Can we discuss this Nik Wallenda thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I watched it. Sweaty palms and all. Even though the guy was super annoying. "Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Thank you Jesus. In holy Jesus' name, steady this wire Jesus." My husband didn't watch but yelled from the other room, "This is Jesus. Shut the f*** up."

Hilarious! I can't stop laughing about this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I watched (sort of) - it was freaking me out. Why did he stop twice and kneel down? was that planned? Was it because of the wind and/or he was losing his balance? I am glad he made it, but he is a complete NUT. There is no point in risking your life for a stunt.

It stabilizes the wire. Over time, each step makes the wire bounce, and walking at a consistent speed/gait makes the wire build up a harmonic wave so that each bounce becomes higher and higher. Stopping and kneeling dampens the wave so that it's safe for him to continue walking. If you saw any of the interviews with him, he also talks about how he continually adjusts his speed and step size to help quell that bounce.

It's a similar effect to what caused the Tacoma Narrows bridge to collapse.

From other interviews with him, his argument against safety gear is that it gives you a false sense of security and leads to carelessness. Apparently one of his family members was badly injured (killed?) when he fell into a net, and bounced right out of it. Also, because he doesn't generally use it, it throws off his balance. (Personally, I find this line of argument kind of crazy when dealing with things like crossing the grand canyon, but wanted to share his viewpoint.)

[Anonymous]

I was five and living in Puerto Rico when Wallenda fell to his death while walking between two hotel towers in 1978. One of my earliest memories to this day is watching that on TV.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone else wonder why this sort of crazy thing is allowed? I was surprised he was allowed to do this and that someone didn't stop him. I know some Native American tribe was featured -- do they own the land or isn't the Grand Canyon on federal land?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I watched it. Sweaty palms and all. Even though the guy was super annoying. "Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Thank you Jesus. In holy Jesus' name, steady this wire Jesus." My husband didn't watch but yelled from the other room, "This is Jesus. Shut the f*** up."

LULZ!

I can't stand when people thanks Jesus for this crap. Like really, if you believe in god, preventing you from falling to your death in a willful stunt, is really at the top of her/his list? How insanely narcissistic do you have to be? Same goes for people who praise Jesus at award shows. I'm sure your grammy is so much more important than child slavery.

[Anonymous]

Was it really real? It all seemed too staged, the wife's remarks before to the annoying nbc lady, the talk between Nik and his dad, it really seemed fake to me.

Also, I fully believe that he must have trained himself to do all the Jesus talk otherwise there would be a stream of obscenities.."Oh FUCK, holy fucking shit, what the fuck am I doing up here? Get me the fuck off of this goddamned wire, what the hell was I thinking, Jesus fucking christ, stop that god damned wind, etc"

[Anonymous]

It wasn't actually the Grand Canyon. It was a gorge in Colorado.

[Anonymous]

It was real and was in Arizona.

[Anonymous]

This guy is from my hometown, I've seen him train a few times. He looks a lot happier when he isn't 1500 ft off the ground. Someone should tell him the incessant Jesus talk (or any talk, for that matter) distracts focus, they have done studies on people driving and talking on their cell phones (even with both hands on the wheel) which show your performance is impaired even hands-free when you are talking. This is dialogue he should have internalized. It did feel like propaganda that it was aired, I bet Discovery channel wasn't aware this would become a hyper-religious endeavor. His actions reflect on the whole network and given the amount of money they spent to fund this thing, I'm sure they have a say in how they want to be represented, not all viewers are religious or want to be distracted from the spectacle with a bunch of talking of any sort. I do think it's a worthy endeavor, because it dazzles people. If this is really his passion in life, he knows the risks, and he takes it because it's what he cares about and people want to see it. I'm sure it's nerve wrecking for his family but they are all performers too, so it must be more normal for them than it is for all of us. I do think he could benefit from an ego check. Seems rather hypothetical to be praising Jesus for all his gifts while risking the gift of life to walk on a rope, but it's a brave act nonetheless and it's his choice and life to lose. I hope he never has an accident, we don't need an instant replay of Karl Wallenda. Glad he made it across safely.

[Anonymous]

BTW, I object to calling it a walk over Grand Canyon when it's really a gorge next to Grand Canyon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This guy is from my hometown, I've seen him train a few times. He looks a lot happier when he isn't 1500 ft off the ground. Someone should tell him the incessant Jesus talk (or any talk, for that matter) distracts focus, they have done studies on people driving and talking on their cell phones (even with both hands on the wheel) which show your performance is impaired even hands-free when you are talking. This is dialogue he should have internalized. It did feel like propaganda that it was aired, I bet Discovery channel wasn't aware this would become a hyper-religious endeavor. His actions reflect on the whole network and given the amount of money they spent to fund this thing, I'm sure they have a say in how they want to be represented, not all viewers are religious or want to be distracted from the spectacle with a bunch of talking of any sort. I do think it's a worthy endeavor, because it dazzles people. If this is really his passion in life, he knows the risks, and he takes it because it's what he cares about and people want to see it. I'm sure it's nerve wrecking for his family but they are all performers too, so it must be more normal for them than it is for all of us. I do think he could benefit from an ego check. Seems rather hypothetical to be praising Jesus for all his gifts while risking the gift of life to walk on a rope, but it's a brave act nonetheless and it's his choice and life to lose. I hope he never has an accident, we don't need an instant replay of Karl Wallenda. Glad he made it across safely.

when a guy walks a wire across a canyon 1090+ feet up, he gets to say whatever he wants that gets him through it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This guy is from my hometown, I've seen him train a few times. He looks a lot happier when he isn't 1500 ft off the ground. Someone should tell him the incessant Jesus talk (or any talk, for that matter) distracts focus, they have done studies on people driving and talking on their cell phones (even with both hands on the wheel) which show your performance is impaired even hands-free when you are talking. This is dialogue he should have internalized. It did feel like propaganda that it was aired, I bet Discovery channel wasn't aware this would become a hyper-religious endeavor. His actions reflect on the whole network and given the amount of money they spent to fund this thing, I'm sure they have a say in how they want to be represented, not all viewers are religious or want to be distracted from the spectacle with a bunch of talking of any sort. I do think it's a worthy endeavor, because it dazzles people. If this is really his passion in life, he knows the risks, and he takes it because it's what he cares about and people want to see it. I'm sure it's nerve wrecking for his family but they are all performers too, so it must be more normal for them than it is for all of us. I do think he could benefit from an ego check. Seems rather hypothetical to be praising Jesus for all his gifts while risking the gift of life to walk on a rope, but it's a brave act nonetheless and it's his choice and life to lose. I hope he never has an accident, we don't need an instant replay of Karl Wallenda. Glad he made it across safely.

when a guy walks a wire across a canyon 1090+ feet up, he gets to say whatever he wants that gets him through it.

Heck, yeah. If I were up on a wire like that I would be praying the whole way too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was real and was in Arizona.

http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/excursions/post/nik-wallenda/

“The event would not have been approved in Grand Canyon National Park,” Maureen Oltrogge, the park’s public affairs officer, told Forbes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was it really real? It all seemed too staged, the wife's remarks before to the annoying nbc lady, the talk between Nik and his dad, it really seemed fake to me.

Also, I fully believe that he must have trained himself to do all the Jesus talk otherwise there would be a stream of obscenities.."Oh FUCK, holy fucking shit, what the fuck am I doing up here? Get me the fuck off of this goddamned wire, what the hell was I thinking, Jesus fucking christ, stop that god damned wind, etc"

Can't stop LOLing at your version

[Anonymous]

just plain stupid!