Re: faith
Posted by
Steve Smith on
Sep 25, 2012; 4:11pm
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Faith-tp7580633p7580744.html
Roger -
And I think that is why Doug chooses a sleek German-Engineered
machine over one of those big-iron sculptures you used to see on
the side of the road being fiddled with... (now that they cost
more than a Prius and only Doctors and Lawyers own them, that has
changed a little). I have mostly been a Honda man with a few
Yamahas and Suzuki's thrown in for spice.... I came within an inch
of buying a Ducati Elefant once, but I've never had any of my old,
worn out Jap bikes fail me! Of course, it is harder to ignore
warning signs of problems on a motorcycle... if you hear a noise
or feel a shimmy, you just look down, it is all right there
threatening to come apart in your lap... fluid leaks end up ON
you... etc. And that paranoia Dave and Doug profess, it goes
double for "I wonder if I should repack that wheel bearing?".
But your point is well taken. In this discussion of "faith"
(still in the subject line!), I'm amazed at how much the most
faithless take on "blind faith" about such things. I marvel at
the strength of materials and quality of design and workmanship on
the simplest things *all the time* and I know I'm missing most of
it. That 5000 lb Camp Trailer hung off the back of your truck by
a 2" ball (with a 1" neck)? Amazing! Truly Amazing! And we
haven't even talked about light planes (recently) yet!
- Steve
On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 8:59 AM, Steve
Smith
<[hidden email]>
wrote:
My father bought a wartime surplus Harley when he returned
from WWII, had a grand good time stripping the military
paintjob and repainting it only to have two scary accidents
within a few months (civilian turning left in front of him,
mechanical failure in the drive sprocket) which put him off
the whole business.
I was going to bring up our faith in machines to continue
to work as intended, despite our contrary experience. There's
nothing quite like a 2 wheeler that becomes a 1-1/2 or 1
wheeler at any velocity worth mentioning.
-- rec --
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FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at
http://www.friam.org