Who's Yankiwi?

[Chief Stipe]

1 hour ago, Yankiwi said:

I haven't corrected (manipulated) anything Chief.

There is an easy answer however.

The first dump of data (which is where this journey began for me) had the beginning point of 1 Jan 2024.

 

After that I decided to work backwards to the beginning of GRNZ's racing season (Aug 1 to July31) as that is what they would eventually report on & I wanted to be able to compare apples with apples.

After adding those 5 months of previous results it magically seemed to better represent the configuration outcome.

 

Obviously, we come from very different worlds. The likes of GRNZ would far prefer someone like you tracking the injury data than someone like me.

You're from the world of retrieving data, normalizing it (manipulating it) into something different than what actually is.

In my word I don't need to manipulate the data. I analyze & share it for what it actually happened in the real world.

During Sunday's meet in Auckland

• 89 dogs went around the track.
• 6 dogs received an injury stand-down during the meet.
• The stand-down periods (in days) were 60, 5, 42, 42, 7, 10.
• That means there were (3) "1 to 10 day" injuries, (2) "22 to 42 day" injuries and (1) "43 to 90 day" injuries.
• Therefore, 83 dogs raced and did not receive an injury (basic math skills required to work this fact out).
• https://www.grnz.co.nz/catch-the-action/15782/result-detail.aspx

During Monday's meet in Christchurch.

• 116 dogs went around the track.
• 5 dogs received an injury stand-down during the meet.
• The stand-down periods (in days) were 5, 14, 14, 60, 7.
• That means there were (2) "1 to 10 day" injuries, (2) "11 to 21 day" injuries and (1) "43 to 90 day" injury.
• Therefore 111 dogs raced and did not receive an injury.
• https://www.grnz.co.nz/catch-the-action/15783/stewards-report.aspx

 

 

So, no Chief, this data has not been normalized nor will it be.

Without manipulating (normalizing) it, the data is as normal as it can be.

Sorry if this doesn't suit your binary world very well.

Signed: 0010011011011000010110101011110110

You've obviously absolutely no idea about statistics.  That's why I can't take you seriously even if your motivation was genuine.

[Yankiwi]

GRNZ's 2023/2024 racing season.

 

From the "Hock" study.

On 4/02/2024 at 7:30 PM, Yankiwi said:

Individual track totals

• Auckland - 5 - 17.8% of the broken hocks with 12.17% of all starters
• Cambridge - 1 - 3.6% of the broken hocks with 11.54% of all starters
• Wanganui - 2 - 7.1% of the broken hocks with 12.21% of all starters
• Palmerston North - 5 - 17.8% of the broken hocks %with 12.24% of all starters
• Christchurch - 13 - 46.4% of the broken hocks with 39.79% of all starters
• Southland - 2 - 7.1% of the broken hocks with 12.05% of all starters.

 

From the "Gracilis" study.

21 hours ago, Yankiwi said:

Summary:

Auckland is by far the most likely, 65% above the overall average.

Christchurch is 8% above the overall average.

Cambridge is near spot on the overall average.

Wanganui, Palmerston North and Southland are each about 30% under the overall average.

 

And from the overall, minor/medium and major data study, which is up to date & continuing.

 

One thing quickly become very apparent that the Auckland track top the list in every category.

Per capita this racing season, Auckland has been most likely to have a greyhound break a hock, have a gracilis torn, have an injury requiring a stand-down, have a minor/med injury and have a major injury.

The newest GRNZ publicly released focuses I recall have been trying to work out the logistics on how to fix the Christchurch track surface (much needed), getting the Wanganui straight track up & running (an unneeded pipe dream poised for failure) and installing a new lure system at Palmerston North. The only tip of the hat thus far from GRNZ about the Auckland track has been to install (a needed) safety rail by late November last year, which they failed at because it is well more than two months overdue now.

The board & headquarters both need a complete overhaul. Neither one of them is functioning in even close to an effective way. Because of it, the entire industry is suffering, and the dogs are suffering far more often than GRNZ's KPI target allows for. They bring words and spin to the table, but they don't bring positive results.

Hopefully the newest appointment to the board will tip the scales in a more favourable direction. However, I believe that's doubtful, as the same chairman that has been & continues to lead the board in most, if not all the wrong ways.

[Yankiwi]

Somebody's been reading my posts.

Dogs that had a yellow highlight in my Gracilis study yesterday, which meant they hadn't yet returned to racing & hadn't been retired yet, have magically become retired today, ON A NATIONWIDE PUBLIC HOLIDAY.

Funny that...

 

GRNZ has nothing to hide, right?

[Yankiwi]

On 2/02/2024 at 2:32 PM, Chief Stipe said:

If you want a rock solid case for your hypothesis then you do need to include other variables like trainers.

Ok, your other variable has been added.

The difference if compared to the original results, zilch, other than maybe you'll be a bit happier, possibly?

Yep, some trainers have more than others. They also have more dogs therefore more starts therefore more chances for one to be torn.

 

Gracilis, to suit Chief's wishes.

 

My turn to ask you a question.

With~

• 6 torn in Aug
• 2 in Sept
• 3 in Oct
• 6 in Nov
• 4 in Dec
• 9 in Jan
• 3 in Feb already

Why are more getting torn in the warmer months with your cold muscle theory?

Maybe before you answer, you'll want to normalize that data, as some of those months have 30 days while others have 31. Some may also have more Saturdays with no racing than others.

Bear in mind, you will be responding to someone who once worked at a track with a normal temp range between 38c summer highs and -29c winter lows & had never heard of a "gracilis" muscle before rejuvenating my interests in Greyhound racing in NZ. (BTW +38c & -29c averages 4.5C)

GRNZ's KPI targets have not been updated to include this variable yet. Maybe tomorrow?

[Chief Stipe]

Why don't they just put a longer arm on the lure?  Or do the dogs not follow the lure?

[Yankiwi]

1 hour ago, Chief Stipe said:

Why don't they just put a longer arm on the lure?  Or do the dogs not follow the lure?

I don't know exactly why.

I can speculate that with a long arm like they had at Hinsdale, it would be lethal to the dogs on NZ tracks with their current configuration and being allowed to finish on lure.

At Hinsdale, there was a "break-man" in the infield of the track (50's or 60's technology) whose main responsibility was to step up on a long plank (for leverage) which activated some sort of steel mechanism that the lure arm made contact with as it came into the catching area which forced the entire arm to be hinged back behind the running rail.

Naturally, the first time it went past it wasn't depressed to keep the lure arm out there, then second time it approached it was activated to be kicked behind the rail.

 

Of the 4 handlers that ran the track to do the catching, two stopped & waited on some steps at the winning post, while the other two continued on to the point of the first corner. After the dogs ran past them the first time, both groups of two go back up on to the track and ran to the catching area. (Two handlers in each circle drawn)

The reason was that if a dog were to fall entering the corner (the most likely place) there would be two groups of two handlers between where the dog/dogs fell & the winning post, if the dog/dogs got back up & went in the wrong direction around the track.

One time while I was working there, one dog did fall, got up and tried to go the wrong way, however I was not one of the handlers running the track for that race. They did manage to catch the dog, take it down over the banking on the outside of the track & allow the race finished as normal, without the confused 8th starter.

 

[Yankiwi]

Oh and Chief, you're a data man, you might find this interesting.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/avj.13064

Have a look at the Supporting Information...

 

Naturally, the information must have been supplied by GRNZ, so it could have been normalized in interesting ways prior to handing it over.

[Yankiwi]

Must have been a big race night, 8 catchers all in penguin costumes.

Arrow is pointing to the brake-man.

[Yankiwi]

In the spirit of the thread, back briefly to who Yankiwi is.

 

Yankiwi is a key stakeholder under the GRNZ umbrella.

 

This is a privilege and an honour that I wasn't even aware of until this morning, when I decided to look over our GRNZ's Statement of intent for FY2024-FY2026.

I so happy you've chosen to include me as one of the team!

When can we get together and sort out the safety of our racing tracks and to begin the mothballing of the Wanganui straight track, before we spend all of or capital on the pipe dream mission set for failure?

Also, with the team's permission, I'd like to have a private 10-minute meeting with each individual on the board of directors. Once those meetings to determine whether they are worth the time of day or not have been completed, I'd then like to change focus to each individual employed within headquarters in Petone and have a similar interview in a video call to those who reside overseas.

I'm sure after I get all their individual answers to ~ You have two minutes to explain to me, "What you do for GRNZ?", I'll be able to shift the entire "needed" workload within headquarters to one third or less of the current staffing levels, after axing all the tasks people had made up for themselves trying to be relevant & busy.

I look forward to saving the industry, as a team, with you.

Edited February 6 by Yankiwi

[aquaman]

15 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

Why don't they just put a longer arm on the lure?  Or do the dogs not follow the lure?

Long arm safety issue without catching pen, also engineering problem with bramich lure, example weight problem, Not so with wire rope system. Bramich lure in use Southland, Ch Ch, Auckland.

[Chief Stipe]

1 hour ago, Yankiwi said:

Also, with the team's permission, I'd like to have a private 10-minute meeting with each individual on the board of directors. Once those meetings to determine whether they are worth the time of day or not have been completed

What if they determine you are not worth their time of day?  Perhaps they have already determined that.

[Yankiwi]

3 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

What if they determine you are not worth their time of day?  Perhaps they have already determined that.

Well for starters Chief, the GRNZ elite decided who their key shareholders were going to be. Therefore, making the decision for a critic such as myself to be equally included alongside of them shows their ability to look outside the square.

Maybe they do really want greyhound racing to not only survive, but to actually thrive. At some point they must have realized that they were on wasn't going to succeed with the same old whispers echoing in their ears.

I should have seen it coming. After they found it best to employ both a safety manager and a racing & infrastructure manager based in Australia, they warmed up to the idea that the romans racing greyhounds in the roman way could possibly be done better with experience coming from overseas.

It's a shame they didn't ring or email earlier to inform me of my appointment. I could have got started so much sooner. You know, time is money.

I suppose that breakdown in communication could have been expected to repeat, as the former Deputy Chairman of the board was ousted recently after being voted off the board entirely, a new Deputy Chairman had been moved up the ranks with an appointment & a brand new member brought to the board by popular vote, all while just deleting one name off their website, copying & pasting another name into the deputy role and adding a new name to the list, which took 12 full keystrokes (unless they first normalized his name to make their data more logical). All this must have happened while the crickets were chirping, as nothing was heard by anyone about any board movements.

I'll look into that breakdown in communication after my board & employee interviews. You've got to plug the largest leaks in a sinking ship first if you're ever going to make it become buoyant again.

[Yankiwi]

5 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

What if they determine you are not worth their time of day?  Perhaps they have already determined that.

I should have added~

Surely, they have already determined that. 

They have a long-proven track record, since at least the time I began to follow the dogs in NZ, that just about every decision they have made, have proven to be the wrong one.

If they had an open mind and listened to someone like me in the first place, who has shared information which could be critical to both their overall business & animal welfare, they wouldn't have to put up with rambling on here about their poor performance & I could get back to sorting out some of the cheats which still remain in the sport.

I could do a study such as which trainer's dogs are most likely to be charged with marring or aggression warnings/charges. It's been quite some time since those pictures of the bullring first surfaced. The underlying issue hasn't gone anywhere and it's still happening currently. Those two stats alone can be a key indicator to which kennels the caped crusaders should be looking very closely at.

Sorry to the GRNZ servers, I know it's late in the day, but I can sense your CPU's heating up already.

 

[Yankiwi]

Turn the clock back a few years...

GRNZ's methodology.

(thought bubble) Wanganui is our most injury prone track. 305m races are twice as dangerous than 520m races.

Here's what we'll do.

We'll build a straight grass track in Wanganui. Once the new track is up & running the dogs will race sprint races on the new grass track & 520m races will be held on the old track, then we'll only need to do a bit of a patch up on the old track.

 

The so-far proven & probable outcomes.

The original track needed to be completely shut down for months & refurbished regardless.

Controversially, Palmerston North needed to reinstate a once proven dangerous starting position (375m) because many of the CD dogs we not competitive without the Wanganui 305m tighter turn races available.

The new straight track has missed milestone after milestone of being up & running. I've seen no positive comments. I've read several comments of serious concerns and a few of my own surrounding the new track (curved - too far for sprinters - lack of infrastructure for public viewing, filming video for trackside, how are stewards going to oversee the races, catering and so on).

So instead of just shutting down the track for the same few months and fixing it, that they had to do anyway and resolved the one problem they had to start with, they turned it into 3 costly projects.

 

Where are they now/soon?

They have the original Wanganui track performing among the safest in the country.

They have the 375m start back again in PN, which makes the new "safer 410m" starting position all but redundant. Sprinters still can't run 410m effectively.

They'll (soon?) have a grass straight track, that sprinters again won't be able to compete on effectively. Maybe some of the CD's underperforming 520m dogs will opt to race on the straight track, if they get enough nominations, for the sprint money (a big maybe that only time will answer).

 

That's how the GRNZ board performed before I found out I was a stakeholder.

Unfortunately, they haven't reached out for my free of cost assistance as of yet.

Edited February 7 by Yankiwi

[Chief Stipe]

7 minutes ago, Yankiwi said:

I've read several comments of serious concerns and a few of my own surrounding the new track

You read your own posts?

[Yankiwi]

Not as often as I forget to add the word (have) between the words and & a.

(Have) was in my thoughts but didn't make it to the keyboard initially. By the time I had notice it, it was too late as the short time limit your forum allows for a member to edit a post had expired.

I know you don't have that problem as the site administrator, as last time I called you out for saying something wrong twice, you went back after a few hours and corrected the second instance as I hadn't quoted it, like I had in the first instance.

That's understandable as it is in your privileged power and I just let it slip.

Until now.

And I'm only bring it up now as you lied about saying something "correctly twice now", when actually you didn't. You went back and edited after I pointed it out.

Have a evening Chief.

(intentionally left out the word (nice) that time.

Edited February 7 by Yankiwi

[Chief Stipe]

11 hours ago, Yankiwi said:

Not as often as I forget to add the word (have) between the words and & a.

(Have) was in my thoughts but didn't make it to the keyboard initially. By the time I had notice it, it was too late as the short time limit your forum allows for a member to edit a post had expired.

I know you don't have that problem as the site administrator, as last time I called you out for saying something wrong twice, you went back after a few hours and corrected the second instance as I hadn't quoted it, like I had in the first instance.

That's understandable as it is in your privileged power and I just let it slip.

Until now.

And I'm only bring it up now as you lied about saying something "correctly twice now", when actually you didn't. You went back and edited after I pointed it out.

Have a evening Chief.

(intentionally left out the word (nice) that time.

Geez you write some BS - and you wonder why officials don't listen to you?

The fact is your statistics are biased and flawed.  In fact they and the conclusions you write are misinformation.

[Yankiwi]

1 hour ago, Chief Stipe said:

Geez you write some BS - and you wonder why officials don't listen to you?

The fact is your statistics are biased and flawed.  In fact they and the conclusions you write are misinformation.

I thought you were working at Harvard now?

A couple of hour drive from my hometown.

If you need anything while there, I have connections, I might be able to help get it done.

 

[Chief Stipe]

10 minutes ago, Yankiwi said:

If you need anything while there, I have connections, I might be able to help get it done.

If you have connections at Harvard I suggest you get them to do a review of your statistics and analysis.  Would add credibility to your arguments would it not?

[Yankiwi]

1 hour ago, Chief Stipe said:

and you wonder why officials don't listen to you?

Even more so, I wonder why officials don't listen to anyone that isn't singing their song.

 

Here's a surveillance video of a GRNZ board meeting as the chairman calls it to order.

 

 

 

[Yankiwi]

1 hour ago, Chief Stipe said:

If you have connections at Harvard I suggest you get them to do a review of your statistics and analysis.  Would add credibility to your arguments would it not?

My reference was to where I had spent the first 2/3 of my life thus far and its proximity to Harvard.

I have many connections within a couple hours drive from it. But I do not have any current connections to anyone at Harvard.

The reason I mentioned Harvard was some of the words coming out of your mouth were sounding like parroting from a very recent ex-PM from NZ, who now is connected with Harvard. Out of kindness I offered my assistance, in case you were traveling with her as part of her entourage. You never know nowadays, in the age of the internet.

 

In case she's doing the rounds & job hunting, Yale is about the same distance from Hinsdale.

 

Brown University is just a tad further. (Used to catch some nice Bigeye, Yellowfin and Albacore tuna 20 or 30 miles off the Rhode Island coast). But if you want to catch the prized Giant Bluefin tuna (yes even bigger than those found off the NZ west coast), Harvard was the place to be. Bluefin tended to be North of Cape Cod, because the water remained a little cooler which they thrived in without much competition from their other smaller cousins who preferred a couple of ticks up on the thermometer.

 

 

For me, if studying at an Ivy League school was my goal & I wanted to work at Hinsdale to fund it, Dartmouth College was by far the closest option, only about an hour drive each way.

 

Once proud institutions, all slowly being swallowed by wokeness towards worthlessness.

Edited February 7 by Yankiwi

[Chief Stipe]

4 minutes ago, Yankiwi said:

But I do not have any current connections to anyone at Harvard.

 

1 hour ago, Yankiwi said:

If you need anything while there, I have connections, I might be able to help get it done.

Make your mind up!

[Yankiwi]

10 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

 

Make your mind up!

Surprisingly enough, my connections have cars & are responsible enough in life to have petrol money to drive a couple of hours (maybe even more!) in them.

[Chief Stipe]

8 minutes ago, Yankiwi said:

Surprisingly enough, my connections have cars & are responsible enough in life to have petrol money to drive a couple of hours (maybe even more!) in them.

But contrary to your inference you don't have connections at Harvard.

Bit like the inferences you make with your statistics.

[Yankiwi]

One of my closest connections still has one of these, exactly like this one with a different name on the back, so 7 or 8 months out of the year, delivery at the dock is within the realm of possibility.

 

However, he is a well-respected law-abiding businessman. So delivery of anything like what could have made our fearless ex-leaders "sweat mustache" play up & her actions seem to be very odd, would be out of the question.