#703: Life in the Fast Lane

The faster you go, the behinder you get. —Anonymous In the last few months, my enlightenment has reached new levels. Seems everything I read talks of my two favorite phrases (at this moment in time): "order of magnitude" and "vantage point". There is a great TV series called simply enough, Life. Thank goodness for the net and the ability to watch and/or buy episodes of the show. Like the third episode from the first season, "Let her go" where Charlie Crews acquires the Buick Grand National. Talk about fast. I was out of the fast and furious driving phase by time these monsters screamed onto the scene in the late 1980s. Come on, they were made by Buick! Who could have guessed? But the turbo V6 and advanced electronics produced a definite order of magnitude in performance over my 1967 GTO 400ci or 1968 Chevelle 396ci. But I digress... We used to say that there was no subsitute for cubic inches when it came to performance cars. But in fact, there was: the turbo charger for one. By changing the vantage point, it was possible to produce more horsepower with less size. The 3.8 liter V6 in the Grand National was only 232 cubic inches! But produced more torque and horsepower than my GTO's 400ci. V8! What challenge are you facing for which you find yourself running faster and faster? That may not be the best or smartest approach. Give me a shout and lets consider some options that might not appear to be all that obvious. Maybe we could then chat about orders of magnitude? Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey ski@throughput.us (c)Copyright 2009, Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.