Semi Crash on Black Ice

A good reason not to drive in the left lane. Watch this semi cross the median when it hits black ice.

Many states now have made it illegal to drive in the left lane on a high speed highway unless passing or making a left turn such as a left exit or on a high speed non limited access state highway where there are legal median access turn areas.

Wyoming does not yet have the law. Colorado defines it as any four-lane highway with a speed limit of 65 mph or higher unless passing or making a left turn. I have noticed many states now have signs about that law and also about moving over when approaching any emergency or maintenance vehicle on the shoulder.

Another reason not to drive in the lefty lane is that head-on crashes occur in the left lanes of divided highways. Someone driving the wrong way, impaired or disoriented elderly, may think they are driving to the right. They will in fact be in your left lane.

A good rule at night is not to drive in the left lane if you cannot see any taillights ahead of you. During the day time cresting a hill in the left lane can be bad on a divided highway.

On any highway looking ahead as far as possible is always a good idea.

David Sneed

Advice from Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury died today at age 91. Bradbury, sci-fi writer, was most known for his books The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451. In telling about what it was like to be a writer Bradbury once said,


"The first year I made nothing, the second year I made nothing, the third year I made 10 dollars, the fourth year I made 40 dollars. I remember these. I got these indelibly stamped in there. The fifth year I made 80. The sixth year I made 200. The seventh year I made 800. Eighth year, 1,200. Ninth year, 2,000. Tenth year, 4,000. Eleventh year, 8,000 ...
Just get a part-time job! Anything that's half way decent! An usher in a theater ... unless you're a mad man, you can't make do in the art fields! You've gotta be inspired and mad and excited and love it more than anything else in the world! 


It has to be this kind of BY GOD I'VE GOTTA DO IT! I'VE SIMPLY GOTTA DO IT! If you're not this excited, you can't win!"


Cowboy Safety is a waste of time if you do not have a goal of some kind are are willing to do what not takes to reach it. In a Cowboy Safety program there are many things that must be done that will otherwise seem to be a waste of time. The part-time job concept, not necessarily the part-time job, is a part of a Cowboy Safety program. 


Reread what Bradbury said about his earnings. It was not an accident that he reached 8,000 in year 11. He kept doing what he has to do in order to succeed. 


David Sneed

Faith Summary

In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true either is true or becomes true.

From a fortune cookie.

What to Forget

There are two things we should learn to forget.

1. The good we have done to others.

2. The evil others have done to us. 

Priorities

It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure you haven't lost the things that money can't buy.

George Horace Latimer

The Abundance of Sea Fishes

..."There are multitudes of codde, haddock, salmon, eels, smelt, shad, halibut, flounder, and bass. Lobsters there are infinite in store in all parts of the land, and a great store of oysters, clams, scallops, and mussels."

These words, penned by a Bay Colony Pilgrim in 1630, attest to the abundance of fish and shellfish found in the ocean off the Massachusetts coast, and in the bays, rivers, and inlets.

A tenet of Cowboy Safety is that there is an abundance of everything. All that is needed is an orderly and sensible way of harvesting the good things.

Technology today allows that to be done by any individual and any business no matter how small.

Frequently I hear the lament that "the recession is killing my business." In a 1975 New York Times article, economic statistician Julius Shiskin suggested several rules of thumb for defining a recession, one of which was "two down consecutive quarters of GDP." In time the other rules were forgotten. Some economists prefer a definition of a 1.5% rise in unemployment within 12 months. I am still waiting for someone to tell me how a recession can affect their business at all.

David Sneed