Nothing in the news will matter if Wallenda falls into the Grand Canyon

[malaise]

and dies walking the wire like his relatives.

[tridim]

1. He'll make it, it's TV.

I just checked and can't believe they're getting 4 hours of broadcast time out of this.

[malaise]

2. I'm betting it will have very high ratings

for every reason on the planet

[Inkfreak]

4. 4 hours? Jeez...

Is he gonna be tethered this time like he was over the falls? That was kinda a letdown. I don't blame him, mind you. Just not as dangerous as I thought.

[WinkyDink]

24. No. Google, friend, etc.

[Scairp]

29. No

And I understand he had to wear that thing when he walked over the falls that he didn't even need, it was required of him by his sponsors. He walked it very easily, considering what he was doing. He'll make it across the Grand Canyon too. Although I understand everyone being nervous because it's a crazy thing to do, he is good enough. I am nervous about watching it live because I would not want to see someone die on live t.v. but any of us could get killed in a car accident driving to the grocery store today, a pretty mundane task but it happens all the time so him doing this doesn't feel all that crazy to me. James Gandolfini dropped dead of a heart attack on vacation in Italy at age 51. I think we should all be more worried about dying in a less than dramatic manner, early and unexpected, than about Nik Wallenda falling from his wire walking over the Grand Canyon.

[noamnety]

14. How to tell when you're old:

My first thought was "holy cow, he's gonna go four hours without having to pee?!"

[pinboy3niner]

22. Depends

[penultimate]

31. Depends on what?

OHHH I GET IT!!!!

[treestar]

3. Does he not have a harness?

I remember the great debate of DU about how it was nothing if he had the harness on, which he did for Niagara Falls.

[malaise]

5. No harness n/t

[treestar]

6. oh boy

that's me. People doing heights things make me nervous!

[cherokeeprogressive]

7. If I didn't have a harness, I'd sure as hell have a parachute. LOL n/t

[texanwitch]

8. You and me both.

One of those small ones, anything would help.

[malaise]

33. +1,000

He's crazy

[longship]

18. He was forced to wear the harness at Niagara.

He said that it impeded him and could have resulted in precisely the fall that the harness was made to protect against.

I heard him say as much the other day on a podcast. I can't remember which one. I listen to many.

BTW, the big Wallenda tragedy happened in my home town of Detroit. I remember it because I was a Detroit News paper boy at the time.

[treestar]

20. That was awful

I remember as a kid the old guy walked a tightrope over Veteran's stadium in Philadelphia! He made it that time, of course.

[MineralMan]

9. Not really. Stunts don't trump reality.

I hope he makes it across OK, but I have no interest in his stunt.

[malaise]

13. We are a minority - check every quiz we do

At most 10% of us actually follow politics and policy

[MineralMan]

15. Well, perhaps you're right.

It's what interests me, though, so that's what I'm reading here. What happens during this stunt, I'm sure I'll learn after the fact, and it will get about 2 seconds of my time, and then be forgotten.

If others put it at a higher priority than that, well, "whatever" will still be a valid word, I think.

Most of what appears here is of little interest to me. I pay attention to what is of interest only.

[Cleita]

10. Yep, you are right.

I'm glad I don't bother with those "news" sources any more.

[NightWatcher]

11. Will Obama order drones to buzz about his head?

Nixon woulda

[Junkdrawer]

12. I can't imagine such gruesome programming during the days of FCC licensing....

How low can it go? Still feel superior to Romans at the Coliseum?

[onenote]

37. Its on cable. The FCC has no jurisdiction over cable content.

[cali]

16. he won't. he's not walking across the Grand Canyon.

<snip>

Moreover, Wallenda's walk will take place well outside Grand Canyon National Park boundaries. The walk site is high above the Little Colorado River Gorge, which is stunning and, no doubt dangerous to negotiate via steel cable, but, as Colson rightly points out, isn't the Grand Canyon.

"Someone who doesn't know any better, might think it's the Grand Canyon," he continued. "It's deep and it looks pretty good until you actually see the Grand Canyon."

<snip>

http://www.usatoday.com/story/dispatches/2013/06/20/grand-canyon-high-wire-walk-wallenda/2439285/

[texanwitch]

17. I was there about 1970 or so on vacation.

It was a awesome sight.

[longship]

19. Plus, the Grand Canyon is 17 miles wide in the Natl Park.

Not bloody likely that he'd try it there.

[pinboy3niner]

21. The National Park Service would not have permitted it there

“The event would not have been approved in Grand Canyon National Park,” says Maureen Oltrogge, the park’s public affairs officer. Under National Park Service regulations, she says, “events must not unreasonably impair the park’s atmosphere of peace and tranquility or have an unacceptable impact on the experience of park visitors.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbender/2013/06/23/one-problem-with-nik-wallendas-grand-canyon-walk-it-isnt-at-the-grand-canyon/

[WinkyDink]

26. Now THERE is a picked nit! 1500 ft up, no net/harness, 30 mph winds,.....next door.

Although the tribal park is not in the actual Grand Canyon, they’re close neighbors. Some have called it a “little Grand Canyon,”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbender/2013/06/23/one-problem-with-nik-wallendas-grand-canyon-walk-it-isnt-at-the-grand-canyon/

[Cleita]

27. That's the part that Thelma and Louise went over.

It's not part of Grand Canyon National Park but is a part of the canyon, sort of one end of it. I've been there several times.

[onenote]

39. I remember my first trip to the Canyon

Came across the little canyon initially and was quite impressed. Then I got the real deal. And was blown away.

[WinkyDink]

23. Hey, it won't be like AZ will lower the flag to half-staff.

[TheKentuckian]

25. I don't think any issue will matter even one bit less, the coverage is a different story

Media focus doesn't relate to importance at all other than to distract from important things with flotsam at times.

[malaise]

30. That's my point n/t

[russspeakeasy]

28. If anything interesting happens, it will be on tomorrow and for 30

days, night and day..

[Demoiselle]

32. For a moment, I completely misread this post...

I wondered what the great Polish patriot was doing visiting the Grand Canyon.
Oh well. I fear my attention is more than wandering these days. It's hiding in the woods.
Cheers.

[malaise]

34. LOL

[pinboy3niner]

35. Solidarnosc!

[texanwitch]

36. There isn't enough money to get me up on a wire.

I know his family has done this for many years but I think it is crazy.

[Apophis]

38. My life won't change if he makes it or not.

It's a stupid stunt. Nothing more.

[malaise]

40. Well he made it

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/24/nik-wallenda-high-wire-canyon
<snip>
The high-wire artist Nik Wallenda has completed a tightrope walk that took him a quarter of a mile over the Little Colorado River gorge near the Grand Canyon.

Wallenda performed the stunt on a 2-inch-thick steel cable, 1,500 feet (457 meters) above the river without wearing a harness.

Wallenda took just more than 22 minutes, pausing and kneeling twice and murmuring prayers to Jesus almost constantly along the way. He stepped slowly and steadily, but jogged and hopped the last few steps.

"It took every bit of me to stay focused that entire time," Wallenda said. "My arms are aching like you wouldn't believe."