Nurburgring?

I dont have anything against racing electric cars. I think the endeavour to create a mechanical dolphin is most noble. Its still about pushing the limits.

And yet I find the world where the lion tamer cannot step into the cage, the monkey cannot bite your finger off through the bars and you cannot miss a gear heading out of a corner somehow less worth living than the world of my childhood. Yes the smells too.

Maybe the bears are going to miss riding the motorcycle around the arena. Lions born in captivity would be cargo cultists if set free. Push a button to overtake. Sad.

if they fell, would it be a tragedy?
because to me, a tragedy is something negative, but unexpected

skyscraper construction is similar, but they (usually) plan for things like slips/falls/etc... and try to mitigate the situation through safety equipment and procedures... hopefully to the benefit of not just the worker's lives themselves, but their families and friends

that's not to say high altitude construction doesn't have it's share of deaths by accident, but those to me are actual tragedies... because most likely steps were taken to prevent whatever happened from happening

no safety equipment used by these adrenaline junkies

and when looking at the phenomenon of adrenaline junkies, I believe one must look further than just the safety precautions taken to determine whether the term "tragedy" is applicable... what is the reasoning behind taking the endeavor at hand? is it solely personal (selfish) reasoning, or are others included in the reasoning (especially friends and family who have no option but to watch and hope for the best)?

that statement is the reason that "tragedy" is applicable when a father from some tribe in africa gets attacked by a lion while hunting for game... and it isn't applicable when it's a lion tamer putting his head in the mouth of a lion for show...

in fact, the more one "tempts fate" solely for selfish/personal reasons... the less I think "tragedy" applies

these guys in the vid, if they fell, it wouldn't be a tragedy... it's kinda weird to expect people to care more about your own safety, than you yourself do... and I'm not saying people caring is a bad thing... its a good thing... in fact, it shines a more selfish light on the original person in the first place... ESPECIALLY if these people caring more than they do themselves, are known... such as friends/family

http://www.videosift.com/video/Chartered-Accountant-wants-to-become-a-lion-tamer

Holy crap! That's way beyond nuts, dude. I mean I was fascinated and I was sitting on the edge of my seat the whole time I was watching this, even though it was a pretty safe assumption that there wasn't going to be any violence, but why did this guy do this? One could argue that by watching this there's a razor-slim chance that you might learn to save your own life if you find yourself in a similar predicament, but really this just smacks of showmanship to me. It's like watching a lion-tamer in the circus who doesn't have a chair or whip.

Balls of steel, or sheer madness? Probably both.