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The juxtaposition of the “miracle” of the Air France crash against the “unprecedented” repair work on the shuttle this morning was one of those moments when the universe aligns to send mankind a reminder – and mankind forgets to look up.
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In this era in which nanny-state politics endeavors to stifle their natural inclinations from the moment they take their first helmeted steps, we should pause a moment and say a prayer of thanks for the gift of the “risk takers”.
They are those children – boys, usually – who jump their bicycles from garage roofs, who taunt large dogs, who ride their motorcycles far too fast, who grow up to risk all and sometimes, to give all and in so doing contribute the tools and the techniques that save lives through innovative materials and technologies.
They become the race car drivers, the astronauts, the stunt pilots and their kind. By pushing the envelope for the envelope’s own sake, the risk takers discover the knowledge that trickles down to protect and improve our everyday lives.
There is a very good chance that 309 souls are with us today because of them.
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Nicely done.
🙂
Wonderful. Thanks for reminding me to look up.
Liberals will ensure that risk-takers are kept low in numbers in this country.
They may, also, become Marines…
Thanks for the reminder.
You just know Discovery is landing safely now…
It’s an omen.
p.s Widest covered breaking news event in Canadian history.
Thanks, Kate.
It’s a dangerous job, but somebody’s got to do it.
I respect them.
taking a risk implies going beyond what has been done. the shuttle circling the earth in false drama and half rate engineering has been done over and over and over.
Stan said:
“taking a risk implies going beyond what has been done”
Implies but does not explicitly state. If space travel were so mundane and easy, why, everyone would be doing it. Now go hug your wife/child/puppy.
“In this era in which nanny-state politics endeavors to stifle their natural inclinations from the moment they take their first helmeted steps, we should pause a moment and say a prayer of thanks for the gift of the “risk takers”.
They are those children – boys, usually – who jump their bicycles from garage roofs, who taunt large dogs, who ride their motorcycles far too fast, who grow up to risk all and sometimes, to give all and in so doing contribute the tools and the techniques that save lives through innovative materials and knowledge.
They become the race car drivers, the astronauts, the stunt pilots and their kind. By pushing the envelope for the envelope’s own sake, the risk takers discover the knowledge that trickles down to protect and improve our everyday lives.”
AMEN!!
Many people don’t really have an appreciation for the dangers involved in space flight. The physics are astronomical (pardon the pun) and the stresses on man and machine breathtaking. The margins of error and the tolorances are miniscule. Going back to Apollo, which one of us could calulate when (and how hard) to hit the throttle in order to leave earths orbit and head for the moon (a moving body) so that when you get there, you’re going the right speed and in the right position to enter orbit without bouncing off into neverland or plowing into it’s surface at 18x the speed of sound?
Race cars and their drivers and designers can also be credited with developing rear-view mirrors, seatbelts, tire technology, suspension technology, crash protection zones and fuel management and efficiency just to name a few.
Always cracks me up when someone discounts the contributions made by the risk takers.
The statist corpulent felines want to make risk taking illegal to eliminate the risk Marie Antionette was exposed to.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus said, on or about November 25th, 2003, “they are still in the dream world of welfare, long vacations, guaranteed high pensions, and cradle-to-grave social security, and which obviates the imperative need to face reality.” The biggest challenge for the Czech republic, Klaus said, is how to avoid falling into the trap of “a new form of collectivism.” Asked whether he meant a new form of neo-Marxism, he said, “absolutely not, but I see other sectors endangering free societies. The enemies of free societies today are those who want to burden us down again with layer upon layer of regulations,” president Klaus explained. “We had that in Communist times.”
I agree with Huggybear99, go hug your wife/child/puppy. But please, whatever you do, whatever it’s marginal value, don’t hug the state. It’s inhuman.
I’m sorry, my last paragraph was poorly worded indeed. I was trying to say something like: I agree with Huggybear99, go hug your wife/child/puppy. But please, whatever you do, don’t hug the state (whatever it’s marginal value). That’s inhuman.
I did not mean to imply that what you do would only be of marginal value. Mea culpa.
The risk takers AND the law breakers.
Reminds me of a quote by Vincent Van Gogh:
“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?”
Risk, true calculated risk (not just hot headedness), always involves a tremendous amount of courage.
Good job Kate.
Meanwhile, kudos to the Canadian contribution of an amazing robotic arm that made the repair experiment/exercise possible.
The “culture of safety” is our socialist state’s newspeak for the state’s agenda to eliminate “risk” and “risk takers”. In the eyes of the neo-marxists “risk” is associated with crime…. self defense or self reliance is risk and, of course, criminal, striving for excellence is criminal, capitalizing on your risk is criminal,profit is criminal,….they have sold a bill of goods to us which states we should take no risk….nanny state will provide. Of couse this appeals to the lowest common denominator and of course profiteering from risk is only a crime for the masses….it is quite acceptable for the political patronage class….however, “risk, and competative advantage are supplimented with tax money at these levels… essentially reducing “risk”.
All’s well and good that many risk takers have contributed so much to societal well-being, but it is also well to remember that many (if not most)risk takers are just irresponsible rule breakers. The prisons are full of them – they fear little and are the first to call responsible people cowards. I thank God my Father wasn’t a risk taker although he wanted to buy a motorcycle once – his Dad threatened to take an axe to it -end of discussion.
As I said; In lib-speak “risk” is synonymous with crime. BTW: crime really isn’t much of a risk in this nation.
The risk-takers of North America are slowly being silenced by the feminists and the behavior modifiers in this world. They force Ritalin on these risk-takers because they can’t sit still.
Blessed be the risk-takers, for one of their own sacrificed his own life for the sake of billions.
usually boys? It was good up until that point, I’m not sure why it was needed, but otherwise, well said. The crew were credited by the passengers for getting them out in less than two minutes because they were professional and calm. Wanna take a guess they were a majority women? ie stewardesses. I guess I’m taking a risk commenting here in defense of the women that helped in this excitment, including the women who stopped their cars to pick up the passengers.
Why not give credit where credit is due? In Ontario cities, the fire departments hire very few women. I might as well be commenting to Saudi Arabians. This would never fly in the United States where they make a effort to hire women.
Sailor Republica – girls – women are diagnosed with ADHD, (at one time, I was one of them) at least I’m assuming that’s what the reference to ritalin was for. You may want to note that those boys are usually in jail too because they don’t have an outlet or the drugs are causing worse symptoms. You may want to catch my next to next post on testing ie ADHD and the mental health system
Voluntary risk taking behavior is a predominantly male phenomenon. I’m surprised that anyone would even dispute that.
Magnificent Kate. Thank you.
Kate;
The risk takers which you hold in such high esteem are also sometimes law breakers are they not? For example, Marc Emery …. is he not an individual who takes a risk, despite the existence of unjust nanny laws which prohibit people from providing and consuming a plant which harms noone, except maybe the user?
The reason there is crime associated around marijuana is precisely because it is illegal. I do believe this has been discussed before on your blog.
Not.
Even.
Close.
True risk takers don’t whine about consequences.
And if you don’t think Marc Emery’s marijuana use hasn’t harmed him, I’d be curious where you believe his obvious cognitive problems stem from. To listen to the man in an interview is painful and sad. He truly is a few volts short of a full charge.
“True risk takers don’t whine about consequences.”
Vancouver Sun:
“Vancouver pot crusader Marc Emery said Thursday he is prepared to spend 20 years in a U.S. prison in order to galvanize the marijuana legalization campaign, claiming it to be his life’s work.
“Ultimately, if I have to be the sacrificial lamb then this is a good thing, if it gets people motivated,” said Emery, 47, who is being held at the North Fraser Pretrial Centre in Port Coquitlam until his bail is posted.
“It’s what I’ve always wanted to do — make Canada free,” he said.
“Ultimately, I’m fit and ready for battle.””
August 9th Extravaganza
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