dallashistory

My writer friends' site (OK, he's an honest to God AUTHOR!).

Cedar might remember him.



adj. Caused by the attempt to prevent it.

[Latin vitare, prevent or avoid + Latin genesis, origin or creation]

Pronounced: vee-ta-roh-GEN-ick

Noun form: Vitarogeny (pronounced vee-ta-RAH-jen-ee)

The premise:

You see that wine glass far too close to the edge of the table over that pristine white carpet, and reach to move it out of harm's way. But your fingers slip and knock it off the table. This was more than accidental; this was vitarogenic.

You get a heart attack while jogging for your health; the apron stains your new shirt; your cat catches a disease at the vet. You've just experienced vitarogeny.

Send him your ideas!

I do remember him, Art!

Vitarogeny is kind of an offshoot of Murphy's Law, narrowed down to a specific cause ~ What goes wrong will, if you try to prevent it. Hmmm ... the world is a weird place sometimes! There may be a strange physics about this type of scenario, having to do with focus and attention ...

Quote:
Vitarogeny is kind of an offshoot of Murphy's Law, narrowed down to a specific cause
End quote.

Yeah. Anything that can go wrong, (probably) will go wrong. Kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy, sometimes. Happens a lot in off-road racing. I have heard dozens of stories about racers who prepared for any contingency that might come up in races such as the Baja 1000, only to have a bird steal the ribbon marking the gas can, or the mouse who built a nest in the carburetor, or the guy who ran over the "Dangerous intersection ahead" sign.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baja_1000

Example of off-road racers relating the "good times" had during the race.

http://www.chaosfab.com/baja_05.html

Quote:
This was quite a treat to see our regular crew who swore he’d NEVER go to Baja again. “Till next time Sudam!” It’s about 7pm and we finally hit the highway to KM 87 and then proceed backward to MM 127. The silt had doubled in depth since Saturday and we threw the alternator belt and tossed the gas can with 5 gallons in it. Broken K put the belt back on, we found the dump can and proceeded with caution. We ran into a 4 door Tacoma prerunning that requested beverages. We were guided by GPS, the KC lights and the moon lit the entire valley, we were now solo in Baja. At 11:30 pm & MM 130 the frayed belt called it quits! We had no choice but to set up camp,the pit was not here. “We’re camping here anyway!” Thurs AM, I’m reading a Dirt Rider mag and heard some motor noise. We’re in the middle of nowhere relaxing. There’s not a soul near us, the pits 3 miles away, and it’s a Hummer with machine guns headed towards us. Yup federalies rolled us in tim-buck-too, tossed the truck and the tent. They grilled us for the explosion materials, but a word of advice….keep the receipts from where you bought them and they were cool. Baja Jones was now reached on the radio, it was 9AM, we installed a new belt and we proceeded like a safari wagon of vagabond’s not deflating the air mattress to Patio Burrito and Mrs. Burrito, Tiny, Madonna, Larry and Bethel who were at the pit at MM 127. The same federalies tossed the pit and even inspected dump cans after us. This years pit kicked some ass, literally and figuratively! At times the pit was 4 cars deep with race cars or bikes getting repaired, welded, fueled. They even fueled Jesse James’s helo while JD filmed the whole shebang. With lots of action and lots of laughs it’s another adventure stamped in the Baja book and I just wanted to say thanks for all the laughs and good times!
End quote.

One odd one regarding cycling is when you suddenly encounter an obstacle to not stare it at, but look at a path around it. Most folks have the tendency to stare at it and freeze, causing them to run right into it.

That works the same way on bicycles and motorcycles. Think where you want to go.
Another general problem regards fear. Worst thing to do in a dangerous situation is to focus on the fear. I remember many a time riding my dirt-bike on a narrow path, through trees or near a big drop-off. Have to learn to focus ahead rather than on the point of danger. Also have to keep from getting stiff. More relaxed, letting nature take its course is usually faster. Similar thing when landing a plane, in my experience. Just relax and land the darn thing. Don't overthink it. Similar in most sports, and probably in brain surgery.

Quote:
This was quite a treat to see our regular crew who swore he’d NEVER go to Baja again. “Till next time Sudam!” It’s about 7pm and we finally hit the highway to KM 87 and then proceed backward to MM 127. The silt had doubled in depth since Saturday and we threw the alternator belt and tossed the gas can with 5 gallons in it. Broken K put the belt back on, we found the dump can and proceeded with caution. We ran into a 4 door Tacoma prerunning that requested beverages. We were guided by GPS, the KC lights and the moon lit the entire valley, we were now solo in Baja. At 11:30 pm & MM 130 the frayed belt called it quits! We had no choice but to set up camp,the pit was not here. “We’re camping here anyway!” Thurs AM, I’m reading a Dirt Rider mag and heard some motor noise. We’re in the middle of nowhere relaxing. There’s not a soul near us, the pits 3 miles away, and it’s a Hummer with machine guns headed towards us. Yup federalies rolled us in tim-buck-too, tossed the truck and the tent. They grilled us for the explosion materials, but a word of advice….keep the receipts from where you bought them and they were cool. Baja Jones was now reached on the radio, it was 9AM, we installed a new belt and we proceeded like a safari wagon of vagabond’s not deflating the air mattress to Patio Burrito and Mrs. Burrito, Tiny, Madonna, Larry and Bethel who were at the pit at MM 127. The same federalies tossed the pit and even inspected dump cans after us. This years pit kicked some ass, literally and figuratively! At times the pit was 4 cars deep with race cars or bikes getting repaired, welded, fueled. They even fueled Jesse James’s helo while JD filmed the whole shebang. With lots of action and lots of laughs it’s another adventure stamped in the Baja book and I just wanted to say thanks for all the laughs and good times!
End quote.
======================
The person that wrote that crap was obviously on some serious illegal drugs.

Quote:
The person that wrote that crap was obviously on some serious illegal drugs.
End quote.

LOL

Quite possibly. Lots of illegal drugs down there. But, for most racers pure adrenaline is the drug of preference. Fear produces the stuff in quantity and there's lots of good reason for fear at Baja.

http://www.thebajaunlimited.com/

It's probably a stretch, but how about . . . Cash For Clunkers did manage to get a bunch of Obama bumper stickers off the road . . .