AudiophileStyle Seems Alive and Well :-)

[Jud]

1 hour ago, plissken said:

 

I think the flow of traffic, due in part to the encouraged departure of highly experienced members, has benefited another site.

 

I think that's correct, but I also think it has led to a healthier if at times less technically proficient atmosphere here.  (There are still people here who are quite technically proficient in various areas, present company included.)

[Jud]

10 hours ago, plissken said:

 

I've never seen the saying 'ignorance is bliss' put another way like this ;-)

 

If you look at Norton's later post you'll catch some of what I'm talking about.

 

As an attorney involved in large scale litigations I've evaluated whether to hire expert witnesses. They have to not only have technical expertise, but be able to make a favorable impression.

[Jud]

6 hours ago, Allan F said:

 

As a former prosecutor involved in a number of complex criminal cases, I believe that the ability of an expert to communicate his/her technical knowledge in language that can be readily understood by laymen - whether that be a judge or jury -  is the most important characteristic desired in an expert witness. Not that making a favorable impression is not important as well.

 

I think a possible difference is that I wasn't using taxpayer money. 🙂 We could afford a choice from among experts who were good at putting their concepts in lay language, and the choice was determined by who would make a better impression with judge or jury.

[Jud]

1 hour ago, Allan F said:

I can't say that financial considerations ever influenced the choice of experts in any of my cases. 🙂

 

So here's the sort of thing I'm talking about:

 

Don't know if you remember the 1984 Syncrude fire that knocked a huge refinery offline for months while oil was $60+ a barrel, but that resulted in a billion dollar lawsuit involving Exxon and the Canadian government, among others.

 

There were literally dozens of experts, among whom were the first engineer to be licensed to use a PC version of the software Boeing used to model stresses on the surfaces of its military jets; and a Dutch engineer who booked us three *weeks* of computer time on one of the world's fastest supercomputers, used by Royal Dutch Shell to model oil platform explosions and fires.

 

I am guessing that although criminal prosecutions can be exceedingly complex, there would have been no question of jetting around the world vetting and hiring dozens of experts using state of the art hardware and software for one of them.