Isn’t it strange how whenever anyone thinks of a learner driver in the process of undertaking a driving lesson, the mental image that immediately comes to mind is of the driving school car doing what we the more senior members of society call a three-point-turn and how part of that image is that of the learner shuffling the steering wheel left and right with a kind of shy awkwardness?
Is it because we associate the ‘feeding’ of the wheel with a learner driver that we almost immediately after passing our driving test re-invent the method of steering? Whatever the reason it seems that nearly every driver drops what is given to be the ‘correct’ steering method very shortly after passing their test and very soon are crossing their arms, steering one-handed and indeed, since the advent of cell phones, steering with their knees!
Image wise, driving has always had a certain roughy-toughy kind of decadence attached to it, and if we have a slightly rebellious attitude towards what we do on the road it somehow makes us feel proud of ourselves. It is that pride that helps us to justify what we do as being something that is harmless. This is where the perceived ability comes in, which, as the rest of us know, is considerably higher up the ladder than reality. You see, we all can think we are good drivers while we are getting away with our poor ways. “I’ve never had an accident in 15 years!” is a common one, but it usually just means that the driver has been lucky enough to have got away with it for so long, but will have had countless ‘moments’ along the way.
Every time you have to brake suddenly, swerve to avoid someone or something, or had to take some form of avoiding action your bad habits have been exposed, and you only get exposed when you make a mistake.
The trouble is that when we get away with mistakes for long enough they cease to be mistakes and then become ‘normal’ occurrences. When that happens, and we do have a collision because of the way we drive, we cannot always accept that we are at fault and that we may be lacking somewhere in the driving skills department.
It’s a bit like sex really.
We can get a real kick out of it in terms of enjoyment, and unless our partner says otherwise we all think we are doing it rather well. What if our partner does tell us that we are doing it wrong…..? Wow, that opens up a big old can of worms doesn’t it? We have to deal with all the hurt and damaged pride and probably, unless several partners tell us the same, we go into self-denial thinking “I am right and everyone else is wrong.” The same with driving, “How can I possible be wrong? I have always been a safe driver!”
Julian Smith
What a joke !!
Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) made an announcement last week that the reason the Republicans are losing so badly these days is because of “forced unionism”. He said that especially in the Northeast, good Republican voters are leaving the area to migrate South to avoid labor unions and “forced unionism”. So now Dems outnumber Republicans in these non right to work states.
Is this guy a joke or what??
He doesn’t explain why the Democrats carried North Carolina or Virginia, both considered Southern right-to-work states, in 2008. Nor why other right to work states abandoned the Republican party that year, like Florida, Nevada, Utah and Arizona.
The Republicans really need to put a clamp on who’s allowed to speak publicly for the party and who’s not. Statements like this only make the Republicans look stupid.
Democrats and ‘The Magic Bullet’
As counsel for the Warren Commission, Arlen Specter described a “magic bullet” that changed America. Four decades later as a U.S. senator, Specter is providing another history-altering magic bullet – one Democrats will either fire off in a starting gun, or use in their suicide.
By leaving the Republican Party this week, the five-term Pennsylvania lawmaker eliminated the last Democratic rationale for inaction: the Senate filibuster. With Minnesota Democrat Al Franken expected to be seated soon, and now with Specter, Democrats will have the 60 Senate votes needed to overcome all parliamentary obstructions.
This legislative magic bullet will force Democrats to fulfill their policy promises and commence an era of dominance, or fail and get annihilated at the polls.
No longer can they blame Republicans for stopping bills to reform health care, tax, defense and trade policy. In command of the White House, the autocratic House of Representatives, and soon a filibuster-proof Senate, Democrats will have total authority to do whatever they want, and no scapegoat to fault. That means, as ABC News’ Rick Klein said, “This is Democrats’ turn to govern, no excuses” – and it means we’re about to find out whether their pledges were genuine.
David Sirota, Common Dreams
Rachel Maddow on the Employee Free Choice Act
The Use and Abuse of Telematics
I had and interesting new experience with Telematics. The managers posted a bunch of Google Earth pictures showing the driver routes superimposed over the aerial picture from Google earth. They then put comments above the pictures about what they felt the 
Now they can harass you for simply doing your job.
When Will UPS Ditch NASCAR ?
When will UPS stop pumping millions of dollars into its fading advertising vehicle….. NASCAR? UPS is known around the world as the tightest ship in the shipping business, but it spends money like a drunken sailor when it comes to racing. A recent article in the CATSTOCKBLOG highlighted the problem for all sponsors:
“Caterpillar is among the prominent NASCAR sponsors that have to be asking themselves how much they really need to spend keeping racing teams afloat, especially in light of this Forbes magazine article highlighting just how far NASCAR has fallen from fan favor in the past five years. The woes: Cars look the same. Drivers look the same. Races look the same.”
Has UPS exhausted the benefits of its days at the track?
While Dale Jarret was not much of winner on the track by the time he came to UPS, the company enjoyed many years of successful advertising with its ‘Race the Truck’ campaign. Jarrett was the perfect foil for UPS advertisements. Jarrett was the one time king-of-the-jungle that UPS reduced to a comical lion in the petting zoo manufactured by Madison Avenue. But Jarrett didn’t win many races, and in 2007 he had a hard time even qualifying.
Are the glory days over?
“It can cost $10 million to recruit a winning driver and $25 million a year to race one car. Most teams raced two or three last year, and 90% of their operating budget came from corporate sponsors. The rich sponsorship deals signed during the fat years earlier this decade are expiring, and new sponsor money is drying up. Domino’s Pizza, a primary sponsor of Michael Waltrip Racing, and Eastman Kodak, a sponsor of Penske Racing, threw in the towel after last season. Also gone are Coors Light and Tide.”
And then there’s the paradox of UPS trying to market itself as a ‘green’ company while tying its advertising campaigns to racing. NASCAR is not a ‘green’ sport. It’s a high pollution sport. It’s an enviromentalist’s nightmare. NASCAR has tried to soften it’s image this year by using a hybrid pace car, but once that car leaves the track, any thought of ‘going green’ is brushed aside.
While UPS can’t afford management raises or driver reward programs, does it make good sense to spend millions of dollars on one sport with a declining fan base? I think UPS sponsorship of NASCAR has run it’s course. I think it’s time to ditch NASCAR and spend our money on our own people, not on one racing team.
Company Continues Service Level Cuts
The company announced to drivers today that any package with three delivery attempts will be returned to the shipper. No more post cards. No more phone calls. No more fourth attempts. Before it was only COD’s that were immediatly returned. Now all ground, and all air will be sent back after three attempts, no exceptions. Wonder what the wine companies will think when they get half of everything they ship back?
UPS Business News for YOU
United Parcel Service Business News from Topix. Check it out.
A Message to the Democrats From Ed Shultz
The Dems. better sit up and take notice. Ed Shultz spells it out.
Retirement and Health Care
Des Moines, Iowa —- The high cost of long-term health care will drag down the quality of life for nearly two-thirds of today’s retirees. It can cost $77,000 a year for a nursing home room and $20,000 for in-home care, expenses that many people are ill-prepared to absorb, said the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
A new analysis shows that when the cost of health care and long-term care is included, 64 percent of retirees likely will be unable to maintain the lifestyle they had before retirement.
“This is the No. 1 issue staring us in the face over the next decade,” said Paul Ballew, a senior vice president at Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., which provided a grant to fund the study.
The cost of health care will create such an unexpected hardship on unprepared retiring baby boomers that it’s imperative to sound the warning now, said Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research.
Read the rest of the story here.