Seek to Misconstrue + a
Failure: The Blog 
August 2018
- When This Executive Was Fired, He Took Charge
- Obeying The Speed Limit Has Never Been More Fun
- London Black Cabs Helped Uber Grow
- Bette Graham Created A Product To Fix Her Mistakes
- Flamin' Hot Cheetos Had An Interesting Start
July 2018
- Fear This Instead Of Failure
- Re-Releasing Songs Created Success
- A CEO's Purposeful Mistake
- The Tardy Student And The Unsolvable Problem
- Fixing Potholes Through Graffiti
June 2018
- A Surprising Mistake In The Oxford English Dictionary
- US Army Embraces Mistakes
- Blocking A Hymn
- Eddie Shore Was Truly A Tough Guy
- [Video] Elon Musk Didn't "Pivot" He Failed
May 2018
- 8 Examples of Mental Toughness Part 2
- Necessity Turned Accessory: Allen Iverson's Sleeve
- This Doctor Has Continued To Fail
- 8 Examples of Mental Toughness
- MIT Accidentally Creates New Smelting Process
April 2018
- Johnny Cash Quit Singing Lessons
- Cruise Control Came Out of Frustration
- Time Spent Gaming Pays Off In The Navy
- Rock Around The Clock Was a Commercial Failure
- Sigmund Freud Should Have Been Discouraged
March 2018
Is Chronic Whiplash Real?
Every driver in every first-world country is familiar with the concept of whiplash. Except for Lithuania: in this small nation, whiplash does not exist.
Photo © Flickr User DrRaySkyes
The idea that a common medical condition would be completely absent in a single country is extremely odd. But in fact, it might mean that the problem doesn’t actually exist anywhere.
An old New York Times article explains:
In Lithuania, rear-end collisions happen much as they do in the rest of the world. Cars crash, bumpers crumple and tempers flare. But drivers in cars that have been hit there do not seem to suffer the long-term complaints so common in other countries: the headaches or lingering neck pains that have come to be known as chronic whiplash, or whiplash syndrome.
Cars are no safer in Lithuania, and the average neck is not any stronger. The difference, a new study says, might be described as a matter of indemnity.
The study could not find a single example of a Lithuanian who had been in a car accident and still claimed to suffer from chronic neck pain more than a year later. Researchers felt that this demonstrates that whiplash is at least vastly over-reported.
Not surprisingly, the announcement created a tremendous response. A whiplash patients organization threatened a lawsuit. Many questioned whether the study was funded by the insurance industry, even though the money came from academic sources. Doctors in other countries have mixed opinions, but many find the results to be extremely interesting. Most shocked of all are the Lithuanians, who have never heard of “whiplash” at all!
Failure is the secret to success. We must sometimes question assumptions and face brutal criticism to find a way forward. Whiplash may in fact be a widely-supported myth, but critics will have a long road ahead.
