Baumgartner

Congratulations to Baumgartner! You couldn't get me in the balloon, much less stepping out of it; and there's no way I'd have broken out of the tumble--that demanded experience.

Before the kvetchers start in complaining that this was a dangerous waste of money just to satisfy ego, let me counter-assert that we'd never have gotten anywhere if it weren't for people who wanted to do useless things; things like paddle a log upstream or fiddle with electric tubes that glow in the dark.

Maybe nothing will ever come of learning how to jump from space, but I celebrate the urge to explore the limits. And give a thought for the ones who died trying.

BTW, this isn't quite the same thing as teenagers tightrope walking on a bridge cable. Baumgartner planned.