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A 73-year-old base jumper died after intentionally setting his parachute ablaze. Why did he do it?
WAPO ^ | May 20, 2015 | Sarah Kaplan

Posted on 05/20/2015 6:30:58 AM PDT by PROCON

The video shows a tiny, dark figure leaning off the side of Idaho’s Perrine Bridge. The sky above is gray, the Snake River rumbles 500 feet below. The figure, 73-year-old base jumper James E. Hickey, leaps from the bridge and his parachute bursts into flame.

“What the hell?” a spectator behind the camera says, half shocked, half chuckling. “We gotta —”

But as distant fireball plummets toward the river below, it’s clear that something isn’t right. The laughter dies.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: basejumper; suicide
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To: Principled

Don’t know - just read about the stunt that went bad.


21 posted on 05/20/2015 7:04:40 AM PDT by SkyDancer ( I Was Told Nobody Is Perfect But Yet, Here I Am ...)
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To: humblegunner

Betcha won't do that again, dumbass!
22 posted on 05/20/2015 7:06:08 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: onedoug

What could go wrong?????????????????????

23 posted on 05/20/2015 7:06:40 AM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: PROCON

“Flaming globes of Sigmond”

Morbid? Perhaps...but I was always a fan of Jackass (stupid people hurting themselves).

Eventually Darwin wins.

And ‘gravity’: What a b***h...


24 posted on 05/20/2015 7:12:48 AM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus-)
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To: SkyDancer

As if there is a “right way” of setting you own parachute on fire...


25 posted on 05/20/2015 7:16:41 AM PDT by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
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To: bigbob

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3088552/73-year-old-BASE-jumper-dies-parachute-set-fire.html


26 posted on 05/20/2015 7:26:19 AM PDT by SkyDancer ( I Was Told Nobody Is Perfect But Yet, Here I Am ...)
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To: PROCON

Hopefully an Obama voter.


27 posted on 05/20/2015 7:35:12 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009 (You can't spell Hillary without using the letters L, I, A, & R)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Good luck with that.....Never ceases to amaze me that my taste buds want Chik on Sunday mornings. Have yet to convince them that it ain’t available on Sundays


28 posted on 05/20/2015 7:36:27 AM PDT by Nifster
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To: PROCON

I suspect that a lot of these “extreme” sports enthusiasts get their money from view on youtube or other media outlets. As a result, in order to keep getting the clicks and eyeballs, they feel compelled to try every more “radical” and dangerous stunts. After all, once you’ve seen one guy with a wingsuit imitate Wile E. Coyote, you’ve seen them all, right?

Sooner or later, Mr. Coyote looks down and sees the ground coming to meet him. And despite how it may work out in the cartoons, you don’t get to crawl out of the hole and dust yourself off.


29 posted on 05/20/2015 7:37:15 AM PDT by Kommodor (Terrorist, Journalist or Democrat? I can't tell the difference.)
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To: PROCON

Only two things fall out of the sky... Bird sh*t and fools.


30 posted on 05/20/2015 7:40:36 AM PDT by Hatteras
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To: b4its2late

“Hold ma beer and watch this”

2015 Darwin Award nominee.


31 posted on 05/20/2015 7:45:30 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (Liawatha, because we need to beat a real commie, not a criminal posing as one.)
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To: PROCON

How did this guy ever make it to 73?

The stupid! It burns!


32 posted on 05/20/2015 7:53:56 AM PDT by TruthInThoughtWordAndDeed (Yahuah Yahusha)
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To: humblegunner

It’s a real spectacle, but you can only do it once.


33 posted on 05/20/2015 8:01:47 AM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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To: EQAndyBuzz

Yep. Definitely a move that would make a good candidate for that award though I would imagine though he may have already reproduced.


34 posted on 05/20/2015 8:06:27 AM PDT by b4its2late (A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 75thOVI; Abathar; alarm rider; albee; Alice au Wonderland; Amityschild; ...
INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH
HUMOR

>> PING <<
No amateurs, please.
Send FReepmail if you want on/off ISHP list
The List of Ping Lists

35 posted on 05/20/2015 8:07:13 AM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: martin_fierro

Can’t buy a thrill


36 posted on 05/20/2015 8:11:48 AM PDT by dennisw (The first principle is to find out who you are then you can achieve anything -- Buddhist monk)
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To: dennisw

Statistics I read a while back said that 10% of all base jumpers have died while base jumping.

That seems to indicate that your chances of dying if you participate in the sport exceed 1 in 10, since at least some of the other 90% are still active and have not yet died of old age.

1 in 10!! Would you continue to fly in airplanes if your chances were 1 in 10 of eventually dying in a crash? Would you go swimming if your chances were 1 in 10 of eventually drowning? Yikes.


37 posted on 05/20/2015 8:47:36 AM PDT by generally (Don't be stupid. We have politicians for that.)
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To: dennisw

It’s an addiction, like heroin, with these people.


38 posted on 05/20/2015 8:49:18 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: b4its2late

“Definitely a move that would make a good candidate for that award though I would imagine though he may have already reproduced.”

Two generations...

Oh well, these things tend to take care of themselves.


39 posted on 05/20/2015 8:56:21 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (Liawatha, because we need to beat a real commie, not a criminal posing as one.)
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To: dfwgator

AKA adrenaline junkie. It makes them feel alive.


40 posted on 05/20/2015 9:18:29 AM PDT by dennisw (The first principle is to find out who you are then you can achieve anything -- Buddhist monk)
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