Emotion Before Perfection

The Slow Blog

Weekly English and German
Wöchentlich deutsch und englisch

October 2017

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63 MARTIN LUTHER PART I 27.10.2017 15:04

Germany, on 31 October 1517, Martin Luther published his Ninety-Five Theses. Now, 500 years later, it is a good moment to have again a closer look at it. Today, the person of Martin Luther is on the focus. According to Wikipedia, he was a professor of theology, composer, priest and monk.

Martin Luther (10th November 1483 – 18th February 1546) was a Christian, who was searching answers in the Holy Bible. One day, he found an answer in this struggle, in Romans 1, verse 17 (see recommendation) - the main statement for him was: „The righteous will live by faith“. This changed his life.

He recognized the great goodness and mercy of the Christian faith, of the Holy Trinity. This lead him personally and gave him also many insights: on one hand for other human beings, on the other hand into the situation of the Church, too.

Part II will be on the motivation of Martin Luther, what he was aiming for and what he did.

See you next Friday. - God bless you, all the best! The Castiron

Recommendation: https://www.bibleserver.com/text/NIV/Romans1

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62 MANY MANY PONIES 20.10.2017 14:51

The Pony Car! The launch in 1964 and the 50th Mustang Anniversary in Las Vegas / USA, 2014 - more than 2000 cars present (please have a look at the video). The Castiron and his Ford Mustang, Eleanor V, could not participate, but they attended similar events, one in 2014 and one this year in Switzerland.

The 5th Mustang & Shelby Meeting in Birrfeld Lupfig in 2014 was also on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary. Eleanor V was one of estimated 1000 vehicles, travelled from half of Europe.

And now, this year in 2017, both attended the 6th Mustang & Shelby Meeting in Zug. Beautiful wheather, a nice region with city and lake in close proximity, several hundred ponies and nice people made this day almost perfect. Thanks to the Mustang Club of Switzerland for the very good organization and the varied entertainment, too!

Less words, more pictures: the picture gallery will give you a short overview. Enjoy yourself!

See you next Friday. - God bless you, all the best! The Castiron

Recommendation: http://thecastiron.ch/en/links-en.html

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61 MERDE 13.10.2017 14:22

According to www.motorsport-total.com (at the end of July 2017) the French word „merde“ was the outcry from the outstanding Swiss racing driver Sébastien Buemi (see blogpost 40), after crossing the finishing line, on the occasion of the Formula E Grand Prix in Canada. It was the last weekend of the current FIA Formula E Championship; the final decision on who will supply this World Championship was forthcoming.

But let us tackle things one at a time. Today’s blogpost is on Friday the thirteenth; no, The Castiron is not superstitious, definitely not. But he knows from his own experience, that sometimes almost everything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

Please have a look at the video. The practice session in Montreal, Canada – nobody is infallible, nobody is perfect. The team had to build up the crashed car in the short time between this accident and the race, and that could be managed.

The first race then was an inglorious story – on the track, in the pit lane and finally on the scale. Some opponents had not been very fair and this lead to the point, when Sébastien Buemi cried „merde“ (in English it is a four letter-word). He was so in rage, that a battle of words followed after the race between him and some competitors – partly rightly, partly not. And: the repaired car was underweight, that meant disqualification. Finally, he could not defend his world championship title – the circumstances in Canada seemed to be against him.

The final words go from The Castiron to his compatriot Sébastien Buemi, from racer to racer, in his mother tongue: „Tu es très sympa, Sébastien, tout de bon pour l’avenir!“ In English: you are very pleasant Sébastien, all the best for the future! And we all know: it happens, that apparently all bad things come together at the same time.

See you next Friday. - God bless you, all the best! The Castiron

Recommendation: www.cbmcint.com/signup-now

PS. Have a look back at blogpost 3 EMOTION BEFORE PERFECTION, too.

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60 NORDSCHLEIFE 201710 06.10.2017 14:14

First of all, please have a look at the video. Obviously, it is Nordschleife - the double left hand bend from „Eschbach“ to „Brünnchen“, downhill. Ideally, you drive this part with the objective to terminate on the left side to be ready for the next righthand turn; tricky, because usually you have to be on the right side at the end of left bends. Additionally: downhill means, the rear of the vehicle becomes rather light.

Some time ago, The Castiron was more or less in the same situation, at the same place, driving an early nineties rear-wheel driven European Ford, not Eleanor V. Dry surface, but partly humid, especially in shady places.

It was almost exactly the same, as the Mini driver in the video experienced – but with some major differences. The Castiron drove into the first bend, used the space on the right side for a wider radius for the second left and: he was not aware of the humid strip and his car abruptly skidded more than rectangular to the driving direction. Both drivers braked immediately to diminish as much speed as possible, to save what can be saved.

And now, the major differences: the Mini slides just a little bit more than rectangular, The Castiron’s Ford did it decisively more. Also the starting point of the problems was not exactly the same. Thus, the Mini driver had the happier end – he did not touch the crash barriers; at the end of this double left turn, The Castiron did, and the left backside of the Ford touched the crash barriers on the right side – hard enough for a quite visible damage at the car, light enough for remaining roadworthy (more or less).

Conclusion: often, small details determine, if you almost crash or you really do – or between a minor or a serious accident! Thank God, this was the only crash The Castiron faced on the Nordschleife, since he has been a guest on this track – for the first time 25 years ago. Hopefully, it stays that way!

See you next Friday. - God bless you, all the best! The Castiron

Recommendation: www.cbmcint.com/signup-now