Nik Wallenda completes two tightrope walks in Chicago

[shenmue]

http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/topstories/nik-wallenda-completes-2-tightrope-walks-between-chicago-skyscrapers-1.2821341

Wowsers!

[WinkyDink]

1. Skeery! Much respect to the Wallendas!

[WillowTree]

2. I'm glad.

Whenever I hear about him or think of him, I'm haunted by the fact that it's entirely likely that one day his children are going to watch him die.

[catbyte]

3. I can't watch him either. Didn't the Wallendas have a terrible accident long ago?

I'll have to Dogpile it.

[laundry_queen]

6. I remember hearing about that

and seeing a partial clip - either his dad or grandfather slipped and fell to his death. Nik Wallenda has always said it's a high probability that's how he's going to die too. It's why I cannot watch him on live tv.

Okay - I just looked - it was his great-grandfather who died in 1978, but there were other accidents and deaths further back too.

[Princess Turandot]

4. Back in 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit..

took a stroll from WTC 1 to WTC 2, roof to roof. He was 110 stories/1,350 feet up: the Towers were ~200 feet apart.

It was done on the sly: he and some friends hid in the building the night before, and then installed his cable the next morning. He crossed back and forth 8 times, danced and stretched out on the cable before the cops convinced him to stop the stroll and return to safety. Sometime later, the Port Authority had him autograph the interior corner of the tower with the observation.

Some photos:
http://www.businessinsider.com/philippe-petit-walked-a-tightrope-between-the-twin-towers-40-years-ago-2014-8

[IcyPeas]

7. "Man on a Wire" the Philippe Petit documentary....

about how they did it. It was totally unauthorized and illegal. It's an amazing film. And now that the towers are gone it is somewhat melancholy to watch (I thought).

[Manifestor_of_Light]

5. I thought Phillipe Petit did something far more dangerous and amazing.

Without all the publicity either.