It Always Seems Impossible Until It's Done

 

It always seems impossible until it’s done.

                                                          Nelson Mandela

 A mile, 5K, 10K, half marathon, marathon, ultra-marathon, “oh, I could never do that”, that is until you put one foot in front of the other and just get started and before you know it you are at that mile marker, or finish line and starting to wonder, what's next? What am I capable of?  (We typically only go to 40% of what we are truly capable of-David Goggins)

 A journey of 1000 miles starts with the first step. (Lao Tzu) Just get started and divine Providence will intervene, and magical things will happen. Whether it be marathons and ultra- marathons or in the ultra-marathon of life, overcoming that resistance (Steven Pressfield-Do the Work) is the first hurdle. The mind is perfectly capable of talking us out of anything, “that is impossible, you can't do that” and poof all too often we believe ourselves and that's the end of that fleeting thought, good intentions or our dreams. It's just like getting in the cold shower, at first it's a little shocking, and then before you know it, it's like, “hey this feels pretty good”. Believe in the impossible. Believe in yourself.

 

Ten Simple Rules

 

1. Be kind. The benefits of being kind-or at the very least courteous-far outweigh the effort you put in. Do random acts of kindness.  Compliment someone. If a retail worker or food-service worker makes a mistake, be understanding and patient. Kind people live longer than unkind people.
2. I know myself better than anyone else. Don’t let anyone else’s opinions control what you do, how you act, or what you say.  Other peoples’ opinions are suggestions-take them or leave them. Don’t make assumptions, and don’t take it personally. It’s not about you.
3. Everyone else is as worried and insecure as you are, some people just hide it better. It does not mean that they are smarter or better than you.
4. Laugh it off. If you make a mistake, fall down, or do something dumb, just laugh it off. Other people (and you) will forget it a lot faster if you just let it roll off your back. EVERYONE makes mistakes. Everyone. You aren’t alone and you aren’t the biggest idiot in the world. Give yourself a break.
5. It’s just stuff.  Sure, stuff gets broken-often times accidently by people you love-and that’s annoying, but your stuff can be replaced. You can never erase hurtful words you say to the person you love because they broke your stuff. Stuff is never, ever, as important as those you love.
6. You are probably a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for being.
7. Don’t judge. You don’t know all the facts. We all have our faults and bad habits.  As a pretty famous guy is alleged to have said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
8. Don’t beat yourself up. Do what you can to fix your mistakes, then move on. Guilt is only good for pushing you toward making things right again. After that, it becomes, shame, and shame is a toxic substance that will eat you up inside. Same for worry.
9. Enjoy Life. Literally, stop to smell and admire the flowers. Wonder. Be curious. Go play outside. Smile at strangers. Dance in the rain. Have fun.
10. Life goes by really, really fast. Live each day so that, at the end, you’re reveling in how amazing your life was, not regretting all the things you do or didn’t do.

 Our Children are at Risk When Dangerous and Defective Front Seats Collapse in Rear Impacts and Allow Front Sit Occupants to Collide with Rear Seat Occupants

Auto manufacturers continue to utilize weak, defective front seats that collapse in rear-end crashes and cause deaths and catastrophic injuries. Children sitting in the back are common victims. Children in the back seat suffer serious injuries from seatback collapses in two common scenarios. First, the front seatback collapses and directly contacts a child’s upper torso or head, causing catastrophic spine and brain injuries. Second, when seatbacks fail and collapse rearward, front occupants may be catapulted into the rear occupant space where a child is sitting. Auto manufacturers have known about the dangers of defective seatbacks for decades. Engineering papers dating back to the 1960s have called for stiffer, stronger seats to protect occupants in rear-end crashes. The federal standard for seatback strength in rear-end crashes—Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 207— is grossly inadequate and fails to predict the performance of seats under impact conditions. All major auto manufacturers admit the standard is inadequate. In fact, a lawn chair purchased at a discount retailer can easily pass the standard that regulates seatback strength. Safety advocates and experts have called for improved testing and strength standards for decades. In the 1990s, the federal government sought comments and proposals to strengthen testing standards. Auto manufacturers strongly opposed these changes and argued that improved testing would cost too much. Ultimately, the federal standards remain the same and allow millions of vehicles with weak, defective seats on our roads each year. Sadly, both front occupants and children sitting in the back seat pay the price in rear-end crashes at residential speeds. 

 

The Loss of An American Hero

 

Larry E. Coben

 

I never met Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but I feel like I’ve lost a great Aunt. But, more tragically, all Americans who cherish Democracy have lost a dear champion. Almost all lawyers “learn the law” and practice their trade in quiet anonymity, working for one client at a time. Only a very few Americans have had opportunity, the “will”, and the skill to reshape the lives of so many. When we recount those few Americans who—in modern times—stand out as champions for justice and equal protection for all Americans, we observe the coalescence of their remarkable resolution, their individual genius and the times and circumstances that propelled them to succeed.

 

In modern U.S. history, RBG now joins the ranks of a very select group of heroes who devoted their lives encouraging and battling society to recognize and acknowledge the value of every American regardless of gender, race, religion, appearance, or political persuasion. Some of these heroes succeeded by example, while others succeeded by deeds and words. Judging the accomplishments of these heroes, cast in the setting of their respective times, Justice Ginsburg proudly stands tall with these American heroes (some of which—sadly—you may not recall): Thurgood Marshall, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama, Chief Justice Earl Warren, Betty Friedan, Bella Abzug, Gloria Steinem, Jonas Salk, Benjamin Spock, Muhammed Ali, Jackie Robinson, Vice President Joseph Biden, Ted Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, John Lewis and Morris Dees. Each of these heroes (and there are many more not named), lived with these common purposes: devotion to proving and establishing that “we are all born free & equal”, “discrimination is wrong”, safeguarding the “right to life”, “equality before the law”, “freedom of thought”, “freedom of expression”, “the right to live without fear of poverty”, “the right to affordable housing, medicine and education”, “the right to a fair wage”, and “the protection of these human rights against the intolerance of those who seek to oppress”. These Human Rights (and others), acknowledged by the United Nations as Universal Declarations, were in large part established and practiced in very public ways by these heroes. And, we must all—regardless of our “political leanings”—acknowledge that but for their efforts, we would all be less free today. “The Legacy of Heroes is the Memory of a Great Name and the Inheritance of a Great Example”. [Benjamin Disraeli]   

 

Justice Ginsburg, we salute you and thank you for your good work. You are a true American Hero.

 

Dangers of Driving Distracted

Texting while driving has become infamously hazardous for the millions of Americans who use mobile devices as well as those of us who come in contact with these drivers on a daily basis. However, this is not the only distraction that impairs motorists today and these inhibitions to safe driving are causing nearly 60% of auto collisions today. End Distracted Driving  been campaigning for years to stop these sorts of crashes from happening. Many times we do not realize the danger we are putting ourselves and others in when we choose to eat a snack on the road or call a friend.

In a presentation series by End Distracted Driving, the reaction time of someone on a cell phone was equal to that of a person with a .08 BAC (Blood Alcohol Content), and someone who was texting was equal to that of a person with a BAC of .16. Texting endangers not only those in the car of the person texting behind the wheel, but also everyone who the driver may hit in their time not focusing on the road. On an average highway where one travels at 55mph, in the five seconds it takes to open a text one will have already traveled a football field’s length. You wouldn’t close your eyes while driving for more than it takes to blink, so why would anyone text and do basically the same thing?

The Problem of Distracted Driving

              If someone asked you to close your eyes while driving on the highway for around five seconds, more than likely you would never comply. However millions of Americans are doing just that every day when they text while driving. If you are driving fifty-five miles an hour and take your eyes off the road for five seconds, you will have traveled one hundred yards; all the while being blind to your surroundings. The following are some pretty scary statistics to think about, especially when preventing these life-threatening situations is as easy as focusing while driving.

• 80% of all collisions and 65% of near crashes have some form of driver inattention as contributing factors. That is over 4,000,000 crashes per year in North America that are caused by driver distraction.

• Cell phone use is attributed to 18% of fatalities in distraction-related crashes.

What makes up the other 82%? Putting on lipstick, reaching over to grab a drink, changing the music, reading a roadmap, eating on the go: The distractions are endless. But they don’t have to be.

• Talking on a cell phone makes a driver 4 times more likely to have a crash or near crash event. Texting makes them 23 times more likely to have this happen.

• Texting slows driver reaction time even more than alcohol! In fact, even making a phone call delays reaction time about as much as having a .08 BAC (Blood Alcohol Content)

              There are many unpreventable dangers when driving, but driving distracted is not one of them. It is a driver’s responsibility to prepare for their drive before they put the car in drive, whether that means making sure the radio is turned to a satisfactory station or that you will not be tempted to answer any messages from your cell phone while driving. Safety of yourself as well as fellow drivers can be a difficult thing to control, but keeping your eyes and thoughts on the road can help keep you safe.

 

But it’s important to realize that distracted driving is not only caused by phones and various other objects. In fact, that sort of manual stimuli makes up only one third of the types of distractions to drivers. One type most people don’t think about is cognitive distraction, which has affected all of us at some point in our lives. Driving while angry, depressed, or even just tired can be just as bad as driving while on the phone. Driving while tired leads to the third type of distraction: visual. Visual distractions can be caused by texting, but also through mental distractions brought on by sleep deprivation of intense thought. No matter what the reason for distraction, there is no excuse for imperiling others as well as yourself by driving under these conditions.

For more information on Distracted Driving, go to EndDD.org, or visit their page on any major social networking website.

 

 

Expensive vehicle safety tech is out of reach for too many

Safety systems aren't valuable if they aren't on vehicles. Too often, this happens when buyers are presented a false choice between safety and affordability.

Automotive innovations are saving lives. While crash fatalities remain unacceptably high — with about 100 people dying on our roads every day — today's new car models include some of the safest vehicles ever created, in part because of crash-avoidance systems that are proved to yield significant safety benefits. But these systems aren't valuable if they aren't on vehicles. Too often, this happens when buyers are presented a false choice between safety and affordability.

Research by Consumer Reports has found that millions of America's most popular vehicles come off assembly lines every year without lifesaving technology that should be standard. Vehicles with blind-spot warning are estimated to prevent up to 26 percent of fatal lane-change crashes, according to insurance claims data. But these systems come standard on just three of the 15 top-selling 2020 models in the U.S. and are completely unavailable on one of them. Instead, buyers usually must pay about $2,500 extra. Getting blind-spot warning on the Ford F-150 costs over $12,000 above sticker.

Upgrade for safety

Clearly, the feature doesn't cost $12,000 — so what's going on? Some automakers are packaging safety systems with add-ons such as premium sunroofs and stereo systems, so the only way to get blind-spot warning is to pay much more. This is upselling on the basis of safety: taking advantage of some buyers who are just trying to protect themselves and their families, and putting lifesaving technology out of reach for others.

We're seeing a similar story for pedestrian detection, an enhancement of automatic emergency braking that can help drivers see pedestrians and hit the brakes sooner than they might otherwise. In 2018, 6,283 pedestrians died after a vehicle ran into them, an increase of 53 percent since 2009.

Too many are too slow

Many of these deaths are preventable, with research finding that Subaru vehicles with pedestrian detection had 35 percent fewer pedestrian-related bodily injury insurance claims than the same vehicles without the feature. Pedestrian detection now comes standard on 13 of the 15 top-selling models in the U.S. — a new and welcome development — but of the two remaining models, the system isn't available at all on the Ram 1500, and you can only get it on the Chevy Silverado 1500 for an extra $16,000.

Consumer Reports incorporates advanced safety technology into our scoring, which has helped move the market on systems such as pedestrian detection. But too many automakers are still moving slowly on too many safety features. That's why Consumer Reports is calling on Congress to pass legislation requiring blind-spot warning, pedestrian detection and other proven systems to come standard on all new vehicles.

More than 36,000 people die on our roads every year, yet access to safety technology is too often limited to those who can afford expensive upgrades. Our roads are much more dangerous than they should be, and automakers are letting their own innovations go to waste. Congress should put an end to this untenable situation for safety.

Automotive News-Op Ed

 

 

 Marathons, Ulramarathons, Life and the Practice of Law

The sum of my knowledge on Marathons, Ultramarathons, and perhaps this applies to life and the practice of law too:

 

1. Train, Train, Train—Practice, Practice, Practice-work hard and love the process.
1. Eat well, drink less alcohol, sleep well, and get up early.
2. Get started. Just get started—You will find your flow and help along the way from family, friends, fellow runners and total strangers. Say thanks and help others along the way.
3. Keep going. In the words of Churchill: “Just keep buggering on”. Persistence, perseverance, relentless forward progress-you will stun yourself with what you are actually capable of.
4. Smile and hug someone at the finish line. Be grateful. Drink a beer. Celebrate.
5. It doesn’t matter where you finish (or sometimes if you finish)-as long as you can look yourself in the eye and know you did your best.
6. Repeat 1-5.