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In Reply to: RE: pics for the adrenaline junkies amongst us posted by Green Lantern on November 23, 2014 at 11:20:58
a mile from there, unless it's a very similar looking spot (the beach is Barra da Tijuca). It's hang-gliding heaven, though I never got into it. Great photos. Few adrenaline junkies make it to old age; those that do are in walkers at age 50 from destroyed legs/knees/ankles.
I think the absolute most fun, of all those activities, are the jumpers that use those flying body suits; that must simulate flying the best of anything.
Edits: 11/23/14Follow Ups:
are classic wtf moments; I mean I can't think of anything I'd rather do than climb the side of a mountain iced over .
But then again there are the Chinese kids on the side edge who probably are there by circumstance and not by choice.
My adrenaline level is topped off daily with two cups o'coffee thank God ;)
I loved the post until I got to your recent comment.
My wife is from China. As soon as she saw the pic with the kids walking the granite ledge holding chains and ropes, she said "Typical. You cannot believe how many east-asian parks have facilities just like that. Even national parks. One wrong step and 'Adios!' It's kinda crazy."
The same is here in New Zealand. Many of our tramping tracks are utterly dangerous, but we use them knowing so and nobody ever seems to get too terribly hurt. Call us Kiwi 'thrill-seekers', or what have you. Maybe we deplore nanny-states who coddle. Nevertheless, occasionally, things can and do go wrong, and people get hurt or even die. But it is exceedingly rare, with vanishingly small numbers.
Surprisingly, my wife pointed out to me that the east-asian parks also rarely, if ever, have problems, as everybody knows the risks and undertakes them quite voluntarily. Even National Geographic magazine has had articles showing various parks with insanely precarious ropes and chain 'guidelines', and long lines of completely happy people taking risks for their own personal enjoyment.
But what was NOT appreciated was the wildly sinophobic comment about the 'Chinese' kids being there by circumstances, rather than choice, implying the kids were somehow 'forced' to be there, likely as mythical child laborers for some evil Chinese sweatshop. In truth, America (and its NATO proxies) do FAR more damage to children world-wide by dropping bombs on civilians, using depleted uranium shell casings in their endless wars, and by allowing its insanely greedy corporations to exploit child labor around the world by out-sourcing labor (jobs) from America to raise corporate profits, despite middle-class Americans needing all the jobs they can get!
And how do you know they were 'Chinese' kids? I cannot see their faces. Maybe you do. But if you knew that about them, then what were they were doing there, and why didn't you say exactly what the situation was? Instead you speculated using the word 'probably', indicating ignorance of what the true situation was. Assuming they were Chinese kids, and then presuming a possible nefarious purpose for their presence is pure anti-Chinese racism and xenophobia , plain and simple.
There is so much China-bashing going on in the Western media, it's disgusting. Even more worrisome, it's even here on this Asylum, and it makes me sick. If Americans don't like China so much, Americans can and should stop buying their products, or STFU. But apparently, America's appetite for Chinese products is insatiably growing, not shrinking. Just ask Wal-Mart's purchasers what people want and buy with their hard-earned money. The Talmudic tradition teaches Jews that you know what a person REALLY desires by what they spend their money on. And there it is!
If you're pissed at the Chinese about the loss of American jobs and true competitiveness, point the finger where it belongs: WALL STREET and the vultures at the top constantly squeezing the American middle class for ever-expanding corporate profits.
Ahhhhhhh, but Wall Street types own the media, too, don't they? How convenient they use their media megaphones to blame China for the problems America is experiencing due to middle class job out-sourcing, with concomitant loss of purchasing power to support other Americans in domestic jobs and services. The propaganda against China is non-stop to deflect attention away from the true source of America's middle class woes: more and more middle-class wealth accreting to the 0.01% at the top. And you're buying their line of crap all the way! Gobble, gobble, gobble.........
There's a lot of pure propaganda being peddled about China, as American hegemony fades and the empire gets desperate. Attacking China is always a mainstay of such, but the fact of the matter is that China is rising, America is borrowing, and the world at-large knows which scenario leads to a rosy future, and which does not.
follow the link on the bottom of the original post it states "11. Traversing the Death Trail on Mt. Huashan in China".'Circumstance' was merely meant in the sense of taking a short cut rather than the long road home. I seriously doubt they're thrill seekers.
But having re-read what I posted it does sound a bit on the negative side, I apologize; mea culpa.My wife is also Asian -Burmese to be exact, grew up under fierce govt/military rule and life for her was no bed of roses. Having been at ground zero while putting herself through law school on 8-8-88 , she watched hundreds die -many her classmates, on campus at the hands of her government. So from that kind of standpoint I guess yeah; I'm a bit cynical in my observations.
But- if I offended you or anyone else it was clearly not my intention.
first pic- my wife in the ABSDF in an article for Newsweek Asian branch circa '89, second picture her on the far right on with a ABSDF reunion, 3rd pic she speaks at a World conference on the state of Democracy in her country (Burma), last pic her today with her husband, some ugly ole chap ; )
a born leader (she is seen under the left flag middle ;) she often spoke at rallys such as this in her home village. Govt officals would often seek out and arrest such individuals. Her brother was taken away by the police never to be seen again. When she learned the police were looking for her to "ask questions" she knew her days were numbered. She packed her bags at four A.M. and fled with fellow students into the jungle and by 9 A.M police were knocking at her parents door. She would not see her parents for another 25 years. She ultimately ended up in a refugee camp in Thailand waiting for a host country to sponsor her and her small family. She arrived in the U.S. in 1999 and taught herself English. She and her fellow student/com-padres (many I've had the pleasure of meeting) remain active in their struggle for Democracy in their homeland. I was so overwhelmed by her spirit I knew she was the one for me. When Burma finally granted Visas two years ago I reluctantly sent her home to see her mom (her dad had since passed). While she was home the police once again came knocking on her parents door asking for her. She opened the door and stared the govt official straight in his eyes (a young kid probably not even born during 8-8-88). He stated they knew she was a visitor from out of town and just checking to make sure she was 'ok' LoL. Had it not been for her now U.S. citizenship and passport indicating such, she would have clearly been arrested on the spot by the officials and sent to prison.
side note: wow I just googled 'ABSDF' and saw an old familiar pic of my wife (her far right holding the AK-47) she was a communications officer, the others are nurses whom I've met)
Edits: 11/23/14 11/23/14 11/23/14 11/23/14 11/23/14 11/23/14 11/23/14 11/23/14 11/23/14 11/23/14 11/23/14 11/23/14 11/24/14
I've just seen so much China bashing lately, and my wife gets some real crap over here (as Kiwis are not exactly pro-China, they just like their money, and that's all they like about the Chinese, apparently.... and sadly.)
So we are sensitive on this issue. I hope you understand.
Thanks for setting me straight, GL. NEVER a problem! When I'm wrong (and I'm wrong a lot, like most normal folks), I want to know it, and FAST! I do NOT want to criticize anyone unfairly, and I did exactly that with my post. I feel very bad about that. Very bad, indeed. :-(
Again, heartfelt apologies, Green Lantern.
It was and is a GREAT post, like many others you've shared with us. I was simply WRONG.
And your wife is absolutely AWESOME (and incredibly BEAUTIFUL, you lucky man, you!) I am really, really BLOWN AWAY with her. What a woman! Be proud, you and her deserve it! May you both live long and prosper! Cheers! (My wife just walked in and agrees with everything I have written, and offers her apologies, too. And she smacked me upside the head, which I RICHLY deserved for all this nonsense!)
Thanks for the incredible follow-up post and pics. Just inspiring. We really are blown away.
One thing, though, so that you know.
Our Mac has an old, sort of fucked-up version of Safari that blocks all plug-ins and videos (You-Tube is strictly off limits for me, but I could care less, honestly) and other stuff, too, It's a real PITA (long story involving our teenaged son, and something he had us do to Safari which messed it up permanently, apparently. He's moved out now, and ignores our pleas for help, somewhat gleefully, I might add. He's naughty, but we still love him.) ;-)
Sadly, I never saw the captions, GL, as my Safari browser just does this thing where it regularly drops off info from sites and I simply ignore it, or try to work around it, by using Firefox if absolutely necessary. But almost always, I just ignore it. However, after this rather embarassing incident, I think it's time to get it fixed. The thing I actually LIKE about it is that it blocks pop-up ads and the like effectively, which was the idea originally, but it also blocks tons of other stuff, too.
Actually, after our son moved out and thereafter blew off our repeated requests to help us, we've asked Apple Care NZ to scrub the old version of Safari and install a new version, but we're long out of warranty, and don't want to pay NZ$100/hr for someone in Auckland to do this, so like I said, I just ignore it, to be honest. (I could threaten our son with bodily harm, but he's taller than me and weighs the same, so he knows I'm fulla bulla on that one, too, sadly. I hate kids. Okay, not really.) :-)
My wife (wisely) uses Firefox exclusively, but I'm a Safari man, sadly, as it has all my bookmarks going back forever and a day, and that's a lot of bookmarks to transfer over (and I'm not technically oriented re computers, if you haven't picked up on that yet.)
Nevertheless, it is TOTALLY my fault, no doubt. But my take on the pic and your comment was based on what I had in front of me, which showed no titles (which was bumming us out, as we wanted to know where these things were, and we were sad the info wasn't available. We almost opened it in Firefox for just that reason, but I got lazy....... as usual.)
No excuses, I was dead wrong to be critical in any way, and have admitted it. I just wanted you to understand our ignorance about where the photo came from, that's all. Thanks for clearing that up for us. Really appreciated.
And keep those awesome posts coming, GL. Just superb stuff, my man. Right on!
Best Wishes,
WS
Again after reexamining my original post I can see where it may have sounded a bit unsympathetic.
Ok enough of this -I'm way behind on my 'gifs of the week' post! lol
I worked for a company with 'International' in the name.
Worked with many people from ALL over the place. I liked working with the Chinese folks.
My problem is the Chinese Government. Nothing at all wrong with the PEOPLE. It is almost always a big mistake to equate a person with the government of their home country.
I could come up with a bunch of countries where we may mistake the people for the government.
Too much is never enough
Easy there partner...:).
quite a start from one comment.
dee
;-D
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
quote by Kurt Vonnegut
All I can say is (again) I made a mistake. I hope my follow-up post demonstrates my heart-felt sorrow at utterly unfairly castigating GL for what was an absolutely fabulous post.
I get the asshole of the week award. (My wife gives me the honor regularly, so I guess I'm used to it by now.)
My best to all, as I remain,
Sincerely,
WS
in that case you are just like n opinion....everybody got one :)....
dee
;-D
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
quote by Kurt Vonnegut
in re-reading it is not that funny...
I am leaving it because i posted it, but was a joke, seriously....
dee
;-D
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
quote by Kurt Vonnegut
Besides, I deserved a little tweaking. ;-)
GL has really shown himself to be a man of restraint, deliberation and character. Great self control. Very nice to see, and welcome as a response to my somewhat fiery post (albeit mistaken.)
I believe all have shown the best of intentions here, and your pimping made me giggle, I admit.
If people cannot laugh at themselves, they need to see a proctologist. Something's stuck in there (and it just might be their head!) :-)
I don't take myself so seriously anymore, but that's just old age, I guess........
d
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