<photo: overlooking Lake Tahoe at sunset, USA>
the moon has been associated with countless legends, stories and festivals. this month, we celebrate the rising of the new moon by ushering in the year of the fire monkey. of course the monkey Sun Wukong, together with his travelling compatriots Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing and Xuanzang, were characters in the classic legend Journey to the West.
Zhu Bajie (Pig) himself was associated with the moon - when he was an immortal, he flirted with the moon goddess Chang'e and was banished to the mortal world. Chang'e is also the name of the Chinese lunar exploration program.
and we all know about Apollo, the American lunar exploration program, named after the Greek sun god. the first mission of the Apollo program was never launched. on 27 January 1967, a fire erupted in the Apollo 1 spaceship during a test on the launch pad, killing all 3 astronauts on board.
the term "go fever" was coined after the Apollo 1 fire, and has been used in subsequent disasters including the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia disasters. go fever has been described as an "overall attitude of being in a rush or hurry to get a project or task done while overlooking potential problems or mistakes."
closely linked to the concept of groupthink, "go fever" occurs because no one wants to be the one who says no. so its always "go". and that's when things start going wrong.
just like summit fever for mountaineers, go fever is contagious and can be fatal. enjoy the journey and don't just look forward to arriving at the destination. #bcc
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