will be before civil war. i think that will be the next war. civil wars. in developed nations.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 24, 2018, at 20:02:48
In reply to Re: personal diary correction, posted by alexandra_k on August 23, 2018, at 23:13:36
I really have lost all respect for our government.
I used to trust them. I used to trust they were looking out for the people. I used to trust they made the best decisions they could with respect to helping the people have the things they needed / wanted so they could live good and healthy lives.
And I just don't trust them, anymore.
If there are good, competent people who are interested in looking out for the people... I think they are more likely to be found in the private sector than in government. Government is where you go when you are interested in screwing over the masses to profit yourself. Government is where you go when you don't have the skills or talents or anything at all such that you could make it in the private sector.
I never used to understand why Americans felt so strongly about gun ownership as personal protection. I understand why they do, now. Because the biggest threat to your personal safety is likely to be, not from random civilians, but from government. When you have government employees -- police officers and military forces and so on -- with guns, then you need guns to defend yourself. It isn't necessarily about taking pot shots at the door to door salesman with your bb gun so as he gets the f*ck*ng message that it's time to go. It's about what you do when Stats USA (or whoever) decides it's time to do a 'compulsory intervew survey' of... I don't know... Sexual Health? Maybe an inventory of your assets at your place of residence?
I suppose, at the very least, it's a way out, if you think that there really isn't another way out.
________
I was thinking it was funny (odd, not haha) about this ethics problem we used to ask the first years about... To hear what they had to say...
You say 'you are in a prison / concentration camp in Nazi Germany. You have identical twin kids. They are around 6. The Nazi guard hands you a gun and says you need to shoot one of the kids, you can choose which kid, and if you don't the guart will shoot both kids.'
You ask them: What would you do, and why?
A discussion unfolds about what sorts of differences might be relevant between the twins such that you would be justified in shooting one, rather than the other. Students wonder whether you might be justified in shooting the weaker one, for instance, on the grounds that that one is least likely to survive, anyway. Maybe some wondering about whether that would be.... Not racist, exactly, but picking on the weak -- well -- would it be justified in those circumstances?
What most nobody ever says is: Well, you shoot the guard who put you in that position.
Or... You refuse to shoot either of them. Shooting either one of them would be wrong. You can refuse to do wrong. You aren't making him shoot one or the other or both of them. You are responsible for your actions and he is responsible for his.
But nobody would say any of that.
I wonder if we would get different student responses from more affluent student backgrounds. Backgrounds where people are more likely to have a notion of... Rights.. Healthy self esteem.. That kind of stuff.
I don't know.
I fear...
People view it more as a license to behave badly. To do things they want to do but are typically prevented from. Like how Freud seemed to think that civilisation was this thing we did because we weren't allowed to run around doing whatever we wanted sexually. This idea that people have urges to go around murdering others... Sort of looking for opportunities to do this in a socially sanctioned way. That is why people are so quick to do these sorts of jobs.
Around 3/4 would give electric shocks sufficeint to kill just because someone said 'go on, it's okay'.
I wonder more about these people who won't. What becomes of them.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 24, 2018, at 21:23:56
In reply to Re: personal diary correction, posted by alexandra_k on August 24, 2018, at 20:02:48
i worry about television and computer games...
i know, people have been saying for a while that people don't seem to have a sense of ethics / morality anymore, but they really do seem to be... devolving.
the space guy said something about how we can't get peace right on earth, why would we think we would get it right in space. to do with how on earth we don't stop and help people in need (we are more likely to take pot shots at them in the name of 'you aren't supposed to be there'). why would we think astronauts would be bound to help other astronauts in danger?
partly it is about things going from the few to the masses...
in the beginning of television... it was more civilised, in a way. books, too. when it was hard to produce such things. when only a select few were able to produce such things... the quality of the things was better than... well... significanatly better than the average now. though i suppose there are a greater diversity of really great things now. if you can find them... amongst the rubble...
things like game of thrones and the 500 and so on... teach people a warped sense of morality. a warped sense of what like if `really like' for people at a time / age when they are vulnerable and impressionable and looking for people to emulate as their heroes. they market these things as 'morally gray' and cognitively developed, sophisticated, and so on... but they are barbarians with only a superficial grasp... they walk themselves right into morally problematic things. this idea to teach people that basically this is how people behave. everybody is culpable. to present this as the sophisticated view. to condone the culpability (if everyone is culpable, nobody is culpable). to sell the idea that everyone is playing the same game of trying to screw everyone else over and if you don't take the opportouniteis you fine you are going ot be stomped all over.
computer games...
worse...
themes are becoming worse. canibalism and so on.... there was a controversy over some aspects or elements of grand theft auto. some of the morally dubious things you could do. whether there was a correlation or interaction between doing these sorts of morally dubious things in computer games and doing these sorts of morally dubious things in real life.
the idea, usually, was 'it's only a game - it's all a victimless crime'. only... in the real world... people justify their actions as victimless, too. still and again: no harm to persons or people.
the notion of persons or people is precarious.
there is something Aristotelian about cultivating a character.
desensitisation to violence.
but more than violence, now. normalising imprisonment and torture and canibalism and so on...
i think fascinations / inclinations towards such things do tell you important things about people.
i wonder, sometimes, if these games are produced to enable people to assess precisely that.
i hope they are used to promote good... in some way... somehow... that some good comes of such things...
i have no faith in government...
not the branches of it i've seen, at any rate.
i guess that's the thing really, isn't it.
there are persons somewhere - right???
Posted by alexandra_k on August 24, 2018, at 21:28:09
In reply to Re: personal diary correction, posted by alexandra_k on August 24, 2018, at 21:23:56
that's why Singer said the stuff he did...
about how you don't even treat animals like that.
you don't even treat non-persons like that.
you don't even approach the non-living world like that.well, i don't know if he said precisely that....
there is something in pan-psychism... with repect to a... caring. respectful. peaceful. approach to... the universe.
because i wonder where the people are / where the people go.
but even if there aren't people... even if all of these are just empty shell zombies with no conscious experience such that they cannot feel any pain or suffering... even if all that was the case...
there would still be something fundamentally wrong about going on a mass rampage for purely for fun.
something wrong about mass destruction.
i don't know.
what happened to intellectual / academic community?
oh, yeah, there got to be a bunch of money around universities and a bunch of people more interested in collecting it me-wards than in anything else...
i'm never doing philosophy again after this.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 24, 2018, at 21:41:06
In reply to Re: personal diary correction, posted by alexandra_k on August 24, 2018, at 21:28:09
and of course there is a notion, but it is hard to articulate...
you would notice it in pediatrics. in how people respond to infants who can't come out and say what it is that they need.
the idea of attunement. people who are try and figure out what they need.
vs people who try and impose what they need on those who are without power.
it's most strikingly obvious when you have 3 times in writing (and no communication to contrary / opposing effect or message).
but it's something you can assess in some people with respect to how they treat animals, yeah.
whether they are like 'come here now because i want you to be here now' and 'sit here now because i want you to sit here now'. i mean... like... on first meeting. and when the cat or the dog or whatever isn't... responded to... when there isn't a mutual responsivity... and the person would kick at them or stand on their tail or whatever.
of course there are animals who are more or less responsive, too. ones who bound up to everything all giddy or approach everything with fight in mind.
ones that are more laid back and sensitive to mutuality.
so it isn't about foetal alcohol. animals display it too.
and now i'm treating it like it's an invariant character pathology instead of something affected by a variety of things that can vary depending...
Posted by alexandra_k on August 24, 2018, at 21:53:15
In reply to Re: personal diary correction, posted by alexandra_k on August 24, 2018, at 21:41:06
so it turns out that the churches here have defined euthanasia such that:
euthanasia does not happen now. it is illegal. it does not happen in our hospitals or our aged care facilities or during birthing.
if euthanasia is legalised then people will slaughter the disabled.
and such things that do happen, now, in our hospitals and aged care facilities and in birthing on a rather regular basis, like:
- turning off a life support machine
- not putting someone into an available life support machine
- turning off an incubator
- not putting someone into an available incubator
- not resucitating
- removing nutrition feeding tubes / not providing nutrients
- not changing dialysis bags
- providing a dose of a drug that is likely to result in deathnone of these things count as euthanasia. because, again, euthanasia is not something that happens in New Zealand.
so...
in my medical interview... when i was asked about my view on euthanasia... the 'socially acceptable response' that showed the interview committee that i was not a sociopath was supposed to be:
nonononono under no circumstances never. if euthanasia were to be legalised disabled people would be murdered in their sleep!
but instead i had in mind the above cases that occur in our hospitals and aged care facilities and birthing hubs (though perhaps not the non-birthing birthing hubs) all the f*ck*ng time.
because it's actually complicated. whether / when any of these things should occur. and you do need to factor in what the person wants (whether they have expressed views to people about what they want if they find themself in a coma one day). you also need to factor in the family. probably allow the family time to come together and see for themselves and come to terms with things.
otherwise... what? what do they want to happen? they want doctors to make these decisions while pretending they aren't making these decisions? Or, what? they want managers to be making these decisions on the basis of what? deciding whether money should go to keeping patient A on life support and / or patient B on life suppor and / or a pay increase for themselves?
Is that how it's supposed to go down? That's the non-psychopath answer? That's the socially acceptable response?
?
Posted by alexandra_k on August 24, 2018, at 22:21:38
In reply to Re: personal diary correction, posted by alexandra_k on August 24, 2018, at 21:28:09
balance.
the thing with computer games.
you have different races
classes
weapons
spellsand so on.
and a great game is a game where things are balanced.
where there are genuinely differnet ways of being...
and when none is overpowered.
you see peoples reponse to things being overpowered.
you see an immature strategy where people only have an eye to their own particular preferences (interesting, huh, how people get to pick their starting stats to a greater or lesser extent). some people think it's just great when theirs is overpowered. or they think it's just great that there is an overpowered spell or something. or that there is a particlar artifact that they know how to get. that's there reward for keeping their eyes open and so on.
and then you have a more mature strategy where people have an eye to balance for all the classes and so on.
it's like how some people think it's fun to cheat if they can get away with it.
some people like to play with overpowered modifications.
i don't mean experimenting in sandbox mode in order to learn things or whatever (that is playing a different game).
i mean some people prefer to play games then they are significantly overpowered compared to others.
it is interesting to me. the psychology behind all that.
and the idea of sort of mass effect games vs more individual vs individual. there's a sense of balance of power for the mass effect games that is playing a bit differently.
well... no different to how you factor in certain classes pets or minions or whatever i suppose.
but yeah.
it does come back to something cognitive.
and it is something that can be assessed.
but it isn't.
or maybe it is.
twas an evil little man who told me i interviewed badly. he never should have disclosed my score - and what makes me think he did so honestly? he was playing the role of evil little man, i mean. he who is sent by the university council to inform me i don't have the authority to bring a matter before the attention of the council. he has been employed by them to say 'nonononono that will not go before the council' to anyone trying to bring a matter before them.
that's a good job, aye?
because they are far too busy. on the money they earn. the number of board meetings they have. it's so f*ck*ng hard for them to calculate their next pay raise...
Posted by alexandra_k on August 27, 2018, at 0:55:07
In reply to Re: personal diary correction, posted by alexandra_k on August 24, 2018, at 22:21:38
it's a like a bounty on their heads.
it's the 'cost of being black' sort of idea.
the rough idea is that we can calculate the cost of being black. it is the additional risk that one has in virtue of being black. see, you count up how many (sick black people / the number of black people) and you put that over how many (sick white people / the number of white people) and now you have number like 2.4. Then you get to say 'black people are 2.4x as likely to get sick than white people'. Then you get to say 'the risk of getting sick, as a black person is 2.4x the risk of a white person getting sick'. then you get to say that a black person represents an additional burden of disease (to a public health system, or a potential employer, lets say) of 2.4x that of a white person.
and then you say 'so, if you want me to enrol black people in my clinic... in my university... in my school... then i want to get MORE money for having them than i have for each and every white person'.
and then there is, like, a bounty on their heads.
and they are now the target for people to 'help' them -- all these people who are only interseted in helping themselves (to more money) are now supposed to be motivated to help the black people. or to help themselves to the black people or to help themselves at the expense of the black people. or something like that. it gets hard and confusing.
that's how we got a special clinic here targeting maaori and poor people. the manager guy in charge (formerly dean of med) managed to persuade the government to put a bounty on their heads for him so he could have a clinic sufficiently lucrative for him to retire from position as dean of med into that clinic.
that's after he made sure that the quotas of maaori students in medicine positions were not filled.
here's the idea on that one: maaori students have lower academic outcomes than non-maaori students. more work needs to go into educating them to achieve similar educatonal outcomes at university. so the university needs a bounty on their heads, again, in order to accept them at all... the government provided additional funding for additional places in medicine that were supposed to go to maaori students. but in order for maaori student to be eligabe to take one of those places they needed to attain a level of outcome from the end of first year... that they didnt'. which meant that the university got to give those maaori funded places to non maaori. which they then did.
someone asked the question 'is letting maaori into medicine setting them up to fail' and the response was 'no. once they are in there isn't any benefit to failing them. if they are failed out then they aren't replaced by a non-maaori, there is just one less medical student'.
that was a radio interview just last year.
apparently questioning the capitated (aka 'bounty on their heads') model of funding is 'racist'. we aren't allowed to question it, here.
but see see see where the money goes.
and see the futures they have predicted.
be sure to invest accordingly!
Posted by alexandra_k on August 27, 2018, at 1:00:58
In reply to Re: capitated funding, posted by alexandra_k on August 27, 2018, at 0:55:07
i mean, so he now gets more money from the government for each and every maaori he manages to enrol.
and maybe he gets more money from the government for each and every poor person, too.
which is why he wants a clinic that targets maaori and poor people, specifically.
because he can't ask them to pay higher co-pays, you see. that's the idea. their personal contribution is capped - but the government contributes more for these people than other people. of course the other people (with the higher government co-pays) are the people the government gives higher salaries to, in the first place, but that's neither here nor there...
and what of the clinics outcomes?
well, maaori and poor people just do have worse outcomes. see, more and more and more and more needs to be poured into their care (to him to look after them and not to them directly) for worse outcomes.
the outcomes need to be worse, because that's the value of the bounty on their heads.
so more and more money goes in... and worse and worse outcomes come out.
ingenious.
or something.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 27, 2018, at 1:04:53
In reply to Re: personal diary correction, posted by alexandra_k on August 24, 2018, at 22:21:38
we call this access to medical care.
nurses provide the medical care while doctors manage the clinics. see. it all makes perfect sense.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 27, 2018, at 1:09:52
In reply to Re: personal diary correction, posted by alexandra_k on August 27, 2018, at 1:04:53
only...
then how does the university clinic here get to cry 'poor'.
i mean the clinic serves a student population of, like, 20,000.
and the students are only here for, like 26 weeks of the year.
but that doesn't matter, they could just PHO sign them up in virtue of their student ID number. fairly sure something like that happens in fact.
and, of course, nobody in their right mind uses the university medical clinic here... if you get sick, well, you'd f*ck*ng wait to go to your family GP back home...
but the clinic isn't paid by the number of visits. it's paid by the number of patients enrolled in the clinc.
so... sign them up... and provide nasty nasty nasty nasty care. hi, you've come to see us. check out our wait room with all the surveillance cams and how everyone can clearly hear everyones business...
and so on...
how bad can we make things before people get the message: f*ck off.
we got the money for your birthing, but we really don't want to see your face around here.
we got the money for enrolling you as student.
but of course ditto.
'externally contract' out the bathroom cleaning services and so on...
just how bad can we get things to be?
we call it the 'low road to economic growth'. best place in the world in which to do business. because, uh, i guess we couldn't / wouldn't do it any other way.
This is the end of the thread.
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