The decision was whether or not to waste my time with this or not.
"Wallenda’s crossing of Niagara Falls likely to cost $1.2m" June 13, 2012
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. - Walking a high wire over Niagara Falls is not only a dicey proposition, it turns out it is pretty pricey, too.
Daredevil Nik Wallenda estimates his history-making, United States-to-Canada walk by way of a cable strung over the brink will cost about $1.2 million to $1.3 million. That includes fabrication and installation of the custom-made steel wire, permits, security on both sides of the border, travel, and marketing.
A deal with ABC to televise the event live during prime time Friday will offset some of his expenses, the 33-year-old Wallenda said. “But definitely not anywhere near all of it.’’
And the tab seems to grow by the day.
“The hard part is prices have changed and gone up. There are things that can come up that are just completely unforeseen,’’ Wallenda said by phone from Branson, Mo. Wallenda is a seventh-generation member of the Flying Wallendas.
There has not been much time to line up sponsors, so Wallenda is asking the public for donations.
His video on the fund-raising website Indiegogo had, by mid-day Tuesday, raised more than $15,300 toward a $50,000 goal.
Wallenda plans to walk 1,800 feet across the falls at 200 feet above the gorge bottom. If successful, he will be the first to cross over the brink of the famous falls. Others have crossed over the gorge downstream, but not for more than 100 years.
“We need stuff like this,’’ Wallenda says on the video. “We need things to encourage people that the impossible is actually possible.’’
Like WTC towers falling at free-fall speed into their own footprints because of jet fuels fires, right?
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I guess it's all a big photo and op:
"NIAGRA FALLS DISPLAY -- Pat Kelecsney of Hermitage, Pa., wore a Nik Wallenda balloon hat before Wallenda's attempt to walk across Niagra Falls in New York on a tightrope on Friday. Wallenda, a stunt performer, was expected to wear a safety harness (Boston Globe June 16 2012)."
Also see: Going over the top at Niagara Falls
Aww, gee, I missed it. I really should stop being so hard on the Globe and AmeriKan media. They are just serving their elite readership and giving the rest of us entertainment. Other than their propaganda function that is to what a once-venerable profession has been reduced.
Update: Man who plunged over Niagara Falls stable after rescue
He fell?
