Posted on 07/10/2015 12:50:59 PM PDT by C19fan
In Pamplona, rumour has it that Hemingway never ran in front of the bulls during the festival of San Fermín. It’s an urban myth: he did run – several times. What is not true is that he was injured, as he would later claim to a news agency.
In fact, Hemingway was close enough to the action to witness a man being gored by a bull in 1924. This was actually the very first fatality in the modern history of the encierro, as the running of the bulls is called in Spanish.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
I flew hanggliders for 10 years out of San Diego and I’m scared of heights. Does that count?
We don’t do that kind of stuff because we have a death wish...we do it because we want to boast about how we did it and LIVED!
BIG difference.
I will steer clear of the common sense angle of this.
Most people, men especially find a euphoric feeling in the adrenaline rush that comes with high anxiety or fear. It is a natural rush. The fear of death also brings this chemical reaction.
Firearms guru Jeff Cooper opined:
“Few people pay much attention to the meaning of the words they use, and this does lead to a certain amount of confusion. For example, what is a “blood sport”? I have always held that a blood sport is a voluntary competitive activity in which the penalty for ineptitude may well be death or serious injury. By that definition, blood sports must include mountaineering, motor racing, the hunting of dangerous game, and certain kinds of skiing. In Britain, however, the little old ladies of all ages and both sexes regard fox hunting as a blood sport. By my definition, the blood sports are a fair test of manliness or machismo. In the British sense, the blood sports are simply the ostentatious affectations of snobs and toffs. In Britain it is currently fashionable to hate toffs - for obscure reasons.”
Some people have an understandable visceral aversion to “blood sports”; just wish they’d quit trying to interfere with others who don’t. For many, life lived without risk is life not lived; life is short, some seek to fill their time with straining the limits thereof at risk of reaching its limit by going to far or being too inept.
Excessive alcohol consumption and erections are proven to diminish brain power.
I was Airborne, and the jumping, and STABO, the rapelling out of choppers was intense, this comes from a guy that can’t even tolerate being a roofer.
Incidentally, Hemingway later blew his brains out. Deathwish as lifestyle.
As a chopper pilot who supported air assault operations, I should point out that jumping & rappelling are controlled descents carried out by trained personnel under supervision.
Falling off a roof is not a controlled descent.
And although I have slipped the surly bonds of earth and danced the sky on laughter-silvered wings, I am scared to death of going up on the roof, which I had to do when I sold a couple of old downtown buildings a while back.
Scaling a 25 ft ladder while remembering not to look down....geez!
;^)
The old style Swiss seat rappelling was not very safe, the SAS didn’t like us using that old fashioned method, and sure enough, one of them crashed and burned with us, he lived, but was out of the military.
I have been in the cockpit of a commercial airliner, but I think that sitting up front in a helicopter would exhaust me in about 10 minutes.
By the way, multiple jumps in a day used to do that, I guess the exhaustion comes from having to deal with the internal stress and adrenaline.
“Hold my beer”
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