Afternoons for Tuesday 1 October 2024

1:15 Never smile at a croc

The beloved and be-hated Cros have been in the news today. ACC has paid out nearly $2 million to people with 'fall related' claims from people wearing crocs, jandals and high heels.

There were 128 croc-related accidents - and people reported skidding and losing balance while wearing them.  

Lower Hutt podiatrist Emma Worthington explains how to wear these feet enhancers and stay safe.

1:25 Scaffolding the Timaru Basilica

Couples have professed their marriage vows, baptised their children and farewelled their loved ones in this church. Now the Sacred Heart Basilica in Timaru can add another 

A local company has won a national award for its work erecting scaffolding on the church's famous domes. Geeves Scaffolding won the accolade at the Scaffolding and Rigging Association's 2024 awards recently.

Geeves Timaru manager is Darcy Harkness, and he talks to Mark Leishman about the project.

1:35 Settling the Score 2024!

RNZ Concert's Settling the Score poll is back for 2024. With hundreds of years' worth of amazing classical music to choose from, it can be hard to settle on just a few favourites for RNZ Concert's Classic Countdown. You can vote here.

This year, RNZ Concert presenter Maria Mo has developed a fun voting strategy.  She's picked music that she'd like to feature in the imagined soundtrack to her 'life as a movie'!  

1:45 Tech Tuesday: Minecraft scams and SME emails

Our tech expert Dan Watson, MD of vertech.co.nz, has some tips for small business to avoid their marketing emails going direct to the spam inbox; he also warns about the increase in scammers targeting children's games and has a recommendation for a new trapping app: Trap.nz.  

2:10 Book Critic: the latest Jackson Brodie crime novel

Catherine Ross discusses two crime novels and something completely different. Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (Penguin/Viking), Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday) and The Water's Dead by Catherine Lea (Bateman). 

2:20 Update on Oz with Brad Foster

Our regular correspondent from the Lucky Country is Brad Foster. Today Brad gives us an update on preparations for the bushfire season. He also relates a story about a kangaroo being commended for a drug bust in New South Wales. 

2:30 Music feature: 21st century jazz

If the 60s and 70s belonged to rock n roll, then the 30s and 40s belonged to jazz. But just because we're no longer in the genre's "golden age", doesn't mean it hasn't continued evolving with fantastic new artists carrying the torch. 

So for today's music feature we're leaving Miles, Contrane and Ellington to one side while we explore jazz in the 21st century. 

Our guide: Christchurch-based saxophonist, composer, and teacher Jimmy Rainey. 

Jimmy has included a playlist of jazz tracks young and old that have inspired him over the years: 

3:10 Feature interview: how to have a great time online 

Doomscrolling belongs right up there with smoking, biting your nails or procrastinating; it's an addictive habit that's hard to break.  We're hardwired to pay attention to what everyone else is paying attention to and negative is what goes viral. Humans are good at knowing how to push each other's buttons says Dr Jay Van Bavel, a professor of psychology and neural science at NYU.

He makes the case that a small number of people drive most of the problems on social media.  We'll talk to him about his simple solution to replace doom with room for a good experience online.

3:30 BBC Witness History

Joan Wiffen, who described herself as a "rank amateur Hawkes Bay housewife" turned the scientific world on its head when she discovered that dinosaurs had existed in New Zealand.
 

 

3:45 The pre-Panel