« Sad news from Kenya |
Main
| Apple //c Unboxing »
Jon Carroll on skydiving and other things one might have on a list of wished for adventures:
I've never seen the appeal of experiencing death right up until technology says, oops, second chance after all. I know, I know, it's liberating and exhilarating. So is escaping from North Korea, but I don't want to do that either.
Posted on February 2, 2008 at 11:51 AM in quotes | Permalink
Comments
A lot of the exhilaration is because of the novelty. When you're taking an offramp off the freeway you're facing death or serious injury until you apply the brakes to take the turn or intersection safely, but it's not perceived as a near-death act because of our faith in the car's brakes. This faith if whole because of our experience. Our faith in parachutes is not as strong because we don't have as much experience with them.
Sure skydiving is more dangerous than driving, but it's a few orders of magnitude closer to driving than it is to escaping from North Korea.
Posted by: Kevin Fox at Feb 2, 2008 1:48:48 PM
Post a comment
« Sad news from Kenya |
Main
| Apple //c Unboxing »
Blog (noun) A weblog or similar brief journal usually containing links and commentary thereon. Term coined by Peter Merholz.
Visit Typepad or Blogger to start your own. (I began with hand coding, then switched to Blogger when it first became available, then to Movable Type when I wanted more control over my weblog and to have it hosted at a place of my choosing (Hurricane Electric). Now I use Typepad, built by the same folks who made Movable Type and I love it).
You may write to Dinah @ this domain.
Except where otherwise noted all text is copyright 1965-2006 Dinah Sanders. Images are copyright of their original creators. MetaGrrrl logo and photos of and by Dinah are copyright 1998-2006 Dinah Sanders. Inkspot Books and the Inkspot logo have been Service Marks of Dinah Sanders since 1993. Publication (yes, including on the web) without express written permission prohibited.
