July 13, 2011: Have you ever noticed the simplicity of a Schwinn bicycle?  The design seems rudimentarily simplistic in cause and effect.  A pulley attached to one large cog connected by a chain to another gear with foot pedals.  The rider pushes the pedals propelling the wheels and frame forward down the boulevard. (I love the word "boulevard.")

It's man's nature to take a simple, efficient object and complicate the hell out of it.   It's done in the name of "specialization" to improve a product for a limited number of people who have the need of greater performance than its original construction.

As a case in point, just look at the athletic shoe market.   Growing up in B'ville, we all wore the high black top Keds.  They were not very romantic looking; however, Bob Cousy, the famous point guard for the Celtics, performed quite well over his twelve-year career wearing them.  It didn't matter what sneaks I wore; nothing short of marvel tablets was going to coin the phrase "Air Max."

To purchase a pair of Keds cost $5 or $6 back then.  Now some shoes are as much as $500 a pair, evoking perpetrators to lay in ambush to shoot you in the parking lot for your box of new go-fast shoes.

I shudder when I see product labels stating, "This is a child-proof cap."  I gird myself for war.  I see that label and immediately dispatch needle-nose pliers, razor blades, and saws to take care of the task.  In many cases you need a schematic overlay to get the container opened.  I have injured digits trying to open a bottle of aspirin.  These failures cause me to challenge my position in the I.Q. food chain as an adult.

Arguably, innovation is considered man's responsibility to improve the lives of his fellow humans for the better.  But change, after many years of life's routine, is sometimes hard to accept, especially when the idea for "improvement" applies to a product or tool that has been in front of you for forty years.

I opened talking about the simplicity of the bicycle.  I was thinking the other day how hard it was trying to peddle my big butt up Avon Road as a kid.  Seldom did I get to the top without having to walk it up the last quarter of that painful hill.  I worked hard at scaling it, with many disappointments.  One day I made it to the top without dismounting, and it gave me a real sense of accomplishment.  If I had one of them new carbon fiber fifteen-geared hoorays it would have been lickety-split.

In my opinion, some things should be immune to change or innovation.

I hope something that never changes in B'ville is celebrating our national holidays and honoring those brave men and women who have served.  No innovation could improve that--thank a vet; we owe them.

A Happy Belated Fourth, hometown; and give Avon a try on a Schwinn--I dare ya.

Max