Multi-Association Thread

[billy rubin]

???

how can you possibly not want to do this?

to strap on wings, run down a ramp, and step off into  . . . nothing?

ive wanted to build man-carrying kites like the wright brothers since i was a child. or a hang glider like otto lilienthal.

life is just too short to fret about making it last longer. i spent most of my life being responsible and looking out for the future.

then some thirty years ago i realized that my life wasnt in the future. it was right now, and if i kept putting the interesting stuff off i was just going to die without ever doing it. so i said, fuck that, and walked away from everything i owned and had worked for all my lfe. and then i taught myself how to race motorcycles.

id still do the hang gliding right now except im finally too decrepit and dont live in the right place. so on the racing i slid in under the wire.

[Dark Lightning]

I get vertigo on ladders, so this is beyond the pale for me.

[billy rubin]

look at these nut cases though. hang gliding is pretty laid back compared to the wingsuit people

you couldnt get me to do this if you stuffed my pockets with winning lottery tickets i understand exactly what theyre doing, because theyre looking for a tecnical perfection in their control of a path through a very narrow success window. but i dont look for challenges where slipping out of the window means that you die.

people are always saying these folks do it for the adrenaline. i dont think so. when i pull up my motorcycle to the starting line and go through my safety checks, i dont feel any adrenaline about going 135 mph on a naked motorcycle in a few seconds. my heart rate actually goes down, and my mind slows way down. i have to be careful i dont neglect anything because i start to detach from the world.

then during the run, everything goes away except me, the motorcycle, and the race course. there's no thought of anything else-- zero past, present, or future. im listening to the engine, watching the tachometer, keeping track of where my body is located on the machine, and watching out for the lights.

got to keep your eyes up. i once looked down briefly and missed the mile lights going by. then i hit the cones at 100-something mph, which reminded me to stay in present time.

maybe thats it? things like this enforce a mental state of complete living in the present moment.

im thinking drag racing is like that too, but drag racing would be too stressful for me, i think.

[Dark Lightning]

I can get in that zone by doing math, and even when carving wood. Far less dangerous.

[billy rubin]

https://columbusclassical.org/blog/the-danger-of-mathematics/

[Icarus]

Math is often disappointing when I balance my checkbook. 

[Dark Lightning]

Any danger in mathematics as posed in the article billy posted rests in the same realm as religious fanaticism. People don't like your work and harm you.

[Recusant]

Never done hang-gliding, but did paragliding a few times and it was a blast. Even learning to control the beast while standing on the ground was fun as far as I was concerned. However the fellow who was teaching me moved away and wasn't willing to sell his old wing (that I'd been learning on). He felt that it would soon no longer be flyable and I wasn't proficient enough to fly unsupervised anyway. To be fair, I did have some less than graceful landings. Couldn't afford a wing, so that was the extent of my flying. The bones are more brittle now, but I'd still do it if given the chance.