Ideas

 Tom Clancy once wrote (I think) “People wed their ideas more faithfully than their Spouses”. 

There are a lot of long held, and popular ideas that, um…, 

Stink.

A lot of ideas are VERY popular and It seems like everyone follows them. I’m not sure they even know why other than “everyone else does it this way”. Try to convince them that this or that idea is bad and they look at you like you killed their kitten (A discussion about live loads and what a disaster they are nearly led to fisticuffs, and I’m not sure I’m speaking to that person anymore. All I said was “they are a very bad idea” and boom!)

I worked with a guy on the movie “The Grinch”, Dave Shauger. He was a tank platoon commander in 1st Desert Storm. He had a great saying about popular ideas and the need to think for yourself. “That’s a great idea! Everyone says so. 78 Million people CAN’t be wrong. Oh wait, what about Nazi Germany?”

Maybe saying or just thinking a popular idea is a bad idea is, well… bad?

Here’s my short list of popular, yet bad ideas: Live loads, Weighing cars, Sound, two man crews, 

There’s more, just give me a minute…

Every idea I’ve had I’ve stolen. I might take someone’s idea and add a procedure or polish a part of it, but essentially it’s something I’ve seen or used somewhere else and adopted.

I wish I had an original thought, but I’m not that smart. I will say that you should look at an idea and decide for yourself if it’s good or bad. That’s really what I’m trying to say. Think for yourself.

But after all that it’s still pretty easy for me to say something is a bad idea, when all I’ve done is steal other peoples ideas.

Maybe my lot in life is to be a “nay bob of negativity”. It something to aspire to.

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