A new fad has gotten off the ground, literally, in Russia. Skywalkers -- or roofers, as they proudly call themselves -- climb a skyscraper, a construction crane, a tall monument, a tower or a bridge. When they get to the top, they balance themselves — sometimes on the tiniest of ledges — and take a lurch-in-the-stomach picture, like this one, of the view hundreds of feet below. Then they post it on the Internet.

"Human problems seem insignificant when you are hanging out on a star," said Artyom Lakhtionov, 19, a college photography student. "Even traffic jams that paralyze your life down there don't seem so hopeless.

Read more:http://lat.ms/X9YmZl

Obviously these guys are not pilots. Most pilots have "edge syndrome" which is akin to acrophobia but is not a fear of heights but a fear of being near the edge (of a building).

Strange but true.

Best regards,

RA1

I wonder how many of these kids end up splat on the pavement below?

As you've told me before, RA, by that measure I would make Top Gun.

There was another thread here recently, and also another one a number of months ago, with links to videos of Russian kids doing this. Can anyone find them? I failed on a short look.

I could only watch a few seconds of them. Eeek.

I bet you are taller than Tom Cruise also.

Best regards,

RA1

Aww he is so cute.. If you look at the picture closely, he is well balanced. I think he knows what he is doing. It is dangerous but I think he should be fine... Cheers to brave russian boys!

I get queasy just looking at a picture like that. I can't go near the edge of of anything without having a panic attack (fear of the urge to leap), which is why I could never live in a hi-rise apt. with a balcony.

I get queasy just looking at a picture like that.

LOL, & I get queasy just watching Mr. Coyote take his plunge in a Road Runner cartoon.

My grandfather used to say about someone doing what they ought not, " he wouldn't go to hell for a nickel but he'd fool around the edge till he fell in". I think that sums these people up.

I get queasy just looking at a picture like that. I can't go near the edge of of anything without having a panic attack (fear of the urge to leap), which is why I could never live in a hi-rise apt. with a balcony.

After I moved into a 22nd-floor apt it took me a week to be able to spend any length of time on the balcony. Longer to stand near the railing.

A big mistake was, if someone brought weed over, to go out there to smoke it.

As you've told me before, RA, by that measure I would make Top Gun.

There was another thread here recently, and also another one a number of months ago, with links to videos of Russian kids doing this. Can anyone find them? I failed on a short look.

I could only watch a few seconds of them. Eeek.

http://www.boytoy.com/forums/index.php?/topic/12759-spider-man-wannabe-or-just-fing-crazy/

Thank you.

Jesus creeping shit! I couldn't watch all of that.

Just another example of Darwinian selection in action. Got to set the genetic limit on risk taking by young males one way or the other.

Is it part of the Darwinain "process" that the cute ones we want to have sex with will not ordinarily have children? That seems anti-selective to me.

Best regards,

RA1

While a certain amount of risk taking by males appears to be a net benefit to the gene pool, you can't have them all killing themselves off before they have a chance to breed, so you've got to have mechanisms in place to limit the spread of genes that prompt risky behavior. LOL. even if the carriers are cute.

It's one of those 'not too hot & not too cold but just right' things, RA1. When it comes to weeding her garden, Mother Nature may be a heartless old bitch but she has a fine eye for details.

I appreciate your comment, MsGuy, but I think my point was "cute begats cute, but not if they don't begat at all".

Best regards,

RA1