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Occam's Razor
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Lake Jackson, TX
Posts: 2,663
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Man on Wire
Has anyone seen this documentary? This is the most incredible thing I've ever seen.
Phillipe Petite is a care-free Frenchman going about his business doing juggling and magic tricks and some tight rope walking in the town square. He gets bolder and bolder and ends up stringing a cable across a couple of bridge stanchions in Australia and then walking across them during rush hour. Well, he sees an artist's rendition of the World Trade Center towers and from that minute on, he's obsessed with walking between them. Even before they were built he was visuallizing the feat. He plans for three years on how to not only get all his gear up to the 104th floor, but how to get a wire across the 200 feet between the towers and anchoring it securely. Then, with security ready to stop him at any time, he finally gets his wire strung and spends 45 minutes!!! out in the middle of the towers with 1,100 feet of nothing between him and the concrete below. It's amazing. They arrest him and charge him with trespassing. The ticket actually said "Man on Wire". The judge "sentenced" him to perform a magic show for some kids as punishment. He lives in New York now near Woodstock.
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Craig '82 930, '16 Ram, '17 F150 |
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07-24-2010, 09:17 AM
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Registered
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Linn County, Oregon
Posts: 48,517
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Interesting bit of history...that can never be repeated. Thanks for the post.
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"Now, to put a water-cooled engine in the rear and to have a radiator in the front, that's not very intelligent." -Ferry Porsche (PANO, Oct. '73) (I, Paul D. have loved this quote since 1973. It will remain as long as I post here.) |
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07-24-2010, 09:22 AM
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Student of the obvious
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Phoenix
Posts: 7,714
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I keep meaning to watch that on Netflix. Looks interesting. I was always amazed at his stunts when I was a kid.
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Lee |
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07-24-2010, 10:18 AM
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Registered
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Hamburg & Vancouver
Posts: 7,693
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Yes. Great documentary. On Apple TV if you have it.
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_____________________ These are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others.—Groucho Marx |
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07-24-2010, 10:20 AM
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Banned
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 6,930
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Yes. people should watch that one it is very good.
People should not watch "Dive" |
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07-24-2010, 10:30 AM
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Banned
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: South of Heaven
Posts: 21,159
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I have no idea what makes some people tick.
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07-24-2010, 11:17 AM
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I'm not here.
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Lookin' forward to Sammyg2's comment!
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07-24-2010, 12:36 PM
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Back in the saddle again
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Central TX west of Houston
Posts: 55,915
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Trailer
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Steve '08 Boxster RS60 Spyder #0099/1960 - never named a car before, but this is Charlotte. '88 targa  SOLD 2004 - gone but not forgotten
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07-24-2010, 01:29 PM
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Back in the saddle again
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Central TX west of Houston
Posts: 55,915
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5 min scene
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Steve '08 Boxster RS60 Spyder #0099/1960 - never named a car before, but this is Charlotte. '88 targa SOLD 2004 - gone but not forgotten
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07-24-2010, 01:30 PM
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Back in the saddle again
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Central TX west of Houston
Posts: 55,915
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News report from the day.
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Steve '08 Boxster RS60 Spyder #0099/1960 - never named a car before, but this is Charlotte. '88 targa SOLD 2004 - gone but not forgotten
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07-24-2010, 01:31 PM
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Registered
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Mission Viejo, CA
Posts: 60
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There's also a children's book: "The man who walked between the towers." A nice change from the rest of the vapid PC crap in the library these days. It's well illustrated as well.
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-PB 1984 Chiffon White Coupe |
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07-24-2010, 11:55 PM
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Occam's Razor
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Lake Jackson, TX
Posts: 2,663
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It seemed to me like Phillipe Petite "peaked" at just the exact moment in time to pull off the feat. I mean he had been planning and working his plan for a couple of years. Then after narrowly avoiding the gaurds and finally getting the wire in place just after dawn, he stepped out onto the wire and stayed out there for 45 minutes. There may not ever be another man that, put in that situation, at a precise moment in time who is mentally and physically prepared for what he did. The towers weren't completely in operation or occupied at the time, so that helped him get his gear installed.
He traversed the wire 8 times!! He acutally layed down on the wire at one point. I get dizzy climbing up and down these towers at the various refineries I work at and they have caged ladders and are typically only a couple hundred feet tall. This guy was on a 1/2" cable 1,100 feet up! How can this ever be duplicated? Will someone build two towers ever again this high and close together?
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Craig '82 930, '16 Ram, '17 F150 |
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07-25-2010, 04:50 AM
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1980 Porsche 911SC targa 3.0
