August 2, 2007, 8:23 pm Remember the Dukes of Hazard? No, I mean the General Lee, not Daisy Duke! The General Lee was a 1969 Dodge Charger with a Hemi Orange paint scheme.  I bought a brand new 1970 Charger R/T 440 in the same color (no, that’s not a photo of my Charger). Of course I got rid of it long before the Dukes of Hazard aired on TV. For me, the car was notable for the looks (sporty), the throaty rumble of the exhaust, the gas milage (very poor), and the kick in the rear acceleration. Wheel spin on demand was available, and sometimes even when you didn’t want it. And the 426 hemi model had a lot more oomph than mine.
Sadly, last week a 1970 Dodge Charger was in the local news. Michael Corvino, president of JanSport (you may own a JanSport backpack), lost control, crashed his Charger into a tree, and was killed. The highway patrol’s reconstruction based on witnesses and skid marks indicates he started making a left turn at an intersection and induced wheel spin, causing the rear end to break loose and slide to the right. He corrected by steering right, but over corrected, so the car’s rear end slid to the left and the car left the road and struck a tree right at the driver’s door.
Normally, the vehicle’s control system (the driver) can react fast enough (has minimal delay) to compensate for such a rear end skid. But control systems become unstable when there is too much delay between the input (observing the car’s skid) and the output (making a change in the throttle and steering). In this case the excess delay was caused by Mr. Corvino’s blood alcohol level of .21, nearly 3 times the legal limit. This crash was a very unfortunate illustration of driving with a defective control system due to alcohol impairment.
August 1, 2007, 8:21 pm Guy Kawasaki points out Dr. Philip Zimbardo’s article “The Banality of Heroism.”
The authors claim that our current definition of a hero is substantially watered down from its meaning of generations ago. Heroism used to encompass bravery, fortitude, gallantry, valor. Today we don’t think about the deep meanings of these words nor about how we might engage in bravery. The label of hero is often applied to those who made no choices but only survived some catastrophic circumstance. Perhaps our pursuit of personal peace and risk aversion is responsible for the dumbing down of heroism and even our lack of heroic imagination.
To regain a sense of heroic imagination, the authors suggest:
- Maintain constant vigilance for situations that require heroic action. Don’t be passive just because no one else is taking any action.
- Learn not to fear interpersonal conflict because you took a stand.
- Imagine alternative future scenarios beyond the present moment.
- Resist the urge to rationalize and justify inaction. Remember evil means aren’t acceptable to achieve a righteous goal.
- Trust that people will appreciate heroic (and frequently unpopular) actions.
I wonder what other ways we might develop the ability for heroism, in ourselves and in our children. The accounts of biblical heroes, as well as heroic tales like Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings, will stimulate a heroic imagination. By the way, heroism is not always demonstrated with physical action—consider theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s struggle against Nazism.
August 1, 2007, 8:19 pm  Karen and I have always been partial to red, white, and blue jerseys. For years we’ve talked about getting matching jerseys with a stars and stripes motif, but we’ve never found exactly what we wanted. We’ve found lots of jerseys with the right color combinations, but not quite the right patriotic flair.
Now Betsy, Karen’s niece, models the neatest jersey in this photo. We’d love to have one, but it’s far out of our league. You see, that’s a National Championship jersey, and she’s wearing a gold medal for winning the criterium in her age group class. We’re proud of her.
Our cycling attire nowadays is pretty drab, as is our cycling. Perhaps we need to spiff up our image to put us in a mindset for riding more.
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Consider this:God wants you to be saved and growing spiritually. |
I bought a brand new 1970 Charger R/T 440 in the same color (no, that’s not a photo of my Charger). Of course I got rid of it long before the Dukes of Hazard aired on TV. For me, the car was notable for the looks (sporty), the throaty rumble of the exhaust, the gas milage (very poor), and the kick in the rear acceleration. Wheel spin on demand was available, and sometimes even when you didn’t want it. And the 426 hemi model had a lot more oomph than mine.